Yu Zhi wasn’t particularly willing deep down.
But from a normal person’s perspective, she couldn’t find any reason to refuse the ride and take the bus instead.
So, after a moment of painful internal struggle, she reluctantly agreed.
“Thank you, Mr. Lu.”
She opened the car door and got in. The familiar scent of the car’s air freshener was still there, but now it was mixed with faint traces of a cool, refreshing fragrance.
After the car had been driving for a while, it was Lu Yanxi who broke the silence.
“Lu Shuang’s grades have improved again this time.”
Responding to a topic similar to the plotline, Yu Zhi replied, “Her ranking has gone up a bit.”
“You’ve put a lot of effort into this, Teacher Yu.”
“It’s what I should do.”
Yu Zhi answered only what was asked, never saying more than necessary.
Looking back, her relationship with Lu Yanxi hadn’t been this distant at first. Although the man was serious and rarely smiled, he was still polite. It was clear he genuinely cared about Lu Shuang.
Yu Zhi had a decent impression of him. They didn’t meet often, but when they did, they could exchange a few words.
Then came the plotline.
In Wings of No Escape, the story began with the CEO believing that his niece’s tutor liked him, even going so far as to deliberately seduce him.
The man looked down on such a vain woman but, for his niece’s sake, silently watched her “performance.”
It wasn’t until Lu Yanxi accidentally drank spiked wine at a banquet and later encountered the female lead, who was “showing concern” for him, that he decided to fulfill her wish and slept with her. To him, her struggles were nothing more than a game of “playing hard to get” and feigned modesty.
The next day, after sobering up, the female lead said she had never liked him.
Lu Yanxi could tell she was telling the truth.
The man who had once looked down on her was now shaken—whether his pride was wounded or he found their physical compatibility compelling, he began to forcefully pursue and threaten the female lead.
Of course, his pride wouldn’t allow him to admit he was attracted to Yu Zhi, so he never gave her a clear status.
The two lived in this ambiguous state. In fact, judging from the later plotline, Lu Yanxi even entertained the idea of keeping her by his side even after marriage.
Just the thought of it made Yu Zhi—
Ugh…
Had Yu Zhi really seduced him?
This was originally Schrödinger’s seduction—the Yu Zhi in the book didn’t know, but the current Yu Zhi did.
But heaven knows, she had done nothing. To a man consumed by narcissism, even spitting at him could be interpreted as a declaration of love.
Yu Zhi was genuinely traumatized—by the plotline, by narcissism, and from then on, she made sure to say as little as possible to Lu Yanxi.
After exchanging a few polite pleasantries, the car fell silent again.
Yu Zhi grew so bored that she stared at her nails, hoping it would keep her from thinking about what they had done in the same place in the plotline.
But the more she tried not to think about it, the more the images flooded her mind. She could even recall the sound of low panting in her ears, and the temperature in the car seemed to rise.
Yu Zhi felt awkward. With him sitting right beside her, thinking about such messy things felt like she was fantasizing about him.
She closed her eyes, forcing herself to calm down slowly.
“Is it hot?” Lu Yanxi’s voice suddenly came through.
Yu Zhi was caught off guard by the question. “No, it’s not.” Her voice carried a subtle difference from usual.
The man’s gaze discreetly shifted from her slightly flushed cheeks to the pinkish hue behind her ears before slowly withdrawing. As if something had crossed his mind, the darkness in his eyes seemed to ease considerably.
The villa wasn’t far away, and Lu Shuang’s high school was nearby as well. It was precisely because of the proximity that the Lu family patriarch had arranged for her to stay at Lu Yanxi’s place.
The car slowly pulled into the villa’s garage, and the two entered the house together.
“Well, Mr. Lu, I’ll head upstairs now.”
Lu Yanxi gave her a slight nod. “Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Yu.”
A servant led Yu Zhi to Lu Shuang’s room. As soon as she saw her, Lu Shuang hurriedly placed an English textbook on top of her head.
“Teacher Yu, I didn’t do well on the exam. I’m offering the book as an apology—you can hit me if you want.”
As long as she wasn’t facing Lu Yanxi, Yu Zhi felt much more relaxed. Seeing Lu Shuang like this now was rather amusing. She patted her and said, “Alright, I’ve seen the rankings and the test papers. The questions were just difficult this time, so you’ve actually improved.”
“Really? Really?” Hearing this, Lu Shuang’s eyes lit up. “It was so hard! A lot of people did worse than me.”
“Don’t always compare yourself to those who performed worse.”
Lu Shuang affectionately linked arms with her and whined softly, “I wish I could wake up tomorrow and find that English proficiency worldwide had dropped to a score of one, and only I could still get a sixty-eight.”
Yu Zhi sighed helplessly. “Hurry up and uninstall those novels of yours.”
The friendly atmosphere didn’t last long. Once teaching began, even the most cheerful person would grow weary. Yu Zhi often wondered if she’d develop breast nodules if she ever became a full-time teacher.
Midway through the session, there was a knock on the door.
“Miss, Teacher Yu, the master has instructed us to prepare some tea and snacks.”
Yu Zhi checked the time—an hour had already passed. Lu Shuang was clearly struggling to focus, so she could only sigh and say, “Alright, let’s take a break.”
“Hooray!”
Lu Shuang cheered, tossed her book aside, and went to eat. She wasn’t really hungry; it was just that her brain felt like it was about to explode.
Meanwhile, Yu Zhi began reviewing the test paper Lu Shuang had completed just two days earlier.
“Teacher Yu,” Lu Shuang’s voice came again after a short while.
“Hmm?”
“Why do you think my uncle hasn’t gotten married at his age?” Lu Shuang chatted idly while eating sliced apples.
“How old is ‘his age’?”
“Twenty-seven.”
Yu Zhi thought for a moment. “Maybe he hasn’t had enough fun yet. Besides, twenty-seven isn’t old at all.”
Lu Shuang paused mid-bite, her eyes widening in defense. “He doesn’t play around! I’ve never seen him get close to any woman.”
She seemed to think Yu Zhi meant he was promiscuous.
Yu Zhi chuckled. “I meant he might not want to be tied down by family responsibilities yet.” As she spoke, she noticed a simple mistake on the test paper and couldn’t bring herself to smile anymore. “Don’t worry about him. Focus on your own scores instead.”
It was truly a headache.
Meanwhile, the door to the study opened as well.
The butler bowed respectfully. “Sir, you called for me.”
Receiving no response, he glanced over and saw the master standing beside the study sofa, his gaze fixed intently on the floor as if lost in thought.
Following his line of sight, the butler’s expression stiffened slightly.
The carpet in Lu Yanxi’s study was a pure handmade carpet airlifted from Country C. Though simple and elegant in appearance, it was actually crafted through intricate techniques and extremely difficult to maintain. If it were stained with particularly stubborn marks, the only solution would be to replace it entirely.
Fortunately, the study was usually off-limits to others, and Lu Yanxi himself only spent time there when handling business matters, so the carpet wasn’t replaced frequently.
But now, the beige border of the carpet’s pattern was marred by a very noticeable stain.
“Sir, I’ll have someone take care of it immediately.”
Lu Yanxi withdrew his gaze. “Retrieve the surveillance footage from outside the study door and see who has entered my study.”
Upon hearing this, the butler promptly acknowledged the order.
Failing to clean it in time was one thing, but entering the study without permission was a far more serious matter.
The butler immediately began checking the household staff and reviewing the surveillance footage from outside the study.
A maid had indeed cleaned the room in the morning, but that was under the butler’s supervision, and he was certain there had been no such stain at the time.
Aside from that, no one else had entered the study.
“It looks like freshly squeezed juice was spilled on it,” a maid remarked. “But the kitchen only just squeezed some juice today, which was delivered to the young lady and Teacher Yu Zhi.”
Hearing Yu Zhi’s name, the man’s eyes flickered slightly. He stared at the surveillance footage, which showed nothing unusual, for quite some time before finally speaking. “You may leave.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Yanxi finally closed the computer screen.
Perhaps the stain had been there unnoticed for some time, or maybe he had caused it himself. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, yet for a moment, he felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
Without the interference of the plotline, Yu Zhi’s tutoring sessions over the past few days had gone smoothly, and she hadn’t run into Lu Yanxi again. This was normal—Lu Yanxi was a busy man, and under ordinary circumstances, they wouldn’t cross paths more than twice a month.
But on Sunday, as she was preparing to leave, someone stopped her.
“Teacher Yu Zhi,” the maid said politely, “Sir has asked you to come to the study. He wishes to discuss the young lady’s matters with you.”
Perhaps to avoid raising Yu Zhi’s suspicions, Lu Yanxi had given the maid clear instructions, leaving Yu Zhi with no reason to refuse.
The study…
Yu Zhi ultimately followed the maid upstairs.
When the study door opened, she noticed it looked slightly different from how it had appeared in the plotline when she had entered before. After a closer look, she realized the carpet had been replaced—with one in a lighter shade.
As she shifted her gaze to the man by the desk, she realized he had been watching her intently. Whether it was her imagination or not, she felt there was something strange about him at that moment. Perhaps it was the intensity of his gaze, which reminded her of the Lu Yanxi from the book.
“Mr. Lu.”
Lu Yanxi’s expression returned to its usual calm. “Teacher Yu Zhi, please have a seat for a moment. I still have a few things to attend to, but I’ll be finished shortly.”
As soon as he spoke, his tone was once again the polite and courteous one Yu Zhi was familiar with.
Yu Zhi nodded and took a seat on the only sofa in the room.
The maid had already left, but a glass of freshly squeezed juice had been prepared for her on the table in front of the sofa.
This was the juice she had mentioned liking during her first visit, and since then, she had been served it every time she came.
The room fell silent, save for the sound of Lu Yanxi typing on his computer.
Somehow, it felt eerily similar to the plotline, making her restless. Yu Zhi was even more cautious than in the plotline—she didn’t even touch the juice on the table.
At some point, the sound of keyboard tapping from the other side had already stopped. When Yu Zhi looked up, Lu Yanxi had already risen from his chair.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Not at all,” Yu Zhi replied politely. In front of such a narcissistic mind, she kept her expression restrained, not even daring to smile.
Next, Lu Yanxi did indeed discuss some matters regarding Lu Shuang. The general idea was that, to help Lu Shuang adapt to her new learning and living environment, Yu Zhi had been inconvenienced before.
He would arrange another tutor, focusing on other subjects, to reduce Lu Shuang’s English study time and, consequently, Yu Zhi’s workload.
Yu Zhi naturally had no objections.
“Mr. Lu has considered everything very thoughtfully.”
With this matter settled, Yu Zhi prepared to leave. Before she could stand up, Lu Yanxi suddenly asked, “Teacher Yu, are you very interested in this carpet?”
“Huh?”
The question was truly out of the blue.
“I noticed you were looking at it when you came in.”
“Oh,” Yu Zhi didn’t understand why he was asking this. Coincidence? Or was there some hidden meaning? “I just thought it was quite unique. I’ve never seen such fine things before.”
Lu Yanxi nodded, seemingly accepting this explanation, and glanced at his wristwatch.
“It’s already this late. Why not stay for dinner?”
Sunday tutoring sessions ended a bit earlier, and it was indeed almost dinnertime, but Yu Zhi declined.
“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. I have plans today, and someone is coming to pick me up soon.”
This was true.
She had already made plans with Chen Yihan to go to his place earlier. Just moments ago, Chen Yihan had asked her to share her location, saying the car would be arriving shortly.
Lu Yanxi didn’t respond immediately. He watched silently as Yu Zhi stood up and called out to her just as she was about to reach the door.
“Teacher Yu.” The man remained leaning against the desk, his posture unchanged, but something flickered in his eyes. “Have you been deliberately avoiding me lately?”