Two long beeps later, a mechanical voice sounded from the other end of the call.
“Sorry. The number you have dialed is not available—”
Cheng Xiyue frowned. “She rejected the call?”
However, soon enough, he received a message from Ning Li.
[Brother Xiyue, I’m in class and can’t answer your call. Is there anything urgent?]
Cheng Xiyue pondered for a long time as he stared at the message.
[Nothing in particular. Concentrate on your studies.]
Gao Min had a glance at Cheng Xiyue through the rearview mirror.
Cheng Xiyue barely showed a bitter face, and coincidentally, he just emerged from Lu Huaiyu’s place. Judging from the long face, Gao Min knew that his master was in a poor mood, so he simply turned a blind eye to it and focused on driving.
Cheng Xiyue’s phone went dark after a moment while his fingers were tapping on it mindlessly. He looked outside the window though he was not focusing on anything particular as thoughts were running wild in his mind.
Half an hour later, the car arrived at the Cheng family’s mansion.
Cheng Xiyue got out and returned to his room. He locked the door, took off his coat, and went out to the balcony.
He lit a cigarette before he called Gu Tinglan.
The call finally got through after a while. It seemed like the doctor was rather busy.
“Master Cheng? Why are you calling me at this hour? To what do I owe the call?”
Cheng Xiyue flicked the ashes into the ashtray. He remained quiet for a few good seconds before he said heavily, “Lu Huaiyu’s condition acted up today.”
…
In the Competitive Physics class, Zhou Fei was writing on the board. He had almost filled every corner with his writing.
The class was quiet except for the rustling of chalk on the board.
Right after the last stroke, Zhou Fei tapped on the writing board. “Got it all down? If you have, I’ll wipe it and continue.”
One of the boys wailed aggrievedly, “Mr. Zhou, there’s more?”
“What do you mean ‘there’s more’? You should be asking, ‘that’s it?’” Zhou Fei urged his students to finish taking down the notes while lecturing them.
A few of the boys grumbled softly.
“What’s wrong with Mr. Zhou today? He taught us twice as much as he did two days ago!”
“I don’t know. He was fine before this.”
“I’m already crying. I didn’t even understand what he wrote the other day, and he still wants to move forward now.”
The boy who first complained turned around and looked at Ning Li.
“Hey, Ning Li, do you understand any of that?”
When Ning Li nodded, the guy almost broke down in tears.
“You missed the previous class, yet you understand all of it?”
The boy just witnessed the gap between peasant and genius with his own eyes.
Ning Li had a glance at Zhou Fei.
The lecture that Zhou Fei gave today felt oddly similar to the lecture Lu Huaiyu delivered the other day. For some reason, Ning Li had a feeling that he was trying to compete with an invisible force.
Then, Zhou Fei started to wipe the writing board.
A new round of lecture began and the class quieted down. Everyone scribbled their notes as fast as they could.
Two hours of torture finally went by.
Zhou Fei sighed in satisfaction when he saw his students tormented by his lecture. His confidence, which had been shattered by Lu Huaiyu, returned.
“That’s all for today. Go home and revise this. If you don’t understand anything, don’t hesitate to ask me. That’s it, class dismissed.”
He left nonchalantly, leaving the students in painful groans.
Then, Ning Li packed her bag and walked out. She took a glance at her phone but saw that she did not receive any updates from Cheng Xiyue.
…
“Well, that’s about it.”
Cheng Xiyue told Gu Tinglan what he saw earlier that day.
“When I reached the place, Little Ning Li came out from the master bedroom. I saw her off in a taxi, but when Second Master Lu woke up, he claimed that he did not see her inside the mansion.”
Gu Tinglan paused for a while before asking, “Did Ning Li act unusual when she came out of the room? Or was there something strange about her?”
“Not a thing.” Cheng Xiyue was having a headache. He had gone to Yunding Fenghua because he was worried about Lu Huaiyu’s condition, especially after a few drinks. He kept his eyes peeled for details, especially when he saw Ning Li come out.
The girl looked normal as if nothing happened which also eased his concerns.
However, when Lu Huaiyu came down and saw him, he realized that something must have happened without his knowledge.
With that in mind, he asked, “Whenever his condition acted up in the past, he would get extremely aggressive and has never recovered within such a short time. However, when Little Ning Li came out, everything was fine.”
Lu Huaiyu had been going through rehabilitation for almost a year and his condition had been rather stable throughout the process, especially recently. He was as good as his normal self at times.
Cheng Xiyue had a feeling that Lu Huaiyu was a step shy from full recovery.
Who would have expected this to happen today?
Gu Tinglan said, “Let’s not jump to conclusions so fast. You’d better ask Ning Li for details and find out what really happened. As Lu Huaiyu, let’s keep him in the dark for now. I’ll be back in Yunzhou the day after tomorrow, so we’ll discuss further when we meet.”
“Okay.”
Cheng Xiyue suddenly remembered that Gu Tinglan came back to the country because he had matters to attend to in Lincheng.
He asked, “How’s your side doing?”
Gu Tinglan sighed and chuckled bitterly, “Not as well as I expected.”
He might have been chuckling, but the disappointment and grief in between the lines were obvious. Cheng Xiyue decided to leave him be.
Cheng Xiyue then received a notification about an incoming call. He had a glance and saw Ning Li’s name.
“It’s Little Ning Li. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Okay.”
Cheng Xiyue switched the call to Ning Li’s line.
“Hey, Little Ning Li, class is over?”
Ning Li was walking towards the campus gate.
“Yeah. I want to know why you called me earlier, Brother Xiyue.”
Cheng Xiyue hesitated. Ning Li was a third-year student and Lu Huaiyu’s condition was an unusual one. He really hoped that he could keep the condition under control.
A moment later, he said, “It’s nothing. I just want to ask if you accompanied Lu Huaiyu into his room.”
“No. He went up by himself at first, but I was worried that he might have had a little too much alcohol, and sleeping face down wouldn’t be good for him, so I went back.”
Cheng Xiyue was surprised. “Are you saying that he doesn’t know you went back?”
Ning Li hesitated for a moment.
Lu Huaiyu had not exactly been asleep at that time, so he should have been conscious. However, Ning Li believed he might not have been aware of his surroundings.
“I don’t think he knew. He seemed drunk and fell asleep pretty quickly,” Ning Li said.
Cheng Xiyue sighed. “Okay, I got it. He is a lousy drinker. Thank you for your trouble today.”
Ning Li blinked awkwardly. Had he really been drunk?
“Brother Xiyue, you don’t need to thank me for that. You and Second Brother have helped me a lot. So, how is he now?”
“I checked on him earlier. He seems fine,” Cheng Xiyue lied without even skipping a beat. “He always passes out after a few drinks though, and that’s why we don’t like to drink with him. Fortunately, he metabolizes all the alcohol away in just one sleep cycle. He should feel better tomorrow.
‘Passes out? Does it mean he will forget what he did?’ Ning Li was in deep thought.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now, Little Ning Li.”
“Mm-hmm. Bye, Brother Xiyue,” Ning Li said.
…
Cheng Xiyue then called Gu Tinglan a second time.
“I don’t know what happened now. Maybe he fell asleep and was not aware of Little Ning Li’s return, but just in case, I’ve prepared her for it. If we have to break it to her in the future, we have an excuse to do so,” Cheng Xiyue said.
