It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

"It's not impossible."

He couldn't help but chuckle and said, "There are plenty of empty rooms here, so it's no problem for you to stay for a while. It's just a matter of preparing an extra meal."

"Haha, I knew Li Cheng would be a good friend."

Annie immediately dropped her pretense, cheerfully sat down again, and casually handed Li Cheng a cookie as a bribe—by the way, these are cookies baked at my house, aren't they?!

Li Cheng took the cookies and put them back on the plate, then suddenly remembered something: "Did you ask your dad? Did he agree?"

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." Annie gave a thumbs-up, then said, "I want to stay in the room next to the stairs on the second floor. It'll be convenient to go downstairs, and it'll be close to Newton."

They really came to look at houses, and they even found one they liked... Li Cheng nodded and stood up from the sofa: "Then I'll go and have someone clean it up."

"Need not."

Anne waved her hand cheerfully, gesturing for Li Cheng to sit down: "Newton has already had everything packed up, he just needed to let you know."

"..."

Li Cheng paused for two seconds, then stood up again. This time, he was going to look for the whereabouts of a certain blond dwarf—not because he minded the matter, but because he suddenly felt that Newton had become increasingly arrogant lately and he needed to settle some scores in advance.

"Please sit here for a while. I have something else to do, which may take some time," he said.

......

The score wasn't settled in the end. Newton was taking a bath, and he simply didn't have the courage to barge in. Not to mention, Freya was watching over him warily outside—she'd taken on a lot of work and spent all her free time by Newton's side, essentially becoming his personal maid, and a very close one at that.

So he had no choice but to go back where he was, only to find Annie still idly chewing on cookies. He really admired her for having such a good appetite.

"Li Cheng, where have you been? Why so fast? To the toilet?"

Annie started to imagine things: "From what you said before, it sounded like you were having a bowel movement. Could it be diarrhea so soon? I told you, there was this guy I was acting with last time..."

"Listen to this, is this a topic suitable for human discussion...?" Li Cheng ignored the guy, plopped down on the sofa, and started thinking about his own things.

He's been busy moving for the past few days and hasn't had much time to work.

This is partly because Roy is still working on how to improve things and there is no time pressure; it is also related to Li Cheng himself. Although the idea is wonderful, he is still completely clueless about the specific development and details and can only take it one step at a time.

Anyway, it's not my own money I'm using —by Li Cheng.

"Li Cheng, what are you thinking about?"

At this moment, Annie wiped the cookie crumbs from the corner of her mouth, leaned over, and asked curiously.

"Quiet down, I'm thinking about serious matters."

Li Cheng casually shooed away the noisy humanoid creature: "You know what business is, right? I'm thinking about how to do business with people."

Anne perked up: "Then you have to tell me, I feel like I have a lot of ideas right now."

"you?"

Li Cheng recalled Annie's glorious achievements, his lips twitched, and he simply couldn't be bothered to pay her any more attention.

"It's okay, I have nothing to do anyway, so tell me about it."

Anne's persistent pestering suggests a possible regression from a humanoid form to a canine form, specifically one of those Arctic sled dogs.

A little annoyed by the persistent questioning, Li Cheng casually mentioned a name that was high on his (tentative) list of business partners: "Do you know someone named Sprünton?"

To everyone's surprise, Annie nodded and replied, "Yes, I know him. What do you want with him?"

Chapter 120 Healthy Habits

Li Cheng just mentioned it casually, never expecting to get any useful information, but Annie actually knew the other person.

He couldn't contain his excitement and asked, "You really know him?"

"Is there a problem?" Annie, who had just finished answering and continued to look down at her food, looked up in puzzlement. "So what if I know this person? What's so strange about that? Why are you so surprised?"

"To think you could make a breakthrough like this is more than just surprising, it's downright shocking..." Li Cheng thought to himself.

It's like your pet husky suddenly bringing you a mouse – a completely unexpected surprise... *cough* Although the example might not be the most appropriate, that's roughly the idea.

However, when it comes to dogs, Li Cheng has almost forgotten about the cat that Newton brought home. He once considered whether to fight tooth and nail to rename it Schrödinger, but then thought that it might die before it was born, and Elizabeth was more durable.

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Li Cheng confirmed with Annie again: "His full name is Pearson Spründen, he's a businessman, are you sure it's him?"

He did this to prevent misunderstandings, such as having the same surname.

“Pearson Sproutton…I think that’s his full name?” Anne tried hard to remember. “But I can’t quite remember if he was a businessman. I’ve only met him once or twice.”

What the hell do you mean by meeting someone once or twice and calling it knowing them?! I even know someone as unreliable as you, you know what I mean by "unreliable as a moron"?

Li Cheng felt that he had lost his mind to have expectations of Annie without consulting her. He immediately lost the enthusiasm to continue asking questions, slumped back, and prepared to give up. Anyway, there was still plenty of time.

Instead of giving up, Annie shouted, "What do you mean? What do you mean? Don't you believe me? If you don't believe me, come to the theater with me tomorrow, and I guarantee I'll make him extremely eager to see you after just two sentences."

Faced with Annie's earnest attempt to prove herself, Li Cheng simply replied with a single word: "Oh."

As long as you don't have expectations, you won't be disappointed. This is the key to maintaining mental health.

"That's right, that's right."

Annie seemed to forget what she had said, and then excitedly exclaimed, "Li Cheng, that secret manual you showed me last time was really useful! I..."

"What secret technique?"

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.

The two looked in the direction of the sound and found that Newton had finally finished his bath and was now walking towards them in a pair of cool shorts. His fair legs, though not long, were well-proportioned and exposed to the air, and his back was covered with golden hair that was still a little damp, even though he had wiped it several times.

Newton walked to the sofa and subconsciously wanted to sit next to Li Cheng, but then remembered something and stopped himself. Instead, he sat on the other side of the sofa where the coffee table was, forming a three-way standoff.

After they were seated, Newton, with his boundless curiosity, didn't forget the previous topic and continued to ask, "What secret manual are you talking about?"

“It’s a copy that Li Cheng gave me,” Annie blurted out. “It’s said to have been passed down from his ancestors, dictated by Shakespeare and written down by his grandfather.”

?

Newton looked puzzled at first, then immediately stared at Li Cheng, silently saying, "A secret manual your grandfather copied from Shakespeare?"

Putting aside the fact that Shakespeare wasn't blind, why would he dictate his secrets? Li Cheng even said he used to live in France, so it's a bit far-fetched that he would travel all the way to England to record Shakespeare's dictations.

"Cough cough cough."

Li Cheng coughed frantically to cover his embarrassment, then gave Newton a look that said, "Don't ask any more questions," and said, "This is a complicated matter to explain; it can't be explained in a short time."

Meanwhile, he was sweating profusely inside—how embarrassing! He shouldn't have come up with this idea on a whim; in the end, it backfired on him.

Seeing the two of them exchanging glances right in front of her, Annie couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with the secret manual? Is there a problem?"

"It's alright, it's alright."

Li Cheng quickly interjected, "If you think it's useful, that's good, hahaha... By the way, let's play cards, three people can play Dou Dizhu."

This series of interruptions finally drew Annie's attention away from the embarrassing and potentially useless secret manual, and turned her attention to entertainment.

------

The next day.

"Get up! Get up!"

Early in the morning, Li Cheng was woken up by a lively voice.

He opened his eyes, looked at Annie, who was already dressed and looking radiant, and then at the barely dawning sky outside the window. A little confused, he asked, "Why did you call me?"

“Going to the theater,” Anne said with a matter-of-fact expression. “I’m usually one of the last ones to arrive because I live far away. I should be able to get there earlier today.”

"No, I know you're going to the theater."

Li Cheng propped himself up, looking a bit of a headache, and said, "Then why did you call me? Why don't you just go yourself?"

?

Annie, however, was puzzled: "Li Cheng, what are you talking about? Didn't we agree yesterday that I would take you to see that... that Snape?"

Li Cheng hadn't taken Annie's words to heart at all, only realizing their significance when they were brought up.

He then fully came to his senses and decisively slapped his forehead, saying, "Oh right, it's about this."

After getting dressed and going downstairs, and washing up, they arrived at the dining room. Newton was still asleep. The only food available in the dining room was a three-person meal prepared by Freya for the two of them—Anne had a bigger appetite, and Freya knew that.

Incidentally, Freya mainly prepares Li Cheng and Newton's meals. It's not that they didn't hire a chef, but Freya herself requested it; otherwise, she would really have nothing better to do.

Although he had seen it before, Li Cheng was still shocked to see Annie devour the food in such a whirlwind—he had only just picked up his spoon and hadn't eaten more than a few bites!

There's really no need to rush.

Li Cheng felt he needed to educate people about healthy eating habits. He knew that many wild animals died prematurely because they didn't pay attention to this. Although they seemed to eat a full meal and go hungry without chewing and were perfectly fine, that was because those who were supposed to die had died early.

"Chew it thoroughly before swallowing, otherwise it will put a heavy burden on your stomach," he said.

"Dry feeling dry feeling," Annie mumbled, puffing out her cheeks.

"Finish what's in your mouth before you answer."

Li Cheng's lips twitched. He felt that this guy had completely let himself go. He really hoped that Mr. Stoller wouldn't blame him for this—he truly did nothing!

Annie swallowed her food in a few bites (seemingly not taking the chewed food to heart at all), and said with a serious expression, "We're in a hurry! Li Cheng, you hurry up too, I absolutely can't be the last one here today... And Li Cheng, why are you talking like my dad today?"

"Ok."

Li Cheng decisively abandoned his plan to make things difficult for himself, thinking that the energy consumption function of humanoids must be different from that of ordinary people, and there was no need for him, a pure human, to worry about it.

Chapter 121 Young Man, Keep Up the Good Work!

The two quickly finished their meal and traveled by carriage to a path near the Shakespeare Theatre, where they entered the theatre through the back door.

Looking at the familiar theater backstage area, Li Cheng suddenly realized something was amiss. He stopped Annie, who was even more excited than if she were home, and asked, "Wait a minute, what does seeing Spründen have to do with coming to the theater?"

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Annie said, then explained, “Speedton is a regular at the theater; he comes to see the plays every morning lately. I’ll introduce him to you when he comes.”

...A regular at the theater?

Li Cheng was too tired to even complain about how small London was.

He had actually thought about this matter. Just like movies and novels often have many coincidences, maybe some mischievous guy with a penchant for watching everything gave him a buff, similar to a gravitational field. Even if he stayed at home doing nothing, people connected to him would be naturally disturbed.

Of course, this is just Li Cheng's wishful thinking. As we all know, some unlucky players who play mobile games always suspect that they are being targeted by the game company, but in reality, they are just unlucky.

I think this must be a problem with the game.jpg

"Good morning, Therese!" Anne explained, then waved vigorously in a certain direction.

Li Cheng looked in the direction Annie had greeted and saw Therese walking towards them with her hands in the pockets of her coat and a long loaf of bread in her mouth, eating as she went—her posture was extremely unladylike. Now he understood why Annie was becoming more and more unrestrained; it turned out she had such a role model next to her!