There were relatively few people at noon, and there were still quite a few empty seats in the car.

Lu Chuqing noticed that there were two empty seats in the back row and gestured for Xi Qingxu to sit there.

The air conditioning was on inside the bus, and the girl finally breathed a sigh of relief after sitting down. "Phew, it's so much cooler on a bus."

Her seat was towards the back, and this side was backlit, so she was pressed against the window watching the street rushing past outside.

When they encountered a red light, the driver slammed on the brakes, and the inertia caused Lu Chuqing's head to hit the glass with a dull thud.

"Does it hurt a lot?" Xi Qingxu immediately reached out to check her head where she had been bumped.

The blow wasn't exactly light, but it wasn't particularly heavy either; it was at least within Lu Chuqing's tolerance range.

She rubbed the spot where she had been bumped a couple of times and said nonchalantly, "It's nothing, it just sounded a bit loud, but it doesn't hurt much."

Xi Qingxu stopped and withdrew his hand, which was halfway outstretched, but his gaze remained on her head. "There's a red mark."

The girl was hit right on the forehead, and a dark pink bruise instantly appeared on her fair skin.

The pain had subsided, and Lu Chuqing touched it a couple more times. "It's really nothing, it doesn't hurt anymore."

Seeing this, Xi Qingxu stopped asking questions.

Looking out the window was impossible now. Lu Chuqing suddenly felt that the car was strangely quiet. After thinking for a moment, she looked at the boy's hand on his lap.

"Besides today's work, what have you been doing during the day for the past few days?"

Unexpectedly, the person next to him suddenly asked this question. Xi Qingxu did not answer immediately. After recalling his part-time job a few days ago, he replied, "The first day was moving books and organizing the warehouse for a library. The next few days were helping small shops near the old house move goods."

Moving goods...

This job is bound to be tiring and messy, and you might even get your fingers scratched if you're not careful.

Lu Chuqing knew that the old house he mentioned was Xi Jun's house. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "What about you at night? You come back quite late at night too. Are you moving goods there?"

"No." This time Xi Qingxu answered quickly, "I help out at a stall at a boss I've been working part-time with for a long time, selling things like soup noodles."

Lu Chuqing imagined that scene, and her heart ached for the boy even more.

Without thinking, she impulsively grabbed Xi Qingxu's hand, pulled it close to her, and carefully touched the scabbed wound.

"Although making money is important, you should be careful to avoid scrapes and burns in your daily life."

“You told me before that you would be careful and not get hurt. But in just these few days of vacation, look at your hands, you have so many wounds.”

The scabbed wound is healing, and it itches from time to time.

At this moment, Xi Qingxu felt the itching intensify, as if an electric current was coursing through the wound, and the itching became tingling and numb.

But it also felt light and airy, making it impossible for him to accurately grasp that unfamiliar feeling.

“I’m being careful,” Xi Qingxu said.

He's so smart, he learns everything quickly, and when it comes to work, he's even more capable.

He was indeed careful, but there was a busy moment when he didn't notice and burned his hand slightly. By the time he realized it, the wound had already started to scab over.

He was just telling the truth from his own perspective, but in Lu Chuqing's eyes, it was the helplessness of a young man facing life, and the untold sorrow behind a seemingly ordinary sentence.

She felt even more sorry for Xi Qingxu. She said, "There's some ointment at home that helps repair wounds. It won't itch. I'll find the ointment for you when I get back. Remember to apply it."

She hadn't let go of his hand yet, so he let her hold it without moving, only replying, "Okay, I'll remember."

After she finished speaking, Lu Chuqing wanted to let go of his hand, but the boy's hand was so beautiful that she couldn't help but turn over and look at it twice before putting his hand back on his thigh.

Xi Qingxu assumed she was checking her wound and didn't think much of it.

Lu Chuqing's house has a double door. The outer door needs to be opened with a key, which makes a sound, but the inner door is soundproof, so you can hardly hear anything inside.

The inner door uses a password and fingerprint unlocking system. Because she felt the female voice that made the unlocking success notification sound was a bit shrill and uncomfortable to listen to, she switched the lock to silent mode.

If the unlock is successful, it will only display a success message; if the unlock fails, it will still alert you.

So they opened both doors, but there was almost no movement.

So much so that when Lu Chuqing opened the door, an eerie silence filled the room.

As she changed her shoes, she asked, "Aren't Mom and Uncle Xi home?"

Xi Qingxu followed behind her, and only after she finished changing did he take out his own slippers and put them on.

It had been almost half an hour since lunch, and the food was being digested. Lu Chuqing felt thirsty and went straight to the table to pour herself some water.

Although the kitchen is not directly opposite the downstairs bathroom, the two are offset from each other because the bathroom is not as large as the kitchen.

The house is soundproofed, but the bathroom door isn't as thick as a soundproof door, so even when the house is very quiet, you can still hear some slight noises coming from inside.

Xi Qingxu went to the kitchen to wash her hands, and the location happened to be on the open side next to the dining table.

Lu Chuqing was drinking water, and before she could even swallow a sip, she belatedly heard a suppressed, not-too-loud sound coming from the bathroom.

She froze in her drinking motion, her first instinct being to cover Xi Qingxu's ears.

The water glass was hurriedly put down, and the tap was just turned off when Xi Qingxu felt a shadow approaching from above. When he looked up, the girl's slightly flushed face was right in front of him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his own voice barely audible because his ears were covered.

Lu Chuqing simply mouthed to him, "Go upstairs."

Although Xi Qingxu felt somewhat puzzled, he didn't ask any questions. After the girl released his ear, he followed her upstairs.

Whether it was his imagination or not, he heard some strange noises as soon as he left the kitchen.

Seeing that he had slowed down, Lu Chuqing whispered to him, "What are you standing there for! Hurry up and go!"

Xi Qingxu didn't linger and followed her upstairs.

Once they reached the lounge area at the top of the stairs, Lu Chuqing dared to speak a little louder. "If there's nothing else, stay in your room and don't come out, or you can take a nap. Just stay a little longer."

Xi Qingxu glanced at her twice and said nothing more. "Okay, I'm going to take a nap."

"Go on, go on." Pushing the person inside, Lu Chuqing didn't open the door immediately when they arrived at the room. She waited until Xi Qingxu went into the room and closed the door before opening the door and going in herself.

Lying in bed, I muttered to myself, "Adults really know how to have fun, doing this in the bathroom in the middle of the day..."

After saying that, he rubbed his face to shake off the yellow waste in his mind, got up, touched the tablet, and resignedly began to draw a portrait.

"Sigh, why can't I grow up faster..."

Lu Chuqing sighed and picked up the capacitive pen to start adding to her little savings.