Don’t you dare sleep in tomorrow!

“Damn it! I suspect that brat Chen Anquan is with Chen Juanjuan. After all, he did save her life; Chen Long will definitely find ways to show him gratitude!” Bai Wen felt an ache in his teeth, as if he’d just bitten into a sour turnip. “Chen Anquan is trained in martial arts—why not ask him to help me collect debts?”

But then he hesitated. “Things aren’t like before. Now, you can’t threaten people when collecting debts, much less lay a hand on them. You have to act like a supplicant, begging people to pay up. Does Chen Anquan have the knack for this?”

He thought of a feasible solution: bring Chen Anquan along to collect debts, let Anquan show off his formidable skills, and frighten those stubborn debtors into paying voluntarily! Whether it would work or not, it was worth a try. Given his current relationship with Chen Anquan, he shouldn’t refuse such a request!

*

“Anquan, do you like the dishes I ordered?” Chen Juanjuan asked, eyes twinkling.

Chen Anquan wolfed down his food. “Delicious! Everything is just what I like!”

“So that means our tastes are very similar,” she replied with a beaming smile.

Similar? We’ve only just met! The truth is, I’ve been practicing martial arts lately, and my appetite has increased a lot. As long as the food isn’t as bad as Second Aunt’s infamous cooking, I can eat almost anything.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Oh, nothing. Let’s head back after we finish eating.”

“So soon?” Disappointment flashed across Chen Juanjuan’s face. “I haven’t seen a movie in ages, and I heard there’s a pretty good one out now…”

“Is that so? But I’m not much of a movie person. I need to train tonight,” Chen Anquan replied, not understanding why she was suddenly interested in a film. Right now, his greatest desire was to keep improving his strength.

Who knows? This world might really experience a spiritual awakening someday, and he had to stay ahead of the curve!

“Oh…” Her disappointment was obvious, and she forced a smile. “Actually… some people did say the movie wasn’t that great.”

The restaurant’s dishes were expensive, but both the portions and the flavor were generous. The two of them ate and drank heartily, not leaving a single scrap behind.

Chen Anquan was surprised by the woman beside him—a curvy, black-lace-loving lady with a truly impressive appetite, rivaling his own.

Night had fallen by the time they left the restaurant together.

—

Chen Juanjuan’s red X5 was parked right at the entrance. Without lingering in town, they got into the car and set off.

On the roadside ahead of the hotel, a small car passed by slowly. Inside was a woman just off work. As she drove past the restaurant, she saw Chen Anquan and Chen Juanjuan each getting into a red SUV. “Isn’t that Chen Anquan from our hospital? And the woman—she looks like the beauty from our village he saved in that video.”

She smiled faintly, then drove on at a steady pace.

Neither of them noticed that Yin Miaomiao had just driven by.

Back in Ao Bei village.

On the way home, Chen Juanjuan seemed sulky, driving slowly and taking a full hour to reach Ao Bei.

She stopped the car at the basketball court outside Chen Anquan’s house. Getting out slowly, she spoke to him coldly from the driver’s seat: “Anquan, we’re home. Time to get out.”

“Oh, okay.” Chen Anquan had just dozed off for a bit. When he woke, they were already parked at the court. “Juanjuan, aren’t you parking at your own house?”

“I’m dropping you off at your door, aren’t I?” she replied with a look of disdain.

“Thanks a lot!” Anquan got out, waving at her. “Drive safe, I’m heading home. Good night.”

“Oh.” She seemed disappointed, head lowered as she rummaged in her red purse for the car keys and pressed the lock button.

“???”

Chen Anquan was bewildered.

“What are you looking at?” Juanjuan rolled her eyes, then walked slowly toward the pond, resting her hands on the marble railing and gazing at the water beneath the night sky.

The night air was sharp and cold, biting at her cheeks and making her shiver.

At that moment, Chen Anquan appeared beside her, hands also on the marble, his eyes fixed on the distant summit of Ao Bei Mountain. “Juanjuan.”

“Yes?” She looked at him in puzzlement. “What is it? Didn’t you say you were going to train tonight? Why are you still hanging around?”

His gaze remained unmoving on the mountain’s summit, as if he could see thousands of dollars waiting there to be claimed.

And, in fact, there were valuable herbs worth tens of thousands waiting for him.

“You grew up in the village, right?”

—

“Yes!” Juanjuan smiled softly. “You never lived here as a child—you’re a city boy.”

“I’m a city boy?” Anquan laughed, finding her words rather amusing.

He’d been an orphan since childhood. His grandfather, refusing to beg his unfilial sons for help, raised him alone in town, making a living by scavenging.

“Of course. And don’t deny it. Have you ever worked the fields? Grown vegetables?”

He shook his head. “No, but I’m great at harvesting rice!”

“Is that so?” She didn’t believe him for a second. “With those soft hands, you expect me to believe you’re a farmer?”

“Are you one, then?” Anquan teased.

“My family’s well-off. We live in the countryside, but my parents never farmed. Why would I know how to harvest rice?”

“True, your father, Chen Long, is famous as the village kingpin.”

“Don’t talk about my father that way!” Juanjuan replied angrily. “He’s a kind man! The two ponds, the basketball court, the ancestral hall—he made all of them happen. Next month, we’re getting a cement road—all thanks to him.”

A kind old man? Aren’t you afraid he’ll beat you if he hears that?

“So you’re saying he never embezzled from the village funds?”

“Absolutely not!” she insisted, growing indignant at the suggestion. “My father told me he spent hundreds of thousands of his own money on village projects!”

Whether that was true, only Chen Long himself knew.

“All right, all right. Maybe I misjudged your father.”

“You see? Anquan, I heard you’ve been collecting medicinal herbs lately. Can I come with you?”

“Don’t you have to work?” At this moment, Anquan thought she was as persistent as a piece of taffy—impossible to shake off. “I’m heading into the mountains early tomorrow.”

“I nearly died today! My boss already approved a day off for me!”

“All right then, just don’t oversleep. I get up very early!”