Unparalleled medical and martial arts skills, saving the CEO's fiancée at the start.

After Ye Chen returned to the security department, life seemed to be wound up again.

Every morning, he was still the first to arrive at his post. He would first walk around the Jiang Group building before returning to his office to boil water and make tea.

He Jianping laughed at Ye Chen: "You're already a hero, and you're still making your own tea?"

Ye Chen pushed the teapot in front of him: "Even heroes need to drink tea. Have you arranged your patrol shifts for today? Don't think you can slack off just because I'm back."

He Jianping chuckled and pulled out a work schedule from the drawer.

The security personnel, however, were all in high spirits, standing tall and proud, telling everyone they met, "Minister Ye is back."

Even the young woman at the front desk felt that the company building seemed brighter than before.

Jiang Ruoxi is still very busy.

Although the Blackwater incident has been resolved, the remaining work has piled up like a mountain.

She was in meetings every day, and sometimes she would just grab a quick bite for lunch in her office.

Ye Chen couldn't stand it, so every day at noon he would ask the cafeteria to reserve two servings of hot food and personally bring them to her.

Jiang Ruoxi initially declined, but later she got used to it.

The two often ate meals facing each other at their desks, one reading documents and the other chatting.

Ye Chen is a chatterbox; he can always talk about the trivial matters in the company as if he were telling a story.

Jiang Ruoxi sometimes finds him noisy and taps him with her chopsticks, but she eats her meals more heartily than before.

The matter of the Yaowang Valley planting base has also been put on the agenda.

Jiang Ruoxi is very methodical in her work. She first had the legal and financial departments conduct a risk assessment, and then personally went to the provincial capital to have several rounds of talks with Zhou Wantong and his team.

Ye Chen originally wanted to go with her, but Jiang Ruoxi said, "You stay at the company and keep things under control. No one in the provincial capital dares to cause trouble now."

Ye Chen thought about it and agreed, so he had Han Song and the ghost servant take turns keeping her company.

Ghost Servant still has some old connections in the provincial capital, and Han Song is steady and reliable. With them around, Ye Chen feels at ease.

When Jiang Ruoxi returned from the provincial capital, she brought back a thick stack of cooperation agreements and several renderings.

She laid out the renderings on Ye Chen's desk and pointed them out to him one by one: "This is the processing area, this is the seedling greenhouse, this is the exhibition center, and I've also reserved a plot of land next to it to build a small courtyard for Master Su to live in."

Ye Chen looked at the blueprints and replied with a smile, "My master has a temper; she might not be willing to move out of the valley. If you leave her a courtyard, she'll definitely say you're wasting money."

Jiang Ruoxi explained, "Then we won't call it a courtyard, we'll call it the Medicine Lodge Courtyard, specifically for people who come to study medicine. She'll definitely like it."

Ye Chen gave a thumbs up: "President Jiang is indeed President Jiang; he even has my master completely under his thumb."

Just a few days after things settled down here, He Jianping came to Ye Chen in a panic, saying that the two people locked up in the basement, Qin Wuyi and Fang Jiuzhi, were either on a hunger strike or talking nonsense.

Ye Chen then went down to check.

Qin Wuyi was still half-dead, and only raised her eyelids slightly when she saw Ye Chen.

Fang Jiuzhi looked as if he had aged more than ten years, huddled in the corner, muttering something over and over again.

Ye Chen asked He Jianping to call the doctor over, and then took Fang Jiuzhi's pulse.

The old toxins in his body have been cleared, but his vital energy has been greatly depleted and his spirit has collapsed.

Ye Chen didn't press him further, only instructing others to keep a close watch on him. Qin Wuyi, however, managed to hold on, only asking one question: "Is Elder Jiu truly dead?"

Ye Chen replied, "They're dead, and Wen Jiuhong is dead too. Who are you going to work for now?"

After a long silence, Qin Wuyi pleaded, "Let me go, and I promise to leave the South and never come back."

Ye Chen looked at him: "Why should I believe you?"

Qin Wuyi said, "My life is useless to you now."

Ye Chen stared at him for a long time, but didn't nod in the end. He just said, "Think it over again. We'll talk again when you've figured it out."

Qin Wuyi then fell silent.

Ye Chen mentioned this to Jiang Ruoxi.

Jiang Ruoxi said, "It's easier to keep people like Qin Wuyi locked up than released, but keeping them locked up indefinitely isn't a long-term solution. Once Qiao San has communicated with the authorities, we'll hand them over to the people in charge. We won't kill them or bury them."

Ye Chen nodded: "My wife is the most thoughtful."

Jiang Ruoxi glared at him but didn't argue.

At the end of September, Ye Chen took a few days off and brought Jiang Ruoxi back to Meixi.

Mei Changjin has already moved into the old house.

The yard was cleaned up, and the magnolia tree was re-supported.

As soon as Jiang Ruoxi arrived at the door, she saw Mei Changjin sitting in an old bamboo chair under a tree, shelling beans. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell on him, making him look like he had stepped out of the old days.

Jiang Ruoxi called out "Uncle," and Mei Changjin looked up, his face crinkling with laughter.

Ye Chen carried the medicine and supplements he brought into the house, and then went to the kitchen to help Jiang Ruoxi cook.

The three of them sat around a small table eating, chatting about the past and the future.

Mei Changjin said, "It's a blessing from my past life that I, an old man, can bask in the sun in my own house. You two should come often in the future. I enjoy listening to you bicker."

Jiang Ruoxi blushed, but Ye Chen was very smug: "Then you've got a lot to hear, I argue with her every day."

Jiang Ruoxi stepped on his foot under the table.

Before leaving, Jiang Ruoxi took the two copper locks left by her mother off the red rope and had them made into two tiny wind chimes. She hung one under the magnolia tree and took the other back to Jiangcheng to hang in front of her bedroom window.

Jiang Ruoxi said, "When the wind blows, it's like my mother talking to me."

Ye Chen didn't say anything, but he tightened his grip on her hand.

The wind from Meixi blows from the alleyway, rustling the magnolia leaves as if gently echoing those who are no longer here.

On the way back to Jiangcheng, Jiang Ruoxi fell asleep leaning on Ye Chen's shoulder.

Ye Chen was worried that she would catch a cold, so he closed the car window and put his coat over her.

Looking at the mountains and fields rushing past the window, he had never felt so calm.

I used to always think about revenge, about uprooting the Blackwater gang, and about not being able to lose.

All that is in the past now. He just wants to live his life well from now on.

Protect Jiang Ruoxi, uphold the reputation of Medicine King Valley, and settle down those who risked their lives alongside us.

Days will pass by, like the scenery outside the car window—fast, but beautiful.

He would sit next to her the whole time. No matter where they went next, he wouldn't let go.

Two days after returning to Jiangcheng, Ye Chen received a call from Zhou Wantong.

The fat man laughed like a Buddha on the phone, saying that Old Master Qiao was going to host a family banquet and invited Ye Chen and Jiang Ruoxi to attend.

Ye Chen asked, "What's the reason?"

Zhou Wantong said, "The old man said that it's getting colder lately, and he wants to treat the younger generation to hot pot. Just think of it as freeloading, don't overthink it."

Ye Chen knew perfectly well that Old Master Qiao wanted to completely turn the page on the Blackwater incident and bring the forces in both the provincial capital and Jiangcheng back to the same table.

Ye Chen agreed and then spoke to Jiang Ruoxi.

Jiang Ruoxi said, "Go, we should give him the respect he deserves. Besides, Grandpa Qiao is genuinely helping you, so we should remember this favor."

Ye Chen agreed with Jiang Ruoxi's statement.

On the day of the family banquet, Ye Chen and Jiang Ruoxi arrived at Longyin Mountain early.

The Qiao family's old residence was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, but not in a ostentatious way.

Grandpa Qiao sat in the main seat, and when he saw them arrive, his eyes narrowed with a smile.

Qiao San was also there, and his attitude was much more amiable than before.

Han Song and several other familiar faces of Ye Chen were present.

Everyone sat around the stove, surrounded by the steaming hot pot.

Grandpa Qiao personally poured tea for Ye Chen and Jiang Ruoxi and said, "The younger generation is truly formidable. The peace and stability of Jiangcheng and the provincial capital in the future will depend on young people like you."

Ye Chen stood up to offer tea, saying little but sincere words.

Jiang Ruoxi also raised a toast.

Grandpa Qiao nodded and smiled.

This meal took an unusually long time.

They ate from the afternoon until it got dark.

No one mentioned Blackwater or the fighting and killing during the meal.

They talked about business, the landscape, and the medicinal herbs of Yaowang Valley.

Ye Chen picked up a piece of mutton hotpot and suddenly felt a little dazed.

A few months ago, he was a wild boy who was chased all over the mountains.

Now he can sit on equal footing with the most powerful people in the provincial capital.

It wasn't for any other reason than that he protected the people he was supposed to protect and did what he was supposed to do.

Jiang Ruoxi added food to his plate and whispered, "Don't just stand there, eat quickly."

Ye Chen snapped out of his daze and smiled at her.