Kuang Zhilin acted with great efficiency — no sooner had Wen Tingli stepped out the front gate than the so-called Wushi “school car” was already waiting by the roadside.

Not only that, but Kuang Zhilin himself was waiting there beside the car.

“Miss Wen.”

With fewer people around now, the doubt in his eyes surfaced once more.

Wen Tingli looked at him earnestly and said, “Thank you, Mr. Kuang.”

Kuang Zhilin turned back to glance coolly at the Bailong Gang crowd in the garden, and said nothing more, only instructing the driver.

“Take Miss Wen home.”

Wen Tingli got into the car without another word.

Once the car started moving, she realized her legs had gone somewhat weak. She clenched her jaw in silence, her heart filled with hatred for Qiu Dapeng — one day, sooner or later, she would personally do away with that old scoundrel!

The Bailong Gang, as expected, didn’t dare provoke the Lu family. On the way back, not a single suspicious car followed them.

The driver first dropped Wen Tingli off at her rented place on Baer Road. She went in, changed clothes, and then asked the driver to take her to Cixin Hospital.

The moment she entered the ward, the tension in Wen Tingli’s body relaxed all at once, and she collapsed into the chair by the bed. How she missed Superintendent Deng — normally she would have gone straight to her, telling the old lady all about tonight’s ordeal. Now, though, she didn’t even have anyone to confide in.

The attendant across from her looked at Wen Tingli warily. “Miss Wen, what’s wrong? You look like you’re ready to murder someone.”

Wen Tingli came back to herself and casually picked up the basin on the cabinet. “I’ll go fetch some water.”

That short interval was enough for her to think everything through clearly. Superintendent Deng was still unconscious, and her father was even less of a resource to rely on.

To deal with Qiu Dapeng, she’d have to manage it herself. But acting alone, how could she possibly succeed?

She paced slowly along the corridor, a fierce glint rising unconsciously in her eyes once more. Passing by the nurses’ office, she stopped and looked in.

“Is Head Nurse Liu in?” she asked with a smile.

By lights-out time, Head Nurse Liu did indeed come to find her.

“Miss Wen, come out for a moment. You weren’t here this evening — Dr. Thompson prescribed some new medications for your father, let me tell you about it.”

Once out of the room, Head Nurse Liu led Wen Tingli to an unused storage room in the back. Pushing the door open, she found Li Chengying waiting inside.

Wen Tingli quickly shut the door behind them. “How are you here? I was just about to call you.”

“I just got back to Shanghai. Lao Bao told me you went to the auction alone — I was worried you couldn’t handle it by yourself, so I rushed to keep watch outside Garden Terrace. We had people at the venue; when the Bailong Gang gave you trouble, our people saw the whole thing. I nearly had them pull you out of there, but seeing Kuang Zhilin send a car for you, I held off. Never mind Kuang Zhilin for now — from the looks of it, the Qius, father and son, still haven’t given up on you?”

Wen Tingli made a bitter sound of agreement.

Li Chengying’s eyes sharpened. “Before Superintendent Deng ran into trouble, she’d already instructed us to look out for you — it’s just that, since we couldn’t afford to expose your connection with us, this matter was delayed. I’ll find a mutual friend to soon ‘introduce’ you to Lao Bao. Publicly, we’ll say Lao Bao was an old friend of your father’s. Lao Bao has plenty of connections in political and business circles — Qiu Dapeng certainly won’t dare give you trouble again.”

Wen Tingli tested the waters. “But the outside world already knows Lawyer Bao is a good friend of Superintendent Deng’s. If it comes out this way, people will inevitably suspect I’ve had a private connection with Superintendent Deng all along. If word reaches the Lu family, they’ll naturally grow wary of me too — how will I be able to investigate the assassination attempt then?”

Li Chengying smiled. “If not for what happened tonight, we indeed couldn’t have moved on this. But now that tonight’s disturbance has happened, it’s the perfect chance to ‘introduce’ the two of you — Qiu Dapeng openly giving you trouble, and you, to protect yourself, temporarily seeking an introduction to the Shuguang Law Firm through a friend’s help — doesn’t that seem like the natural course of events?”

Hearing this, Wen Tingli showed no sign of surprise. Something stirred in Li Chengying’s heart, and she asked with a smile: “Had you already thought of doing it this way? Just now, when you had Head Nurse Liu find me — were you already coming to discuss a plan to deal with Qiu Dapeng?”

Wen Tingli smiled sweetly and didn’t deny it.

Li Chengying nodded approvingly. “Remember, knowing how to protect yourself matters most. I did want to ask you — how did you manage to persuade Kuang Zhilin to escort you? The Lu family may never give the Bailong Gang the time of day, but they don’t like meddling in other people’s affairs either.”

Wen Tingli gave a rough account of the auction scheme done in Lu Shicheng’s name, and finished by shrugging: “Anyway, it took a great deal of effort just to get him to speak with me. By the way, have you found out the details about that ‘Dunpuer’ trading company?”

“It’s an old German trading house with an excellent reputation, its warehouse based in Wuhan. The day I got the lead from you, I went straight to Wuhan to find friends there. After a few days of digging through contacts, I finally got hold of Dunpuer’s customs declarations from the past three months. Turns out this company hasn’t shipped any pharmaceuticals recently at all.”

Wen Tingli let out an inexplicable sigh of relief. “So… it wasn’t Lu Shicheng’s doing?”

Li Chengying’s brow remained furrowed. “During the investigation into Dunpuer, there was an unexpected find. Dunpuer was originally run jointly by a brother and sister. A few years ago, the two had a falling out over how to run the business, and the company split in two. The younger brother started a new warehouse business in several cities under the name ‘Lizuishi,’ and to steal old customers away from his sister, he claims publicly to handle any and all goods — even things Dunpuer wouldn’t dare touch, like tungsten wire and other precious metals, ‘Lizuishi’ will handle the customs clearance and shipping. We found no trace of pharmaceutical transport at Dunpuer, but unexpectedly found a lead at Lizuishi’s warehouse. Following it further, we discovered that Lizuishi’s newly appointed manager had contact with someone from Nanyang two months ago.”

Wen Tingli was startled. “But… that Dunpuer customs form was found in Lu Shicheng’s study. Dunpuer and its sibling company have already split — if Lu Shicheng chose to keep working with Dunpuer, why would he also do business with Lizuishi, the newly separated branch?”

“There are only two possible explanations for this: either Lu Shicheng deliberately did it this way to cover his tracks, or, the person who commissioned Lizuishi to transport the drugs really is someone from the Lu family — just not Lu Shicheng.”

Wen Tingli thought it over. “Could it be old Mr. Lu?”

Li Chengying shook her head slowly. “In recent years, Lu Hongjun hasn’t handled much business himself, but Lu Shicheng has two uncles, known as Second Master Lu and Third Master Lu… Second Master Lu became a vegetable two years ago after a car accident. Third Master Lu, however, is still alive, though he’s been thoroughly suppressed by Lu Shicheng and can hardly move a muscle. If this matter wasn’t ordered by Lu Shicheng, it may well have something to do with Third Master Lu.”

“Where is this Third Master Lu now?”

“Recuperating in Beiping, but he’s surely left plenty of eyes and ears in Shanghai. If that shipment of drugs was Third Master Lu’s doing, then this assassination attempt likely had nothing to do with Lu Shicheng after all — those two, uncle and nephew, are practically mortal enemies.”

Wen Tingli nodded without speaking.

Li Chengying glanced at her wristwatch. “It really is getting late today, so I’ll keep this brief — you’re extremely clever; in just a few days, you’ve already provided us with an important lead. We’ll have people investigate Third Master Lu right away. Besides telling you this, I also came to ask if you heard anything useful from Lu Shicheng or Kuang Zhilin tonight.”

Wen Tingli hung her head and shook it. “Lu Shicheng gave me Kuang Zhilin’s calling card, but he seemed rather annoyed with me — I suspect I won’t be seeing him again for quite a while. As for Mr. Kuang, his mouth is sealed tighter than a jar.”

Li Chengying gave a wry smile. “A man with a loose tongue could never become Lu Shicheng’s confidant anyway. Don’t worry — Lao Bao already has everything arranged; at most two more days and we can set up your ‘meeting’ with him. Once word gets out, the Qius, father and son, naturally won’t dare bother you anymore. In the meantime, be careful when you go out these next couple of days — I’ll have someone stationed near your school. You get out at five-thirty, don’t you? Keep an eye out for a white rickshaw car — that’ll be our people.”

Li Chengying picked up her handbag to leave, but Wen Tingli suddenly spoke. “Mr. Li, there’s something I’d like to ask you for.”

“What is it?”

“A gun.”

Li Chengying turned back, startled.

Wen Tingli looked at her with utter seriousness. “You have one. Don’t you?”

“What do you need a gun for?”

Wen Tingli tried her best to keep her tone calm. “Tonight you and Lawyer Bao thought of everything, and yet there was still trouble at the auction. You may not fully understand what the Qius, father and son, are like, but I know them all too well. Qiu Dapeng suffered a setback today; these next couple of days he’ll surely try to find out whether I truly have any connection with the Lu family. If he discovers I have nothing at all to do with them, he’ll certainly come after me again. I need a weapon to protect myself. And besides, even with the Shuguang Law Firm’s protection, there will always come a day when you can’t cover everything. If they corner me some time when you and Lawyer Bao are both away from Shanghai, I want — I want to be able to protect myself!”

Having said this, Wen Tingli held her breath, waiting. But in the end she was disappointed — Li Chengying only shook her head. “No. You don’t know how to shoot. A gun on you would do more harm than good.”

“I can learn!” Determination and urgency burned in Wen Tingli’s eyes.

But Li Chengying remained firm. “We’ll think carefully about what you’ve said, but this is no small matter. Let us discuss it properly and decide later.”

Wen Tingli wanted to argue further, but Li Chengying, without another word, pulled the door open and left.

The next day, when Wen Tingli took the car to school, sure enough, there was now a white rickshaw car parked outside Cixin Hospital.

When Wen Tingli boarded the tram, this white car immediately followed along.

When Wen Tingli entered Wushi Middle School, the white car discreetly parked across the street.

All of this fell within Wen Tingli’s notice, leaving her both reassured and grateful — even though Li Chengying wouldn’t give her a gun, when it came to protecting her safety, there was no half-measure about it at all.

Unable to get her hands on a gun, Wen Tingli could only set aside her plan for dealing with Qiu Dapeng for now, and got through a full day of school without incident.

At dusk after school let out, Homeroom Teacher Liu Yuanhua announced the previous week’s exam rankings — a test whose results could roughly predict how everyone would do on the joint entrance exams.

The moment the teacher left, the students erupted with excitement. “Wen Tingli, have you decided which school to apply to yet?” Yan Zhenzhen asked her eagerly.

Wen Tingli, a stack of admissions clippings spread out before her, shook her head at the question. Normally, she would have said openly that she wanted to study medicine like Superintendent Deng, but now, to avoid suspicion, she didn’t even dare tell the truth to her good friends.

“Why don’t we all apply to St. John’s drama department together?” Zhao Qingluo said, sitting down eagerly across from the two of them. “This time you got ninth in the class! Teacher Liu even praised how much you’d improved — with your current grades, it might be worth a shot at St. John’s.”

“Still a bit of a gap in the scores,” Wen Tingli said. “Let’s wait and see after the next exam. Weren’t you planning on the education department?”

“St. John’s lets you take education electives too,” Zhao Qingluo said. “After the drama competition last time, my interest in theater has only grown stronger. In the future I want to become a theater director, direct more socially meaningful plays. What about you, Zhenzhen?”

Yan Zhenzhen looked utterly bored. “My ambition has never changed — literature. But do I even get a choice? My father wants me to go into diplomacy like him, he’s already decided I can only choose between political science and English literature.”

Wen Tingli and Zhao Qingluo exchanged a glance. Yan Zhenzhen had always idolized Yue Zhaoyun as her role model, often secretly writing essays or novels in private. Wen Tingli pulled a stack of manuscripts out of her drawer and said with regret, “What about your novel, then?”

“Bury it. I’m never writing again,” Yan Zhenzhen sighed, sounding far older than her years. “Life can’t be without regrets. I’m going to punish my father — he personally strangled a literary talent.”

“Don’t say that. Even if you study something else, it’s not like you can’t keep writing fiction.”

The three of them made plans to go study together at Zhao Qingluo’s house on Sunday to sort out their applications. After talking for so long, Wen Tingli left school thirty minutes later than usual. Fortunately, the white rickshaw car was still parked nearby, though the driver seemed less composed than in the morning, actually standing at the roadside repeatedly craning his neck to look toward the school gate.

Seeing Wen Tingli come out through the gate, only then did the man calmly get back into the car.

Wen Tingli squeezed onto the tram, riding all the way to Berdon Road; from that stop, another tram would take her to Cixin Hospital.

She’d just gotten off when she suddenly heard the shrill screech of brakes behind her. A pedestrian on the street said, “Oh my, those two cars back there are about to ‘fight.'”

Wen Tingli looked back and saw a black car suddenly cut across the road, blocking the white rickshaw car ahead.

Immediately after, several people from the Bailong Gang got out of the black car and surrounded the white car.

Wen Tingli’s heart sank — could the Bailong Gang have figured out that this white car was specifically protecting her? She hurried to a roadside phone booth to call the Shuguang Law Firm, but the person who answered was an assistant — Lawyer Bao wasn’t in the office right now.

Wen Tingli immediately called Li Chengying next, but before the call could connect, two Bailong Gang men across the street suddenly looked in her direction.

Sensing trouble, Wen Tingli hung up the phone and jumped straight into a rickshaw, urging, “Cixin Hospital, please hurry, driver!”

If she could just get through this stretch, Li Chengying’s people would surely come to her rescue soon.

The rickshaw carried Wen Tingli around a corner, across another street, and ahead a quiet alley appeared — the nearest route. Just then, several people suddenly appeared at the mouth of the alley, blocking the way, all dressed in matching silver-white short jackets and trousers, cigarettes hanging from every mouth.

Not understanding what was happening, the driver said with an apologetic smile, “Little brothers, please make way.”

But these men only laughed rudely: “Make way? Aren’t you the ones blocking the road?”

Before the driver could pull the rickshaw back, several more people appeared behind them, blocking the retreat.

A group closed in, shoving and jostling, their movements and tone growing fierce. Just as they were about to knock the driver to the ground, Wen Tingli suddenly jumped down from the rickshaw.

Only then did the man switch to a more agreeable expression: “Miss Wen, let’s not beat around the bush — our Boss Qiu is waiting for you in the car. Come along with us.”

Hatred burning inside her, Wen Tingli gritted her teeth and followed the group out of the alley. Sure enough, a car was waiting ahead.

The window rolled down, revealing a slick, plump face — Qiu Dapeng sat in the back seat, legs crossed.

“Tingli, ah,” Qiu Dapeng said, tapping the ash off his cigar. “Now this isn’t right of you. Uncle Qiu called out to you back there, and you ran off faster than a rabbit.”

Wen Tingli looked around — this place was already quite close to Cixin Hospital — and said with a smile, “Uncle Qiu must be here specifically to visit my father at the hospital, right? It’s thanks to you that he’s ended up the way he is now. Since you’re already here at the door, why not go take a look at him?”

Qiu Dapeng’s face was thicker than a city wall; he waved a hand. “Your brother’s long wanted to come visit, but Elder Brother’s misunderstanding of your brother runs too deep — barging in to visit him now might only give him a shock. Today I’ve come to see you about Lingyun’s business—”

His expression suddenly darkened. “Thanks to you, Lingyun was beaten black and blue by Mr. Meng’s men. He’s been recuperating for so long now, and there are still a few bones that haven’t healed. Poor boy, even beaten like that, he still thinks of you day and night. The doctor says the heart’s illness needs the heart’s medicine. Today Uncle Qiu specially had the chefs from Dadong Restaurant prepare a whole table of good dishes at home, just to entertain you. You and Lingyun can clear up your misunderstanding over dinner — as long as you’re there, whether it’s his broken bones or his heartache, both will heal completely.”

Saying this, he waved a hand at his subordinates. Wen Tingli sneered: “There’s really no misunderstanding between me and Qiu Lingyun. He knows perfectly well why he got beaten. And besides, I’m not the one who beat him — go say all this to Mr. Meng instead.”

Qiu Dapeng narrowed his eyes. “Uncle Qiu knows you’ve grown up now, made a lot of connections, and with someone backing you up, you don’t put Uncle Qiu in your eyes anymore. Too bad — since we’ve run into each other here today, Uncle Qiu is bound to teach you a lesson or two about how to conduct yourself! Lingyun’s still waiting at home — bring Miss Wen to the car.”

Wen Tingli anxiously looked all around — after all this time, still no sign of Lawyer Bao’s or Li Chengying’s people.

In that split second of hesitation, people from both sides moved to drag her into the car. She struggled furiously, pulling a calling card from her book bag, searching everywhere for a public phone booth.

Qiu Dapeng’s eyes were sharp — he spotted the large character “Kuang” on the card at once, but this time he wasn’t nearly as wary as before, only sneering contemptuously: “Still pulling that trick? Uncle Qiu’s already found out the truth — the Lu family doesn’t know any Miss Wen at all. Last time, they only helped flag down a car for you out of consideration for your status as a Wushi student. Did you really think Mr. Kuang would even know he’s supposedly on such friendly terms with you?”

The reason Wen Tingli had pulled out Kuang Zhilin’s card was only to buy time. Seeing the group closing in on her again, she glared and said, “Whether he knows me well or not, why don’t you find out with a phone call right now? Just tell Mr. Kuang I’ve run into big trouble in Gan Family Lane, and he’ll definitely send someone right away. You’d all better clear off soon, or you’ll regret it later.”

With that, she ran a few steps and ducked into the nearest phone booth, picking up the receiver as if to make a call.

She dialed a few numbers for show, but deliberately didn’t finish dialing the whole number.

This time, Qiu Dapeng didn’t even need to expose her — several of his lackeys burst out laughing. “This little girl’s really something, putting on quite the show. We almost got fooled by her for a second there.”

Qiu Dapeng, cigar between his fingers, raised his hand smugly. “Eh, don’t laugh at the child — let her make the call.”

Wen Tingli’s mind raced — who could she possibly call right now? Yan Zhenzhen? Zhao Qingluo? Qiao Baoxin? No matter what, she couldn’t bear to drag any of them into this filthy mess.

Qiu Dapeng’s patience ran out; he waved his hand at his men, and the group swarmed around the phone booth.

“Come on out already!” Wen Tingli steeled herself, and right in front of everyone, dialed the number on Kuang Zhilin’s calling card.

The group froze in surprise.

The call went through, but for a long while no one answered on the other end.

The Bailong Gang men laughed openly again: “Miss Wen, why so quiet? Weren’t you going to tell this ‘Mr. Kuang’ of yours that you’ve run into trouble? Come, come, let us kindly report the address for you — ‘Gan Family Lane, Mr. Kuang, come quick.'”

The man deliberately pinched his voice into a shrill falsetto. Wen Tingli waited anxiously through several rings, about to hang up, when the other end of the line suddenly stirred. Wen Tingli, startled, nearly dropped the receiver — from the sound of it, someone was there. Frightened, she hurriedly said, “I — I’m looking for Mr. Kuang, this is Wen Tingli.”

But the other end remained silent for a long while. Having no other choice, she had to hang up.

At a certain residence on Kulun Road, Lu Shicheng had just walked in the door when he heard the phone ringing urgently.

He tossed his suit jacket casually onto the sofa — this was Kuang Zhilin’s private residence; answering the phone wasn’t his place.

An hour earlier, Kuang Zhilin had arranged to meet him here. But no sooner had he arrived downstairs than some minor issue at Lixin Bank required Kuang Zhilin’s attention. Kuang Zhilin had come down to hand him the key and driven off by himself.

The whole spacious residence was now without a single servant in it. This wasn’t strange — every time Kuang Zhilin reported important matters to him, he would clear out anyone nearby beforehand.

The phone kept ringing.

Lu Shicheng ignored it. There was tea on the low table; he leaned over and drank a few sips.

Gradually, Lu Shicheng found the ringing louder than thunder.

He glanced impatiently at his wristwatch — this was right around dinnertime. Perhaps someone on the other end had some urgent matter for Kuang Zhilin?

Finally, he got up and picked up the phone.

The moment he put the receiver to his ear, he heard the sound of several men laughing mockingly.

“Let’s see how long she keeps up the act.”

“…Gan Family Lane, Mr. Kuang, come quick.”

Meanwhile, someone’s breathing kept brushing heavily against the mouthpiece, sounding extremely anxious.

Lu Shicheng held the receiver and waited quietly. The jeering laughter on the other end grew more and more unrestrained, but the person who’d placed the call still hadn’t said a single word.

Lu Shicheng lowered his eyes to the teacup in his hand, then suddenly set it down on the table, deliberately with a bit more force, producing a thud.

The other end of the line evidently heard the sound, and abruptly fell silent before hurriedly saying, “I’m looking for Mr. Kuang, this is Wen Tingli.”

“So where’s this ‘Mr. Kuang’ of yours, then?” A group of men laughed as they pulled open the phone booth door. “Anything else to say now?”

Wen Tingli, before they could drag her out, turned and pressed her back against the door to block it.

“You have no idea — that was Young Master Lu who just answered! The Lu family will send people over any moment now!”

Everyone laughed even harder.

“I could say I’m the Jade Emperor himself, would you believe that?”

Wen Tingli bluffed on: “Whether what I said is true or false, won’t we know in another ten minutes or so? What if I’m telling the truth — aren’t you afraid the Lu family will come after you?”

Qiu Dapeng threw his cigar to the ground and stubbed it out, drawling: “Fine, let’s listen to her, we’ll wait a bit longer. If you really can summon Mr. Lu, be sure to introduce him to Uncle Qiu, won’t you?”

Wen Tingli’s heart eased slightly — she didn’t believe that in ten minutes, Li Chengying’s people still wouldn’t have arrived.

Every minute she could drag this out was a minute gained.

Ten minutes passed. Qiu Dapeng’s face had begun to gleam with oil from waiting, and still no one appeared at the mouth of the alley.

Fine — he’d let this child make a fool of him again! He turned with a scowl and said, “Drag her to the car!”

Wen Tingli desperately pressed against the phone booth door, but how could one person withstand a whole gang of thugs? Just as she was about to be forcibly dragged out, the mouth of the alley suddenly, eerily, fell silent.

A figure had quietly appeared at the alley’s entrance, hands tucked in his trouser pockets, as if he’d just happened to be passing by. The setting sun shone on the entrance, catching the gleam of his wristwatch. This person first glanced inward half-doubtfully, and once he saw clearly what was happening, his expression cooled and he walked toward the group.

Qiu Dapeng froze on the spot. Several of the thugs, hearing the sound, turned around too, seeming just as paralyzed.

Wen Tingli’s expression was even more like she’d seen a ghost.

“Y-Young Master Lu.”

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Lu Shicheng walked straight up to the phone booth, and reaching out ahead of him, made several thugs instinctively pull back their hands. Just like that, Lu Shicheng effortlessly pulled the door open.

Wen Tingli practically leapt in one bound from inside the booth to stand in front of Lu Shicheng.

At this point, Qiu Dapeng finally came to his senses, and seeing Lu Shicheng’s gaze sweep toward him, hurriedly put on a fawning smile as he backed away: “A misunderstanding! It’s all just a misunderstanding, Tingli, Uncle Qiu won’t trouble you further—”

The rest of the thugs also snapped out of their daze as if waking from a dream, and swarmed after Qiu Dapeng toward the cars, scrambling in and driving off with a roar of engines.

Wen Tingli had no attention to spare for Qiu Dapeng now, because she herself was in a state of tremendous shock.

Seeing a ghost in broad daylight wouldn’t have startled her more than seeing Lu Shicheng here. She’d only been bluffing on the phone just now — could that call really have been answered by Lu Shicheng himself?

“Mr. Lu,” she stammered. “How did you come to be here?”

Watching the last of the Bailong Gang scatter away, Lu Shicheng turned to look Wen Tingli up and down, confirming she wasn’t hurt, then, without lingering, turned and walked out of the alley.

Wen Tingli followed after him without a word. “Were you just passing by here? Or — was it really you on the other end of the phone just now?”

Lu Shicheng showed no sign of wanting to answer.

But Wen Tingli’s tongue had already loosened. “I swear, I never meant to trouble Mr. Kuang. Earlier I only wanted to use Mr. Kuang’s name to scare that Qiu fellow off. There was no sound on the other end of the line for the longest time, so I thought the call hadn’t gone through and didn’t hang up right away. Who would’ve thought — who would’ve thought you’d be the one to answer.”

She sounded both relieved and amused, and started laughing as she spoke.

“What an astonishing coincidence, Mr. Lu — how did you tell it was someone you knew on the other end of the line? Oh, right, they called me Miss Wen just now — you must have heard that.”

Lu Shicheng couldn’t help but glance sideways at her.

She’d chattered in his ear so many times by now — it would be strange if he still couldn’t recognize her voice.

Wen Tingli looked down at the road ahead, then suddenly burst out laughing again. “Mr. Lu was able to find this place so quickly — was it because you heard them say ‘Gan Family Lane’? You know how foolish they were! Giving themselves away like that! Oh, and you must be quite curious why Qiu Dapeng was giving me trouble, right?”

Lu Shicheng closed his eyes briefly. No, I’m not curious.

But Wen Tingli sighed, lowering her head. “It’s a long story. That Qiu fellow was sworn brothers with my father, but the man’s got a heart full of wickedness…”

She suddenly stopped and looked around curiously. “Were you with Mr. Kuang just now? How come I don’t see him around?”

Catching Lu Shicheng’s expression, Wen Tingli suddenly realized. “You came here alone, didn’t you?”

Lu Shicheng surveyed his surroundings with a blank expression. He hadn’t even left Kuang Zhilin a note when he’d come out — old Kuang was probably searching for him everywhere by now.

He turned to look at Wen Tingli again — the Bailong Gang people were gone now, surely she had no reason to keep following him.

Just as he was about to step forward, Wen Tingli blocked his path.

Her face full of gratitude, she said, “That night, when you gave me the card, you said if I ran into any trouble at school before graduation, I could go to Mr. Kuang. I really never expected you’d keep your word so faithfully — did you make this special trip because of that promise? I’m truly sorry to have caused you such trouble — why don’t—”

She feigned reluctance as she took out the calling card. “You should take it back.”

Lu Shicheng took it from her without a word.

Not only did he take it back, he immediately, right in front of Wen Tingli, tucked the card into his jacket pocket.

Wen Tingli stood there stunned.

What, was Miss Wen not sincerely trying to return it? He gave her a sidelong glance.

She hastily cleared her throat. “You haven’t had dinner yet, have you? Let me treat you to a simple meal, all right?”

He raised a hand: [No need.]

Wen Tingli bit her lip. “Mr. Lu is worried the food won’t be good enough? I know all the restaurants around here very well — whatever flavor Mr. Lu likes, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

Lu Shicheng turned and walked toward his own car — it was parked rather far off, since he’d spent quite a while searching along the road just to find this so-called Gan Family Lane.

Wen Tingli kept following right behind him, step for step.

Couldn’t she tell he didn’t want her tagging along? he thought to himself as he walked.

He finally found where he’d parked, and pulled the car door open, about to get in, when suddenly a dozen or so rickshaws came around the corner, all carrying elderly women who poured out in a bustling wave and rushed straight toward Gan Family Lane.

The old women were dressed no differently from ordinary neighborhood housemaids, yet every one of them moved with surprising vigor.

One of them caught sight of Wen Tingli, and her steps faltered for a moment.

Something stirred in Lu Shicheng’s mind; he turned to look at Wen Tingli beside him. Wen Tingli, too, was momentarily taken aback, but quickly realized these must be people sent by Sister Li to rescue her, and discreetly gave the woman an extremely subtle hand signal.

The old woman withdrew her gaze, and instead rose up on her bound feet to look around. “Old Madam Lou really lives around here? Why’s this place so cold and quiet?”

Saying this, she walked off in that direction.

Wen Tingli turned her head, and happened to meet Lu Shicheng’s gaze. She hadn’t expected he’d been watching her all along; her eyes couldn’t help but ripple slightly, but she quickly recovered with a sweet smile and continued the earlier topic. “I really do want to treat you to dinner.”

Lu Shicheng glanced once more at the departing backs of the old women, and instantly changed his mind. He shut the car door and pointed at Wen Tingli’s book bag.

Wen Tingli thought it over for a moment, then took out the little notebook from before, saying tentatively, “You want this?”

Lu Shicheng took it, glancing casually over the pages — in just a single day, she’d already added quite a few new vocabulary words.

With experience from last time, he flipped familiarly to the blank pages at the back and wrote a line.

[Where does Miss Wen intend to treat me to dinner?]