Time flew by. After standing and going at it vigorously all night long,
Jiang Nian left the villa feeling refreshed and clear-headed, ready to go practice martial arts and get his body moving.
That’s one of the great things about practicing martial arts.
You build a powerful physique and endless energy.
Coupled with his internal strength, even after a whole night of high-intensity activity, he looked completely fine—not a trace of fatigue on his face.
Not too far away,
the private investigator, who had successfully gotten hired as a cleaner a week earlier through proper channels, perked up the moment he saw Yang Mi’s door open.
But when he realized that Jiang Nian was the only one coming out, he lost some of his enthusiasm.
“Why isn’t it two people?”
“Just one person coming out—there’s no shock value in that.”
He quietly put away his hidden camera, feeling deeply disappointed.
Just as he was about to go back to playing his role and focus on sweeping the floor,
“Hey, you were secretly watching me just now, weren’t you?”
A large hand suddenly landed on his shoulder, and Jiang Nian’s voice came from behind.
Hearing this, the private investigator froze.
What the hell?
He had only sneaked a single glance, and he’d already been caught?
But he quickly calmed down, composed himself, turned to look at Jiang Nian, and forced an awkward smile: “Sorry, sir. I was just thinking about the news from last night, and I couldn’t help but steal an extra glance at you. Please forgive me.”
“Is that so?”
Jiang Nian asked back, his expression amused.
If things were really as the man said,
then what about the gaze he had just sensed, the flash of reflection he’d caught in the man’s hand, and the brief moment of panic after he’d been called out?
“You were secretly filming, weren’t you?”
Jiang Nian spoke the truth.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the private investigator’s hair stood on end.
From the moment Jiang Nian first made contact with him until now, at most, only about ten or fifteen seconds had passed.
How on earth did he…
The private investigator was utterly baffled.
Just then, a security guard on patrol walked by. Because of what had happened the night before, he had a strong impression of Jiang Nian.
Seeing Jiang Nian confronting their community’s janitor, he quickly came over and asked:
“What’s going on? What happened?”
Hearing this, the private investigator tried to call the guard over while simultaneously steering the conversation elsewhere.
But unexpectedly, Jiang Nian reached out and grabbed his fist, squeezing it slightly.
Under the force of the pain, the private investigator instinctively opened his hand.
A custom-made camera, about as thick as two fingers and the length of a palm, fell from his hand and clattered to the ground.
Seeing this, the private investigator’s heart sank. He bent down to pick it up,
but by then, the security guard had already reached them. The guard shouted, “Don’t move!”
and immediately restrained the private investigator.
Jiang Nian picked up the custom camera, looked at the security guard, and said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes: “So this is the ‘no one will bother you again’ you guaranteed me last night?”
Hearing this, the security guard’s face turned all sorts of shades of red and purple.
With his experience, he could immediately tell what the device was, and he started cursing inwardly.
Damn it. Last night’s mess hadn’t even blown over yet, and now today, their own internal security had failed again!
This janitor turned out to be a goddamn reporter!
The security guard didn’t dare imagine what the other residents in the community would say if this got out.
With that in mind, he didn’t dare take it lightly. He quickly picked up his walkie-talkie and reported the matter to his team leader.
Then he turned to Jiang Nian and said with an embarrassed smile:
“I’m sorry, Mr. Jiang. About what happened today…”
“You’re going to say it was ‘another oversight’ on your part, right?”
Before the guard could finish, Jiang Nian cut him off.
The security guard’s face was full of awkwardness. He stood there fidgeting, not knowing what to say.
Because even he had to admit that this was inexcusable.
Fortunately, Jiang Nian was in a pretty good mood at the moment and didn’t really feel like making a big deal out of it.
So he just waved his hand. The security guard, as if pardoned, quickly dragged the private investigator away.
Having dealt with the private investigator lurking around the villa,
Jiang Nian left the residential area and went to find something to eat.
Maybe it was because the wealthy folks living in these villa districts usually didn’t eat out in the neighborhood.
After looking around, Jiang Nian discovered that besides a few tea shops, ceramic stores, and coffee shops, there wasn’t a single breakfast place to be found.
It wasn’t until Jiang Nian had walked about three kilometers that he finally spotted one by the roadside.
He walked up and ordered five jianbing (savory Chinese crepes) from the vendor.
Eating as he walked, Jiang Nian made his way toward the nearby subway station.
By the time he reached the station, the five jianbing were gone.
He took a sip of water to wet his throat, then got on the subway heading back to the city.
Even though this was the first train of the morning,
there were still quite a lot of people on it.
After all, the cost of living in the capital was brutal.
Living there, forget about saving money at the end of the year—if you weren’t in debt, you were doing well. So, to cut down on expenses, many people chose to move to the suburbs.
That’s also why almost all the early-morning trains heading into the city were especially packed.
Jiang Nian got lucky and snagged a seat among the crowd, so he was relatively comfortable.
He crossed his arms over his chest, closed his eyes, and pretended to doze off.
He’d eaten way too many carbs in the morning and was feeling a bit drowsy.
It definitely wasn’t because he was sitting in a priority seat for the elderly, disabled, or pregnant, all while being glared at by some old geezer.
The train rattled along, stopping and starting.
After an hour and a half, Jiang Nian finally made it back to the area near the film set.
Walking onto the set, Jiang Nian wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like people were looking at him and whispering.
But whenever he got close, they would scatter and leave.
This struck Jiang Nian as very strange. He thought, “What the hell is going on?”
So he stopped Li Cheng, an acquaintance he got along with fairly well, and asked: “Hey, Old Li, what’s up today? Why’s everyone dodging me like I’m a ghost?”
Hearing this, Li Cheng chuckled and said, “What else could it be besides what happened last night?”
“Last night? You mean that business with Liu Kaiwei?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Brother Jiang, I really didn’t see this coming. You’re actually loaded! Living in such a nice house!”
Thinking about what he had seen on his phone the night before, Li Cheng was full of envy.
Even though that villa wasn’t in the city, just based on its size and scale, a place like that would cost tens of millions.
That was more money than Li Cheng could earn in several lifetimes.
Hearing this, Jiang Nian just smiled wryly and didn’t offer any explanation.
After all, the persona he was maintaining right now was that of the villa’s owner.
“But if that’s all it was, you guys wouldn’t be avoiding me like this, right?”
“Well, yeah, that’s true. But the main thing is, you were way too ferocious yesterday, man. Holy crap, you grabbed Liu Kaiwei by the collar, lifted him up, and just started feeding him slap after slap. You know what netizens are calling you now?”
Jiang Nian was curious. “What are they calling me?”
Li Cheng said, “Ultra-Macho Bro!”
Jiang Nian: “…The hell kind of name is that?”
