"So why did you decide to improve later? Was it because of Wen Qianyi?" Yurong couldn’t help but ask.

Li Yan noticed her reaction and replied deliberately, "Well... it’s obvious."

"What’s obvious?" Yurong pursued.

"Firstly, of course, it’s because of Qianyi. Working with a pretty female boss makes you feel embarrassed to be too lazy, at least you shouldn’t drag her down. Secondly, someone gradually started to value me, neither ignoring me at home nor at the company, so I have to work for her, right?" Li Yan looked directly at her.

Hearing Li Yan say that Wen Qianyi was a reason, but even more because of her, Yurong felt joy in her heart. She turned her head a bit shyly and asked in a low voice, "Who is ’someone’?"

"Someone... of course it’s my dear old—" Li Yan deliberately elongated his voice, then quickly said, "—father-in-law!"

"You..." Yurong found it both funny and exasperating, this guy actually pushed it onto her dad, clearly doing it to annoy her!

"Isn’t it so? The old man has always valued me; he’s the one who discovered this thousand-mile horse, me."

"Yes, yes, yes, everyone values you, only I always say you’re useless and not motivated! It’s my fault. Are you satisfied now? Lord Li Yan!" Yurong jokingly agreed, not really upset by his teasing.

"Satisfied! Being called ’Lord’ is so enchanting, it makes my bones brittle!" Li Yan grinned and lowered his voice, "If you say ’Are you satisfied, hubby—’ I would be even more satisfied!"

Yurong gently kicked him without a sound.

Li Yan wasn’t excessive, nor did he cross any lines. Although with their current level of affection, hugging or kissing wouldn’t be a problem. But after all, they weren’t at home, company colleagues could come up at any time, or someone might be using binoculars to look from a corner below. Talking or chatting was fine, as every male colleague wanted to talk to Yurong; they just lacked the courage. But excessive physical closeness would be explosive news.

...

Seeing Li Yan continuously smoking, although the wind prevented the smoke from suffocating her, Yurong still said with concern, "You should quit smoking! Smoking too much is bad for your health. Last time your two female classmates mentioned that you were quite the refined student in high school, when did you start smoking so heavily?"

High school? High school time was oceans away from the drastic social changes now! Li Yan learned to smoke naturally because of connections with the assassins. When life becomes more uncertain than that of ordinary people, who worries about their health decades later?

He chuckled without saying much. "Heh... got used to it."

"Habits can also be changed. My dad quit smoking, didn’t he?" Yurong advised softly, using a practical example.

Li Yan felt amused and annoyed; the old father-in-law is different from me! He was Tian Boguang giving up worldly desires — impossible not to quit; now that his health is better, isn’t he craving for it?

"Yurong, do you know which political leader hated smoking the most and first promoted the anti-smoking movement?"

Yurong thought for a moment.

"It was Roldier."

"Huh?"

"In the late 1930s, the Luo Country government first banned smoking in public places and on transportation, then prohibited air force members and pregnant women from smoking. Later, they imposed punitive tobacco taxes and placed strict bans on Gelin citizens smoking outdoors. You must know that in the 19th century, Gelin had a revolution, overthrowing the ruling regime, partly due to the tyrannical government depriving citizens of the freedom to smoke publicly."

"Really?" Yurong stared wide-eyed; although she was a genius in her studies, she hadn’t read such material.

"Of course, Roldier had immense charm and controlled the national media and communication channels, so the anti-smoking campaign was quite successful. The main reason the Rodi Party opposed smoking was that Roldier personally hated smoking. But do you know why Roldier hated smoking so much?"

"No idea." Yurong felt he was making up some baseless stories again.

"When Roldier was young, he studied art in Anglert. Back then, the literary circle was enveloped in smoke; whether the decadent Anglert painting style or the minimalist rational new design trend, everyone had a cigarette. Unfortunately, Roldier was too poor to afford smoking, couldn’t keep up with the trend, and was very frustrated. Once he finally got a cigarette, he couldn’t resist and smoked it at school where it was prohibited. As a result, he got caught and punished. Since then, Roldier completely gave up on cigarettes and later always opposed others smoking."

Yurong felt a mix of exasperation and amusement; this guy actually concocted a tragic story of wounded pride, unable to play the desired trendy item, and if he did it occasionally, it ended up being a disaster. Thus, he flipped into hatred from love... This happening to Roldier is too incredible, isn’t it?

"But of course such stories can’t be taken out to publicly justify anti-smoking, so the Rodi Party had to launch propaganda, prompting scholars and experts to come up with plausible explanations. Thus, scholars researched and proved the link between smoking and lung cancer, scientifically explaining that smoking is harmful to health for the first time."

"..." Yurong felt a bit confused.

Li Yan laughed, "You must think I’ve made this up, but actually I read it in a book. There’s also an interesting historical explanation, saying that the outcome of the world war on the Celestial Continent battlefield was essentially a bunch of unhealthy people beating a very healthy one."

"What does that have to do?" Yurong couldn’t hold back.

"Haha, it may be sarcasm, but it’s said that smoking indirectly affected wartime affairs. Cigarettes were essential for the S army during wartime; typically, allied forces received five to seven packs weekly, the S army even more, while the R army counted by the stick, and buying them incurred higher taxes.

Imagine, on a battlefield with constant artillery, soldiers facing unpredictable life and death; today’s living brother might turn into a corpse or a cripple tomorrow, and one himself might meet King Yama next. If science research proves smoking is bad for health, increases the risk of lung cancer at this time, isn’t it a joke?

In such tense wartime, under bullet-riddled conditions. Everyone was under great pressure, without women, without entertainment; alcohol was harder to get than cigarettes, and the only thing that could soothe nerves, temporarily forget the harsh reality, the easiest to obtain, was a cigarette."

Listening to Li Yan’s words, Yurong felt moved and a bit worried, couldn’t help but ask, "But what does this have to do with you? You are living in peacetime, you don’t need to go to the battlefield, or do you have great pressure? Or have you had great pressure before? Could you tell me what kind of situation it was?"

Li Yan felt a slight surprise, originally just joking about quitting smoking, but unexpectedly talking about wartime soldiers smoking brought some emotion, which Yurong noticed. He understood people’s reverse psychology: the more you avoid, the more suspicious people become, and conversely, revealing things might make people lose interest.

"Haha, did you see through me? Actually, I used to be a mercenary for a while, with a group called Tiger Fang in Cannila, Sussli fighting against the S army; in Ennigo fighting pirates; many places, like Man Country, Kosovo, Licala, I’ve been to."

"Wow! That’s impressive. You must also know Ivala, right?"

"Eh! That name seems familiar, as if I know it."

"..." Yurong was rendered speechless by his boasting, naturally dispelling the previous doubt.

Seeing she was distracted, Li Yan again lowered his voice and laughed, "I heard smoking is bad for genetic inheritance, so if someone wants to have a child for me, this is a reason to quit smoking that I’ll definitely follow!"

"..." (To be continued, for more updates, please visit www.qidian.com, more Chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)