Following Chu Fengyi down the stairs, they encountered two elderly men who often played chess in the park.
Xu Lin greeted them, but to his surprise, the two men waved to Chu Fengyi and said, "Girl, next time we won't lose."
"Okay."
After the two men left, Xu Lin also looked at Chu Fengyi and asked, "Do you still like to play chess?"
"Yes, but not as good as Chu Qingchan. Let's put it this way, Chu Qingchan surpasses me in badminton, chess... and figure."
"Are you better at acting than her? I mean, now, in the past, she wasn't good at acting."
"..." Chu Feng glanced at him, then walked quickly ahead, leaving him behind.
The two arrived at the sixth floor, where Xu Lin knocked on Chu Qingchan's door first, and then it opened.
But it wasn't Chu Qingchan who answered, it was Ji Yun, still in her school uniform, indicating she had just returned home.
"Xu Lin, I was just about to call you. You didn't come back last night after going out."
"I thought something had happened to you, but couldn't reach you. My sister was also very worried about you."
"Sorry, sorry, I'll explain in a moment."
At this moment, Ji Yun seemed a bit unhappy. But she wasn't the type to cause trouble, so she nodded towards Chu Fengyi.
"Teacher Chu, did you just come back today?"
"Yes, is my sister not home?"
"She went to Teacher Guan's place."
"My sister really trusts you, even her own younger sister didn't get a key."
Chu Fengyi also came out firing, but Ji Yun remained calm, smiling as she replied.
"Sister Chu thinks you're too busy and doesn't come often. If you need, I'll give you this bunch of keys first."
"No need, let's talk inside." Chu Fengyi waved her hand indifferently and walked inside.
This girl is indeed not easy to deal with. But Chu Fengyi refuses to believe that there's anyone she can't handle!
And Chu Qingchan, really, giving the keys to her house so casually to someone she's only known for a while, and that too, a rival!
"Cough! Classmate Ji, why aren't you going back to your own house at this time of day? What are you doing here?"
Ji Yun suddenly realized that Chu Fengyi seemed a bit hostile towards her today.
Although they usually didn't say much when they met, they were usually polite to each other. But today, she felt a bit...
Could something have happened?
She glanced at Xu Lin, who had already slipped over to the fridge to find a drink. "There's some stuff going on at home, and I don't really have anywhere else to go, so I'm just planning to rest here for a bit, clean up, and then head to school."
"Have your parents finished chatting?" Hearing this from Ji Yun, Xu Lin didn't pretend anymore.
"No, it's Aunt Yao who came to our house. My mom wants to chat with her, so I and my dad were kicked out."
"I see. How about your parents?"
"They didn't argue when I came home last night. They even had dinner together." Ji Yun smiled as she spoke.
"That's good. Chu Fengyi, what would you like to drink?"
"What options are there?"
"We have Happy Water and orange juice."
"Happy water, red or blue?"
"Red. Blue, even dogs don't drink!"
"Then I'll drink red too. Classmate Ji Yun, do you have any troubles at home?"
Upon hearing the conversation between the two, Chu Fengyi seemed to recall something that Chu Qingchan had mentioned before. Ji Yun's parents were going through a divorce because of another woman.
"It's nothing..."
"Talk to me. Maybe I can help you, and besides, I'm your teacher, right?"
"Okay." Ji Yun reluctantly sat down next to Chu Fengyi.
Xu Lin originally wanted to stop Chu Fengyi's espionage activities, but upon reflection, he realized Chu Fengyi didn't have bad intentions.
Talking things over might actually improve their relationship. He believed in Ji Yun's ability to connect with others; after all, even the reserved Chu Qingchan had softened in her presence.
As Ji Yun talked about her parents, Chu Fengyi's expression softened from its initial disdain to something more gentle.
Her tone no longer carried the same sense of reluctance. Indeed, Ji Yun's words about her parents struck a chord with Chu Fengyi, whose own parents' relationship greatly influenced her.
Hearing Ji Yun's story, Chu Fengyi found herself hesitant to continue her initial plan of teaching the young girl a lesson.
Sipping his cola, Xu Lin chuckled quietly, enjoying the harmonious scene. Though Chu Fengyi's temperament might only be temporary.
"About Aunt Yao, is there really no way to treat her?"
"It's already in the late stage, she's even started to have some trouble moving on her own now."
"Well, at this stage, there really isn't any way to completely cure her... sigh," Chu Fengyi also sighed.
"Some things, even with money, cannot be done, just like people in ancient times wanting to pursue immortality."
"But in modern times, although with improvements in the medical system, living standards, and so on, lifespans have increased significantly, there are still some diseases..."
Xu Lin stood not far away, pulling out the small bead from his pocket. 'Or perhaps give it a try?'
Originally, he didn't quite believe that a bead could save someone, but after yesterday's experience, when the system administered a pill, Qin Yunhe's serious wound healed instantly.
He had no choice but to trust the system.
Even if it couldn't completely cure, prolonging life for a while or reducing suffering would be worthwhile.
"Speaking of which, you said yesterday Xu Lin didn't go home?"
"He took the afternoon off and went to handle something with Sister Qin."
"Handle something?"
Chu Fengyi looked at Xu Lin, and his mind started to fabricate stories. But wait, he did go to handle something important.
"Sister Qin is a police officer, involved in a case related to a fraud syndicate. Also, my classmate got involved, so I asked her to help."
"Yesterday, she infiltrated there and coincidentally saw us having lunch. But I felt she wanted to act alone, without notifying her colleagues."
"So I took a leave and stayed nearby, in case she encountered any unexpected situation, so I could assist or call the police."
"In the end, she was discovered, leading to a conflict, and I stepped in to help. The two of us fought off those people and then called the police."
Xu Lin recounted the facts once again, then proceeded to bring out the draft that fooled his mother. He was left there to take notes until after 7 o'clock.
Later, because he helped Qin Yunhe, everyone invited him to dinner, and he ended up drinking too much. Eventually, he was carried to a policeman's house, where he slept on the sofa for the night.
Xu Lin made a slight adjustment, changing the sleeping location from a hotel to someone else's house, as Chu Fengyi is quite particular and might inquire about the specific hotel to check.
This way, she would at least not ask too many questions and it would appear more cautious, as leaving someone in a small hotel might seem unsafe.
"I was wondering why you didn't update yesterday."
"Update... Oh no! I forgot to update, darn it!"
Xu Lin felt terrible and quickly took out his phone that he had just received when he got home.
He found over a dozen messages on QQ, including messages from the reader group he had just created, creating quite a lively scene.
From last night until now, among the nearly thousand messages, 90% were urging the author to come out and update!
Of course, there were also a few messages not related to following the trend, but they were also discussing this matter.
"This lazy author disappeared again? Not updating even once a day!"
"Speaking of which, why did the administrator inquire? So, even during breaks, announcements are made in the chapters?"
"I have no idea either!"
"Could it be that they've castrated?"
[T/N: I think they might be talking about if the novel got cancelled.]
"I don't think so."
"I'm just kidding. With such good performance, how could it be?"
"But that day, that great god suddenly disappeared too."
"Uh... you're making me nervous."
"Don't worry, everyone. I'll be back from my business trip tomorrow and will personally urge the author to update."
"@BlondePonytail, do you really know the author in real life?"
"Yeah, I'm his master."
"Master?"
"Yes, indeed."
"Then can you ask him to update more often!"
"I'll try my best."
Xu Lin rubbed his eyes, looking at that username, damn it!
Chu Fengyi, how did you even infiltrate my reader group!?