"Okay... Hm? What did you say? Which one are you choosing?" Ma Tianshou had assumed Xu Yuan would definitely choose the second option.
"I choose the first. Please send someone to escort me home now, sir. It's getting dark, and Lin... my mother must be worried sick waiting for me."
Ma Tianshou murmured his assent. He seemed to want to offer some advice, but in the end, he said nothing. He rose and walked away with his hands behind his back.
"Old Yan will be here shortly. Wait a moment."
Xu Yuan didn't have to wait long this time. Old Yan soon arrived and personally escorted him home.
After Old Yan returned, he went straight to see Ma Tianshou. "You're letting such a promising lad go just like that?"
Ma Tianshou was alone in the temporary study, where he had been sipping bitter tea for quite some time.
Whenever the old sir used to mull things over, he liked to drink alone.
Later, his old wife took away his liquor and warned him that drinking alone would harm his health. From then on, he wasn't allowed to drink.
The old sir didn't dare disobey his wife, so he switched to drinking bitter tea.
"I thought that boy would choose the second option too."
"Putting aside whether he's young enough to have the patience to hole up in River Worker Alley for three to five months, just look at his temperament. He's clearly the bold yet meticulous sort, the kind who dares to act.
"Besides, the Chen Liangxuan case concerns his own safety. He fought his way out of Qihetan Town and came back alive. After an experience like that, he'd naturally be even more convinced that he has to keep his fate in his own hands—not sit around in River