Chapter 62 (Second Update)
Having received Qiao Wu's promise, Lu Xuan stopped pestering him and went to show Lu Ning her homework with a satisfied expression.
Lu Ning had already finished her homework and was reading a book when she heard the noise deliberately made behind her. She thought it was Lu Yingchi who had come, but when she turned around, she found that it was actually Lu Xuan.
"Why is it you?"
"You should be grateful I'm here to help you with your homework." Lu Xuan pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. "Didn't you transfer schools? Haven't you heard of my legend at school? The God of Literature reborn."
Lu Ning: "..."
No, there really isn't.
"You're from our school too?"
"Who in the Lu family didn't go to that school?" Lu Xuan was in a good mood, picking up her homework and flipping through it while managing to make a couple of casual remarks, "If it weren't for the fact that we couldn't repeat a grade..."
"What?"
"nothing."
If it weren't for the rule against repeating a grade, he and Qiao Wu would be in the same grade and could go to school together every day.
It's a pity. When he was about to enter elementary school, he asked the teacher if he could stay in the senior class for another year. As a result, he was severely beaten by the old man. Because of this, he lost the opportunity to be on the honor roll in the same grade as Qiao Wu.
Later, since the primary and junior high schools were far apart, he...
Lu Xuan suddenly realized something, and his gaze, which had been fixed on the paper, drifted away.
If he remembered correctly, Qiao Wu started acting strangely around that time. He hadn't even thought to ask her why she had become strange and then suddenly became normal again.
Lu Ning had doubts about Lu Xuan's true abilities because he didn't seem very smart. Seeing him staring at the first question in the workbook for a long time, she said with some empathy, "If you really can't do it, you don't have to force yourself."
She used to be like that too.
Unexpectedly, the Lu family's minds were all of the same kind, and she suddenly felt a rare sense of closeness to this third uncle.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Lu Xuan was forced to come back to his senses. "I was always first in my grade in junior high school."
In junior high school, he studied very hard because he always wanted to be on the same honor roll as Qiao Wu. Even though he slacked off a bit later, he was fortunate to have a good foundation and got into a good university. However, he didn't pay much attention to his studies after that, which is why he had a big argument with the old man when he entered the entertainment industry.
A question from the second year of junior high... um...
It looks a bit unfamiliar.
Lu Xuan stared at it for a long time before he could find a little bit of familiarity. Checking homework had actually exhausted most of his energy.
After dumping all the wrong answers on Lu Ning, he propped his head up to catch his breath, his gaze falling on the open book in front of Lu Ning: "Why are you reading a book too?"
Only Qiao Wu and Lu Jinzhi in this family like to read extracurricular books.
Although unwilling to admit it, Lu Xuan was undeniable in some respects. For example, Lu Jinzhi was really smart and didn't need to spend any effort on his studies, leaving him plenty of time to read. Qiao Wu was the same as Lu Jinzhi.
In order to stand shoulder to shoulder with Qiao Wu, he spent almost all his time studying hard, to the point that he felt nauseous at the sight of other books and visited the library very few times.
How could someone with Lu Ning's brain have time to read extracurricular books?
Lu Xuan was somewhat unconvinced.
"Qiao Wu recommended it to me," said Lu Ning, who was busy grading homework. "The teacher assigned reading homework."
"They're making it all so fancy now."
Lu Xuan picked it up casually and flipped through it. They were all literary books that required a calm mind to understand. He didn't have the patience to read them at all. Just as he was about to close them, he saw familiar handwriting.
He found something interesting in the mundane, and he no longer felt tired.
He picked up the note, only to find there was another one behind it, but the two were clearly not written by the same person.
Whose is this?
"Second Uncle."
Lu Xuan paused, "Lu Jinzhi?"
Hearing his uncertain tone, Lu Ning tilted her head and glanced at him: "It's him. He and Qiao Wu both like to leave notes in books, and they won't let me write on them."
He added, "Moreover, I've observed that the notes left by the authors in the books I've read seem to indicate a form of communication."
When did this happen?
"My second uncle had it before he returned to China, so it must have been left before he went abroad?" Lu Ning later secretly flipped through many books and found that many of them had it. "It must have been a very, very long time ago."
Lu Xuan was somewhat stunned.
It's been a very, very long time?
The book was slammed onto the table, making a loud thud in the empty, quiet library, startling Lu Ning.
She had just raised her head when the person next to her suddenly stood up and hurriedly walked towards the bookshelf. Without even looking at the categories or titles, they grabbed whichever book they could find and started reading it. Then she noticed that Lu Xuan's usually nonchalant expression had turned somewhat unpleasant.
He took out the sticky notes that were originally hidden in the books one by one, flipping through one book after another.
Besides the first floor, he ran to the second floor, then the third and fourth floors...
Is Uncle going crazy from looking at her homework?
"Lu Xuan!" Lu Ning called out, "Don't lose anything inside!"
Lu Xuan actually hoped to lose it, so that the probability of him finding the note when he opened the book would be so low, and there would be less evidence to prove that Qiao Wu and Lu Jinzhi had become very close without anyone knowing.
He stood on the top floor of the library and looked down. It was a place he used to dislike visiting the most. He found so many books, and surprisingly, many of them had sticky notes inside.
He used to think that the only family member with a very ordinary relationship was Lu Jinzhi and Qiao Wu, because the two of them hardly communicated at all.
There are very few people like Lu Jinzhi who isolate themselves from the whole world, so Qiao Wu spends most of his time playing with him and Lu Yingchi.
Sometimes when Lu Jinzhi was forced to join in guarding them, he would only do some childish things, such as taking Qiao Wu out of his schoolbag while stuffing it in.
Yes, Lu Jinzhi removed Qiao Wu, not his younger brother.
With so many books, Lu Xuan suspected that Qiao Wu had been reading here with Lu Jinzhi ever since he learned to read.
For so many years... no one knew.
Back at the Still Water Villa, he was still thinking that Lu Jinzhi's special treatment of Qiao Wu was because of his excessive praise, but now he realized that it was Lu Jinzhi's gradual and obvious bias, which had started from his previous ignorance.
He even felt that there was an unspoken understanding between Lu Jinzhi and Qiao Wu, which had lasted for many years.
This was far more unacceptable to him than Lu Yingchi and Lu Ning's dependence on Qiao Wu.
That's Lu Jinzhi, that's Lu Jinzhi.
No one could be an exception to Lu Jinzhi.
"Lu Xuan! Are you done yet? I'm going back to sleep after I finish grading the homework!"
In the end, Lu Xuan didn't even know how he got out of the library and back to his room. His mind was filled with the image of Qiao Wu walking towards Lu Jinzhi when they took the photo that day.
He knew it shouldn't be this way, that it was normal, but he still couldn't help caring about it.
I thought about it all night and didn't even know how I fell asleep, so I looked very haggard when I woke up the next day.
The family sat in the restaurant having breakfast.
Lu Ning stared at Lu Xuan's face, feeling extremely guilty: "Lu Xuan, I'll check my own homework from now on, so don't feel pressured."
Look what they've done to him.
Lu Yingchi couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
Seeing this, Qiao Wu began to doubt whether she had made a wrong decision yesterday. She remembered that Lu Xuan's grades were quite good when she was in junior high school.
"This time it was my fault," she said sincerely.
"..."
Lu Xuan wasn't in the mood to argue with these idiots.
Ah, fish lips.
Only he discovered a shocking secret.
Lu Ning and Lu Yingchi are still singing Makka Pakka.
This was the first time he had observed the relationship between Lu Jinzhi and Qiao Wu so carefully. He found that the two of them were still the same as before, avoiding communication unless absolutely necessary, and there was nothing unusual about it.
Until Qiao Wu said, "I'm going to the port area in the next couple of days."
Lu Jinzhi slowed down his breakfast eating. When he looked up, his brows furrowed slightly, but his gaze landed precisely on Qiao Wu, clearly waiting for her to speak.
"Are you going on another business trip?" Lu Ning asked curiously.
"Pretty much. I have some work to do, and I'm also taking your third uncle to the film set." Qiao Wu said with a smile, "Your third uncle has joined a big director's crew, aren't you all going to give him some encouragement?"
Lu Ning asked in shock, "That uncle really wants you? It's not a scripted show?!"
Lu Xuan glanced at her sideways: "If you can't speak properly, then shut your mouth and eat your food."
Considering that her third uncle had been tormented by his homework all night, Lu Ning didn't hold his temper against him. Instead, she said with great sincerity, "I hope you won't be kicked out of the crew halfway through."
With a clang, Lu Xuan's fork pierced through the noodles and slammed into the plate.
Lu Ning shrank back and remained silent.
"Why are you trying to scare me?" Lu Yingchi felt responsible for protecting the child. "As long as you don't use the same acting skills you used when you played a domineering CEO, you won't actually kick me."
"Are there cicadas in your plates?" Lu Xuan asked, displeased. "You talk too much."
"He doesn't appreciate kindness." Lu Yingchi sneered. "Don't bother with him. Let's go, I'll take you to school."
Although Lu Yingchi's car keys are still with Lu Jinzhi, his driver is still there, so he has a driver to pick him up and drop him off. But ever since Lu Jinzhi stopped Lu Ning's car, Lu Yingchi now has to take her to school first before he can go by himself.
"oh."
The two walked out of the restaurant one after the other, and after a while a head suddenly appeared outside the restaurant.
Lu Ning peeked out: "Lu Xuan, you won't be kicked out, I voted for you."
Behind her came Lu Yingchi's exasperated voice: "Didn't we agree not to vote together?"
“I only cast one vote,” Lu Ning said. “For the Progress Award, don’t think I didn’t see you voted for it too. You even reported the comments.”
"Too talkative." Lu Yingchi grabbed her schoolbag and dragged her away.
After hearing no further noise, Qiao Wu looked at Lu Xuan, who had already put down his cutlery, and said, "Where's your luggage? Take it down and let's go."
"Um."
Lu Xuan walked out of the restaurant, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he leaned against the wall.
He rarely showed such patience, and after a minute, Lu Jinzhi's voice really rang out in the restaurant.
"Should we give it to him?"
You can't hear any emotional fluctuations in his voice.
"I also want to learn more about this industry," Qiao Wu said. "We can do it together."
"You don't have to go this far to understand."
Qiao Wu countered, "Didn't you say that as long as you can get there, it's not far?"
Lu Jinzhi, who was stabbed by the boomerang: "..."
He rarely choked up.
Qiao Wu smiled and said, "When you wanted to go to very far places before, didn't my father take you there?"
"no the same."
"What's different?" Qiao Wu wanted to correct Lu Jinzhi. "Although I have multiple roles now, I am mainly a housekeeper. This is just my job. Do you expect me to take the salary you give me and do nothing?"
Although Lu Jinzhi was slow to perceive emotions, he could still understand the meaning behind the words.
Qiao Wu wouldn't have spoken to him like this before; it was somewhat aggressive and had a guiding tone.
He had only heard this tone of voice before when Qiao Wu was training dogs.
She treated him like one of those little dogs.
She treated him as one of her privileges.
This time, Lu Jinzhi didn't even need to take out a mirror to know that his eyes were definitely showing unhappiness, because he had been feeling this kind of emotional feedback frequently lately.
Lu Jinzhi put down his cutlery, looked into Qiao Wu's eyes, chuckled, and asked, "What do you want to correct me about?"
Over the past few days, Qiao Wu has been able to distinguish when this person is genuinely smiling and when he is faking it.
For example, there's a kind of unfathomable depth in his eyes right now.
Who said he wasn't sensitive? At that moment, Qiao Wu felt that Lu Jinzhi's perception was at two extremes: extremely dull and extremely sensitive.
So you really can't talk to him in roundabout ways; she has absolutely no experience in how to break up with this kind of person.
"Qiao Wu".
Sometimes Qiao Wu felt that a name was a wonderful label; even though it was only a few words, people would always pronounce it in a different way.
For example, right now, she felt that when Lu Jinzhi called her, there was a very serious tone in his voice.
It seems that if she doesn't answer this question properly, there will be serious consequences.
Qiao Wu sighed: "I think you also have a strong dependency problem."
Lu Jinzhi repeated softly, "Dependence?"
He understood the meaning of the word, and considering his own situation, he instantly accepted it, then raised an eyebrow: "So what?"
Qiao Wu: "?"
Why are you so self-righteous?
Is this how you please yourself?
But even without her saying it, Lu Jinzhi understood what she meant and smiled as he exposed her attempt to pretend: "You also want me to quit."
Shouldn't it?
Lu Jinzhi nodded, acknowledging her first: "It should be appropriate for you."
Thankfully, I remained rational.
"But I don't want to."
"..."
“However, I still respect your choice. You can do what you want.” Lu Jinzhi stood up, walked to her, and said softly with a smile, “I also hope you will respect my choice.”
What do you mean? You can quit yours, but I won't listen to you?
What kind of logical genius are you?
Lu Jinzhi straightened up: "I'm not one of those ignorant and unreasonable little dogs. You don't need to treat me the same way as them."
Qiao Wu was speechless for a moment: "Do you still remember the 30.5 million from last weekend, which is a matter of priorities?"
A boat costs 500,000, which means Chen Yan is rich.
Anyone else would have sued him long ago.
“He can afford it,” Lu Jinzhi said nonchalantly. “Actually, I’d rather he swim back.”
He said gently, "You didn't say that when you were protecting Lu Yingchi."
Qiao Wu also stood up and looked at him quietly: "But I have never stopped Lu Yingchi from making friends."
"Then why do you need to borrow my boat?"
"What kind of twisted logic is that?"
“I have the same reason.” Lu Jinzhi did feel that Qiao Wu should not be friends with Shen Yan. Although Shen Yan was not a bad person by nature, he was very bold in his behavior towards girls and did not take relationships seriously.
Therefore, he naturally assumed that he and Qiao Wu had the same starting point.
“You said that if the chef’s cooking meets my standards, I will pay them overtime.” Lu Jinzhi lowered his eyelashes. “You meet my standards, so naturally I will give you more special treatment than ordinary people. In my opinion, this is not something that needs to be given up.”
You can't reason with someone like Lu Jinzhi, because he measures things according to his own logic.
Qiao Wu quickly understood this.
So she took a step back: "Since you respect my choice, let's each rely on our own abilities."
He refused based on his own ability, and she quit based on her own ability.
Lu Jinzhi was overjoyed.
"Okay." He asked with a smile, "I'm going to work now. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me, Butler Qiao?"
Qiao Wu didn't answer him, but turned and walked out of the restaurant.
Lu Xuan, who had been hiding by the door, reacted quickly and slipped away.
The restaurant fell silent.
Lu Jinzhi leaned back in the chair where Qiao Wu had been sitting, the smile on his face gradually fading, and his fingertips twitched slightly.
This was the first time in so many years that he had a real disagreement with Qiao Wu, which didn't even qualify as an argument.
This made him realize that he and Qiao Wu were on different wavelengths. In his world, Qiao Wu was indispensable, but in Qiao Wu's world, he wasn't.
This made him very unhappy.
He almost wanted to pin her down and make her sit there, preventing her from going anywhere, when Qiao Wu said she wanted to quit him.
The first time he had this thought was when he realized that Qiao Wu had changed.
He didn't want to see expressions and eyes that he disliked on that face, so he once thought of locking her up until she became normal.
That was the first time he realized that something was wrong with him.
So he cleared out all the unnecessary things from the room so that he wouldn't suddenly have the urge to keep something at some point.
Over the years, he gradually got used to pleasing himself and thought he had long since given up on this idea, but it suddenly resurfaced at this moment.
He could almost predict how Qiao Wu would look at him without even having to calculate the probability.
That would be the worst outcome, and no scale could balance it.
So he came to the final conclusion: respect her, and respect yourself.
Lu Jinzhi was used to everything going according to his expectations, but now he found that many things could not go according to plan, just like his relationship with Qiao Wu.
He couldn't predict Qiao Wu's next move.
It doesn't count as your own either.
Now we can only rely on instinct and intuition to move forward.
That way he won't regret it.
On the other side, Qiao Wu arrived at the car only to find that Lu Xuan had not yet gotten out.
Is it not ready yet?
After waiting for about ten minutes, just as she was about to call and urge him, the person finally came out of the door at a leisurely pace.
For some reason, she felt that Lu Xuan's gaze was a little strange.
But Lu Xuan didn't get a good rest last night, and as soon as he got in the car, he closed his eyes to catch up on sleep, so Qiao Wu didn't have a chance to ask.
It wasn't until the plane landed in the port area that the young master reluctantly opened his eyes.
Because of filming, Meng Xingxing specially found him an assistant, and the two of them had arrived ahead of time.
"Brother, let's stay at a hotel tonight and rest," Meng Xingxing said. "We'll go to the film set tomorrow."
Considering Lu Xuan's special status, and worried that he might not be used to staying in the film crew's hotel, they specifically asked, "Do you need me to book a hotel for you separately?"
Now that he no longer had to suffer in that grueling training camp, Lu Xuan was naturally unwilling to wrong himself and lazily replied, "Mm."
He glanced at the new assistant again: "I've booked both of your suites together."
“Okay!” Meng Xingxing stared at him with shining eyes.
Follow a rich boss and you'll have food to eat!
Lu Xuan got goosebumps from being stared at: "Order it, why are you looking at me?"
"Cough." Meng Xingxing rubbed her thumb and forefinger together. "The company doesn't reimburse private hotel bookings, so I don't have the money."
Lu Xuan clicked his tongue lightly.
Just as he was about to take out his card, his muddled mind suddenly cleared the moment he touched it, and he instantly pulled his hand away.
"I don't have any money either." He lied through his teeth, looking at Qiao Wu beside him, "Sugar daddy, where's my living expenses for this month?"
Qiao Wu laughed heartily: "100,000, I'll transfer it to you in a bit, but it probably won't be enough for you to stay in a suite for a while."
"..."
We'll talk about the future later.
"Then I need to get a good night's sleep," he said shamelessly. "I finally got an assistant, so you should let him have a good rest for the day before he has to suffer more later."
At this point, he's finally showing consideration for others?
Knowing that he had spent a month in the training camp and that his pampered nature had been tempered considerably, Qiao Wu did not intend to be harsh on him in this regard, and said, "I will book rooms for you in a little while."
"Just order two like last time."
Qiao Wu asked helplessly, "I'm not staying here?"
“I’ll share one with you, and the two of them will share one.” Lu Xuan leaned over confidently, “You don’t know the cost of firewood and rice until you’re in charge of the household. It’s good to save a little.”
Qiao Wu sneered and pushed his head away: "I'll book a suite with three rooms for you."
Lu Xuan: "..."
Meng Xingxing volunteered, "We can share a room."
Lu Xuan said in a cold voice, "Did you buy your agent's license?"
I've never seen an agent with such low emotional intelligence!
The car arrived outside, and the group got in one after another.
A group of people walked out from behind them, led by a young man wearing sunglasses with a gloomy expression.
As soon as he stepped out, he saw a familiar figure—that woman!
He's in cahoots with Lu Yingchi, the one who embarrassed him and landed him in the police station that day!
If it weren't for them, he wouldn't have been called back by his father so soon after arriving in the mainland, giving away such a great opportunity to others!
She's in the port area?!
This is his territory!
He strode forward, but the car had already driven away.
Immediately afterward, another car stopped in front of him. The door opened, and a woman in a black suit sat inside. The woman's cold gaze returned from the front, then swept over him, a mocking smile on her lips.
"What, your clothes were torn and your legs were broken? Do you need someone to carry you up?"
How could it be Lai Yunjiao!
They must be here to make a fool of him!
But Lai Shen didn't have time to argue with her now. He quickly got into the car and said, "Catch up with that car in front."
Lai Yunjiao: "Are you ordering my people around?"
Lai Shen took out a card and threw it at her: "Get out of the car yourself."
The next second, Lai Yunjiao suddenly stood up, grabbed his hair, and pressed him down: "Are you looking for death?"
"Lai Yunjiao!" Lai Shen's scalp throbbed from the pulling. "I'm in a hurry to chase someone! I don't want to fight with you!"
"who?"
"The woman in that car ahead is in cahoots with Lu Yingchi!"
Lu Yingchi?
Who was the person who sent Lai Shen back from the mainland?
Is there a relationship between Qiao Wu and Lu Yingchi?
It seems that the fourth son of the Lu family isn't a good person either; he's fighting like a dog with Lai Shen.
Lai Yunjiao let go of her hand: "Let's go take a look."
The driver responded and immediately sped up to catch up.
In the car ahead, Lu Xuan, who hadn't managed to get to a room, finally couldn't help but start calculating: "When I was checking Lu Ning's homework yesterday, I found a lot of books in the library, and there were notes you and Lu Jinzhi wrote in them. They must have been there for many years, right?"
Qiao Wu didn't think it was some kind of secret that couldn't be told, so he nodded: "Mm."
"So you've always had a good relationship with him." Lu Xuan curled his lips slightly. "Why didn't you say so?"
Well, it doesn't really count.
Before Lu Jinzhi returned to China, Qiao Wu didn't really think that her relationship with Lu Jinzhi was that good, at least not as good as her relationship with others.
But it seems that over this period of time, she has indeed become closer to Lu Jinzhi.
Qiao Wu was slightly puzzled: "Did I tell you that I have a good relationship with other people?"
"……No."
“I’ve never hidden my relationship with your brother,” Qiao Wu said. “It’s just as you see it, so there’s no question of whether I’m telling the story or not.”
Lu Xuan frowned: "You're making it sound like I'm stupid and can't figure it out."
"If you had visited the library more often, you would have known these things too."
"So many books, are they even readable by humans?" Lu Xuan said with a sour face. "Only you and Lu Jinzhi can read them."
“But Lu Jinzhi doesn’t play the games I play with you guys either,” Qiao Wu laughed. “What’s there to argue about?”
"That's because he has no class."
No, that's not what he meant!
What did he mean again?
Lu Xuan took a deep breath and finally found what he wanted to say: "I don't want to quit either."
He said!
I noticed Qiao Wu's attitude was strange a while ago; it turns out he was going through withdrawal!
Lu Jinzhi was unwilling, and neither was he!
Qiao Wu finally turned his head and looked at him in surprise.
She thought he would never find out.
Wait a minute, too?
"Did you hear that?"
Lu Xuan scoffed: "Does he think he can't hear me even though he has a megaphone in his mouth?"
Why don't you learn something good from him?
"Anyway, I'm not going to quit."
If it were Lu Jinzhi, Qiao Wu could at least have some reason to listen to his arguments, but with Lu Xuan, there was absolutely no need for that.
“You’re not like your brother.”
"What's the difference? Is it just because I don't read books?"
“In my absence, he can accomplish his own things and be his own master. He knows what he wants to do and won't be affected by anything. What about you?”
Lu Xuan refused to admit defeat: "I can do it too."
"You can?" Qiao Wu raised an eyebrow. "So who was the person who was unhappy because they didn't sit together during the photo shoot, who was so hesitant and quiet yesterday, and who still tried to tag along to the library with me?"
"..."
“Lu Xuan.” Qiao Wu straightened up slightly and said gently, “This was not my intention, but you must understand that everyone is an independent individual. I am, and so are you. We all need independent thinking and a strong sense of self so that we can be unafraid to solve any difficulties we encounter in the future.”
Lu Xuan remained silent.
"I want us to move forward together, not for me to drag you along. I'm not a carrot, and you're not a donkey, right?"
Although reluctant, Lu Xuan felt that Qiao Wu's words, "Let's move forward together," especially the word "together," made him look forward to it more than the word "abstinence."
As if he could already see the future, his heart swelled instantly. He didn't know what to say, and could only manage to squeeze out, "Can't you think of a better analogy?"
Qiao Wu chuckled: "If you can figure out the normal meaning of our relationship and do what I'm saying, then I can assure you that you won't need to quit."
"real?"
When have I ever lied to you?
"You'd better be."
Lu Xuan's complexion finally improved, and his mood, which had been heavy all night, lifted, allowing him to catch up on sleep without worry.
Ha, I thought Lu Jinzhi was something special.
In the end, aren't we just like them? What's with all the arrogance?
Let's see who succeeds in quitting first!
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