Chapter 1: The Eye-Catching Wedding

  "Can't hear clearly." Gaofeng and Hujia both shook their heads, it was too far away.

  "I didn't quite catch that either." Ning Fan's expression was somewhat strange, in fact, he had heard it clearly, but he knew that Tong Yao must have thought he hadn't.

  "Ning Fan, you're an idiot! I'm obviously better than Tong Hua, why can't you see that?" Tong Yao was still shouting loudly on the mountaintop, clearly just wanting to vent her frustrations. "I've liked you for a long time, why couldn't you see it? Now that you two have broken up, I'm really, really happy!"

  The nursery rhyme spoke with excitement, but her face was a mixture of tears and sweat: "Why don't you like me? As long as you speak up, as long as you say you like me, I'll agree to it immediately. I even hinted at it last night, can't you learn from that scoundrel Jiang Tao? Do I have to take the initiative?"

  Wiping away the tears on her face, Tong Yao suddenly burst into loud sobs: "Bastard, I also have self-respect! I just want you to take the initiative once, just once. As long as you say you love me, I can give up everything for you, even stay with you in this place. But why, why don't you like me?!"

  Crying loudly, Tong Yao sat on top of the mountain.

  "Ning Fan, something's wrong, Tong Huan seems to be crying." Lu Qing said to Ning Fan with a somewhat tense tone.

  "Ning Fan, you have to hurry up and get Tong Yue down from there, it's very dangerous up there. Even if there isn't any danger, her clothes are definitely soaked through. She was fine when she was moving earlier, but now that she's stopped, the wind up there is probably very strong too, it's easy to catch a cold." Hu Qiang also quickly said.

  "Uh, I'll go pick her up." Ning Fan stood up and then stepped into the lake. He actually just walked on the water and arrived at the foot of the mountain in the blink of an eye. Then he saw him quickly rushing up the mountain as if walking on flat ground.

  "Immortal?" Lu Qing's mouth agape.

  "It's a monster!" Gaofeng concluded.

  "This matter, let's not mention it outside." Hu Qiang said solemnly beside him.

  Lu Qing and Gao Feng looked at Hu Qiang together, then nodded simultaneously.

  Ning Fan quickly ran up to the top of the mountain, but found that Tong Yao had already stopped crying, although the tear stains on her face had not completely disappeared.

  "What's wrong?" Tong Yao glared at Ning Fan, "This is sweat!"

  Ning Fan naturally wouldn't expose her, but instead squatted down and said lightly: "Come on, I'll carry you down."

  The little girl hesitated for a moment, then leaned against Ning Fan's back, her unusual softness enveloping him. Ning Fan's heart trembled slightly, but he quickly calmed down and stood up with his hands holding onto her legs.

  He looked down and found that Lu Qing was taking a photo of him, the next second, Ning Fan started running down the mountain and soon arrived beside Lu Qing.

  "Lu Qing, you three wait here for me, I have to send her back first, otherwise she will definitely get sick." Ning Fang quickly said: "I'll try to come back within half an hour and then take you out."

  "Go on, hurry up and send Tong Yao back. Let her take a hot bath and get some rest early." Lu Qing said hastily, while handing Ning Fan Tong Yao's bag.

  Ning Fan took the bag and didn't say anything else, he just carried Tong Yao and ran away quickly.

  In less than ten minutes, Ning Fan returned home.

  "Huh, little uncle, you're back too? We just got back. Ning Ke is also here right now. "No way, little uncle, why are there only two of you? And what's wrong with Tong Yao sister?"

  "Cocoa, you're the best, come quickly with me. Take care of her and remember to let her take a hot bath, don't let her catch a cold." Ning Fan was suddenly delighted.

  "Little uncle, actually you can take care of her." Ning Ke pouted.

  "I still have something to do, anyway, I'll leave her to you." Ning Fang quickly carried Tong Yao into the room, put her on the bed, gave a few simple instructions, left Ning Ke there, and hastily departed.

  Although Gaofeng and his three friends were together, he was still uneasy about throwing them there like that.

  On the way back, Ning Fan slowed down a bit, but even so, he still arrived within half an hour. This time, seeing Ning Fan return so quickly, Lu Qing and the others weren't too surprised.

  It's getting late, so after discussing it for a bit, the four of them decided not to go to the uninhabited area and just head back.

  The return trip was smooth and faster than when I came. Even so, it wasn't until after 6 pm that I arrived back at the hostel.

  Ning Fan went straight to the restaurant and found that everyone else was already seated at the table, ready to eat. Tong Yan and Ning Ke were also there, and it seemed that Tong Yan was in good spirits for now.

  "Little uncle, we were just waiting for you to have dinner, Tong Yao's sister is starving." Ning Ke greeted Ning Fan.

  "I didn't wait for him." Tong Yao hummed a tune and immediately picked up his chopsticks and started eating.

  Tong Yao looked like she was starving, which was normal. She had consumed a lot of energy climbing the rocky mountain in the afternoon. Looking at Tong Yao's wolf-like eating manner, Ning Fan couldn't help but think of Tongtong again. No matter how hungry Tongtong was, she would never eat like this.

  "We'll go to Qingyun Pavilion later." After eating two bowls of rice in a row, Tong Yao suddenly looked up at Ning Fang and said.

  "Do you still have the energy to walk?" Ning Fan slightly furrowed his brow.

  "Can't you just drive there?" Tong Yao asked back.

  "It's okay to drive, but I think you can't even stand steadily now." Ning Fan could imagine that Tong Yao must be having sore hands and feet now. In fact, just by looking at her eating posture, it was clear that she couldn't even hold chopsticks steadily now.

  Pausing for a moment, Ning Fan said: "If you want to go, you can go early tomorrow."

  "I'll be back in the provincial city tomorrow morning." Tong Yao said after a moment of silence.

  "Tong Yao, you're leaving so early?" Lu Qing was taken aback.

  "The newspaper office is urging me to go back, and I don't have the energy to play tomorrow either, so I might as well head back early." Tong Yao explained.

  "Really? Then I'll go back with you tomorrow." Lu Qing thought for a moment before saying.

  "You can come back this afternoon." Tong Yao said hastily.

  "I actually have something tomorrow night, so it's better to go back early and prepare." Lu Qing found a reason.

  "Two beauties are going back, then I and Hu Qiang can only accompany you back together." Gaofeng also spoke up at this time, "It's good this way, next time we'll come play again, anyway with Ning Fan here, we can come anytime."

  After a round of discussion, the four people finally decided to go back tomorrow morning. As for the other four, they still decided to continue playing according to plan for half a day tomorrow. As for tonight, everyone will go to Qingyun Pavilion.

  After dinner, everyone rested for a while and set off again. Two cars carrying nine people headed to Qingyun Temple. This time, Ning didn't come.

  When they arrived at Qingyun Pavilion, it was already completely dark. Ning Fang led everyone to take a look around, and those who wanted to make wishes went to make their wishes.

  "Huh, Ning Fan, shouldn't there be a bronze statue here? I remember seeing it in the photos." Lu Qing asked with some puzzlement.

  "It was stolen." Ning Fan didn't hide it either.

  "What? Who isn't afraid of retribution?" Lu Qing was indeed surprised.

  Although the bronze statue was not there, Lu Qing still ran to make a wish. Hu Qiang also went, and then it was Tong Yao's turn. She knelt in the original position where the bronze statue should have been, muttering silently without stopping. This time, even Ning Fan couldn't hear what she was saying, only that her expression was very devout, and she had been kneeling for a long time.

  The way of making a wish at Qingyun Pavilion has always been very simple. Here, you don't need to burn incense or anything else. According to some people, what's important here is the sincerity of your heart; everything else doesn't matter.

  Tong Yao finally got up, and the others were already preparing to leave. At this time, Lu Qing asked curiously: "Tong Yao, what did you wish for?"

  "It won't work if I say it out loud." Tong Yao smiled and then walked out of Qingyun Temple.

  She came here just to make a wish. She only hoped that one day she could come back and still have wishes, because that would mean her wishes had already been fulfilled.

  Everyone quickly returned to the inn, each returning to their room to rest. The night was peaceful, and early the next morning, Tong Yao and others left early, with Tong Yao still needing to go to the city hotel to pick up his luggage.

  Ning Fan didn't send her because today he had to be a tour guide for four other classmates. Around noon, Ning Fan, who was roasting fish at the reservoir, received Tong Yao's phone call.

  "I'm home." The nursery rhyme only said this one sentence and then hung up the phone.

  Ning Fan felt a fleeting sense of unease in his heart, but he quickly returned to normal.

  It's four o'clock in the afternoon.

  Ning Fan drove his Great Wall SUV into the Qingyun No. 1 Villa District, not long after he had just sent four other classmates away. Ning Ke had also just returned to school, she was a boarder and always stayed at school on Sunday nights.

  The car stopped at the door, but Ning Fan furrowed his brow slightly because he saw a strange man standing at the door.

  This was a man in his forties, thin and dressed in a black Chinese tunic suit, standing straight as if he were a soldier on guard duty, but with his eyes closed, looking rather eerie.

  Ning Fan got off the car and walked towards the man in Tang suit, but just as Ning Fan was about to reach him, the man suddenly opened his eyes.

  At that moment, Ning Fan seemed to have sensed a thread of eerie light in the other's eyes. However, this light quickly disappeared, and the next second, the Tang suit man's eyes returned to normal.

  "Is that so?" The man in Tang suit spoke, his voice was very peculiar, it sounded calm and peaceful, but somehow gave people a feeling of cold indifference.

  "Who are you?" Ning Fan's eyebrows furrowed slightly, his intuition telling him that the newcomer was not benevolent.

  "I'm after your life." The man in Tang suit said slowly: "I've come to inform you that I'm ready, and I hope you are too."

  "What's ready?" Ning Fang had a strange feeling, and also, was he being chased to death? Had he watched too many of the Four Great Name Catchers?

  "Get ready......" The man in Tang suit paused for a moment, then softly spat out four words, "After your life!"