A Timely Help

At this moment, Zhou Dongdong reminded Liu Chang'an of the story of "Fan Jin passing the imperial examination." The circumstances were different, but he was reminded of the dejected and heartbroken scholar Fan Jin.

A child who feels incredibly happy with just a little bit of good food and can happily roll around in bed with their little belly, still has to endure such hardship and face such a heavy blow.

No one could understand the sadness Zhou Dongdong felt when her hopes for delicious food were dashed.

Besides steaming the pork cracklings with chili sauce until they smelled delicious, Liu Chang'an also made a garlic sauce with minced garlic, sesame oil, chopped green onions, and salt, which was used as a dip for the meat dumplings. He placed a large plate of the sauce in front of Zhou Dongdong.

"That's all. There's nothing left. Don't go back and lie on the sofa like a pig with your belly full, or your mother will say I'm feeding pigs again," Liu Chang'an said irritably to Zhou Dongdong, who came bouncing over with a small stool.

"I didn't." Zhou Dongdong put down the small stool, clenched her fists and bounced a few times in front of her chest before sitting down.

Zhou Dongdong believes that jumping around a few times can make more room for food in the stomach.

Liu Chang'an ate the same food as Zhou Dongdong. After finishing, he went to Zhou Dongdong's house, borrowed Zhou Shuling An Nuan to arrange to meet the next day.

"I have a spare phone here, you can use it for now. It can access WeChat and QQ." Zhou Shuling went to get a phone and handed it to Liu Chang'an.

"No need," Liu Chang'an shook his head. "I'm planning to buy it tomorrow anyway."

"What's wrong with your phone?" Zhou Shuling asked.

"It was thundering today. I was on the phone with my cousin when a bolt of lightning struck and broke my phone."

Zhou Shuling noticed that Liu Chang'an's expression was similar to Qin Yanan's when she heard about this. She knew that although Liu Chang'an often liked to talk nonsense with Zhou Dongdong, he was honest when it came to serious matters. Moreover, Zhou Shuling had also seen the sycamore tree that had been split in half.

"Are you alright?" After a long while, Zhou Shuling looked at Liu Chang'an in disbelief. The reason that his phone was broken was that it was struck by lightning, which was truly astonishing.

"It's nothing." Liu Chang'an glanced at the accounts Zhou Shuling was calculating on the desk. "Are you raising money to buy Zhou Laoguan's house?"

Zhou Shuling smiled. She was facing her landlord. "Yes, I always felt that renting wasn't a long-term solution. Dongdong is about to start elementary school, and I want to buy our own house. I definitely can't afford anything too expensive. Zhou Laoguan's house is really affordable. You won't find another like it."

"You're still short a lot of money, aren't you?" Liu Chang'an nodded.

"Yes, it's been pieced together, but we're still short 200,000. I'm wondering if we can get a loan..." Zhou Shuling sighed. She really desperately wanted to buy that house. Women are inherently insecure, and they are especially attached to houses, let alone in her situation.

"I happen to have 200,000 yuan, I'll lend it to you." Liu Chang'an patted Zhou Dongdong's bottom, who was lying on the sofa, and went downstairs.

Zhou Dongdong hugged her bottom with her hands behind her back. She was full and wanted to sleep, so she didn't want to move.

Zhou Shuling hadn't reacted yet, thinking she'd misheard, until Liu Chang'an went downstairs to get a bank card.

"Where did you get so much money?" Zhou Shuling was somewhat panicked. What had Xiao Liu been up to? He was just a high school graduate, this house was left to him by his father, and he lived a pretty ordinary life. Where did he get so much cash?

"I saved someone a while ago, and the school gave me a reward of 200,000 yuan." Liu Chang'an placed the bank card on the coffee table.

"You're from the Affiliated High School! I remember now, I saw this news a while ago. Many people said the reward was too much, and it might encourage students to do things beyond their capabilities, which made the parents of the Affiliated High School very dissatisfied." Zhou Shuling believed that Liu Chang'an was such a good person. The fact that he got the money like this only showed that good people are rewarded, and it made her quite happy for him.

"Go to the bank tomorrow to check the money, transfer it to your own card, and give me an IOU. Just calculate the interest at the same rate as a fixed deposit at the bank; I usually just keep it in my card as a current account anyway." Liu Chang'an smiled. "I already told Zhou Dongdong; she's a very lucky kid."

"That won't do, the interest rate can't be that low." Zhou Shuling shook her head, still somewhat incredulous. Her headache-inducing problem had been solved just like that? As for his intention—to do it for Zhou Dongdong's sake—it made Zhou Shuling smile. It always warmed a mother's heart to know that someone cared about her child, regardless of whether that was truly the only reason... There are so few people offering help in times of need these days; it's those truly in dire need who find it hardest to borrow money.

Zhou Shuling couldn't refuse Liu Chang'an's help because she had neither the right nor the means to be coy; she could only accept this huge favor.

After providing timely assistance, Liu Chang'an went downstairs to repair his awning. After all, there are quite a few rainy days now, and it would come in handy. Staying indoors on rainy days is not as leisurely and comfortable as sitting in the rain reading a book.

Imagine waking up on a rainy morning when it's not a good time to go out, brewing a bowl of emerald green tea, sitting under an awning, seeing the sky low and shrouded in mist, hearing the rain pattering on the paulownia trees, watching the raindrops seep through the gaps in the paulownia leaves towards the sky, or quietly watching a mature woman or a silly child walk through the rain—it's all a scene.

After repairing the awning, setting it up and then taking it down, Liu Chang'an swept the ground, leaving broom marks on the soil. He looked relaxed yet somewhat lonely, which was probably the mood of the little girl in the coffin.

After finishing everything, Liu Chang'an went back to his room to wash up and go to sleep. In the middle of the night, he heard the sound that seemed to be blowing a bili (a type of reed pipe). Half asleep and half awake, he thought it was the little girl in the coffin bringing back memories of his dream. However, the sound was really sharp and piercing, without any trace of mourning, just plain annoying. So he woke up and realized that the alarm of the armored transport vehicle had been triggered, and the sound was from the car key.

Liu Chang'an put on his clothes and walked over. He saw a woman's back view, wearing trousers and a black vest, using professional tools to test or operate the carriage door.

Liu Chang'an watched for a while and, noticing her clueless expression, walked over and gently patted her shoulder.

They say that people can scare you to death. The woman never expected that someone could approach her so silently. In her shock, she reacted quickly, turning around and throwing punches, kicks, and grabbing her joints, executing a series of grappling techniques with fluid grace.

"Drink!"

The woman let out a low growl to finish the attack, but then she was stunned. All her moves seemed to have vanished without a trace, leaving no sound whatsoever.

"Twitter!"

She tried again.

"Don't bother, what are you trying to do?" Liu Chang'an pushed her away. Only An Nuan could torment him like this; no one else could.

With a gentle push, he pressed down on her shoulder, and the woman was unable to move. She was filled with panic and confusion. No wonder the Living Coffin was placed here so casually; it turned out that the person guarding it was such a master.

I already added an extra chapter last night for chapter 3500, and there are four more to go. I'll finish adding more chapters as soon as possible while maintaining the daily minimum of two chapters... I can't finish it all in one day because that would be too rushed, resulting in typos and a poor readability, which wouldn't fit the book's writing style. Please forgive me. Thank you all for your full support. The current results are quite good, much better than I expected, considering I'm an author known for being unreliable. Please vote and recommend!