Chapter 433: , Yu Laoshi vs Zhou Shihe, Empty City Strategy

Dinner was mainly to reward everyone for their hard work during the day. It was also to let each other get more familiar and lay a foundation for further cooperation in the future.

The long-haired man and the crew-cut woman tried to get close to Li Heng, drank several glasses, and finally took a group photo before leaving satisfied. The two were very sensible and didn't disturb Zhou Shihe and Wei Xiaozhu beside him.

Old Fu was

Li Heng reminded, "Old Fu, you have to drive later, drink less."

Seeing her husband happy, Chen Siya said, "It doesn't matter, let Wu Bei drive."

Wu Bei is Yu Shuheng's bodyguard and also her secretary. There is another bodyguard, Ceng Yun. These two women once went to Bai Luyuan Village together, and Li Heng has a deep impression of this.

The tipsy Old Fu filled his glass, raised it to Li Heng, and rambled, "You kid, I thought I held you in high regard, but in the end, I still underestimated you. Sigh, if only I weren't a man, I would pester you to no end."

The women nearby were collectively speechless.

Chen Siya reached out and patted her husband's back, "You talk nonsense every time you get drunk. Even if you were a woman, Li Heng wouldn't fancy you. Look at these girls around him; which one isn't a beauty that could topple a city? Someone like you, he'd even find it annoying to be ordinary friends with."

The fake Daoist priest glanced at Zhou Shihe, then at Wei Xiaozhu, and then at Yu Laoshi, who was chatting with the short-haired woman on the other side. He immediately shook his head and said, "Indeed, indeed! This kid is truly blessed."

Old Fu was truly drunk. After a few more glasses, he went straight to the other table to swear brotherhood with the long-haired man, and he insisted on dragging Li Heng along to join. The liveliness of it all made everyone present unable to hold back their laughter.

After much difficulty, Li Heng finally managed to shake off Old Fu and, having handed the drunkard over to the long-haired man, he finally freed himself and returned to his original seat.

Only then did Yu Shuheng walk over and ask with concern, "Li Heng, you've had quite a bit to drink tonight, are you alright?"

Li Heng quietly pointed his finger at Zhou Shihe and Wei Xiaozhu, "Thanks to these two comrades, most of the white liquor I drank was water, and most of the beer was tea. I'm fine."

Yu Shuheng glanced at Zhou Shihe, then at Wei Xiaozhu, smiled slightly, and walked away.

Li Heng poured three glasses of beer and handed one to each of the two women, "Come, let's have a toast."

Zhou Shihe and Wei Xiaozhu were very accommodating; they both picked up their glasses and clinked them with his.

After taking a bite of food, Li Heng said, "It felt really good playing with you today. We should keep this up in the future; it can save quite a bit of time."

Recalling the scene at the recording session, Zhou Shihe stared at the wine in her glass and gave a quiet "Mhm."

Wei Xiaozhu asked Zhou Shihe, "Shihe, did you bring your camera?"

Zhou Shihe said, "I should have. I put it in my bag last time we went fishing and haven't taken it out yet."

As she spoke, she took her bag and found the camera.

Wei Xiaozhu took the camera, adjusted it, and then said to her, "Get a little closer to Li Heng, I'll take a group photo of you two."

Li Heng and Zhou Shihe looked at each other, confused as to why she suddenly thought of taking photos, but they still cooperated and faced the lens together.

Wei Xiaozhu didn't know why she suddenly wanted to take a photo of them either; it was just that when she looked over from the side and saw Li Heng and Shihe whispering to each other, it felt special, very much like the prince and princess in a fairy tale, which is why she asked.

After taking the photo, Zhou Shihe asked, "Do you two want to take one?"

Wei Xiaozhu looked at Li Heng. Without needing the lady to awkwardly ask, Li Heng had already thoughtfully walked over, and with the dining table as a background, the two took a photo shoulder to shoulder.

The meal lasted over an hour before breaking up. On the way back, Yu Shuheng focused on driving, while Li Heng, Zhou Shihe, and Wei Xiaozhu were each lost in their own thoughts, and for a while, no one spoke.

When they reached the Fudan school gate, Li Heng regained his focus and asked Wei Xiaozhu, "Comrade Xiaozhu, where are you resting tonight? Are you going back to Yan Garden? Or to Shihe's place?"

Zhou Shihe looked at Wei Xiaozhu.

Wei Xiaozhu thought for a moment and said, "I didn't tell my aunt I was coming out today, so I'd better go back to Yan Garden."

Hearing this, Li Heng nodded and immediately pushed open the car door, "It's getting late, I'll see you over there."

Zhou Shihe followed Wei Xiaozhu out of the car.

Suddenly, only Yu Shuheng was left in the car. Li Heng instructed, "Teacher, drive slowly."

Yu Shuheng nodded, her gaze darting rapidly across the faces of the three, then she started the car again and headed toward Lushan.

Watching the Mercedes drive away, the three exchanged glances and also set off.

The school gate is not far from Yan Garden. As they were about to reach Yan Garden, Wei Xiaozhu suddenly spoke up, "Li Heng, can I ask you something?"

Li Heng said, "Go ahead."

Wei Xiaozhu originally wanted to ask if he was the writer 'December', but when the words reached her lips, she changed them, "Shihe said you are leaving Shanghai on the 8th, about when will you be back?"

Li Heng pondered for a moment, "It might take about 10 days or so. It specifically depends on how the recording of the pure music album goes these few days. If the progress is fast, I'll stay a few more days before coming back."

Wei Xiaozhu said, "I ran into Zhang Bing and Bai Wanying today. Zhang Bing asked if you had any time. If you do, the few of us can go to his rented place and get together."

"Let's make it in a couple of days. If I have time, I'll let you know." Li Heng prioritized his work and didn't dare to promise lightly.

"Alright, I'll pass that on to them later," Wei Xiaozhu replied.

Upon reaching Yan Garden, Li Heng and Zhou Shihe stopped at the same time, watching Wei Xiaozhu go up to the second floor and enter the door before they felt at ease.

Seeing Wei Xiaozhu wave at them from the window to show she was safe, Li Heng waved back, then said to Zhou Shihe, "Let's go."

"Mhm." Zhou Shihe gave a soft "Mhm" and turned to follow him.

The two walked side by side on the shaded path. The old buildings with red walls and black tiles looked somewhat eerie and menacing in the moonlight. After a while, he asked, "Have you called home yet? Will they come to pick you up on the 8th?"

"Not yet," Zhou Shihe said.

Hearing this, Li Heng immediately understood. He figured she didn't want to make the call at Yu Laoshi's house, and as for outside, she hadn't found the time today.

Li Heng said, "Get up early tomorrow, I have to mail a letter. You can make your call then."

He mailed letters every day; after doing it so many times, Zhou Shihe had already guessed who he was mailing them to, so she agreed.

Entering Lushan Village and walking to the end of the alley, Li Heng turned to face her.

Zhou Shihe said gently, "I'll go home to wash up first, I'll come over in a bit."

Li Heng took the key out of his pocket, first opened his own courtyard gate, and then handed it to her, "Keep this key for now. I have to go to Yu Laoshi's house to make a call in a moment, so I might not be home."

Zhou Shihe gave him a strange look, took the key, and entered the small building at No. 27.

Once inside, he wasted no time taking a shower, then threw his clothes into the washing machine. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to finish writing a letter to his black-bellied wife before heading over to the opposite building.

There wasn't much content in today's letter, just the matter of recording the pure music album, plus some other scattered sweet nothings. He filled two pages before stopping.

He folded it into a heart shape, put it in an envelope, and affixed the stamp.

At this point, he checked his watch: 10:42.

It was getting a bit late.

With this on his mind, Li Heng walked out of the study and immediately saw Zhou Shihe reading a book on the sofa.

The two exchanged a glance; she continued to lower her head and flip through the book, while Li Heng found the spare key and tactfully went downstairs, neither disturbing the other.

Hearing the footsteps gradually fade away, at a certain moment, Zhou Shihe slowly raised her head and looked toward the small building at No. 25 across the way.

Was it a surprise?

Today, the curtains of the small building at No. 25 were actually drawn, the first time in over half a year.

As if hearing the sound of the courtyard gate downstairs, Zhou Shihe calmed down, got up, drew her own curtains, turned on the television, and slowly switched channels.

It was just a pity that at this time of night, there were no good programs on TV, just advertisements and news.

After cycling through them, Zhou Shihe, having found no satisfactory program, turned off the TV and picked up her book again to read. After a long while, she raised her head and looked at the wall clock.

On the other side.

Ever since Yu Laoshi gave him the key, he no longer needed to go through the tedious process of knocking on the door when entering or leaving the small building at No. 25; it was simple and fast.

The lights on the first floor were off; there was no one there.

Changing his shoes, Li Heng headed straight for the second floor.

As it turned out, he didn't see Yu Laoshi on the second floor, but instead saw someone unexpected: Shen Xin.

At this moment, Shen Xin was on the phone. Hearing the movement at the top of the stairs, she immediately smiled and said to her husband on the other end, "I won't chat with you anymore, my future son-in-law is here, get some rest early."

Li Heng: "..."

He complained loudly in his heart: Aunt Shen Xin, we don't need to scare people every time we meet, I'm a coward.

Shen Xin hung up the phone and turned to look at him with a face full of smiles.

Li Heng called out, "Auntie."

Shen Xin stood up, "Just for that sweet 'Auntie', I have to brew you a cup of tea."

As she spoke, she muttered, "Eh? Where did Shuheng's two special cups go?"

Li Heng: "..."

It would have been fine if she hadn't mentioned the special cups, but as soon as she did, he remembered her "deliberate" mistake back then; everything was definitely calculated.

Not finding them in the living room, Shen Xin insisted on ignoring the other cups and ran to the kitchen to find them. She laughed and said, "Your teacher must have washed them and left them on the rack to dry, forgetting to take them out."

She brewed a cup of tea and handed it to him.

Li Heng took the tea and said thank you.

Shen Xin pointed to the shower room, "Your teacher is taking a shower. If you want to deepen your relationship, you can go in and find her now."

Li Heng's lips twitched.

Damn it! He hadn't even been here for three minutes and had already been "broken through" three times. What kind of ghost is possessing this Aunt Shen?

Seeing him speechless, Shen Xin leaned forward and asked, "What? Coming to see Shuheng at this hour, isn't it to talk about feelings? Could it be an urgent matter?"

Li Heng sat on the sofa, took a sip of tea, and said, "Teacher has something to discuss with me."

Shen Xin sat opposite him, examined him carefully, and then realized, "Bodhi Patriarch tapped Sun Wukong on the back of the head three times, so you've come early too. It would be better to come in the middle of the night."

What would he do coming in the middle of the night? In the middle of the night, they'd be in bed.

Li Heng was speechless.

After he had taken two sips of tea, Shen Xin asked, "Little Heng, are you hungry? Should Auntie make you a late-night snack?"

Li Heng put down his cup, "Thank you, Auntie, no need, we just ate not long ago."

Shen Xin nodded and then asked about her daughter's trip to Dawan Village, "Do your parents like Shuheng?"

Li Heng: "..."

He said, "My parents quite like Yu Laoshi."

Shen Xin said, "The milk mushrooms Shuheng brought back tasted quite good. Your uncle and I both love them. If you have time next summer vacation, you should take her back to pick some more."

Li Heng felt ashamed. This aunt really had a trap in every sentence, even preemptively occupying his time for next summer vacation. The problem was that it was hard to refuse her.

He promised, "Sure, these mushrooms are quite common in our hometown."

Shen Xin glanced at the washroom and lowered her voice, "Your Yu Laoshi is a person who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Auntie will teach you a trick: at the right moment, you can be half-reluctant, she likes that style, she won't be able to refuse you."

What should he do?

Damn it, he really wanted to run!

Li Heng roared internally, but his face remained calm as water. He forced a smile, remained silent, and picked up his tea again.

Shen Xin observed him, secretly calculating: they had already hugged, how could she get them to sleep in the same bed?

That's right, she had peeked at the photos her daughter kept locked in her drawer.

Shen Xin had discovered the photo of Li Heng hugging Yu Shuheng in the valley on the day they went to pick mushrooms. It was precisely because of this that Shen Xin was stepping up her matchmaking efforts today and dared to be so bold with her words.

According to her analysis, her daughter should be facing her heart now, but the deadlock might be on Little Heng's side.

The Yu family's background, her daughter's identity as a university teacher, and all of Little Heng's female confidantes were the three mountains currently weighing on Li Heng's heart.

Shen Xin was calculating how to help him remove those three mountains.

She guessed that in the valley photo, her daughter was likely the more proactive one, and Little Heng was passively hugging Shuheng. Clues for this could be found in their hugging posture, expressions, and positioning in the photo.

Otherwise, her tactics today wouldn't have been this way, but rather a different kind of intensity.

However, based on her understanding of her daughter, being able to proactively ask Li Heng for a hug was already her limit; she couldn't let go of her pride any further than that, which is why she thought about breaking the deadlock from Li Heng's side.

As for Li Heng's female confidantes, given the height Shen Xin stood at now, she didn't really care about them. However, she did need to keep an eye on that daughter of the Zhou family across the way.

Just as the two were looking at each other and chatting intermittently, Yu Shuheng came out. A long, coffee-colored pajama set draped lazily over her exquisite, full figure, making her look both holy and extremely seductive.

Shen Xin's eyes lit up. She had always been quite confident in her daughter's looks, temperament, and figure. Thinking back to her daughter proactively inviting Li Heng to their home, she immediately stood up, grabbed her bag, and left. As she walked, she said to her daughter, "Your father drank tonight, I'm worried, I have to go back and keep an eye on him."

Yu Shuheng knew exactly what her mother was thinking, but she didn't expose her. After seeing her off downstairs, she closed the courtyard gate and turned to go upstairs.

At this moment, Li Heng noticed the living room curtains were actually drawn, which was a rare sight.

He immediately wondered if Yu Laoshi was doing it on purpose? Doing it on purpose for Zhou Shihe to see?

The problem is that Comrade Zhou Shihe and I are perfectly innocent, there's no need for this, sigh! Damn it, this is a "stratagem of the empty city."

Yu Shuheng appeared behind him, followed his gaze to the curtains, and asked expressionlessly, "What? Heartbroken?"

Li Heng turned around, looked into her eyes for a while, and after a good moment, rolled his eyes and said, "Teacher, are you not even going to pretend anymore?"

Yu Shuheng brushed her hair with her right hand and said softly, "Given the nature of my future man, these curtains would have been drawn sooner or later anyway, I'm just adapting to it in advance."

PS: Posted first, edited later.

Already 10,500 words.

(End of chapter)