Chapter 174 - 172 Ulterior Motives
Wan Chu’er noticed that ever since they got off the train, Yang Fan, who usually held himself in high esteem, started to lower his stance and began to draw closer to her and Mai Qiqi.
He would occasionally ask Mai Qiqi if she was tired, then ask Wan Chu’er if she was thirsty, and even offered to help carry their things, which made Li Guohui start to snore oddly, not to mention Wan Chu’er and Mai Qiqi themselves.
Privately, Mai Qiqi joked with Wan Chu’er: "I think this Yang Fan is mostly here for you."
Unwarranted attentiveness, if not a crook, then a thief — Mai Qiqi was no fool, and the drastic change in Yang Fan’s attitude could not help but raise suspicions.
Wan Chu’er glanced at her and calmly said: "Yeah, it was you who brought this upon me." She felt that Mai Qiqi, by promoting her so much on the train, had attracted Li Guohui.
"Tell me about it," Mai Qiqi asked puzzled.
Wan Chu’er shared her guesses with her, causing Mai Qiqi to open her mouth wide: "Really? Could it be that he admires your outstanding virtue of enduring hardships? Are there really people who value virtues these days?"
Wan Chu’er snorted and gave her a look, just as Li Guohui and Yang Fan returned after asking for directions.
Their group of several people stayed in a shabby little inn in the county town for one night, waking up early around six or seven o’clock to pack up and get ready to hitch a ride to the mountain village.
It wasn’t that they didn’t like to sleep in, it was just that the conditions of the small inn were so poor that no one wanted to stay there longer. Li Jia’s disdain for this small inn, which started last night, continued until this morning, making it irritating to hear.
After catching a bus from the county town that jostled them around for four hours, they were dropped off seemingly in the middle of nowhere.