Life in siheyuan era

Zhou Zining and Qin Huairu got out of the car and walked into the courtyard, while Shen Lanyin, now in the passenger seat again, could finally put on her cold face.

Zhou Zhiyuan was extremely impressed by her transformation and whispered, "The Thousand-Faced Fairy?"

Shen Lanyin ignored him, so Zhou Zhiyuan continued, "There are two things you're upset about. The first is that you overheard me talking to Lanbo, but you didn't know I intentionally let you hear. With my hearing, how could I not know you were eavesdropping outside?"

This provoked a reaction from Shen Lanyin, who retorted coldly, "I wasn't eavesdropping. I just happened to hear you two talking as I walked past the door."

With this rebuttal, he could continue the conversation. Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "I raised my voice. If I had whispered to Lanbo, how would you have heard?"

This was true. Shen Lanyin considered it and silently agreed, then asked coldly, "What do you want?"

Zhou Zhiyuan replied earnestly, "I'm always honest with you, but some things that don't involve feelings really can't be said directly to you. If I told you directly, I'd have to reveal certain things. But it's different when I tell Lanbo."

"He's your brother and wouldn't tolerate me betraying you emotionally, so his reaction will reassure you."

"But I didn't want to hide it from you, so I let you hear about my collaboration with Han Xue, just to clarify one thing with you."

"Both Han Xue and I will be responsible to our respective partners. We can cooperate at work, but our relationship is strictly that of siblings."

He wanted to reassure Shen Lanyin, but she said coldly, "Not even biological siblings."

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "To others, that may be true, but to me, it's a bulwark of my unwavering loyalty to you."

He professed his loyalty, and Shen Lanyin softly "hmmphed" in response, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Now he had to talk about the second thing. The order couldn't be disrupted.

"What makes you unhappy is that I hand over my salary in front of you, which you think is a veiled attempt to set rules for you."

Saying this, he turned to look at Shen Lanyin, a happy smile on his face, and said slowly, "If I didn't want to marry you, why would I let you know my family's rules?"

He saved this sentence for last to achieve the perfect effect.

Zhou Zhiyuan didn't know, but in this harsh environment, he had to throw out the golden mace first, so he said in a low voice, "You don't know, Lanbo's code name is 'Scholar'. And my code name is 'Pilgrim'."

Saying this worked wonders. Shen Lanyin immediately turned her head and asked anxiously, "Why 'Pilgrim'? Does that mean you're often away?"

"I don't know..." Zhou Zhiyuan replied黯然, "But I heard that once a Pilgrim gets married, the chief usually doesn't send him out."

He had completely used this Sashoujian move, and it was up to Shen Lanyin to respond.

But Shen Lanyin's reaction was to say angrily, "Is this a proposal? Are you proposing to me casually while driving?"

Seeing her attitude, Zhou Zhiyuan immediately reached out to grab her left hand and said softly, "This jeep is like the ship of our lives. Let us hold hands and grow old together."

Zhou Zhiyuan's romantic words instantly dispelled all of Shen Lanyin's unhappiness. She held his hand tightly and said softly, "I won't betray you, and you're not allowed to betray me either."

Shen Lanyin's words meant that the Sashoujian move had finally succeeded. Zhou Zhiyuan said loudly, "A lifelong vow, I swear."

Hearing him swear, a smile appeared on Shen Lanyin's face. Her Sashoujian move had also succeeded.

Shen Lanyin had long prepared this golden mace, and getting Zhou Zhiyuan to swear was the finishing blow of the Sashoujian.

She believed Zhou Zhiyuan's vow. At this moment, she finally felt relieved, but then she remembered something and hurriedly said, "My brother is getting married on June 8th. We can't get married before that. We've only been dating for such a short time. Won't people laugh at us?"

She had concerns, but Zhou Zhiyuan had a reason, "Who says we've been dating for a short time? We've been dating for over a year. It's time to get married."

Shen Lanyin understood what he meant and immediately replied, "It's you who's been unilaterally in love with me."

"Yes..." Zhou Zhiyuan admitted, "I've loved you for over a year. What are you still worried about?"

"Who's worried? You're so thick-skinned." Shen Lanyin frowned, but her hand was still tightly holding his.

The truth was that they had been dating for quite some time. She had liked him since she saw that photo, but that wasn't dating back then. Now that Zhou Zhiyuan had confirmed that he had been unilaterally in love with her for over a year, she was very touched and decided to marry him.

Shen Lanyin found a strong reason in her mind, but she still had to follow the rules and said softly, "We can only mention this after my brother gets married..."

Saying this, she suddenly thought of a solution and immediately said, "You're a Pilgrim, so if you explain the reason, my parents and your parents will agree. Otherwise..."

She couldn't continue, as that would be a woman's shyness.

But Zhou Zhiyuan didn't have that concern and said loudly, "Once I've resolved the matters at hand, I'll discuss it with my parents and propose marriage immediately. Let's try to have our wedding on the same day as Lanbo and Sister Fangnan."

He wanted to get married on the same day as Shen Lanbo, which had great benefits, at least he wouldn't have to give red envelopes.

But Shen Lanyin said softly, "The time is too tight. We need to prepare a house, furniture, and many other things."

She thought a lot, but Zhou Zhiyuan hadn't thought that much and replied casually, "We'll use my master's west wing as the house. My brother's design studio will handle the interior design and furniture, and we'll ask my uncle to do the construction. He's an eighth-grade bricklayer, and we'll find an eighth-grade carpenter to make the furniture. A month may be tight, but it should be doable."

Zhou Zhiyuan was excitedly planning, but when he saw that Shen Lanyin wasn't moving, he turned to look at her. She was also looking at him, and when she saw him look over, she said softly, "Can we not live in a bungalow? I need to take a shower every day."

Hearing this, Zhou Zhiyuan knew that the scheduled wedding date was impossible, but he had to reply readily, "No problem. I'll hurry up and find an apartment."

What he said wasn't very realistic, but Shen Lanyin wouldn't correct him. After a moment of silence, she said, "We can get engaged first."

This was a good idea. If Zhou Zhiyuan and Shen Lanyin got engaged, the organization would also put him lower on the list when considering candidates to send out.

Shen Lanyin took this for granted. When the organization considers personnel, they focus on whether they are competent, with marital status being secondary.

But Zhou Zhiyuan understood the key here. If he, the Pilgrim, was needed, even marriage wouldn't be a shield.

The purpose of him saying this was just to make Shen Lanyin happy. Seeing her happy made him happy too, but as he watched Shen Lanyin smile at him and wave as she walked towards the small building, he sighed softly and muttered to himself, "Am I being too selfish?"

He felt that he was being selfish, but Shen Lanbo said solemnly, "If you go out, will I stay at home? Should I not marry Fangnan because of this? Don't think about these things. Do what you need to do. Looking ahead and behind isn't your style."

Hearing Zhou Zhiyuan's narration, Shen Lanbo was very happy. This attitude meant that he placed Shen Lanyin in a very important position, that his heart was filled with Shen Lanyin.

But he had to encourage Zhou Zhiyuan. He had already understood the principle of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and now he was passing it on to Zhou Zhiyuan.

But Zhou Zhiyuan retorted, "We really can't act together. If I go out, you have to stay in Beijing, so I can rest assured."

He didn't say it explicitly, but Shen Lanbo could understand. Emotionally, he couldn't accept it, but rationally, he knew that Zhou Zhiyuan was right. One of them had to stay behind to take care of their families.

This topic was a bit heavy, and Shen Lanbo suddenly wondered why they were talking about this. So he changed the subject, "When do you plan to act?"

He didn't want to talk about this heavy topic anymore, and Zhou Zhiyuan also didn't want to mention it again, smiling lightly, "Old Hua Tou has created a good opportunity for me."

He mentioned Old Hua Tou, who, upon learning that his grandson had been injured, made a scene at the entrance of the Anxin Hotel.

Old Hua Tou had a reason. He didn't care about fights between teenagers, but he definitely wouldn't allow grown men to hit teenagers. He wanted to find the culprit who injured his grandson and settle this grievance according to Jianghu rules, waiting at the entrance of the Anxin Hotel for them to come up with a solution.

This move made Bai Wenming extremely anxious. He found several people to intercede, but Old Hua Tou wouldn't give them face.

So Zhou Zhiyuan analyzed, "Old Hua Tou blocking the entrance will make Hu Dapeng highly nervous. He's not afraid of Old Hua Tou in terms of Kung Fu, but he's afraid of Old Hua Tou recognizing him. This is called a guilty conscience."

"And the city bureau leaders are highly concerned about this group fight, so they won't let the police station release those people easily. Bai Wenming is worried that someone will take advantage of the situation but doesn't have enough manpower, so he will definitely have his remaining men defend with all their might."

"In this case, three o'clock in the morning is the best time to sneak in. They will be tired and exhausted, and there will definitely be loopholes."

After Zhou Zhiyuan finished his analysis, Shen Lanbo continued, "This time is indeed the best, but you've overlooked one person. Will the mysterious person disguised as Gu Chengliang intervene in this matter?"

Saying this, Shen Lanbo fell into deep thought, and after a while, he said, "I always have a very strange feeling about Gu Chengliang's matter. Could there be another possibility why the mysterious person put the cloak under Han Xue's bed? Was Gu Chengliang intentionally exposed by him to divert our attention?"

"You mentioned that the mysterious person disguised as Bai Wenming and fled to XG is possible, but there's a necessary premise: Bai Wenming can't be captured or killed by us. Under this premise, if the mysterious person knows that Bai Wenming has been exposed, what would he do?"

"He would take advantage of the chaos when Bai Wenming attacked the military hospital to get rid of him and destroy the body. This is the only way for the mysterious person, but how would he escape? Could he get help from Hu Dapeng? If these problems aren't handled well, he will be in trouble. If it were me, I wouldn't do that."

Shen Lanbo put himself in the other's shoes, and Zhou Zhiyuan had a flash of inspiration, just as he was trying to grasp it, a knock on the door interrupted his train of thought.

The nurse on duty knocked and entered, asking, "Someone wants to see Comrade Zhou Zhiyuan."