At the end of December.

After finishing his duties as an exam proctor, Lu Shijing finally welcomed the first vacation he had had since starting work.

He planned to return to Xicheng for a visit.

It had been a long time since he last saw his parents.

He asked Zhou Yang if he wanted to go back together.

Zhou Yang immediately replied on WeChat, sounding so jealous he practically looked ready to cry blood.

“I can’t go back! I seriously can’t go back! I have to work overtime!”

“Why do teachers get so many holidays? Why the hell did I choose to become a programmer? I’m practically going bald from all this overtime!”

“And because of this job, I can’t even find a girlfriend as pretty as Nansheng-jie!”

Lu Shijing calmly replied:

“Not being able to find a girlfriend probably has nothing to do with your profession.”

Zhou Yang reread the message three times before finally realizing he was being roasted indirectly.

“I’m telling Nansheng-jie you bullied me on WeChat!”

“……”

Zhou Yang grinned smugly.

As expected, only Nansheng-jie could suppress Lu Shijing.

Lu Shijing bought a ticket for the next morning and spent the evening packing his luggage at home.

He called his parents, only to find out they were both away on business trips and would probably not return for another two days.

Both of Lu Shijing’s parents were university professors.

His mother was a professor of economics, while his father taught history.

Yet somehow, he alone had developed an interest in chemistry.

He picked up his phone again.

The WeChat messages he had sent Gu Nansheng still had no reply. She was probably extremely busy filming.

She was filming in Xicheng too.

And this time, she had already been away for more than a month.

Would they be able to meet at all?

Then again, productions usually kept their filming locations highly confidential.

Gu Nansheng only wrapped up work at six in the evening.

She had spent the entire afternoon filming crying scenes. Her eyes were swollen from crying too much, and she felt completely drained.

After returning to the hotel, Xuanxuan brought her ice packs to reduce the swelling.

“Nansheng-jie, I’m going to buy dinner.”

“Okay.”

After washing up briefly, Gu Nansheng finally took out her phone to reply to Lu Shijing’s messages.

The other side immediately sent a video call request.

Gu Nansheng hesitated for a moment before accepting it anyway.

“What happened to your eyes?” Lu Shijing instantly noticed how swollen they were.

“I spent the whole evening filming crying scenes.” Right now, even her nerves felt painfully tense.

“Does cold compressing them help a little?”

“Mm, it does.” She lay on the bed with two ice packs pressed over her eyes while chatting with him.

“I’m going back to Xicheng tomorrow.”

“Oh… Xicheng…” She paused for a second before suddenly sitting upright. The ice packs slid off her face and onto her body. “Wait, you’re coming here?”

“Did you forget? My home is in Xicheng too.” Watching her cute reaction, the corners of Lu Shijing’s brows lifted slightly.

“Oh right, I forgot.” Back then, she had even escorted him back to Xicheng herself.

“Can we meet? Do you have time?”

“Send me the address and I’ll come find you. I actually don’t have any scenes tomorrow.” Since her eyes were too swollen from crying, the director had postponed her scenes for a day to let her recover before continuing filming the afternoon after tomorrow.

“Okay.” Lu Shijing’s lips curved upward slightly. Looking into her eyes, he suddenly felt a quiet sense of anticipation.

Knock knock.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

“Hold on, maybe Xuanxuan’s back with dinner.”

Gu Nansheng placed her phone face down and went to open the door.

“Nansheng-jie, are your eyes feeling any better?”

The visitor was Lin Siyan.

“Siyan? Much better already. I’m fine, they’ll recover by tomorrow.”

“I bought you some porridge. Didn’t you say your stomach hurt at noon today? Porridge is easier to digest.” He handed the container to her, and when her fingers touched it, she realized it was still piping hot.

“Thank you.” She had only casually mentioned it earlier, yet he had remembered.

“And painkillers too. You said you had a headache.” Lin Siyan took medicine out of his jacket pocket. “I already checked, this one doesn’t really have side effects.”

The words Xuanxuan said a few days ago instantly resurfaced in Gu Nansheng’s mind.

“He seems to like you…”

“Take the medicine and get some rest early.” Lin Siyan gently pressed the medicine into her hand.

Only then did she notice the raindrops covering his leather jacket.

Right.

It had started raining outside when they returned to the hotel earlier.

His hair was damp, and his hands were cold.

“Oh… okay.”

“I’m heading upstairs then, Nansheng-jie. Bye.” Lin Siyan was staying on the fifth floor of the hotel.

“Bye.”

After closing the door, Gu Nansheng sat there blankly staring at the porridge and medicine.

Could what Xuanxuan said actually be true?

He… couldn’t really like her, could he?

I don’t think I’ve done anything that would make him fall for me…

But the ginger soup, the porridge, the painkillers…

He did seem unusually attentive toward her.

A soft cough suddenly sounded from her phone.

Only then did Gu Nansheng remember that her video call with Lu Shijing had never been disconnected.

She quickly picked the phone back up.

“How did your stomach start hurting? Have you not been eating properly?” He stared at her with an expression that clearly demanded an explanation.

Crap.

He heard everything.

“I did eat properly! Of course I did! Maybe I just ate a little too late… but it really doesn’t hurt anymore!”

“And what about your head? Does it still hurt?”

“It’s much better now. Don’t worry.” The last thing she wanted was for him to know about these things.

“The person just now was Lin Siyan?” Lu Shijing smiled faintly, though not quite smiling.

“Mm, yeah.” She nodded.

“He really cares about you, huh.”

Lu Shijing lifted the cup of hot water in his hand and took a sip. Steam slowly rose upward, blurring the camera and obscuring his expression from view.

“Mm… we’re from the same company, so we just look out for each other.” Afraid he might misunderstand, she hurriedly added, “I treat him like a younger brother.”

“Oh? A younger brother?” Lu Shijing placed the cup on the table. His gaze flickered slightly before the corners of his lips suddenly lifted into a smile. “You sure have a lot of younger brothers, huh, jie-jie?”

“No, it’s not like that…” She tried to explain herself.

But Lu Shijing abruptly hung up the video call.

What the heck.

Was he angry?

Gu Nansheng wanted to explain that Lin Siyan really was like a younger brother to her.

Lin Manqing’s younger brother.

She called him back through video.

No answer.

“Are you really mad?” She lay on the bed while texting him.

No reply.

“Are you seriously ignoring me now?”

She sent him a hugging sticker.

Still nothing.

“Where did my boyfriend disappear to?!”

Then another kissing sticker.

“I miss my boyfriend so much, we haven’t seen each other for over a month~”

Still no response from Lu Shijing…

“Fine then, my boyfriend’s angry at me. Maybe we shouldn’t meet tomorrow after all. I’ll just go wander around somewhere else.”

“Poor me, all alone without a boyfriend~”

“Where should a lonely girlfriend go have fun?”

Lu Shijing endured it for a while before finally giving up.

He already knew she always acted spoiled like this.

And every single time, he could never do anything about her.

“Wutong Road, Xinhe Street, Lishan Residential Complex.”

“Aiya, my boyfriend finally appeared.”

Gu Nansheng looked at the address before asking:

“Where’s this?”

“My house.”

His house?

Wouldn’t that mean she might meet his parents too?

But she was completely unprepared for that.

And tomorrow, her eyes would definitely still be swollen. She would look so ugly, how could she possibly meet anyone like that?

After waiting for a while and seeing no reply, Lu Shijing instantly guessed what she was worrying about.

“My parents are away on business trips. They’re not home, don’t be scared.”

Oh.

That was a relief.

A huge weight instantly lifted from Gu Nansheng’s heart.

The first time meeting them, she absolutely had to look beautiful.

“Who said I was scared? I was just thinking about what gifts I should prepare for Uncle and Auntie when we meet for the first time.”

“Oh really?” Lu Shijing smiled faintly. “Then should I call them back tomorrow so we can meet? Sooner or later you’ll have to meet them anyway.”

“Uh… maybe next time?”

She was genuinely worried she would look terrible tomorrow.

“What a stubbornly dishonest woman.”

“A stubbornly dishonest woman loves you the most, and you love this stubbornly dishonest woman the most too, muah.”

“……”

This move worked on Teacher Lu every single time.