Because she had never triggered the access control gates before, she had completely forgotten that in order to ensure students could start Monday morning feeling refreshed and energized, Luocheng University prohibited entry and exit after eight o’clock on Sunday evenings.
“What is the matter?” Lu Bai looked at her.
“Ah, no, nothing.” Qiu Wu thought that waiting for a rideshare to arrive would push it to five o’clock anyway, so she might as well find a fast-food restaurant near the school to sit for a while and wait until the school gates opened at eight before heading back.
Lu Bai glanced at her phone. “I should take you back. Furthermore, I recall that Article 172 of the Luocheng University regulations explicitly state that students are prohibited from entering or exiting the campus after eight o’clock on Sunday evenings.”
Qiu Wu said, “So you actually knew.”
She awkwardly scratched her earlobe.
Lu Bai turned to face her. “Why did you lie?”
Beneath the nighttime lights, the woman’s usually serene and deep eyes were tinged with a layer of warmth.
Qiu Wu saw her own small, hypocritical, and pitiful self-reflected within them.
Because you are far more important than I am; because I do not dare to trouble you; because I know better than you which of us relies more heavily on this relationship.
There were many reasons, but ultimately, it was because she had already grown accustomed to being this way.
Adults, or unloved children, always develop this kind of precisely measured sense of boundaries.
And Lu Bai was the very first person to shatter those boundaries and walk right in.
Instead of accepting Qiu Wu’s self-sacrificing goodwill, she asked her why.
Qiu Wu offered a bitter smile. “I did not want to cause you trouble. Driving me back and forth would take at least two hours, wouldn’t it? Weren’t you supposed to rest by ten-thirty?”
“That is true.” Lu Bai nodded.
Qiu Wu let out a sigh of relief, figuring Lu Bai would not press the issue further, and things would return to a track she was familiar with.
She was already deeply grateful.
“Since that is the case, you will come home with me to rest. It is only a five-minute drive from here to my place, and I will wake up early tomorrow morning to send you back so you will not miss your classes.” As she spoke, Lu Bai tapped away on her phone, seemingly modifying her schedule.
Qiu Wu’s mind went completely blank, and it wasn’t until Lu Bai called out to her with a look of perplexity that she snapped back to reality, stammering, “You, do you mean to say, you are taking me to your home?”
What on earth was this? An unexpected cohabitation?
Lu Bai seemed not quite to understand why her reaction was so extreme, but she nodded all the same. “Mm, let us go.”
Lu Bai’s residence was also located in District Five. The sprawling residential complex was built much like an ancient imperial garden. Qiu Wu couldn’t tell whether the location was prime or not, but Luocheng’s districts were designated in concentric rings outward from the center, meaning District Five and the districts from one to four enclosed within it all belonged to the city center.
Even as the car drove through the front gates of Lu Bai’s home, Qiu Wu remained in a daze.
It was a three-story milky-white detached villa with a courtyard so vast Qiu Wu couldn’t see the end of it at a single glance. It was paved with neat square stone tiles without a single weed in sight.
The villa’s black double doors slowly slid open outward with a beep when Lu Bai was still half a meter away.
Simultaneously, a soft sound came from the pillar posts on either side as a shallow layer of mist enveloped them both.
The scent of that mist bore a resemblance to the fragrance on Lu Bai, likely some form of disinfectant.
Qiu Wu subconsciously closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she saw Lu Bai standing beside the short bench in the foyer, having already changed into her slippers with an expression that was uncharacteristically solemn.
“What is wrong?” She stepped forward to ask.
“I just realized there are no items here for your use.” Lu Bai’s voice lowered slightly, as if she felt this was improper.
“Er…” Qiu Wu’s gaze fell upon the small shoe cabinet beside the short bench; its compact size was barely sufficient to hold one person’s everyday shoes.
With a place this massive, you put out a cabinet this tiny? Does your home seriously never host guests?
She wanted to ask, but after a moment of thought, she held her tongue.
Given Lu Bai’s immutable, airtight schedule, there simply wasn’t any room left for a social life.
“Should I just go back instead?” Qiu Wu suggested. She really did not want to trouble Lu Bai any further. Throughout the entire afternoon, the other person had accompanied her, brought her home, and now had to prepare daily necessities for her; she was starting to look more like the sugar daddy instead.
“It is fine, hold on a moment.” Lu Bai pulled out her phone and tapped away swiftly.
Five minutes later, Qiu Wu stared in open-mouthed astonishment as a small robot strolled in through the front door.
The robot only reached her waist, its wheels spinning at a blur beneath it. Where its head should have been was a large tray neatly laden with brand-new slippers, pajamas, toiletries, and even a complete set of bedding.
“The community store offers home delivery; this is sufficient.” Lu Bai said with utter calmness.
Qiu Wu thought of how it usually took half an hour just for her occasional takeout orders to arrive.
“It must be nice to be wealthy.”
She changed into her slippers and followed Lu Bai into the house, clutching her pile of items.
The living room was enormous, styled in a regular black-and-white pairing that was very pleasing to the eye. Furniture was kept to an absolute minimum, consisting only of essential tables, chairs, and cabinets that looked as though they had been custom-built alongside the interior decoration. There wasn’t even a sofa, allowing an unobstructed view of the courtyard outside through the windows.
Qiu Wu recalled a complaint made by an interior design senior she had once dined with: What minimalist style? How is having no furniture in a house any different from having no trash in a trash can? You try living in a raw concrete shell for two days and see how fast you sober up.
Lu Bai led Qiu Wu to a room, pushed open the door, and revealed an empty bed inside, though it had been meticulously cleaned.
“Housekeeper, please help our guest tidy up the room.” Just as Qiu Wu put down the bedding, she heard Lu Bai speak toward the corner of the living room.
There was actually a housekeeper here too?
Curious, she walked over to the doorway and saw something resembling a square storage box in the corner of the living room suddenly spring into motion.
After a dazzling sequence of transformations, a silver-white, slender humanoid machine strode briskly toward Qiu Wu.
“Ah!” Panic gripped Qiu Wu’s heart as she instinctively shrank back behind Lu Bai, her hand grasping the woman’s hem.
Lu Bai looked back at her with a puzzled expression, prompting Qiu Wu to offer a sheepish explanation: “I am somewhat afraid of things like this.”
At least the staff at Eternal Restaurant wore human skin; this one still had its LCD screen exposed for the world to see.
“Oh, is that so?” Lu Bai appraised the housekeeper, which was currently skillfully helping Qiu Wu make the bed. “Quite a few users have complained about this model’s exterior, but personally, I find it quite aesthetic.”
Qiu Wu: “…”
She now had to completely reconsider whether Lu Bai telling her she looked pretty was a compliment or an insult.
Rumble.
Amid their silence, a faint sound rang out.
Qiu Wu was very familiar with this noise. Back at the Qiu family estate, she had often suppressed her appetite out of fear of offending Qiu Ji, leaving her stomach to rumble like this at night.
However, the sound this time did not come from her.
Lu Bai frowned, raised a hand to press against her stomach, and murmured in a low voice, “I did not eat dinner, I feel somewhat unwell.”
Qiu Wu understood instantly. Lu Bai followed a strict schedule for her meals, and today she had been delayed by her own affairs, leaving her without dinner to this hour. Someone with such rigid dietary habits would naturally be even less capable of enduring hunger than she was.
“I will make something for you.” Her guilt deepened. “Did you not say earlier that you have never tried spicy hot pot? I will make it for you.”
Lu Bai looked at her hesitantly for a moment before nodding in agreement.
The kitchen in Lu Bai’s home also possessed that brand-new, just-renovated look, though thankfully it contained all the basic culinary utensils.
Qiu Wu asked Lu Bai to help order ingredients, and true to form, they were delivered to the door in under three minutes.
Qiu Wu expertly prepared the vegetables while Lu Bai stood right beside her, watching her wrists move swiftly up and down.
“Is something the matter?” Qiu Wu asked, feeling slightly self-conscious under her gaze.
“Nothing.” Lu Bai shook her head.
She merely found it strange; the way Qiu Wu lowered her gaze to slice vegetables, while not strictly following a pattern, was somehow very pleasing to watch.
She heated oil and stir-fried aromatics. Considering Lu Bai’s usual bland diet, the woman probably couldn’t handle much spice, so Qiu Wu deliberately prepared a tomato-based broth, boiling easily digestible tofu and vegetables in it.
Before long, two steaming bowls of spicy hot pot were served at the dining table.
Lu Bai sat properly at the table, a look of faint bewilderment on her flawless face that actually made her appear rather adorable.
“Taste it and see if it suits your palate.” Qiu Wu could not help smiling as she handed her the chopsticks.
Lu Bai picked up a piece of tofu and popped it straight into her mouth.
“Hey! Careful, it is hot!” Before Qiu Wu could stop her, the woman let out a hiss and spat the piece of tofu right back out, her lips slightly parted in a daze from the heat.
Qiu Wu rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a cup of cold water, and shoved it at her. “Quickly rinse your mouth!”
Having likely never suffered such an injury in her life, Lu Bai finished rinsing with the entire cup of cold water, yet the corners of her eyes remained red.
Was it really that serious?!
Anxious, Qiu Wu stepped closer, grabbed the woman’s chin, and said nervously, “Stick your tongue out, let me see.”
Lu Bai’s tongue was still stinging slightly when her chin was suddenly caught. Her instinct was to reach out and swat away the other person’s hand, but her gaze collided with Qiu Wu’s anxious eyes. Something was churning within those light green pupils; she couldn’t quite decipher it, yet her heart inexplicably ached.
She had never witnessed Qiu Wu wear an expression like this before.
The woman was always cautious and cowering, acting as though she were some terrifying monster.
If she shoved her away now, Qiu Wu would probably start frantically apologizing to her, just like she had back at the research center.
There was no need for that.
She had promised Qiu Wu she would adapt quickly.
It wasn’t until Qiu Wu grabbed her forearm that she realized just how audacious of a deed she had just committed.
She was holding Lu Bai’s chin and demanding that the other person stick out her tongue for inspection.
At this moment, the woman’s face was right before her eyes. The skin between her fingers was delicate, and Lu Bai’s cheeks were squeezed inward by her grip, comically adorable.
“I am sorry!”
She wanted to pull her hand back, but her forearm was still being held by Lu Bai. Blinking, the woman parted her lips under Qiu Wu’s stunned gaze and protruded the tip of her tongue slightly.
In the center of that pink, tender tongue, which ill-suited its owner’s usual aloof temperament, was a faint patch of red, likely from the scalding moments prior, though it appeared to be of no major consequence.
Hm?
Lu Bai let out a questioning murmur, her perpetually calm eyes gazing at her with focused curiosity.
She seemed to be waiting for her to finish the diagnosis before retracting her tongue.
Good heavens.
“No, it is fine, it should be fine.” Qiu Wu’s cheeks burned fiercely. She released Lu Bai’s chin in a fluster, waving her hands wildly in a near-panicked dance.
Lu Bai withdrew her tongue, cast a solemn look at the still-steaming spicy hot pot, and turned back to Qiu Wu. “Is it still not edible?”
It seemed she truly had never eaten normal food before.
Feeling a pang of sympathy, Qiu Wu softened her voice. “Blow on it first. Once it cools down, you can eat it. Look, like this.”
She picked up a piece of greens, blew on it a few times, and touched it to her lips. “If you are still unsure, test the temperature like this first. If it is not hot, you can eat it.”
“Mm.” Mimicking her actions, Lu Bai picked up the piece of tofu that had scalded her earlier, blew on it, touched it, and took a tiny bite.
Her movements were extremely cautious, and the reddish tint at the corners of her eyes had yet to fade.
She really looked so well-behaved.
Affection welled up uncontrollably in Qiu Wu’s chest. Seeing Lu Bai’s eyes widen, she asked somewhat nervously, “How does it taste?”
Lu Bai’s evaluation was concise and direct: “Delicious.”
With that, she ignored Qiu Wu entirely and lowered her head to eat with earnest concentration.
Her movements remained strictly methodical—blow, touch, eat yet her speed was not slow at all, and within a short while, she had consumed nearly half a bowl.
For someone who cooked, there was no praise more heart-pleasing than this.
Resting her chin in one hand, Qiu Wu watched her eat, her lips curling upward into an involuntary smile.
Suddenly, Lu Bai’s movements faltered. Her face, which had been slightly flushed from the heat, abruptly turned pale.
“Ahem!” The woman violently clutched at the clothing over her stomach and let out a dry heave, regurgitating everything she had just eaten straight into the trash can.
“Lu Bai!”
Qiu Wu sprang forward to catch Lu Bai just as she was about to go limp. The woman’s body was trembling slightly, and despite continuing to dry heave, nothing more came up. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she was in too much discomfort to utter a single word.
“Hold on! I am calling an ambulance!” Uncharacteristically calm at that moment, Qiu Wu supported Lu Bai’s back to help her catch her breath while rapidly dialing for emergency medical services.
A residential community where home deliveries took only five minutes would naturally take no longer than five minutes for medical assistance either. Before long, the doorbell rang.
Qiu Wu settled Lu Bai down and hurried to answer the door. There was no doctor in a white coat waiting outside; instead, there was a languid woman with chestnut-colored curls and a silk nightgown draped loosely over her shoulders. She carried a medical case slanting across her body, yawning as she slipped shoe covers over her feet and introduced herself lazily, “Hello, I am the Lu family’s household doctor, Xu Rong. May I ask if President Lu has drunk herself into a gastric hemorrhage again or wait.”
She stared at the bewildered Qiu Wu, glanced around the living room’s minimalist decor, and finally landed her gaze on Lu Bai by the dining table.
Lu Bai had recovered slightly by now and raised her head to look at the woman. Her brows were still tightly knit from discomfort, and with her flushed complexion, she looked even more unapproachable than usual.
“XXX” Qiu Wu watched as Xu Rong’s half-closed eyes instantly widened into saucers as a string of words tumbled from her mouth.
It was an old dialect of Luodong. Qiu Wu couldn’t speak it, but she could catch the general meaning.
It roughly translated to what in hell’s name.
Though dressed somewhat casually, being retained by the Lu family as a private physician meant Xu Rong’s medical prowess was beyond question.
Upon identifying the patient, she discarded her prior casual demeanor, walked straight to Lu Bai’s side, and spoke with disciplined politeness: “May I examine you now?”
Seeing Lu Bai nod, she retrieved her diagnostic instruments and reached a conclusion almost immediately: “Acute vomiting caused by dietary intolerance. It is nothing serious; I will prescribe some medication, and after a couple of days of rest, you will be fine. What did you eat?”
As she spoke, her gaze fell upon the bowl of spicy hot pot on the table. Qiu Wu hastened to explain, “I made it, spicy hot pot with a tomato and milk broth base, seasoned with sugar, salt, vinegar, and black pepper.”
“Ah, I understand, there is no need to be so detailed.” Xu Rong chuckled inwardly as she sized up the flustered girl before her, thinking to herself that everyone truly had their own unique tastes—Lu Cheng favored mature women, whereas Lu Bai apparently liked innocent little white flowers.
She was also a bit too honest; if it were one of Lu Cheng’s slippery, gold-digging lovers, even if they fed someone until they vomited blood, they would first ensure their own hands were completely clean.
The girl before her, however, was still looking at her with wide-eyed eagerness: “Dr. Xu, was there something wrong with the food?”
“No, there is nothing wrong with the food.” Xu Rong softened her tone, prescribing medication for Lu Bai as she continued, “However, Miss Lu has consumed pure food since childhood. Those foods undergo special processing, maintaining a light flavor that does not place an excessive burden on the digestive tract. Through long-term consumption, her digestive system has naturally adapted solely to that kind of food.”
“What?” Qiu Wu was stunned. By pure food, she meant the food produced by Eternal Restaurant. While those items were exorbitantly priced and highly sought after, Qiu Wu had always felt that such tasteless things hardly deserved to be called food at all.
Her mind flashed back to the way Lu Bai’s eyes had lit up when she said it was delicious, and then shifted to Lu Bai currently clutching her stomach with an expression of distress. She fell silent.
What kind of family on earth feeds a child that sort of thing from youth?