Before class the next day, Xie Mingchen arrived at the classroom early.
He had brought warm milk and fried eggs, carefully packed in an insulated bag.
Since high school, he had noticed that there was a little girl who loved sleeping in, disliked eating breakfast, and had a rather delicate constitution.
Using his teacher’s authority, he commanded her: “You don’t have to eat a lot for breakfast, but you must eat something. I’ll bring it for you every day—consider it homework!”
“Then it has to look like a work of art for me to eat it.”
The little girl pouted, not daring to defy her teacher.
A work of art? That wasn’t a challenge for him, an art student.
So, from that time on, the fried eggs he personally made for the little girl every day were never the same.
Some classmates had already arrived in the classroom.
He glanced at the little girl’s seat, quietly placed the breakfast inside her desk compartment, and then sent her a message:
Your “homework” is in your desk compartment. Come quickly, eat up, and then it’s time for class!
…
At the Hua family mansion.
“Mom, why do I still have to wear this ring? My classmates will laugh at me!”
Hua Rui frowned, tears already glistening at the corners of her eyes.
“Who would dare laugh at you? You’ve openly gotten engaged to the son of China’s richest man—it’s wonderful news. How could anyone laugh?” Mrs. Hua patiently soothed her.
“They don’t know who the richest man’s son is! They’ll just think I’m desperate to get married, hmph!”
Mrs. Hua smiled. “Who says our eighteen-year-old Rui Rui is desperate to get married? It’s the Lu family who sought our precious girl’s hand.”
“By the way, I heard Shen Shen isn’t leaving today and is going out with you?”
Hua Rui glanced at Mrs. Hua’s gossip-filled face:
“It’s all because of you guys. You didn’t mention anything about an engagement. I didn’t even prepare a ring, making us seem so impolite.”
“Then why don’t you go buy one for Shen Shen today?” Mrs. Hua teased with a playful raise of her eyebrow.
“Hmph!”
The young girl pouted, looking at the dazzling pigeon-egg-sized ring on her finger. She said nothing more and didn’t ask to take it off again.
Mrs. Hua had said that since they were engaged, she had to wear it for a hundred days—a symbol of “a hundred years of harmony”!
Although she was unhappy about it, she never went against her parents’ wishes.
Her phone chimed with a message notification. Hua Rui picked it up, saw it was from Xie Mingchen, and quickly opened it.
A complex feeling she had never experienced before stirred in her heart. She quickly gathered her things:
“Mom, I need to go to class! Don’t wait for me for lunch.”
“Who are you eating with?” Mrs. Hua asked knowingly.
“Oh, don’t ask!”
Hua Rui nestled into Mrs. Hua’s arms for a moment, acting coquettishly, before taking small, hurried steps to the car waiting in the courtyard.
A driver had already respectfully opened the door: “Miss, please!”
“Thank you.”
Hua Rui gracefully got into the car. As she settled into her seat, she took out her phone, opened the message, thought for a moment, and replied with a single word: “Okay.”
On the way, she received a call from an unknown number.
Looking at the number, except for the first two digits, the rest were all uniform fives.
She had a vague guess who it might be.
Answering the call, “Rui Rui, sorry to disturb you. This is Lu Jianshen.”
His voice was cool but unexpectedly pleasant to hear.
“Hello, Uncle!” Hua Rui glanced at the half-finished painting on the back seat. “It’s not time yet!”
The young girl’s voice was soft, sweet, and slightly sticky. On the other end of the phone, Lu Jianshen’s lips unconsciously curved upward:
“Save my number! I wanted to test whether you’d answer. Just in case an unknown number gets blocked and I can’t reach you.”
Hua Rui thought to herself: How old-fashioned, making it so formal. It’s just a meal and visiting a sugar figurine shop.
But what came out of her mouth was: “Uncle, you’re as meticulous as ever, I’m impressed!”
“Focus on your class! Don’t get distracted.”
The suddenly stern tone made Hua Rui feel as if she had run into the grade dean, and she hurriedly replied:
“Mm-hmm, got it!”
Got it? This kid!
After hanging up the phone, Lu Jianshen felt inexplicably cheerful.
He called for the driver, ready to head out.
Driver Lao Yang bowed slightly and asked, “Second Young Master, where to?”
“To see my personal stylist.”
“Yes!”
Lao Yang stole a glance at Lu Jianshen.
He hadn’t heard of any important event today that would require a special visit to the personal stylist for grooming.
“What are you looking at? Drive properly!” Today, Lu Jianshen seemed to be in a good mood.
Usually, he would just toss out two words: Drive!
Lao Yang quickly snapped back to attention, focusing on driving and not daring to let his mind wander again.
Xie Mingchen, seeing the message on his phone, thought Hua Rui must have set off.
The classroom was buzzing with noise, students gathered in small groups as if some earth-shattering news had just broken.
Curious, Xie Mingchen walked over: “What’s the good news? Share it with your teacher.”
A girl quickly stood up: “Teacher Xie, it’s huge news! Someone in our class is engaged!”
“Oh? Who is it?” Xie Mingchen asked with a gentle expression.
“Of course, the prettiest one!” a boy chimed in with a wink.
The prettiest one? Xie Mingchen’s heart skipped a beat.
In terms of looks, in all the people he had seen over more than twenty years, there was only one person who, in any setting, would unquestionably be considered the most beautiful.
“Let me see the news!” Xie Mingchen calmly took the newspaper from the student’s hand.
The front page of the finance section and the entire entertainment page were covered:
The son of Hua Country’s richest man, Lu Yuanting, Lu Jianshen, and the youngest daughter of Huatian Group’s chairman, Zaitian Hua, Hua Rui, hold a grand engagement ceremony!
He didn’t read the content; his eyes were drawn to the large poster featuring a tall, elegant nobleman and a graceful, ethereal beauty.
The man was holding her hand tightly…
In another photo, the man was bending down, solemnly placing an engagement ring on her finger. The pink diamond was astonishingly large and dazzlingly bright…
“Teacher Xie, Teacher Xie…”
The class bell had rung for a while, but Teacher Xie, who was always punctual, hadn’t started the lesson yet.
“Oh!” Xie Mingchen snapped back to reality and instinctively glanced toward that seat.
The familiar figure was already sitting upright there.
Xie Mingchen walked to the podium and spoke in his gentle, steady voice:
“Class, let’s begin the lesson…”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of that graceful figure. The young girl was sitting quietly, looking at him with a thirst for knowledge.
Noticing his gaze, Hua Rui offered a faint smile.
Xie Mingchen regained his composure and began the day’s lecture.
After the lecture, it was time for the students to paint, and he would carefully guide them.
Try as he might, he couldn’t resist walking over to the girl’s side to see what she was so intently painting.
It was a pair of a man’s hands, with distinct knuckles, slender yet strong.
Hua Rui clearly adored those hands.
Under her brush, they were rendered as perfectly as a precious work of art.
The hands were already finished, and she was now meticulously painting a ring on one of the fingers.
The ring was simple yet unique. What she had carefully designed were the Chinese characters transformed into patterns, which upon closer inspection read:
Lin Shen Jian Lu!
Lu Jianshen?
Xie Mingchen’s eyes darkened slightly as he deliberately passed by Hua Rui:
“Student Hua Rui, what are you drawing?”
Hua Rui immediately blocked the drawing with her body:
“Teacher Xie, you can’t look. I… don’t need guidance for now…”