Even if Qin Yanan and Shangguan Dandan joined forces, Liu Chang'an was still fearless. At worst, he could capture them both, tie them together face-to-face, and spank one side, then the other.
Shangguan Dandan filled her thermos with water, tossed in an effervescent tablet, and, hearing the violent fizzing, hurriedly screwed the lid on tight. Then she walked behind Liu Chang'an and, making sure he was not looking, swiftly leaped onto a plane tree branch and sat down.
Liu Chang'an glanced back at her but did not say anything like, "Weren't you too weak to jump up a tree?"
She could even pull out tricks like "invisibility." What was the point of saying such things to her?
Just then, a heavy object came tumbling down the stairwell. Zhou Dongdong came down from upstairs, rushed to Liu Chang'an's doorway, braced one foot against the threshold with her toes, bent her other leg into a half-squat, lowered her body, and raised both hands high.
"What are you doing?" Liu Chang'an asked from his recliner.
"Huang Hui-feng's kung fu!" Zhou Dongdong had watched a kung fu movie starring someone surnamed Li last night.
"He held one hand up and extended the other forward, meaning, 'Bring it on.' You're surrendering with both hands up!" Liu Chang'an understood now. It was Huang Feihong's signature pose from that film series, invented by the actor himself.
Zhou Dongdong waved both hands around, failing to grasp what Liu Chang'an meant, so she stopped copying it. Standing on the stairs, she got into a jumping stance and said to Liu Chang'an, "Brother Chang'an, do you believe I'd dare jump down from here?"
"I don't." Liu Chang'an looked over the entire flight of stairs and shook his head.
Zhou Dongdong froze for a moment, then loudly asked, "Don't you usually