Chapter 5 "This handsome guy is really funny."...
"This handsome guy is really funny." Lu Xiao covered her mouth and laughed, then continued, "If you're going to try to strike up a conversation, you shouldn't do it right by the toilet door."
Huang Shiyu nodded in agreement, "It might be a quirk."
Lu Xiao laughed for a while, then looked into the store and winked at Huang Shiyu, "Why don't we get his contact information? He's still in the store, he's really handsome and would be a good match for you."
"Who was it that said being single was good, that being single makes you look younger?" Huang Shiyu crossed his arms and glanced at her sideways. "Stop looking, or people will think you have a crush on him."
"Ah." Lu Xiao looked away, still savoring the moment. "If I didn't already have a family, I might have given it a shot."
Huang Shiyu had just used her silver tongue to fool Lu Xiao, making Lu Xiao believe without a doubt that she and Li Xingzhou were one who struck up a conversation and the other who was struck up a conversation.
At this moment, I am extremely grateful that Lu Xiaoyi has been pregnant for three years and her memory is not as good as it was in her student days after giving birth.
After all, the media had written about her and Li Xingzhou together.
Moreover, judging from Lu Xiao's reaction, she didn't recognize Li Xingzhou.
Some things are better left buried in the past, hidden in the shadows, where they can no longer be heard.
Adults don't need to reveal everything about themselves and everyone, even if that person is their best friend or lover.
Lu Xiao put one hand on her shoulder, leaned towards her, and whispered in her ear, "I was wondering why this guy looked so familiar."
Huang Shiyu's breath hitched, and her mind went blank for a moment. She thought Lu Xiao had already recognized Li Xingzhou's identity.
Then she heard the second half of Lu Xiaowei's sentence.
"That guy was sitting behind us just now, but behind you. Hey, don't you have a girlfriend? Why are you hitting on her? What a jerk. Good thing you ignored him."
At this moment, a group of people left the restaurant, and the once noisy restaurant suddenly seemed to lose its energy. Li Xingzhou was still sitting at the original table. The food in front of him had not been touched at all. He just kept holding the teacup on the table, not drinking it, but just playing with it in his hand. When the water was about to overflow, he would turn it in a different direction.
And then, she finally saw the owner of the woman's voice from before.
Through the glass, her features seemed to be filtered with a beauty filter, but you could still tell she had a small face and large features. When she spoke, she gently swept her hair back, revealing her delicate jawline. When she smiled, the rosy cheeks on both sides of her face seemed to be from blush, which extended to her curved eyebrows, crescent-shaped eyes, and upturned corners of her mouth.
The two seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.
"My God, it's raining!"
The raindrops fell softly from the sky, then silently dissipated on the road, until they turned to dust, and no one cared about this broken moment.
Huang Shiyu stared intently at the small puddle by the roadside, watching the raindrops fall one by one, then merge together, splashing up a magnificent spray of water.
Just as Huang Shiyu was about to look away, a deafening clap of thunder sounded above her head. Before she could react, streaks of lightning as bright as day ripped through the deep blue night sky, accompanied by rolling thunder. Under the illumination of the lightning, the entire city seemed to sway in her eyes.
Rain always comes so suddenly, just like Li Xingzhou himself.
She felt as if she saw a blurry figure in the broken puddles, and in an instant, she finally saw clearly that it was herself from eight years ago.
On a similar rainy day, around six or seven o'clock, dark clouds obscured the view, and the streetlights were already on. Pedestrians were frantically battling with their colorful umbrellas. Huang Shiyu sat on the steps of the piano room, watching the raindrops fall in strings along the eaves. She held a kitten that had recently been abandoned in her arms. Whether it was because the temperature was low due to the rain or because the thunder was too deafening, the kitten shrank closer to her.
Without a moment's hesitation, she reached out and stroked the cat's head. After hearing the cat's rhythmic purring, she didn't stop there. Instead, she looked down at it and murmured softly, "Little kitty, you know, if only I had lots and lots of money, I could buy a big villa or build an estate to take in more stray cats. But I don't have any money. If only I were as rich as Bill Gates, my wish would be easy for him to fulfill."
After saying that, he let out a soft sigh, which sounded more like a long, drawn-out sigh under the cover of the torrential rain.
"Even Bill Gates, who is so rich, can't do what you're talking about. Sometimes money isn't as all-powerful as you think."
Hearing the other person speak in a casual tone, as if it were about what they had for dinner, Huang Shiyu stopped petting the cat and turned around.
She saw Li Xingzhou walk out of the piano room. She could clearly see a faint smile on his lips, but upon closer inspection, his pale face was expressionless, and his dark, bright eyes were just like the overcast sky at that moment.
Without a second thought, Huang Shiyu retorted to his earlier statement: "There's more than one Bill Gates in this world. Just because he can't do it doesn't mean I can't. The me of today doesn't define the me of tomorrow." This was the first thought that popped into her mind after Li Xingzhou said those words.
Li Xingzhou gazed at the lightning that resounded across the sky and said softly, "It's good to have such thoughts, but natural selection and survival of the fittest are clearly stated in Darwin's theory of evolution. Your idea is destined to be futile." Then, he lowered his eyes and stared at the cat in her arms, his eyes seeming to hold some unspoken emotions, but Huang Shiyu didn't have time to catch them before they quickly dissipated in the torrential rain.
"Is it destined to be a futile effort?" Huang Shiyu chuckled involuntarily, as if he had heard an amusing joke. "Even if it's Darwin's theory of evolution, so what? Survival of the fittest. To them, I am their heaven."
She looked at the cat in her arms, who was still a little unaccustomed to its surroundings, and stroked its head. Then, she smiled and said, "Do you think I'm talking big? Do you think I'm overestimating myself?"
Lightning ripped across the sky, and the entire city was engulfed in thunder and rain. Even so, Li Xingzhou's voice was exceptionally clear: "No, on the contrary, I admire you."
The rain slanted in, landing on Li Xingzhou's smiling eyebrows and eyes. When he wasn't smiling, his handsome face looked a little cold, but now, with this smile, it was as if a painter had added a delicate stroke to a peony.
Under the bright white streetlights, swarms of moths gathered for a while before flying into the torrential rain, as if carrying heavy burdens. They fluttered and thumped, their sounds echoing in the rain, before being pounded into puddles by the roadside, splashing up a puddle of water.
The reflection in the water was fragmented, and beneath the ripples, she seemed to see the scene of negotiating with Sam in the conference room yesterday, and then the scene shifted to Song Chaoye criticizing her for being inflexible and unable to adapt...
As the ripples faded, those past events, like fleeting moments, vanished in an instant.
Does her current state truly prove what he meant by "a mantis trying to stop a chariot"? Huang Shiyu wondered.
The cell phone rang loudly, breaking the silence. Huang Shiyu watched Lu Xiao scroll through the phone screen as the clear electronic voice rang out.
Lu Xiao had the phone on speakerphone, so she could hear what was being said on the other end.
"Mom, when are you coming to pick me up from kindergarten? It's raining so hard."
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiao frowned slightly, looking somewhat anxious. "Dou Dou, didn't Daddy go to pick you up?"
Dou Dou is Lu Xiao's child. After graduating from university, Lu Xiao chose to end her four-year relationship immediately and married for love without hesitation. Soon after the marriage, she gave birth to a son.
However, she did not choose to become a housewife, but instead entered the workforce.
This opportunity arose when Huang Shiyu and Song Chaoye had just founded Speed Technology and achieved some success, which happened to ignite Lu Xiao's entrepreneurial spirit, who had just finished her postpartum confinement.
"Dad said there's a tricky case and asked me to wait a bit longer. Mom, when are you coming to pick me up?"
DouDou's soft voice touched Lu Xiao's heart, and she said in a comforting tone, "DouDou, be good, Mommy will be there soon, don't run around, okay?"
"Then Mom, you need to hurry!"
Lu Xiao answered the phone with a "okay," gave her teacher a few more instructions, and then reluctantly hung up.
"Dou Dou is a very well-behaved child, don't worry too much." Huang Shiyu looked at Lu Xiao, who kept checking her phone and whose face was filled with anxiety.
Lu Xiao said, "Well, most mothers are like me, used to worrying. They can't compare to his father's carelessness."
"Or, can I tell you that being single is liberating? Family and work will always have to take one side or the other."
Since Lu Xiao had a child, she had indeed mentioned to her a few times that she envied her life of being rich, childless, and having a loving partner.
Only the person experiencing it knows the joys and sorrows.
In the pouring rain, Lu Xiao's taxi arrived just in time. Huang Shiyu watched her get into the car. The two of them lived in opposite directions.
They rarely have time to get together due to their respective work and family commitments, but since it happens to be her birthday today, Lu Xiao insisted on celebrating it with her.
The rain fell like a curtain, and the car sped away, splashing water frequently. If you weren't careful, you would get soaked.
Huang Shiyu took a few steps back, but her back bumped into a warm chest.
"Throwing herself into my arms?"
A note from the author:
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Li Xingzhou: My wife must be throwing herself at me!
Huang Shiyu: Get lost?
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