Chapter 37 Scammer Decides to Be a Good Person 12 Shi Lan Wants to Give Herself a

Du Heng rarely came home, and Shi Lan had originally wanted to cook him a few big meals to help him recover. But with his injuries, he simply couldn’t eat them. A lot of delicious food wasn’t good for healing external wounds.

It would have been one thing if he were staying home, but he had to hurry back to the set and get back to work.

So she could only make some snacks for him to take back to the crew and nibble on, things like pork jerky and beef jerky. There was also a jar of chili he had specifically asked for. He said the food on set was often too bland.

Shi Lan found a big plastic jar from a little shop, the kind used to hold bubble gum, and filled it to the brim with chili oil for Du Heng.

She heated rapeseed oil, stir-fried scallions, ginger, garlic, star anise, bay leaves, and other seasonings until fragrant, then scooped them out, leaving behind only the impossibly aromatic seasoned oil. She mixed three kinds of chili powder, one more fragrant, one spicier, and one redder, with soy sauce, salt, concentrated stock, chicken fat, a little vinegar, and sugar, then poured in the smoking-hot oil in batches to bring out the chilies’ full aroma. She sprinkled in white sesame seeds for extra fragrance, then added peanuts, dry-fried shredded meat, and other chewy bits, making it in that Lao Gan Ma¹ style, rich in both flavor and substance, something you could eat straight over rice.

Come to think of it, Lao Gan Ma was already being sold on the market by now. It was expensive too, several yuan for one tiny bottle.

Du Heng, who was used to living hard days, couldn’t bear to spend that kind of money, so he’d rather carry it all the way from home.

As Shi Lan packed these things into Du Heng’s luggage, she had the strange feeling that she was sending her son off to college. Back when she had gone away for school, her mom had stuffed her bags full of odds and ends the same way.

Jerky, pickled vegetables, chili… there had been everything. She and her roommates could live on it for half a semester.

Thinking that way made her feel oddly cheerful.

There was no way she could give birth to such a handsome grown son.

Then again, maybe not. If she married Du Heng, maybe twenty years later their son would be even more handsome than his father.

Du Heng asked her what had her in such a good mood.

There was no way Shi Lan could tell him all those little flights of fancy, so she laughed it off and changed the subject. “You’re going to an audition, and I prepared an outfit for you that happens to be just right for it.”

“You bought me clothes while I was away?” Du Heng sounded happy, then immediately pained over the cost. “You already bought me so much last time. I can wear those for years. Most of the time on set I’m in costume anyway, so I don’t even need them. You should buy more for yourself instead.”

Du Heng was talking about Shi Lan’s big shopping trip before he had left for the set. His old clothes, while not exactly patched up, had only ever needed to get him by on construction sites. They were fine enough for wandering around town, but in a different circle, they simply wouldn’t do. So Shi Lan had dragged him to the department store and replaced everything from the inside out, buying several full sets.

As for clothing styles these days, in Shi Lan’s eyes, they all had that retro Hong Kong vibe². But they still had to be styled and matched well. If not, the look instantly turned into small-town tacky.

Picking clothes had been painfully difficult. After one whole day at the mall, even easygoing Du Heng, who usually indulged her in everything, had almost developed trauma from trying on so many outfits.

In the end, she had only barely managed to put together a few sets for him to make do with.

After Du Heng went back to work, she liked to go browsing whenever she had nothing to do, but she still hadn’t found much that suited him.

What she did find, though, was a tailor shop tucked away in an alley. The shop sold fabric too, so she picked out several pieces and had some dresses and inner layers made for herself. Of course, she had the tailor slightly adjust the shop’s standard patterns according to her own descriptions.

While she was at it, she had some things made for Du Heng too.

They were mostly shirts and suits, some formal, some casual, just in case he needed them for special occasions.

Shi Lan had definitely not unlocked any fashion designer skills, but she knew how to make demands. She tormented the tailor so badly he nearly quit on the spot, though thankfully, the labor fee she offered was very generous.

When the clothes were finished, one of the tailor shop assistants helped try them on. Even though the size wasn’t quite right, the tailor still stroked his chin and muttered in puzzlement, “Good heavens, this is really something. It looked odd while I was making it, but once it’s on, it actually looks sharp and spirited.”

Shi Lan had really wanted to tell him this was the power of aesthetics across the ages.

Now, she pulled the clothes out and had Du Heng try them on.

Seeing him happy and distressed over the money at the same time, she said, “I didn’t buy them. I bought fabric and had a tailor make them.”

Then she silently added in her heart that they had actually cost much more than buying ready-made. Of course, there was no need for him to know that.

Du Heng accepted that explanation easily. “That’s good, then. It doesn’t cost much. So you can have clothes made in the city too? Back when I was in town, we often had clothes made. They lasted longer than store-bought ones. Even after two or three years, they still wouldn’t wear through.”

Poor thing.

Once he had changed, Shi Lan asked, “How does it feel?”

There was no full-length mirror in the house, only a one-foot-tall bathroom mirror. Du Heng tugged at his clothes and practically bounced in place. “Looks good!”

He touched the collar, then the sleeves. “It feels a little strange. I hardly look like myself. I’d feel awkward wearing this out.”

“You’ll get used to it if you wear it more. You’re not on a construction site anymore, so you have to pay more attention to how you dress.”

Du Heng knew that too. He carefully took off the clothes, smoothed them out, and folded them neatly. “That tailor’s craftsmanship is really good.”

Shi Lan thought to herself, the tailor’s craftsmanship was good, sure. But even more precious was the eye of your girlfriend.

Du Heng knew absolutely nothing about the role he was auditioning for. The director who had recommended him hadn’t given him any more detailed information. In fact, he didn’t even know what kind of script it was, so there was no way for him to prepare professionally.

All she could do was put thought into his appearance. At the very least, the director doing the casting had to see, at a glance, just how handsome Du Heng was, handsome in a magnetic way!

So early that morning, she gave him a full makeover.

She trimmed his brows, shaping them better, then lightly filled them in with a brow pencil.

She applied a thick layer of lip balm to remove the dead skin from his lips and make their color look smoother and more hydrated.

She didn’t put any foundation on him because there was absolutely no need. She just tousled his hair a little, then put a pair of gold-rimmed plain glasses on him.

With the newly tailored casual suit on, the fit was perfect, close-fitting in just the right way.

What a graceful young gentleman of the mortal world.

He could carry it!

Luckily, after spending so much time with the Heaven Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre Crew, he had gotten much fairer. If he still had his old construction-site skin tone, she would only have been able to style him in that rough, rakish tough-guy sort of way.

The only problem was that the moment he opened his mouth, the illusion broke.

“Do I really have to wear the glasses?” Du Heng asked awkwardly, afraid of making her angry. “They feel kind of weird.”

“No! This is the finishing touch. It’s fashion.” She slapped away the hand he was using to fiddle with them. “Carry yourself like Yang Xiao.”

To match his outfit, Shi Lan put together a little Chanel-style look for herself.

Not to mention the amazement in Du Heng’s eyes, but on the way to the audition, the two of them drew an extremely high rate of second glances.

Du Heng wasn’t used to being stared at, but he did his best to keep up the act and didn’t lose his poise.

At the audition venue, someone was handing out number tags. They said he was the assistant director.

Shi Lan got one too.

“The actresses go this way. You’re not in the same area as the actors.”

Shi Lan said she wasn’t there to audition, and the assistant director gave her a couple more looks before smiling and asking, “You’ve got a good image, young lady. Want to give it a try? Maybe you’re meant to make a living as an actress.”

Shi Lan’s eyes lit up. She had actually caught the attention of the casting director. Could this be the legendary scenario where you accompany a friend to an audition, your friend gets rejected, and you become a big star instead?

Seeing her expression, the assistant director said, “You’re interested, aren’t you? Just go wait over there.” He pointed in a direction for her.

To his disappointment, Shi Lan handed the number tag back to him.

After thinking it over, she decided she was still more interested in doing business. The performing side of the family could be left to future Film Emperor Du to carry on his own.

Assistant Director: “…”

Then what was with all those expressions just now?!

This audition was unbelievably fast. Shi Lan had only just started looking for somewhere to sit and rest for a while when Du Heng came back out.

She hurried over. “Why are you out so quickly? What role was it?”

“I don’t know.” After I went in, I introduced myself by name. Then they had me walk back and forth in front of them twice, like I was just strolling down the street. After that, they handed me a book of poetry and told me to read any poem I wanted. Then they didn’t say much else and just let me come out.”

They say a lot of directors have their own unique ways of casting. Du Heng had probably just happened to run into one of them. But could this really pick out the right person? Or had the role already been decided, and he was just there to make up the numbers?

Forget it, no point overthinking it.

What I gain or lose is up to fate.

Sooner or later, a piece of gold like Du Heng was bound to shine.

His body was covered in injuries, and Shi Lan had wanted him to rest more, but Du Heng refused. He went home, changed clothes, and then followed her to the shop to help out.

He really was helping out, too, wearing an employee uniform and working like an ordinary hand.

The staff all knew Du Heng was the boss’s boyfriend, and no matter their age, every one of them called him “Brother.” It left him a little embarrassed, so he just kept his head down and worked.

To keep him from doing too much, Shi Lan pulled him outside. “Come on, come on, come with me to check out the new store. Stop causing trouble here.”

In fact, the newly assigned Deputy Store Manager was already following up on things, so overall, Shi Lan felt pretty at ease.

After taking a lap around the area, she unexpectedly came across a real estate ad.

Right, this was the early stage of Commercial Housing³. She had heard housing prices were very cheap, and Shi Lan found herself tempted.

The place they were renting, she couldn’t even bring herself to install a phone line there.

The conditions weren’t great either. Du Heng was still sleeping on a pallet on the floor beside her.

They found the nearest development, and the sales office was completely deserted. But the price really was cheap. Units in this development were only 700 per square meter.

Seven hundred! Ten years later, that would increase by at least dozens of times!

The staff were lazy and perfunctory in dealing with them, probably because young people like them didn’t look like the kind who would actually buy a house.

But that still wasn’t enough to dampen Shi Lan’s enthusiasm. Houses at this time were all ready for immediate move-in. She wanted to go take a look, but the staff member politely turned her down. “Sorry, my coworker took the keys. You can look through the materials first and come early tomorrow.”

Shi Lan wasn’t set on seeing it anyway. The main issue was that this development’s orientation and surrounding amenities weren’t that great.

So she and Du Heng simply left the sales office.

After they came out, Du Heng looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated.

“What is it you want to say?”

“This house is too expensive.”

Huh???

Shi Lan’s eyes went wide as saucers.

Du Heng explained, “I’ve worked on a lot of construction sites and helped put up who knows how many buildings. Not every construction crew uses materials conscientiously. A lot of them just do enough to pass inspection. In cases like that, even counting labor, building materials, and the money spent treating people to meals, the construction cost is only a little over a hundred yuan per square meter. Even if you run into an honest crew that really builds properly, the cost per square meter still wouldn’t go over 300. If a house like that is built and then sold for 700, that’s outrageously overpriced.”

After explaining, he added, “No wonder they can’t sell them.”

Shi Lan: “…”

If you hadn’t heard it, you wouldn’t know. Once you did, it was a real shock. At those construction costs, and with housing prices like this, looking across the property market over the next several decades, this was practically the deal of the century, okay!

She understood Du Heng’s thinking too.

Because at this stage, most people thought the same way.

So where did housing come from? At work units, it was allocated based on seniority, or after a self-built house was demolished, people were compensated with housing.

Buying a home was something that burned money.

Buying a home was also a major life decision.

If Du Heng was resistant to buying Commercial Housing, there was no way Shi Lan could ignore his opinion and stubbornly go her own way.

She was thinking about how to persuade him and explain things.

Should she talk to him about the market economy, the state of the country, and the direction of the times?

That seemed a little out of character.

After thinking it over, Shi Lan cautiously said, “I want to buy a home with my own name on the property deed. I want to decorate and arrange it however I like. When I’m cold, hungry, or tired, I want a place to go. I don’t want my first thought every time I see something I like to be whether I can take it with me when I move. I don’t want to worry about the landlord raising the rent, or about them coming by every so often to inspect a room full of old furniture and nitpick, saying this is broken and that wasn’t taken care of properly.”

She let out a long breath before continuing, “I… I want a home, a home of my own.”

Shi Lan’s gaze drifted into the distance, unfocused.

Ever since coming here, she had always acted very upbeat. She had enthusiastically celebrated getting a healthy pair of legs again, actively accepted Du Heng and felt content to be lucky enough to meet the fictional man she had once adored, actively opened a shop and did business to make a living…

In reality, she had only been hypnotizing herself on a subconscious level, making herself believe she was living well now, so that… she wouldn’t have to think about her old life, or her original family.

She was a drifter across time and space. In order to keep herself mentally healthy and go on living, she could choose not to think about the past.

Just because she didn’t want to think about it didn’t mean it didn’t exist.

In this time and space, no one was lonelier than she was. She had no trail of growth, no ties of blood, and she could disappear at any time, anywhere. Just like the original “Shi Lan” of this world, who had vanished into the sea of people at the train station, with no one knowing.

Shi Lan wanted a house not only because of practical needs and the high return on investment. More importantly, she wanted to find a coordinate for herself in this time and space.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she stayed in a daze for a long while. Only after coming back to herself did she realize that after she had finished speaking, the man beside her hadn’t reacted at all.

He had his head lowered, his expression unreadable, muttering something under his breath.

So this was silent resistance?

Had she really run into cold violence in a relationship this quickly?

Her fists were about to clench.

She wanted to answer with a round of hot-blooded violence instead.

The thought flashed through her mind, and her expression darkened.

Then Du Heng finally raised his head and said solemnly, “It should be enough.”

???

This man had been calculating his assets.

“After this drama is finished, I’ll have a little over thirty thousand after taxes. Add that to the savings I left with you before, and we can buy an eighty-square-meter place.”

He didn’t consider taking out a loan at all, and never even thought about how much money she herself could contribute.

Within the limits of what he was currently capable of, this man was earnestly and steadfastly responding to her wish.

Translator’s Notes