"Xiao Jiang, Lan Lan was joking with us, saying you had gone back."
Upon hearing the sound of a car, Lan’s mother eagerly rushed to the doorway.
Jiang Chen stepped out of the car with an awkward smile.
"Have you eaten? If not, I’ll go..."
"Auntie, there’s no need, I already ate at the theater," Jiang Chen hurriedly said.
"As long as you’ve eaten. Come inside."
Lan’s mother called out, without bothering about her daughter behind her.
"You’re back, Xiao Jiang. Come, have a seat."
Lan’s father gestured smartly, avoiding bringing up Jiang Chen’s disappearance that afternoon.
"Xiao Jiang, Old Ma told me that you have quite the talent for acting."
This, at first hearing, sounded almost like an insult.
But Jiang Chen wouldn’t misunderstand and also knew that this Old Ma was probably referring to the director of the village theater, who was also the vice director of the village committee.
He had just drunk with the man, who, despite his age, was as forthright as any young man and also carried no airs about him. Learning that he was friends with Lan Peizhi, the man had shown even more warmth toward him.
"Director Ma is just being polite."
"Eh, don’t be so modest. I know Old Ma well; he’s very honest. He rarely praises anyone. Over the years, apart from Pei Zhi, the only other person he’s praised is Yong Wen—and now there’s you."
The face Jiang Chen had seen in the morning flashed through his mind unbidden.
"Moreover, Old Ma says that your performance already bears the grace of Yong Wen in his prime."
"Xiao Jiang, does Old Ma really plan to let you perform?" Lan’s mother interjected.
Jiang Chen nodded, "Director Ma does seem to have that intention, but..."
Lan’s father didn’t wait for him to finish.
"Xiao Jiang, what’s there to fear? Since he acknowledges you and has already brought it up, just accept it. Whether you’re up for it or not, doesn’t he already know? You’d definitely be better than those greenhorns."
Lan’s father sighed, "It’s just that you’ll probably have a hard time finding a partner like Lan Lan."
Back when Lan Peizhi performed in the theater, her partner was a man named Shang Yongwen.
This was what Jiang Chen had learned in the village theater that afternoon.
He had inquired, but unfortunately, due to limited conditions at the time, no video materials had survived.
"Xiao Jiang, I think you shouldn’t refuse. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask Lan Lan to teach you. When she was young, haha, the whole village couldn’t stop praising her," Lan’s father said with pride.
But Jiang Chen didn’t dare to look at Lan Peizhi.
On the way back, sitting in the car, he was on tenterhooks the entire time, fearing that the enraged ’Blood Guanyin’ would annihilate him right there.
He was self-aware that in the Afang Palace, he couldn’t even defeat the Tiger Fool, let alone Lan Peizhi, who could kill the Tiger Fool in a second.
Moreover, in a rural area , finding a place to dispose of a body couldn’t be easier. Simply burying in a gully or behind a mound, or throwing into a river, it might remain undiscovered for decades.
However, fortunately, the other party still had some sense of reason. Even as Jiang Chen experienced the chilly atmosphere inside the car, at least he had returned to the Lan Family’s home safe and sound.
"Sister, why are you going to bed so early?" Martial Saint murmured.
Jiang Chen looked over.
Lan Peizhi went upstairs without looking back.
"Beep... beep... beep..."
Early in the morning, a Beetle parked at the Lan Family’s doorstep.
After greeting Lan’s father and mother, Jiang Chen left the house and drove away.
"Sister, is that guy pursuing you?" Martial Saint leaned over the balcony railing on the second floor, lazily watching the departing red car.
"Don’t talk nonsense."
Gou Dan squatted beside him.
A Tibetan mastiff, a child, and a woman— the scene was peculiarly striking.
"Then why did you bring him back?" Martial Saint turned his head, "Look at mom and dad, especially mom, she’s almost treating him like a son-in-law. You said he went back yesterday, and she scolded you for it."
Lan Peizhi stared into the distance, staying silent.
She didn’t know why she brought him back.
At the airport, it seemed she didn’t think too much about it.
But now, on reflection, it seemed somewhat inappropriate.
The young man’s behavior here.
He seemed educated, polite, but he seemed to be "trying too hard."
"Sister, tell me, what’s really going on between you two? I swear I won’t tell a soul, or you can punish me however you like," Martial Saint raised his hand.
He was too young to understand the proverb ’Once bitten by a snake, one is scared all their life at the sight of a mere rope.’
He simply felt that none of the girls at school, even the older ones, could pique his interest.
"Business friends," Lan Peizhi summarized after a pause.
Martial Saint pursed his lips, turned his gaze away, and looked back in the direction the red car had left.
The Beetle had disappeared from view.
"Sister, if that’s true, you need to be careful."
"I feel like he doesn’t have good intentions towards you."
Lan Peizhi’s gaze flickered, and she turned her head, "How would you know?"
"A man’s intuition," Martial Saint said assertively.
Though young, he seemed to understand a lot, "Unwarranted courtesy can only mean ill intentions or theft. Just look at him, acting so abnormal, buying so many things and clinging around, shameless as ever. If he had no designs on you, Sister, I’d never believe it."
Lan Peizhi’s remotely distant eyebrows imperceptibly tightened.
The speaker had no intention, but the listener had taken it to heart.
She had ceased to consider that any man might have designs on her.
But Martial Saint’s words just now had the effect of a wake-up call.