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This was Fang Yuqing's way of dealing with people. If she wanted to, she could always make her goodwill sound perfectly natural, preserving the other person's dignity while keeping them from taking it all for granted. Or rather, while accepting kindness as a matter of course, they would not forget Fang Yuqing's and the company's generosity.

What a beautiful and intelligent woman.

Lu Heng gladly thanked Fang Yuqing for her kindness.

But Fang Yuqing noticed that the boy before her did not seem very fond of talking. He answered every question asked of him, yet he always carried himself with gentle silence. He was thorough in his work and polite in his manners, radiating a maturity and reserve beyond his years.

Fang Yuqing did not know whether this was what books meant by "poor children grow up early," but he certainly differed from their Lin Xuan. That boy was always grinning and fooling around, acting on every whim. Just looking at him made her feel he was unreliable.

Fang Yuqing sighed silently to herself, suddenly missing her son a little.

Wei Linxuan had never been so far from home in all his life.

Besides, Lu Family Village's conditions certainly could not compare to Beijing's. She wondered whether Lin Xuan would be able to adapt over there.

But those thoughts lasted only a moment. Fang Yuqing, with her excellent upbringing, would not allow herself to stand there spacing out while leaving a guest neglected.

Coming back to herself, she took Lu Heng's hand and led him into the bathroom, gently but firmly explaining how to use the various bathroom fixtures.

Before Fang Yuqing opened the door and left, Lu Heng, who had finally gotten a chance to speak, could not help saying tactfully, "I can stay in the guest room, actually. This is probably Boss Wei's room, isn't it?"

Fang Yuqing paused, then immediately understood Lu Heng's implication and smiled. "Don't worry. Lin Xuan isn't that petty a child. And don't call him Boss Wei. You can call him Brother Lin Xuan or Second Brother. You're far too reserved, child."

In truth, the Wei family had arranged things this way mainly for the sake of the show's effect. After all, this life's Lu Heng was different from the country boy of his previous life. It could be said that he had driven the entire program forward through his own efforts. To achieve the best promotional results, and because Lu Heng's performance had truly won everyone's affection, the Wei family sincerely intended to treat him as their own son during filming. They wanted Lu Heng and the viewers in front of their televisions to genuinely experience the warmth of a family, so having Lu Heng sleep in Wei Linxuan's room was only natural.

Fang Yuqing simply had not expected Lu Heng to be so well-behaved and sensible, even understanding the need to respect someone else's private space!

Unable to resist, Fang Yuqing reached out and ruffled Lu Heng's hair. She set the clean change of clothes in her hands aside, then left in a very good mood.

Lu Heng, whose head had been patted, stood in the spacious, luxurious bathroom for a while before taking off his clothes and bathing.

The camera crew remained outside filming Wei Linxuan's bedroom. From the books lined up on the shelves and the toys to the celebrity posters on the walls and the neat, tidy desk, they had just been about to film the view from the balcony when they heard the door open. The cameraman turned around with his camera and froze when he saw Lu Heng emerge from the bathroom in fresh clothes.

After a long while, he exclaimed in amazement, "Xiao Heng, you were born to make it in the entertainment industry. Forget anything else—with that face of yours, you'd definitely become famous if you filmed an idol drama!"

Lu Heng puffed out his cheeks. I didn't make my living off my face in my previous life, either!

Unable to hold back, the young boy with an old soul finally spoke up in rebuttal. "I'm an acting-type performer."

The cameraman burst out laughing. Thinking of Lu Heng's formidable skills when facing down the traffickers, he could not help nodding in agreement. "Right. You can take the route of an action star with real skills."

After a pause, he asked again, "You're so good at kung fu. Who taught you?"

"My dad," Lu Heng said. "I take after my dad. I'm in pretty good health. My brother takes after my mom, and his brain works especially well. My mom said my great-grandfather was even a scholar back then."

When selecting guests, the production crew had investigated Lu Heng's family circumstances. Naturally, they knew that his family background was rather unusual. His ancestors had been hunters, while his mother's side could be considered a scholarly family. Several decades ago, they had been quite well-off. Lu Heng's father had served in the military when he was young, but after being discharged due to injury, he returned home. Since he did not know how to farm and was not allowed to make a living by hunting, he could only go out to find work with people from his village. In the end, he was cheated by a contractor and worked for more than a year without receiving any wages. During the Lunar New Year, Lu Heng's mother brought several children and found him, bringing him home. The humiliation made him sick. It was not until the following year that he began learning to farm, and he was not very good at it either.

He tried raising chickens like others did to earn money, but an outbreak of chicken plague killed them all. Someone in the village urged Lu Zhenjun to sell the dead chickens cheaply to small restaurants in the city and recover some of the costs, but Lu Heng's father refused. He specifically asked around about how to deal with a chicken plague, then burned every diseased chicken carcass in one fire.

That fire also burned away the Lu family's last savings.

Thinking of this, the cameraman could not help saying, "Your father is someone worthy of great respect."

When a person lends a helping hand to others while prosperous, that is kindness; when they remain true to their principles even in poverty and refuse to do things that would harm others, that is true goodness.

Lu Heng's father was undoubtedly a kind person.

Wei Linxuan's king-size bed was the standard size for a double bed. Since it was summer, a bamboo mat had been laid over the thick mattress, with a soft, comfortable beige bedsheet on top. A thin summer blanket covered him, and cool breezes drifted in through the window. Lying in bed, Lu Heng did not toss and turn as he had expected. Instead, he fell asleep quickly.

After an unknown amount of time, Lu Heng suddenly dreamed that he had encountered a python. The python wrapped itself tightly around him, leaving him unable to breathe. Moreover, the python in his dream was not cold-blooded. It had a scorching body temperature, and warm breath puffed against his neck as it opened its hideous jaws—

Lu Heng abruptly opened his eyes and sat up, gasping for breath. The vivid nightmare had drenched him in cold sweat, leaving even his chest and back soaked.

A pained muffled groan suddenly came from beneath the bed.