Chapter 29

In the waiting area, the juice on the table looked beautiful, and Lu Siyi and Li Wan were sharing beauty secrets.

The door to the divination room was pushed open with a bang, and Li Xu walked out with a dark face.

The two exchanged a glance, sensing the juicy gossip.

"Xiao Xu, what did the fortune teller say?"

"Yeah, Brother Li, what happened to make you so angry?"

Li Xu clenched his fists, glanced at the two of them, and said, "You're happy to have been scammed? Let's take them with us!"

After saying that, the submachine guns shot out like flames.

After walking around the corridor without seeing anyone, Li Xu returned and asked, "Where are Wen Zhiling and the others?"

"Shall we look at the old buildings in the backyard?"

The evergreen corridor was lush and green, but Li Xu walked through it feeling restless and anxious.

Li Wan kept saying that the fortune teller was too accurate, so he condescended to give it a try.

The fortune teller was a woman, who looked young, around twenty years old, with a naturally smiling face. "I'm so lucky today! I just sat at home and caught a glimpse of a star! Handsome, your new song is really good. What would you like to know? Your career?"

"...marriage."

The fortune teller nodded, not asking any further questions, and gestured for him to draw a tarot card. "Handsome guy, you come here with such a face to ask me about your love life, you're really giving me a free ride..."

Li Xu flipped over the card he had drawn. The fortune teller frowned, looked at it for a long time, and his expression gradually became serious.

Li Xu tapped his fingertips on the table. "Speak."

Diviner: "..."

She looked up at him, her gaze filled with...love.

Fortune teller: "Handsome, how about we look at your career instead? I'm more accurate at predicting your career than your love life!"

Li Xu stormed off the table in anger.

The sun was blazing. They searched all the houses around the south courtyard under the trees, but neither Wen Zhiling nor Zong Linhan were there.

Okay, now that there are no cameras around, where have the two of them gone to hide?

Li Xu wandered around and turned into the courtyard across the street. As soon as she entered, she saw Lu Qin standing in front of Wen Zhiling. The two were close together and talking with their heads down.

The scorching summer heat felt like hot oil being poured onto one's heart, causing it to explode with a sizzle.

What are you doing?

Wen Zhiling looked up and saw Li Xu standing under the tree, the shadows of the tree falling on his wheat-colored skin.

Lu Qin turned around, his voice gentle, "Finished calculating? How was it?"

Why bring up something you shouldn't talk about? Li Xu's eyes twitched slightly, and she struggled to control her glare.

Lu Qin smiled and asked unhurriedly, "Have you had your marriage fortune told? Siyi said this fortune teller is very accurate in predicting marriage."

"..."

How come he never noticed before that the Lu siblings spoke in such an unpleasant way?

"I didn't even consider marriage prospects. With a face like mine, do I need to calculate that? I don't care." Li Xu walked over and glanced at Wen Zhiling, whose forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat.

He asked, "What are you talking about here? Aren't you hot?"

Looking down again, I saw a napkin on the back of her hand; the wind lifted a corner, revealing specks of blood on it.

"Are you injured?"

He wanted to take a closer look, but as soon as he moved his hand from his pocket, he remembered that Lu Qin was standing next to him and stopped himself.

Wen Zhiling lifted the tissue; the small wound had stopped bleeding. She threw the tissue into the trash can. "It's dirty. Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, the production team sent a message saying we can start filming." Li Xu glanced around. "Where did Zong Linhan go?"

"he……"

Wen Zhiling hesitated, while Li Xu, with her keen senses, noticed something was amiss.

Lu Siyi cupped her hands into a megaphone and called out from afar, "Let's go—my family!"

The group walked back, crossing the threshold of the two courtyard gates. Wen Zhiling braced herself and said, "Maybe I should..." count it as one time.

"It's so hot." Zong Linhan walked over from the other end of the corridor, fanning his collar. "Going back?"

"Okay!" Wen Zhiling walked past Li Xu and jogged to Zong Linhan's side.

Li Xu's lips twitched slightly.

Wen Zhiling followed beside Zong Linhan and asked softly, "Are you alright?"

Zong Linhan slowed his pace and said in a low voice, "There's an ornamental stone over there. It was probably moved from the cave where the light circle is. It's fine."

Wen Zhiling nodded, preparing to quickly bring up Lu Qin's matter.

"Wen, be more cheerful, don't play with your brother all the time." A hand reached out from behind, grabbed Wen Zhiling's arm, and pulled her away from Zong Linhan.

Li Xu put his arm around her shoulder and forcefully pulled her forward, saying, "Hey, let's talk about something."

The intimate posture of the two left Lu Siyi dumbfounded. She hurriedly turned her head and whispered, "Sister! Sister Li Wan!!"

Li Wan was combing her hair in front of the phone camera. "What are you doing?"

Lu Siyi was frantic: "Hurry up and come here!"

Li Wan looked up and saw Li Xu leading the youngest sister of the Zong family into the tea area. "Have you considered creating a CP (couple pairing)? I also need to prepare for my tour."

Li Wan was utterly shocked. Her hand slipped, and the phone fell to the ground with a "thud".

Lu Qin and Zong Linhan followed behind. Lu Qin bent down slightly, picked up his phone, and dusted it off. "Aren't you leaving?"

Zong Linhan walked at the back, his eyes slightly narrowed.

As they approached the courtyard and were about to leave the divination shop, Wen Zhiling finally pried Li Xu's hands off, saying, "No, I don't need that."

"If you don't care about popularity or fame, why are you on this show?" Li Xu led her to the door, depriving her of the chance to whisper to Zong Linhan, before she stopped pushing him.

He asked, seemingly casually, "Does Zong Linhan have any needs?"

Wen Zhiling ignored Li Xu's words, glanced back at Zong Linhan, and had no chance to ask.

The large guard dog wagged its tail and obediently ran away.

The director followed up: "Hurry up, there aren't many people now, let's find the locals to coordinate and fence off a space!"

The group was captured on camera again as they headed to the market.

-

In the middle of the market was a small department store with plenty of air conditioning. After shopping outside, the guests all went inside to enjoy the cool air.

Lu Siyi and Li Wan picked up couplets, one holding "Happy Spring Festival" and the other "May wealth and treasures come to you," and said in unison to the camera, "Wishing everyone an early Happy New Year!"

The atmosphere was lively, and the onlookers laughed non-stop.

A row of art stickers was displayed on the shelf. Wen Zhiling bent down to pick one out, and suddenly felt a little dizzy.

She swayed slightly, then quickly grabbed the shelf for support.

"Are you alright?" Lu Qin was also picking out paintings to hang.

He took a band-aid out of his pocket. "I'll put this on. I just passed by a pharmacy and thought I'd keep one handy."

Wen Zhiling couldn't help but laugh: "Do I look like I've lost too much blood?"

Lu Qin said seriously, "You're about to faint."

"What's wrong?" Lu Siyi tossed the couplets into the basket her brother was carrying. "Why do you need a band-aid? Where are you hurt?"

As if triggered by a keyword, people filming other scenes nearby turned to look.

Lu Qin sighed, "It was the seashell bracelet I bought from the fortune teller that scratched her."

Wen Zhiling quickly said it was nothing, "It's just a small wound, the bleeding has already stopped."

"Be careful!" Lu Siyi punched her brother with her little pink fist, then turned to Wen Zhiling and said, "Hey, my brother seems reliable, but he's actually very careless. Let me tell you, when he was little, he took me to school. I couldn't run fast and was going to be late, so he dragged me all the way. I was covered in mud, and when we got to school, I had to go home to change. He didn't look back at me for a single moment."

The imagery was so vivid that everyone around him burst into laughter, and Lu Qin lowered his head, trying to suppress his laughter as well.

Wen Zhiling laughed along, her fingertips fumbling for a band-aid in her pocket.

Perhaps it's just heatstroke, and has nothing to do with Lu Qin?

But she couldn't easily trust a stranger.

Zong Linhan came down from the second floor, turned his head to talk to Li Xu, and the camera captured the two chatting and laughing, showing no sign of their fake brotherhood.

Wen Zhiling sighed, realizing she would have to wait until late at night to discuss it with him.

-

It was already 3:30 when we got back to the villa. After decorating, we had to make dinner, so we didn't have much time.

Li Wan stood on the sofa, hung the painting on the wall, and turned around to ask, "Is it crooked?"

"It seems a little," Wen Zhiling said.

"A little more to the left," Lu Siyi said.

After adjusting herself slightly, Li Wan jumped off the sofa, put on her shoes, and stood a distance away to watch with the two people. "Not bad, not bad."

Lu Siyi asked, "But what is this drawing? It's just a bunch of black lines, and it doesn't look very energetic."

“That’s art, little sister,” Li Wan raised an eyebrow. “Artists would definitely love it.”

Lu Siyi's eyes lit up: "The guest is an artist? Can I pretend that the couplet I bought is a masterpiece by a great artist?"

"You can't fool a master like this, but you might be able to fool this one." Li Wan deliberately kept everyone in suspense.

Lu Siyi shook Li Wan's arm: "Who is it? Who is it? Sister, sister, tell us quickly! Zhi Ling and I are really eager to know! It's a fair competition, otherwise if our decorations don't suit our tastes, we'll lose a lot of points!"

Wen Zhiling cooperated by asking for an answer, and Li Wan, having kept them in suspense for a while, whispered, "I got this information by bribing my assistant. It's Lin Li."

Lu Siyi almost screamed, "Ahhhh, I love her so much!"

Lin Li is Li Xu's mother, and Wen Zhiling knew it was her from the beginning.

She was also ready to help create a lively atmosphere, but just as she was about to speak, she suddenly felt dizzy, experiencing a spinning sensation even stronger than when she was in the supermarket.

The voices around me rose and fell like waves, sometimes near, sometimes far.

My throat is dry, and I want to drink water, lots and lots of water.

Wen Zhiling went to the kitchen alone, took out tomato juice from the refrigerator with trembling hands, poured it into a glass, and drank it in big gulps.

A citrus scent wafted from behind her, sweet and alluring, as if enveloping her from behind.

Wen Zhiling's hand holding the glass trembled slightly. She turned around and saw Zong Linhan kneeling in the living room laying the carpet.

He spoke to Lu Qin with a slight smile on his lips.

He appeared natural, uninjured, and not at a very close distance.

What should I do? The inhibitor has failed, I'm so thirsty, but I can't go over and hug him and kiss him.