Chapter 2550

As the scene disappeared, the subtle Qi in the scroll also vanished. But when Ye Chen looked at the painting again, his mind couldn't help but associate it with the scene of Meng Changsheng, and he felt that the Meng Changsheng in the painting seemed even more vivid and lively, leaping off the paper.

He couldn't help but guess in his heart what the tone of Meng Changsheng's life was like after he left that mountain village.

Although his lifespan was extended, there seemed to be no important people left in his life; his wife and children had long since passed away, and his only son and disciple had already been buried, leaving only him, who still looked like a middle-aged man.

With his personality of being obsessed with cultivation and bitterly seeking immortality, perhaps after leaving the mountain village, he would still choose to return to his cave dwelling somewhere, continuing to cultivate silently alone, from then on knowing only the sunrise and sunset, but not knowing what year, month, or dynasty it was in the outside world.

When life was left with nothing but day-after-day cultivation, all his joys, angers, sorrows, and happiness could only be kept to himself, unable to find anyone to share or shoulder them.

That feeling, in Ye Chen's view, was not seeking immortality, but seeking loneliness.

He felt that once a person abandoned the seven emotions and six desires and fell into that kind of endless loneliness, no matter how long life was, it lost its true meaning.

And Ye Chen couldn't help but think, if as time passed, the people around him slowly grew old, what would he do?

Although Rejuvenation Pills were good, the older one got, the worse the effect became. With Rejuvenation Pills, it was no problem for ordinary people to live to over a hundred, but to reach the ceiling of two hundred years, it would likely require a large number of Rejuvenation Pills to support it.

Even if he were willing to provide them with sufficient Rejuvenation Pills, would they really be willing to continue using them to extend their lives when they reached that age?

It was not rare for a person to live to be a hundred, but it had never been heard of in the world for someone to live to be a hundred without growing old.

If he continuously provided Rejuvenation Pills to the people close to him, allowing them to live on without aging, then at some critical point in time, they would inevitably have to distance themselves from everyone who knew them but didn't know their background, otherwise, it would certainly arouse the suspicion of countless people.

This meant that everyone would have to find a hidden place to avoid the secular world at some point in time. By then, he and the people around him would be like the werewolves or vampires in Western Mary Sue novels, trying every possible way to avoid the attention of normal people.

Such a life, Ye Chen didn't even need to ask the people around him; he himself would be the first to reject it.

At this thought, Ye Chen's mood couldn't help but become a bit low.

Although he didn't need to worry about this matter in the next twenty or thirty years, it was, after all, a major trouble that could not be avoided as long as one was alive.

Ye Chen sighed softly, put away the scroll, and remained sleepless throughout the journey.

Since Shudu was not far from Jin Ling, the plane arrived at Jin Ling Airport after flying for more than two hours.

And at this time, the sky hadn't even brightened yet.

Ye Chen and Chen Zekai walked off the plane, and Chen Zekai's subordinates were already waiting there.

Chen Zekai respectfully asked Ye Chen: "Young Master, there is still an hour until dawn. Would you like to go to Buckingham Palace to rest for a while?"

Ye Chen thought for a moment, waved his hand, and said: "Arrange a car for me. I'll go to the Champs-Élysées hot spring villa myself. I'll go there to rest for a while and go home at noon."

Ye Chen didn't want to bring Meng Changsheng's portrait home. Firstly, it was hard to explain to his family; secondly, he was afraid that his father-in-law, who was the vice president of the Calligraphy and Painting Association, would see it and take it to show off to others; and thirdly, he was also afraid that his mother-in-law, Ma Lan, would have a hot-headed moment when she was short of money and secretly take the painting out to sell it.

Therefore, he planned to take advantage of the fact that it wasn't dawn yet to put this painting in the Champs-Élysées hot spring villa.

Although his family knew about that villa, since the upgraded door locks now used facial and fingerprint recognition, only he could open them, so he didn't have to worry about his family finding out.

Hearing that he was going to the Champs-Élysées hot spring villa, Chen Zekai hurriedly said: "Then I'll take you there!"

Ye Chen shook his head and said: "No need to trouble yourself. You've also been busy for a whole day; go back and rest first. I'll just go there myself."

Seeing Ye Chen's insistence, Chen Zekai immediately nodded, greeted his subordinates to give one of the Rolls-Royce car keys to Ye Chen, and said respectfully: "Young Master, if you have any needs, please contact me at any time."

"Okay." Ye Chen took the car key and said to him: "Then I'll head over first."

After parting ways with Chen Zekai, Ye Chen drove alone to the Champs-Élysées hot spring villa. After arriving at the villa, he put the painting into the safe on the basement level of the villa.

After doing this, Ye Chen went to the villa's indoor hot spring pool. Since the Champs-Élysées hot spring villa had its own exclusive hot spring source, and it was bought out from the local area for decades at once, this geothermal hot spring water was affected by geology and gushed out 24 hours a day. Therefore, when the residential complex was designed, the in-home hot spring was designed as 24-hour non-stop flowing live water to ensure that the owner's home always had a pool of clean hot spring water, which was also one of the biggest selling points of the complex.

Ye Chen didn't plan to go home too early. Not only would it feel strange to go back early in the morning, but his wife, Xiao Churan, would definitely feel that he had worked hard to rush back overnight, so it was better to rest here and go back at noon or in the afternoon.

So, he took off his clothes unhurriedly and soaked in the hot spring pool.

Despite the days of rushing about, Ye Chen almost never felt tired, but he hadn't had a good relaxation either.

Today, he happened to have some free time, and soaking in the hot spring alone made his body and spirit feel much more relaxed all at once.

At 10:30 in the morning, a Cathay Pacific Airbus A321 landed safely at Jin Ling Airport.

This plane was the earliest of the three flights from Hong Kong directly to Jin Ling.

After the plane landed, the first-class flight attendant lowered the curtain between first class and economy class as usual, giving priority to first-class passengers to disembark.

As soon as the cabin door opened, a young woman wearing sunglasses and a mask stood up impatiently, picked up her handbag, and walked out of the plane without delay.

This young woman was the eldest daughter of the Liu family who had just rushed to Jin Ling from Hong Kong, Liu Manqiong.

The reason Liu Manqiong rushed to Jin Ling early in the morning was that Jin Ling University had invited her to come to the school today to participate in the interview for the outstanding talent introduction program.

Jin Ling University was very interested in Liu Manqiong, a top student who had just obtained a doctorate from the University of Hong Kong. Several school leaders in charge of the talent introduction review had almost made the decision to hire her directly after verifying her academic background. However, because Jin Ling University was a public university after all, none of the necessary recruitment procedures could be skipped, so they invited Liu Manqiong to come over.

Liu Manqiong had just received her doctorate not long ago and was naturally thrilled to receive the interview invitation from Jin Ling University, so she booked her flight early and flew over first thing in the morning.

When Liu Jiahui learned that his daughter was going to Jin Ling for an interview, he insisted on arranging a private jet to send her over personally, but Liu Manqiong politely declined his kindness.

It wasn't that Liu Manqiong was still dissatisfied with her father; it was mainly because she didn't want to be too flashy this time coming to Jin Ling.

Liu Manqiong knew very well that as Ye Chen's base, if there was any obvious disturbance, Ye Chen would definitely know. If her father came to send her off personally, not to mention that Ye Chen would definitely receive the news, even the Jin Ling media would likely follow and report on it.

And her plan was that before she received the formal offer from Jin Ling University, she would never let Ye Chen know about this, so as not to be looked down upon by Ye Chen in case she didn't get the position.

What's more, she wanted to give Ye Chen a surprise, so she had to wait until she received the offer before finding an opportunity to let Ye Chen know.

Precisely because of this, she refused her father's proposal no matter what, intending to be low-key, low-key, and even more low-key, so she flew over alone.

Since the relevant person in charge at Jin Ling University also knew that Liu Manqiong was in Hong Kong, they specifically scheduled Liu Manqiong's interview for 3:00 PM. This way, whether Liu Manqiong chose to come to Jin Ling a day early or on the day of the interview, she would have plenty of time and wouldn't be too rushed.

And Liu Manqiong also booked her return flight to Hong Kong for 9:30 PM today based on this time. Under normal circumstances, the interview would definitely be over before 6:00 PM. Regardless of whether she could get the result or not, she planned to return to Hong Kong first to avoid being found out by Ye Chen.

This was also the reason why Liu Manqiong wore sunglasses and a mask throughout the flight.

Ten minutes later, Liu Manqiong had already walked out of the airport, preparing to hail a taxi to Jin Ling University. Although the interview was in the afternoon, she also wanted to take advantage of the gap in between to roughly understand the situation at Jin Ling University and the surrounding environment.

However, just as she walked out of the airport, a middle-aged woman walked up and asked respectfully: "Excuse me, are you Miss Liu Manqiong?"

Liu Manqiong instantly became nervous, subconsciously took a step back, looked at her, and asked vigilantly: "Who are you?!"

Seeing that Liu Manqiong was a bit nervous, the other party hurriedly explained: "Miss Liu, don't be nervous. My name is Li Shuxian, and I am the housekeeper of Old Mr. Qiu Yingshan in Jin Ling. It was he who asked me to come to the airport to pick you up to be a guest at his home and have lunch by the way!"

Hong Kong and Southeast Asia had always been closely linked. Liu Jiahui had personal friendships with many wealthy people in Southeast Asia, and Qiu Yingshan was a friend of Liu Jiahui's father back then and later had many business dealings with Liu Jiahui, so to Qiu Yingshan, Liu Jiahui was more like a nephew.

When Liu Jiahui learned that Liu Manqiong was going to Jin Ling, he wanted to go with her, but unexpectedly, he was politely refused by his daughter. Having no other choice, he had to call Qiu Yingshan and ask him to arrange for someone to help take care of Liu Manqiong.

Liu Jiahui didn't know that Qiu Yingshan was in Jin Ling, but he knew that Qiu Yingshan had always had businesses in Jin Ling and had people managing them. He was mainly worried that it would be inconvenient for his daughter to be alone in an unfamiliar place, so he wanted to ask Qiu Yingshan for help to arrange a housekeeper and a driver, so that at least his daughter wouldn't have to worry about transportation after arriving in Jin Ling and before leaving.

But as luck would have it, Qiu Yingshan happened to be in Jin Ling.

Learning that Liu Jiahui's daughter was coming, he planned to arrange for Sister Xian to pick up Liu Manqiong at the airport and invite Liu Manqiong to his home for a casual meal.

Hearing that Qiu Yingshan was in Jin Ling, Liu Jiahui was naturally overjoyed, so he immediately told the other party his daughter's flight number.

Even when he sent Liu Manqiong to the airport this morning, he took a secret photo of Liu Manqiong's outfit while she wasn't paying attention when getting out of the car.

It was precisely by relying on this photo that Sister Xian recognized Liu Manqiong, who was wearing sunglasses and a mask, at a glance.

But how could Liu Manqiong know all this?

She only knew that in Hong Kong, the kidnapping of children from wealthy families was not a one-time occurrence, and the most sensational one even shocked the world.

So, being recognized by someone in Jin Ling suddenly, and the other party even bringing up Qiu Yingshan, her first thought was that there was danger.

Although she knew Qiu Yingshan and had met him before, she didn't trust this Sister Xian, so she shook her head and said: "Sorry, you might have recognized the wrong person."

After saying that, she turned around and wanted to walk toward a place with more people.

Sister Xian hurriedly caught up with her and said: "Miss Liu, if you don't believe me, you can call your father. It was he who told my master the news that you were coming to Jin Ling."

"My dad?!" Liu Manqiong frowned. At this moment, her phone suddenly rang. She picked it up and saw that it was indeed her father calling.

So, she immediately answered the phone and asked: "Dad, did you tell others about me coming to Jin Ling?"

Liu Jiahui laughed on the other end of the phone: "Manqiong, isn't it a coincidence? Your Grandpa Qiu and Grandma Qiu are in Jin Ling. I originally wanted him to arrange a few subordinates to take care of you, but I didn't expect him to say he was in Jin Ling. He was so happy to hear you were going. He said you must go to his home to sit and have a casual meal. Your Grandpa Qiu and your grandfather were sworn brothers; you must not refuse to give him face!"