When Lu Bofan looked at people, there was always a natural arrogance in his gaze—sharp and cold.
But at this moment, his deep eyes seemed to penetrate through the thin fabric of her dress, an intense heat densely pressing as if it wanted to invade her body.
He stared at her, asking unhurriedly, "Don't want to be here?"
Lu Meng's throat felt a little dry. Without much thought, she nodded in response.
She had originally assumed the man would let her down, but was caught off guard when he scooped her up in his arms.
Lu Meng's breathing instinctively softened. Her eyelashes lowered, deliberately avoiding his gaze, and she silently tightened her arms around his neck.
Lu Bofan took in all her small movements. When he spoke again, there was a teasing smile in his voice: "Nervous?"
Lu Meng ignored her chaotic heartbeat and met the man's gaze calmly: "What's there to be nervous about? It's not like we haven't done it before."
It was as if the superficial layer of unfamiliarity had been peeled away, and threads of ambiguity kept spreading.
Lu Bofan's lips curved imperceptibly. "Seems I misunderstood."
Lu Meng felt there was something more behind his words, but she didn't ask.
Compared to yesterday's awkwardness and clumsiness, they seemed much more in sync today.
Lu Meng's nostrils were filled with intense ambiguity. Though she had tried her utmost to hold back, broken, stifled moans still escaped intermittently.
At first, neither of them spoke.
In the haze of consciousness, Lu Bofan's breath fell by her ear, his mild smile seeming to seep densely into her body: "Weren't you not nervous?"
Lu Meng felt she was being mocked. She had some pride too—her hands, which had been tightly clutching the man's body, loosened. As if from embarrassment turned to anger, she pushed at him, but in an instant, her hands were pinned down and she was pressed into the soft bedsheets.
Today was still only once.
Lu Meng spent a long time in the bathroom fussing over her skincare. When she came out wrapped in mist, it was almost midnight.
Lu Bofan hadn't gone to rest yet. Seeing her cover a yawn with her hand, he asked as if casually, "How many classes tomorrow?"
Lu Meng took out her phone to check her schedule: "Just two in the afternoon."
"I'll come pick you up when I'm done." Lu Bofan's tone was nearly calm. Her fingers, mid-typing, paused. She hesitated to refuse: "No need, right?"
Catching the man's gaze, she instinctively explained, "I just don't want to trouble you."
The bedroom still carried an ambiguous and sensual atmosphere, but unlike the intimate exchange moments ago, the two were much calmer now.
Lu Bofan casually withdrew his gaze, his smile faint: "You really do keep everything so clearly separated."
Heat crept up Lu Meng's ears. She had just enjoyed herself, and now she was turning her back and drawing boundaries—it did seem a bit unreasonable.
She put on a reluctant expression, but her tone was considerably lighter: "Alright then. Since President Lu brought it up himself, I have no reason to refuse."
The way "President Lu" came out of her mouth gave Lu Bofan a different kind of feeling.
He glanced down at her, only to see she had already slid under the covers and, as if to hide her intentions, turned over to face away from him.
The water-blue camisole she had newly changed into complemented her skin tone well. Her long hair was spread out, and her exposed skin was delicate and white to the point of glowing.
Lu Bofan suddenly understood why she had wanted to change the bedding set.
Compared to dull, plain colors, she was indeed more suited to this kind of brightness.
Lu Meng had no idea what he was thinking. Sleepiness crept over him, and he drifted off in a daze.
Just like last night, the woman's soft body squeezed back into his arms.
This time, Lu Bofan didn't even stir an eyelid. His arm rested on her slender waist, giving it a light, gentle pat—almost as if there were a faint illusion of soothing comfort.
Lu Meng had told her parents in advance that she would be coming back. After class, she received a call from Lu Bofan.
The man's voice was unhurried, yet carried a hint of weary apology: "Sorry, something came up at the last minute. I might not be able to pick you up."
Lu Meng slowed her steps: "It's fine. If you really can't spare the time, you don't have to come—"
"Lu Meng."
The voice on the phone interrupted her calmly: "I'll be there."
She was taken aback for a moment, then murmured an okay.
She didn't know why, but she believed every promise he made—
Even though he had just broken his promise because of something else.
When she returned to the Shao residence, she hadn't expected Grandma and her eldest uncle to be there as well.
The Shao family was a medical dynasty. By the time of Lu Meng's great-grandfather's generation, they had developed a pharmaceutical industry. Now, most of the medicines the public needed were produced and sold by the Shao Corporation.
However, Lu Meng's family didn't have a good relationship with Grandma and her eldest uncle.
When she was five or six years old, Shao Tingyuan had taken her and her mother out of the Shao family.
They rarely had contact, only visiting on important holidays.
And Grandma and her eldest uncle almost never came in person. Lu Meng wasn't close to them, so she merely offered a distant greeting.
"Why are you back alone? Where's Bofan?"
After all these years, the old lady still spoke in that condescending tone, which was unpleasant to hear.
Unlike her affectionate demeanor in front of her mother, Lu Meng's voice was neither warm nor cold: "He's a bit busy. He'll come by later."
The old lady seemed highly dissatisfied with her performance. Lu Meng's eldest uncle, Shao Tingfeng, slowly spoke up: "You two are newlyweds. As a wife, you should care for your husband. Remember, you must never just think of yourself."
Disgust rose in Lu Meng's heart. She had been raised well, and even now she remained composed: "I know Uncle means well for me, but Bofan has said that however I am at my own home, I can be the same after marrying him."
"The Lu family has no rules at all. He also promised that I am the mistress of the Lu household, and everything is up to me. So you and Grandma don't need to worry about me."
When she said this, not only the old lady and Shao Tingfeng, but even Lu Ling gave her an extra glance.
The old lady still didn't crack a smile. She took a sip of tea and stated the main purpose of today's visit: "That project east of the city is now in the Lu family's hands. Now that our two families are bound by marriage, as a child of the Shao family, you should help build a connection."
Lu Meng had more or less guessed this. Disgust flickered across her lowered brows and eyes, but before she could speak, her mother Lu Ling's cold voice rang out: "You never acknowledged this granddaughter before."
The woman, always gentle, would raise all her thorns when protecting her daughter.
Shao Tingfeng set down his teacup. Accustomed to being flattered by others, he habitually spoke with a hint of reproach: "The child doesn't understand things. How can you not understand either?"
"Who doesn't understand things?"
The man's familiar, steady voice broke the deadlock in the villa. Lu Meng turned around and saw not only her father, who had just returned from the hospital, but also the late-arriving President Lu.
"How did you come back with my dad?"
Lu Meng walked over to the man's side and instinctively stood on her tiptoes to whisper.
Lu Bofan lowered his head slightly and answered by her ear, "I happened to run into him."
What a coincidence?
Shao Tingyuan held his wife's hand and looked toward the old lady and his elder brother, his smile fading considerably. "Mom, big brother, why have you come?"
Shao Tingfeng acted as if he hadn't noticed the displeasure in his tone. "We're all family—it's only right that we have a meal together."
Lu Meng found it nothing short of mocking. She ignored the two of them but noticed that Lu Bofan was extremely thoughtful—though he had arrived late, he had prepared gifts.
Lu Ling was delighted by this son-in-law, and Shao Tingyuan likewise wore a warm, faint smile throughout.
This family of four acted as if no one else were present, making the old lady and Shao Tingfeng seem superfluous.
Yet when facing Lu Bofan, the two of them put on a bit more of a smile.
But Lu Bofan was extremely perceptive. He noticed that Lu Meng's expression was subdued, and he didn't act overly warm himself—maintaining the courtesy of a junior while keeping a cool, distant air of detachment.
This displeased the old lady.
During the meal, Shao Tingfeng brought up the East City project.
Lu Meng's aversion deepened. She and Lu Bofan had only been married a few days, and they were already so eager to reach out and take.
Clearly, Grandma and Uncle had despised her in the past, yet now they wanted to leech off her.
She didn't know what Lu Bofan would think, and she suddenly lost her appetite. Just as she set down her chopsticks, the man beside her spoke up first, slowly: "Today is a family dinner—let's not discuss business."
Beneath the table, unnoticed by the others, Lu Bofan had taken her hand at some point, his fingertip idly stroking the skin on the back of her hand, carrying a faint sense of reassurance.
"As for the project you mentioned, if needed, you can contact my assistant, or submit your materials through the official channels to participate in the bidding."
He didn't spare any consideration for family ties, and his detached response left the old lady and Shao Tingfeng with sour expressions.
Lu Meng's restless mood suddenly dissipated. She didn't pull her hand away—she even secretly hooked her finger around his.
Lu Bofan's movement paused. He glanced down at her, and Lu Meng placed her phone between them, typing "thank you" for him to see.
What a unique way she had of expressing gratitude.
A faint smile flickered in Lu Bofan's eyes. The two of them acted as if no one else were there, and Lu Ling couldn't help but exchange a glance with her husband.
The old lady and Shao Tingfeng, having failed to get what they wanted, left as soon as the meal ended.
Lu Bofan was in the study with Shao Tingyuan, and Lu Ling fed her daughter a piece of fruit, teasing with a smile, "You and Bofan get along well?"
Lu Meng leaned against her shoulder, not denying it. "He's really good."
That wasn't a lie.
At least so far, whether it was the wedding or everything else, Lu Bofan had been like a perfect husband—she was very satisfied.
Lu Ling's heart finally relaxed. "That's good."
Lu Bofan and Shao Tingyuan came down from upstairs, and outside a torrential rain was falling.
Lu Ling suggested, "Why don't you stay here tonight? No need to make the trip."
Lu Meng had no classes tomorrow, so she could stay. She looked at Lu Bofan, originally intending to let the man go back on his own, but unexpectedly he calmly nodded in agreement.
Her bedroom was on the second floor, kept exactly as it was before she married and left. Lu Ling had even thoughtfully arranged for the servants to clean it.
Lu Meng closed the bedroom door, then asked, "Won't it be inconvenient for you to go to the office from here?"
Lu Bofan casually surveyed the woman's room and replied flatly, "It won't."
Only then did Lu Meng notice his gaze. Her room was decorated entirely according to her own preferences.
A lilac bedding set with floral prints, a fluffy rug underneath, and a few plush toys beside the bed—completely different from his black, white, and gray room, so cold and somber.
But the thought of someone as cold and rigid as Lu Bofan sleeping in her cute, warm bed made the image feel…
really bizarre.
She clasped her hands behind her back, her pretty brows and eyes carrying a hint of amusement. "If you can't get used to sleeping here, we still have guest rooms at home."
Lu Bofan didn't answer directly. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at her and asked, "The ones at our home—did you buy the same style?"
Lu Meng didn't know why he was asking that, but she still answered honestly with a "Mm."
The man raised a hand to loosen his tie, calmly shifting his gaze away from the cute floral quilt, and looked quietly into her eyes. "Then I can get used to it."