Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“No.” Cheng Juan stopped and glanced at her, his eyes sloppy like fine pieces of ice and snow floating outside the corridor in the sky.

Cheng Wenru narrowed her eyes. “You…”

This wasn’t the first time she heard Cheng Juan say this. She stared at him for a long time, waved her hand, and gathered her coat. “Forget it. Even if you want to see him, he won’t necessarily care about you. Eldest Bro has tried to reel him in for several months to no avail.”

“Third Young Master, the Old Master wants you to go back,” said a servant on the opposite corridor.

Cheng Juan slowly nodded.

He pulled his collar and felt it was too troublesome to come back. Today, some of the older generations from the Cheng family were back, and he had to go greet them one by one.

He looked at Cheng Wenru.

She quickly chased him. “I’ll take Ran Ran to my wing. You can come to find us there later.”

After Cheng Juan left, Qin Ran looked up, folded her hands in her cloak, and asked casually, “You were talking about Shi Liming?”

“You know Shi Liming?” Cheng Wenru looked back and didn’t hide the matters from her. She folded her arms and said, “He’s a rookie who shot to fame in the Cheng family’s base in August. He achieved a lot in just a few months and is terrifyingly powerful. No other people in the base can exceed him. He has now climbed to the position of the person-in-charge of the base and has a clean background, so the Cheng family is unanimously optimistic about him. To win his heart would mean winning the heart of the base.”

This was no secret, everyone in the Cheng family knew it.

Shi Liming was powerful and had been very prominent as a newcomer. He even brought in a special group and made a lot of achievements in the past few months. The base had always placed importance on strength, and reeling him in was indeed equivalent to winning the hearts of the base.

Cheng Wenru couldn’t help but sigh at the mention of him.

Qin Ran was silent for a moment before she looked at her, her black hair draped around the cloak. “He sounds very powerful.”

“He won in his young age and strength.” Cheng Wenru sighed. “He’ll surely be a general of the Cheng family in the future. My Eldest Bro has a good vision.”

He already started reeling in Shi Liming so early.

“Let’s not talk about this, it’s useless now.” Cheng Wenru shook her head. Cheng Raohan had spent so much effort to fail at reeling Shi Liming in. “Ran Ran, let’s go there first, there’s a red plum garden. You came just in time, it snowed last night. Although it’s not big, there’s still some snow on the branches.”

White snow on the red plums was the wonder of the Cheng family’s courtyard every year.

The plum garden was very large, most of which were just red flower bones, and snow was pressed on the dark branches.

The stone tables and benches in the plum garden had been cleaned, and there were also a teapot as well as four celadon-colored teacups.

Cheng Wenru took Qin Ran to sit in the plum garden for a while and then boarded a tower next to it.

The tower faced the plum garden.

At the front was the plum garden, while the back was the school field.

The Cheng family school was located in the back half of the courtyard. On the Old Master’s birthday, many young people gesticulated together.

“That’s probably Shi Liming.” Cheng Wenru took Qin Ran and sat on the wooden table, pointing to the most crowded group of people on the school field.

Propping her chin up, Qin Ran had better eyesight and immediately saw Shi Liming.

After being dismissed by Cheng Juan and coming to Beijing, Qin Ran had only met him once during military training when she just started school. At this moment, she noticed that his tricks hadn’t regressed.

She looked at him for a while before looking away, turning her gaze to her phone while listening to Cheng Wenru talk.

She received a message from Lu Zhaoying—

Ran Ran, I won’t force you by asking you about the God cards, but there’s something else important. My Mom wants to see you.

Qin Ran paused. ?

Lu Zhaoying very quickly replied to her: She wants to see you after seeing Xiao Ling on TV. I told you, we’re fated with you!

She wanted to meet her after seeing Qin Ling?

Thinking with the teacup in her hand, Qin Ran slowly recalled what Cheng Juan had casually mentioned to her.

Thinking about it, she clicked on Qin Xiuchen’s profile and sent a message: Does the Qin family have relatives with the surname Lu?

As for Lu Zhaoying’s side, she said she would consider it and then closed the message box.

Tapping her white fingertips on the wooden table and propping her chin up, she thought about when to return to 129 and check on the Qin family.

**

Shi Liming was exchanging moves with people on the school ground.

It was a one-on-three, and he put the young people down within a few moves.

With his current strength, no one in the Cheng family except Cheng Mu was his opponent.

The Second Hall Master and the other hall masters stood on the edge with awed faces. “The Beijing base is indeed extraordinary.”

“Second Hall Master, what do you mean?” The other hall masters turned to him.

Shaking his head, the Second Hall Master looked at Shi Liming’s moves with serious eyes and couldn’t help but sigh in amazement. Both Mr. Cheng Mu and Mr. Shi Liming were so impressive.

After Shi Liming finished the game, he looked at the crowd and still couldn’t see Cheng Mu.

When someone asked him, he didn’t make any moves and just glanced in the direction of the road.

He took out his phone and asked—

Mr. Cheng Mu, have you and Miss Qin arrived?

Cheng Mu didn’t reply, so he first stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

“Mr. Shi is indeed young and promising.” Cheng Raohan, who had been watching for a long time, walked over and invited Shi Liming to the plum garden in front.

Cheng Shui had fancied Shi Liming because of his intelligence in Continent M.

He naturally felt Cheng Raohan was trying to reel him in.

“Eldest Master, I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll leave first.” Shi Liming rejected him calmly.

Without having the chance to exchange a few words with him, Shi Liming left the school field.

“This Shi Liming is really difficult.” After he left, Cheng Raohan’s subordinate lowered his voice and frowned. “He’s impenetrable.”

“That’s fine.” Cheng Raohan stared at Shi Liming’s back, and his frown relaxed again. “I won’t be afraid of him turning to my Second Sis and Third Bro for the time being.”

Without Shi Liming here, Cheng Raohan set his eyes on Cheng Qingyu again.

Cheng Qingyu belonged to the Cheng family, and unlike Shi Liming, he respected Cheng Raohan a lot.

**

Shi Liming walked out to the road.

He looked through WeChat and saw that Cheng Mu had sent him an address.

Shi Liming’s current status in the Cheng family wasn’t low now, and besides Cheng Raohan, various hall owners wanted to win him over. He was well-known in the Cheng family, and when he randomly asked someone for directions, the man took him all the way to Cheng Mu’s residence.

Cheng Mu was sitting in the courtyard with a simple long wooden box beside him. He was holding a soup spoon in one hand and drinking soup.

“Mr. Cheng Mu.” Shi Liming respected him very much.

Looking up, Cheng Mu put down his bowl and turned to him. “Do you want to eat?”

Shi Liming shook his head, paused, and asked, “Mr. Cheng Mu, when can I meet Miss Qin?”

Cheng Mu glanced at him. “I’ll ask.”

He took out his phone to call Qin Ran. “Miss Qin, where are you now?”

Qin Ran was casually following Cheng Wenru to her wing, one hand on her cloak, the other holding her phone to her ear. “I’m following Sister Cheng to her wing.”

Cheng Mu glanced at Shi Liming. “Xiao Shi wants to see you.”

Qin Ran seemed to think about it for two seconds and asked Cheng Wenru first before replying to him, “Sister Cheng, is it convenient for outsiders to come in?”

Looking up, Cheng Wenru went into the courtyard first. “Don’t worry. Of course, they can.”

“Okay, bring him to Sister Cheng’s wing.” Qin Ran wrapped the cloak around her.

Putting away his phone, Cheng Mu stood up with the wooden box, looked at Shi Liming, and blankly said, “There’s still an hour left for lunch. Miss Qin is in the Eldest Lady’s wing. I’ll take you to see her first.”

Shi Liming’s eyes lit up, and he quickly got up from his chair. “Thank you, Mr. Cheng Mu.”

Cheng Mu brought the bowl back to the kitchen, picked up the wooden box, and went with Shi Liming to find Qin Ran.

**

On the other end, Qin Ran and Cheng Wenru had already entered the courtyard.

The snow had stopped falling. Qin Ran sat in Cheng Wenru’s picturesque courtyard with her hands around the heater.

A middle-aged man entered and reported on Cheng Raohan’s whereabouts. “Eldest Lady, the Eldest Master has exchanged a few words with Mr. Shi, but they didn’t advance to business talks. It seems he failed to reel him in.”

Cheng Wenru asked someone to bring hot tea over and raised an eyebrow with a smile upon hearing this. “My Eldest Bro must have sacrificed a lot to win over him. This Mr. Shi is really difficult.” After a moment of silence, she shook her head. “He hasn’t been reeled in by my Eldest Bro yet, but it seems that given his character, he might end up standing on my Eldest Bro’s side in the end…”

According to Cheng Raohan’s narrow mind…

She sat across from Qin Ran while talking.

Qin Ran held the teacup in her hand, her eyes drooping, remaining silent.

Cheng Wenru thought she was unwilling to listen to these things, so she changed the topic and smiled. “Is Cheng Mu here?”