Volume 14
Chapter 10: Your Night Sky, and Mine
Hearing Zhu Xi’s solemn words, a trace of guilt rose in Lu Li’s heart, and he no longer had the mind to tease her. “I mean… Chu Xiaodong has agreed to cooperate!” He heard Zhu Xi let out a sharp breath. “Scumbag man! Can’t you just finish a sentence in one go!” After that, she asked again, “He agreed so easily? Did he… ask you to do anything?”
Zhu Xi’s question carried a hint of apprehension. She herself didn’t know what she was afraid of, or whether she was afraid for Zhu Qiao or for herself.
Lu Li thought about the three requests Chu Xiaodong had made. They were all aimed at him personally. As for the Yan family, there were no extra requests. “Just a few small requests, but they won’t affect you all…”
The words “you all” made Zhu Xi feel uncomfortable. She wanted to grab the scumbag man and pin him down, make him stop using the pronoun “you all.” He was already engaged to Little Qiao; they were all family. He should be using “we.” Suddenly, Zhu Xi jolted. She gently slapped her own cheek, surprised at herself for being so insecure, like a little girl.
“You’ve won back that little girl from the Chu family?” she regretted asking this question the moment she said it. She felt she didn’t want to hear Lu Li’s answer. She knew Lu Li quite well now and naturally knew the place Chu Jingyi held in his heart. She also knew that Lu Li had initially approached her only for Chu Jingyi. This thought had been dismissed by her with contempt before, but now that she picked it up again, there was a sourness in her heart that even she found hard to believe.
Lu Li’s voice was full of joy. “Yes! Thank you for your help! Chu Xiaodong has also agreed! But I’ll probably have to stay at the Chu family’s for a few days to finalize the cooperation matters before I can go back.”
“You’re not coming back tonight?”
“I’m not coming back tonight. After everything is settled, we’ll go back and have a celebration banquet.”
“Oh. Then you get busy.” Zhu Xi hung up the phone with a calm face and turned to see Little Qiao rubbing her stomach.
“Sister Xi, I’m hungry. When is gege coming? Do we still have to wait for him to eat together?” Little Qiao lifted her shirt, revealing her fair and tender belly, her small hands kneading it.
“Your man is spending the night at another woman’s house.” Zhu Xi’s words carried a hint of resentment. “We don’t have to wait for him. We’ve waited for so long for nothing!”
Zhu Qiao said, “Oh,” without a clear concept of the matter. “Are you angry, Sister Xi?”
“I’m not angry! What am I angry about?! You’re his fiancée. You’re the one who should be angry!”
“You’re definitely angry, Sister Xi.”
“Don’t you dare say I’m angry!”
“Oh~”
Zhu Xi felt that for the first time in her life, she was being teased by Little Qiao. This girl had been with Lu Li for too long and had also learned his bad habits. She turned her head to look at the Chu family mansion not far away, dazed for a while, before telling the driver to take them to the nearest restaurant.
She didn’t care if Lu Li fooled around with those other girls. Wen Hupo had been kind to her and Little Qiao. An Baili and Chen Jianing were just little country bumpkins in Zhu Xi’s eyes. Zou Yameng was a special case for Lu Li. Only Chu Jingyi was different. In Zhu Xi’s heart, Chu Jingyi, in terms of family background, was more like the behind-the-scenes princess of Shenzhou, a perfect version of her—gentler than her, more generous than her, more frank than her, and had even met Lu Li earlier than her. The thought of Lu Li being all lovey-dovey with that little girl from the Chu family now was like someone squeezing her heart. She wished she could fly over and snatch that scumbag man away, to lock him up in the Yan family forever.
If I had known, I wouldn’t have waited for him to eat together… This was the first time Zhu Xi had ever waited for someone to eat together…
…
Zhu Xi had guessed right. Lu Li, now relieved of a great burden, was walking hand-in-hand with his Yibao, stopping here and there in the Chu residence. The little girl carefully took him to meet the elders in the family and even had a few little boys and girls call him “Uncle Lu.” This girl was now genuinely thinking for Lu Li. Lu Li told her some of the stories that had happened since she had left without a word. The Silly Goose listened attentively, her little head unable to resist leaning against his chest, greedily sniffing his scent.
Lu Li thought she was extremely cute. He had an impatient thought of eating her up. Perhaps this girl wouldn’t resist… The two of them spent a sweet afternoon at the Chu family’s. Chu Xiaodong didn’t look for him. At dinner, this father-in-law was also nowhere to be seen. The old butler said he had gone to work. Only then did Lu Li realize that this Grand Secretary had pushed aside his cabinet work to meet him, which showed how much importance he placed on the matter of Lu Li and Chu Jingyi.
With his father-in-law away, wasn’t there no one in this house who would manage him and Yibao? The moment this thought appeared in the lecherous Lu Li’s mind, it could no longer be suppressed. The Chu family’s upbringing was relatively strict. After dinner, Yibao went back to her room to watch TV, and a whole team of female guards separated Lu Li from her. But as the saying goes, food and sex are part of human nature. Spurred on by his primitive impulse, Lu Li, after nightfall, stealthily climbed onto the roof, wanting to play the part of a flying thief and sneak into Yibao’s room.
He felt the time they had spent together during the day was too short and wanted to spend more time with his Silly Goose. What kind of rule was it that you couldn’t go out after seven or eight at night? Don’t university students these days only start their nightlife after ten?
Perhaps it was Lu Li’s superb skills, or perhaps the female guards were just pretending not to see him. In any case, Lu Li really did make it to the balcony of the second floor where Jingyi was. Fortunately, the small detached building where Jingyi lived wasn’t very tall, so Lu Li dared to climb the wall—he had been very naughty as a child, and climbing trees and flipping over walls were nothing to him. It was only after he entered Chuanhai No. 1 High School that he gradually settled down.
He gently tapped on the glass door. The Silly Goose, who had just finished her shower and was wearing pajamas, was startled at first when she saw him, but then a smile bloomed on her face, and she quickly pulled open the glass door for him. “Lu Li~ what are you doing here~” When a girl is in front of the man she loves, her speech always becomes a little sweet and a little silly. Lu Li’s heart trembled. He hugged her and lifted her off the ground. “Of course, to keep you company.”
Chu Jingyi had just finished her shower and had a pleasant scent about her. Plus, her pajamas were thin, and holding her in his arms, he could almost easily touch the young girl’s skin. Her cheeks were slightly red. “You-you can’t come at night.” Lu Li remembered the days in high school when she would stand with her hands on her hips, scolding her classmates. He said with a grin, “You used to have more presence than this.” “It’s all your fault…”
Lu Li carried her into the young girl’s boudoir. Before he could even look at the room’s arrangement, he tossed Yibao onto the soft, big bed, hearing the young girl let out a soft cry. She grabbed the blanket and covered herself. “Lu Li, we-we can’t do that kind of thing yet… or my family will be angry… After I go home with you, I’ll give it to you then, okay?” Delicate and weak, yet always with her own opinions, she was still the class president from his memory. Back when they were dating, it was she who had instructed him that everything should be centered around their studies. In truth, she didn’t need to care about her studies at all; she was just helping Lu Li.
Doing that thing now would be a bit of a mood killer. Lu Li also slid into the blanket and hugged the Silly Goose. “I’ll just hold you, just like that time during the Winter Camp.”
The Silly Goose pouted with childlike innocence, “You still say that… you weren’t well-behaved that time either…”
Lu Li’s hand slipped into the little girl’s pajamas. “I’ll definitely be well-behaved this time.”
“Lu Li, do you see the stars?”
“See what apes? Chimpanzees?”
“Idiot.” The Silly Goose giggled. She pressed a switch by the bed, and the ceiling slowly became transparent, revealing the dark blue canopy of the sky and the brilliant, countless stars. The night was vast, and for a moment, even the sound of the wind in the distance was swallowed by the wider moonlit night.
