Lin Kuang looked at Liu Shiyu with a smile and even winked at her before standing up and returning to his room.
Seeing Lin Kuang deliberately provoke her, Liu Shiyu angrily pounded the sofa as if it were him.
Jerk! Pervert! So smug, are you? I, Liu Shiyu, refuse to believe I can’t handle you! she thought furiously, before running upstairs.
Back in his bedroom, Lin Kuang lay on the bed and picked up his phone, surprised to find the call was still connected.
He quickly put the phone to his ear and whispered, "Bingbing, are you still there?"
Twenty minutes had passed since the commotion. Lin Kuang had assumed Fan Bingbing would have hung up long ago, but she hadn’t.
"Mmm, I’m here. What just happened?" Fan Bingbing asked, her voice tinged with confusion. She had heard a scream, but then nothing. As for what Lin Kuang and the others had been saying in the living room, she hadn’t heard a word.
"It was nothing, just a small matter. You’re not asleep yet?" Lin Kuang asked with a laugh.
"No, not yet. Are you in East Sea now?" she asked.
"Yes, in East Sea. It looks like I might be staying here for quite a while," Lin Kuang replied after a moment’s thought, a smile in his voice.
"Oh, I’ll be in East Sea for a few days too. Would you like to get a meal together sometime? I’d like to properly thank you for what happened on the plane," Fan Bingbing offered cheerfully.
"Sure. Just give me a call, and I’ll definitely be there," Lin Kuang laughed.
The two chatted idly for a while longer before finally hanging up.
After ending the call, Lin Kuang looked out at the bright moonlight. A smile touched his lips. "This kind of life isn’t half bad," he muttered to himself before soon drifting off to sleep.
「The night passed uneventfully.」
At half-past five the next morning, Lin Kuang got up on time to wash up. After freshening up, he opened the wardrobe and looked at the clothes inside. By chance, there were two tracksuits: one white and one light blue.
"To search high and low for something, only to find it right under your nose," Lin Kuang muttered, changing into the white tracksuit. He put on the sneakers he’d arrived in, walked out of the room, and began to jog once he was outside the villa. As a soldier, his morning exercise routine was sacred; he hadn’t skipped it once, not even during the year he spent in prison.
He jogged along the smooth road, surrounded by lush, shady trees. Breathing in the fresh morning air felt incredible. After about ten minutes, a large square came into view. It was quite lively with people exercising—the elderly, the middle-aged, and the young. He had originally planned to stick to the road, but the sight of the square drew him in. He started jogging along its perimeter, observing the various people going through their morning routines.
What truly caught his eye was a young woman in her twenties, dressed in a white training uniform with her hair in a ponytail, practicing Tai Chi Chuan. If it were just the common, watered-down version, Lin Kuang wouldn’t have given it a second glance. But the girl was practicing the real, long-lost Chen Family Tai Chi. This form was completely different from the flashy versions meant only for exercise; this was genuine Kung Fu. Judging by her movements, it was clear she had reached a high level of proficiency. Her punches and kicks carried a distinct grace and flow that an ordinary person could never achieve.
After completing a lap, Lin Kuang stopped beside the girl to watch her more closely. It was only then that he realized how attractive she was. She was about 1.7 meters tall, with a serene, pretty face that grew more captivating the longer he looked. It felt as though just gazing at her could calm his soul.
While Lin Kuang was studying her, she was also sizing him up. Looking at the bright, handsome young man before her, she offered a serene smile. When she smiled, deep dimples appeared on her cheeks, making her look exceptionally adorable.
Seeing this, Lin Kuang couldn’t help but smile back. "It’s been a long time since I’ve seen real Tai Chi Chuan. Chen Family Tai Chi, truly impressive."
At his words, the girl paused, visibly surprised that he could recognize her art.
"Mmm, I’ve been practicing for a long time, but I’ve only just started to grasp its essence," she replied, her tranquil smile so infectious that it calmed Lin Kuang’s heart.
"You’re too modest. I know a few old-timers who probably aren’t much better than you," Lin Kuang said before asking curiously, "Pardon me, but are you a successor of the Chen Family Tai Chi?"
He recalled that the ancestral home of Chen Family Tai Chi Chuan was Chenjiagou, in Wen County of Henan Province. There were also rumors that the Chen Family only passed the art down to male heirs. Yet here was a young woman in her twenties who had achieved such profound mastery, which meant she must have been practicing for a very long time.
"Yes and no," the girl said with a simple, smiling explanation. "My elders have some connection with the Chen Family, and I happened to be in need of Chen Family Tai Chi, so I was able to learn some of it."
Hearing this, Lin Kuang nodded, though he was even more intrigued now. An outsider, and a girl at that, managed to learn Chen Family Tai Chi? That’s unbelievable. Then again, it doesn’t really have anything to do with me.
"Alright," he said with a smile. "Could I get your contact information? Maybe we could discuss it more in the future."
The girl playfully stuck out her tongue. "Are you trying to hit on me? It’s not that simple, you know."
Lin Kuang was taken aback. Before he could respond, she smiled again. "Let’s leave it to fate. If we meet again, I’ll tell you then. For now, I’ve got to go."
With another cheerful smile, she turned and left, her long ponytail swinging jauntily from side to side.
Lin Kuang shrugged, muttering to himself, "Do I really seem that bad at picking up girls?"
Still, he was extremely curious about her and felt a strange, inexplicable sense of goodwill. All in all, his impression of her was a very positive one. With that thought, he ran another three laps around the square.
At 6:30 a.m., Lin Kuang returned promptly to Liu Shilin’s villa.
As he walked into the living room, he found Liu Shiyu sprawled on the couch in her pajamas, yawning without any regard for her image. The position revealed a large portion of her snow-white chest, causing Lin Kuang to steal several glances.
"What were you doing out so early? Hey, you’re even wearing my uncle’s clothes," Liu Shiyu said, bolting upright the moment she saw him.
The abrupt movement caused her voluptuous chest to sway dramatically. The sight was so intense that Lin Kuang found himself absurdly worried they might just pop out.