When they had originally planned to take Lu Jiaheng out, after he said that, Cheng Yi immediately canceled everything else and sent everyone away, finally choosing his family’s seafood restaurant instead. It was dazzlingly golden and magnificent – suitable for hosting Austrian royalty.
When Lu Jiaheng and Chu Zhi arrived, the private room door wasn’t closed yet. Walking down the corridor, they could hear clattering sounds accompanied by alternating roars.
As the two walked over, the waiter pushed open the slightly ajar door. The moment Lu Jiaheng entered, the entire room fell silent.
In the spacious private room, Cheng Yi sat at one end and Lin Baiyang at the other. Besides these two, there wasn’t a third person in the room.
At this moment, each of them was holding a chopstick, glaring at each other across the large table. The aroma of food wafted through the air, the atmosphere was tense, and the battle seemed about to break out at any moment.
Chu Zhi didn’t understand how, with just two people, this meal had already taken on a chaotic feel.
She stood a bit behind, poking her head out: “Long time no see?”
Cheng Yi immediately stood up, his fierce expression transforming into overflowing enthusiasm. He looked like he wanted to rush over and waltz with Chu Zhi. He grinned: “Long time no see, long time no see, little junior. May you have children soon and live happily ever after.”
Chu Zhi: “…”
Lin Baiyang let out a cold laugh, put down his chopsticks, casually picked up a crab, and with a “crack,” cleanly broke off the crab’s pincers: “Idiot.”
For some reason, Cheng Yi was suddenly in a great mood, appearing magnanimous and above petty squabbles. He smiled at Chu Zhi: “Junior, do you like seafood?”
Chu Zhi wasn’t picky with food, eating basically everything except for a few vegetables. Plus, she grew up in the south by the sea, so she quite liked seafood.
It happened that Cheng Yi’s family was in the restaurant business, so the two chatted happily, though it was mainly Cheng Yi talking while Chu Zhi just listened, ate, and played along.
Cheng Yi had grown up in the same sandbox as Lu Jiaheng, so he naturally thought Lu Jiaheng’s previous “my wife” comment was just boasting. Now seeing their reaction, he was even more certain, so he didn’t say anything inappropriate and properly worked on building up Lu Jiaheng’s image.
—”Our Ah Heng also loves seafood! When he was little, he often came to mooch food at our hotel.”
—”Lu Jiaheng is incredibly skilled at eating crab, those legs, he can peel them like a machine. One time he ate a whole table of crabs by himself and ended up in the hospital with an upset stomach.”
—”Don’t look at how he is now, when he was young he was a lively and likeable boy. From the lobby to the kitchen, there wasn’t a single young lady who didn’t like him.”
Chu Zhi listened with great interest and agreed: “Even now, there isn’t a young lady who doesn’t like him.”
Cheng Yi said meaningfully: “Young ladies are useless though, he doesn’t like young ladies.”
Lu Jiaheng coldly glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
Chu Zhi’s eyes widened.
Lu Jiaheng now had some understanding of how her mind worked. He very calmly and naturally put the half-peeled crab onto her plate and said carelessly: “I don’t like young men either.”
Chu Zhi licked her lips, her expression looking quite regretful: “Oh…”
As the weather grew colder, on the first night of December, the first snow of this winter fell.
It was said that people from the south basically never see snow that doesn’t melt when it hits the ground. They get excited to the point of screaming when they see snow, and their biggest hope for winter is to have a snowfall that lets people walk through it, making that crunching sound when shoes step on it.
Lin Tong was no exception. Early in the morning, she excitedly rushed out of the dorm, vowing to have a romantic encounter with her college first love in the snow. However, after less than ten minutes, she came back with a red nose, shivering from the cold.
Chu Zhi sat cross-legged in her chair, holding a script in her hands. She was still deeply immersed in her role as an innkeeper, speaking in a lyrical tone: “Oh, Tong Tong! It’s cold outside, isn’t it!”
Lin Tong rubbed her hands and came over to look at her script, happened to catch two lines, and widened her eyes: “What’s this?”
“Drama club script,” Chu Zhi answered honestly.
“I know it’s a script, but—” Lin Tong pointed at the words on it, “you have to fall into his arms? What is this thing? Knight?”
“No, I fall onto the bed, and he picks me up,” Chu Zhi seriously corrected her.
Lin Tong nearly spat blood: “You have to fall onto a bed??”
Chu Zhi patiently explained: “Yes, because I need to seduce the knight, but not that kind of seduction, it’s very pure, very artistic seduction.”
Lin Tong suddenly went quiet: “Who’s playing the knight?”
Chu Zhi: “Huh?”
“The knight, who’s playing it?”
“A senior,” Chu Zhi thought for a moment, then added, “but he’s younger than me, he started university at fifteen.”
Gu Han, who had been painting her nails, excitedly let out a “wow”: “A genius! I like this character setting.”
Lin Tong suddenly slapped her, causing the bright red nail polish to go beyond her nail. Gu Han let out a cry of pain and quickly changed her tune: “This character setting isn’t that great at all!”
Chu Zhi: “…”
The school anniversary celebration was on Friday, and conveniently ended before the weekend holiday. The entire week, Chu Zhi seemed truly possessed by the innkeeper’s spirit, speaking in a lyrical tone.
Gu Han was also enthusiastically wanting to paint her nails red, saying it would make her look more like an innkeeper.
Several of them went to class, with Gu Han bringing nail polish. She pulled Chu Zhi to sit in the back corner of the classroom, taking out a red bottle and a royal blue one: “Which do you like?”
Class monitor Xue Niannan usually sat in the first row. At this time, only the three of them were in the back, with Lin Tong sitting in the outermost seat, playing with her phone since they were in the dorm.
Chu Zhi thought for a moment: “Wouldn’t red look more like an innkeeper?”
“A mahjong parlor owner?” Gu Han said while taking out the red bottle and opening it.
The nail polish smell was a bit sharp, but since they were sitting in the last row, it wouldn’t reach the teacher in front. Chu Zhi took out her script to continue memorizing lines while Gu Han pulled her hand in front of herself.
The nail polish was cool, and as soon as it touched her nail, Chu Zhi couldn’t help but pull back: “Ah, it’s cold.”
“Don’t move, it won’t look good if it smears.”
“It’s so cold.”
“How about I paint a flower for you? I’m good at drawing.”
The two buried their heads together, focusing intently. After finishing one hand, Chu Zhi carefully held it away, looking down while watching Gu Han paint the other one. She pulled back the finished hand and started fanning it on the side.
After just a couple of fans, her wrist was suddenly grabbed.
Chu Zhi was startled, her first thought being that the teacher had come. She reflexively pulled back, quickly raising her head to look.
Lu Jiaheng had somehow sat down in the empty seat beside her, holding her wrist with one hand, his body turned sideways.
They didn’t know when he had slipped in – Chu Zhi and Gu Han were too absorbed in what they were doing and hadn’t noticed someone sitting beside them. Chu Zhi looked surprised: “Senior?”
Lu Jiaheng looked up.
Her wrist was held by him, the red nail polish on her hand not yet dry. The bright red stood out starkly against her white skin, slightly raised up as if she was raising her hand in class.
Just as Chu Zhi was about to ask why he was here, the elective course teacher’s smiling voice rang out from the front: “That female student, yes, you.”
Suddenly, all eyes in the classroom turned toward Chu Zhi and the others.
Lu Jiaheng released her hand like lightning, shrinking back against the wall, his head quickly pressing against the desk, hiding behind the person in front, starting to play invisible.
Chu Zhi turned her head blankly, not having reacted yet.
The professor continued smiling: “Ah, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen such an enthusiastic student willing to answer questions, how delightful.”
Chu Zhi was still out of it, standing up stiffly and tentatively saying: “Ch-choose?”
Low laughter spread through the classroom.
Chu Zhi was at a loss.
The professor clearly hadn’t expected this either, lightly coughing twice: “Student, this is a short-answer question.”
She let out an “ah,” her face reddening as she lowered her head and quietly apologized.
“Sit down, and pay attention in class even if you’re sitting in the last row.”
Chu Zhi sat down with a red face, slightly hunching her body, quickly turning her head to glare angrily at Lu Jiaheng.
This person was actually still smiling.
The little girl was thin-skinned and had never experienced something like this in class before. Feeling this was already quite embarrassing, her whole person was angry with puffed cheeks, but not daring to speak loudly. Her big eyes glared at him as she kept her voice low: “What are you doing!”
Lu Jiaheng licked his lips while smiling, looking quite innocent as he also lowered his voice: “Your nail polish almost got on my face just now.”
Chu Zhi looked at her not-quite-dry nail polish, suddenly understanding. That bit of temper that had emerged from feeling embarrassed came and went quickly, soon disappearing without a trace.
Her little face was still red as she pouted: “You didn’t need to hold my hand up so high… so embarrassing.”
Lu Jiaheng gave a soft laugh, lazily leaning against the wall, supporting his chin with his hand, his head slightly tilted.
His thin lips curved up, his dark eyes focused and smiling, staring straight at her.
“Mm, I was wrong, sorry,” Lu Jiaheng obediently apologized.
When he spoke with his voice lowered, his tone had a kind of raspy quality, low and magnetic, falling gently and softly like soft feathers.
It tickled a bit.
Chu Zhi shrank her neck, raising her hand to pinch her earlobe and looking away: “You don’t need to apologize…”
Lu Jiaheng watched her little movements and raised an eyebrow.
The little girl’s eyes were evasive, her delicate ears also tinged with red, her long curled eyelashes like two small brushes, sweeping back and forth a bit nervously.
He shifted his gaze away, raising his hand to tap the script on her desk: “You’re in the drama club?”
Chu Zhi still had her head lowered, absentmindedly humming an “mm.”
“You’re playing the female innkeeper?”
Chu Zhi raised her head, blinking: “You read it?”
“Mm, while you were studying how to paint a flower on your nail just now.”
His long fingers tapped rhythmically on the black and white script, slow and measured.
After a few seconds, he said casually: “You have to seduce a knight?”
His tone was very flat.
The classroom’s heating was quite sufficient, but for some reason, Chu Zhi suddenly felt a bit cold.
She shrank her neck, weakly saying: “I don’t know if it counts as seduction, just, have to make him like me.”
Lu Jiaheng said flatly: “That’s seduction.”
“Ah, then it’s seduction,” Chu Zhi complied.
He fell silent again.
After a while, he let out a light laugh: “Do you know how?”
“Huh?” Chu Zhi blinked, “The script has all the lines…”
“Drama isn’t just about lines. Since it’s a play, expressions and movements are all very important, lines alone definitely aren’t enough.”
Chu Zhi thought his words made a lot of sense and looked troubled: “Then I really should find the senior early to rehearse.”
Lu Jiaheng’s hand movement paused, his fingertip resting on the script: “I can teach you.”
Chu Zhi raised her head blankly: “Huh?”
Lu Jiaheng lowered his eyes to look at her, his gaze dark: “I can teach you how to seduce.”
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