Vol 2 Chapter 24: The Second Visit
With all matters finally settled, Lu Li’s school life returned to its usual calm. In the following days, An Baili was busy moving. An Gulai’s assets were seized, and their original residence was sealed by the court. An Baili chose to move to the low-rent district – the vacant apartment next to Lu Li. The various inheritance procedures left her exhausted.
Chu Jingyi seemed to have come to terms with things and was no longer angry with Lu Li, but she intentionally or unintentionally avoided him and An Baili.
His sister’s leg had almost recovered, and she had resumed classes and returned to the women’s sports school for training. Lu Li, on the other hand, became the most idle person. The homeroom teacher found him and told him to focus on preparing for the Academic Competition next month.
The day to visit the Chu family arrived. As usual, Lu Li brought a bag of fruit and waited for Secretary Long’s car outside the gate early. Secretary Long wasn’t wearing a suit today. He wore a rather old-fashioned polo shirt, and his belt was adorned with a jingling key chain. He looked ten years older. Sitting in the passenger seat was a gentle woman, Secretary Long’s wife, who also had the surname Chu.
In the back seat sat a pink and jade-like little girl, with braided hair and dressed in pink, her big eyes curiously sizing up Lu Li.
“Call him ‘Gege'(older brother).” Secretary Long seemed very relaxed today, smiling casually. “This is my daughter, Long Jing.”
“Hello, Gege~” The little girl greeted him in a sweet voice. Lu Li smiled and said, “Uncle Long, your daughter is so well-behaved.”
Secretary Long laughed heartily and ushered Lu Li into the car. The woman sitting in the passenger seat looked at Lu Li through the rearview mirror. She seemed like a quiet woman, much like Secretary Long. Lu Li greeted them politely. He couldn’t neglect etiquette. The higher the status and the older the person, the more they valued etiquette. After all, the order of rites and music was a self-imposed rope that maintained class interests, and adhering to it gave them a great sense of security.
The little girl smiled sweetly, somewhat resembling Chu Jingyi, but her personality was much more lively than Silly Goose’s. As soon as Lu Li sat down, the little girl grabbed the corner of his clothes and said, “Gege, you are so handsome.”
“You’re very beautiful too.” Lu Li liked children, especially well-behaved and well-mannered children.
“Dad said you like Sister Jingyi, is that true?”
Secretary Long, who was sitting in the front row, suddenly coughed a few times. “Children don’t know what they’re talking about. She’s just playing.”
Long Jing suddenly exclaimed, “You’re the one who doesn’t know what you’re talking about. Mom, am I well-behaved?” The woman in the front row smiled gently. “Much more well-behaved than your dad.”
“Blegh~” The little girl stuck her tongue out at her father’s seat, making everyone laugh. Lu Li felt a slight pang of emotion. Not having children in his past life was his biggest regret. His ideal family should consist of loving parents and obedient children. A daughter would be best, considerate and quiet, no amount of pampering would be too much. A son… forget it, if he didn’t get spanked with a belt, that would be considered good.
Reborn into this life, would he have the chance to fulfill his long-cherished wish? What if An Baili still couldn’t get pregnant? Lu Li thought of Chu Jingyi for some reason. What would Silly Goose be like if she were pregnant? She would probably be the type to pat her big belly and tell stories to her unborn child every day.
Besides, he always felt that Long Jing looked familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere in his past life, but when he tried to remember, he couldn’t.
When they arrived at the Chu residence, Aunt Chu warmly welcomed them and repeatedly told Lu Li not to bring fruit next time. Lu Li listened while looking for Chu Jingyi. Silly Goose had been deliberately keeping her distance from him these past few days. Although they were still good friends, he always felt that there was a gap between them, and their relationship had returned to what it was before they went to Lingyue City.
“Little Treasure, Lu Li is here, where are you hiding?” Aunt Chu seemed to see through Lu Li’s thoughts and shouted upstairs.
“Coming, coming…” The Class Monitor finally came down the wooden stairs, and her eyes immediately fell on Lu Li. She was clearly dressed up today. She wore a blue-gray short-sleeved shirt with a bow tie, a dark blue pleated skirt, and her long hair was tied up, highlighting her youthful charm. Chu Jingyi’s legs were also long, but unlike Sister Yameng’s fleshy legs, Silly Goose’s legs were slender and straight, her skin as white as jade, flawless. Not only had she changed her clothes, but Lu Li even noticed that she was wearing lip gloss today.
As soon as the Class Monitor came downstairs, she walked up to Lu Li and shyly pinched his waist. “Why are you looking at me like that? Everyone is watching.”
Lu Li looked around and saw that Aunt Chu had already invited Secretary Long’s family to the living room, as if to give the young people some space.
“You look very beautiful today.” Chu Jingyi was already a rare beauty, and dressing up made her even more dazzling.
“Don’t I usually look good?”
“You usually look good enough.”
“Hmph~” It was obvious that she was enjoying the compliment. She hesitantly looked towards the entrance. “Didn’t Baili come? I invited her…”
An Baili was a shy girl and wouldn’t come to this kind of family dinner. Silly Goose was clearly disappointed. Her simple emotions still hoped to have dinner with her second best friend.
“Why are you dressed up so beautifully today?” Lu Li followed Chu Jingyi upstairs. “By the way, where is Uncle Chu?”
“Am I? I, I always dress like this.” She was really bad at lying, her tongue getting tied.
“Dad is in a meeting, he’ll be back later.” After saying this, the girl’s face was as red as a monkey’s butt, as if she was embarrassed by her mispronunciation.
Lu Li couldn’t help but pinch her small nose. “Why are you so silly?”
“You’re the silly one.”
Chu Xiaodong was indeed busy. Lu Li had often heard his name on the news recently, saying that his term was coming to an end, and Chu Xiaodong was handing over some unfinished work.
Silly Goose pushed his hand away and said coquettishly, “You can’t touch me anymore. You have a girlfriend, you can’t just touch other girls.” Lu Li’s mischievous side emerged, and he brought the finger that had pinched Silly Goose’s nose to his nostrils and sniffed. “Why is your nose so oily?”
“Ah?” She actually touched her nose. “Really?”
“Of course not.”
“You’re so boring!” The girl pouted at him. “The music has been revised. Do you want to listen to it? If not, forget it.”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Lu Li laughed happily, making the Class Monitor pinch the soft flesh on his waist again. “Hey, didn’t you say I can’t touch you? Why are you touching me?”
“I can touch you, but you can’t touch me.” Chu Jingyi put her hands on her hips with a serious expression, looking just like she did when lecturing the class during class meetings. “Otherwise, I, I’ll tell Baili.”
Lu Li stopped teasing her and obediently entered the audio-visual room. He put on his headphones and pressed the play button under Silly Goose’s expectant gaze. After a long time, the music ended, and Lu Li took off his headphones. “Impeccable. Jingyi, you’ve made great progress!” Unlike the compliments and comforting words he had given before, this time Lu Li was telling the truth. Chu Jingyi had not only rearranged the music according to his request, but had also added a lot of extra content.
“Hehe.” As expected, Chu Jingyi giggled again, but she quickly restrained her smile. “It’s, it’s okay.”
She was paying more and more attention to her image in front of Lu Li.
Leave a Reply to Akirei Cancel reply