Under One Person: Feng Shui Master, I Will Protect the Mountains and Rivers with My Own Body

"What do you Xu family people take me for?"

Before she finished speaking, the room was already so quiet that only the sound of Feng Baobao slurping noodles could be heard.

Yan Sen ignored how Xu Xiang and his two sons would react to his words, and instead turned around to look at Feng Baobao, who seemed to be isolated from the world and focused only on the braised noodles in her bowl.

The girl ate with great relish, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster hoarding food, and there was even some sauce on the corner of her mouth.

Feng Baobao sensed Yan Sen's gaze, raised her head, blinked her big eyes, her gaze as clear as a spring that could be seen to the bottom, yet as deep as if it could hold everything.

Yan Sen sighed, reached out and ruffled the messy, long hair that hadn't been properly combed in ages. Surprisingly, it felt quite nice.

Then, he curled his fingers.

"Thump, thump, thump."

Yan Sen gently tapped Feng Baobao's smooth forehead three times.

Feng Baobao didn't flinch, not even blinking. She acted as if nothing had happened, glancing at Yan Sen, slurping a mouthful of noodles, glancing at Yan Sen again, and slurping another mouthful of noodles.

His appearance was both comical and strangely endearing.

After making this gesture, Yan Sen didn't say another word and turned to leave.

He left decisively, without even glancing at the Xu father and son. Anyone with eyes could see his meaning—"I'm not playing with you anymore!"

"Bang."

As the heavy security door closed behind them, the Xu family's living room, filled with the aroma of food, fell into an inexplicable silence.

No one got up to chase after them, and no one felt embarrassed by the guest's angry departure.

"Did I mess it up?"

Feng Baobao put down the bowl of noodles, which was bigger than her face; she had licked the bottom of the bowl clean. She raised her head and glanced at Xu Xiang and his two sons. Although her face was expressionless, the three men present could all keenly sense a hint of "loss" emanating from her.

"How about it, old man? I told you your script wasn't good enough." Xu Si didn't answer Feng Baobao's question. Instead, he stubbed out his cigarette butt in the ashtray and sneered. "Now look what happened. Not only did people see through it, but to save face for us, they left without even finishing their meal. What a waste of all this good food."

"Don't even mention Father, you're just as clumsy." Xu San frowned, wiping the wine stains that Xu Si had sprayed on his face with a tissue, and said in a flat tone, "Wasn't it your idea to make the baby kneel down and beg for help? You've really lost all your dignity. You want people to help you, but you're afraid they won't believe you. The way we've put on this show makes us look like the scoundrels who used to hang out at the docks in Tianjin."

"Isn't this good? A-Wu chose her own path, so let her walk it herself. Whether it's good or bad, I'll stay by her side."

Xu Xiang, who had been silent all along, suddenly laughed, a hearty laugh that smoothed out the wrinkles on his face.

"The fourth brother told me the other day that Xiao Yan's personality is a lot like his. Heh, I think that's pure nonsense." Xu Xiang pointed towards the door, his tone full of admiration. "The fourth brother is just pretending to be righteous, but this kid is genuinely kind!"

"Honest?" Xu San asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Of course it's kind of you." Xu Xiang picked up his wine glass and downed it in one gulp. "If it were anyone else, and they were inexplicably treated like this, being morally blackmailed and set up, it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to flip the table, right? And if they're even more shady, they might agree on the surface but then stab us in the back and trip us up behind our backs. That's only human nature."

Xu Xiang put down his wine glass, his eyes softening: "But he saw through our tricks. Not only did he not expose us, he also knew to save face for us men. That's a rare thing. It's just that his imitation of Bodhi Patriarch's actions was a bit too obvious."

Feng Baobao blinked, clearly not understanding the intricacies of the situation.

"What's this 'Grape Ancestor'? What does it mean?" she asked.

"Baby, you didn't mess it up."

Looking at Feng Baobao's dazed expression, Xu Si couldn't help but reach out and rub her head, just like Yan Sen had done earlier. "This is me touching your head and tapping it three times. I'm giving you a secret signal."

"A code?" Feng Baobao blinked.

"Right, have you read 'Journey to the West'? When Bodhi Patriarch tapped Sun Wukong on the head three times, it was to tell him to go to the back door to learn his skills in the middle of the night." Xu Si chuckled, a sly glint in his eyes. "Wood is telling you to go see him alone later."

"When you get there, tell him your whole story, word for word. If you do, the deal... has a 50% chance of succeeding!"

"Mmm-hmm!" Feng Baobao nodded repeatedly, barefoot, ready to run outside. "I'll go right now! It's a bit late, I'll go now!"

"Hey, no rush, no rush." ​​Xu Si glanced at the clock on the wall. "Let them go back and take a shower and change their clothes. They can go in an hour. They cooperated with us in this charade, so we have to let them put on a good show. It's all about mutual respect, you know? Ouch!"

Before he could finish speaking, a bottle cap hit Xu Si squarely on the forehead.

"Watch your mouth!" Xu Xiang glared at him, annoyed. "You've corrupted A-Wu! That's called 'tacit understanding,' not some pretentious nonsense. It's vulgar!"

……

On the other side, Rainbow Garden, Villa B4.

Yan Sen hummed a little tune as he strolled back to this "home" he had never set foot in before.

He took out the key from the property management office, inserted it into the lock, and gently turned it. With a "click," the heavy solid wood door opened.

The furnishings in the room were all covered with white cloths. Although there was a slight dusty smell, it wasn't strong, indicating that the property management staff had taken good care of things. Yan Sen casually lifted the dust cover off the sofa, too lazy to clean it up, and simply tossed the canvas bag onto the coffee table.

He walked to the door and glanced at the large door. After thinking for a moment, he didn't close it completely, but left a gap about two fingers wide.

"With that kind of strength, if the door were locked, she might have just torn it off," Yan Sen muttered. This was just a precaution.

"Old Xu, oh Old Xu..."

Yan Sen shook his head as he walked into the open kitchen, rummaged through the refrigerator for the fruit that his aunt had prepared in advance, washed a bunch of grapes, cut half a watermelon, and then sank into the soft sofa in the living room with the plate in hand.

"What kind of image do I have in the hearts of your Xu family?"

Yan Sen picked up the remote, skillfully turned on the TV, and tuned to Hunan TV. On the TV, several girls with outlandish, "emo" hairstyles were singing "Sour and Sweet Is Me" at the top of their lungs on stage; it was the hottest show of 2005, "Super Girl."

Yan Sen didn't really take what happened at the dinner table to heart.

We're all ancient foxes, why are we playing these ghost stories?

The Xu family's performance was absolutely terrible.

It was so bad that even a seasoned actor like Xu Si delivered a somewhat stiff and awkward performance.

But that is precisely their brilliance, or rather... their sincerity.

Who is Xu Xiang? He's a shrewd man who's survived from the old society to the present, a regional head who's got connections everywhere.

If he really wanted to scheme against Yan Sen, he wouldn't need to go through all this trouble; he could have done it with just a few words.

But he chose the dumbest and clumsiest one.

Why is that?

Because the Xu family father and son knew very well that Yan Sen was someone who responded to gentle persuasion but not to force, and was extremely intelligent.

Therefore, they made their "scheming" public.

Xu Xiang's deliberate emotional manipulation, Xu Si's shamelessness, Xu San's silence, and even Feng Baobao's kneeling...

All of this was for one purpose: to put the choice in Yan Sen's hands.

They didn't believe that the secrets they revealed could convince Yan Sen, nor did they think that "exchange of benefits" alone would make Yan Sen genuinely help Feng Baobao.

So, they brought Feng Baobao out.

Let this most honest and incorruptible person speak to him personally.

It was our Xu family father and son who plotted against you, Yan Sen. We did something wrong, so even if you don't associate with us anymore, we'll accept it.

But this has nothing to do with the baby. Whether to help her, how to help her, and to what extent is up to you, Yan Sen. We won't get involved. If you have any grievances, come at us. If you have any friendship, that's between the two of you and has nothing to do with the Xu family.

Grandpa Xu, Third Brother Xu, Fourth Brother Xu, is this what your family is trying to say?

"What a bunch of awkward people." Yan Sen spat out a grape seed, his eyes filled with helplessness. "Do I really look that much like a suspicious person? Do they really need to go to such lengths to test my attitude?"

After watching a round of contestants compete, Yan Sen yawned, got up, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After a long journey and a sweaty meal, I definitely need a good shower.

When he came out of the bathroom, drying his wet hair and wearing shorts, there was already another person on the sofa in the living room.

Feng Baobao.

This woman didn't act like she was an outsider at all. She had already kicked off her shoes and was sitting cross-legged on the sofa with her two bare white feet. She was holding half a watermelon that Yan Sen had just cut in her arms and was scooping out the sweetest part from the center with a spoon. Her eyes were also fixed on the short-haired woman on TV, watching with great interest.

"You're here?"

Yan Sen wasn't surprised at all. He walked over naturally and plopped down next to Feng Baobao. He shook his head, and a few drops of cool water landed on Feng Baobao's arm.

"Okay, coming."

Feng Baobao turned around to face Yan Sen. She put down the spoon in her hand, pursed her lips which were still smeared with watermelon juice, and her expression became more serious than ever before.

"Wood, I need your help."

Her voice was soft, yet firm, as if she were stating an objective fact.

"Help me find my family, help me find my memories."

Yan Sen hung the towel he used to dry his hair around his neck, picked up a few grapes and put them in his mouth: "What did the company say? They can find out everything about me and my dad who travels all over the world, so finding a family member for you shouldn't be difficult, right? The intelligence network of Na Du Tong covers the whole country."

"They don't know."

Feng Baobao shook her head, casually pulled out a tissue, but instead of wiping her mouth, she spat out the watermelon seeds one by one onto the tissue, arranging them neatly in a row. "Gouwazi said I can't say anything. Not even a little bit to the company. If I do, they'll remember me for the rest of their lives and never find my past again."

"You don't want to tell the company, but you can tell me?"

Yan Sen stopped moving.

He slowly turned his head, the lazy look in his eyes gradually disappearing, replaced by two points of cyan-gold light. [All Things Connected by Qi] activated.

In his view, Feng Baobao's Qi was still ethereal and vast, yet it also exuded a sense of loneliness that made her feel out of place in this world.

"What kind of logic is this? No matter how great I am, I can't possibly compare to the resources of the entire company, right? Or... is there something so special about your background that the company can't even tolerate you?" Yan Sen stared into Feng Baobao's eyes, trying to find a clue in that clear gaze.

Feng Baobao looked directly into Yan Sen's shining eyes without flinching.

She thought for a moment, crumpled the tissue in her hand into a ball, and threw it with great precision into the trash can two meters away.

My heart tells me you're different. You're a good person.

Yan Sen's lips twitched. This "friend zone" treatment came out of nowhere.

He sighed, pulled a small notebook and a pen from under the coffee table, and said, "Let's make this clear first. I can't guarantee I can find the answer for you, but I can try. Let's start with some basic information. Name: Feng Baobao, Gender: Female, that's all. Place of origin? Approximate age? Or when is your earliest memory? We need some clue, even just a rough year will do."

Feng Baobao tilted her head, seemingly trying hard to recall, her eyebrows furrowed.

After a long while, she stretched out her finger, which was covered in watermelon juice, and gestured in the air.

"My hometown... I don't know. I don't know anything about what happened before. My mind is completely blank. I just woke up and saw Gouwazi. That place is Yibin, Sichuan."

"As for the time..."

Feng Baobao looked at Yan Sen, her tone as calm as if she were talking about what she had for dinner the night before: "That was also the first time I met Gouwazi..."

"It was 1944, and I still look the same. I looked exactly the same back then."

"Place of origin, Sichuan... Yibin..." Yan Sen muttered to himself as he took notes. "Time, 194..."

"Huh? How much did you say?!"

Yan Sen dropped the pen from his hand, and it rolled to the ground.

He remained in the recording posture, frozen in place as if a pause button had been pressed.

Yan Sen even wondered if water had gotten into his ears while he was showering, or if he was hallucinating.

"Say it again? Which year?!"

"1944, huh?" Feng Baobao looked at him innocently, repeated herself, and even added considerately, "It was the year of Jia Shen. That summer was so hot, and there were so many mosquitoes in the woods."

No, sister, are you talking in your sleep?