"Brother Yan, you see, I told you there would be a big show when you went to the Li family to break off the engagement. It's a shame that before the situation could turn around, you've already slapped the Li family's face and ruined Li Qing'er's reputation. Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"
On the way back, Yan Shouyi and Long Feicheng no longer had the luxury of a Rolls-Royce picking them up. They took a bus again.
On the bus, Long Feicheng excitedly reviewed Yan Shouyi's "face-slapping" maneuvers of the day for him.
Under Long Feicheng's eloquent analysis, every word Yan Shouyi spoke seemed to carry profound meaning, and his emotions progressed in layers, ultimately completing a perfect "revenge."
Yan Shouyi listened, dumbfounded.
He hadn't actually thought that much at the time.
All he wanted was for the Li family to talk to him calmly and cancel this unrealistic engagement.
As a result, he was first met with sarcastic remarks from the Li family, then encountered a liar from the Huanyang sect who dared to insult a Lu Ban descendant, and finally was insulted by Li Qing'er herself.
It could be said that Yan Shouyi had given the Li family ample face today, trying his best to provide them with a way out.
Unfortunately, none of the Li family members were intelligent enough to appreciate Yan Shouyi's intentions, which ultimately led to this outcome.
Li Qing'er was especially so. Since she knew she wasn't the real Li Qing'er, she should have kept a low profile. But Li Qing'er insisted on discussing bloodlines, dividing people into different classes, and attacking Lin Ziqing's status.
Yan Shouyi, unable to bear it any longer, revealed the truth.
He no longer cared how the Li family would deal with Li Qing'er, because compared to Li Qing'er's birth, the blessings she had enjoyed over the years far exceeded her original destiny. Moreover, Li Qing'er was a murderer, so even if the Li family sent her to prison, Yan Shouyi would not have any sympathy.
"Brother Yan, the Li family matter is resolved. Now you can legitimately go to Licheng to propose. When do you plan to go? Can you take me along?" Long Feicheng said with a smile.
Yan Shouyi gave Long Feicheng an exasperated look. "This time I'm going to propose, not to crash the party. What are you going for?"
Yan Shouyi had discovered that Long Feicheng was good at fanning the flames and making sarcastic remarks. Half of the Li family's animosity today was caused by Long Feicheng.
What if Long Feicheng couldn't control his mouth at the Lin family's place? What if the Lin family got angry and kicked him out?
Seeing Yan Shouyi's exaggerated reaction, Long Feicheng clutched his heart and said with feigned distress:
"Brother Yan, your reaction hurts me."
"Get lost!"
Yan Shouyi immediately drew a line between himself and Long Feicheng, lest the passersby in front or behind them misunderstand their relationship as something special.
When the two returned to Shanghang Art School, Yan Shouyi habitually looked towards the fountain. To his regret, Lin Ziqing wasn't there today.
So, Yan Shouyi asked Long Feicheng to find Lu Caiwei, got Lin Ziqing's phone number, and called her.
To his surprise, the call was hung up after just two rings.
This made Yan Shouyi a little nervous. Had something happened to Lin Ziqing?
But then Yan Shouyi received a text message: You big idiot, I'm in class.
Yan Shouyi breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but laugh at himself. Ever since he decided on Lin Ziqing, he had become a bit anxious and prone to losing his composure.
Even so, Yan Shouyi didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He always remembered what his grandfather had said: people have humanity because they care about others.
If a person cared about nothing, they were merely a walking corpse.
So Yan Shouyi, using his clumsy typing skills, took ten minutes to type a line of text: I broke off the engagement with the Li family today. You get ready, and we'll go to your house to propose tomorrow.
Before sending it, Yan Shouyi carefully selected and added a smiley face emoji at the end.
Well, full of sincerity.
After sending the text message, Yan Shouyi felt a little smug.
However, Lin Ziqing, who received the text, almost fainted from anger in the classroom.
The lifelong event was settled with just one text message?
What kind of man proposes like this???
And this rustic emoji, was he trying to infuriate her to death!
Lin Ziqing covered her mouth, trying her best not to look too ferocious or angry, and quickly replied:
Can you be more direct?
"Can you be more direct?"
Yan Shouyi looked at the text message on his phone and fell into thought.
Then he asked Long Feicheng, "Little Long, Ziqing says I'm gay, what does that mean?"
Upon hearing this, Long Feicheng quickly retreated two steps, looking at Yan Shouyi with vigilance:
"Brother Yan... You're not serious, are you?... No wonder, no wonder! No wonder you always liked to run around shirtless in the dorm. You also always barged in while I was showering to wash up, calling it a 'dragon-tiger bath.' So you're gay!"
"What does that have to do with being gay?" Yan Shouyi was completely bewildered. He felt that it was nothing for two grown men to shower together. When they were kids in the countryside, they all swam in the river with their bottoms bare.
Long Feicheng shook his head and sighed. "So, you're interested in my good looks. Brother Yan, please give up. We have no future together. I only like Caiwei."
Yan Shouyi: "..."
He wasn't stupid. After this conversation, he understood what Long Feicheng meant.
But no matter how he explained it, Long Feicheng wouldn't believe him. He would even vigilantly pull back his hand if Yan Shouyi accidentally touched it.
Speechless, Yan Shouyi could only resort to educating Long Feicheng with his fists to clear up the misunderstanding.
Then, a bigger problem arose: Why would Lin Ziqing think I like men?
I finally managed to break off the engagement with the Li family...
Fortunately, Long Feicheng accidentally glanced at their communication text messages and immediately understood that it was all a misunderstanding. He quickly explained it to Yan Shouyi.
"Big sister-in-law means you're 'straight' in a negative way, meaning you shouldn't settle your lifelong event so casually with a text message!"
Yan Shouyi suddenly realized: "Does she mean I should give her a proposal ceremony?"
"Of course! It's like when your grandfather was going to pass on the Lu Ban lineage to you. Do your Lu Ban sect disciples notify each other via text message without any sense of ceremony?" Long Feicheng said.
Yan Shouyi recalled.
The Lu Ban sect had some rituals for selecting a successor.
When he was young, his grandfather suddenly grabbed Yan Shouyi, who was catching fish by the river one evening, and told him to burn incense and pray, bathe and change his clothes, put on a rough cotton outfit, tie a Lu Ban sacred wood around his waist, hold the ancestral tablet, and ascend the mountain at midnight.
When ascending the mountain, his grandfather specifically instructed Yan Shouyi not to answer anything he saw or heard along the way, unless his grandfather personally asked him a question.
So, his grandfather walked ahead, and Yan Shouyi followed behind. The grandfather and grandson climbed the mountain in the dark.
On the way up the mountain, Yan Shouyi indeed encountered some strange things.
He heard someone calling his name from behind him. The voice sounded like a woman, exceptionally gentle and melodious, making Yan Shouyi think of his mother, whom he had never seen. Moreover, the tone of the person behind him changed from gentle calls to hurried, then even tearful wails, and finally turned into screams.
Yan Shouyi wanted to turn around several times to see if the owner of the voice was his mother, but he tightly remembered his grandfather's words and forced himself not to look back.
Later, the voice gradually faded away, and Yan Shouyi's steps became more resolute.
At dawn, the grandfather and grandson reached the mountain peak. His grandfather, who had been silent all night, finally spoke and asked Yan Shouyi a question.
It was that question that determined that Yan Shouyi would never live a life of wealth and status.
From that day on, Yan Shouyi truly became a Lu Ban successor.
Thinking of this, Yan Shouyi couldn't help but wonder whose voice he had heard that night.
The voice was clearly incredibly familiar.
"Brother Yan? Brother Yan?"
Long Feicheng's voice pulled Yan Shouyi back to reality. Yan Shouyi looked at his phone again and saw that he had received another text message from Lin Ziqing:
My dad is out of town on business these few days. He'll be back in a few days, and then we'll return to Licheng.
Upon seeing this message, Yan Shouyi's face broke into a smile, and he quickly replied with one word: Good.