Chapter Twenty-Three

After returning from Jinjiang Hotel, Xiao Lianshan became completely absent-minded. Gu Anqi and I had agreed to meet every Wednesday to check in with each other and combine our progress, but Xiao Lianshan was glued to the calendar day after day, flipping through it repeatedly, as if dragging himself through an endless stretch of time.

The once decisive and energetic Xiao Lianshan was gone. Since coming back, he’d turned into this restless figure, wandering aimlessly through the vast rooms of Yu Leiting’s house, convinced he had become ill. My diagnosis was that Gu Anqi’s casual call of “brother” had scattered his soul.

Yu Leiting rarely came home. The two servants he’d hired were sent away by me through various tricks—after all, people like us were used to hardship and having someone waiting on us all the time just felt wrong. In the spacious house, only Xiao Lianshan and I remained.

I kept reciting the two phrases Gu Anqi had taught me, pacing from the ground floor to the upper floor and back again. For several nights, Xiao Lianshan was scared half to death when he encountered me in the dark hallway on his way to the bathroom.

Another sleepless night. My hair was a mess, my eyes bloodshot, and I shuffled toward the bathroom like a zombie, still muttering those two phrases under my breath.

If there was anything I liked about Yu Leiting’s house, it was the bathroom. Turn the tap and steaming hot water poured out instantly.

Being able to take a hot shower anytime was a luxury. Before, if I wanted one, I’d have to scour the hills for firewood, wait for the water to boil, then mix cold water basin by basin. In winter, a single bath almost always meant a bout of illness.

The bathroom was filled with steam, water pooled across the tiles, and I nearly slipped as I entered, grumbling to myself that Xiao Lianshan never remembered to mop up after showering.

My head was a jumble; the two phrases I’d been repeating showed no progress. I stripped off my clothes and yanked open the shower curtain.

I stood there, stunned, vision blurred by the mist, struggling to control my breathing. My hands trembled violently, but my eyes remained fixed, never blinking from the moment I opened the curtain.

When a stinging slap landed on my face, accompanied by a woman’s shrill scream that sliced through the steamy air, I still didn’t move.

Compared to the shock of a naked girl standing before me, just as unclothed as I was, any other external stimulus seemed insignificant.

To my own surprise, I laughed, shaking my head to convince myself this was an illusion—just a hallucination! How could I be imagining such nonsense?

But when my smile fell upon the frightened girl opposite me, I realized that, in her eyes, it must have seemed a lewd, sinister grin.

Another heavy slap struck my face.

“You pervert! Get out! Someone help!” she screamed with all her might.

Suddenly, I snapped out of it. This wasn’t an illusion. There was indeed a naked girl standing in front of me.

I hadn’t actually seen what she looked like; the bathroom was so foggy, and from the moment I entered and stripped to the instant I pulled the curtain, only a few seconds had passed. All I could make out were vague outlines.

“Get out! Help!” she yelled again, crouching instinctively, arms crossed over her chest, snatching up a dropped bar of soap and hurling it at my face.

That finally jolted me fully awake. I turned away, grabbed a towel and wrapped it hastily around my bare body.

“Brother, what’s wrong?” Xiao Lianshan rushed toward the bathroom in alarm.

“Don’t come in!” I shouted, dashing out to block his way, my face burning red, breathing heavily, hands still trembling.

Yu Leiting happened to return just then, and seeing me in such panic, he asked Xiao Lianshan in confusion what had happened.

“I don’t know either. He came out of the bathroom like he was possessed,” Xiao Lianshan said, scratching his head. “I thought I heard a woman shouting in there, but maybe I misheard.”

Yu Leiting’s face changed abruptly; he slapped his forehead in shock and immediately blocked the bathroom door.

“Who went in?” he demanded.

I pointed to myself, head bowed in shame.

“This is terrible!” Yu Leiting stamped his foot anxiously, gripping the bathroom door tightly.

Later, Xiao Lianshan told me he’d seen this scene before, but Yu Leiting’s action was the most accurate, his expression the most vivid. His instructor once described how Huang Jiguang blocked a gun’s muzzle during a patriotic lesson, and Yu Leiting’s stance was exactly like the image—if not even more resolute.

“Qianling! It’s Dad! Are you in there?” Yu Leiting called loudly into the bathroom.

“Dad, where did you go? Just now… just now…” came the anxious, embarrassed voice of the girl from inside. Xiao Lianshan chuckled gleefully.

“Thunder, listen, there really is a woman in there! I thought…”

Suddenly, he realized, recalling how I had emerged from the bathroom moments earlier, and finally understood.

“How could there be a woman in the bathroom?”

“Enough, Lianshan, don’t add to the confusion. You and Yan Hui wait downstairs,” Yu Leiting ordered.

When I finished dressing and came out, Yu Leiting was pacing back and forth in the living room, hands clasped behind his back.

“Dad, it’s that pervert!” The girl from the bathroom, now fully clothed, glared at me as I kept my head down, too terrified to even breathe.

Yu Leiting looked helplessly at both sides, then sat heavily on the sofa.

“Qianling, it’s all a misunderstanding, and it’s my fault. These two are my close friends—standing there is Xiao Lianshan, and the one who entered the bathroom… that’s Qin Yan Hui. I didn’t know you’d come home early and forgot to tell them.”

“I don’t care. Dad, dig out his eyes for me!” Yue Qianling stared at me fiercely.

“Qianling, calm down. It really is a misunderstanding. Yan Hui isn’t the kind of person you think, and they even saved your father’s life. They’re honest and loyal people. It’s truly a misunderstanding.”

“Miss Yue, I really didn’t know you were in there. If I had known, I wouldn’t have gone in. The whole place was filled with steam—I didn’t see anything. You just scared me out,” I explained nervously, head still bowed.

“See, I knew Yan Hui wasn’t that kind of person. I told you, he didn’t know you were inside,” Yu Leiting chimed in.

“Brother, you went into the bathroom to peep at Miss Yue?!” Xiao Lianshan stared at me in disbelief. “No wonder your face turned so red.”

I looked up weakly at Xiao Lianshan’s innocent face, suddenly wishing I could bang my head against the wall.

“You dare say you didn’t see anything.”

Yue Qianling grabbed a cushion from the sofa and flung it at me. I didn’t dodge; it struck me squarely in the face.

“Enough!” Yu Leiting slammed his hand down on the coffee table, startling everyone.

“No more nonsense! It’s all my fault for spoiling you like this—no respect for elders! I treat Yan Hui as a brother; by seniority, he’s your uncle. Besides, Yan Hui almost lost his life saving me. He’s a man of loyalty and righteousness. I’d never believe he’d do anything disgraceful.”

“Dad, you trust an outsider more than your own daughter?” Yue Qianling protested stubbornly.

“Who’s an outsider? Who in this house is an outsider? If you’re living under my roof, you’re no outsider.”

“Dad?!”

Yue Qianling was visibly shocked. I guessed she hadn’t expected her father, who’d always indulged her, to take my side. From what I knew of Yu Leiting, even a stranger raising their voice at him would land them in the hospital, let alone someone peeping at his daughter.

Yue Qianling shot me a vicious glare, then turned and stormed back to her room, slamming the door shut in silent protest.

I glanced at Xiao Lianshan, signaling him to return to his room. He shook his head vigorously.

“Thunder, I really didn’t mean it. Maybe Lianshan and I should move out…”

“Don’t say that. I know the character of you and Lianshan. If it were someone else, I couldn’t vouch for them, but you two are absolutely not that kind. From now on, let’s not mention this again. I know my daughter—it’s my fault for spoiling her,” Yu Leiting interrupted with a wave of his hand.

I breathed a sigh of relief, only to find Yu Leiting looking at me, hesitating to speak.

“…You… you really didn’t see anything?”

“Thunder, I swear I saw nothing!”

Yu Leiting nodded thoughtfully, still unsettled.

“If anything happens in the future, I’ll apologize in advance as your big brother. Don’t take it to heart.”

“Thunder, what… what might happen in the future?” I asked nervously.

Yu Leiting was already up, shaking his head as he walked away, muttering under his breath.

“Ah, of all people, you had to provoke Qianling…”