Lin Mucian felt a flutter of panic.
She politely expressed her desire to attend Qing University to the admissions director.
The middle-aged professor opposite her smiled.
"It's good that you're willing to come. I was really afraid you'd turn to a film academy or go abroad."
"It's not that those choices are bad,"
"But I guarantee that we will treat you, such a promising talent, well, provide you with opportunities, and allow you to maximize your potential."
"Earlier, I was chatting with Lan Yan, and he mentioned that you might have had some psychological issues before."
"But because he's bound by the principle of protecting his patients, he can't say much. So he plans to join Qing University and serve as our school doctor."
"This way, you can find him promptly if you have any problems."
Lin Mucian never imagined.
Yang Lan Yan would come up with such a plan to get close to her!
"I'm really all better now, I don't have any issues."
Yang Lan Yan just looked at her dotingly.
"Be good, Xiao Ci. I know Xiao Ci is a genius."
"But even geniuses have vulnerable parts, and besides, some of your experiences at school have made it difficult for you to open up to others. But it's alright, I will always be by Xiao Ci's side."
The admissions director had other students to see. Lin Mucian was the top scorer, and he needed to persuade the second and third highest scorers.
And he also remembered something more important.
"By the way, Lin Mucian, do you have a classmate named Zhou Yuan An? Our sports department wants to recruit him specially, but he hasn't filled in his address, and we can't reach him. Do you know his home address?"
Lin Mucian readily agreed.
"I'll take you there."
The admissions director smiled.
"Alright. We have high hopes for this student too!"
...
Lin Mucian thought Yang Lan Yan would discreetly leave once she went with the admissions director to find Zhou Yuan An, but she didn't expect him to still be following behind her.
Was he determined not to leave?
The admissions director was driving in front.
Yang Lan Yan and Lin Mucian sat in the back seat. Lin Mucian placed her phone with the navigation set up in front.
Yang Lan Yan leaned close to her ear and whispered.
"Your classmate Zhou Yuan An is being targeted."
Lin Mucian's fingers trembled slightly.
"Who? Who's targeting him?"
Yang Lan Yan slowly stared at her profile.
"Didn't you rescue Zhou Yuan An's father? Eisenrichburg, remember, we worked together."
He emphasized the words "we worked together."
Then he continued.
"His father mysteriously disappeared. If someone targets him, they can follow the clues and find his father."
Lin Mucian pursed her lips. Speaking of which, she still wanted to visit his father with Zhou Yuan An, she had promised him.
Zhou Yuan An's father, Zhou Di, should be hidden in some overseas hospital by Ling Qian He. Zhou Di was still infected with the T-800 virus. She rubbed her temples with a slight headache.
Yang Lan Yan grabbed her wrist.
She wanted to pull her hand away. He said calmly.
"What, scared?"
Lin Mucian wasn't scared. She was determined to complete this mission.
Rescuing Zhou Di was a big mission worth five hundred points, more profitable than charming men.
She rescued Zhou Di. Five hundred points credited!
Then she saved Hanks.
Two hundred points obtained.
Now, she was completely unpanicked.
Whether Yang Lan Yan's favorability reached one hundred was of no importance to her. The only thing she needed to pay attention to was to be careful not to let Yang Lan Yan drive her crazy.
"What's there to be scared of? It's very safe here."
Yang Lan Yan paused, then said.
"For him to go to Qing University is the best choice. There, no one can harm him. You should try to persuade your friend."
The car stopped by the alley.
Lin Mucian jumped out of the car just as Zhou Yuan An walked over with a basketball.
"Xiao Ci? You're here? Perfect, I was planning to go to the market to buy groceries! What do you want to eat? Sweet and sour pork ribs, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, pickled fish slices, and stir-fried string beans, how about that?"
The conversation instantly shifted from basketball to a food program.
"Hey, are there guests?"
"Who is this? They look quite old. Xiao Ci, is this your elder?"
The professor responsible for admissions was fine, but Yang Lan Yan, who was mistaken for Lin Mucian's elder, turned dark.
This guy – has no sense of discernment?
Zhou Yuan An clearly lacked such a thing.
He was strong in limbs and simple in mind.
"Let's go inside."
...
In the narrow living room, Zhou Yuan An scratched his head sheepishly.
"I led the basketball team to win the national championship a while ago... I got a lot of prize money, so I plan to move. Please make do with eating here for now. Soon, I'll be able to move my mother into a bigger house!"
Speaking of this.
Zhou Yuan An's eyes sparkled.
"I've also told my mother that I'll bring her with me when I go to school later, so she shouldn't worry."
Mentioning this, the admissions director had something to say.
"We can provide you with free accommodation. It's like this, we hope you can join our school team, and then we will recommend you to the national team."
"Your talent is extremely rare."
"We all believe that you are a basketball genius who can lead the team in the Olympics!"
An ordinary person would likely offer some polite remarks.
Something like "You flatter me," or "Not at all."
But Zhou Yuan An nodded vigorously.
"I know! I'm not good at studying, so I have to be talented in something. I'm really good at playing ball (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧!"
He leaned close to Lin Mucian.
Like a husky puppy.
"Xiao Ci, I'm the best! Right!"
You could almost feel him extending his tail to wag in the air.
And he openly hugged Lin Mucian.
Yang Lan Yan's eyes seemed to want to pierce holes through him, but he completely ignored it. Instead, he smiled and put his arm around Lin Mucian's shoulder, then around her waist, his voice full of excitement.
"Xiao Ci, if we do this, can we go to the same school?"
Lin Mucian didn't expect him to be so easily persuaded.
Indeed.
To be at the same school as her.
This was too tempting for Zhou Yuan An.
Just as Lin Mucian was about to say something else, a phone ring suddenly sounded in her ear.
She glanced at the number.
Resignedly, she answered.
The person on the other end.
"What are you doing?"
Lin Mucian glanced at Zhou Yuan An, then at Yang Lan Yan, and sighed silently in her heart, but her tone was calm and fearless.
"Thinking of you."
"I have something else to do, I'll call you back later."
Yang Lan Yan looked at her, and Zhou Yuan An also looked at her.
Lin Mucian hung up the phone with a straight face.
"It's my mother."
Zhou Yuan An suddenly realized.
"Oh, it's your mother. I remember Auntie is very attached to you."
Yang Lan Yan seemed to see through something, his smile deep.
Zhou Yuan An insisted on them staying for dinner. He went to the kitchen to start cooking, and Lin Mucian went to help.
In reality, she just wanted to avoid Yang Lan Yan, but Zhou Yuan An scratched his head.
"Don't... last time at my place, Xiao Ci, you said you wanted to help, but you almost set the kitchen on fire..."
Lin Mucian blushed slightly.
She, she forgot to redeem her cooking skills.
Who could blame her, she didn't have many opportunities to cook. Ten years ago, or even longer, when she first arrived in this world, she used to buy rice balls from convenience stores and just get by with Ling Qian He.
Brother Qian He also never asked about her cooking skills.
Zhou Yuan An sighed and pushed her, her face flushed, away.
Yang Lan Yan, sitting there, suddenly asked.
"Was the person on the phone just now Ling Qian He?"
"Why lie? Afraid he'd be angry?"
"So afraid of him? Is he that scary? Is he very strict with you?"
Lin Mucian nodded unconsciously.
"Yes... yes."
Only after answering did she realize it was not good, and Yang Lan Yan chuckled.
"Since he's so strict with you, why not come to me? I'm very good to girls, gentle and considerate, and I never ask for anything else. Nor do I keep people by my side, letting them do what they love."
Lin Mucian said "Oh," half-believingly.
"Is that so? That's great."
The system, however, emitted a beeping alarm in Lin Mucian's mind.
"Host, please don't believe him!"
"He's lying!"
Lin Mucian thought seriously and still politely refused.
"But I still like Ling Qian He."
Yang Lan Yan seemed to sigh faintly.
The admissions director was eager to find the next student, leaving only her and Yang Lan Yan in the living room.
Lin Mucian said she wanted to re-examine Zhou Yuan An's mother, and alone, she slipped into the room to feel the auntie's pulse.
Her mother looked radiant and looked at her with a face full of kindness.
"Thank you so much... if it weren't for you, I wouldn't know what to do."
She sighed.
"Xiao An said you know his father's whereabouts... I don't know if you're just comforting him. Sigh, this child is so unfortunate, he has lived such a hard life. After his father disappeared, I worked hard to raise him. If it weren't for this old house, we wouldn't even have a roof over our heads."
Lin Mucian knew Zhou Yuan An had a hard life.
In Zhou Yuan An, she could see a shadow of Ling Qian He from back then.
A pathetic young boy.
Having nothing.
Zhou Yuan An still had his mother, but Ling Qian He didn't even have a mother.
He was like a lonely puppy abandoned by the world.
"It's alright, he's my classmate, it's only right to help him."
Zhou Yuan An's mother hesitated and looked at Lin Mucian.
"There's something I don't know whether I should say or not."
Lin Mucian looked at Mother Zhou, who gave a wry smile.
"Back then, when I was working in a factory, I met a very beautiful woman. That woman was beautiful, but there was always a hint of sadness in her eyes. She said she had run away secretly, that she had a son to raise, so she had to work hard at various odd jobs, but it seemed like someone was tracking her."
"So she could only do some of the lowest-paying jobs that didn't require identification."
"Sewing machines in the factory, washing dishes in restaurants..."
"She did whatever was difficult."
Mother Zhou sighed.
"That woman was very beautiful, and her son was also very beautiful, only a few years old, and he didn't speak."
"One day, that woman came to work looking distraught, saying she might have been discovered..."
"She asked me if there was a way to get a ticket for an overseas cruise."
"Because my husband, Zhou Di, happened to be a crew member on a ship, I managed to ask my husband and got a ticket, and sent her onto that ship!"
Lin Mucian's heart pounded.
Hearing this, how could she not understand?
The woman Mother Zhou was talking about.
Was Ling Qian He's mother!
The beautiful child she mentioned must be Ling Qian He!
Lin Mucian's eyes widened, and she pressed further.
"Then what? Do you have a photo of that woman?"
Mother Zhou hesitated.
"Then I don't know... I haven't seen her since."
"I have a photo of that woman... but no one has seen it. I hid it, it was a group photo from our factory. Because she had run away, she was afraid of being discovered, so she never took photos."
"It was only later that I felt she was too beautiful and begged her, and only then did we take a group photo."
"She said that if no one investigated her after decades, she could take it out."
"She said she had no other wish, only that her son could live."
"So I promised her, and for so many years, I've never taken out the photo."
Lin Mucian sighed in her heart.
Truly, a mother's heart is full of love.
Ling Qian He's mother, even risking her life, wanted to protect him back then, didn't she?
Mother Zhou said.
"I'll go look for the photo, I remember it's at home."
"You saved me, and you helped Xiao An. And at your age, you certainly couldn't be involved with those who are investigating her, so I can show you the photo."
"That woman was incredibly beautiful."