The Road Home

Chapter 18

Lu Yanchen brought Gui Xiao to Meng Xiaoshan's house.

He had just broken off an engagement. If he insisted on having her stay the night in the shop and word of it got out, even if he set aside consideration of potential troubles that might arise, this would still easily cause his family members to jump to certain conclusions about her.

And plus, sleeping together in one room after only just reconciling and getting back together, even if they did not do anything, was still inappropriate.

The metal gate was pulled open. Meng Xiaoshan, her hair twisted into a bun at the back of her head, yawned and said, "And here I was worrying that you were going to stay in the auto shop. There are more people around there, so more chances there'll be eyes watching. If you look at things that way, by really bringing you here, Lu Chen shows he's actually quite sensible."

Gui Xiao gave her a bump with her shoulder and then walked away, turning her head every few steps to look back at Lu Yanchen, who was in the car.

Her frame of mind currently was not all that different from back when they had first started dating, not wanting to be apart from him, that even one extra glance was like an extra little gain.

The metal gate was locked.

Lu Yanchen sat inside the car. He opened the sunroof, dropped the back of his seat down, and, gazing up at the bright moon hanging in the sky, smoked quietly.

After half an hour or so had passed, as expected, Gui Xiao called him.

Lu Yanchen stubbed out the cigarette.

That sound of breathing, ever so faint—it belonged to her. "I'm regretting it. I should have stayed with you for a while longer."

He opened the door and got off the car. "Want to see me?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I haven't left yet."

"Huh?" On her end, there were the sounds of covers being lifted and slippers scuffing across the floor. Very light sounds. She told him, "They're both asleep. I can't really go outside. There are also several dogs in the courtyard."

He had been in Qin Feng's house before, so he asked, "The guest room is on the third floor?"

"Yes."

Lifting his head, Lu Yanchen evaluated a different red brick wall.

Qin Feng's home was a very standard type of courtyard-style rural home. There were neighbours surrounding the front yard, but behind this particular wall that was adjacent to the rear courtyard, it was an unoccupied home. The land itself had been sold, but the new owners had not moved in yet. After visually assessing that there were roughly four spots where he should be able to get a footing, he turned to look again at the wall of Qin Feng's home. "Wait a minute."

He put his mobile phone between his teeth. His figure, a black shadow in the night, leveraged off the two walls between which he stood and then leaped up and landed on the roof of that three-story home that neighboured the rear wall.

The dogs inside the yard of Qin Feng's home seemed to detect something. In that large courtyard, those several tied-down, black shadows were whimpering quietly as they jumped up and down and circled about, searching for what might be amiss. However, they simply did not see the shadow on the roof of the home beyond the rear yard.

Taking his phone back into his hand again, Lu Yanchen instructed. "Search around." His gaze caught sight of the rightmost window curtain on the third floor being lifted open, and a white figure could indistinctly be seen.