Having known Xu Shiyue for so long, Lu Shizhen has rarely seen her smile.
Just as described in the original text, her face was never expressionless, as calm as a still pond. Her long, black hair was tucked behind her ears, revealing her clean, delicate face in the slanting sunlight. With her eyebrows slightly curved and her thin lips gently curved, she instantly softened her usual aloofness, appearing exceptionally gentle. If it weren't for her later remark...
Lu Shizhen's heart skipped a beat, and she asked hesitantly, "You...heard that?"
"You ran into Mr. Lu introducing you to new female friends when you were going downstairs," Xu Shiyue said, adding as she finished, "They're all very outstanding."
The wind pushed through the thick clouds, obscuring half of the sun, and the room darkened as soon as the words were spoken.
Xu Shiyue's voice was as cold as ever, calmly recounting what had just happened. Lu Shizhen's heart skipped a beat. Well, she hadn't just heard it, she had heard it all.
She wouldn't think of herself as some kind of womanizing scumbag who flirts with girls everywhere, would she?
Lu Shizhen looked at Xu Shiyue standing opposite her and couldn't help but feel that the silence around her was a little eerie.
She could almost see the points above Xu Shiyue's head slowly rolling down, and her mind raced. She quickly mimicked the original owner's tone, asking with a touch of arrogance and narcissism, "Does that mean I have to befriend every outstanding person?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Shiyue paused abruptly.
Then she heard Lu Shizhen continue, "My brother is just worried that I've always been alone and don't have many friends, so he suggested that I expand my social circle and interact more with people my age so that I don't fall behind."
At this point, Lu Shizhen glanced at Xu Shiyue and, seeing that she didn't doubt her explanation or show any disgust, continued, "However, I'm only focused on studying right now, and I really have no interest in this kind of blind date-like friendship."
Lu Shizhen's two explanations flowed exceptionally smoothly, and they didn't sound like she was lying at all.
Xu Shiyue nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this, and said softly, "Is that so?" "Yes," Lu Shizhen nodded, answering with certainty.
She didn't want Xu Shiyue to know that this family didn't welcome her, and tried to cover it up with these explanations.
Lu Shizhen was unaware that after Aunt Sun called her downstairs to meet Lu Shize, she then knocked on Xu Shiyue's door.
Xu Shiyue heard everything Lu Shize said to her in the living room.
Xu Shiyue knew that Lu Shizhen held a very important place in Lu Shize's heart, and that she was the one who could threaten her safety.
Lu Shize did this simply to reduce the amount of energy Lu Shizhen would devote to him, and ideally, to find a substitute to replace her.
So she now understands that Lu Shizhen's explanation just now was a lie.
She stared at the confident girl standing before her, a cloud of ambiguity settling in her eyes. Was she concealing the fact that Lu Shize had introduced her to a new girlfriend, or... was she protecting herself? Protecting herself from her current isolation and helplessness? Making herself feel safe and secure staying here?
“I just refused my brother and gave him all the documents to take with him.” Just as she was thinking this, Lu Shizhen’s voice rang in Xu Shiyue’s ear again.
Her voice remained as resolute as before, each word ringing with conviction as she assured him: "Don't worry, you're enough of a teacher for me. I won't look for anyone else to be my teacher. What would I need so many teachers for?" As she spoke, Lu Shizhen looked at Xu Shiyue again.
She felt that her guarantee was perfect, maintaining the original owner's playboy personality while appearing very sincere; it could even be included as a teaching example in the system.
Presumably, Xu Shiyue wouldn't suspect anything about her.
As expected, as soon as she finished speaking, Lu Shizhen heard Xu Shiyue say calmly, "I understand."
Before she could even smile with joy, Xu Shiyue's voice rang out again: "However, whether Miss Lu wants to make friends or not is none of my business, so there's no need to explain it to me."
The voice was indifferent and calm, as if it didn't care at all.
Lu Shizhen was stunned for a moment, and suddenly felt that her series of nervous and narcissistic explanations just now seemed to be nothing more than her own guilty conscience and wishful thinking.
After saying that, Xu Shiyue had nothing more to say to Lu Shizhen. She gently took the armrest from Yuanzi and went straight past Lu Shizhen back upstairs. The clouds blocking the sun were blown away by the wind and soon disappeared into the sky, and sunlight once again filled the room.
Lu Shizhen didn't notice that the moment Xu Shiyue passed by her, a slight upturn of her lips appeared on her calm face.
After lunch, Lu Shizhen and Xu Shiyue took a car to the provincial library.
It wasn't summer or winter vacation yet; it was the off-season for the library, so there weren't many people. The wind swirled fallen leaves across the vast library square, creating a quiet and desolate atmosphere.
This was Lu Shizhen's first time visiting a place like this.
Looking up at the building that stretched out of her sight, she couldn't help but exclaim inwardly. Perhaps to make things easier for special groups, the Braille library was located on the first floor of the library.
Rows and rows of bookshelves are packed tightly in the large reading room. The tiled floor reflects the light from the ceiling, and even taking a heavy step feels like a sin.
For this reason, Yuanzi was arranged to stay outside with the bodyguards, and the task of helping Xu Shiyue find and carry books was transferred to Lu Shizhen.
She didn't actually mind helping Xu Shiyue with this kind of thing; after all, who would refuse something that could earn her favor? Thinking this, Lu Shizhen accepted the first book that Xu Shiyue handed her.
The girl slowly searched ahead using the index, with Lu Shizhen following closely behind, as eager as a little tail. However, this tail soon stopped wagging.
Whether it was because Braille was more complicated than normal writing, or because economics books were inherently difficult to understand, several of the books Xu Shiyue borrowed were exceptionally thick. As they were stacked four or five at a time, Lu Shizhen gradually felt the pressure on her arms.
Reaching the very end of the row, Lu Shizhen saw Xu Shiyue, who was walking ahead, carrying another book. She adjusted the book in her hands and then subtly probed, "Which one is this from the end?"
Xu Shiyue stroked the words on the cover of the book on the second page, then turned around when she heard the sound.
She stared at the blurry figure in front of her, carefully identifying the titles of the books with her fingers, and after a moment gave Lu Shizhen an answer that made her breathe a sigh of relief: "The last one."
100
"Then we can go back to our seats."
Lu Shizhen couldn't hide her emotions; her voice was filled with joy as she waited for Xu Shiyue to place the book from her hands. However, Xu Shiyue didn't place the book on top of the pile of books she was holding.
The girl's movements were remarkably natural. She raised her hand and took half of the book from Lu Shizhen's hand, holding it herself, and calmly gestured, "Lead the way."
The scent Lu Shizhen had caught in the room suddenly swept past, and then the heavy weight on her arm lessened by half. Lu Shizhen looked at the books Xu Shiyue was holding in her arms with some surprise, never expecting that she would be willing to share her burden. Lu Shizhen suddenly felt that there seemed to be many kinds of happiness.
The joy she felt now, like her heart skipped a beat, was completely different from the relief she had felt just moments before. Stunned, Lu Shizhen nodded.
After saying that, he led Xu Shiyue toward the seats they had just reserved.
The quiet reading room was filled only with the sound of pages turning, and Lu Shizhen's movements as she wrote on the paper became even softer. She was engrossed in solving a challenging physics problem, and finally took a break after arriving at the correct answer.
The afternoon sunlight in late autumn carried a gentle, twilight-like warmth, shining goldenly through the window and into the room.
Lu Shizhen looked up at the desks arranged by the window. Without the obstruction of square walls, the quiet light exuded a sense of freedom.
Lu Shizhen liked this feeling and leaned back in her chair. Then, a straight and slender figure blocked half of her view. Xu Shiyue sat upright in her chair, reading a book she had borrowed.
Those slender fingers moved smoothly and swiftly across the pages, unhurried, careful, and attentive. Sunlight streamed down, bathing her in a soft golden glow.
Those fine eyelashes drooped slightly, giving them a serene and secluded air reminiscent of those in ancient paintings.
Lu Shizhen felt that Xu Shiyue had a very special aura. The light falling on her was calmed and made more composed. Even the gentlest light could not melt away her cold and aloofness. It only added a touch of favoritism to her, making the scene come alive.
As Lu Shizhen watched, her gaze involuntarily fell on the books between the two women. Seeing how engrossed Xu Shiyue was in reading, she curiously picked one up and secretly began to read as well.
To understand Xu Shiyue's situation, Lu Shizhen had watched educational videos about blind people and had some knowledge of the structure of Braille, so she felt that deciphering it wouldn't be difficult.
But as it turned out, she was wrong.
Amidst the quiet and silent atmosphere of reading, Lu Shizhen stumbled and staggered like an oddity.
She found that she couldn't distinguish which of the tiny dots imprinted on her fingertips was a consonant and which was a vowel, and she even had a hard time differentiating which group of dots belonged to which group.
Just as Lu Shizhen was struggling with how to distinguish between them, Xu Shiyue's voice came from beside her ear: "Interested." The voice was flat and not at all distant.
Lu Shizhen was taken aback for a moment, then nodded: "Yes." "Can you understand it?" Xu Shiyue asked again.
"I don't understand." Lu Shizhen admitted softly, describing it with some frustration, "All I can feel are tiny dots, patches of them. I have no idea which ones are initials and which ones are finals."
Hearing Lu Shizhen say that, Xu Shiyue narrowed her eyes slightly.
This person wasn't just playing around on a whim; they had actually studied this thing before. This surprised her somewhat.
Looking at the book that Xu Shiyue had just turned the page of, Lu Shizhen thought that she should not distract her and cause trouble.
Just as she was about to return the book to Xu Shiyue, Xu Shiyue's voice interrupted her: "I'll teach you." As soon as she finished speaking, the quiet reading room echoed with the sound of chairs being moved.
A shadow fell on Lu Shizhen's shoulder, and a slightly cool hand grasped her hand that was lying on the pages of a book. "You shouldn't touch it like that, you should do it like this."
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