The entrance to the Su family mansion in Sijiu.
Watching the taillights of the car disappear rapidly, Su Nanyin stood stunned for a long time before silently walking back home.
Uncle Kui, who had opened the door promptly upon hearing the car return, had been hiding in the shadows behind it. After hearing Li Qianfan say, "Where I go is none of your business," he realized that the two masters of the Su family had somehow fallen out.
Uncle Kui, of course, wouldn't pry.
Watching his madam walk alone towards the backyard, her solitary figure evident, Uncle Kui sighed inexplicably.
Inside the backyard living room.
The heating was gentle.
The Su family's "caterpillars" – Du Yaoyao, still wearing the most eye-catching tank top and shorts – were playing "Zha Jin Hua" around a low table.
Shen Chongchong was the biggest winner.
Du Yaoyao lost until sweat beaded on her forehead.
Su Maomao kept peeking at the "yellow and white objects" in front of Shen Chongchong.
Creak.
The living room door opened.
Shen Chongchong and Du Yaoyao, their backs to the door, instinctively turned their heads together.
Su Maomao seized the opportunity to feint over the stack of cash in front of Shen Chongchong with the fastest hand speed before looking up.
Su Nanyin, clad in black mink and wearing a black fur hat, looking very much like Empress Xiao of the Jin Dynasty (as depicted in film and television), strode in.
Seeing her, by some instinct, "Maomao" and "Yaoyao" asked in unison: "Mom, where's Qianfan?"
"Dead."
Su Nanyin said coldly, bending down to remove her high-heeled ankle boots and placing them on the shoe rack.
She had been out busy for most of the night and had finally returned home.
But when the three "cabbages" at home saw her, they all asked about Li Qianfan. No one cared what she had been doing out or whether her business had gone smoothly.
This made Su Nanyin, already irritated, even more so.
Maomao and Yaoyao blinked their six eyes, looking at each other blankly for a long time, neither daring to speak further.
They could tell Su Nanyin's mood was very wrong.
"Could Mom be entering menopause?"
After Su Nanyin swayed her voluptuous hips back to her room and then locked the door with a click, Shen Chongchong whispered to Su Maomao.
"No way? A few days ago when we went shopping, she bought several packs of ultra-thin, leak-proof pads."
Su Maomao, full of doubt, shook her head and called out, "Cards, cards! Yaoyao, I'm betting ten, are you in?"
Having lost badly tonight, Yaoyao, with her cool little face, replied, "I'll bet a hundred."
"Ah?"
Su Maomao blinked, tilting her head to look at her younger sister. After a long moment, she gritted her teeth, "I'll match you a hundred! Let's see your hand."
Du Yaoyao flipped her cards: "Three 2s."
Su Maomao, clutching JQK—
Shen Chongchong blinked, thinking, "If I hadn't matched earlier, the cards I discarded would have included a pair of little 2s. Where did Yaoyao get three 2s?"
She looked at Du Yaoyao.
Du Yaoyao, with an expression that recognized no kin, raised her hand and tapped the table: "Su Maomao, money, money. Small business, no credit."
"Yaoyao stole cards and cheated while Maomao and I were worried about Mom."
Shen Chongchong understood. Although she didn't expose Du Yaoyao, she lost interest in playing cards. She yawned, gathered the stack of cash in her arms, and said, "I'm sleepy. Not playing anymore, going to bed."
"Just happens I'm sleepy too. Not playing."
Su Maomao, who was about to pay, took the opportunity to renege. She darted back to her room, slamming the door shut forcefully.
"Scoundrel!"
Du Yaoyao, who had lost several thousand tonight and hoped to break even with this round, was furious when her chance was so easily brushed aside. She went to kick the door.
Chongchong stopped her.
"Let go."
Du Yaoyao became defiant again: "I'll count to three. If you don't let go, don't blame me for being impolite!"
Shen Chongchong frowned, "What one, two, three? I have a pair of little 2s in my hand, where did you get three 2s?"
Du Yaoyao—
Shen Chongchong patiently persuaded, "We're sisters, why be so formal? Anything (including people), yours is mine, and also Maomao's, right?"
"Hmph!"
Du Yaoyao snorted coldly, no longer bothering to confront Maomao. She sauntered back to her room.
Half past eleven at night.
Li Qianfan's phone buzzed vibrantly on the table in a meticulously decorated small apartment.
He was holding a white gourd, standing by the door.
The white gourd looked as if it were about to ascend, desperately trying to break free from the vine at its base.
But no matter how fiercely the white gourd struggled up, down, left, and right, it remained firmly bound by the vine. It could only let out a despairing cry, tremble violently, and then stop moving.
Alas.
A pitiful two minutes and fifty seconds.
Can't you try harder and break the three-minute mark?
Li Qianfan, with a look of contempt, carried Tang Xiaoni to the bedside table, sat on the edge of the bed, and then picked up his phone.
Chongchong's message arrived: "Brother, are you at Dihua Apartments now? I'll come find you."
Dihua Apartments was one of the most luxurious apartment buildings in Sijiu.
From a high vantage point, one could vaguely see the majestic palace complex without a telescope.
The room Li Qianfan was currently in was "solely purchased" by Tang Xiaoni, and she would usually stay here at night when she was in Sijiu.
As girls grow up, they don't want to live with their families anymore.
However, it was clear.
When Tang Xiaoni bought this apartment, she never expected it to become a love nest for her and Brother Qianfan, hidden from many people.
Shen Chongchong, who was at the Su family's house, could pinpoint Li Qianfan's "hiding place" all at once because she possessed the magical sense of smell of a butterfly.
"I am indeed at Dihua Apartments, but it's not appropriate for you to come."
Li Qianfan glanced at Tang Xiaoni, who was still trembling in his arms, and replied to Shen Chongchong: "It's about the important matters related to the sixth of the month, and it involves the Tang family."
He wasn't lying—
He was indeed with people from the Tang family.
Why had Tang Xiaoni, who was in the border region on New Year's Eve last night, rushed back to Sijiu overnight and sent Li Qianfan a message asking him to come here?
It was to discuss important matters—
"Oh, then when are you coming home?"
Chongchong was very well-behaved. Upon learning that Li Qianfan was discussing important matters, she didn't pester him further.
Li Qianfan felt a pang of guilt—
His conscience wasn't entirely gone. He replied, "I'll go back to Tiandong tomorrow to see my filial son."
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, taking one's wife and child to visit their in-laws was a custom in Tiandong and many other places.
Li Qianfan decided to take this opportunity to discipline his filial son, Bai Yujing, and at the same time, visit Jiao Meinu, who dared to cuckold him.
"Mmm."
Chongchong hummed and asked, "Did you have a fight with Mom?"
Alas.
Li Qianfan sighed silently, "I'll tell you later. You should rest early. I won't talk anymore, I'm still in a meeting."
"Brother, you should rest early too."
The well-behaved Chongchong went offline and slept peacefully.
Li Qianfan was about to put down his phone—
Two consecutive "ding-ding" sounds.
Maomao's message arrived: "Qianfan, how did you make Mom angry?"
Yaoyao's message arrived: "Where are you now?"
"I'm busy with the important matters of the sixth. I'll talk later."
Li Qianfan replied to Su Maomao first.
Then he replied to Yaoyao: "I'm discussing the sixth with people from the Tang family. That's all."
To avoid further harassment, Li Qianfan directly turned off his phone.
Didn't he see that the repeatedly defeated, yet persistently re-emerging doll had returned to life?
By the time she completely turned into a clay doll, curled up into a small white ball, and fell into a sweet slumber in Li Qianfan's arms, it was already half past one.
Seeing that she hadn't even bothered to remove the hair stuck to her face with sweat, and only wanted to sleep until the end of time, Li Qianfan couldn't bear to wake her up to go to the bathroom to shower.
He brushed aside her hair and turned on his phone.
Maomao and Yaoyao's nonsensical messages immediately popped up on the screen.
Li Qianfan glanced at them and ignored them.
They were messages from almost an hour ago, no need to reply.
He found Ruhua: "Old buddy, you there?"
Ruhua replied instantly: "Don't ask if I'm there, just state your business. Even if I'm not there at the moment, I'll definitely reply after seeing the message."
"Understood. It's like this."
Li Qianfan thought for a moment, carefully typing: "At 9 PM last night, undercover Mom accompanied me to meet an ignorant and arrogant individual. That ignorant and arrogant person has a very powerful person behind him. If I directly clashed with him, it wouldn't benefit me. Undercover Mom, once again, played the villain for me."
Ruhua replied: "Undercover Mom is truly too good to you."
"A beauty's kindness is the hardest to repay."
Li Qianfan sent this sentence casually, then realized it was not quite right.
However, he didn't care.
Ruhua was a virtual online friend, and they had known each other for so long that they could talk about anything. This was nothing.
Ruhua was very clever and immediately replied: "What, do you consider undercover Mom to be a beauty like the undercover agent?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? I just said it casually."
Li Qianfan typed, "But because of last night's events, I'm starting to fear undercover Mom."
Ruhua asked in confusion: "You told me yourself that she's willing to do anything for you, so why are you afraid of her?"
"Before last night, we were very clear. Even though we spoke casually in private, it was all an act."
Li Qianfan frowned, "But last night, after undercover Mom helped me play the villain again, she couldn't control her emotions, and I keenly sensed her instinctive thoughts!"
Ruhua quickly asked: "What are her instinctive thoughts?"
Hoo.
Li Qianfan exhaled a long breath, "I suspect. She doesn't realize that she might be starting to like me."