"Have they backed off?"
After a long while, Lian Youming asked again, holding the telephone.
On the other end, the steady, middle-aged voice from earlier hastily replied, "They have."
Lian Youming's anxious heart eased, and he said gently, "Uncle Yan, I'm Lingyun's friend. Please ask her something for me. I have a few prescriptions for old medicine here. Ask if she'd like to come stay for a while. If she does, have her call me beforehand, and I'll pick her up... Don't worry. Those people probably won't dare try anything else in the near future."
The man on the other end was taken aback, but quickly caught on. "All... all right. I'll pass that on to her."
"That's all, then."
With that, Lian Youming hung up.
Only after paying for the call and leaving the Post and Telecommunications Bureau did he click his tongue in disbelief. "I never thought that code phrase would actually work." But Lian Youming also understood that this was only a stopgap measure. After all, they hadn't met him in person or laid down their terms face-to-face, so there were bound to be clever ones and foolish ones. The clever ones naturally wouldn't put themselves in danger. Even if he might be an impostor, they would never take a risk that could so easily lead to their entire household being wiped out. The foolish ones were another matter.
But so what?
Right now, he urgently needed time to absorb and hone everything he had learned.
If anyone dared come looking for trouble, he would simply have to fight them.
He collected his bicycle and went home.
Without much idle chatter, Lian Youming cleaned his room and sorted out the materials he would need for his later revision. Before he knew it, evening had arrived. The neighborhood