"What are you laughing at?" Brother Nan frowned, looking at him suspiciously. "I always feel like you're thinking about some weird stuff."

"Nope."

"Not laughing?"

"I did," Zhou Li admitted honestly.

"Then tell me what you were laughing at!" Brother Nan's eyebrows knitted tighter and tighter, making one want to smooth them out.

"I remembered something happy."

"BANG!"

"I thought you were really cute when you were little."

"BANG!"

"You hit me for this too?"

"My gut tells me that's not it!"

"Actually, I was just thinking that it would've been nice if I'd met you earlier, and then you said it. I found that quite coincidental."

"EW~~"

Seeing a bit of embarrassment on Zhou Li's face, Brother Nan let him off and started rubbing her own arm. "So cheesy, so cheesy. How can you say such cheesy stuff? You're hopeless, hopeless..."

"You forced me to say it."

"Come on in."

Brother Nan grabbed Zhou Li's wrist and pulled him into the room. Then she sat directly on the bed, tucking her legs under her in a swift, cross-legged pose.

The movement was very natural.

Many photos were already laid out on the bed.

Brother Nan patted the spot next to her, signaling Zhou Li to sit down, then showed him the photos one by one.

"Look, this is me when I was little."

"Yeah."

"Cute, huh?"

"Yeah."

"What do you mean, 'yeah'?! I'm asking you, wasn't I cute when I was little?"

"Cute."

Zhou Li casually picked up a photo. The little girl in it seemed to be standing right outside this house. Back then, however, the road outside was still a dirt path. The girl was holding a large shotgun with both hands. Her height and fair, tender face looked about the same as the girl he had seen in his dream.

"How old were you here?"

"I forgot." Brother Nan scratched her head. "Probably first or second grade. This was during Chinese New Year; back then, everyone used to buy guns."

"Did girls buy them too?"

"I'm not a girl, I'm Brother Nan," she stated naturally. "I just looked like one."

"..."

Zhou Li quickly glanced at her chest and just as quickly looked away.

Brother Nan, oblivious, held the photo, turning it over and over, completely absorbed. "You think this one's particularly cute, don't you?"

"Yes," Zhou Li said, his face expressionless.

After a pause, he pointed at the photo and asked, "You were so young back then. What if you got bullied by older kids? Or what if, because you were being mouthy on the street, an adult grabbed you and decided to teach you a lesson? What would you have done?"

"Older kids wouldn't dare bully me," Brother Nan said. "Adults wouldn't dare either. Around here, no one would mess with our Old Li's Family."

"What if they were from out of town?"

"Why would someone from out of town mess with me for no reason? Are they some kind of pervert who specifically picks on kids?"

"Of course not a pervert," Zhou Li denied. "It's because you've been brash and mouthy since you were little. Maybe you accidentally provoked him, and he just happened to want to teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents and your future other half."

"?"

Brother Nan slowly tilted her head, her eyes narrowing as she stared at Zhou Li.

She didn't say a word, just kept staring at him.

Zhou Li feigned a timid expression and quickly corrected himself, "Okay, that's not called being mouthy, that's called innocent child's frankness, innocent child's frankness."

"That's not it!" Brother Nan said.

"Huh?"

"That's not it." Brother Nan continued to stare at him, a playful smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Your explanation is a bit interesting... very interesting!"

"What do you mean?"

"What did you do to me?"

"What? What did I do?" Zhou Li looked bewildered but also found her amusing. "I'm half a year younger than you, you know."

"In the dream."

Oh, shoot! Zhou Li thought. It took at least a few seconds before he began to marvel at Brother Nan's terrifying ability to connect the dots. Then, he started to critique his own acting and on-the-spot improvisation skills.

As for being scared… that was out of the question.

"BANG!"

Zhou Li's expression didn't falter. He even snatched the photo from Brother Nan's hand. "I'll keep this as a memento."

Sure enough, he got hit again.

But despite hitting him, Brother Nan let him keep it.

After looking through the dozens of photos, she opened one drawer after another, forcing Zhou Li to look at the drawings she'd made as a child. They were incredibly ugly.

Then came her two full drawers of marbles and pogs. When she opened the drawers, she even added a sound effect—

"TA-DA!"

"I won all of these when I was a kid!"

Zhou Li nodded repeatedly, listening to her recount her past glorious achievements.

Her former deskmate was a true champion.

「Next door.」

Huai Xu sat alone on a bed, listening to Brother Nan and Zhou Li's voices nearby while yawning.

Beside him, Tuanzi was already asleep.

Otherwise, he could have amused himself by teasing the silly cat.

So bored...

「…」

In the afternoon, they went out to move corn.

Zhou Li had practiced this at Zheng Zhilan's place last year, so he was already fairly familiar with the work.

According to Brother Nan, in the past, after harvesting the corn, they had to use a wheelbarrow to carry it down the mountain. Around here, they also called this contraption a "rooster cart."

The roads were bad back then and hard to travel. A single rooster cart had to carry several hundred pounds, and if you weren't careful, it could tip over or fall into a ditch. It tested both strength and skill. She said, her voice full of pride, that apart from her grandpa, she was the best in the family at handling it.

Things were better now. There were proper roads and electric tricycles, although an electric tricycle could only carry a maximum of three bags at a time.

The next day, they went to thresh rice.

Many people were threshing rice these days. The sound of machinery echoed through the fields, and a faint smell of gasoline hung in the air. While cutting rice stalks, Zhou Li listened to Brother Nan talk about the old pedal-powered threshing machines.

Truth be told, the work was quite tiring. The edges of the rice stalks could easily chafe your skin—not enough to draw blood, but it was particularly painful. However, Brother Nan was genuinely optimistic. In her eyes, even the hardest, most tiring labor seemed full of fun. This kind of personality had a magical quality, capable of influencing those around her.

As a result, Zhou Li also found the past two days quite enjoyable.

Especially catching rice paddy fish after threshing the rice.

Or perhaps it was because when you're with someone you like, everything you do feels joyful.

When it was time to leave, just as when he had left Zheng Zhilan's place, Brother Nan's grandparents pressed many things on Zhou Li.

"Drive safely."

"Got it. We're off."

"Alright then."

The car slowly drove away along the village road.

Brother Nan turned her head to look at Zhou Li. "You've all worked hard these past two days. Well, except for Tuanzi."

"It wasn't tough."

"I wasn't tired at all!"

"MEOW?"

"Hey, Zhou Li, you still have that Obedience Card I gave you, right?"

"I still have it." Zhou Li quietly grew wary. "You're not thinking of asking for it back, are you? It's already expired."

"Am I that kind of person?" Brother Nan retorted.

"You don't really seem like it," Zhou Li said thoughtfully.

"I'm telling you to keep it safe, don't lose it," Brother Nan muttered. "Next time, if we have another bet, or if you mess up and are in the wrong, or if you think this Brother Nan here is just too good-looking and cute, and you like me so much you can't stand it and want to give me a card again, you can just give this one back to me. Recycling, you know? Saves me the trouble of making a new one."

"In your dreams."

"Hehe…"

Brother Nan chuckled, slowing the car. With one hand on the steering wheel, she fumbled in her pocket with the other, saying, "I made another one last night."

Zhou Li's eyes widened. "You made another one?!"

She can do that?

SWISH!

Brother Nan tossed the card onto his lap.

Zhou Li jumped, quite startled.

Then he heard Brother Nan say, "Seeing as you've worked so hard these past few days, behaved so well, and made my grandparents very happy, I've decided to reward you with an Obedience Card. Same old rules: it's good for one day."

Zhou Li picked up the card and examined it.

"Phew…"

He suddenly breathed a sigh of relief—

Obedience Card!

The small print below read: "When Zhou Li presents this card to Li Nan, it will make Li Nan obedient for one day."

Signature: Li Nan

Signature: _______

The layout was slightly different from the previous one and more elaborate. It even had two little flowers drawn on it, at a kindergarten skill level.

Zhou Li caught Brother Nan secretly glancing at him out of the corner of his eye, so he tried hard to suppress his smile and not let her notice.

From the back seat, Huai Xu muttered, "How could *he* have charmed your grandparents? It was me guiding him step-by-step every night, giving him advice..."

But neither of them paid him any mind, as if they hadn't heard.

"Happy?"

"Happy." Zhou Li flipped the card over and blinked. "The right of final interpretation belongs to Li Nan?"

"Yup!"

"Let Lord Dumpling see too!" Tuanzi piped up.

Tuanzi, standing on Zhou Li's thigh, stretched out a paw to reach for the card, but Zhou Li pulled it away.

"Explain."

"Theoretically, when you use the Obedience Card, it can make Li Nan listen to you for a day. And Li Nan will be very obedient," Brother Nan explained with a straight face. "But this clause is here to prevent you from doing anything too outrageous that might... disrupt social harmony."

"Like what, for example?"

"The right of final interpretation belongs to Li Nan."

"...That's not really necessary."

"It is necessary!"

Brother Nan's tone became slightly more emphatic. "Otherwise, if I always resort to brute force to solve problems, it'll make me seem completely unreasonable."

Zhou Li was speechless.

He simply placed the card carefully into his wallet.

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