Chapter 153: Playing Mahjong

It was a little past three in the afternoon when Li Youlan's grandfather returned. He was not alone; the old man had brought a young man from their hometown with him.

"Wasn't Lanlan supposed to be back? Where is she? We have a guest and she doesn't even come out to greet him." Old Master Li was full of vigor and vitality, immediately looking for his granddaughter the moment he stepped through the door.

He looked nothing like a man of seventy or eighty. With his jet-black short hair and thick eyebrows, if not for a few age spots, anyone seeing his glowing complexion would have guessed he was only fifty.

"Dad, Lanlan might have been a bit tired from the trip. She went upstairs to sleep. We can call her down in a little while," Li Tianming quickly explained for his daughter, noticing the young man standing behind the old man. "Who is this young man?"

"Oh, you haven't met him, have you? This is the grandson of your Uncle Wei from our hometown, Wei Tianhu. Tianhu, this is your uncle, Lanlan's father," Old Master Li sat down first. "Come, Tianhu, take a seat. You just arrived too, didn't you? Rest for a bit and have a bite with Grandpa."

Old Master Li was extremely enthusiastic about visitors from his hometown. As people aged, they grew homesick, and seeing someone from back home was like seeing family. Li Tianming was slightly different; apart from some business-related contact, he didn't share his father's deep sense of nostalgia. As for a husband candidate for his daughter, he still leaned toward Chu Dong. After all, he had a prior impression of him, and Chu Dong was chosen by Li Youlan herself. If not for the fact that their business still relied heavily on the connections back home, there would have been no need to hold any martial tournament; he would have made the match directly.

"Ah, Tianhu, sit down. How did you run into Grandpa?" Li Tianming had to give his father face no matter what, and hurriedly urged the visitor to sit.

"Thank you, Uncle. I arrived in Beijing yesterday and had some things to handle before coming over. I heard Grandpa had a habit of exercising, so I went to check it out, and I really did run into him. Grandpa is truly as robust as ever; I could barely keep up with his pace." Wei Tianhu was very articulate. At first glance, he appeared to be a successful man—modest, polite, and accomplished at a young age.

"Someone like you who spends all day in an office is nothing like me—I climb mountains whenever I have free time. You should pay attention to exercise in the future, too. Fewer meetings, more workouts, health is the most important thing," Old Master Li said this sounding like a reprimand, but it was actually full of affection and praise.

"I understand, Grandpa," Wei Tianhu replied with a smile and a nod.

"Grandpa!"

Li Youlan came down from upstairs at some point, wearing a verdant wool sweater, and dashed over like a colorful butterfly, throwing herself into the old man's arms.

"Hahaha, you crazy girl, when did you get here?" Old Master Li only had this one granddaughter and spoiled her habitually, patting her shoulder with an amused scolding.

"I got here at noon. Grandpa, I even brought you a gift, just wait a second," she said, turning to leave.

"Wait a minute. You have no manners at all. You didn't even greet our guest when you saw someone came to the house. This is Tianhu from back home; call him Tiger Brother." The old man grabbed Li Youlan and introduced him to her.

"Tianhu?" Li Youlan stared at Wei Tianhu, who was smiling on the side. "When did a Tiger Brother pop up? I've only ever heard of Brother Hu."

"You child, do you not remember your Grandpa Wei? The one who always gave you red envelopes," Old Master Li prompted her.

"Oh, Grandpa Wei, then I know." Li Youlan sat back down and raised her hand. "Rock, paper, scissors, come on."

Wei Tianhu was a bit dumbfounded. Why did she want to play rock, paper, scissors out of nowhere? Still, he foolishly stretched out his hand.

"I won, I'm the older sister." Li Youlan held up two fingers, shook them mischievously, and turned around to go get the gift for the old man.

"Tianhu, this girl is too wild, don't mind her," Li Tianming said, feeling rather embarrassed.

"It's fine, Uncle. Lanlan is very cute." Although Wei Tianhu had been played by Li Youlan, he only blushed slightly without getting angry; in fact, he was quite captivated by her playfulness.

Marriages among these prominent families were mostly decided by the household elders, leaving little freedom in choosing a partner. Initially, he had come with a sense of reluctant obligation, but the moment he saw Li Youlan, he instantly felt that his family's decision was completely right.

Before long, Li Youlan came downstairs pulling Chu Dong and Tan Xue along with her, intimately linking arms with Chu Dong.

"Grandpa, this is Chu Dong, my boyfriend. And this is Tan Xue, you've met her before." Li Youlan introduced them to the old man as if Wei Tianhu did not exist.

"Hello, Grandpa, I'm Chu Dong." Chu Dong was wearing pale yellow casual wear. Unlike Wei Tianhu, who was dressed in a sleek suit and leather shoes, Chu Dong looked completely ordinary, without a hint of sharp edge.

Tan Xue sat down beside the old man and affectionately called out, "Grandpa."

The old man patted the back of Tan Xue's hand, his brow furrowing as he looked at Chu Dong. "Young man, Lanlan's marriage isn't something she gets to decide entirely on her own. You know that, right?"

"I know," Chu Dong nodded, then gave a slight nod to Wei Tianhu as well. "That's why I'm here, isn't it? To get acquainted with the family. Besides, since Lanlan's family has already arranged a martial tournament, I figured no matter how difficult it is, I have to strive for it. I'm sure Grandpa won't fail to see my excellence; I'm very confident."

"Hmph, as long as you're not just narcissistic." The old man clearly did not have as favorable an impression of Chu Dong as he did of Wei Tianhu. First, he knew Wei Tianhu's background well, having years of friendly interaction with zero unfamiliarity. Second, Chu Dong's tone was rather boastful, making the old man feel that this young man was somewhat superficial.

Chu Dong didn't mind at all and extended his hand toward Wei Tianhu. "We should be rivals these next few days. I don't know if we can become friends later, but since I arrived a few hours early, let me welcome you."

"Wei Tianhu."

"Chu Dong."

Their hands grasped each other, and they both smiled, communicating through their gazes with sparks flying. The moment Li Youlan had linked arms with Chu Dong, Wei Tianhu had wanted nothing more than to pierce Chu Dong with a lethal glare. Chu Dong naturally did not show any weakness; his grip was full of strength, and his eyes carried a hint of hostility.

Though it takes a while to describe, the actual exchange happened in a split second. The two men touched hands and immediately let go, transforming back into smiling figures in the blink of an eye, as if nothing had happened at all.

At this point, pleasantries were unnecessary. Wei Tianhu accompanied Old Master Li for dinner, while Chu Dong, Tan Xue, and Li Youlan went off to play cards together.

Li Tianming had nothing to do so he stood watching on the side, occasionally offering advice to his daughter. Seeing this, the old man looked displeased, muttered something about neglecting proper business, and stopped watching, focusing instead on hosting Wei Tianhu for dinner.

Wei Tianhu felt rather pleased. Although Li Tianming's attitude was hard to read, the old man's expression had clearly tilted in his favor.

Just as dinner ended, more people arrived at the house: a man from Beijing named Liu An and a man from Anhui named Ma Hui. Both were contenders for this tournament. Each of them looked imposing and exceptional in appearance.

After exchanging brief greetings with Tan Xue and Li Youlan, the latter ignored her grandfather's furious glare and dragged Chu Dong upstairs.

"Seriously, with guys like this showing up to compete against you, you're not doing too badly. How about I just help you find one here and call it a day?" Chu Dong half-lay on the bed, crunching loudly on an apple as he teased Li Youlan, who was sitting next to Tan Xue.

"Shut your mouth," Li Youlan glared at Chu Dong. "Do you think those guys are any good? They put on a front of being decent gentlemen, but underneath, who knows what kind of dirty tricks they have. That Liu An was my classmate when we were kids, and he was rotten to the core. I heard that over the past couple of years, he even set up some kind of club to provide sketchy services—he's completely no good. Why else do you think I'd need you?"

"Oh, so it seems you're not actually opposed to getting married, you just haven't taken a fancy to any of these ones," Chu Dong said with an expression of sudden realization, then turned slightly helpless. "Still, someone as exceptional as me is really hard to find. Xue'er is enough for me; I'm not greedy at all. Look..."

An orange flew swiftly toward Chu Dong, who caught it with one hand. "I've eaten plenty, any more and I'll get internal heat..." Before Chu Dong could finish speaking, he saw Li Youlan lunging at him and hurriedly rolled over to the other side of the bed. "Do you still want me to help you fend them off or not? Keep this up and I'm running away."

"Xue'er, look at him," Li Youlan had no choice but to plead with Tan Xue.

"Brother Dong..." Tan Xue called out softly, though she couldn't say much right now since Chu Dong was the main player in this scenario.

"Okay, okay, okay..." Chu Dong surrendered. "I yield to the two of you. Fine, Xue'er, don't forget what you promised me."

Tan Xue and Li Youlan lived together, so Chu Dong was assigned to the first room, while the other three men were arranged into separate lodgings, waiting for the tournament to begin the next day.

As for the rules and content of the tournament, leave aside Chu Dong—even Li Youlan had no idea what it would entail.

The long night stretched ahead. Normally busy with their respective lives, they now felt fenced in together, temporarily at a loss for how to pass the time.

In the end, it was Liu An who suggested playing mahjong, an idea everyone readily agreed upon.

"How do we play? As long as there are rules and nobody's trying to scam me, I can play for a bit," Chu Dong said the moment he sat down at the mahjong table, noting that he was the only one far from Beijing, while the others frequently visited or lived there.

"How could anyone scam you? Why don't we just play the Dalian style? We don't mind," Liu An said with a smile, looking like a veteran as he observed Chu Dong's caution.

"Alright then." Chu Dong was no stranger to the Dalian rules; back then, he and Qiangzi and Huzi used to play three-player variants all the time, having a blast even when they were short-handed. "Our Dalian mahjong doesn't have universal wild tiles, but it has *Bao*—meaning right before you're about to go out, you roll the dice, and if you draw a tile that matches, it counts as going out..."

Chu Dong was in high spirits now, explaining the rules to the other three like a teacher. Once everyone understood, the game officially began. Right as the initial dealing started, Chu Dong raised another objection, "How much are we playing for? I don't have that much cash in my pockets."

"None of us are carrying a fortune, it's not like we're lugging around tens of thousands. How about this, pure entertainment, a hundred per point, capping at a thousand? Sound good?"

"Sure, let's settle on that." It wasn't that Chu Dong was flush with cash, but rather that he was secretly laughing at Liu An as if his brain had been squeezed by a door. Whenever he and Qiangzi had free time back then, they would study mahjong—tile arrangement, memory techniques, dice rolling—they had put in serious hard work. Playing cards against him? With this group of guys, keeping their underwear on at the end would be considered lucky!