Chapter 1029: Chapter 710: Public Display of Affection [13] – Mr. Langley: Going All Out to Slander His Own Wife

"We’ll cross that bridge when we get there." Nora Scott crossed her legs and said carelessly.

It couldn’t possibly end with them on the streets.

Besides, she had connections over there too.

"No need." Pedro Langley hooked his lips, then lifted his eyes to look at Henry Chapman, who was driving. "Chapman, did you add Butler Loxley on WeChat?"

"Yeah."

Henry Chapman handed his phone over.

Butler·Can-Do-Anything·Loxley had added contact info for most of Nora and Pedro’s friends and family so he could reach them whenever needed.

Elbow propped on the window, Nora rested her chin in one hand and asked suspiciously, "What’s up with Butler Loxley?"

"He has an old friend in Meishanel Town."

Nora + Henry Chapman: "..."

Production team: "..."

Live chat: "..."

Pedro sent Butler Loxley a voice message, told him what time they’d arrive in Meishanel Town, then asked him to have someone pick them up.

Butler Loxley agreed very quickly.

That one "Sure" was dripping with the reliable aura of a professional butler.

[F**k, Mr. Langley has hacks too?]

[Butler Loxley really lives up to his name. Ugh, I just can’t bring myself to hate this grandpa.]

[Since Mr. Langley just cued Butler Loxley, let’s plug his Weibo. Cute Loxley’s got over a million followers on Weibo, and his short video account has five million fans already. A legit little internet celeb.]

[emmmm the production team is so noob. Is it really that hard to make Nora and the others crash and burn just once?]

[At this point all we can hope is that Butler Loxley’s old buddy is dirt poor and lives in some run-down little house in an urban village.]

...

Netizens were about to be bullied into tears by Nora and Pedro’s nonstop fancy maneuvers.

The production team also wanted to cry.

Ugh.

Making a show was way too hard.

Running into one BUG-level guest was already way, way too hard.

Running into a BUG-level couple was way, way, WAY too hard.

...

They got on the highway; the drive took a little over an hour.

This should’ve been a super boring stretch of time. After all, even with Heavenly Immortal and Handsome Guy–level looks, staring at them for over an hour would still get old. And compared to trains and long-distance buses, where you can interact with other passengers, a segment with just the guests themselves makes it hard to keep viewers continuously hooked.

Of course, Nora had zero intention of worrying about the viewers.

Because of the pregnancy, she’d been a bit sleepy lately. She got drowsy as soon as she got in the car and ended up sleeping the whole way.

But—

What she didn’t expect was that the viewership didn’t drop; it actually went up.

The reason was that Pedro, bored out of his mind, actually opened the stream on his phone and started interacting with the viewers in text.

And, in his capacity as "Head Anti-Fan," he spared no effort in smearing Nora.

[Live chat]: Mr. Langley, isn’t it exhausting being with Fairy Nora?

[Pedro Langley]: Exhausting.

Onlookers:

[Holy crap, good drama incoming!]

[Told you, Mr. Langley can’t stand your Heavenly Immortal anymore! He just doesn’t dare say it to her face!]

[Heavenly Immortal, wake up! Your green-tea husband is dragging your name through the mud!]

...

[Live chat]: This tea is too good, please elaborate.

[Pedro Langley]: I’m just afraid I’m not doing a good enough job as her bandit bride.

Onlookers:

[???]

[!!!]

[Mr. Langley, if you’ve been kidnapped, blink twice! This is not your true inner voice!]

...

[Live chat]: Why is Fairy Nora so obsessed with the bamboo flute? Are you the one who gave her the confidence that she "plays the bamboo flute really well"?

[Pedro Langley]: She believes hard work can make up for lack of talent.

[Live chat]: ...Doesn’t look that way to us.

[Pedro Langley]: I’ve tried to talk her out of it. Flaws in photography can be fixed with equipment, shortcomings in acting can be fixed with a coach. But the bamboo flute is the one chasm she’ll never cross in this lifetime.

Onlookers:

[Heavenly Immortal, hurry up and smack him!]

[Whoa, Mr. Langley’s tongue is vicious!]

[That’s your Heavenly Immortal wifey! Mr. Langley, when you speak the truth, please be mindful of your personal safety!!]

...

[Live chat]: Mr. Langley, I’m built different. I want to ask about the little bros. Isn’t the relationship between those two "same surname, different parents, totally unrelated" brothers a bit *too* good? Was last week’s livestream really your everyday life?

[Pedro Langley]: Mm.

[Live Room]: I heard Nora Scott in the off-screen audio complaining that Marcus Shaw confiscated her snacks again. Can you go into detail? We’re all super curious.

[Pedro Langley]: Marcus and Nora’s daily battle of wits. Marcus used to be in charge of cooking, and if Nora had snacks she wouldn’t want to eat proper meals, so Marcus was always confiscating her snacks.

Onlookers eating melon:

[??? The Heavenly Immortal loves snacks just like us?!]

[Heavenly Immortal: Me, lofty and above it all, getting dragged straight back down to earth in an instant. Mr. Langley, you’re clearly her anti-fan.]

[Mr. Langley, I’m begging you! Stop exposing Nora already! You’ve completely ruined my Heavenly Immortal’s image!]

[Sob. What kind of divine little brother is Marcus, cool and handsome and even cooks for his big sis. Oh, and he still has to supervise his sis’s snacking... Little bro, I can wait two years, the household registration book is already ready for you!]

...

Because Pedro was replying by typing, he didn’t make a sound the whole time, but he was chatting enthusiastically with the netizens in the live room.

The viewers only hated that this hour or so was too short.

But after this round of operation from Pedro, he also narrowed the distance between them and Nora.

Many of them had been hating on Nora because she was "good at everything"; that kind of "good at everything" felt too much like a fabricated persona, not grounded, so they got suspicious and wanted to dig up flaws on her.

Now Pedro was chatting so "down-to-earth" and didn’t care at all about preserving Nora’s image, saying whatever came to mind, instantly smearing a bit of earthly dust on the Heavenly Immortal.

No matter how capable Nora looked, in daily life she was still just an ordinary person.

—That was the feeling the netizens developed after chatting with Pedro.

However, Nora very quickly shattered that bit of mental adjustment.

"We’re in the city." Henry Chapman got off the highway, glanced back at Nora and Pedro, and asked, "Where to?"

"Hm?"

Nora woke up from her sleep, still not quite fully conscious.

Pedro reported an address.

Henry let out an "oh," pinned the address in the GPS, and followed the navigation route.

[I just searched it, that’s way out from the city center! Hahahahahahahaha!]

[...]

[Local here, just quietly saying: that place is the famous ’Villains Valley’. QAQ What kind of person is Butler Loxley’s cross‑generation friend, is he setting up Mr. Langley and the Heavenly Immortal? Mr. Langley look at me! Don’t go, people die there!!]

[Villains Valley? Fuck, should we call the police in advance?]

...

The netizens were freaking out on their behalf.

However, ever since Nora woke up, Pedro hadn’t looked at the comments again and had already returned the phone to Henry.

He had no idea what the netizens were saying.

Just when the viewers were so anxious they could barely sit still—

"Villains Valley, huh." Nora lazily lifted her eyelids, took the water Pedro handed her and had a sip, raised her brows and asked, "What kind of person is Butler Loxley’s friend?"

The netizens: "..." Heavenly Immortal, why are you so familiar with that place!

"No idea, someone he met back when he came to Xiangel City to learn Hunan cuisine." Pedro froze for a second, then asked, "What’s Villains Valley?"

Nora answered offhandedly, "Nothing, don’t worry about it."

Just a bunch of small fry.

Villains Valley, Villains Street.

Sounds pretty intimidating, and locally it has a fair amount of "notoriety." In reality it’s just a gathering place for people from the Martial World; because it’s a mix of all walks of life, it had a bit of a bad reputation in the early years, but it actually hides a bunch of reclusive masters. These days it’s been cleaned up for the most part; what they do is legal business, legitimate trades.

"Oh."

Pedro didn’t think much of it.

[Just a moment ago I thought Nora was just like us, an ordinary person. Why do I suddenly feel...]

[What’s with this Martial World vibe coming off Nora, is it just me?]

[She does not seem simple at all. TOT I only wanted to watch a bit of the stream, now I’m clutching my phone and won’t let go.]

...

Half an hour later.

Henry drove the car onto a street.

The moment they entered, the street that had looked ordinary suddenly turned eerie.

The shops lining the street looked like wholesale places, hardly any customers, desolate and remote, only three or five passersby. But the shop owners or employees all noticed their car the very first moment it appeared—

This off-road vehicle was just too flashy, and it had been modified: aside from performance, the exterior alone exuded wildness.

Extremely eye‑catching.

But—

Those gazes weren’t amazed or envious, but the wariness, scrutiny, and vigilance after spotting an unfamiliar vehicle.

Imagine driving a car down a street and being stared at the whole way by everyone along the sides... That feeling was something the cameraman in the passenger seat would never forget.

Scared the piss out of him.

Only someone with Henry’s kind of mental fortitude could keep driving calmly after noticing something was off.

Under the director’s remote instructions, the cameraman, hands trembling, pointed the camera toward the window.

Then—

A person was suddenly thrown over, slamming into the car window with a bang, blocking the lens.

The netizens: "..." God knows what we just saw.