Chapter 297 - 151: You’d Better Behave, You Know?

Chapter 297: Chapter 151: You’d Better Behave, You Know?

The Mushroom House was a rural courtyard with a seemingly low-key, rustic style, but its interior was exquisitely decorated. Everything inside was from a top-tier brand.

The central air conditioning was Daikin, imported directly from Japan.

The underfloor heating was Viessmann.

The bathroom fixtures were from Hansgrohe, globally recognized as a top-tier brand.

The furniture wasn’t branded, but it was all genuine solid wood, showcasing exquisite craftsmanship.

The whole-house smart system was from the top brand, Morgan Smart Home System, controlling the background music, intelligent lighting, security monitoring, motorized curtains, and everything else in this subtly luxurious mansion.

Since its last renovation, the Mushroom House’s security system was high-grade. HD cameras were everywhere for surveillance, and there were spares available. Su Ran installed cameras in every room and set up several more outside the courtyard, aimed at the vegetable garden. This provided complete, 360-degree coverage with no blind spots within a 50-meter radius of the house, all to record the four women’s daily rural life.

To better present this as a ’private, custom version of *Yearning for Life*’ for the five of them to enjoy later, Su Ran handed them several lavalier microphones for sound recording. Once everything was set up, he went and sat down at the desk by the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside was a blanket of white snow and the women, already busy. The house was as warm as spring. Su Ran continuously switched between camera feeds on his laptop, observing the four women’s rural activities.

’He had to admit, this idyllic pastoral life was wonderful. The four girls loved it too. Of course, this was the kind of fun you could only have after achieving financial freedom.’

’When you have money in your pocket, you’re not worried. You just think doing farm chores to ’experience life’ is fun.’

’If you don’t have money, you don’t feel like you’re ’experiencing life.’ You just feel like this is your lot in life. What’s there to be interested in?’

’Su Ran didn’t mind either way. If they wanted to live the rural life, he’d let them have their fill. If they wanted to live like the rich, they could just hop in the G-Wagon and head back to Chuyuan.’

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...

Xie Yiren knocked, then pushed the door open. She walked over carrying a cup of water and placed it on the table. "This is water steeped with plantain," she said. "I was just walking around outside and saw a lot of it, so I asked Uncle Qin for a hoe to dig some up. But when he found out what I was doing, he wouldn’t let me. He went and dug up a whole bag for me. Here, drink up. It’s very good for you." She pushed the cup a little closer with her delicate hands. "Don’t you like it?"

"I love it. I used to drink this all the time." Su Ran picked up the cup and took a sip. It was fragrant with a slightly bitter aftertaste. He looked at Xie Yiren’s adorable face, which had recently taken on a delicate, almost pitiful charm that made one want to dote on her. He set the cup down. "Yiren, you’re so thoughtful."

"Oh. Just remember to finish it." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, then turned and left the room to get back to her chores.

’Su Ran now had a clear understanding of each of the four women.’

’Xie Yiren from Miaojiang was the domestic, homemaker type.’

’Liu Jinyu from Chongqing was the "lady in the streets, freak in the sheets" type.’

’Xiao Wanqing from Shanghai was the romantic type, someone who could always command a room.’

’Aina from the Western Regions was the type who could party with you and go wild with you.’

’Mmm... four different styles. Individually, they’d be boring, but together, it was very interesting.’

...

「The sun set, and the moon rose high in the sky.」

The small courtyard by the tranquil lotus pond was brightly lit. Inside the chicken coop, a large hen flapped its wings, clucking ’CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK~’ as if celebrating the coop’s makeover.

’Sister Jinyu is really capable. Tomorrow, I’ll have that chicken killed and made into firewood chicken.’

In the living room,

Liu Jinyu collapsed onto the sofa. Fresh from a shower, her body was fragrant and soft. She was sore all over from cleaning the chicken coop and was having her ’little brother’ massage her to help her relax.

’The boyfriend-girlfriend dynamic felt too limited. ’Older sister’ and ’younger brother’ had a more intimate, familial feel. Sister Jinyu had gotten so deep into her role by now that she was really starting to treat him like her actual little brother.’

’Sometimes, if he even used a little too much force and hurt her, she would get genuinely angry. ’You hurt me!’ she’d say. ’Is this how you bully your sister?’’

’So, Su Ran always made sure to be incredibly gentle with her.’

Reba’s new drama was playing on the television.

’It had been a while since Su Ran had seen the famous actress. ’When I go to Hangzhou in a few days, I have to visit Hengdian and treat her to a meal,’ he thought. ’I need to thank her for helping Shan Weizi find an outlet for her traditional Chinese-style performances.’’

’Setting aside romantic entanglements, he was more than willing to help any friend who was good to him, as long as he had the means. That included these girls, Shan Weizi, Ning Wenwen, Lin Che, and all the others. A person can’t be that selfish, after all. You can’t expect everyone to respect you, love you, revolve around you, and put you on a pedestal if you don’t give anything in return. That’s impossible. If you want to be the main character in other people’s lives, you have to take care of them.’

’Still, these four girls were only sophomores in college, at an age where they could enjoy a carefree campus life. They didn’t have the same heavy burden and long road ahead as Shan Weizi, who wanted to build a great career and contribute to the ’Guofeng’ movement.’

’For now, the four of them were just like any other college sophomores. Outside of their majors, they didn’t have any particularly grand dreams. But that wouldn’t last long. In about a year or so, when they were seniors looking for internships, they’d get their first harsh taste of reality from the real world. That’s when they would realize just how much they needed Su Ran.’

’Right now, their ambitions were sky-high. They were cocky, thinking they could do anything.’

"Su Ran, have you ever kissed Reba?"

"Huh?"

Liu Jinyu’s sudden question left Su Ran stunned.