05. What's wrong with wanting to get closer?

Mu Jia didn't actually go straight into the bedroom, but went into the walk-in closet instead.

I opened the closet door and found that several pajamas I had put there more than half a year ago were still hanging in the same place.

Besides pajamas and loungewear, there are also some outerwear items, all exactly as before.

She picked up a nightgown, subconsciously brought it closer to her nose, and didn't smell any musty or moldy odor.

It does have a faint, pleasant fragrance, just like the other clothes in the wardrobe.

She hung the nightgown back up, opened the suitcase next to her, and took out a change of clothes.

After washing up, it should have been bedtime, but Chu Chiyi still hadn't come over to greet her or give her any instructions...

After what just happened, she had already inwardly blamed herself for not controlling her emotions and losing face in front of him again. Of course, she didn't want to take the initiative to approach him now and lose even more.

So all I could do was stand in front of the bathroom mirror and deliberately dawdle.

A few seconds later, she seemed to remember something, tidied up her clothes, and slipped out of the bathroom.

Mu Jia entered the storage room and, without searching, spotted the foot bath tub among a pile of books and odds and ends.

The bucket was made of solid pear wood, up to her knees deep, and large enough for two of her to stand in at the same time.

She took a deep breath, bent down, swung her arms, and lifted the wooden bucket, which weighed at least ten kilograms.

As I passed through the living room, I saw that the door to the study had finally opened from the inside.

Mu Jia shuffled past, carrying the bucket, as if she hadn't seen the person standing at the door. The pearl-white nightgown she was wearing was already just below mid-thigh, but because of the way she was carrying the bucket close to her body, it was pushed up a few inches, revealing her dazzlingly white skin.

She stood in the bathroom, slightly out of breath, watching the hot water gushing out from the showerhead and slowly filling the wooden bucket.

A few minutes later, the water level reached the appropriate height.

Mu Jiaguan took a half-step back, bent over, and took a deep breath. The next second, the exposed skin on her legs was unexpectedly touched by a cool, slightly rough texture.

She was startled and turned around to find Chu Chiyi standing behind her.

"What are you doing?" she glared at him, annoyed. "Don't you know that scaring someone can kill them!"

After speaking, she took a step back and subconsciously tugged at her skirt, which had already been put back in place.

She watched as Chu Chiyi lowered himself in front of her.

The man bent over, his shirt cuffs already undone and casually rolled up twice.

He gripped the armrests on both sides with both hands, his arms exerting force to create smooth, powerful lines.

Mu Jia stood aside and watched him lift the wooden bucket full of water.

"You can put it down yourself."

But Chu Chiyi seemed not to hear, picked up the bucket, turned around and left the bathroom.

The water, plus the bucket's own weight, must have weighed at least several dozen kilograms, yet he lifted it with surprising ease. Unlike her, who had already struggled to carry an empty bucket from the storage room to the bathroom...

The pear wood foot bath tub was quite large in diameter. He held it in front of him, which spread his already broad shoulders and back. Under his well-fitting white shirt, one could almost see his strong, lean yet powerful waist and back.

Mu Jia only works out occasionally, but he knows that his body fat percentage is very low.

Two seconds later, she silently looked away, reminding herself not to let lust cloud her judgment or let her values ​​be swayed by physical appearance. This played right into the hands of some people who habitually abuse their beauty.

Chu Chiyi carried the bucket towards the master bedroom.

Mu Jia followed behind him, walked to the door, paused for a moment, then followed him in without changing her expression.

He bowed slightly again, and gently placed the wooden bucket that she had picked up so heavily down on the carpet at the foot of the bed without making a sound.

The man put down his things and then left the bedroom.

A few seconds later, Mu Jia walked to the bedside, sat down, and began to soak her feet.

When saffron sachet is soaked in water, it releases a rich aroma, exuding a unique herbal fragrance and a slightly sweet floral scent.

The water was just the right temperature, and soon a thin layer of sweat appeared on her back.

Mu Jia always felt that this slight sweating sensation was very comfortable. It was as if all the toxins and bad emotions could be metabolized and expelled from her body along with the sweat.

Speaking of which, her long-standing habit of soaking her feet for health was inherited from her maternal grandmother, Zhong Sufang.

Although several elderly people in her family doted on her when she was little, she was mainly raised by her maternal grandmother. The grandmother had a lot of knowledge about health preservation and conditioning. From the time Mu Jia could remember, soaking her feet before bed every night was an indispensable part of her routine.

After a while, as the warm feeling gradually permeated her body, she suddenly closed her eyes slightly and, almost unconsciously, gently fell back onto the bed behind her.

After more than ten hours of bumpy travel, and several trips up and down the stairs with her suitcase in the evening, she must have been quite exhausted after all the years of traveling and experiencing life's hardships.

My last thought before falling asleep was that I would see Zhong Sufang tomorrow, which was still a good thing.

But I don't know if it was because I was suddenly in a different place, but I didn't sleep very well.

A jumble of chaotic dreams arose, transporting her back to a long time ago without warning.

At Pinghai No.1 Middle School, morning self-study ends at 7:30. The half hour from 7:30 to 8:00 is the students' breakfast time.

Mu Jia is a day student, and she eats at home before coming to school in the morning. So she doesn't have to squeeze into the cafeteria with most of her classmates.

At this time, there weren't many people left in the classroom. She sat in her seat, casually flipping through her Chinese textbook to preview the next lesson, while listening to the gossip of a few girls gathered around her.

Suddenly she heard someone calling her name at the door.

She raised her head and walked towards Lu Siming, under the watchful eyes of the girls around her.

The boy handed her a bag of chocolate milk.

"Thanks, bro~" she said with a smile as she took it. "What brings you here?"

"My mom asked me to remind you that there's a family dinner tonight, and she'll pick you up from school. Let's walk together."

"I know, I haven't forgotten." Mu Jia raised her face and smiled at him with a half-teasing expression. "Isn't this to celebrate your success?"

In the first monthly exam of the new school year, which was held a few days ago, Lu Siming won first place in the science stream of the second year of high school.

"Not bad, young man." She patted his shoulder with a playful laugh. "My brother is really something!"

Lu Siming ignored her half-serious, half-joking flattery. After finishing the business, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and asked, "What's going on between you and Gao Lingyu from our class?"

"What's going on?" Mu Jia looked up at him nonchalantly. "He's just a senior I met at the freshman debate a few days ago. It's nothing."

"Nothing's wrong?" Lu Siming raised an eyebrow. "Nothing's wrong that he wrote you love letters?"

"How did you know?" Mu Jia was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly realized, "He told you?"

"Your mom told me."

"..."

Strictly speaking, it was Mu Jia's mother, Ms. Yuan Mei, who told Lu Siming's mother, Ms. Mu Meixi, and Lu Siming overheard the whole thing.

He looked somewhat helplessly at the girl standing by the window beside him, her face peering out the window. The early autumn sun was bright and dazzling, and she lazily half-closed her eyes, following the light.

This girl has been pleasing to the eye and in personality since she was a child. From all the elders in the family to the children in kindergarten, almost everyone has a few more glances at her. She can be said to be loved by men, women, young and old.

Perhaps this is why, from kindergarten onwards, she frequently received advances from boys: paper airplanes, paper flowers, candy, and small toys. As she grew older, these tokens of affection transformed into small cards, letters, and love letters...

Looking at her carefree attitude, and considering that the boy they had just talked about was his classmate, Lu Siming felt even more helpless. After thinking for a while, he couldn't help but say, "You're in high school now. Things are different from junior high. Don't be like before, always trying to do something interesting. Sometimes you may not mean it, but others might."

Mu Jia finally opened her eyes. Although she was used to his motherly concern for her, she still looked at him with a bit of curiosity and naturally retorted, "What's wrong with wanting to get closer to good things or people with admirable qualities?"

"Besides, does getting close to someone normally mean you have to develop a deeper relationship with them? That senior in your class, he's pretty good at debating. The teacher who leads the debates had upperclassmen help guide us, so all I did was discuss two drafts with him. Isn't that within the scope of normal social interaction? Nothing else. He just overthought things after he went back, and you're blaming me for that? By that logic, we should never take the initiative to express friendliness to others, and we should never make new friends?"

Lu Siming was speechless for a moment, staring blankly at her.

His cousin has been quick-witted and eloquent since childhood, and debate competitions have always been her domain.

He couldn't argue with her, so he simply shut up.

After a while, seeing that he was silent, Mu Jia suddenly leaned over and asked, "What, did he ask you to come and find out what I'm thinking?"

He was about to deny it when he heard her casually say, "If that's the case, you might as well just tell him that I only like students who are exceptionally good at studying, or at least someone like you who is first in the grade."

"Nonsense." Lu Siming saw right through her rambling.

If she only looked at grades, there were plenty of top students among the boys who followed her around in junior high school, whose exam scores were far superior.

So he deliberately tried to scare her, saying, "Gao Lingyu is also consistently in the top ten of the grade. Just you wait, next time someone else takes the top spot, you'll be slapped in the face!"

Mu Jia, however, didn't take it to heart and smiled as she pulled his arm in a flattering tone: "Who can be as good as my brother? I believe that as long as you stay humble and perform consistently, you will definitely be able to firmly defend your position as the top student in the grade!"

"Hmph, don't try that!" Lu Siming was unmoved by her sweet talk.

Lu Siming looked at her with some surprise, "You've only been in high school for a month! You already know about the senior students?"

Mu Jia raised an eyebrow: "Their promotional display stand is right at the school gate. Everyone who comes in and out can see it. How could I not recognize it?"

Before he could say anything more, he heard Mu Jia casually repeat the gossip he had just heard in class, "Besides, how cool is it that someone can date while still getting the top grade in the grade?"

Lu Siming clearly saw a hint of longing and admiration in her eyes, so he quickly corrected her: "...Stop listening to that gossip!"

She didn't seem to care: "So what? Every morning when my mom takes me to school, she sees the sign at the door and tells me to learn from her."

"Is that what you're supposed to learn? Your aunt wants you to learn some good things from others!"

"What do you mean by 'good' and 'bad'?"

"..."

“We are three-dimensional, and people are multifaceted.” Mu Jia looked at him and said seriously, “We always say that if you like someone, you should like all of them. But in this context, does that mean we have to force people to be two-faced, as if we want to split them in two?”

"Mu Jia, this is fallacy and heresy!"

But the girl glared at him, made a face, and said, "Then I'm not talking to you anymore!"

The two families' dinner that evening, as is customary, was again held in a private room on the seventh floor of Jinjiangchun Restaurant.

During the meal, Aunt Mu Meixi praised her son Lu Siming for his progress this time. Lu Siming chuckled but didn't respond to his mother's comment.

Mu Jiaxin was slightly taken aback. When she was in junior high school, she and Lu Siming went to different schools, but she always heard that he was always the first in the class in every major exam, so how could there be any talk of "improvement"?

However, Mu Xiangming and Yuan Mei didn't usually have any special requirements for her grades or rankings, leaving it entirely to her interest and self-discipline. She was happy to be content with her modest success as long as she was in a good mood, so she never cared much about exam rankings. Therefore, she let it go after having a slight doubt in her mind.

As the meal drew to a close, Mu Jia said goodbye to the adults at the table and went to the restroom.

She walked down the corridor toward the restroom.

The corridor was quiet, but she suddenly heard a few strange noises coming from a private room next to her, like tables and chairs falling over and dishes breaking.

Mu Jia paused subconsciously.

The next second, she had no idea that the door to the private room next to her would suddenly be pulled open from the inside.

Even more unexpectedly, someone came out from inside.

At the moment of impact, she felt as if the bright light had been suddenly ripped apart.

She staggered backward and fell backward.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my wrist, and I managed to steady myself.

But the force seemed a bit too much, and it made her wrist hurt.

The other person walked very fast, and her face collided with their chest, causing a sharp pain, especially to her nose and chin. For a moment, she almost burst into tears.

"Ugh..." she groaned softly, covering her mouth and nose with her other hand where she had been hit.

After a couple of seconds, she finally raised her head and met the gaze of the person who had just arrived, through a thin layer of mist in front of her eyes.

Just as she was about to speak, her breath hitched slightly when she saw the other person's face clearly.

A sudden alarm bell rang in her mind.

But……

In fact, that little bit of damage was far from enough to disfigure the other person's face. On the contrary, because of his fair skin, the strong color contrast made him look quite strikingly beautiful.

He stood in the shaded direction.

Especially those eyes staring at her, as black as an impenetrable night, churning with complex emotions she couldn't decipher: indifference, wariness, and perhaps even a hint of... a faint impatience and irritation at having one's territory trespassed...

Dangerous, yet possessing a breathtaking impact. Two completely different qualities are inexplicably fused together in him.

Mu Jia suddenly realized that after the initial shock, her heart seemed to skip a beat and then began to beat faster...

At the same time, her nose wasn't hurting as much anymore. She lowered her hand from her face and could smell the alcohol, the blood, and other odors, as well as the unique, crisp scent of a young man, which wasn't completely masked.

When their eyes met again, Mu Jia didn't know if it was the ferocity in his eyes, but he subconsciously took a half step back. The distance made the scene in front of him even more complete.

This time, she belatedly realized that the other person was a boy who was about the same age as her.