23. He actually panicked!
As soon as the door opened, Chu Chiyi's face showed just the right amount of surprise. "Why are you here?"
Lu Siming pulled Mu Jia inside, waving the insulated box in his hand. "My dad's friend sent him some sea urchins and fish roe by air. My mom asked me to bring some over to you early this morning."
Chu Chiyi ushered them in, saying, "We just moved in, and we don't have any extra slippers at home, so you don't need to change."
Mu Jia glanced at him secretly; he was acting as if it were the real thing.
Lu Siming didn't notice their subtle movements. "Why did you suddenly decide to move here?"
“It’s more convenient here,” Chu Chiyi glanced at Lu Siming, then looked past him and smiled. “And there’s a sports field downstairs, which is also more suitable for morning runs.”
Lu Siming put his things down and couldn't help but think, "Another morning run. How come everyone is living such healthy lives these days?"
Thinking of this, he suddenly chuckled: "By the way, isn't it a coincidence? I ran into Jiajia downstairs this morning while she was jogging, so I just picked her up with me."
Chu Chiyi's gaze then naturally and appropriately fell on Mu Jia.
Seeing that Lu Siming was also looking at her, Mu Jia had no choice but to speak: "Um, good morning, Chi Yi... brother..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a chill run down his spine and couldn't help but rub his arm, feeling as if goosebumps had already formed on it.
Chu Chiyi seemed to have only just noticed her, his gentle smile on his face was flawless: "Jiajia is here too, good morning."
Mu Jia felt a chill run down her spine, and felt the goosebumps on her body instantly thicken, practically starting to fall off in a rustling sound.
As soon as Lu Siming sat down, his phone beeped.
"Okay." Mu Jia naturally handed over her phone. "You can unlock it yourself. The password is on it."
But then I suddenly realized that my phone was connected to the home network!
So she quickly pulled her hand back as if she'd been electrocuted, taking the phone back after handing it over halfway.
Lu Siming looked at her with some surprise.
Fortunately, Chu Chiyi reached out to Lu Siming at that moment, "Give it to me, I'll connect it for you."
Mu Jia finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But to everyone's surprise, after sitting for a few minutes, Lu Siming became restless again and stood up, saying, "Old Chu, I'm going to the restroom."
As he spoke, he glanced at Mu Jia.
Mu Jia's heart skipped a beat as she heard him complain, "It's all because of this girl. She insisted that I go with her to drink some soy milk."
But what if there are still any traces in the bathroom?
Alarm bells rang in her mind again. She stole a glance at Chu Chiyi and saw him shake his head almost imperceptibly at her.
Only then did I feel a little more at ease.
A few minutes later, Lu Siming returned after taking care of his business. Judging from his expression, he didn't seem to have noticed anything unusual in the restroom. Mu Jia's heart settled down, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
He sat down again, and the two men started chatting idly again. Mu Jia chuckled and listened, occasionally offering a few words of response.
Just as she was almost completely relaxed, she suddenly heard Lu Siming say, "By the way, Lao Chu, I didn't wear enough clothes today. Can you lend me a coat to wear back later?"
Mu Jia's heart suddenly stopped beating for a second.
"Okay." There was no hint of panic in Chu Chiyi's voice. "I'll go get it for you."
Unexpectedly, Lu Siming stood up first.
"You have so many clothes, let me pick some myself. I'm going on a date with Ke'er later," he said with a smile. "I need to pick something that looks good. The walk-in closet is over here, right?"
"?!" Mu Jia almost choked on her own breath. Most of the room was filled with her clothes!
Moreover, she should have passed by some of these places in front of Lu Siming. He has a good memory, and if she were recognized, wouldn't that be truly "ironclad evidence"?!
She glanced at Chu Chiyi again, and this time, she finally saw a hint of surprise on his face.
In an instant, Mu Jia's mind was in turmoil. She cursed Lu Siming in her heart for being so troublesome, a grown man who was so afraid of the cold!
She secretly berated herself, thinking that if she had known this would happen, she would have given the coat she had taken to Lu Siming earlier. That way, even if he found out it was a man's coat, she could have simply said it belonged to Xiao Yu and gotten away with it easily.
While she was in a state of utter confusion, she saw Lu Siming walk to the door of the dressing room.
Mu Jia's heart was almost completely dead. She was torn between waiting to admit the truth and clinging to the last shred of hope.
"What's wrong?" Lu Siming paused slightly.
"Could you let me see Ke'er?"
"What?"
This time, Lu Siming finally turned around and looked at Chu Chiyi with some surprise.
Mu Jia was equally surprised.
Chu Chiyi smiled faintly amidst their surprised gazes and said calmly, "Didn't she say she would introduce me to a blind date? She hasn't contacted me since last time."
"Okay, I'll ask her when she'll have time."
At this point, Lu Siming seemed to suddenly remember something, subconsciously raising his hand to check his watch, then slapping his forehead: "Oh no, I made plans with Ke'er today! I was supposed to pick her up from her house this morning, I almost forgot!"
Mu Jia and Lu Siming went downstairs together.
Lu Siming offered to take her home, but she refused, saying, "No need, no need. I just came out to exercise. It's not far. I can just stroll around and go home."
He didn't insist any further, and the two continued walking side by side toward the entrance of the residential area.
After walking a few more steps, Lu Siming suddenly slowed down and turned his head to look at the girl beside him.
Mu Jia happened to glance at him out of the corner of her eye, and her eyes met his. She saw a serious look in his eyes that was not very common.
She was still shaken by what had just happened at Chu Chiyi's house, and now she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine again.
“I have nothing with him!” she blurted out almost instinctively.
"What?" Lu Siming looked at her with some surprise.
Seeing that Mu Jia was in a daze, he reminded her again: "It was when we were in high school."
Mu Jia realized that she had been "guilty" and overly sensitive, and had misunderstood. She quickly smiled and tried to cover it up, saying, "That happened so many years ago, I had almost forgotten about it. You actually still remember..."
Lu Siming suddenly stopped in his tracks, looked at her for a long time, and then said, "Yes, it's better to forget about it."
"That's right. I don't have that much energy for it anymore." That last sentence wasn't entirely a lie.
"I don't have that much energy left," Lu Siming murmured repeatedly.
“That’s good.” He suddenly stepped forward again, his voice rising once more, “Now I also feel that he is not good enough for you.”
Lu Siming strode ahead, so he naturally didn't see the surprise that flashed across Mu Jia's face.
“It’s good not to think so much,” he suddenly turned to her and smiled. “Xiao Xiao is good too. You two are actually quite similar, much more compatible than you are with some other people. You should treat her well.”
"Huh?" Mu Jia was taken aback for a moment, then could only nod haphazardly to brush it off, "Yeah."
"So how did you know Chi Yi was in a relationship?"
Seeing his girlfriend's puzzled look, he continued, "What kind of decent guy would hide his girlfriend like this? He clearly just wants to play around, doesn't want responsibility, and doesn't want to give her a formal commitment! I went there this morning to see for myself if all those rumors I heard last time were true. Turns out, the gossip at his law firm wasn't entirely unfounded..."
There was nothing between them that they couldn't talk about, so he didn't hide from Chu Bike the things he had overheard downstairs at the law firm that were criticizing Chu Chiyi's private life.
Chu Bike was also taken aback for a moment. After a few seconds, she suddenly smiled slightly, her tone tinged with sarcasm, "You seem quite indignant."
"So tell me, did he do the right thing? Was it ethical?" Lu Siming asked, cutting his steak. "Shouldn't he be condemned?"
“That’s really not fair.” Chu Bi Ke nodded, then suddenly changed the subject, “But I thought you would think it was okay no matter what he did.”
"..." Lu Siming paused for a moment, then looked up at her. "Let's keep things separate, Ke'er. As brothers, friends, and even business partners, we can't deny Lao Chu's impeccable character. But that's a completely different matter from him toying with girls' feelings!"
Lu Siming did not deny that, from childhood to adulthood, he had agreed with Chu Chiyi on the vast majority of things.
Even setting aside a man's innate competitive spirit, to be more honest, sometimes he's grateful to have such a good friend, and in many moments, he envies him, even wants to be like him...
But none of this prevents him from feeling deep contempt for his actions at this very moment, in this particular situation!
In other words, in many ways, Chu Chiyi is indeed the person he wants to be, but in this one aspect, he is not!
"So how did you figure that out today?" Chu Bike couldn't help but speculate based on common sense. "What did you see in his house?"
"No, not at all." This time, Lu Siming answered directly: "It's because Chu Chiyi was nervous."
"Ke'er, he panicked! Chu Chiyi actually panicked!" He put down his knife and fork. "We've known him for so many years, how many times have we seen him nervous? But today, when I was about to go into that dressing room, he clearly panicked. He even tried to change the subject by saying he was meeting a blind date, his acting was terrible!"
Chu Bi Ke finally couldn't help but laugh.
"why are you laughing?"
"I'm laughing because you have pretty sound values. You didn't try to whitewash or exonerate him just because he's a good brother."
"Because it's simply impossible to wash!" Lu Siming slammed down his knife and fork indignantly. "If I ever have a daughter, anyone who dares to treat her like this, I'll beat them to death!"
"Since you despise it so much, why don't you expose it to my face today?"
"Really?" Chu Bike looked at him, her eyes filled with a deliberate and mischievous skepticism.
"Of course!"
"So what? So you're not planning to try and match him with Jiajia anymore?"
"Of course not!" This time, he was resolute.
"Hey! I'm talking about Lu Siming," the woman said, her eyebrows slightly raised this time, "when you thought he was the best in the world, you thought you could save him for your sister. Now that you see he's morally bankrupt, a playboy and a scumbag, it's my colleague's turn now?"
"No, Ke'er, that's not what I meant..." Lu Siming hurriedly explained, "I, I'm just afraid that if he continues to mess around like this, he'll cause something serious sooner or later. But maybe, maybe if he could have a normal relationship, he'd turn over a new leaf and stop doing all this nonsense..."
"Then I absolutely cannot introduce him to someone and push that girl into a fire pit!" Chu Bike resolutely refused.
Chu Bike became serious, "What? Just because you're handsome, rich, and have a promising future... means you can be a scumbag all you want?"
She put down her knife and fork: "It's fine to read about this in romance novels, but in real life, who wants to play the role of a good person who saves a bad man? We're not even good enough to save ourselves, are we?"
Ten minutes later, Mu Jia returned. As soon as she entered, she seemed relieved and immediately collapsed onto the sofa.
Chu Chiyi handed her a glass of warm water: "Your brother is gone?"
She nodded, then suddenly glanced at him: "What are you laughing at?"
Mu Jia continued, "Like high school students secretly dating without their families' knowledge?"
The man smiled again: "Mm."
"Then Chu Chiyi," Mu Jia suddenly sat up slightly and looked at him, "do you still like the person you liked back in high school?"
Upon hearing this, Chu Chiyi's eyes widened in surprise.
For a moment, he instinctively wanted to look away, so it took him a few seconds before he looked directly at the person opposite him.
But then I heard her say, "I mean, Sister Ke'er."
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