"What? You think Ding Long is worse than Lan Li?" Lin Chan glanced at the photo, pointing at Ding Long in the picture, saying, "Take a closer look at Ding Long in the photo. He was smiling like a sunflower all night. I guess he must have been waking up from laughter these few nights. This alliance was hardly his own idea, but rather someone’s big push. His target? Was it not Ding Jinshi? Haven’t you noticed that Ding Long likes Ding Jinshi?"
After saying these words, Lin Chan burst into laughter himself, "True, Ding Long is such a secretive person. If I hadn’t come across some information by sheer coincidence and seen the look on Ding Long’s face the night of his engagement party, I wouldn’t have figured it out."
"Are you going to give all these pictures to Lan Li?" He Zhilan didn’t bother going through all the photos, she merely glanced at a few before handing them back to Lin Chan.
"Absolutely!" Lin Chan declared, then reached out to pat He Teng’s shoulder, but was avoided by He Teng with a look of disgust. Missing the mark with his own hand, Lin Chan found no embarrassment and withdrew, laughing heartily. "He Teng, your time in the hospital might not be so boring. Perhaps, in a few days, your dear Lan Li will join you here because of a heart attack!"
"Lin Chan, can’t you have some decency left for yourself?" He Teng held back his annoyance, if not, he would have punched Lin Chan’s face long ago. He had seen shamelessness, but never encountered such a blatant one.
"Who knows, Lan Li might even thank me. Are you sure he doesn’t want to see these pictures?" Lin Chan laughed heartily, "Even the brave ones in the military can chicken out. Lan Li was the commander, how he climbed up to that position is still a question."
"At least in my opinion, Lan Li, even with his injured arms and legs, could easily lay you flat in the blink of an eye. He deserves the title of commander!" Not wanting to listen anymore, He Teng urged He Zhilan and the uncle to push him back to his room, leaving Lin Chan hopping around in anger.
Lin Chan too was busy, he shared Lan Li’s unfortunate circumstances with He Zhilan in his spare time, but didn’t pursue further. He was so agitated by He Teng’s taunt that he completely forgot to mention his trip to S Province with He Zhilan.
On the way back, the caretaker uncle kept sighing, "Lan Li was such a good man, how could his love life be so tumultuous?" After talking about Lan Li, the uncle started to discuss his own marriage, "Actually, I think my generation had it better. Unlike your youngsters, who are all about free love. My wife and I were set up by our families. We only met once before the wedding just to see if the other person was physically complete, and spent our lives together. We’re very happy despite living a tight life not unlike the old days."
He Teng nodded, his traditional view was even more outdated. He agreed with the uncle’s words and thought about his own parents. He began, "Zhilan, our parents were the same. Dad told me once that they only had one black and white photo of each other before they got married. They didn’t even meet in person."
He Teng’s words reminded He Zhilan of what her father had said. Unfortunately, He Zhilan never met her mother. She had heard that the He Family’s conditions were not very good earlier. After her mother gave birth, she had always been physically weak and there was little to eat to nourish the body. Her mother got sick when Dongxue was very young and passed away.