My girlfriend is from the future!

My trip to Shanghai has come to an end.

When the plane landed at the port airport, the gloomy weather showed no signs of clearing up. Large swaths of dark clouds hung in the sky, like a weight of lead pressing down on people's heads, carrying a sense of impending storm.

Wu Xiao drove silently, merging into the traffic on the airport expressway. He Tianran leaned back in the back seat, his eyes closed. He unconsciously rubbed the knuckles of his index finger repeatedly. There was nothing there. The ring that he had originally intended to give to Bai Wenyu was now on Wen Liang's hand.

He was thinking about when his mother would confront him about his breakup with Cao Aiqing.

Cao Aiqing and Bai Wenyu spent a long time together in England. Cao Aiqing is now more or less involved in the management of her mother's gallery in England and the Nanzhi Island project. The relationship between the two is not an ordinary one...

Thinking of this, he took out his phone and opened his secret email. He had briefly recounted what happened at the banquet to Cao Aiqing yesterday, and he had also called her later that evening, but the line was always busy. He guessed that Bai Wenyu was looking for Aiqing after learning about the situation.

He Tianran took the earliest flight this morning, hoping to receive new information after landing, but his phone remained unresponsive despite refreshing the page several times, which made him somewhat anxious.

Several new messages came in on WeChat.

Li Lan sent her the arrangements for Wen Liang's follow-up work. She happens to have several public service advertisements to shoot in Shanghai. After filming, she has to rush to Hengdian to join the crew. If nothing unexpected happens, when she returns to Hong Kong next time, it should be in March when the movie in Lai Wang's place will start filming again.

The other party attached several candid photos of the girl in the photo studio with the message. In the photos, Wen Liang was wearing a simple white T-shirt and jeans, without makeup, with long, wavy hair cascading down one side of her face, and was listening attentively to the director's instructions.

She gets into it quickly.

He Tianran thought to himself, his finger lingering on the screen for a moment, but he didn't reply.

Then, another name caught my eye—He Yuanchong.

The man frowned. His younger brother had sent him a message half an hour earlier, the message of which was concise and to the point.

"Brother, I know you're back in Hong Kong today. Are you free at noon? I'll treat you to a bowl of rice noodle rolls."

Steamed Vermicelli Roll?

He Tianran stared at the two words. In his memory, his younger brother was a person who was used to being extravagant and dissolute. Even if he wanted to talk to him, he should have found a more private place. How could he suddenly meet him at a roadside stall to eat the most ordinary rice noodle rolls?
He didn't know what was happening in Shanghai, or whether He Yuanchong had received any word of it, but the timing of the invitation seemed far too suspicious...

But since he had nothing else to do, he figured he might as well go and meet him. The man glanced at Wu Xiao, who was driving, then at his phone. After making up his mind, he typed four words on the screen:

Send me the address.

The message was replied to almost instantly, and a location was sent: the address of a residential complex in the old town of the port city.

He Yuanchong's message arrived soon after:

"Call me when you get there; you definitely won't be able to find the place."

"Brother Wu, let's change our route and go to this place."

He Tianran handed his phone to Wu Xiao in the front seat.

The bodyguard glanced at the address, asked no further questions, and calmly replied, "Yes, Mr. He."

He turned the steering wheel, and the vehicle smoothly changed lanes, heading in another direction.

Half an hour later, the car stopped at the entrance of a narrow old street.

Wu Xiao was the first to get out of the car, cautiously scanning the surroundings—

This is a lively alley with a mix of people, but it doesn't seem dangerous.

The alley is lined with densely packed arcade buildings, with various shops on the ground floor. The salty sea breeze, mixed with the aroma of food, the dampness of old houses, and the smell of sweat from pedestrians, creates the unique, thick, and authentic atmosphere of the old city of Lingnan.

“Mr. He, I’ll find a place to park the car. If your brother comes looking for you, just go with him. I’ll be able to find you.”

Wu Xiao poked his head back into the car and whispered.

When he arrived, He Tianran had already told him that this was a private conversation between brothers, and he needed to maintain an appropriate distance so that he could provide support at any time without getting too involved.

He Tianran nodded and got out of the car alone.

He was dressed casually today, which didn't seem too out of place with his surroundings. He walked through alleys filled with the aroma of food and the hustle and bustle of the city. There were many small restaurants and Hong Kong-style morning tea stalls around him, with steaming baskets billowing white steam at the entrances and a few simple folding tables set up on the roadside.

He Tianran took out his phone, just about to call He Yuanchong, when he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure walking out of the stairwell of an old tenement building next door.

"Brother, this way."

He Yuanchong waved to him.

Today, he was dressed only in a black down jacket without a logo and a pair of jeans. The white breath he exhaled when he spoke, caused by the cold, made his usual seemingly aloof smile seem more approachable.

His appearance startled He Tianran. Perhaps due to his overly rigid impression of his younger brother, He Tianran felt somewhat out of place in this place.

The older brother glanced around again and confirmed:

"Eat here?"

"Isn't this the place to eat rice noodle rolls? Come on over."

With that, he put his hands in his pockets and went into the dusty tenement building. He Tianran put away his phone and followed him inside.

The corridor was narrow and dark, the walls were covered with mottled water stains and graffiti advertising fake loan services, and there was a faint musty smell in the air.

They walked up the cement stairs to the second floor. Once they got up there, the view opened up a bit, but it was also more livable. On both sides of the long public corridor were rows of closed doors, with faded "Fu" characters pasted on the lintels or small Bagua mirrors hanging above them.

At the end of the corridor, in the first room, the door was wide open. A man in his fifties, wearing an apron and glasses, was deftly scooping up a spoonful of snow-white rice batter and spreading it evenly on a steamer covered with a white cloth. Outside the door, against the wall, a large aluminum pot was bubbling with boiling water, and the rising steam carried the aroma of rice and meat.

Along the aisle, several low folding tables and plastic stools were set up against the wall. There were already one or two tables occupied by customers, mostly neighbors from the neighborhood. They were wearing heavy pajamas or warm coats, but slippers on their feet. They were slurping up smooth rice noodle rolls and drinking piping hot porridge while chatting loudly in heavily accented Cantonese. The topics were nothing more than family matters, prices, the stock market, and international affairs.

He Yuanchong led He Tianran to an empty table at the back and sat him down. With a slight movement of his elbow, he could touch the cement railing of the aisle next to him. The withered green plants on the table barely blocked out a sliver of the gray sky.

"This place is hard to find, but the taste is absolutely authentic. The owner has been doing this for decades."

As He Yuanchong spoke, he expertly pulled out two pairs of disposable chopsticks from the chopstick holder on the table, broke them apart, and then picked up the thermos next to him, pouring cloudy, strong tea into the enamel cups in front of the two people, which were printed with the red double happiness character.

He Tianran didn't touch the cup of tea. His gaze swept across the oil-stained tabletop, listening to the noisy conversation around him, and the rhythmic, crisp sound of scrapers hitting the steamer from the kitchen.

He looked at the old, handwritten sign above the door, its edges slightly curled, with four rather clumsy characters painted in red paint—

"Doctor Rice Noodle Roll".

"What, is the owner of that rice noodle roll shop a PhD?"

He Tianran asked curiously.

"No, this place used to be called 'Glasses Rice Noodle Roll,' you see, the owner is a four-eyed guy, isn't he?"

He Yuanchong pointed to the profile of his busy boss, smiled, and looked away, continuing:

"Later, the owner had a son who had excellent grades since childhood, always ranking first in every exam. He was once called a child prodigy by the neighbors, who all said that the child would definitely become a PhD in the future. So the owner was so happy that he changed the name of the shop to 'PhD Rice Noodle Roll'. The name was written by his son when he was a child. Isn't it ugly?"

"...And then what? Did his son get into a doctoral program?"

"That's hard to say..."

Faced with He Tianran's calm questioning, He Yuanchong simply shrugged, lowered his gaze, and murmured:
"However, his son hasn't come back for some time..."

These light, casual words, mixed in with the surrounding clamor of the marketplace, were exceptionally clear to He Tianran's ears.

He didn't immediately look at He Yuanchong's face with a wry smile. Instead, his gaze went over the other man's shoulder, through the rising white steam carrying the aroma of rice, and landed on the busy boss, known as "Four-Eyes."

The owner was looking down, using a thin metal scraper with movements as swift as magic. With a "sizzle," he scooped up the paper-thin rice noodle sheet from the steamer, rolled it up quickly, and placed it steadily on a white porcelain plate. Then, with a "whoosh," he poured boiling hot soy sauce over it.

His profile was mostly obscured by a pair of greasy old glasses, making it impossible to see his features clearly.

He Tianran withdrew his gaze and turned it back to his "younger brother".

"So, that 'Doctor'..."

He Tianran's voice was drowned out by the laughter and chatter of the neighbors around him, to the point that he could barely hear the last half of his sentence.

But no matter, because soon, two steaming plates of rice noodle rolls were brought over by the bespectacled owner. The translucent rice noodle rolls wrapped fresh shrimp and beef, drizzled with light brown soy sauce, and sprinkled with a handful of bright green scallions, looking incredibly fragrant.

But the bespectacled shopkeeper finally saw He Yuanchong, who had been facing away from him. He slammed the two bowls of rice noodle rolls onto the table, spilling some soy sauce. Then He Yuanchong's head suddenly sank...

"Snapped--"

It was the back of his head; the boss slapped him hard...

"You brat, so you finally decided to come back? Aren't you going to go back to your rich dad?"

He Yuanchong did not respond immediately after being hit, nor did he look up.

He simply lowered his eyes, staring at the murky, strong tea in front of him, his fingers unconsciously tracing the rough rim of the enamel mug, where the red "囍" character printed on it had faded and become mottled. (End of Chapter)