Su Ci’s smile froze.

She blinked in disbelief, “Lu Zhe is… shy? Or angry?”

Fugui: 【He might be sleepy.】

Su Ci gave a light snort, “Forget it, you’d better shut up.”

Fugui trembled.

Walking into the room, the pink bed made the originally cold, icy room gain a bit of color.

Su Ci’s gaze fell on the desk. On it sat a cup printed with a little bunny — the one she had picked out, cute and adorable. She really had great taste.

She lifted the cup. It was filled with water, warm; it was probably the water Lu Zhe had poured for her while she was showering.

He clearly looked so cold, yet he was overly attentive.

– – – ˗ˋˏ♡ˎˊ˗ – – –

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the window and fell into the room. The small storage room shed some of its chill.

A series of noisy sounds came from outside. Lu Zhe opened his eyes, sleepiness lingering in them, his usual coldness slightly faded. He rose from the folding bed.

When he opened the door, the noise became clearer.

Lu Zhe walked out and realized the sound was coming from the kitchen.

“What are you doing?”

Lu Zhe’s low, clear voice was slightly hoarse, very pleasant, but it startled Su Ci in the kitchen.

She almost burned her hand.

“Morning.” Su Ci turned around and told Lu Zhe, “I’m making breakfast.”

Lu Zhe glanced at the water splashed all over the floor, the rice scattered across the counter, and the carrot peels. He remembered Su Ci had told him she was very good at cooking.

Smelling the burnt scent in the kitchen, Lu Zhe walked in without changing expression.

Reaching Su Ci’s side, he lifted the pot lid, only to see porridge so thick it had almost no moisture left, sticky and close to becoming rice.

“I added too little water,” Su Ci said, a little frustrated.

Lu Zhe looked at the carrots in the pan beside it — cut unevenly and stir-fried until burnt.

“These carrots are too hard to fry, no matter how I stir-fry them they’re still tough,” Su Ci whispered in complaint.

This morning, Su Ci didn’t sleep in. Instead, she woke up very early to make breakfast.

These past two days, Lu Zhe had been running around taking care of her. She felt like someone living under another’s roof and needed to show some effort, so Lu Zhe would know she wasn’t freeloading, that she could do things.

To show Lu Zhe the best version of herself, she even specially put on the new dress she bought yesterday, with her hair half tied up, making her look gentler.

However, while she looked beautiful, her breakfast was an absolute disaster.

Su Ci looked pitifully at Lu Zhe and stretched out the finger that had been nicked by the knife.

A good impression was probably gone anyway, so she might as well earn a bit of sympathy.

Su Ci told Lu Zhe, “Lu Zhe, I got cut because I was making breakfast for you.”

She opened her eyes and lied through them, “Just now there was a lot of blood, I don’t know if it’ll get infected.”

Lu Zhe lowered his gaze.

There was indeed a cut on her pale pink fingertip, but it was only on the very outer layer of skin — a thin red line that wasn’t even noticeable. How could such a wound bleed? It didn’t even need disinfecting or bandaging.

He looked at Su Ci’s dark eyes, slightly wet, her small fair face looking as if she had suffered some great grievance. No need to think about it — what she said before about being good at cleaning and doing laundry was definitely a lie too.

Lu Zhe spoke: “Go sit outside.”

Su Ci nodded obediently. She didn’t insist on staying in the kitchen to help — she still had some self-awareness.

She didn’t know how long had passed.

Su Ci looked at the white porridge Lu Zhe brought out; its appearance had completely changed. Clearly, Lu Zhe had added water and cooked it all over again. Her burnt chunks of carrots had also been replaced with fresh side dishes, and on another small plate were several steamed custard buns.

Su Ci glanced at Lu Zhe, who sat down across from her without making a sound. The teenager’s expression was stiff and cold, his face without emotion, yet for some reason Su Ci felt he was amazing.

Anyway, she thought anyone whose cooking was better than hers was amazing.

Su Ci picked up a custard bun and took a bite. The bun was soft, and fragrant custard flowed out from inside — it tasted wonderful.

Compared to eating rabbit feed every day before, or gnawing on carrots, Su Ci felt that being able to eat buns now was unbelievably blissful.

Lu Zhe told her, “I need to go out this afternoon.”

“Where are you going?”

“Work.” Yesterday, Boss Fang had sent him the client’s address.

“I’ll go with you.” Su Ci didn’t even think before saying it.

Staying here alone was too boring; it was better to follow Lu Zhe. “I promise I won’t get in the way of your work.”

The moment she finished speaking, the doorbell rang.

“Is someone looking for you?” Su Ci asked.

The doorbell rang a few more times.

“I’ll go check.” Lu Zhe stood up.

Opening the door, he saw a middle-aged man in a suit standing outside. Behind him were two others, hands full of gift bags.

“May I ask if Miss Su Ci lives here?” the middle-aged man asked Lu Zhe.

“You’re looking for me?”

Hearing that they were here for her, Su Ci walked over. She immediately recognized him as the Fu family’s butler. “What is it?”

Butler Fu smiled as he spoke, “Miss Su Ci, these are thank-you gifts the Old Madam instructed me to deliver to you.”

“I remember your young master already thanked me that day and gave me 20,000 yuan.” Su Ci definitely remembered Fu Baili’s stinginess.

Butler Fu heard the girl’s sarcasm, yet he still maintained a polite smile. “The Old Madam said she must thank you personally. Every one of these gifts was carefully chosen by her. Please accept them.”

He continued, “The police have already found the person who threw the object from above. It was someone in a bad mood who casually tossed down a broken glass kettle. He has already been detained. Thanks to you, Miss Su Ci, the Old Madam avoided disaster. The Old Madam said that in the future, if you ever need help, you may come to the Fu family.”

In the past, many young ladies had tried every possible way to get close to Fu Baili, to stick to his side. There was even one time when a certain young lady set her sights on the Old Madam, all for the purpose of approaching Fu Baili.

This time, Su Ci saving the Old Madam was too much of a coincidence, making people think more than they should. Fu Baili worried that this might also have been something planned in advance.

That was why Fu Baili had casually brushed Su Ci off, and the Old Madam hadn’t objected either. Only when the police uncovered the truth last night did the Old Madam hurry to send people over today with gifts to thank her.

Su Ci was sharp; she immediately caught the hidden meanings in Butler Fu’s words. In a wealthy family, who doesn’t have more than one layer of caution? Now that the Fu family had confirmed she truly was the Old Madam’s lifesaver, only then did they start showing proper attitude.

She understood why people in wealthy families acted carefully and cautiously, but that didn’t stop her from disliking it.

Of course, she would definitely accept the thank-you gifts she deserved.

Su Ci didn’t say much and agreed to let them move everything into the house.

“Miss Su Ci, if there’s ever anything you need, you may come to the Fu household anytime to find me. I can help relay it to the Old Madam.” Butler Fu’s attitude was very good.

Su Ci casually responded without taking it seriously.

Once all the gifts were moved inside, Butler Fu led the others away. Before leaving, he couldn’t help glancing once more at the silent teenage boy standing nearby.

Su Ci went to unwrap the thank-you gifts. She discovered that several of the bags were filled with clothes — soft in texture, new in style, quite fitting her taste.

She then opened the small gift boxes in the other bags. Inside were jewelry: a diamond necklace, a gold bracelet, and some rhinestone earrings. Altogether, the value was probably in the hundreds of thousands.

Su Ci felt a little regret that the Fu family hadn’t given her cash, since she was far too poor right now.

But thinking that she could sell the jewelry whenever she needed money, Su Ci’s mood lifted again.

She moved close to Lu Zhe and told him, “Yesterday I saved an old granny. She’s rich, and today they came to thank me.”

Then she asked Lu Zhe, “Do you think I’m beautiful and kind-hearted?”

The girl’s fair little face was full of pride, her dark eyes shining as she looked at him. Before Lu Zhe could reply, she started boasting on her own: “Pretty people aren’t as kind as I am, and kind people aren’t as pretty as I am. Ugh, what kind of peerless treasure am I?”

Watching the peerless treasure beside him excitedly open the gift boxes, a faint smile flickered across Lu Zhe’s dark eyes.

– – – ˗ˋˏ♡ˎˊ˗ – – –

In the afternoon, Su Ci insisted on going out with Lu Zhe no matter what.

“It’s very far,” Lu Zhe told her.

Su Ci said sweetly, “It’s fine, we can save money. Let’s not take a taxi, we’ll take the bus.” After all, she had never ridden a bus before.

Lu Zhe said coldly, “It’s very hot outside.”

Su Ci shook the umbrella in her hand. “Don’t worry about me, I brought an umbrella. Let’s hurry. Making a client wait is bad manners.”

Lu Zhe: “I could have already left by now.”

Su Ci thought of how she had applied sunscreen and looked for her umbrella again. She smiled brightly at Lu Zhe. “Lu Zhe, let’s go.”

The afternoon sun was fierce; the ground was scorching.

Su Ci followed Lu Zhe to the seventeenth floor of a tall building.

Since it was Saturday, company employees weren’t working. Only a young female staff member was there to handle the appointment.

The young woman had a gentle appearance. She politely poured water for Lu Zhe and Su Ci. “Those two computers over there both have issues.” The company’s network administrator had recently taken leave, and with no staff available, they had to hire someone from outside to repair them.

Lu Zhe stood up. “I’ll take a look.”

Beside her, Su Ci immediately said, “Go ahead, I’ll wait here obediently.”

Lu Zhe glanced at her, then went to check the computers.

The young female employee looked at Su Ci with envy. “You and your boyfriend have such a good relationship.”

Su Ci turned her head toward her. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Ah, I’m sorry,” the employee hurriedly apologized. The boy and the girl both had outstanding looks and seemed well-matched, so she had assumed they were a couple.

“It’s fine.” Su Ci hooked her red lips into a smile. “Maybe he will be in the future.”

The young woman froze for a moment, then lightly laughed. The heavy sorrow between her brows eased a little, her appearance becoming even gentler.

“You look pretty when you smile.” Su Ci rarely praised people, but this woman’s smile made one feel comfortable.

The employee stiffened for a moment, the smile in her eyes deepening, her face tinged with shyness.

Being complimented by such a delicate, beautiful girl — it was hard not to feel embarrassed. “You… you’re very pretty too.”

Su Ci nodded in agreement.

Her gaze fell on the young woman’s wrist. She couldn’t understand why this employee would die twenty minutes later.

Fugui: 【Fugui knows, Fugui knows, Master, save her.】

Su Ci: “I don’t meddle in others’ business.”

Fugui silently retreated.

“It might take a while more. Are you hungry? There are some snacks in the break room. If you want, I can go get some for you.” The young woman was worried the girl would get bored waiting.

Su Ci looked at her. “Okay.”

The employee stood up to get some snacks. She chose a few treats girls usually liked. “These won’t cause inflammation and the calories are low. You can eat them without worry.”

Su Ci accepted the snacks with a smile.

She opened a pack of peach-flavored yogurt sticks and slowly bit into one, occasionally glancing at the employee’s life value — only fifteen minutes left.

Each time the woman’s eyes met hers, she would give a shy little smile. With someone who spoke gently and acted gently like this, Su Ci really couldn’t imagine how she would die.

Fugui appeared again: 【Fugui knows, Master can ask Fugui.】

Su Ci bit the yogurt stick, her mouth filled with peach flavor. “Speak.”

Fugui’s soft, milky voice was excited: 【She will slit her wrist.】

Su Ci narrowed her eyes slightly, giving the employee another glance. “You’re saying she’s going to slit her wrist here in the company later?”

Fugui: 【Yes, Master, hurry and save her.】 The golden cotton candy was too delicious; Fugui wanted more.

Su Ci lifted the corner of her eye, the tiny tear mole beneath it irresistibly enticing. She continued biting the yogurt stick, not knowing what she was thinking.

Ten minutes later, Lu Zhe had already repaired both computers. “There’s no problem with the computers anymore.”

“Thank you for your hard work.” The employee transferred the repair fee to Lu Zhe. “I’ll walk you out.”

“Thank you for the snacks, they were delicious. No need to trouble yourself, we can go on our own.” Su Ci stood up and went to Lu Zhe’s side.

“Okay, then I won’t walk you out.”

The young employee gave Su Ci a gentle smile, then turned around and went back in to check the computers.

Licking the sweetness from her lips, Su Ci suddenly pulled Lu Zhe into the staff storage room beside them.

Lu Zhe’s dark eyes looked at her.

Su Ci blinked and silently mouthed to him, “Shh!”

Since the woman would die in five minutes, that meant she would slit her wrist any moment now.

Fugui buzzed with excitement: 【Master wasn’t going to save her?】

Su Ci: “You’ve never heard of ‘one’s mouth softens after eating someone’s food’?”

The space behind the storage locker was very small, just barely enough to fit two people.

At this moment, their bodies were pressed tightly together. Her light-blue dress brushed against his black trousers; her upper body pressed fully against his chest. The atmosphere was very suggestive.

Even with Su Ci’s thick skin, her fair little face flushed red.

She shifted her feet, trying to move away a little. But the moment she moved, Lu Zhe’s whole body went stiff.

Seeing Lu Zhe lower his gaze to look down, Su Ci immediately reached out and covered his eyes.

Darkness fell completely before him.

Lu Zhe heard the girl, her voice suppressed, whisper accusingly by his ear, “Lu Zhe, don’t move.”