Why was Mom’s scratch paper in Lu Qingjia’s possession?
A jumble of chaotic thoughts flickered through Lu Ran’s mind one after another.
Earlier, he had taken Shen Rong as his primary suspect, and with his attention occupied by trying to curry favor with Da Ju, he had not given much thought to many details.
The game account he had entrusted without worry, which had originally belonged to Lu Qingjia anyway. The subtle, almost imperceptible sense of tacit understanding, cultivated from reading the same comics before. That one time when Mom turned around to talk to Lu Qingjia at the back seat, and the moment he walked in, the two of them quickly stopped talking, though in reality they had been formulating the next stage of a study plan…
Could the two of them already be in an early romance? Lu Ran looked dazed.
Mom’s game ID was called… “Qingshui Riverside,” and there was also a “Qing” in Lu Qingjia’s name. Was he overthinking things?
The bedroom door opened from the inside. Lu Qingjia was holding an empty water cup in his hand, looking at his roommate standing before him with a puzzled expression.
Lu Ran fell silent for a moment, then handed the scratch paper back.
Lu Qingjia took it, glanced at it briefly, and raised his brows slightly. “Lu Luoluo’s. We were solving problems together. I accidentally brought it back.”
The explanation was somewhat unnecessary. It was not his usual style. But considering his friend Lu Luoluo’s “grand plan,” Lu Qingjia had no choice but to add an extra line of clarification.
The unusual explanation sounded, to Lu Ran’s ears, like an attempt to cover things up. He spoke as if casually, “Mm, I recognized it. When did you start doing problems together? I even took a short trip to the neighboring city and didn’t know about it.”
Lu Qingjia replied, “This afternoon.”
Lu Ran nodded, then turned around and walked back to his bedroom, his arms and legs moving in the same rhythm.
“What’s wrong with him?” Shen Rong had already put on plastic gloves and smeared petroleum jelly along his hairline. He was just one step away from starting to apply something to his hair. He glanced at Lu Ran’s retreating figure and said, “He looks kind of ridiculous.”
“Poor coordination,” Lu Qingjia said thoughtfully. He did not get any water, instead taking the empty cup and the scratch paper back to the bedroom.
At this moment, Lu Luoluo was in the dorm, summarizing her mistakes.
As they had agreed earlier, she and the top student Lu Qingjia met in a self-study room in the afternoon.
Lu Qingjia brought a set of mixed questions and required Lu Luoluo to finish them within a set time.
While Lu Luoluo was solving the problems, Lu Qingjia sat to the side reading comics. After she finished, he corrected her work and calculated her score.
Lu Qingjia reached a conclusion. Based on Lu Luoluo’s current level, her ranking range was between thirtieth and one hundredth in the grade. If she seized the final stretch to sprint hard and performed well, she should be able to reach the top twenty. The prospects were very promising.
After that, Lu Qingjia also helped her mark key points, added some supplementary questions, and reminded Lu Luoluo to do a thorough summary of her mistakes.
The top student’s affirmation was like a powerful dose of reassurance. Lu Luoluo’s spirits immediately lifted, and she promptly declared that she would sprint hard. As soon as she returned to the dorm, she started summarizing her mistakes.
The phone placed on the desk vibrated lightly.
There were not many people who would contact Lu Luoluo. It was basically Madam Lu Mingzhu, Lu Ran, her grandparents, and Ming Nan.
Recently, because of asking questions about problems, the message exchanges between Lu Luoluo and Lu Qingjia had increased, but usually Lu Luoluo was the one who initiated the messages. This time, however, the message came from Lu Qingjia.
【Your scratch paper was left with me. Lu Ran saw it. I told him that we were doing problems together this afternoon.】
Lu Luoluo’s eyelashes trembled, and she immediately felt a strong surge of guilt.
Could scratch paper expose a person’s true level?
Would doing problems together with the top student make me look like an underachiever?
Wait, I am not an underachiever anymore. The top student said that if I sprint a bit, I can get into the top twenty.
And studying together with the top student is called making progress together. How could that make me look like an underachiever?
The tension she had been holding in her chest finally settled.
The phone on the desk vibrated again. This time, the message was from Lu Ran.
【How has Mom been these past few days? I brought back a small gift, a travel souvenir. It’s at home. Mom didn’t seem to be home this afternoon?】
Once she was sure there was no risk of having exposed herself, Lu Luoluo relaxed. She did not think too deeply about it and simply treated it as an ordinary greeting from her son.
She thought to herself that it was a good thing the top student had sent her a message to tip her off. Otherwise, she definitely would have said she was with Ming Nan. Wouldn’t that have made her look suspicious? Lu Luoluo picked up her phone and replied, her attitude positive and natural.
【I’ve been reviewing these past few days, very fulfilling. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, my son. Madam Lu Mingzhu has always liked travel souvenirs. She’ll definitely be pleasantly surprised when she gets home. I’m also looking forward to opening the gift after the exams. I was doing problems with Lu Qingjia in the afternoon, then went straight to the dorm and didn’t go home. I forgot to tell you. Sorry, sorry.JPG】
She then sent the top student another message, 【Thanks.JPG】, promising to add an extra in-game item as a thank-you gift.
There did not seem to be anything unusual about the messages. But since Lu Ran already harbored doubts, the more he looked at them, the more something felt off.
More importantly, since Lu Qingjia knew that he knew, would he tell Mom that he knew? And if Mom knew that he knew, was that why she had truthfully told him her afternoon itinerary?
From a certain perspective, Lu Ran had hit upon the truth, but unfortunately, his direction was completely wrong.
Lu Ran then switched topics and started telling Lu Luoluo about his travel experiences.
There was no need to rush… Even if Lu Qingjia really was Mom’s early romance interest, it did not necessarily mean they would end up together. Getting the genetic sample was still more important.
After the final exams, winter break would begin. If he could not obtain the sample before then, he would have to wait until the next semester, Lu Ran thought.
If he truly could not find an opportunity, he could try probing through the game instead.
And there was also Da Ju. It kept snatching up dried fish and running off, ignoring everything else. He did not know whether he would be able to bring it home before the New Year. Even a cat with magical powers would feel cold in winter, right?
……
For Lu Luoluo from two months ago, a so-called exam meant checking the quality of the test paper, then filling in as many blanks as possible, putting on a barely passable appearance, and then sitting there daydreaming.
But times were different now. The current Lu Luoluo was no longer the Lu Luoluo from two months ago.
She took the paper, read through the questions once, estimated the difficulty, allocated her time, and decided the order in which to answer.
Then she started writing swiftly.
Physics was relatively difficult, chemistry was more basic, math was very standard, and English leaned toward the difficult side… and more than half of the key points Lu Qingjia had marked actually showed up on the exam!
The questions could not be said to come effortlessly, but it was like having half a bamboo planted firmly in her chest. Lu Luoluo worked through them with great momentum.
For some subjects, she finished with more than ten minutes to spare. Sometimes there was not even a full minute left, so she seized whatever time remained to check and verify her answers, racing against the clock. Finishing early without checking and handing in the paper ahead of time was something only top students did. She was just an ordinary person!
Lu Luoluo was only grateful that the exam seating was randomly assigned, and that she and Lu Ran happened to be in different exam rooms. Otherwise, her mindset might not have been so steady.
Lu Ran happened to be assigned to the same exam room as Lu Qingjia. As he watched Lu Qingjia hand in his paper early, what he analyzed in his mind was not the test questions.
Lu Qingjia himself did not interact much with people. Even with male classmates, he avoided physical contact. Ming Bei was the same. For the time being, Lu Ran could not find a suitable way to obtain genetic samples from either of them, so he could only analyze them from other angles.
There was no need to say much about Ming Bei. For now, Lu Ran placed his focus on Lu Qingjia… It was said that many scientific researchers had displayed extremely high intelligence when they were young, effortlessly accomplishing things others could not. Would this desk mate of his go on to engage in the research and development of classified projects in the future?
There were also cases he had heard of where scientists were separated from their families for over a decade.
Lu Ran looked at his paper, then picked up his pen and deliberately corrected a few answers.
The first-year questions were all relatively simple, and he worked through them quickly. He just did not dare to hand in his paper early, nor could he perform too well, lest his true level be discovered and found inconsistent with that of a first-year student, resulting in him being packed off to take the college entrance exam.
But perhaps he could not perform too poorly either, lest Mom think he was not smart… especially when his effort did not seem sufficient.
There was no helping it. He had to find Da Ju and also investigate his biological father. Lu Ran could not, like Lu Luoluo, devote all his spare time to studying.
Maybe he should do better in the next exam? Being lopsided in subjects was very common, Lu Ran thought.
……
“Now that the exams are over, what plans do you have, Mom?” On the morning of the second day after the final exams ended, at the Lu residence, Lu Ran asked Lu Luoluo with a smile.
What plans? Of course, to completely let loose and play for a whole month!
Having already contacted Lu Qingjia overnight on social media, used an in-game item as a thank-you gift, and checked answers with the top student, Lu Luoluo felt fearless.
Comics, games, here she came!
…Wait, games?
“Mom said before that you’d take me to play games. Does that still count?” Lu Ran asked probingly. He planned to ask about the origin of her game ID while they were playing.
Lu Luoluo’s smile froze on her face.
Was it still in time to break her hand? Would the cost be too great?
“It still counts, but…” Breaking a bone was impossible. Lu Luoluo wracked her brain to stall for time. “But shouldn’t we first find a way to bring Da Ju back?”
Lu Luoluo thought to herself what a terrible excuse this was, but she still steeled herself, sighed, and said in a deep, serious tone, “Winter is too cold. Da Ju must be very cold too. Just thinking about that makes me lose any interest in playing games.”
Lu Ran looked at his mother in surprise.
This was indeed something he had been planning. Leaving Da Ju outside in the dead of winter made Lu Ran genuinely uneasy.
He just had not expected his mother to be so concerned about Da Ju as well.
All along, Lu Luoluo’s displayed interest in Da Ju had not been particularly strong, which was actually because she had devoted most of her energy to studying. She referred to Da Ju as a divine cat, and would occasionally ask about how things were progressing between Lu Ran and Da Ju. But Lu Ran could tell that she was caring about his feelings, not about Da Ju itself.
“Da Ju probably isn’t very willing to come with me,” Lu Ran said honestly. “It just likes dried fish. Every time it grabs some and runs.”
Lu Ran had chased after it two or three times. Each time, he could only watch helplessly as the orange cat disappeared right in front of him. Later on, he gave up.
“Do you have a fixed place where you meet?” Lu Luoluo asked.
Lu Ran nodded and gave an address.
“I’ll go try,” Lu Luoluo said, pretending to think for a moment before speaking with confidence. “In your original timeline, Da Ju was probably brought home by me too. If I go over there, it might actually work?”
Lu Ran nodded hesitantly. Maybe it would.
Although she put on an air of complete confidence, in reality, Lu Luoluo did not hold even the slightest hope.
As long as Da Ju refused to go home, she would have time to look for a way to solve the problem.
Driver Zhang drove the two of them to the school.
……
“You said before… Da Ju doesn’t like interacting with people?” Lu Luoluo asked in a puzzled tone as she pulled open the car door with one hand and sat down beside Lu Ran.
She lowered her head to look at the orange cat in her arms, which was pawing at her shoulder. She nudged it forward a little and asked her son, “Take a look. Is this one… Da Ju?”
The moment the orange cat saw Lu Ran, its fluffy body leaned further into Lu Luoluo’s arms and shrank backward. But the space inside the car was enclosed, so no matter how much it shrank, it could not go very far.
With a hint of delight, Lu Ran examined the orange cat carefully. After a moment, he nodded with certainty. “It’s him.”
Through these past days of observation during the feeding process, Lu Ran had memorized “what Da Ju looked like at this point in time” with absolute clarity, almost etched into his mind.
It was Da Ju, without a doubt. At this time, Da Ju was not that big yet. It should still be in its growth phase.
“How did Mom bring it back?”
Lu Luoluo did not know how to explain it. She had simply carried a bag of opened dried fish and stood at the spot Lu Ran mentioned. Almost immediately, an orange cat came over, meowing and rubbing against her.
It was so proactive that Lu Luoluo had thought this orange cat might not be Da Ju. But still, with the mindset of better to mistakenly take one than to let it slip away, she picked it up and brought it back.
Who would have thought it really was Da Ju? It did not look any different from an ordinary orange cat at all.
What made Lu Luoluo breathe a sigh of relief was that Lu Ran was still immersed in the joy of Da Ju coming home and had not brought up the matter of games for the time being.
At this moment, on a certain evergreen tree on campus, Zhao Jin gloomily patted the spot beneath him with his paw, causing the emerald-green branches to sway lightly for a moment.
Zhao Jin had seen the entire process clearly just now. That foolish cat had clung to Lu Luoluo’s pant leg and actively followed her away. The sight filled him with a profound sense of frustration, like iron that refused to be tempered into steel.
It just went along with her like that. Couldn’t it tell that this person and the boy who was always eyeing its bell were from the same family? The two of them looked so alike!
And yet he had gone out of his way time and again to use spells to help it escape from people’s hands!
Later, he would go take a look at how stupid that foolish cat looked without its bell!
Oh right, did that girl end up giving herself away or not?
She seemed to have been working very hard these past two months.