Chapter 426

Shining his flashlight toward the No. 25 small building across the way, Li Heng pondered whether Yu Laoshi had gone home.

Should he take his key to open the door and go over, or give Yu Laoshi a call?

But the next second, thinking of the incredibly enthusiastic Aunt Shen Xin, he felt he couldn't handle it at all, so he extinguished the thought.

Half an hour later, Zhou Shihe came over.

At this moment, Li Heng, having nothing to do, was reading on the sofa in a very casual posture, with one leg bent on the sofa and the other resting on the coffee table.

Seeing her appear, Li Heng pulled back his leg and asked, "You've definitely finished washing your clothes, right?"

"Mm." Zhou Shihe gave a hum and sat down opposite him, though her gaze fell upon his book.

Li Heng closed the book. "Just grabbed a random one. Why, are you interested?"

Zhou Shihe shook her head slightly. "I thought you were preparing for your next book."

"Dizzy, do you take me for a god? *Bai Luyuan* just finished; let me rest a while," Li Heng complained.

Zhou Shihe smiled weakly, and after a moment, said, "Can I discuss something with you?"

Li Heng said, "Go ahead."

Zhou Shihe said, "If *Bai Luyuan* is published, send me a signed copy."

Li Heng was surprised: "Just this little thing? Is it worth the Fudan Queen herself speaking up? I sent *To Live*, so I'll definitely send this one."

Zhou Shihe pondered for a long while, then added reservedly, "I want to take a photo with you."

Li Heng understood and felt a little smug: "You really like this book."

"Mm, very much." Regarding things she liked from the bottom of her heart, Zhou Shihe did not hide it.

*Bai Luyuan* could be considered one of the three books she liked most among all the domestic and foreign classics she had ever read.

And precisely because of this, she had broken precedent to make this request.

With their eyes meeting, Li Heng nodded and agreed almost without hesitation: "What a simple matter. When it's actually published, I'll satisfy your request the first chance I get."

"Thank you," Zhou Shihe expressed her gratitude gently.

"Don't mention it."

Li Heng waved his hand and then asked her, "I see you don't look sleepy right now. Reading? Or shall I keep you company watching TV for a while?"

Zhou Shihe thought for a moment and said, "Reading."

Li Heng said, "Then go to the study and pick one out."

Zhou Shihe looked at him quietly, sitting still.

Two seconds later, Li Heng realized, stood up, and walked toward the study: "Follow me."

This young lady was good in every way, except that sometimes she seemed slightly rigid, never going alone into his private restricted areas. For example, the study, or his bedroom.

Even though they were inches apart and had been together for a year, she never overstepped; she was just that kind of particular person.

Fine, one couldn't say she was rigid, but rather that she understood etiquette, followed rules, and respected people; she was a woman who carried a ruler in her heart.

Opening the study door, Li Heng walked in, plopped down on a chair, and said, "Pick whatever you like."

Seeing Zhou Shihe really about to move, he suddenly sprang up, which gave her a start, scaring her into stopping in her tracks.

Under her gaze, Li Heng picked up a registered letter from the bookshelf on the right; this was what Liu Yue had entrusted Li Xian to pass on to him last time.

This letter was no small matter; it hid a great secret. If someone discovered it, his little affair with Huang Zhaoyi would be exposed.

He wasn't afraid of exposure, but now was definitely not the time, otherwise many things would change.

Zhou Shihe thought it was another love letter written to him by someone, smiled, didn't take it too seriously, and continued looking for a book to read.

Before long, she picked out a book and left the study.

Once the footsteps had faded, Li Heng took out the letter again, pondered for a short while, and then tore it into pieces.

Damn it, there was no other way. The women around him were more shrewd than the last; keeping the letter would sooner or later lead to trouble, so it was better to destroy the evidence directly for peace of mind.

That night, the two of them kept reading, one in the study and one on the sofa outside, each reading their own, without disturbing each other.

At dawn, Zhou Shihe raised her right hand to check her watch, swept a glance toward the study, got up, entered the guest bedroom, and closed the door.

About half an hour later, Li Heng washed up, turned off the lights, and went to sleep as well.

Not a word was spoken all night.

Past 5:00 AM, the sky outside was already bright.

Li Heng was woken by his alarm, reached out to turn it off, sat on the edge of the bed to think for a while, then got dressed and went to knock on the door next door.

As it turned out, the guest bedroom door next door was open, and it was completely empty inside.

Li Heng subconsciously looked toward the washroom.

The washroom door was also open, with no light shining out from within.

Could Zhou Gu Niang have already gotten up?

Or did something unexpected happen?

With a head full of confusion, Li Heng couldn't even bother with washing up for the moment; he first searched every room on the second floor, but no one was there.

Then he went downstairs.

Well, well, just as he reached the corner of the stairs, he heard the sound of a spatula and the smell of meat wafting over.

Was she cooking?

Running downstairs in a few steps, the kitchen light was indeed on. Li Heng arrived at the kitchen entrance and caught sight of the slender figure busy inside at a glance.

Gazing at the graceful, clear, and lovable thin frame, he didn't rush to disturb her, but instead leaned slowly against the kitchen door, just watching her like that.

In his previous life, none of his three women were good at cooking; throughout his life, he had almost never seen such a scene. Seeing it suddenly today, he found it quite novel.

In this life, Mai Sui had been learning to cook from Zhou Shihe, and her culinary skills had improved, reaching the standard of an average rural woman. Ahem, although it couldn't be considered particularly delicious, she could make over 10 dishes that were edible.

Then he thought of that great *Qingyi* actress; among the women he knew, her skills were probably the second best. Even though the variety of dishes she knew was limited, the key was that she was willing to learn and put in the effort.

Of course, all of them combined still fell far short of the one in the kitchen.

Just like when Ye Ning once sighed sourly while drunk: Why does heaven favor Shihe so much? It's enough that she's beautiful, but she also has a good temperament; it's enough that she has a good temperament, but she also has a powerful family background; it's enough that she has a powerful family background, but the key is that she can play the piano, can cook, and is smart too. How is this supposed to let other women live?

Just as Li Heng's thoughts were wandering, Zhou Shihe seemed to sense something and turned her head, sure enough catching a pair of eyes gazing at her.

She was all too familiar with this scene.

In the enclosed space of the piano room, when they spent long periods together, he would occasionally watch her quietly like this.

Seeing that she had discovered him, Li Heng, having snapped out of it, smiled and took the initiative to greet her: "How long have you been up?"

Zhou Shihe checked her watch: "Over 50 minutes."

Li Heng asked: "Why didn't you sleep in the middle of the night?"

Zhou Shihe answered gently: "Couldn't sleep, so I just got up."

Li Heng thought of something: "Did you have a nightmare?"

Zhou Shihe gave a hum.

Li Heng frowned, "I remember you seemed to have said before that you didn't have nightmares? Did it start last year in Jingcheng?"

Zhou Shihe did not deny it: "After being frightened that time, I've had nightmares often."

At this point, the two were speechless, because neither had any way to deal with such a strange thing as a "dream," not to mention that the Zhou family had already thought of all the methods they could for her, but the results were poor.

Zhou Shihe didn't want to talk much about this topic, and instead said: "Go wash up, we'll eat in a while."

"Eh, alright." Li Heng didn't act coy and turned to go upstairs to the second floor.

The morning dishes were quite rich, three meat dishes and one vegetable dish, plus a cold platter. Looking at the dishes on the table, Li Heng realized that Comrade Shihe was fulfilling her promise.

She had said on the bus yesterday that she would make him a big meal when they got back, so she had gotten up very early today and put effort into making five dishes.

Zhou Shihe served two bowls of rice and placed one in front of him: "If we can't finish it, we'll take it fishing."

"That's a good idea," Li Heng agreed.

He picked up a lion's head meatball to his mouth, took a big bite, chewed it, and sighed: "Still the familiar taste, really delicious. Your cooking is still the most to my taste."

Hearing these somewhat ambiguous words, Zhou Shihe lowered her head and ate her own, quiet and silent.

Li Heng realized and said: "I was just praising you sincerely. In Xiangnan, it's the world of spicy food; it's rare to eat such pure, skillful cooking."

Zhou Shihe smiled cleverly, "Mm."

The meal maintained this tone throughout; he did most of the talking, she was responsible for listening, and occasionally Zhou Gu Niang would ask a few questions.

After the meal, she checked her watch and said: "No time left, I'm going to take a shower. Leave the bowls and chopsticks here for now, I'll clean them when I get back."

Having just finished cooking, there was inevitably a smell of cooking fumes on her, and it was her habit to take a shower to feel fresh before going out.

Having agreed to meet at 5:30, the fake Daoist dragged his feet until 5:53 before finally shuffling out the door.

"Hey! You brat, don't look at me with that gaze. The alarm went off several times, the old man just couldn't get up." Seeing Li Heng's unfriendly gaze, the fake Daoist hurriedly explained.

Li Heng rolled his eyes: "The first time going out with you, and you stand me up. I won't dare to trust you in the future."

The fake Daoist knew he was in the wrong, twisted his face, and said: "There are two ladies here, give me some face at least. I'm someone who's about to be a father too."

The fake Daoist's comical appearance made one's balls ache. After joking for a few sentences, the four arrived at the alley entrance and got into Chen Siya's car.

Having been in Hangcheng for almost a year, many places were still very unfamiliar to him; he only knew the car kept driving, turning corner after corner, and later it finally stopped, stopping by a river.

Taking the things out of the trunk, the fake Daoist pointed to the front left, "We're going over there. I caught five mandarin fish at that fishing spot last time."

Hearing there were mandarin fish, Li Heng, who loved to eat them, immediately ran over happily, spent time preparing the bait, cast the fishing line, and only then had time to look at the others.

Old Fu was also busy with the bait.

Zhou Shihe had brought a blanket out and was setting it up with Chen Siya, and later sat on the blanket, chatting.

The resources in the river were indeed rich; after only a while, the float moved, and he immediately stopped chatting and focused on reeling in the line.

For the first fish of his rebirth, Li Heng was very expectant, but the result was a great disappointment; although it was a mandarin fish, it was damnably small, pathetic enough that it would be embarrassing even to get stuck between his teeth.

Taking the fish off, Li Heng patted its head and said to it: "Out in the middle of nowhere, how is it safe for a little kid to be out alone? Go! Call your parents over."

Having said that, he released the small fish.

At the same time, light laughter came from Zhou Shihe and Chen Siya behind him.

Chen Siya teased happily: "As expected of a famous writer known throughout the country, your train of thought is unique."

Li Heng said happily: "Don't mention the great writer. Sister Chen, Old Fu, how about we have a fishing competition today?"

The fake Daoist, who was very confident in fishing, immediately became interested: "What kind of competition? By number? Or by weight?"

Li Heng said, "Number or weight is fine, but only mandarin fish count; other fish don't count at all."

Old Fu grinned: "Then let's make it simple, by number. What's the bet?"

Li Heng thought for a long time but couldn't think of anything, so he turned to Chen Siya: "Sister Chen, you're about to be a mother, you're the oldest here, how do you think we should bet?"

Seeing the three looking over, Chen Siya smiled and said: "You and Old Fu can both cook; whoever loses is responsible for our lunch and dinner."

Li Heng and Old Fu looked at each other, and it was settled just like that.

Afterward, Li Heng glanced at Zhou Shihe, then glanced beside himself; the meaning was too obvious, he just hadn't shouted it out: Hurry and sit beside me, we're a golden combination, killing Buddhas if Buddhas block, killing gods if gods block.

Zhou Shihe pouted her little mouth slightly, pondered for a moment, and under the gaze of the fake Daoist couple, she still sat down beside him.

Old Fu bared his teeth and beckoned to his wife: "Siya, we can't lose our momentum, you sit over here too."

Chen Siya was dizzy, but she didn't disobey her husband's wishes in front of others and moved her position.

The fishing competition officially began, limited to two hours. Calculating the time, Li Heng quietly said to Zhou Shihe: "Reach out and touch the fishing rod."

Zhou Shihe looked at him strangely.

Li Heng blinked and said: "Judging from our many card-playing experiences in the past, I feel our auras are connected and fused. We are both people with deep fortune. I touched the rod, you touch it too, we'll definitely be able to catch more fish."

Zhou Shihe was speechless, but recalling their card-playing experience in Jingcheng, she gave him enough face, stretched out her right hand, and touched the fishing rod.

After touching it, she looked at him again, feeling a bit strange.

Old Fu took in their little actions, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, and asked: "What are you brat doing? Letting student Shihe touch the rod, is there some saying behind it?"

Being asked this, Zhou Shihe turned her head away somewhat embarrassedly and looked into the distance.

Li Heng laughed it off: "Old Fu, it's not that I'm lecturing you, but you don't understand the affairs of cultured people. This is called bestowing a blessing."

Chen Siya laughed: "Can Shihe bestow a blessing just by touching it?"

Li Heng nodded solemnly and started his serious nonsense mode: "Of course. Speaking of which, you wouldn't believe it, but I had a dream last night, dreaming that our Comrade Shihe was a fairy from heaven descending to earth, specifically here today to help me fish. Touch the rod once, and you'll catch a mandarin fish; touch the rod once, and you'll catch a..."

Before he finished speaking, his float sank violently and disappeared.

This movement instantly attracted the attention of all four.

Li Heng didn't hesitate, took out the stance of a fisherman from his previous life, and before long, experiencedly brought the fish to the shore.

The four looked closely!

Whoa! It really was a mandarin fish, and not a small one, weighing about 2.5 jin.

Old Fu glanced at his own float, which hadn't moved at all, and immediately muttered a complaint: "Your damn luck, the fish came right after you finished talking."

"That's right, Old Fu, just stay there and be envious."

Li Heng picked up the fish and said to Zhou Shihe: "Didn't you bring a camera? Give the camera to Sister Chen. Come! Let's take a photo together; the first fish we caught together is very commemorative."

Zhou Shihe also loved eating fish, and seeing such a big mandarin fish, she finally hadn't come for nothing. She handed the camera to Chen Siya five meters away, then sat quietly beside Li Heng, both looking toward the camera.

PS: Posted first, edited later.

10,200 words posted.

(End of chapter)