Chapter 31 Part 2

Zhou Wan realized what he meant, lowered her head, and bit her lip. "Much better."

She followed Lu Xixiao out and asked again, "Are we going to eat dinner?"

"Mhm."

"Where are we going?"

"My place."

Zhou Wan was stunned.

Lu Xixiao looked down, playing with his phone nonchalantly, and explained casually, "Didn't we get takeout from the barbecue place last time? It'll go bad if we don't eat it."

Zhou Wan was even more familiar with the layout of Lu Xixiao's kitchen than he was. She took out the induction cooker, bowls, and chopsticks, then got the refrigerated takeout food from the fridge, checking that it was all still fresh.

"Is there any rice at home?" Zhou Wan asked. "We don't have any rice."

"Probably not." Lu Xixiao sat down at the dining table. He couldn't remember the last time he had sat here with someone else. "I'll order takeout."

The takeout arrived quickly, and the sliced mutton, meatballs, and other things in the induction cooker were cooked through as well.

Zhou Wan picked one up with her chopsticks and ate it. It still tasted very good.

Lu Xixiao ate faster than her. After finishing, he lit a cigarette.

Zhou Wan glanced at him, wanting to tell him to smoke less, but in the end, she didn't say anything.

She shoveled the last mouthful of rice from her bowl and asked, "Lu Xixiao, are you eating more?"

"I'm done."

She proactively cleared the bowls and chopsticks and took them to the kitchen to wash.

After she had been washing for a bit, Lu Xixiao walked in, went straight to her side, reached out, and turned the faucet in the other direction. "You don't know how to turn on the hot water?"

"...I thought there wasn't any hot water."

Lu Xixiao leaned against the counter next to her, watching her wash the dishes.

After a long moment, he suddenly clicked his tongue in annoyance, grabbed Zhou Wan's arm to pull her aside, then rolled up his sleeves and plunged his dry, pale hands into the murky dishwater.

One look at his hands and you could tell they had never done any manual labor. Zhou Wan tugged at his sleeve. "Let me do it."

His uniform sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his bangs hanging over his forehead. His side profile was sharp and smooth. He had a cigarette between his lips, the ash growing a bit long. As he spoke, the ash fell onto his sleeve, and he shook it off.

"Go study."

The young man's movements were deft as he wiped the bottom of a bowl with a cloth.

The soft light in the small kitchen enveloped him, creating a warm and cozy illusion.

Zhou Wan hesitated for a moment, but still turned and left the kitchen.

She wiped the dining table clean, then walked to the sofa and took out a test paper.

The coffee table was very low, so sitting on the carpet to do her problems was just the right height.

The moment she picked up her pen, Zhou Wan noticed that faint little red spots had appeared on the back of her hand again from touching the cold water. Fortunately, they were already starting to fade.

When Lu Xixiao came out after washing the dishes, he saw the little girl curled up in a ball, sitting on the floor doing her homework.

Just a small little thing.

"There's a table," he said.

Zhou Wan looked up at him and smiled. "It's fine, I like it this way."

Lu Xixiao let her be and didn't bother her anymore.

He preoccupied himself with his phone on the side.

After finishing a test paper, Zhou Wan turned her head to look at Lu Xixiao and asked, "Don't you have any homework?"

Only after asking did she realize that he hadn't even brought his schoolbag home.

Zhou Wan thought for a moment. "Lu Xixiao, let me teach you math first."

He raised his eyebrows, staring at Zhou Wan without speaking. He leaned back lazily on the sofa, one long leg bent. After a long moment, he chuckled, "Studying is fine, but you can't do it on credit."

Zhou Wan froze, her face immediately turning red.

Lu Xixiao knew she understood.

After hesitating for half a minute, Zhou Wan got up awkwardly and hesitantly, walked over to Lu Xixiao, leaned down, and gave him a very light hug.

"Is this okay?" Zhou Wan asked.

He smiled, sat up straight, and said magnanimously, "It's okay."

Zhou Wan felt that her suggestion for him to study was like lifting a rock only to drop it on her own foot.

She pulled a math textbook from her schoolbag. "The final exams are coming up soon. The scope of the math final is this book. I'll start teaching you from the first unit."

Lu Xixiao watched her side profile.

He knew Zhou Wan's grades were good, but only now did he realize that when she was doing something she was good at, she was completely different from her usual self.

Very confident, and also very determined.

It was as if, after peeling away her obedient and gentle outer layer, the qualities underneath were revealed—resilience, strength, tenacity.

She explained things in great detail, breaking down even the simplest points and dissecting them. After finishing the knowledge points of a lesson, she would find corresponding problems from the workbook for Lu Xixiao to do.

Lu Xixiao twirled his pen, looked at the problem for a bit, then wrote a few formulas on the paper.

He used the right formulas.

Zhou Wan pressed her lips together, the corners of her mouth turning up. A faint smile spread in her eyes. "Now plug the numbers in."

Lu Xixiao was indeed smart; he understood with just a little guidance.

He quickly calculated the answer to the problem.

Zhou Wan picked out two more problems that weren't so basic, and he quickly calculated the answers to those as well.

"Lu Xixiao." Her eyes curved, the smile making her pupils sparkle. "You're so smart."

He stared at her for a while, a bit lost in thought, then smiled. "Trying to coax me into studying more, huh."

Zhou Wan shook her head. "You really are smart. If you study seriously, it won't be long before you see your grades improve."

Zhou Wan took the opportunity of teaching Lu Xixiao to also review for the finals herself. By the time they finished the first three lessons of the first unit, it was already getting late.

"It's getting late, I should go now."

"Mhm." Lu Xixiao stood up.

Zhou Wan stopped him. "Don't walk me out, it's too cold outside. I can just run back, I'll be there in no time."

"It's too late."

After what had just happened, Zhou Wan's impression of Lu Xixiao had changed again. She wasn't as afraid of him as before.

Hearing this, her eyes curved again as she praised, "Lu Xixiao, you're really a good person."

His movement of putting on his shoes paused. He looked at her. "Don't give me the 'good person' card."

"..."

Zhou Wan wrapped her scarf tighter and walked with Lu Xixiao in the cold winter wind.

When the wind blew, her stomach started to feel that heavy, uncomfortable feeling again.

As they neared the entrance to her residential complex, she was dazzled by flashing red and blue lights. Zhou Wan looked up and saw an ambulance parked at the entrance.

The complex entrance, which was always quiet at this time, was exceptionally noisy today.

She frowned slightly. For some reason, the sound of the ambulance made her heart panic.

She unconsciously quickened her pace. A neighboring auntie caught sight of her, immediately waved, and shouted, "Wanwan! Your Grandma fainted, hurry!"

Zhou Wan's mind went completely blank with a buzz.

She rushed over and saw her Grandma already being carried on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance.

The neighboring auntie said from the side, "The property management said there's a power outage tomorrow. I was going to bring your Grandma some candles, but then I found her fainted in the living room. It scared me to death."

Life is unpredictable.

This is perhaps the only law in this world.

Zhou Wan's hands and feet went cold. Looking at her Grandma's pale face, waves of fear washed over her.

All sorts of terrible thoughts invaded her mind. She couldn't make a sound; only tears fell nonstop.

"Zhou Wan." A voice pierced through all the barriers and entered her ears.

Her icy hand was covered by a warm one.

Lu Xixiao held her hand tightly, stared into her eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Zhou Wan, calm down."