Ben Liang looked at Evan Lin with a probing expression. "If you’re not here as a bodyguard, does that mean you actually know someone in the Shang family?"
He didn’t give Evan a chance to reply before continuing, "But honestly, I don’t think that’s very likely."
"Since you know Sisi, you must be from Seacrest, right?"
"Seacrest isn’t exactly a big deal. Compared to Tangshan, which is right next to the capital, it’s not even in the same league."
"Besides, the Shang family people aren’t going to waste their time running all the way out there."
Ben Liang’s words were brutally direct.
Hearing this, Sisi Shao looked a little embarrassed. She reached out and tugged Ben Liang’s wrist, hoping he’d stop talking.
"Why are you pulling me?"
Ben Liang brushed Sisi Shao’s hand away and gave her a puzzled look before turning his attention back to Evan Lin, waiting for his answer.
Truth is, Seacrest isn’t much of an economic powerhouse. Even its provincial capital, Jiangcheng, can’t compare to Tangshan, which sits right beside the imperial capital.
So in Ben Liang’s eyes, even though Evan Lin was tough and carried a certain aura—maybe from a decent background—since he’d just asked Ben if he could take him to the Shang family, it meant this guy wasn’t familiar with Tangshan.
Not being familiar meant he didn’t have much of a foundation here.
So no matter how Ben looked at it, he figured this kid would be easy to fool.
"Yeah, I’ve got some business with them."
Evan Lin nodded, neither denying nor confirming Ben Liang’s guess.
That kind of plain, indifferent attitude only made Ben Liang feel even more annoyed.
But right now, he really couldn’t say anything.
No matter how much he wanted to show off, this guy in front of him just kept it cool and casual. Ben couldn’t just outright ask, "How much money does your family have?" and then, after Evan answered, casually say, "Oh, my family’s way richer than yours."
That would be way too obvious.
The train sped from Beijing toward Tangshan.
Along the way, Ben Liang tried several times to strike up a conversation with Evan Lin, doing everything he could to recover the face he’d lost because of the seat-hogger.
At the very least, he wanted Sisi Shao to see that he really could make the seat-hogger pay, and he was a bit annoyed that Evan had stepped in without asking.
After a few more tries, seeing no one responded, Ben finally had to give up and decided to wait until they reached Tangshan to find a way to save face.
An hour and a half later.
The train arrived at Tangshan Station.
"Once we get off, just follow me. I’m heading to the Shang family anyway, but before that, you and Sisi should come home with me for a bit."
Ben Liang stood up and said to Evan Lin, "It won’t take long, and honestly, if you try to find the Shang family on your own, it’ll probably be a hassle."
Evan Lin had no objections to this.
Not much else to say.
After the Shang family took Old Man Liu and Gavin Duan away in Beijing, if they wanted to return to Tangshan, there’s no way they could take the high-speed rail or a plane.
Snatching people from Beijing First People’s Hospital—Nightstar probably already made a move. If they really tried to take the high-speed rail or a plane, they’d never make it to Tangshan before Nightstar caught them.
So their only option to get back to Tangshan was to drive.
Evan Lin went to the high-speed rail station as soon as he got the news. Cars couldn’t even come close to matching the speed of the train. Even counting the time it took to get to the station and wait for the train, the Shang family members who kidnapped Old Man Liu and Gavin Duan were probably still on the road to Tangshan.
Evan Lin wasn’t in a hurry.
Going to the Shang family was both to vent his anger and to rescue his people.
But since they hadn’t arrived yet, there wasn’t much point in rushing over.
Tangshan Station wasn’t as grand or imposing as Beijing Station.
But there were plenty of people.
Getting off the train, Evan Lin noticed that among the passengers, quite a few carried a martial aura.
They were all martial artists.
"Come on, this way."
Ben Liang took Sisi Shao by the hand, almost as if he was putting on a show for Evan Lin. Back on the train, Ben had sensed that Sisi seemed to have a special attitude toward this young man.
Ben Liang instinctively asserted his relationship with Sisi Shao.
Sisi Shao looked a bit embarrassed, but didn’t refuse.
She’d originally wanted to ask Evan Lin how things were between him and Chen Linyan these days.
In Sisi Shao’s view, Evan had lived at Chen Linyan’s place for quite a while back then, so she figured he must have some feelings for her. And nowadays, Chen Linyan no longer had that spoiled temperament she used to.
But all along the way, with Ben Liang present, Sisi Shao didn’t dare ask.
Ben Liang was Sisi Shao’s classmate, his family was based here in Tangshan, and supposedly was pretty well-off—a big house, a prominent family.
But whether that was true, Sisi Shao didn’t really know.
This trip to Tangshan had a purpose—to see for herself whether Ben Liang’s claims were real.
But she was also worried—what if Ben Liang’s claims turned out to be true, and Evan Lin saw her as a gold digger?
Sisi Shao used to be a bit materialistic, but this time, being with Ben Liang wasn’t really about money.
With a mix of complicated emotions, Sisi Shao followed Ben Liang out of the high-speed rail station.
"Chengbo! Over here!"
Just as they stepped out of the station, a man called out to them from a distance.
Next to him was an Audi A4, and he was waving them over.
"This is my friend, Xiang Bing. He drove over especially to pick us up. Don’t judge his Audi A4 by its looks—it might not seem expensive, but the engine inside is custom, worth over three hundred thousand yuan."
As Ben Liang walked over, he introduced Xiang Bing to Sisi Shao, all the while discreetly watching Evan Lin’s reaction.
But to his disappointment, the kid didn’t seem impressed at all—not by the car, not by the pricey engine. Evan Lin looked as calm as ever, as if nothing could faze him, not even in a hundred years.
"You got back pretty early. I thought you’d be on the next train."
Over there, Xiang Bing patted Ben Liang’s shoulder, then looked Sisi Shao up and down. "Not bad, I knew you had good taste."
He joked, then glanced at Evan Lin, curiosity on his face. "Who’s this?"
"You said you were bringing your girlfriend home to meet the family, but I didn’t hear anything about bringing a guy along too."