Chapter 77: Separation and Encounter
"After the first elimination match tomorrow, you will invite the owner of Wengui to dinner for me." Su Luo hooked Zhou Chongwen's neck and whispered, "If Fatty Xue asks you something, just be serious and say that I specifically asked you to do so. You don't know what it is."
Zhou Chongwen nodded, and then asked why. Su Luo felt it necessary to let his second largest shareholder know what happened, so he told his guess. In the end, he didn't care that the guy didn't react, stretched his waist, yawned, and said, "Go to bed, there's a tough battle tomorrow."
Zhou Chongwen had a determined look on his face, as if he was going to be executed tomorrow. At this time, Yun Lang came in from outside, and Su Luo raised his chin towards the outside, "What are you doing? Why did you take so long to come in? Where are they?"
"I'm going back to Qin Huai's room to rest." Yun Lang was a little listless, "I'm going to sleep."
"What's wrong?" Su Luo called him, "Why are you so well behaved today? Are you sick?"
Zhou Chongwen also hurried over to show concern and said that there was indeed something wrong with you. Normally, you had to ask me to make you some midnight snack before you could fall asleep.
Yun Lang, who was concerned about Chad, immediately found the organization. He walked into the house angrily and sat down. He pointed at the door and cursed, "That stinky boy dared to speak in a pretentious manner to me, saying that my martial arts are not refined and can only fool the country folk. I am so angry!"
Su Luo immediately sat down next to him and asked cautiously, "Who is this country bumpkin? Is that guy related to the Japanese?"
Zhou Chongwen broke out in a cold sweat. "I think he meant 'country bumpkin', which has nothing to do with ghosts."
Su Luo was embarrassed and sat up straight immediately. "Yes, that's what I meant. I just thought that most ghosts also appear in the mountains and the wild..." Looking back, she found that the two people didn't listen to her explanation at all. They were still chatting. She was the only one muttering to herself in her seat, as if she was insane.
Su Luo gave himself a self-comforting smile, then gritted his teeth and moved closer, raising his leg and kicking. After kicking for so long, Yun Lang had gotten used to it, and didn't even move his body. Su Luo snorted, "Did Chu Ning take care of you, kid?"
Yun Lang didn't say anything. Su Luo snorted and laughed, "You must be unwilling to accept the evaluation you received, so you wanted to attack them when they weren't paying attention, but you were counter-attacked."
Yun Lang still didn't say anything, which was considered as his acquiescence. He slammed the table unwillingly and said, "I must become stronger than him and strangle him to death in the future!"
Su Luo rolled her eyes at him, "You still want to apply to the military academy? He's in charge of the selection, aren't you afraid that he'll make things difficult for you?"
"He dares! I'll skin him alive!"
"Okay, if you don't get skinned by then, I'll skin that guy who always says 'fuck, fuck' as well." Su Luo hasn't forgotten the grudge against those two people who knocked her out in Nanjing.
Yun Lang found out who the man was and patted his chest and said, "Leave it to me. I will skin every one of the Eighteen Iron Riders of Liaodong."
"Peel off the skin and make a human skin lantern, with Chu Ning's skin stuck on the outside!" She made sure that no one who had offended her would be spared.
Zhou Chongwen had no interest in participating in such a bloody activity. He yawned and went back to his room to sleep, leaving the two of them to chat in the main room until late at night.
The next morning, Su Luo woke up and found herself in bed. She had clearly been chatting with Yun Lang in the living room last night, talking about everything under the sun. She talked about computers, televisions, light bulbs, airplanes, trains, and ships. She talked about everything Yun Lang had never seen. Later, she had some midnight snacks and planned to work hard until dawn, but she didn't expect that she couldn't hold on. Yun Lang must have seen her fall asleep and sent her back to the room.
Just as he was hesitating whether to get up, he heard someone knocking on the door. Su Luo stretched and shouted, "Come in."
Zhou Chongwen pushed the door open and came in. When he saw Su Luo's attitude, his face turned red and he turned to leave, but Su Luo stopped him, "What are you doing? Aren't you still wearing clothes?"
Su Luo stood up as she spoke, and in front of Zhou Chongwen, she slowly put on her outer coat over her white undercoat. Halfway through, her eyes twitched. It was Yun Lang who sent her back last night, and her outer coat must have been taken off by Yun Lang. She didn't know if that brat had taken advantage of her in any other way. She would have to settle the score with him later!
She gnashed her teeth here, Zhou Chongwen had his back to her, his ears were red, Su Luo dressed neatly and went over to pat his shoulder, startling him, Su Luo smiled and said, "You are the man and I am the woman, how come it seems like it's the other way around?"
Zhou Si's face turned even redder when he heard this. He forgot the purpose of his visit until Su Luo asked him, then he said anxiously, "Yun Lang left and left me a letter."
Su Luo was stunned, and quickly snatched the letter from Zhou Chongwen's hand, unfolded it, and looked at it. Without saying anything about the words, it could be summed up in two words: ugly. And the letter was written... concisely.
There will be...circles later.
It's not a typo, there is a circle drawn at the last position, and the signature is naturally also a flowing circle.
"He said we'll meet again."
"I know how to fill in the blanks with idioms." Su Luo glared at him unhappily, turned the letter over and over to read it thoroughly, but didn't see any other words. She threw the letter in anger, "I was wondering why he talked so much nonsense last night! This damn boy didn't even leave me a word, he deserves it for not being able to read!"
"It's not that he can't read, he can read, he just can't write." Zhou Si picked up the letter paper, "It's not that he can't write at all, he can write simple things." This guy muttered to himself, and seemed to be very proud that Yun Lang left a letter for him without informing his family.
Su Luo was so angry that he put his hands on his hips and was about to lose his temper when he saw a piece of paper on the table out of the corner of his eye.
"Haha!" Su Luo grabbed the paper in her hand and raised it towards Zhou Chongwen proudly, "Who said I didn't have it?" Then she lowered her head to take a look at the paper, threw it away after reading it, and went back to the bedside to rummage around.
Zhou Chongwen picked up the letter in confusion and took a look at it. The handwriting was still ugly, but it was also concise and to the point - borrowing one hundred taels of silver, and the signature was a circle.
Su Luo searched in vain. The IOU had already been signed. Would the money still be there? Looking at the empty little box, Su Luo trembled with anger.
"Don't be angry. He is going to Luoyang to apply for the exam, and all the expenses will cost money," said Zhou Chongwen.
Su Luo clenched his fist, then threw the IOU on the ground and stomped on it, "There is clearly 120 taels in my box!"
Zhou Chongwen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead speechlessly and comforted her, saying that it was fortunately only one hundred and twenty taels. If you had kept one thousand two hundred taels with you, the consequences would have been disastrous.
Su Luo thought about it and it made sense. The bandit leader had no concept of money. Let alone one hundred or one thousand taels, even ten thousand taels, as long as he could afford it, he would definitely accept it with a smile.
Su Luo cursed Yun Lang fiercely while carefully putting the IOU into her arms. Zhou Chongwen said, "Don't feel bad. What if he fails the exam after going to Luoyang? He will have to come back."
Su Luo turned around and pinched him, asking who was upset? I wasn't upset. With his behavior and offending his future superior, it would be strange for the military academy to accept him.
That being said, when it came time to eat breakfast, Su Luo couldn't help but ask Chu Ning, who remained silent, "When are you going back? You won't take revenge, will you? Although Yun Lang's behavior is a bit rough, he is still very loyal."
Su and Su Yi were feeling sad about Yun Lang's departure, and after hearing what Su Luo said, they immediately started to lobby. Su said that although Yun Lang didn't have any good points, was always getting into trouble, and was sometimes enthusiastic in the wrong place, he was still a good boy... Su Luo quickly stopped her, wondering why she was praising him like that.
Chu Ning glanced at everyone calmly and said, "I will stay for a few more days before leaving. There will naturally be someone in charge of the selection. If he can't even pass the preliminary selection, it will be difficult for me to help him."
With just this one sentence, Su Luo completely overturned his preconceived impression of Chu Ning. In other words, as long as Yun Lang could pass the primary election, everything else would be easy.
"Come, come, come, eat the food; come, come, come, eat the food; come, come, come..."
The meal was over under Su Luo's warm hospitality. After the meal, Su Luo pulled Qin Huai to the side hall and whispered, "Does he want to stay to do something further to Su Jiang?"
Qin Huai laughed, then became serious again, looking at Su Luo, "There is one thing I can't hide from you."
Su Luo immediately leaned over to listen, and Qin Huai said, "In fact, Chu Ning is the general of Xuanfu, Li Rusong."
Su Luo was startled, then his eyes lit up. Qin Huai continued, "Chu Ning was the pseudonym he used when he was a child. I stayed in Luoyang this time to help raise funds for his military school. I told him that I would go back after the New Year, but I didn't expect it to take so long that he came to Zhuxian Town to find me."
Su Luo was stunned again, "You help him raise funds? What does the court do?"
"Although Zimao tried his best to win the emperor's support, the civil officials in the court were always unwilling to invest too much in this matter. The emperor had no choice but to give a part of it, and we had to figure out the rest ourselves."
Su Luo opened her mouth to ask more questions, but Qin Huai raised his hand to stop her. "We can talk about these things later when we have the chance. What I want to say is that since Zimao lost Xiaozhen, he has never been truly happy. I have known Zimao for more than ten years, and I have never seen him fall in love with any woman, but..."
"But Su Jiang showed up." Su Luo continued, stroking his and said, "You mean, let me offer my sister as a substitute to make your brother happy?"
"Of course, love matters must be mutual." Qin Huai said seriously, "I just want you to give him a chance, or to help him once, and to be a matchmaker between the two of you. Whether it will succeed or not will naturally depend on Miss Su Wu's opinion."
Su Luo narrowed his eyes, "Did he ask you to tell me this?"
"Of course not." Qin Huai lowered his eyes. "He knows that he only has ten years left to live, so how could he be willing to delay Miss Su Wu's life?"
According to historical records, Li Rusong died on the battlefield in the 25th year of Wanli, only ten years ago.
"What?" Su Luo almost jumped up, "How can you tell him such a thing!" Telling a living person that you can only live for another ten years, what future do you have? What dreams do you have? It's too cruel.
Qin Huai smiled sadly, "I also hope he doesn't know."
Su Luo didn't know what happened between the two of them. Seeing Qin Huai's expression, it was not appropriate to ask too much, so she brought the topic back to the topic, "Since you know his final outcome, why do you want me to act as a matchmaker for them? Although Su Jiang and I have only known each other for a short time and we can't say we have any friendship or family affection, this kind of thing is extremely cruel to any woman. Let alone helping, even if he has the ability to make Su Jiang marry him, I might try to persuade her."
"Can't we still 'change history'?" Qin Huai grabbed Su Luo, his eyes burning, "If Zimao really gets together with Miss Su Wu, or even marries her, wouldn't this fact itself have already changed history?"
Su Luo was stunned and tried to recall Li Rusong's resume. It seemed that there was no introduction on whether Li Rusong's wife's surname was Su. However, seeing Qin Huai's confident look, he seemed to be confident. Su Luo's mind was a little confused. This matter had nothing to do with her. It was because it had nothing to do with her that she was confused. No matter who decided Su Jiang's future, it should not be decided by her. Although the job Qin Huai gave her was just matchmaking, with Li Rusong's conditions, which ordinary woman would not be tempted? Even if Su Jiang was not tempted, her mother would definitely be tempted. At that time, as long as Qin Huai casually revealed some secrets about Li Rusong's identity to her, Su Jiang might be tied to the sedan chair the next day. Is this fair to Su Jiang?
"I still can't agree." Su Luo licked her lips, "I also advise you not to get involved. Chu Ning... whatever Li Rusong wants to do, respect his decision. Also, don't reveal his true identity to others for the time being."
Qin Huai couldn't hide the disappointment on his face . Hearing what Su Luo said, he raised his eyebrows inquiringly. Su Luo said, "Su Jiang is a girl with her own ideas. If she is forced to be with Li Rusong because of her status, I'm sure both of them will not be happy. You also hope that your brother is truly happy, not forced to do so, right?"
"That's natural." Qin Huai smiled, "I was too impatient. I thought that the appearance of Miss Su Wu would make Zimao get rid of the shadow of the past, but I ignored Miss Su Wu's feelings."
"Anyway, this matter is not something you and I can decide. What happens between them depends on fate."
Qin Huai nodded, his usual sunny smile returned to his face, "Okay, don't delay, today is the first game of the elimination round, you as one of the organizers should go early. How about it? Do you need my help with Boss Xue?"
Su Luo took a deep breath and said, "Fatty Xue, it's nothing, just watch the show." She walked out and ran into Chu Ning before leaving... or maybe he should be called Li Rusong. Su Luo didn't know how well she had covered it up, but she sighed in her heart. It turned out that knowing the outcome of a person first was not a good thing.
Looking at Su Luo's back, Li Rusong asked Qin Huai, "What did you say to her?"
"Don't worry." Qin Huai smiled and stretched out his hand, "Are you afraid that I will expose you?"
Li Rusong curled his lips and said, "No need. We won't have any intersection in the future."
Qin Huai raised an eyebrow, "No intersection? Yes, maybe no intersection with her, but what about her sister? It's a fateful encounter, don't you have any thoughts on it?"
Li Rusong stared at Qin Huai quietly for a long time without saying a word. After a while, he turned around and walked out the door, "Come on, take me to see the KTV of the Ming Dynasty."
The smile on Qin Huai's face slowly faded. Was he being too nosy? But in front of his only close friend, he would rather be a little more nosy.
After Su Luo left Huanghua Garden, he came to Bihe Garden to call Su Jiang and asked her to go to the competition together. Although Jintaixuan was now open, young people always liked to join in the fun, especially Su Hong, who had to go to every competition and insisted on dragging Su Jiang along, using the excuse that "Sister Jiang is going too."
When Su Jiang appeared, her face was still a little pale, it seemed that she did not get enough rest last night. Also, for an ancient girl, she would definitely be scared if a strange man kept pestering her when they met for the first time.
After Su Jiang left the house, the two had just taken two steps when the Second Auntie chased out from the garden, pulled Su Jiang aside, and whispered while hiding from Su Luo: "I heard that the fourth girl brought a man back last night. You have to be careful, don't let him be a bad guy."
Su Jiang forced herself to smile, "He's not some bad person at all. He's a friend of Mr. Qin. He came to look for Mr. Qin. My daughter and Sister Luo happened to meet him last night, so they brought him back."
"Anyway..." Second Aunt muttered, "Jiang'er, you should spend more time with Young Master Qin and mind your own friends."
Su Jiang smiled helplessly and nodded.
