Lu Yanshuo didn’t ask why Shi Yin had come looking for him.
He opened his phone to find several messages, all from his mother.
[Mrs. Lu: Yinyin just came to see you. I gave her the address of your basketball court.]
[Mrs. Lu: She’ll be an adult soon too. When that happens, you two can go practice driving together. Your Aunt Lin and I have already picked out a driving school.]
[Mrs. Lu: Don’t come home for dinner tonight either. Take Yinyin out for something nice. She just finished the college entrance exams—as her older brother, you should reward her properly.]
Lu Yanshuo had come back this summer specifically to learn how to drive. Back when he finished the college entrance exams, he was busy working part-time jobs every day, so naturally he’d had no time.
Now that his career was just getting started, he wanted to save wherever he could, so he figured he should find time to get his driver’s license—it would be much more convenient later on.
Lu Yanshuo had grown used to living alone in a big city all these years. Apart from his college classmates, most of the people he interacted with were work colleagues.
Compared to the prosperity of the capital, his hometown was rather remote. Though it was a provincial capital, the entire province was underdeveloped, so to outsiders it seemed like a backwater—especially to those from economically thriving major cities.
Cao Xuyang was a chatterbox, and while Lu Yanshuo was reading the messages, he had already added Shi Yin as a friend and was affectionately calling her “little sis.”
Shi Yin had come with the intention of talking, so she wasn’t shy about it at all.
“What do you all want to eat?”
Since Mrs. Lu had given the word, Lu Yanshuo had no intention of disobeying.
He looked up, only to see the two of them chattering away over their phones, apparently having already decided what they wanted to eat.
Hearing the man’s question, Shi Yin looked up and smiled shyly. “Is hot pot okay?”
The girl seemed a little awkward, the corners of her lips curving up, revealing pearly white teeth beneath her pale pink lips.
In Lu Yanshuo’s memory, he had rarely seen Shi Yin dressed so vibrantly. Even in summer, she used to wrap herself up like a turtle in its shell.
Only now did he realize that the quiet, withdrawn little girl who never dared to meet his eyes had truly grown up.
Cao Xuyang chimed in from the side, “Hot pot, hot pot! Little sis, with you here today, we’ve got to bleed this guy dry.”
Lu Yanshuo didn’t care what they ate anyway, so the group took a taxi to a well-reviewed hot pot restaurant in a shopping mall that had opened in recent years.
The only problem was that they seemed to have forgotten it was summer break—the mall was far livelier than usual.
By the time Shi Yin and the others got a number, they would have to wait almost an hour.
“No way, is this place really that packed?”
Cao Xuyang’s jaw dropped, clearly not expecting this either.
Shi Yin looked a bit embarrassed, an appropriately awkward expression appearing on her face. “I didn’t realize this place was so popular. Maybe we should try somewhere else?”
Cao Xuyang glanced at Lu Yanshuo, who hadn’t said a word, and shrugged. “I don’t mind either way. What about you?”
The man glanced around, then his gaze finally settled on Shi Yin, his tone softening slightly. “It’s dinner time. Everywhere is going to be crowded.”
“Since you want hot pot, we’ll wait a while. We can look around elsewhere in the meantime.”
“If there’s anything you want to buy, I’ll pay.”
Though his expression remained as cold as ever, the kind that made people want to keep their distance, that last line was genuinely him showing his care as an older brother.
The girl’s almond eyes widened slightly, and the moment she met his gaze, she lowered her head again, waving her hands hurriedly. “No, no need, Xiao Shuo-ge, I have money.”
Although Cao Xuyang couldn’t understand why the two of them interacted so awkwardly, he didn’t know Shi Yin well—but he did know Lu Yanshuo.
Just the thought of Lu Yanshuo, with that cold personality of his, suddenly turning into a doting brother-obsessed fool one day made his skin crawl.
At that thought, he glanced at Shi Yin sympathetically. Being the little sister of the Great Demon King Lu was truly pitiful.
So he hooked an arm around the neck of the man beside him and said with a smile, “It’s boring just sitting around here anyway. Let’s go down and look around. If you want anything, just tell us.”
Cao Xuyang had always been a carefree sort, and since both of them had spoken up, Shi Yin nodded and followed behind the two of them.
Yun City was a provincial capital, but not a particularly developed one—it naturally couldn’t compare to a capital city like Jing City.
The shopping mall naturally lacked the grandeur of those in big cities, but small as it was, it had everything it needed, including quite a few brick-and-mortar stores of major brands.
Shi Yin was wearing light makeup today.
Thanks to Xiao Hua, her face had already been subtly improved, though she still paled in comparison to those born natural beauties.
And because it was on credit, she had only just entered the ranks of ordinary people—tossed into a crowd, she would still be impossible to pick out.
So, under Xiao Hua’s guidance, she had applied a plain, “glass of water” style nude makeup, so faint that even an observant girl would barely notice it.
Let alone boys, who rarely understood such subtleties.
Faint as it was, it still flattered Shi Yin’s face, making her features more defined, her eyes brighter and especially spirited, like faint stars in the night sky.
Setting aside Cao Xuyang, Lu Yanshuo had never gone shopping with a girl before and had no idea what gift to buy.
But he remembered his seniors from school mentioning that if you made your girlfriend angry, the best solution was to buy her a bag.
Why?
Because, of course, “a bag cures all ills.”
Shi Yin was young and not his girlfriend, but the experience should be transferable, right?
Lu Yanshuo thought to himself and turned straight into a quiet luxury goods store nearby, leaving Cao Xuyang staring in disbelief.
Since when had this kid wised up?
Cao Xuyang, naturally, was nothing like the never-been-in-a-relationship Lu Yanshuo. He wasn’t bad-looking, his family had a bit of money, and he’d had several girlfriends over the years.
He’d naturally given plenty of jewelry and bags as gifts—routine stuff for him—but seeing it from Lu Yanshuo was somewhat startling.
Shi Yin trailed two steps behind them, and seeing this, a flicker of surprise passed through her eyes before she quickly suppressed it.
Ever since she learned of the future plot, her mindset had naturally shifted.
These days, as she studied makeup and outfits, she had also gained some familiarity with luxury goods.
But her family was just an ordinary one—Father Shi and Mother Shi were honest, simple folk—and these trappings of the wealthy were something her family had never touched.
Still, she remembered clearly: in her memory, that future “roommate,” dressed head to toe in designer brands, laughing so gaily, like a yellow rose blooming in the sunlight amid the envious or jealous gazes of the crowd—vivid, pampered, and utterly beautiful.
While Shi Yin was like the unremarkable mud beneath the flower—not even a green leaf worthy of setting it off.
In truth, after learning of the future plot, she was not as calm as she appeared on the surface.
But since the events had not yet happened, Shi Yin could not fully feel her hatred.
After all, those people were nothing but strangers to the her of now.
And yet, those memories had genuinely stirred the ambition deep in her heart.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but touch her face again.
It would come—everything would come: wealth, beauty, the admiration of others.
She was, in truth, a person who craved vanity and glory.
At this thought, she looked again at the tall figure ahead, and when she blinked once more, she had returned to her gentle, harmless image, tinged with a hint of unease.