Chapter 48

In the compound, the golden avenue paved with ginkgo trees and ginkgo leaves looked like an autumn fairy tale at a glance.

Li Xiaoran was still holding Wu Yuchen's arm at this moment, asking with a smile:

"Chenchen, I remember you were studying to be a director, right? Did you switch to being an actor? How are you so good at acting?"

"Directors have to take acting classes too, okay? Otherwise, how can they teach actors how to act?"

"Really? That's the first time I've heard that. Hey, are you close with Zhou Wenbing? Just impersonating him like that?"

"Not close. Isn't this all for you?" Wu Yuchen said indignantly.

"Hahaha, then you'd better be careful that Zhou Wenbing doesn't come looking for trouble if he finds out~"

"If he comes looking for trouble, I'll hide in your house!"

"Then you can crawl under the bed, and I'll cover you with a quilt~" Li Xiaoran laughed as she said this; she used to do that whenever she got into trouble as a child.

Wu Yuchen wasn't too worried about this. He wasn't close to Zhou Wenbing, but he was close to his cousin, so he could just mention it later. Besides, after being tempered by the military, Zhou Wenbing must have matured a lot; if he found out, he wouldn't hold a grudge over this, and would probably just laugh it off.

However, he looked at Li Xiaoran, who was just giggling beside him, and still said:

"Sister Ranran, you should be careful during this period and it's best to move back home. If he still bothers you when you go to the troupe tomorrow, hurry up and call your dad."

"Got it," Li Xiaoran replied casually.

"I'm being serious, take it to heart." Seeing her perfunctory attitude, Wu Yuchen emphasized it again.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoran glanced at Wu Yuchen, then grabbed his neck and put him in a headlock:

"How come I haven't seen you for a while and you've become so disrespectful, learning to lecture me like my mom!"

But Wu Yuchen's height had long since surpassed hers, making it very difficult for her to stand on tiptoe, and Wu Yuchen broke free with a little effort.

Li Xiaoran had to let go, muttering: "You're not fun at all now that you've grown up~"

Wu Yuchen raised the corners of his mouth: "You really want to ride on my head forever? Do you understand what it means for the tides to turn! Don't bully a young man because he's poor!"

"Yo! You've rebelled!" Li Xiaoran was about to go up and pinch Wu Yuchen again, but he dodged quickly, and the two of them went home while playing and fighting.

At the dinner table, Wu Yuchen chatted casually with her family while eating. It wasn't his first time here, so he wasn't reserved.

Li Xiaoran's mother asked with a smile: "Chenchen, I heard from your mom that you've learned how to stir-fry?"

"Huh? You've learned how to stir-fry?!" Li Xiaoran asked in surprise upon hearing this.

"Hehe, Auntie, next time you come to our house, I'll show you my skills!"

"I'm going too! I'll give you some pointers then~" Li Xiaoran said with a grin.

When it came to cooking, Wu Yuchen had to admire Li Xiaoran; he didn't know how her talent was distributed, but her cooking skills were far superior to her mother's.

After Li Xiaoran finished eating in a few bites, she wanted to pull Wu Yuchen into the room.

Her mother glared at her: "Let Chenchen finish his meal! All you know is playing games as soon as you get back!"

"Oh, Mom, I'm already working, what's wrong with playing a game!"

Wu Yuchen knew that if he dragged it out any longer, he'd have to watch the mother and daughter bicker again, so he shoveled the rice in his bowl into his mouth, swallowed it, and hurriedly followed Li Xiaoran into the room.

Li Xiaoran didn't like playing fighting games; she loved adventure games, like Contra or Super Mario.

Wu Yuchen didn't mind; he accompanied her while playing and chatting:

"Hey, Sister Ranran, is there someone named Chen Kun in your song and dance troupe?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Is he still in your troupe now?"

"Huh?"

Li Xiaoran said nonchalantly while rubbing the controller:

"He should be, right? Our troupe is quite big, and I haven't paid much attention to others this month. Why are you so concerned about him?"

"Oh, nothing, just that when I came to find you last time, I saw he was quite handsome, so I remembered him."

"There are so many pretty girls in our troupe you don't pay attention to, why are you paying attention to a guy?"

Li Xiaoran turned her head and looked at Wu Yuchen strangely. She had heard of "Tu Ye" (slang for gay men), don't let her little brother...

As soon as Wu Yuchen saw her expression, he knew what she was thinking, and sneered:

"What are you thinking! With you in the troupe, is there any room for other girls to stand out?"

"Yo, how come you're suddenly so good at talking!" Li Xiaoran smiled sweetly upon hearing this, and then continued rubbing the controller.

Wu Yuchen thought for a moment and asked again: "Sister Ranran, have you ever thought about changing careers or something?"

"Changing careers? Why would I change careers?" Li Xiaoran just felt that Wu Yuchen was suddenly asking some strange questions today.

"Didn't you say before that Zhang Yimou came to find you to film a movie? That means you have potential in this area, haven't you thought about cultivating it more?"

Wu Yuchen probed. He felt that if Li Xiaoran really wanted to be an actress in the future, it would be better to plan early, like going to school or something.

"I'm too lazy to bother with that, it's too much trouble!" Li Xiaoran said without even turning her head.

Back then, when Zhang Yimou was filming "Raise the Red Lantern," he took one look at the fair-skinned, beautiful, and elegant Li Xiaoran at the Beijing Dance Academy and invited her to play one of the roles. As a result, Li Xiaoran thought it was too much trouble to leave Beijing and rejected him directly.

The reason she went into acting later was because she had spent all her savings after resigning from the song and dance troupe, and was too embarrassed to ask her family for money, so she thought of acting. Because of her good looks, she managed to get a special role right away.

As soon as Wu Yuchen heard her say this, he knew she still didn't have the heart for it, so he didn't say anything more.

After playing for more than an hour, he checked his watch and prepared to leave.

After Wu Yuchen stood up, he thought of today's incident again and said to Li Xiaoran:

"Remember, move back home for these few days."

"I'm not coming back, I get bossed around as soon as I come back, nagged in my ears every day, and I can't even sleep in." Li Xiaoran complained while lying on the bed without any image at this moment.

Wu Yuchen had guessed she would be like this, so he said:

"I'll call your house every day these next few days. If you haven't moved back, I'll tell your dad about what happened today."

"Hey, whose side are you on! How can you be such a snitch!" Li Xiaoran sat up from the bed with a start upon hearing this, her beautiful eyes wide as she glared at Wu Yuchen.

"I'm on your dad's side~" Wu Yuchen said with a smile, and then, ignoring her, he opened the door and went out.

This appearance made Li Xiaoran pound the pillow twice. How come her little brother had changed so much today?

He was more eloquent than before, and his lying was quite convincing. The key was that he didn't listen to her anymore!

On the way back, Wu Yuchen was also thinking about today's events. He knew that Boss Lu had been following them the whole way, and he had specifically brought him here to see this. As long as this guy wasn't too crazy, he should give up.

However, he thought about Li Xiaoran's past life; it was around this time, perhaps two or three months later, that she suddenly resigned from the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe. At the time, she hadn't even told her family, and Wu Yuchen knew even less about why.

But just now, when he asked her, she said she hadn't thought about changing careers. Logically, it was impossible for her to resign voluntarily in the short term.

Wu Yuchen felt that it might still be related to today's incident, which was why he thought of a way to force her to go home every day. In any case, it would be best if nothing happened.