Chapter 36: I Have Many Fellow Townsmen

"Emmm..."

Chen Shu felt many gazes cast upon him, including those of Cao Shengying, who was waiting to receive the "Award for Most Colorful Clothing," but he maintained the professionalism expected of a bodyguard, his face devoid of the slightest expression:

"You have mistaken me for someone else."

Wen Han and Crown Princess Zhusha fell silent for a moment; this familiar voice instantly made the memories in their minds clear, and the two looked at each other, as if they both understood the meaning in the other's eyes.

"Let us step aside to speak."

Crown Princess Zhusha grabbed Chen Shu's arm naturally and affectionately, like a spoiled neighbor's little sister, pulling him toward the backstage.

"I am on the clock..."

"Sister Yingying, I am borrowing your bodyguard for a moment."

"Oh, okay, okay..."

In Crown Princess Zhusha's private dressing room, the two were still sizing Chen Shu up.

"The more I look, the more he looks like him."

"I think so too."

"But Teacher, why do you have two names..."

Chen Shu sat on the chair opposite them, no longer struggling, and spread his hands: "To tell you the truth, you have misunderstood. Actually, Jonathan Lee and Jay Chou are both my fellow townsmen."

"Fellow townsmen?" Zhusha asked.

"Then your name..." Wen Han asked.

"My name is Chen Shu, and I am only a freshman in college this year."

"What is going on here?"

"It is like this," Chen Shu said with a numb expression. "These few fellow townsmen of mine, they are all Cultivators, and they are rather, how should I put it, rather inclined toward reclusive sects. They usually like to practice in deep mountains and old forests, undisturbed by the world, and generally do not emerge. But they also love music very much and have written quite a few songs, so they found me and entrusted me to sell them on their behalf. Of course, I naturally had to use their names. If you look closely, you will find that the contracts are signed by me."

This sounded like a lie!

Wen Han did not believe it at all, but there was nothing he could do.

Crown Princess Zhusha, however, blinked her eyes, nodded her head, and spoke in a tone of sudden realization, as if she were not very bright: "Oh, these kinds of hermits! I have heard of many! Is it that when they are bored in the deep mountains, they play chess and write poetry or something? Or steep tea and sing songs to pass the time?"

"Exactly, exactly!"

Thank you, Crown Princess Zhusha.

Chen Shu looked at Wen Han again—

Are you not going to believe it yet?

Wen Han was stunned:

"Is that so?"

"Mm!!"

Crown Princess Zhusha nodded heavily, her eyes sparkling, looking as if she had discovered something novel: "It is boring in the deep mountains, so one must find some fun, right? I have heard that many traditional famous songs were written by these kinds of reclusive Cultivators. I just did not expect them to write pop songs too."

"For example?"

"For example, the guqin piece the Emperor likes very much, 'White Crane Scattering'."

"So that is how it is."

Wen Han closed his mouth and said nothing more.

Although Crown Princess Zhusha was not a proper princess, she had Imperial Family blood and was well-loved by netizens, which is why she was respectfully addressed as Crown Princess.

In this era, it was not a strange thing for the Imperial Family to be singers or actors; Crown Princess Zhusha had two elders before her who had already become veteran artists. The Imperial Family's attitude was that one must maintain a positive, upbeat image, and the works one participated in or sang must be positive. As long as this could be guaranteed, they did not mind you being an artist; they even believed that it was a good thing for a descendant of the Imperial Family to be liked by more people, and they would even hire specialists to help manage your image and review your works.

Pandering to young people, it had been standard practice for the Imperial Family in recent years.

A few days ago, because Crown Princess Zhusha was young and rebellious and danced too much, she was warned by the Imperial Family, and now she no longer danced, focusing instead on honing her singing skills.

Regarding relatives of the Imperial Family, Wen Han could not say much.

"Oh right—"

Crown Princess Zhusha suddenly turned her head to look at Chen Shu and asked, "Are these seniors very short on money?"

"They are not short on it; they have no worries about food or clothing on the mountain."

Chen Shu paused as he spoke: "However, a few days ago, one of their fellow townsmen had some private matters that required a large sum of money. You know, for hermits like them, money is of little use, and they do not have the habit of saving money, so they could not come up with it at the time. That is why they found me and sold a few songs under different names."

"Private matters?"

"A car accident."

Upon hearing this, Wen Han immediately asked eagerly: "And that fellow townsman... *cough cough*, has that fellow townsman recovered from his injuries?"

"He has recovered."

Chen Shu showed a look of difficulty: "But as luck would have it, recently another fellow townsman was stranded elsewhere and wants to return home, but he needs a large sum of money. He is currently raising funds for his return..."

Crown Princess Zhusha was deeply moved: "These gentlemen truly have noble character; it is admirable!"

Wen Han also nodded repeatedly, deeply convinced. At this moment, he did not want to care whether it was true or false, and he grabbed Chen Shu's hand with an earnest look:

"Please, you must let me contribute!"

"And me, and me!" Crown Princess Zhusha seemed to have just reacted at this moment, "Does that senior Jay Chou have any other songs? I really need this kind of work, with positive content that is not vulgar, which can involve love but cannot be too cloying or kitschy. It is best if it also has a high level of artistic quality. Are there any more, are there any more?"

"Crown Princess, your singing skills are too poor."

"I am working hard to improve myself! I, I will work even harder! I will strive to satisfy the Teacher and the seniors!"

"We shall see."

"Then let us add each other on instant messaging!"

"Okay, okay..."

Chen Shu took out his Mobile Phone and added both of them on instant messaging.

At this time, Crown Princess Zhusha looked at Chen Shu from left to right, suddenly frowned again, and asked:

"Is your name really Chen Shu?"

"I do not change my name when I go, nor do I change my surname when I sit."

"Oh, alright..."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just thought you looked a bit like a student I saw online." Crown Princess Zhusha felt a bit ashamed for mistaking someone, which was very impolite, "It's just that your brows and eyes look a bit similar."

"It's normal for brows and eyes to look similar!"

"Indeed."

"I need to go back to work."

"Why are you working as a bodyguard?"

"Short on money, and those fellow countrymen of mine won't give me a cut."

"Ah? They don't give you any cut at all?"

"The gentlemen have noble characters; how could I have the face to accept a commission?" Chen Shu said righteously, "I am doing volunteer work. All the money I earn is given to the fellow countrymen of the gentlemen who need it, and it has all been used where it should be."

"Truly admirable!"

"I am ashamed, I am ashamed."

Chen Shu walked out of the dressing room, returned to his original spot, exchanged a glance with Brother Lu Xing, and continued standing straight.

Sister Huang soon came over to find Chen Shu and politely asked what had happened just now. He only said that Wen Han and Crown Princess Zhusha had mistaken him for someone else, then immediately went to pick up Cao Shengying to bring her off the stage—betraying fellow countrymen to make money was just a small interlude. To earn a little money for cultivation, his vision was at least above the Ninth Stage, so he naturally would not have thoughts of being obsessed with this.

And there were too many people here; it would cause trouble.

Eleven o'clock at night.

Chen Shu dutifully sent Cao Shengying to the car heading to the airport. The task that had lasted all day was about to end, and he couldn't help but feel a little flutter in his heart; he wanted to pee.

Cao Shengying turned her head again and said to them, "Thanks to you two big brothers today, thank you."

Chen Shu nodded, maintaining the coldness a bodyguard should have, hoping she would leave quickly so he could be liberated.

Lu Xing, however, said very kindly, "We didn't help much; it's our duty. If you feel it's appropriate, you can look for us again next time."

"Definitely, definitely."

After Cao Shengying answered, she looked at Chen Shu again, her smile very sweet: "I hope we can cooperate in the future."

This young lady has a good sense of propriety.

"Okay."

Chen Shu revealed a smile.

Making money, after all, the easier the better; it would be best if all the money automatically went into his account.

This person Chen Shu, when he is not short of money, basically has no thoughts about money, but the path of cultivation is very expensive, and he doesn't know when he will be short of money—establishing a convenient channel for betraying fellow countrymen is quite necessary.

There is only the difference between zero times and countless times when it comes to betraying fellow countrymen.

Sorry, fellow countrymen...

The car drove away silently, the young girl was still waving at them outside the window, the taillights gradually moving further away.

Chen Shu looked at Lu Xing: "Brother Lu, how are you getting back?"

"I'll hail a taxi, how about you?"

"It's not far from my school, I'll ride a bike."

"Alright, then let's part ways, go back and rest early." Lu Xing was very steady, "I still have to go to the company tomorrow to return the clothes."

"See you again if fate allows."

Chen Shu scanned a shared bike and rode toward the school.

There were quite a lot of people here, especially since the gala had just ended; many audience members were driving themselves or taking taxis away, but after riding for a distance, the road became deserted, with only a few scattered small cars driving by.

Chen Shu calculated—

Through the various tasks from the agency over the past few days, he had already earned nearly twenty thousand yuan.

The vast majority were tasks involving Spell Principles, because he was skilled at them, and tasks that ordinary people had no ability to complete or would have to spend time and effort on, he could complete very easily. On the contrary, this task today, which others would find very sweet and easy, was not very cost-effective in his view.

Payday is on the twelfth.

It's a pity that he can only receive the payment for tasks before the thirtieth of last month; adding his savings, it's about one hundred thousand.

The songs he sold previously also had copyright royalties arriving one after another.

Chen Shu checked; the Second-tier Breakthrough Potion produced by the Blue Light Company that he bought most often cost one hundred and thirty thousand, so he was still short about thirty thousand.

The next day was Sunday.

Chen Shu followed the address and arrived at Zhilan Garden.

This was also a courtyard area.

Because of the larger territory, smaller population, and some policy reasons, the housing prices in Yiguo were generally not high, especially for suburban villas and courtyards, where the price was at most on par with urban apartments. In a city like Yujing, the price of a courtyard in the suburbs definitely could not compare to an apartment in the city center, not to mention the west side, which only had a University City.

Found number 12.

This small courtyard was smaller than the one in Bai City, with a more ancient style, white walls and black tiles, and the eaves were carved with strange beasts, looking more exquisite.

"Knock knock."

Chen Shu knocked on the door.

Not long after, footsteps came from inside, very light and slow; he was very familiar with them.

"Creak~"

The wooden courtyard gate opened inward.

Ning Qing stood in the courtyard, quietly looking at him.

"Morning."

Chen Shu handed over a leaf: "Picked up a leaf on the way, giving it to you."

Ning Qing reached out to take the leaf and placed it before her eyes to look at it carefully—this was a phoenix tree leaf, quite large, and in this autumn season, it had already turned a greenish-yellow, but it was not completely withered; green could be faintly seen on the leaf veins. It should not have fallen naturally; either a strong wind had blown, or it had been knocked off by a small animal, or it had been plucked by someone.

Putting the leaf away, she tilted her head slightly and saw Chen Shu's somewhat dark eye sockets, and the water droplets on his eyelashes from the mist.

Chen Shu walked past her and went straight into the courtyard.

There had originally been flowers and plants in the courtyard; some had already withered, while others had branches growing wildly. To the left of the entrance grew a persimmon tree, which had just started bearing fruit, and it was actually doing quite well.

"Not bad."

Chen Shu said while turning his head to look around: "Qingqing, you're so rich, why don't you just keep me? I was still running around for money yesterday, and by the time I got home it was midnight, and I still had to cultivate."

There was not a sound from behind him.

Chen Shu turned his head and took a glance—

Ning Qing had just closed the door and was still standing at the entrance, staring at him from several meters away.

"Oh..."

Chen Shu scratched his head: "You're a mute now."

Ning Qing's expression remained unchanged.

Chen Shu then entered the house and looked around; it was still very clean and tidy, and some things were clearly new. Seeing Ning Qing follow him in, he said to her casually: "It seems you spent some time cleaning and furnishing the place after you found it. Hmm, it looks more like a home now."

Ning Qing watched his back, wondering what he was thinking.

It seemed that without her needing to speak, this person's voice could just keep going, and very naturally at that:

"Why didn't you bring the cat over?

"Oh, it must be that Xiaoxiao wouldn't let you!

"You've already tidied up the bedroom? Did you stay here last night? Most likely, you figured I would come over yesterday, heh heh...

"You only made your own bed? Looks like I'll have to sleep next to you when I come over to hang out in the future.

"Why is there a blanket thrown on the sofa? Do you think I'd sleep on the sofa?

"There are no kitchen utensils in the kitchen? If there were, I could cook for you."

Chen Shu ran upstairs and downstairs as he spoke, making a full round of the main rooms and side rooms, not skipping the kitchen or bedroom, acting just like it was his own home. Finally, he came to the living room and sat on the sofa. Waiting for Ning Qing to sit down next to him as well, he looked at his quiet, seemingly mute childhood friend, his eyes darting around, and he couldn't help but reveal a smile.

"Can I touch your leg?

"If you don't speak, that means you agree.

"Alright, you agreed, you agreed that it's okay, don't hit me when the time comes.

"Oh my, my hand isn't listening to me!"

Chen Shu placed his hand on Ning Qing's knee, and after two seconds, moved it upward.

Ning Qing did not dodge, nor did she hit him; she simply lowered her head, glanced at Chen Shu's hand resting on her trousers, then raised her head and looked at Chen Shu's face very calmly—

There was only a foot of distance between them.

Through the smile on Chen Shu's face and his eyes filled with interest, she felt as if she could see into his heart.

In truth, there wasn't much lust there; compared to that, he was more interested in teasing her and playing with her, finding it all very amusing.

Besides—

Who touches a girl's leg by constantly and rapidly rubbing it back and forth?

What an idiot.