Chapter 190: Warmth

After hanging up the phone, Li Zhibai asked, "Was that Sister Ziyan calling you?"

"Yeah." Lu Yan He nodded. "She knows about what happened at the bar just now and reminded me not to be so impulsive in the future."

"Impulsive?" Li Zhibai immediately curled his lip. "I thought she was different from Zhou Ping'an; I didn't expect her to be this kind of person too."

"You can't say that. Sister Ziyan is Yan He's agent; she's only saying that because she cares about Yan He," Yan Liang said immediately.

Lu Yan He: "Exactly. Sister Ziyan didn't scold me either; she just reminded me to think twice before acting in the future."

Li Zhibai hummed twice and stopped talking about Chen Ziyan, instead mentioning: "I want to see what Zhou Ping'an will say this time."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan He asked, "Hasn't he contacted you yet?"

"No, God knows what he's doing right now."

It wasn't too late yet, only 10:30 PM. Could Zhou Ping'an be asleep at this time?

Lu Yan He found it unbelievable.

You know, people in the entertainment industry are generally night owls.

At this time, Zhou Ping'an should most likely be at a dinner table or some similar place. Even if he were at home, it would be impossible for him to be asleep.

The three of them were in one car and didn't go with Huang Kai and the others.

Huang Kai was in a car with Wang Zhong and Li Qian.

Just now, until the police arrived, Wang Zhong and Li Qian hadn't appeared; they only came down from the second floor when it was time to leave.

The two of them clearly didn't want to get involved in this matter and stayed out of it.

No one said anything.

Once in the car, Wang Zhong said, "Kai, you were too impulsive. How could you follow them and be impulsive too?"

Huang Kai frowned slightly.

"I just couldn't stand it."

Wang Zhong said, "We are artists, not police. We can't manage so many things."

"Alright, Wang Zhong, you're worried about getting involved in this and don't want to be affected, so stop teaching Kai what to do, okay?" Li Qian looked at Wang Zhong with disgust. "Although Kai's actions weren't rational, they were righteous."

Wang Zhong: "Do you think Kai's approach was right? Who knows what the relationship is between that woman and those three men? Maybe it was just a couple arguing. When they make up later, they might bite Kai back. What will Kai do then? In recent years, have there been few such things? You wanted to help, but you didn't help, and you ended up getting yourself into trouble."

Li Qian: "That doesn't affect the fact that Kai's behavior today was cool. Besides, in full view of everyone, everyone saw it. Could they really pull a honey trap and turn white into black?"

The two argued for a long time, only to suddenly realize that the protagonist of their argument hadn't said a word for a long time and had been silent. They looked over in confusion.

They saw Huang Kai, sitting on the left side of the back row, clutching his phone and staring at the screen, as if he hadn't paid any attention to what they were arguing about.

"Kai?" Wang Zhong called out.

Huang Kai didn't react at all.

Wang Zhong called out again, and Huang Kai still didn't react.

Wang Zhong shook his head helplessly.

"That's right, why am I worrying about this? He doesn't care at all."

Li Qian glanced at him sideways and said, "You just realized that? You talk so much nonsense."

Wang Zhong: "Li Qian, I've noticed you have quite a big opinion of me."

"I just can't stand your attitude of protecting yourself while blaming others for rushing out," Li Qian said, looking indifferently ahead. "I admit I'm a selfish person, but don't find excuses for your selfishness. Since you choose to be a selfish person, don't expect to still be noble in the eyes of others."

Wang Zhong remained silent.

Li Qian's words were like a sharp blade, piercing his heart.

But he couldn't refute it.

Li Qian had this kind of personality; she truly believed this from the bottom of her heart, which is why she said it.

Moreover, Wang Zhong also knew that Li Qian was right.

Why hasn't Xin Zixing replied to the message?

This was the question Huang Kai was thinking about.

Everything that happened tonight was too sudden; Huang Kai had no time or room to think.

Only now could Huang Kai seriously think about why Xin Zixing got involved in such a thing.

Xin Zixing was a woman who would dare to do anything once she made up her mind.

Huang Kai understood this deeply.

This was also the woman he loved.

Huang Kai would always remember the moment he fell for Xin Zixing; it was the moment Xin Zixing splashed a glass of cold water on someone's face. She was expressionless, with a hint of determination, and the sunlight shone on her face.

It was just because someone had been handsy with her.

Xin Zixing was definitely not the type of personality to swallow her anger when someone was handsy with her; she would slap them across the face.

It was even more so in life.

Those three men laid a hand on her, and Huang Kai didn't even have to think about it to know that those three men must have been in the wrong first.

Xin Zixing was not a person who would easily lay a hand on someone—the more she knew kung fu, the less she would fight.

Huang Kai asked Xin Zixing what exactly happened just now, but Xin Zixing hadn't replied.

He wanted to know even more why Xin Zixing appeared at the Dark Peach bar at night.

She had sent him a message at noon, telling him she was leaving in the afternoon.

Where would she stay tonight?

Would she be nervous at the police station?

Would those men return and wait for an opportunity to retaliate against her?

All kinds of questions popped up in Huang Kai's mind.

Xin Zixing finished her statement at the police station and came out.

It was very late, and the wind was strong, blowing in her face with a hint of heat.

She hugged her chest, looked at the road illuminated by the dim streetlights, took out her phone, and prepared to call a car for herself. Only then did she see the message from Huang Kai.

In the past hour, Huang Kai had sent her nearly twenty messages and made two calls.

Looking at Huang Kai's messages, which were full of worry, Xin Zixing smiled slightly and dialed a number.

Huang Kai answered the phone almost in a second.

"Hello, Zixing?"

"Hello, I was just giving a statement at the police station and didn't look at my phone. My phone was on silent mode, so I didn't hear your call," Xin Zixing said. "Sorry, I made you worry."

Huang Kai let out a long sigh of relief on the other end of the phone.

"That's good," Huang Kai said. "Are you still at the police station?"

"Yeah, just came out, getting ready to leave."

"I'll come pick you up," Huang Kai said.

Xin Zixing felt a warmth in her heart. "No need, I'll find a place to stay myself. Don't come over; it won't be easy to explain if people see you."

"I don't care about that!" Huang Kai was a bit annoyed. "How could you get into a fight with someone? What if we weren't there today and those people wouldn't let you go?"

Xin Zixing said: "Anyway, they couldn't beat me."

Huang Kai's voice was even more annoyed. "The three of them couldn't beat you, but what if they called three more people?"

Xin Zixing listened to the annoyance in Huang Kai's voice caused by his worry and whispered: "Alright, don't be angry, it won't happen next time."

Huang Kai: "Send me the address, I'll come pick you up."

"I'll come over myself, don't be willful," Xin Zixing said. "You just stay in your hotel room, don't be impulsive."

Huang Kai said: "Let's just go public."

Xin Zixing: "What about your agent? He's also considering your career."

Huang Kai was silent.

Xin Zixing heard Huang Kai's silence, her heart softened slightly. While feeling a bit disappointed, she was also more understanding because she sympathized with Huang Kai. "We've been hiding it for so long, a year or two doesn't make a difference."

"Alright, wait for me, I'm coming over now," Xin Zixing said.

Three people sleeping in one big bed, no matter how big the bed was, it was still a bit crowded.

Before going to sleep, the three of them took their phones and looked at the online trends. Sure enough, the bar incident had already hit the real-time trending list, and there was a lot of discussion.

Lu Yan He and the others only appeared at the very last moment. Before that, there was a long confrontation between Xin Zixing and them, including Liu Yuanting.

This process lasted for more than ten minutes, and some people recorded videos from the moment they started to conflict, recording for about ten minutes.

Lu Yan He and the others were able to figure out how it happened at this time.

There were also people at the scene who posted updates, describing the process in detail.

Both Mo Hebei and Liu Yuanting's words were heard by people.

Thus, after the original appearance of the matter was restored, Mo Hebei's arrogance ignited the anger of the entire internet.

"This matter will probably ferment quite a bit," Yan Liang said.

"Yeah," Lu Yan He nodded. "Such a thing happened, and because of our appearance, it attracted huge attention, especially since Brother Ren and Li Zhibai have so many fans."

Li Zhibai said dissatisfiedly: "Hey, why do you call Huang Kai 'Brother Ren' and me 'Li Zhibai'?"

"You're only one year older than me, what are you shouting about."

"One year older is still older, call me Brother Bai."

Lu Yan He shook his head speechlessly and refused to call him that.

Li Zhibai immediately pounced over and grabbed Lu Yan He's neck. "Are you going to call me that or not?"

The two of them sawed back and forth for a while.

"Brother Bai." Lu Yan He gritted his teeth.

Li Zhibai then let go.

Thus, late at night, when everyone was fast asleep, Lu Yan He suddenly kicked Li Zhibai off the bed.

Li Zhibai woke up in shock, cursed, and then looked at the two people on the bed with anger.

But both of them looked like they were fast asleep, and it was impossible to tell who had kicked him just now.

Li Zhibai took a deep breath. "Damn it!"

Lu Yan He closed his eyes, scolding himself for being childish in his heart, while also unable to help feeling secretly happy.

Even at 7:00 AM, Langhua in July was still scorching hot.

When Lu Yan He woke up, Yan Liang had already returned from his morning run.

To be precise, Lu Yan He was woken up by the sound of the door opening and closing.

He thought someone had broken into the room while he was sleeping, and then he remembered that it was Li Zhibai and Yan Liang.

Lu Yan He sat up from the bed, looked at Yan Liang, who was covered in sweat and soaked, and was very surprised. He asked: "Did you go for a run today?"

Yan Liang nodded and said: "I brought running shoes and clothes, I'm going to take a shower."

Lu Yan He nodded, looking dazed from just waking up.

Lu Yan He's room could swipe for one more person's breakfast. Anyway, Li Zhibai would most likely not wake up before 9:00, so Lu Yan He didn't call him and went downstairs to the restaurant with Yan Liang.

"Hmm?" Lu Yan He opened his phone and found an unread message from Chen Ziyan.

Looking closer, it was about a work invitation, and Chen Ziyan asked him to call her after he woke up.

This message was sent by Chen Ziyan half an hour ago.

Lu Yan He called Chen Ziyan.

"Sister Ziyan."

"Did you see the message I sent you?" Chen Ziyan got straight to the point and said, "There is a website editor named Xin Zixing, the one from Ye Mai website I mentioned to you last time. She told me she met you yesterday and wants to invite you to participate in an event they planned, an event about introducing the city of Langhua."

Lu Yan He was a bit surprised upon hearing this.

"Xin Zixing?"

"Yeah."

Lu Yan He said "Oh" and said: "Sure, that's great."

Chen Ziyan: "I also think the theme of this work is quite good, very consistent with your current route and image. However, the remuneration is not high, only 10,000 yuan."

"It's already a lot for me," Lu Yan He said with a smile.

After the split, a few thousand yuan would be credited to his account.

Chen Ziyan: "Okay, then I'll agree to it. Her meaning is that she also wants to invite Li Zhibai and Yan Liang. It might be the three of you participating in this work together."

"Great." Lu Yan He was even more satisfied with this work upon hearing this.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Yan He immediately asked Yan Liang: "Has Zhou Ping'an contacted you? Sister Ziyan just told me that Xin Zixing contacted her and invited us to participate in an event on Ye Mai website, introducing the city of Langhua."

Yan Liang shook his head in confusion upon hearing this and said: "I don't know, he hasn't told me yet."

As the two were talking, they ran into Xin Zixing at the entrance of the restaurant.

"Oh, what a coincidence." Xin Zixing smiled when she saw them.

The three sat at a dining table.

"There is such a thing." Xin Zixing nodded and said: "I also saw the three of you yesterday and suddenly thought that I could do such a thing, so I sent emails to your agents when I had dinner last night."

Lu Yan He said: "My agent has already contacted me just now. I was free these two days anyway, so I was preparing to walk around Langhua myself."

Just as Xin Zixing was nodding, her phone vibrated. She took a look: "Oh, Yan Liang, your agent replied to me. Hmm, let me see, okay, he seems not very willing to let you take this job, saying you have other work arrangements later, and you have to leave this afternoon?"

Yan Liang nodded and said: "Li Zhibai does have other work tomorrow, so he has to rush back today."

"What about you?"

"I..." Yan Liang actually wanted to say he had time, but he didn't know if Zhou Ping'an was unhappy about him taking such work. If that were the case, and he said he had time, and Xin Zixing continued to invite him, it would be very awkward. After a little thought, Yan Liang said: "I have to go back with Li Zhibai, sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay, no time this time, we'll make an appointment next time," Xin Zixing said.

Xin Zixing didn't have high requirements or thoughts about this work.

It was just a temporary plan made to get closer to Lu Yan He and the others, not something planned for a long time.

Xin Zixing said to Lu Yan He: "Then do you have time today? If you have time, I'll find a photographer immediately."

"I'm OK." Lu Yan He nodded, "But why find a photographer?"

"Photos, text, video." Xin Zixing said, "Three forms to show Langhua. You can tell me what interesting places you went to yesterday. Actually, our Ye Mai website has very rich content about urban geography. I don't want to exhaust all the interesting places in Langhua through one introduction, just pick two or three and focus on taking everyone to see them."

Lu Yan He asked: "Have there been similar examples before?"

"Never." Xin Zixing shook her head immediately, "I just thought of it yesterday, including the second-hand bookstore I went to in the morning, the restaurant I went to at noon, and a small music shop I went to in the afternoon, all of which are very interesting and atmospheric shops."

"Then doing it this way feels more like exploring shops," Yan Liang said, "It doesn't look like a record showing the style of a city."

Xin Zixing said: "It doesn't matter. We didn't want to make it into a documentary like something played on a documentary channel. In my opinion, all forms are not important. The main thing is what kind of things we want to present. So about Langhua, what do our Ye Mai website users want to know most? The most basic is nothing more than the four words 'eating and drinking'. Interesting, unique, especially those unique ones, digging these things out is what our website's urban geography has been committed to doing, and it is also why we ask so many people to write their own urban geography."

Yan Liang was quite moved after hearing what Xin Zixing said.

This kind of work is actually just going to Langhua to eat and stroll.

While working, understanding the city of Langhua, how could he not be moved.

Sigh, it's a pity that Zhou Ping'an doesn't seem to want them to participate.

Yan Liang probably guessed that this was not the type of work Zhou Ping'an liked to give them at all. It was too literary, too niche, and the remuneration was destined to be low.

A sentence Zhou Ping'an always hung on his lips: don't take jobs that are idealistic and sentimental but low-paying. If you take too many of these jobs, others will know you are easy to negotiate with, and you won't be able to report a high price.

After breakfast, Lu Yan He and Yan Liang were going back to their rooms. Xin Zixing said: "I have an appointment with someone, I will go to inspect a few places in the morning and meet the photographer. We will make an appointment in the afternoon, and then we will start doing this. I will add you as friends, so it will be more convenient to communicate."

Lu Yan He opened his QR code and let Xin Zixing scan it.

Yan Liang also opened his.

Xin Zixing added them as friends and said: "Thank you again for what happened at the bar last night. If there is a chance, I will treat everyone to dinner, or... are you free for lunch today? Why don't I treat you to lunch?"

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang looked at each other and shook their hands at the same time, saying: "No need, don't be so polite."

Xin Zixing: "It's not that I'm polite, I'm really grateful to you for being able to stand up and support me at that time. Although I'm not afraid of them, in that helpless situation, the few of you suddenly appeared and gave me great comfort."

She raised her face, looked at the two boys in front of her, and smiled kindly.

"Then it's settled, I'll send you the address later." ===== CHAPTER 191 =====