RWWAI 20

Chapter 20: Rely on No One Except Yourself

Spending the night on a painted cruise barge is a thoroughly romantic affair.

Outside the window, the ink-black night sky was sprinkled with dazzling starlight.

Inside the cabin, light-as-cicada-wings sheer gauze curtains danced gracefully in the evening breeze.

The tip of the nose caught the fresh, subtle fragrance of newly brewed tea, while the ears were greeted by the gentle, rippling soundtrack of lake water lapping against the hull.

Living up to its reputation as the exact spot where past-life Qi Lu brought his true love Qin Miaomiao to play, it was little wonder that, buoyed by this kind of atmosphere, they quickly conceived a second child.

Naturally, whether in the previous life or this one, the matter of pregnancy had nothing whatsoever to do with Liang Jingjing's physical body.

Although there was only a single sleeping cabin on the barge, so that I could fully enjoy the first vacation of my life, Luo Fan sensibly didn't fight me for the room, opting instead to rough it out for the night on the chairs in the open outer cabin.

Tonight wasn't particularly cold, and as I lay resting on the mattress, my conscience felt entirely untroubled, devoid of an ounce of guilt.

However, the novelty of spending my first night out on a lake was just too intoxicatingly exciting; I tossed and turned, completely unable to fall asleep.

Unable to get any shut-eye either way, I threw on an outer robe and decided to head outside for a stroll to clear my head.

The moment I stepped into the open cabin, I discovered Luo Fan wasn't asleep either, currently wasting food by tossing roasted chestnuts one by one straight into the lake.

I couldn't resist throwing a jab his way:

"What are you doing, feeding the fish?"

Luo Fan turned his head, spotted me, and casually replied:

"Can't sleep. Wanted to skip stones across the water, but I couldn't find any small pebbles close by."

I strolled over to his side, leaned my body against the boat's railing, and remarked:

"Who would've thought! A golden retriever with a pure, simple mind like yours actually gets insomnia?"

Luo Fan chuckled and retorted:

"What about you? Didn't you have a blast playing all day today?"

"That's exactly why I can't sleep—because I had too much fun."

I nodded, watching the tiny, splintered ripples stirred up by small fish breaking the water's surface, and continued:

"I just kind of hate for today to end so fast."

Luo Fan smiled and said:

"Aren't you loaded with cash and land? If you love it this much, just buy your own painted cruise barge and live on it as long as you want!"

I thought it over for a second, a bright smile blooming across my face:

"Deal! Let's do it!"

Spinning around to press my back against the railing, I asked:

"Didn't you want to open a roast-meat shop? How much capital are you still short of?"

Luo Fan swept a look over me, brimming with amusement, and said:

"Money here can't be carried back; I already checked with the system."

"No wonder you were letting me splurge like crazy!"

I laughed.

"I actually thought you were just pure and easy to scam!"

Resting his forearms along the edge of the boat with a faint smile lingering on his face, Luo Fan murmured:

"Actually... I've saved up enough money, but... I've never dared to pull the trigger on opening the shop."

"Why?"

He looked right at me and answered:

"Scared of failing."

Meeting my somewhat surprised gaze, he explained:

"Back in my hometown... the food and beverage industry is fiercely competitive, and the locals are universally obsessed with spicy food. Opening a roast-meat joint... is honestly a massive gamble."

I blinked and suggested:

"Then open it somewhere else!"

He froze, clearly having never considered that option before.

I pressed on:

"Here, you managed to whip up char siu that tastes this amazing; surely once you're back in the real world, your char siu will taste even better, right?"

He shook his head and said:

"You don't understand. In the restaurant business, having good food isn't enough on its own."

I looked him up and down with an expert-level pose and critiqued:

"Are you worried about lacking a marketing gimmick? Don't sweat it! With your face, if you flip your apron off, go shirtless while selling roast meat, you'll definitely go viral."

Hearing that, Luo Fan burst out laughing:

"I don't look like that in real life."

I teased:

"Ruffian-handsome is still handsome, dorky-cute is still cute! People's aesthetic tastes these days are wild anyway."

"Thanks a lot!"

Luo Fan shot back sarcastically.

"Seriously though, you really should consider opening a shop somewhere else!"

I dropped the joking act and offered earnest advice:

"High competition back home and locals who love spicy food are just environmental hurdles. Your food isn't bad—if you just relocate to a place where locals don't obsess over spice, wouldn't half your problems be solved right there?"

Luo Fan adopted a pathetic, woebegone expression again and muttered:

"Truth is, I'm a massive coward. Flunking a startup in my hometown is one thing, but if I crash and burn in a completely unfamiliar place with not a single familiar face around... just thinking about it gives me the chills."

I waved a hand dismissively and stated:

"Let me tell you, there's zero difference! Right now, all those family members and friends of yours are nice to you, but once your startup tanks and every cent is gone, they might not be anymore. The loneliness of an unfamiliar environment is way easier to stomach than being treated like a ghost nobody cares about back home."

Luo Fan fell silent for a brief moment, then probed somewhat tentatively:

"Hey... you mentioned earlier... when you were little, your grandmother was in poor health and your mom was busy taking care of her. What about your dad?"

I turned my head away, my tone flat:

"My parents got divorced a long time ago."

Figuring he probably had no clue what to say, Luo Fan simply snapped his mouth shut.

"The real world is just like that. Rely on no one except yourself. Isn't Liang Jingjing a textbook, ready-made example of that?"

I continued.

Not wanting the mood to turn too depressing, I patted Luo Fan's shoulder and encouraged:

"Believe in yourself! You've got this! Look at the mess we're dealing with right now—is it any easier than opening a roast-meat shop? But your progress is still way ahead of mine!"

Luo Fan stared at me, looking like he wanted to say something, but held back for a long beat.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

I asked.

"Don't you find it genuinely weird?"

he suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"If Qi Lu's rebirth mission was to make sure Qin Miaomiao had no regrets, why on earth would he choose to respawn on the exact day Qin Miaomiao walked through his front door?"

I: "Huh?"

"Why didn't he choose a save-point before marrying Liang Jingjing, so he could just marry Qin Miaomiao straight as his primary wife instead?"

he pressed further.

I paused, trying to rationalize it:

"Wasn't it because... he's just a greedy scumbag who wanted to have his cake and eat it too?"

"Yeah!"

he replied.

"The person Qi Lu actually loved... was never Qin Miaomiao in the first place!"

Not...

If they hit me right now with some wild plot twist where Qi Lu actually loved Liang Jingjing all along, I was genuinely going to burn the entire commandant's estate to the ground!

You can't just slap a cheap coat of white paint on a scumbag like that!

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