Riverbank of Yangtze River

  When Luo Yi returned to his seat, Zeng Shan was enthusiastically introducing his excellent performance to Yuan Jing. Luo Yi could sing some very nice songs, and Yuan Jing had already experienced this before. Luo Yi taught her "Butterfly Flower", which she often sang quietly when no one was around. However, as for Luo Yi being able to speak English and sing English songs, Yuan Jing really hadn't expected it. She thought to herself: Luo Yi's knowledge might be even greater than that of the political commissar in the troops!

  Du Xin Yu's mind was a mess at this moment. Zeng Shan would occasionally pull Du Xin Yu over to testify while she was speaking, but Du Xin Yu could only perfunctorily agree with her for a few sentences, his heart not in it.

  "Brother Luo!" Zeng Shan exclaimed excitedly as she saw Luo Yi return.

  Yuan Jing smiled quietly as she looked at Luo Yi, not saying a word. She simply handed him his cup, indicating that he should take a sip of wine and rest for a bit.

  Du Xin Yu was deeply immersed in her own world, when she was startled awake by Zeng Shan's words. She lifted her head to see Luo Yi standing in front of her, holding his guitar, and for some reason, her face suddenly turned red. Fortunately, no one noticed in this setting.

  "Is that all you wanted to talk about?" Du Xinyu asked, trying to make conversation, her tone noticeably softer. This young lady is a gentlewoman, I won't argue with you...

  "That's all. It's quite late, why don't we head back first?" Luo Yi asked for opinions. Two bottles of beer, a glass of whiskey, and some drinks with a few Americans earlier, Luo Yi felt a bit drunk. Of course, there was another reason that made him drunk, which was the contract in his arms, these few pages were worth a lot of money.

  "What's the hurry?" Du Xinyu was the first to object, "The activities in the bar haven't started yet."

  Lu Yi raised his hand to look at his watch, it was just past 9 o'clock, not very late. After staying in the mountain valley for a long time, he had become accustomed to the life of rising with the sun and resting with the sunset, forgetting that 9 o'clock was only the beginning of nightlife in the city.

  "Dou Jie, I'm a bit sleepy too. This bar is so stuffy." Zeng Shan was now unconditionally supporting Luo Wei, but her reason also made sense - country girls really didn't have the habit of staying in such rooms for so long.

  "Bored? Alright, let's go for a walk." Du Xinyu had an idea, stood up and walked out.

  "Hey, waiter, check!"

  "What's with the bill?" Du Xinyu turned around and looked at him in surprise.

  Lu Yi broke out in a cold sweat. This era isn't suitable for that kind of talk, he hastily changed his words: "Check the bill!"

  The waiter came over and said politely: "Sir, your bill has already been settled, thank you for your patronage."

  "Have you paid?" Luo Yi was a bit stunned, but seeing Du Xin Yu's triumphant face, he immediately reacted. Not far away, there were clearly two black-clad men staring intently at them, who must be the Du family's bodyguards. Did Miss Du need to take care of paying the bill herself?

  Luo Yi's hand had already gone into his pocket, and after thinking for a moment, he took out two big bucks and handed them to the waiter, saying: "Even if it's settled, this is the tip."

  Du Xin Yu saw his cool appearance and couldn't help but hum a soft tune again.

  Out of the door, Luo Yi suddenly remembered that he had driven here. However, his current state was not suitable for driving again. He walked to the front of the car, holding the car key, and hesitated to ask Du Xinyu: "This... does Shanghai deduct points for drunk driving? What if we encounter a police officer?"

  Du Xin Yu finally understood Luo Yi's meaning after a good half day, she waved her hand and a bodyguard-like person suddenly appeared in front of everyone like a ghost: "Miss, what are your orders?"

  Du Xin Yu said: "Mr. Luo is drunk, you drive Mr. Luo's car back to the hotel, they sit in my car."

  Du Xinyu's own car arrived, Du Xinyu directly opened the front passenger door and got in. Yuan Jing and Zeng Shan sat in the back row, squeezing together, Zeng Shan called out to Luo Yi: "Luozi brother, come on in, there's still room."

  Du Xin Yu turned her head and took a glance, furrowed her brow, then quickly got down and said to Luo Yi: "Consider yourself lucky, you can sit in the front alone. I'm afraid of you taking advantage of the two big girls if we squeeze into the back together."

  Everyone got on the car, Du Xin Yu instructed the driver and the driver started the car silently. After driving for about half an hour, the driver stopped the car and said: "Miss, we're here."

  "Get off, get off." Du Xinyu was the first to get off the bus, followed by Yuan Jing and Zeng Shan.

  Luo Yi got off the car, looked up and saw that the prosperous Shanghai had been left behind, and it was quiet all around. In front of him was a wide river surface, with the opposite bank being pitch black, only dotted with a few fishing fires. It turned out that they had arrived at the embankment of the Huangpu River.

  "Where is it opposite?" Luo Yi asked Du Xinyu.

  "Across the street?" Du Xinyu furrowed her brow, "Who knows, it's a rural area, Pudong."

  That's Pudong, that's the Pudong with house prices of tens of thousands per square meter! Luo Yi couldn't help but sigh. The Du family's bodyguards seemed to have long been accustomed to the various whims of the young lady and didn't find it strange that they were running to such a remote riverbank in the middle of the night. The bodyguards took out two lanterns from the following car, lit them with matches, and shone them from a distance. Then everyone turned their backs on Du Xin Yu and the others, maintaining a state of alertness.

  Du Xinyu pulled Yuan Jing and Zeng Shan to sit down on a stone slab by the river, while Luo Yi sat next to Zeng Shan on another stone. These stones were leftover from the dike repair and happened to be useful for people to rest their feet. Du Xinyu turned her head to Luo Yi and said: "Mr. Luo, you're really something, what did you say to those foreigners in the bar earlier? You even cheated them into giving you the piano."

  Zeng Shan pulled Du Xin Yu's sleeve and said: "Sister Du, why did you call him Mr. Luo, it sounds so formal."

  "What should I call him then?"

  "He is older than you, you should call him Luo Zi Ge." Zeng Shan suggested.

  "Hmph, I'm not calling him brother at all, he's your emotional brother, but not mine." Du Xinyu said sourly.

  "Nothing, nothing, whatever you call me is fine. I'm saying, Heart Rain, you're a young lady, why do you like to run around in this wilderness?" He detected that Du Xin Yu had intentionally kept her distance from him, but instead of following suit, he directly called out her name.

  "Is Heart Rain also your call? Do you believe me or not, I'll have someone drown you in the river?" Du Xin Yu threatened, this girl didn't even know who she learned from, scaring people with talk of drowning in the river.

  "How many people have you drowned? You always talk about drowning in the river." Luo Yi asked.

  "Can I... can I try it on you?" Du Xin Yu said, originally she had never tried this fun game before.

  Yuan Jing hastily interrupted: "Luo Zige, you have a guitar, sing one for everyone! You sounded great in the bar earlier."

  Luo Yi said: "Okay, but first ask Miss Du if she allows me to sing."

  "Sing," said Du Xinyu, "if you sing well, I'll spare your life."

  Luo Yi thought for a moment, strummed a chord on his guitar and sang in a gentle tone:

  "Waves surging and flowing, ten thousand miles of turbulent river water never resting"

  Having gone through all worldly affairs, I blend in with the vast tide of life.

  Joy and sorrow, can't distinguish between laughter and grief in the waves

  Success and failure, can't be seen in the waves

  Do you know whether I love you or hate you? It's like the Yangtze River flowing endlessly.

  Turning thousands of bends and fords, yet still unable to calm this inner turmoil

  Mixed with joy and sorrow, even if you can't tell happiness from sadness

  Still willing to translate hundreds and thousands of waves, in my heart enough...

  The song ended, and the three girls were silent for a long time, savoring the atmosphere of the song.

  Yuan Jing broke the silence first and asked: "Luo Zige, what is this song? I feel like it's similar to the scene in front of us."

  Luo Yi said: "This song is called 'Shanghai Beach', and it's singing about the river in front of us, this city."

  "Do you know whether I love or hate you, like the Yangtze River flowing endlessly..." Du Xin Yu murmured the lyrics to herself, and couldn't help but ask Luo Yi: "Luo Zi, do you believe in fate?"

  Luo Yi said: "Of course I believe."

  "So, do you believe in love?"

  Lu Yi was taken aback, he didn't expect Du Xinyu to ask such a question in front of the other two girls. In fact, at that time China was in a period of ideological enlightenment, and young people were eager for all kinds of new lifestyles. Du Xinyu lived in a big city and was an outgoing girl, so it was natural for her to ask such a question. In her heart, she already felt that Lu Yi was different from other boys she had met, so she hoped to hear his understanding of love.

  Unfortunately, Luo Yi was a person who didn't understand romance, and in his past two lives, he had never been in love, so naturally, he couldn't say what love was. When he heard Du Xin Yu's fiery question, Luo Yi suddenly became tongue-tied.

  Yuan Jing heard Du Xin Yu's question and felt a flush on her face. She pretended to look at the scenery, but her ears perked up, wanting to hear Luo Yi's response. In her heart, there seemed to be some expectation, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

  "What's wrong? Don't dare to answer anymore?" Du Xinyu asked with some disappointment.

  Luo Yi awkwardly smiled and said: "I'm just a country bumpkin, what do I know about love? All I know is that when you get older, you should get married. Oh right, I was very romantic when I was young... Little boy sitting on the doorstep, crying and shouting for his wife. What's the point of having a wife? Lighting the lamp to talk, putting out the lamp to sleep together, tomorrow morning getting up to braid pigtails... Is this considered love?"

  Zeng Shang'er burst out laughing and patted Luo Yi while sitting together, thinking that they could easily get physical with each other.

  Du Xin Yu also had an urge to beat Luo Wei once, but with Zeng Shan in between, she couldn't reach him. She snorted and said: "A cow chewing on peonies is really ruining the scenery. The song you sang sounds elegant, how come your words are so crude?"

  Luo Yi said, "This thing called love is something only rich young ladies from big cities can afford to play with. We country folk are busy making a living every day, who has the time to indulge in this brother-sister, romantic nonsense?"

  Du Xin Yu was indignant and said, "You're still not romantic, you went out with two sisters. Just now you told the foreigner that Shan Er is your fiancée, is this true?"

  "Did I say that?" Luo Yi hastily denied.

  "Xan'er, you tell me yourself, did Luozi say that just now?" Du Xinyu asked, pulling on Zeng Shan.

  Zeng Shan said: "You all speak foreign languages, I don't understand what you're saying. Luo Zige... hasn't he ever said it himself? He's the clearest about it."

  "Hmph!" Du Xinyu let go of Zeng Shan in a huff and said, "You just protect him then. Not even married yet, and you already know how to be a wife who controls her husband. It's really hopeless. Xiao Jing, don't you think so?"

  "Huh? Oh, ... maybe Xan really doesn't understand foreign languages..." Yuan Jing replied in a fluster. For some reason, after hearing that Luo Yi called Zeng Xan his fiancée, Yuan Jing suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

  Zeng Shan saw the topic turned to herself, and she didn't dare say much more. She secretly stretched out one hand and placed it on Luo Yi's hand, and Luo Yi intuitively grasped Zeng Shan's hand in his own palm.

  The Yangtze River, guitar, beautiful woman, love song, a wonderful scene.

  "Do you believe it? That desolate land across the way, 70 years from now, will become the financial center of the entire world. Dozens of skyscrapers will be built there, and a World Expo will be held, with countries from all over the world bringing their best things to exhibit here." Luo Yi said to the girls, pointing at the dark Pudong area.

  "What nonsense are you talking about?" Du Xinyu said disdainfully, "In a country like China, not to mention 70 years, even in 700 years, there won't be any skyscrapers."

  Yuan Jing somewhat believed in Luo Yi's prophecy, and she retorted to Du Xin Yu: "If China can drive out the powerful countries and work hard on construction, maybe what Brother Luo said will really come true."

  Zeng Shansen said: "Luo Zige, really have that day, we come here to play again, okay?"

  Du Xin Yu laughed and said: "Shan Er, you're following your family's Luo Zi, you've really gone crazy. He's talking about after 70 years, by that time you'll have become a demon."

  Zeng Shan turned around with a huff and said to Du Xinyu, "You're the one who's going to become a demon. Even if I were to change, I'd transform into a butterfly, just like Zhu Yingtai."

  Du Xin Yu was just about to counterattack when a bodyguard walked over and reminded her, "Miss, it's already very late. The boss has instructed us not to let you stay out too late."

  Du Xin Yu replied: "Alright, we'll leave immediately."

  After finishing her words, she stood up and said to everyone: "Let's stop here for today. Another day I'll organize a salon, invite some friends who have studied abroad to come over, and we can continue the conversation, how about that?"

  Luo Yi said: "This kind of salon, I really don't dare to participate."

  Du Xin Yu glared at him in the dark, saying: "You don't have to participate, I'll take Xiao Jing and Shan Er. I'll reintroduce a boyfriend to Shan Er, so she won't become more and more like you."

  The bodyguard drove the car over, and four people got in. Du Xinyu asked the bodyguard to take her home first, then take Luo Yi and others back to the hotel. When they arrived at the gate of Du's mansion, Du Xinyu got out of the car, and Luo Yi politely rolled down the window and waved at her. Du Xinyu leaned forward, lowering her voice to say: "Luo Zi, I'll come find you later, you have to teach me how to sing that song 'The Bund'."

  Luo Yi said: "What's the basis for this? Foreigners invite me to teach songs and they have to pay, how much are you going to give me?"

  Du Xin Yu said viciously: "If you dare not to teach me, I will..." She originally wanted to threaten him with the sinking of the Jiang again, but remembering that this threat had already been exposed by Luo Yi, she swallowed back those harsh words and changed her tone to say: "As long as you teach me how to sing, Miss will forgive your offense against me on the Yangtze River."

  After finishing speaking, Du Xinyu's face turned red and she ran into the mansion. Luo Yi and others followed the car back to the hotel, washed up and slept, played a night of emotional tone, and was really quite tired.