ATLAS TRANSLATES

Ren Qian and others turned their gaze to Xu En.

Who was this “Ah Lian” he called out to? Ren Wan Xuan suddenly had a ridiculous thought, but felt it couldn’t be possible. In her eyes, the Ji family had always been unremarkable residents of Qingshui Street.

She never introduced her father or grandfather to her classmates and friends, fearing that Bailian would use the Ren family name at school.

Until now—

Xu En, whom everyone in Xiangcheng wanted to befriend, stopped in front of Bailian.

Bailian, who had been looking down at her phone, looked up. She saw the large wooden box Xu En was carrying, “…”

Xu En noticed her gaze, “I’ll help you take it downstairs.”

“…That’s not necessary.” Bailian handed the elegantly packaged painting to Xu En.

She took the wooden box from Xu En with her other hand.

Seeing her about to lift the box, Xu En smiled and spoke to others nearby, his usual shrewd distance melting into a warm, neighborly demeanor: “This is a bit…”

Before he could finish, someone effortlessly lifted the wooden box with just two fingers.

?

Xu En fell silent.

Bailian turned around and calmly pressed the elevator button with her phone.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go in and take a look?” Beside her, Xu En persisted. He had his assistant entertain guests in the banquet hall.

“No thanks,” Bailian shook her head, counting the elevator numbers, “Someone’s waiting for me downstairs.”

If she was late again.

She might have to deal with Lin’s passive-aggressive comments again.

“Alright then.” Xu En had come to understand the Ji family’s personalities over this period.

The elevator doors opened, and he followed Bailian, intending to escort her downstairs.

Bailian blocked him with the wooden box, raising an eyebrow: “There are many guests, I just came to help my uncle deliver a painting. No need to see me off.”

Xu En could only stand by the elevator, watching the numbers drop to the first floor. He then looked down at the painting before turning back.

Ren Qian and the other two were still standing at the banquet hall entrance.

On his way in, Xu En had only paid attention to Bailian. Now he noticed Ren Qian, “Mr. Ren?”

He stopped to greet him.

Ren Qian snapped back to reality, suddenly looking up, “Mr. Xu, you know Ah Lian?”

Xu En had intended to go in after greeting them, as Director Liu was waiting. But hearing Ren Qian’s “Ah Lian,” he paused and turned his head, “And you are?”

“Ah Lian is my son-in-law’s niece,” Ren Qian smiled, speaking confidently, “I didn’t know you knew her too…”

Niece? Xu En looked at Ren Qian, remembering that Bailian hadn’t greeted them earlier.

In Xu En’s experience, Bailian was always polite, except to those she disliked, like Ji Mulan.

That’s why Xu En hadn’t brought Ji Mulan along this time.

Xu En glanced at Ren Wan Xuan’s somewhat stiff smile, then grinned, “Yes, this child, I’ve been trying to persuade her to come to this banquet for a long time, but she wouldn’t. Oh, I haven’t told you yet, Ah Lian is Mulan’s daughter. How should I put it, besides my son, she’s my only daughter. What can I do if she doesn’t want to come? I had to let her bring some pastries for her grandfather…”

Thinking for a moment.

Xu En showed the painting in his hand to Ren Qian, “This is a painting Comrade Shao Jun personally made for me. If it weren’t for this painting, she wouldn’t have come. Haha, I’ll have to send it back to Jiangjing to hang up.”

These last words weren’t a lie.

Ji Shao Jun was Ji Mulan’s brother, and naturally, Xu En would cherish a painting he sent.

With Bailian’s connection, he couldn’t be careless.

After saying this, he smiled at Ren Qian and continued walking towards the banquet hall. Passing by some business partners, he raised the painting in his hand, showing it off to them.

At the banquet hall entrance, Ren Qian slowly turned around.

Ren Wan Xuan was even more thunderstruck.

She had never been interested in Bailian’s background or Ji Shao Rong’s other sister. Now she was being told… Bailian was connected to the Xu family? She didn’t know much about the Xu family, only that they were the founders of Xinda, but from tonight’s gathering of people from Beicheng, she could tell how wide the Xu family’s network was.

Especially after witnessing Ren Qian and Chen Gang being marginalized at this banquet…

“What’s wrong?” Chen Zhu re-entered the banquet hall, the drink in his hand untouched for a long time. Chen Gang lowered his head to ask him.

Chen Zhu came back to his senses, remembering that day when Ren Wan Xuan wanted to give Bailian an invitation, “We… we just saw Bailian outside.”

Saying this.

Chen Zhu looked towards Ji Mulan, who was like a fish in water at the banquet.

Looking closely, Ji Mulan’s features were indeed very similar to Bailian’s. Could she really be Bailian’s mother?

No wonder, no wonder Bailian always seemed uninterested in the Ren family.

If Bailian was from the Xu family, it wouldn’t be so strange.

“But she doesn’t have the Xu surname.” Ren Wan Xuan looked at the people present, lowering her voice, unsure of what expression or emotion to show.

Chen Gang finally understood after listening, “Her luck is indeed good. As long as Mr. Xu acknowledges her, it’s fine. As for the surname… the Xu family has roots in Jiangjing, changing her surname wouldn’t be an easy thing. This Ji Mulan… she’s not simple.”

Beside them, Ren Qian nodded.

**

Xiangcheng Prison.

Zhang Shize finished his labor and returned to his room, taking out a pen and exercise book from the bedside to start his homework.

The prison room was small, with four people sharing one room.

Next to him was a fierce-looking bald man.

Zhang Shize had just turned a page in his book when the bald man, coming out of the bathroom, threw his towel down with a “smack” and grabbed Zhang Shize’s hair, punching him in the stomach, “Didn’t you hear me tell you to massage my back?”

The bald man was the “boss” here, and no one dared to touch him.

Every night and morning, the bald man was always the first to wash up.

The other two people in the room curled up in bed, pretending not to see this scene.

Zhang Shize coughed once, then put down his pen and flipped over, locking the bald man’s neck with both hands!

“Bang—”

The two fell to the ground together. The bald man was strong, but once the rear naked choke was in place, no matter how strong he was, he couldn’t shake it off. The bald man’s face gradually turned red.

“Smack—”

They crashed into the iron door together.

The commotion finally alerted the prison guards.

“Clang—”

The door was opened.

Zhang Shize released his hands and crouched to the side.

The guard scanned the room with his electric baton, “Number 0147, Number 1108, what are you two doing?!”

The bald man, clutching his neck, raised his head to speak.

Zhang Shize lifted his head first. He glanced at the bald man, then quickly averted his gaze as if afraid, “I-I don’t know, I-I was just doing my homework.”

After so many days, the prison guards were very familiar with Zhang Shize. He was always carrying a vocabulary book, memorizing words, and studying hard, a small reformed criminal.

It wasn’t the first or second time he had been beaten by Number 0147.

Others beaten by Number 0147 didn’t dare to speak up, because Number 0147 would beat them even worse after getting out.

Zhang Shize was the first one to say something.

“Number 0147, it’s you causing trouble again! Take him away!” The guard took Number 0147 to solitary confinement for three days.

The bald man looked at Zhang Shize in disbelief. He wanted to say something but was immediately shocked with the electric baton.

After the door was closed.

Zhang Shize expressionlessly spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, then returned to his bed and picked up his pen.

The other two trembled even more, not daring to speak.

Zhang Shize turned another page in his book. This time, no one disturbed him.

Question Brother Jiang, understand Brother Jiang, become Brother Jiang.

**

Sunday.

Bailian arrived at the Calligraphy Association early. Compared to the first time, today was much busier.

Lu Xiaohan was recording a video for Grandpa Tao.

From a distance, Bailian could hear Lu Xiaohan’s voice: “Grandpa, just do what you usually do. We’ll add an introduction later.”

Bailian didn’t interrupt, standing quietly to the side watching.

There were quite a few onlookers nearby.

Lu Xiaohan then asked Bailian to help with the lighting. Bailian wasn’t very familiar with this, but her ability to learn quickly was strong. With Lu Xiaohan’s guidance, the two worked well together.

For one shot, it took Lu Xiaohan an hour to finish recording. Then she sat down with Grandpa Tao to review the recorded footage.

Seeing that she wasn’t needed, Bailian went to the Calligraphy Association.

Being Sunday, there were more students at the association than usual.

“Oh, sis,” Jian Zhe, watching Chou Xuezheng teach some children, suddenly remembered something, “This year’s association assessment registration is in December. Should we sign up?”

The higher the level, the more funding the headquarters would provide.

This year, most of the funding still came from Jiang Fuli personally.

Bailian hardly needed to think before replying, “Sign up.”

“Alright.” Jian Zhe made a note of this, “Recently, quite a few people have been going next door, seems like they all want to buy the martial arts school’s property, but they’ve all been kicked out.”

Ordinary residents hadn’t received the news yet.

But some businesses already knew that Xiangcheng was planning to develop tourism on a large scale.

The martial arts school occupied a large area and was a prime piece of real estate. Many people had their eyes on it.

Since Bailian was very concerned about the martial arts school next door, Jian Zhe often went to inquire about their situation.

Bailian nodded, suddenly remembering something. She turned her head to look at him, raising an eyebrow: “So, how’s your calligraphy coming along?”

Jian Zhe: “…”

He silently returned to his desk and wrote the character “?” (yong).

The stroke was very strong. After finishing, Jian Zhe couldn’t help but admire it for a long time.

“Take off the weights,” Bailian slowly walked over, looking down for a while before speaking.

Jian Zhe removed the weights and wrote again.

This time he was even more fluid. Over the past month, Jian Zhe could clearly feel his progress. Chou Xuezheng’s guidance wasn’t very helpful, but every time Bailian and Jiang Fuli could clearly point out his problems.

Especially Jiang Fuli, every word he said made Jian Zhe start to question his life choices.

The effect was significant.

“Not bad,” Bailian commented, affirming his level.

Jian Zhe dried the ink, and his phone displayed a message—

[Are you really not coming back for Jian Rong’s apprenticeship ceremony?]

Jian Zhe: [No time.]

—[Okay.]

The Jian family was just routinely notifying Jian Zhe, it didn’t matter whether he came back or not.

It was already quite good that they remembered Jian Zhe existed.

Jian Zhe wasn’t surprised by this.

“Lian sis!” Lu Xiaohan finally finished recording all the supplementary videos. She came in and, seeing a bunch of children at the calligraphy room door, lowered her voice, “Dean Jian sent another message.”

“Dean Jian?” Not far away, Jian Zhe, who was stacking up his written characters, was sensitive to the name “Jian”.

He subconsciously looked up.