The moment the girl called Gardenia spoke, nearly the entire class’s attention focused on Lu Liangting. It was as if they were meeting him for the first time. The words “black stockings” lingered in their minds, unable to dissipate for a long while.
Some veteran driver male classmates silently gave a thumbs-up in their hearts, exclaiming that Young Master Lu truly knew how to play.
Aside from that—
So jealous, I’m so jealous!
Gardenia’s looks were completely on point, especially her aloof, icy mountain-like aura, which elevated her overall score by at least three or four points on a ten-point scale, making her utterly irresistible.
And yet, with such a cool aura, looking at Lu Liangting with such cold eyes, she dropped a line so contrasting: “Young Master, I’m wearing your favorite black stockings.” Who could possibly withstand that!
Lu Liangting was just a high school boy, and so were the other students. They had never witnessed Gardenia being so direct.
Of course, Lu Liangting was all too familiar with Gardenia. With this girl, who was two years older than him, he truly had no way to deal with her. At home, she was actually a bit better, but at school and outside, she was a completely different person.
She often did these kinds of incomprehensible things, making him lose face.
As for the black stockings…
He genuinely did not like them!
Nothing like that had ever happened!
“Gardenia, I’ve told you before…”
“Young Master, you did indeed tell me not to expose your preferences in front of outsiders. I just felt that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary, it’s completely normal. It at least proves that you are a man with normal sexual orientation.”
Gardenia took half a step forward. Under her black and white lace-trimmed short skirt, she was indeed wearing black stockings. As she said these words, there was not a shred of expression on her face, and even her tone was this calm and serious.
Taking the packed lunch box from Gardenia’s hands, Lu Liangting didn’t know what to say for a good while.
“Gardenia, where is your sister?”
“Rose is at the back. She had to stop along the way to buy something for the Young Miss.”
Rose, Gardenia’s twin sister. Her personality was completely different from Gardenia’s. She was a gentle girl-next-door type, very good at considering the feelings of others. It was precisely why Lu Liangting so deeply wished Rose had been the one to deliver his food, not Gardenia.
He had even hinted to Rose in the morning, but who knew she’d have something come up midway.
“Alright, go back now. Be careful on the road.”
“Thank you for your concern, Young Master. I will be careful.” Gardenia bowed slightly. “Oh, right, Young Master. Sister told me to tell you to be careful of all women who try to get close to you, or you might die.”
“I’ll be going now. Please take care of your health, Young Master.”
As she straightened up, Gardenia stood at the classroom door and deliberately looked inside, her gaze precisely in Zhao Mingyue’s direction.
Gardenia gave Zhao Mingyue a deep look before turning to leave. Her every move was extremely graceful and proper. She possessed everything a perfect maid should have.
Gardenia walked all the way out of the school gate. Along the way, she made quite a few young men turn their heads back repeatedly. One bolder one even took the initiative to ask for her contact information, only to be scared off by her gaze.
Outside the school gate, Rose was already waiting.
Her appearance was almost identical to Gardenia’s, and her attire was eighty percent similar as well. The same black dress, black stockings, and long boots.
The difference was that Gardenia had a high ponytail, while Rose had her hair in a scorpion tail braid.
“I told you, Gardenia, don’t go near Zhao Mingyue. She is the female lead. I know you want to kill her, but you must act within your limits and learn to retreat in the face of difficulty.” Rose’s willow-like brows were tightly furrowed. Her amber eyes stared into Gardenia’s calm, unruffled eyes.
“Sigh. I’ve been telling you all along, and you wouldn’t listen to me. Now that you’ve seen it with your own eyes, you should believe me.”
“I told you long ago, there’s a very terrifying monster by Zhao Mingyue’s side.”
“It’s a monster that the two of us combined wouldn’t have even a sliver of hope of dealing with.”
Gardenia didn’t reply but walked outwards. On the way back, only when they reached a deserted path did she speak.
“Sister, we have no other choice. The game officially began a few days ago. Us arriving in this world early was to give us, the weak, an advantage. You know this.”
“We only survive and leave this place if we make Lu Liangting fall in love with us. Haven’t you always wanted to revive Mother? This is the only chance. This is also our final trial.”
Rose’s hands suddenly placed themselves on Gardenia’s shoulders. Gardenia turned around and met her gaze.
“Gardenia, the fact that we’ve made it this far is only because our luck was slightly better than others’. And luck will never favor only one person forever. One day, luck will leave us.”
“Of course, I want to revive Mother, and of course, I know this is the final trial. Like I just said, it’s precisely because of this that we should be more steady. Don’t provoke that monster!”
“Big Sister, after all these years, you’re still so weak.” Gardenia’s red lips parted slightly.
“Weak? What if I told you that the monster beside Zhao Mingyue is ‘The Doctor’?”
At Rose’s words, Gardenia’s pupils constricted slightly. “Is… is it her?”
“It can only be her. I’m eighty percent certain!”
Rose smiled bitterly. She and Gardenia possessed luck and prophecy-type abilities. It was precisely because of this that she could roughly guess who the one beside Zhao Mingyue was.
So she was afraid, deeply afraid.
Back then, she and Gardenia had nearly died at that person’s hands. Both her legs had been cut off, and Gardenia had also lost an arm.
At that time, she had been certain they were dead. She never expected The Doctor to let them go.
She truly never imagined that the notoriously infamous Doctor would let them go.
“…”
“Gardenia, I’m the person who understands you best in this world. Beyond the matter of The Doctor, I want to tell you one more thing.”
“Making Lu Liangting fall in love with us is our task. But you must forever remember your own identity. Don’t pour your feelings into anyone in this world. You will die.”
Gardenia remained silent for a long time.
“I understand, Big Sister. I won’t go looking for trouble with Zhao Mingyue. In any case, Lu Liangting won’t fall in love with her either. The game has only just started. It’s impossible for him to waver in his feelings this early, isn’t it.”
・
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“Here, take this and eat it. Same as usual, I prepared it for you.”
On the way back after school, Lu Liangting handed the lunch box Gardenia had given him to Zhao Mingyue.
He knew Zhao Mingyue worked at a convenience store, even during her lunch break. She basically had no time for a proper lunch. Her only lunch option was instant noodles, day in and day out.
A while ago, he had also worked there and knew the situation, so he prepared this today.
“Ah, thanks.” Zhao Mingyue was used to it and accepted it readily. “Oh right, aren’t you not working there anymore? Why are you still walking this way?”
“It’s on the way. I also wanted to visit Sunshine Apartment. I want to see her one more time.” Lu Liangting was quite candid, even smiling slightly.
“You really are persistent…”
Lu Liangting smiled but said nothing. Neither he nor Zhao Mingyue noticed the pair of eyes watching them from behind.
Li Nan had his hands in his pockets. Inside, he was viciously crumpling the love letter into a tight ball.
On his back, a black shadow slowly writhed.
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