Ning Li did not know what to say.
‘He can’t come up without a key? What kind of reason is that?’
“Well…you could have told me so that I could open the door for you.”
Lu Huaiyu laughed and said, “What if you had been busy?”
Ning Li paused for a while.
She had indeed been busy at that time.
In those three hours, she had not looked at her phone once, so even if Lu Huaiyu had contacted her, she would not have noticed.
Lu Huaiyu was not surprised when he saw her reaction.
Even though Ning Li rented this apartment, she did not live in it. Clearly, she had other uses for this place. The two times that he had been here, the door to the bedroom was always locked.
Since Ning Li was not willing to tell him, he naturally did not probe further. Girls always had their own secrets.
Moreover, on that rainy night, she had been more willing to stay here by herself curled up on the sofa than return to the Ye family home.
It was not difficult to discern her attitude towards the Ye family.
Even so, she did not seem to have any intention of moving out of the Ye family home for the time being.
If she wanted to, she could very well move out here, but she did not.
Lu Huaiyu knew about her situation but did not ask any more questions.
He only figured that she had something she needed to do here, so he had not come up.
Ning Li pursed her lips.
“I wasn’t busy. Also, it’s just opening a door, so that wouldn’t delay anything even if I was busy.”
Lu Huaiyu laughed. “If you weren’t busy, then there’s all the more reason not to disturb you. What if you were taking a nap to catch up on all the sleep you lost lately?”
Ning Li’s upturned nose could not help but wrinkle. She muttered, “I’m not you, so I wouldn’t be catching up on sleep at this hour…”
Lu Huaiyu leaned back in his chair and thought, ‘Huh, she dissed me even when I had such good intentions to let her have a good rest? I guess she’s so relaxed around me now that she’s not afraid of feeling snarky.’
“Looks like you did well in the exam today?”
Ning Li nodded. “Not bad, I guess.”
Not only had she done well in the exam, Ye Ci had probably also done well.
Lu Huaiyu was amused.
He had known that Ning Li took the physics competition and the college entrance examination very seriously, but it seemed to be more profound than he initially thought.
As far as he knew, Ning Li did not seem to care about being the first in class.
Even when she had come in first in the city for the midterm exam, she had not seemed particularly happy.
However, she seemed a lot more relaxed after this physics competition.
Lu Huaiyu ate faster than Ning Li. After he put down his chopsticks, he looked around the apartment.
Ning Li obviously did not rent this place for the purpose of living here.
The kitchen did not even have a pot.
That was why he had brought takeaway.
If he had not come, she probably would not have eaten anything.
However, she always had a good appetite when there was food around.
After a while, Ning Li also stopped eating.
Looking at the food boxes on the table, she coughed lightly and stood up.
“Second Brother, I’ll just clean these up then.”
These were clearly not disposable takeaway boxes. They all looked so simple and delicate.
She was already embarrassed that Lu Huaiyu had come specifically to feed her.
Lu Huaiyu shook his head. “No, just leave it. I’ll do it.”
He was about to get up as he said that.
However, Ning Li was a step ahead of him. Her attitude was very resolute. “No, let me!”
It was embarrassing to eat someone’s food and then let them do the dishes.
Without waiting for Lu Huaiyu to move, Ning Li took the lead and rushed to the kitchen with the food containers.
Lu Huaiyu looked at her scurrying back and could not help but laugh.
After a while, the kitchen was still quiet.
He felt slightly uneasy and was about to go over to take a look when he saw Ning Li stepping out slowly.
Lu Huaiyu asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ning Li was silent for a moment before she said softly, “Second Brother, I’m sorry…I forgot that I don’t have anything to wash the dishes here…”
Lu Huaiyu was speechless.
‘Right… There wasn’t even a bed here the last time I was here, so I guess having no dishwashing stuff is quite normal?’
Lu Huaiyu looked down and saw that Ning Li’s cheeks were flushed. It was rare to see her looking embarrassed.
Her skin was extremely delicate and fair like porcelain. Under the light, it looked like a snow-capped mountain.
Her ponytail fell to the front of her slender neck. Her black hair against her fair skin looked so pure, yet the pink blush on her cheeks made her seem so charming.
Lu Huaiyu’s eyelashes trembled slightly like the emotions in his heart, so he quickly averted his eyes.
“Then, don’t bother. I’ll bring it back with me later.”
Suddenly, his gaze was fixed.
Ning Li noticed his gaze and looked up at him as she asked, “Second brother, what’s wrong?”
Lu Huaiyu raised his hand and pointed to his right ear.
“You seem to have a stain there…”
Ning Li froze and lifted her hand to touch the same spot on her ear.
Lu Huaiyu moved his finger. “A little further back.”
Ning Li moved accordingly, but she still did not feel anything.
She pushed her ponytail away and tilted her head sideways.
“Is it here?”
Lu Huaiyu caught a glimpse of her smooth and fair neck.
Her neck and shoulder lines were already extremely beautiful, so when she tilted her head like this, her delicate neck was completely exposed to him. It looked so soft and tempting.
Lu Huaiyu’s eyes darkened as he thought, ‘It only takes a slight force to leave a mark on that delicate neck. She’s like a carefree cat lying on the ground with its belly up, so trusting and defenseless against me. She doesn’t seem to understand that I could possibly harm her if I wanted to.’
The corners of his lips curled up slightly for a moment.
Ning Li touched the side of her ear for a while. Her slender fingers were also soft and slender, and her nails were light pink. Lu Huaiyu clasped her shoulders and pulled her forward as he spun her around.
There was a mirror hanging on the wall in front of him.
He lifted his chin slightly. “See for yourself.”
Ning Li moved forward a little. Only then did she see that there was a smear of paint on the right side of her ear.
She had probably got it on herself accidentally just now.
However, it certainly was not easy to spot, so she had not noticed it before.
“Oh, here.”
She touched it and turned to go to the bathroom.
“I’ll go wash up then.”
As she said that, she turned and went into the next room.
Lu Huaiyu had one leg slightly bent as he leaned against the wall. He felt a little frustrated.
The sound of water came from the bathroom.
Ning Li came out soon after.
She had not taken very long to clean up, so it was probably not a stubborn stain.
Ning took a few steps towards Lu Huaiyu and turned sideways as she lifted her hair around her ear.
“Second Brother, is it clean now?”
It seems like there was still a bit behind her ear, but she could not see it herself.
Lu Huaiyu glanced down at her.
Half of her small face was wet, and her hair was partly wet and messy as it clung to her porcelain white skin.
Her small and soft earlobes were red from being rubbed, with some water droplets gently falling slowly right onto the crook of her neck. Each drop was like fireworks, igniting little sparks in his heart.
Lu Huaiyu quickly looked away and cleared his tightened throat. “Yeah, it’s fine now.”
