Volume 10: Pro and Con
Chapter 22: The Scumbag Man
Zhu Xi was not surprised by Lu Li’s answer. She sat down on the stone pier next to him, her long legs crossed. “It’s rare to see the playboy without a woman by his side. How does it feel to be looked down upon by the Chu family?”
There was a sting in Zhu Xi’s words that Lu Li didn’t find very comfortable. “My relationship with the Chu family is none of your concern. As for you, didn’t we agree to cut off all contact? Why are you chasing after a commoner like me to strike up a conversation? I’m very busy, you know.”
He looked down at Zhu Xi’s full chest and said with ill intent, “Are you hiding a gun? Are you going to shoot me again?”
Zhu Xi ignored his deliberately lewd gaze, took out a lady’s cigarette from somewhere—thin and long—and lit it, a scent of bamboo filling the air. It was only then that Lu Li knew Zhu Xi actually smoked. He pouted and turned his head away, no longer looking at her.
“What, you don’t like to see women smoke?” Zhu Xi snapped the lighter shut. Her long, upturned eyes became even more hazy in the swirling smoke.
“Smoke if you want to smoke,” Lu Li said.
“You, with the surname Lu—no, Lu Li, if you’re still hung up on that shooting incident, I apologize.” Zhu Xi wasn’t here to deliberately provoke Lu Li; she also appropriately lowered her stance.
Lu Li’s ears perked up. “Did I hear you right? A gunshot to my heart, and you think a perfunctory apology will settle it? Why don’t you go apologize to my corpse?”
Zhu Xi flicked the ash from her cigarette. Lu Li noticed there were many small scars on her hands. Zhu Xi had a good bone structure in her hands, with slender fingers and flat knuckles, but the faint, old scars on her skin ruined the beauty of her hands.
As if sensing Lu Li’s gaze, Zhu Xi pretended to casually turn her hand over, palm up, hiding the back of her hand. “I never ordered anyone to kill you, nor do I have any reason to harm you. I’m apologizing to you just to make you feel better. If you want to get angry, you shouldn’t direct it at me. Venting your anger on the innocent is what cowards do.”
Lu Li hadn’t expected the Zhu Xi from his past life, who would kill without batting an eye, to be able to say such a thing. He snorted and said no more.
Zhu Xi looked around. There were quite a few students passing by. She decided to change locations. “Lu Li, let’s go sing. There are too many people and prying eyes here. Some things are not convenient for me to say.”
“No.” Lu Li was also throwing a tantrum. Why should he listen to this woman, Zhu Xi?
“I’ll help you win back Chu Jingyi.”
Lu Li stood up. “Let’s go.”
As the two of them walked out of the school side by side, a petite figure also froze in place, stood for a long time, and then turned and left dejectedly.
…
Zhu Xi booked a KTV room, turned up the volume of the music, and also instructed the waiter not to disturb them. After she had made all the arrangements, she turned around to find Lu Li sitting on the sofa, cracking sunflower seeds one after another. His carefree demeanor seemed deliberately designed to annoy her. Zhu Xi pursed her lips and sat down opposite Lu Li, her face also full of disdain.
In short, these two just couldn’t see eye to eye.
Zhu Xi was still mulling over her words when Lu Li, over there, had already finished the sunflower seeds and started peeling an orange. She was a little annoyed. “Can you be more serious?”
“Who knows, you might pull out a gun and blow my brains out later. I might as well eat more fruits and snacks while I’m still alive,” Lu Li said deliberately.
“How can a grown man be so petty?” Zhu Xi felt she could slightly understand Wen Hupo’s mood back then. How could this man be so thick-skinned?
“Oh.” Lu Li sucked in a sharp breath. “This orange isn’t even ripe. It’s so sour it makes my teeth ache… Hiss, I’ll leave it for you to eat.”
Looking at the peeled orange Lu Li handed over, Zhu Xi’s face was a mixture of anger and amusement. She knew Lu Li was deliberately making fun of her. She took a deep breath. “Lu Li, you help me save someone, and I’ll help you win over the Chu family. How about it?”
“Save someone?” Lu Li raised an eyebrow slightly. “How can I save them? How can I save someone that you, Zhu Xi, can’t save?”
“You don’t need to go and save them personally. You just need to cooperate with me when the time comes.”
“Why me?”
“Because I trust you.” Zhu Xi’s words made Lu Li laugh. Lu Li shook his head nonstop. “You’re making my stomach hurt from laughing. Zhu Xi, you’re also coming of age this year, right? You’re an adult. Ask yourself, do you think I would believe you?”
“Shanzhu Village has indeed disappeared. Besides a few people, no one remembers its existence anymore.” Zhu Xi said grimly. “Lu Li, although I don’t believe in ghosts and spirits, I have to admit that some incomprehensible things are happening in this world. Be it you… or Qiao. I believe there is something special about you both. This is the reason I chose you as an ally. Besides, Lu Li, your clean family background is actually more suitable as my support.”
Lu Li fell silent. The matter of Shanzhu Village had always been a puzzle in his heart. He believed that the disappearance of Shanzhu Village was not without reason.
“Did you dig up that crystal from the village back then?” Lu Li asked.
“…Yes.” Zhu Xi nodded heavily.
“And where did you send it?”
“To the Zhu Family Ancestral Hall.”
“What is the Zhu Family Ancestral Hall?” Lu Li had never heard of this place.
“A branch of the Zhu family, split off from the line of the eldest princess, specializing in shamanistic rituals,” Zhu Xi said concisely. “Is this related?”
Lu Li shot her a disdainful glance. “It’s very likely that your action caused the disappearance of Shanzhu Village. Do you think it’s related or not?”
Zhu Xi opened her mouth, wanting to say that perhaps it was because the Colored Stones had been gathered, but in the end, she still didn’t tell Lu Li this key piece of information. But why would the gathering of the Colored Stones cause Shanzhu Village to disappear? Was it some kind of Price?
“…Lu Li, in my position, there are very few people I can trust. Even for me to talk to you, I have to bypass many watchful eyes.” Zhu Xi split the sour orange on the table into two equal halves, giving one half to Lu Li and keeping the other for herself. “You help me, and I’ll help you in the name of the Shenzhou Energy Group. How about it? It’s impossible for you to catch up to the powerful clans just by relying on your own struggle. This might be your only chance to overtake them on the curve.”
Lu Li flipped the orange over. “Don’t try to fool me. The Shenzhou Energy Group can barely protect itself. To what extent can you help me? You’re not going to give me the entire Shenzhou Energy, are you?”
If Zhu Xi could really decide to give him the entire Shenzhou Energy Group, then marrying the Silly Goose might no longer be a bold statement of “don’t bully a young man for being poor.”
Zhu Xi returned a disdainful look. “The sole heir of Shenzhou Energy is me. If you become the imperial son-in-law and then outlive me, only then might you have a chance to own the Shenzhou Energy Group.”
Lu Li remembered the miserable deaths of the prospective imperial sons-in-law from his past life and shivered. “Then forget it. I don’t think I want to make a deal with you.”
After speaking, he stood up. He had eaten his fill and it was time to leave.
“You won’t reconsider?” Zhu Xi frowned, rarely taking the initiative to persuade someone. She was still young, after all, and didn’t know that this sentence had allowed Lu Li to grasp her bottom line. Lu Li knew that it wasn’t him who was anxious now, but Zhu Xi. So he walked out even more nonchalantly.
“No reconsideration. Your Royal Highness, please take care of yourself.”
After Lu Li left, Zhu Xi let out a “tch,” picked up the half-orange on the table, took a bite of a segment, and grimaced from the sourness.
Scumbag man…
