1251 Felt That She Should Explain Herself
From his position, he could see the crown of her dark head as well as the dainty whorl in the center.
Her tresses fell over her shoulders and concealed half of her face, preventing him from seeing her expression. All he could glimpse were the long, curled lashes on her right eye, the slight tremble in them making her seem like a frightened rabbit.
All of a sudden, Lu Tingchen found the girl in front of him somewhat adorable.
Chu Jiu was dismayed when she realized that he had not heard her properly.
They had never gotten along before, but in the past few days, she had been receiving a lot of help from him.
She had finally uttered her thanks, but unfortunately he did not hear her, and now she was at a loss for how to repeat herself.
Seeing her go quiet, Lu Tingchen could not help asking again, “What did you say just now?”
Chu Jiu took a deep breath, then raised her gaze to look at him. “Thank you for helping me just now.”
Lu Tingchen dragged a chair over to her bedside, sat down, and fixed his dark eyes on her.
Just when Chu Jiu was starting to get uneasy, he suddenly said, “I’m surprised you know how to say thank you.”
Chu Jiu knitted her brow. “It’s nothing personal. You indeed helped me, so it’s only right that I thank you. I’ve thanked you before, too.”
Lu Tingchen nodded and decided to let the matter go. Remembering how she had almost fallen just now, he said in an unusually gentle voice, “If you want to go for a walk, ask Lil Guo to go with you. I can’t be there every time you fall, you know.”
Chu Jiu was extremely unaccustomed to this soft-spoken Lu Tingchen.
In the past, this guy had been nothing but sarcastic when talking to her and found her a total nuisance, so she was greatly perturbed to see him so mild-tempered right now.
“All right,” replied Chu Jiu. The strangeness of sitting face-to-face with him unsettled her, and seeing that he had no intention of leaving, she blurted out, “Are you always this free? Don’t you have to handle military affairs?”
“Of course I do, but those can wait,” said Lu Tingchen evenly. Noticing her discomfort, he paused for a second before adding, “I’ll go after my mother comes and examines you.”
Chu Jiu, “…”
Clenching her fists, she opened her mouth to tell him that she was fine and that he did not have to waste his time here, but he spoke before she could. “Were you the one who carried me onto the bed the night before Weiwei’s wedding?”
It had been a year since that incident happened, and Chu Jiu had almost forgotten about it.
When she met the unwavering gaze of his dark eyes, the memory finally came flooding back to her, and she instinctively said, “No—”
“You’re still denying it? I already know it was you.” Lu Tingchen lowered his voice, a layer of frost veiling his handsome face.
Chu Jiu jumped at the sudden drop in the pitch of his voice.
“I didn’t think a woman would have the strength to carry me!” The rare change in her expression prompted the corners of Lu Tingchen’s mouth to turn upward, and he looked at her with a smirk.
However, he was not as furious as he had expected, now that he had confirmed that she was the one who had carried him to bed. On the contrary, he studied her with fascination.
“I have to say, you impress me, Chu Jiu.” His tone was teasing.
His stare made Chu Jiu’s skin crawl, and she felt that she should explain herself. “Actually, I didn’t mean to carry you that night. Zhu Yu was worried that you’d catch a cold in your sleep, so she asked me to assist her in helping you up, but you were too heavy for her, so I decided to just carry you myself…”
She halted mid-speech as she stared wide-eyed at Ling Lihua, who had slipped into their midst quietly at some point.
She was standing there, listening in on their conversation with great interest.
