The old master of the Lu family was also a legendary figure. Born in the tumultuous 20th century, his family had been merchants with some money when he was young. Later, the family fell on hard times, moving from north to south, until only he survived. He eventually made his way from Shanghai to Beiping. During that time of economic depression, after the capital moved, Beiping’s commerce declined and shops closed daily, yet he managed to go against the tide, building Jingheng from nothing.
When Lu Jiaheng was young, his parents separated, and he essentially grew up with the old master Lu. After years of observing the old master’s way of doing things, he suspected more than once that Lu Hongsheng might have been picked up from somewhere. How could the difference between people be so vast?
For instance, at this moment.
When the old master wasn’t present, Lu Hongsheng always sat in the main seat. Lu Jiaheng pulled a chair in the corner position, listening to him boast excessively about a commercial land project in a neighboring city’s development zone, occasionally exchanging meaningful glances with several directors.
No wonder the old master hadn’t been overseeing things lately, busy with his flowers and birds, and Jingheng’s stock had fallen.
Lu Jiaheng slouched lazily in his chair in the corner of the long table, swaying back and forth, head down, lost in thought.
He didn’t even have a proposal in front of him, clearly not being taken seriously. Lu Jiaheng tapped his finger lightly on the edge of the secretary’s desk beside him.
The secretary turned her head, maintaining a professionally cold demeanor.
Lu Jiaheng’s peach blossom eyes lifted slightly as he propped his chin with one hand, lowering his voice and pointing to the proposal in front of her: “Um, could I take a look at that?”
The secretary paused, glanced at Lu Hongsheng sitting far away at the other end, and handed it to him.
Lu Jiaheng thanked her and took it.
The project application was written clearly and systematically, covering all aspects thoroughly. The development zone’s land prices were low, and it was adjacent to a university town with three or four universities and one college nearby. It looked like a sure profit.
Lu Jiaheng casually flipped through a couple of pages and picked up his coffee cup to drink.
Only then did he realize he wasn’t even qualified to drink coffee – everyone else had coffee, but his cup contained water, and when he took a sip, it was even a bit raw.
Not even room temperature water.
It was around eight in the evening when Lu Jiaheng prepared to leave.
He had drifted through life for over twenty years, making money only from playing stocks before. When it came to business matters, he was completely clueless, and suddenly getting involved left him somewhat confused.
Yet Lu Hongsheng deliberately wanted to keep him in the dark, and he couldn’t access many things, truly starting from the bottom.
He thought he was probably the last one preparing to leave. After putting down his things and going to the bathroom, he returned to find a cup of coffee on the table.
The rich aroma filled his nostrils, with a coaster underneath.
He looked up just in time to see a woman coming out of the secretary’s office, wearing a red coat over her business suit, revealing a section of her legs.
Lu Jiaheng tilted his head slightly, picked up the coffee cup and returned it to the pantry before going back to put on his coat and leave.
Today was Chu Zhi’s eighteenth birthday.
Birthdays were divided into lunar and solar calendars. Chu Zhi’s family always celebrated the lunar calendar birthday, but Chu Zhi couldn’t really tell the difference between lunar and solar calendars, so she always celebrated according to her zodiac-calculated birthday.
But in her parents’ view, her eighteenth birthday had already been celebrated. Chu Zhi insisted, so her father ordered a large birthday cake and prepared a table full of dishes to celebrate again.
Her father and Ms. Deng didn’t really eat cake, it was mainly Chu Zhi who loved it. Usually when she craved sweets, she would buy a large cake to eat regardless of whether it was her birthday or not. But now that they bought one for her, she hadn’t touched it at all.
After dinner, she carefully packed away the cake, from which she had only picked off two yellow peaches to eat, then helped pack all the dishes into containers and put them in the refrigerator before darting into her room.
She left her door slightly ajar, paying attention to sounds from outside.
She was stroking You Cai in her arms while texting Lu Jiaheng.
When he was at work, she didn’t dare message him, afraid of disturbing him. Usually it was him who initiated contact, and Chu Zhi had developed a habit of just waiting.
But after waiting until past eight o’clock, there was still no message.
She pressed her lips together, thought for a while, and decided to message him first: “What are you doing?”
After sending it, Chu Zhi felt stupid.
“What are you doing” was such an unoriginal conversation starter.
She buried her head in her pillow and made a sound, just wondering if recalling the message now would seem too deliberate when the phone rang.
Chu Zhi quickly muted it in a second, then jumped off the bed to close the door before answering: “Hello…”
Lu Jiaheng’s end was very quiet, with occasional car horns. His voice was still soft and deep: “Missing me?”
Chu Zhi’s face reddened again.
She crouched down against the door, her voice tiny: “Hey, speak properly!”
He laughed and very obediently said: “Then I miss you.”
Chu Zhi scratched her ear like a little monkey, staring at the ground, stammering: “Are you not at home?”
“Mm, just got off work, almost home.”
Chu Zhi was stunned – it was almost nine o’clock now.
“So late?”
“There were quite a few things to do, lots to learn.” His voice still sounded lazy, but whether it was psychological or not, Chu Zhi suddenly felt there was a hint of fatigue in his voice.
It was only one day.
She pressed her lips together, wanting to say don’t go to work, anyway even if you just play with mud at home every day I can support you.
After a pause, she said quietly: “Then go to sleep early when you get home, you need to get up early tomorrow.”
On the other end of the phone, Lu Jiaheng paused, suddenly asking: “What’s wrong?”
Chu Zhi sat on the edge of the bed swinging her legs: “Nothing, I’m going to take a shower.”
Lu Jiaheng was quiet for two seconds: “Go ahead, call me when you’re done.”
“I won’t call after…”
“Hmm?”
Chu Zhi clutched the bedsheet: “I’m hanging up!”
She quickly hung up the phone, stayed quiet for a while, then let out a long sigh.
Today was her birthday.
She turned eighteen.
Chu Zhi had originally wanted to wait until night to secretly bring the cake upstairs to eat with him.
He lived alone and couldn’t cook, so he probably hadn’t had home-cooked food for a long time. She had packed all the delicious dishes in containers too.
But he sounded so tired, and he had to get up early tomorrow.
Chu Zhi unhappily scratched her hair, threw down her phone and ran to the bathroom to shower.
Chu Zhi was naturally slow-paced, usually took long showers, and this time being distracted made her even slower. After blow-drying her hair halfway and applying body lotion inch by inch, she came out just in time to see her phone screen light up.
She went over to pick it up, and Lu Jiaheng had sent many messages in a row.
Jerk: I’m home. Jerk: Still not done showering? Jerk: ? Where’s my phone call.
And one missed call.
Chu Zhi looked at the clock – she had dawdled inside for almost an hour, and it was now fifteen minutes to ten.
She didn’t reply, quietly opened the door.
Sure enough, it was quiet outside. Her father and Ms. Deng had gone back to their room, the living room lights were off, with only a dim bar light above the kitchen counter giving off a soft glow.
Chu Zhi decided she would only stay for a while.
Just eat some cake, she’d be back in twenty minutes.
Ten minutes, she’d be back in ten minutes.
She looked at the clock again, hurried to carelessly throw on a sweater, grabbed her keys and phone to stuff in her nightgown pocket, and snuck into the kitchen.
The cake was already packed. Chu Zhi opened the fridge again, randomly grabbed two containers, picked up the cake box, and nervously, carefully, stealthily opened the door and closed it.
The stairwell was pitch black and completely silent. Chu Zhi was terrified, lightly stomped her foot, and the sensor light came on.
She quickly ran upstairs, frantically pressing the doorbell repeatedly.
Lu Jiaheng opened the door soon, looking down with some surprise at her.
The young girl was holding a large cake, with several containers in her arms.
Lu Jiaheng bent down to take the cake box and containers from her hands.
Lu Jiaheng stepped aside, gesturing for her to come in.
It was a bit cold outside. Chu Zhi shrank her neck and went inside.
He closed the door behind her. Chu Zhi walked forward a couple steps, turned around, and looked up at him: “I won’t disturb your rest, I’ll just stay for a little while, give you the cake and leave.”
Lu Jiaheng put the cake and containers on the shoe cabinet: “Birthday cake?”
“Yes.”
He lowered his eyes: “Your birthday?”
“My eighteenth birthday!” Their home was warm, so Chu Zhi took off her sweater and hung it on the hook, then grabbed the cake and ran inside.
She wasn’t wearing slippers, her bare feet white and toes pearly, making pattering sounds on the floor.
Lu Jiaheng grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, crouching down by her feet. He took out a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet, holding her delicate ankle with one hand as he put them on her.
Chu Zhi’s ankle was held by him, she shrank back, her toes wiggling, feeling embarrassed as she protested quietly: “Let go, I can put them on myself.”
He put both on for her, stood up, took the cake from her hands and went inside, placing it on the coffee table.
Chu Zhi followed him in, kneeling on the long-pile carpet in front of the coffee table as she untied the ribbon on the cake box, swaying her head: “I wanted to make it myself, but I don’t know how, so I bought one.”
“My parents don’t eat cake, and I didn’t eat any either, wanted to bring it to eat with you.”
“Go get the containers, there’s food my mom cooked tonight inside, have you eaten dinner?”
“I picked a cheese cake, do you eat cranberries? There were actually yellow peaches too, but I secretly picked them off and ate them.”
The little parrot seemed very happy today, chattering non-stop.
Lu Jiaheng sat on the floor behind her, scooted forward, stretching out his long legs and wrapping his arms around her, holding her from behind with his chin resting lightly on her shoulder: “Eighteen years old?”
She had just showered and smelled nice, he could smell it as soon as he hugged her, mixed with some sweet scent like milk or coconut.
Chu Zhi pulled off the ribbon and took out the cake: “Yes.”
His girlfriend’s eighteenth birthday, and he hadn’t known at all.
He sighed, sounding a bit frustrated: “That’s so important.”
“It’s actually okay, my parents celebrate the earlier birthday, so it’s already been celebrated,” Chu Zhi turned her head, eyes curved in a smile, “so I’m only celebrating this eighteen with you.”
“Oh right, when is your birthday?”
“I’ll definitely learn to make cake before your birthday, do you like fruit cake?”
Her soft little body swayed in his arms.
Lu Jiaheng’s eyelashes lowered slightly as he listened quietly, his heart feeling like it was soaking in warm water.
He held her quietly for a good while before mumbling: “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t tell you, it’s okay,” Chu Zhi didn’t mind, then remembered something, “Will you always get off work this late in the future? I won’t bother you, I’ll leave in ten minutes.”
Lu Jiaheng pressed his lips together, bent his long legs slightly, completely encircling her from top to bottom in his embrace from behind, tightening his arms around her.
“You’re not bothering me,” he said softly after a while.
“Don’t go.”
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