Xia Qingtian immediately asked the kitchen to prepare food. Bai Yuqi couldn't help but mock them, but fell silent after Gu Yaoyang shot him a glare.
Standing on the stairs, Li Xiaozhong, now certain that there was no further trouble, silently walked back to the closed door and knocked.
"Who!" Shi Xingwu immediately asked.
Leaning her back against the door, Lei Xirui tensed up and instinctively grabbed Shi Xingwu's clothes, biting her lip and widening her eyes at him.
Shi Xingwu glanced down and met Lei Xirui's gaze. It felt as though the softest part of his heart had been gently, yet firmly, touched.
The surrounding air seemed to heat up, and Shi Xingwu felt his heartbeat quicken. His smartwatch emitted an alert for an overly fast heart rate.
"It's me," Li Xiaozhong's voice came from outside the door. "The Lei family is gone."
It was probably time to let him in.
"The Lei family... is gone..." Shi Xingwu repeated Li Xiaozhong's words mechanically, looking down into Lei Xirui's eyes, his mind a complete blank.
Lei Xirui, relieved, then realized how close they were. She immediately let go of Shi Xingwu's clothes, her expression tinged with embarrassment. "Um, sorry, I..."
"It's... it's fine..." Shi Xingwu swallowed and said in a low voice, "That... you..."
"Me..." Lei Xirui lowered her head, her cheeks flushing.
Shi Xingwu, uncharacteristically tongue-tied, cleared his throat with a hint of nervousness and said, "You have a cowlick..."
Lei Xirui immediately raised her hand to cover the stray hair sticking up from her crown, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. "I have a swirl on the top of my head, and the hair around it always sticks up. It's hard to manage."
"Really? What a coincidence, I have a swirl on top of my head too. Feel it, right here." As Shi Xingwu spoke, he took Lei Xirui's hand and placed it on his head. "Did you feel it?"
"Mmm..." Lei Xirui felt the slightly prickly short hair under her fingertips, and indeed, she felt a swirl.
"But I've always had short hair, so I don't have the trouble of cowlicks," Shi Xingwu said with a chuckle. "If it's really too much trouble, you could just cut your hair as short as mine."
"Ah?" Lei Xirui looked surprised. She had never had very short hair. Since she could remember, her shortest hair had been shoulder-length, and most of the time it was waist-length.
"It's okay, you're beautiful, and your head shape is nice and round. Any hairstyle will look good on you," Shi Xingwu said, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Ah?" Lei Xirui was taken aback that her head shape could be a point of compliment. After a moment of stunned silence, she covered her mouth and giggled shyly.
Seeing Lei Xirui smile, Shi Xingwu's laughter grew even louder.
Shi Xingwu's smile also brightened Lei Xirui's mood.
The two of them leaned against the door, laughing for a long while.
Outside, Li Xiaozhong listened to the laughter emanating from inside the room, his mouth twitching slightly.
Perhaps he should go in first?
If he remembered correctly, this... was his room too...
He was tired. Let it all be destroyed.
...
"I'm so sorry!" Lei Xirui said, blushing and lowering her head to apologize to Xia Qingtian and the others. "My third brother and I have caused you trouble."
"It's fine," Xia Qingtian said with a smile, taking Lei Xirui's hand. "He doesn't like me anyway, so it won't hurt me to be disliked a little more."
Lei Xirui offered Xia Qingtian a weak smile. She wanted to retort, but seeing her third brother's attitude towards the Xia sisters, it was difficult for her to say anything against her conscience.
Her third brother truly disliked the Xia sisters.
She didn't know the reason behind it.
In Lei Xirui's eyes, she couldn't find anyone more enviable than the Xia sisters.
"You should get some rest tonight. We can talk about things tomorrow," Gu Yaoyang said to Lei Xirui. "Your third brother is probably just angry and acting on impulse."
"Mmm," Lei Xirui knew Gu Yaoyang was trying to comfort her, but she still nodded gratefully.
Her third brother was serious, she could tell.
"Alright, have some snacks~" Xia Qingtian said, putting her arm around Lei Xirui's shoulders. "We'll think about tomorrow's problems tomorrow. For now, let's enjoy today. Have some snacks, drink some milk tea, but there's none for Shi Xingwu."
"Ah? Why is it like this..." Shi Xingwu protested when he heard this. "Goddess sister... you can't do this to me!"
"Why can't I?" Xia Qingtian scoffed. "You bought the wrong face cream for me, and you still dare to be picky and dislike my milk tea."
"Was it just buying one face cream? It was cleanser, essence toner, hydrating toner, essential oil, serum, lotion, face cream, primer... and what else..." Shi Xingwu could barely remember. "And how was I supposed to know face cream had so many different categories... I just offered an opinion about the milk tea. Goddess sister... you're the most beautiful~"
"Hmph~" Xia Qingtian turned her head, letting Shi Xingwu wrap around her with his sweet talk.
Seeing this, Lei Xirui finally let go of her tense expression and broke into a beautiful smile.
That night, Lei Xirui stayed, sleeping in the same room as Xia Qingtian.
"I used to share with Qingyu, but after she left, sleeping alone felt so empty," Xia Qingtian said, watching Lei Xirui arrange the bedding by the bed. "I wonder if you'll be uncomfortable sleeping with someone else."
"No, this is great," Lei Xirui said quickly. "I've always wanted to try this."
"Heh heh." Seeing Lei Xirui like this, Xia Qingtian smiled faintly.
What a cute girl.
"Sister Qingtian, you said you received what Qingyu asked me to tell you, but she only gave me a bouquet of flowers, and..." Lei Xirui's gaze fell on the small round table on the balcony.
On the table, the damaged bouquet had lost much of its moisture and looked even more dishevelled.
"Mmm, this bouquet is enough," Xia Qingtian walked to the balcony and picked up a relatively intact flower. "The flower language of this one is 'giving up'."
After putting it down, Xia Qingtian picked up another bunch.
"Is that a campanula?" Lei Xirui blinked. "I remember the flower language for campanula is blessing and gratitude."
"It also means to give up," Xia Qingtian switched to another flower, her gaze deepening slightly. "This is a white daisy. Its flower language is: 'Forever lost my love'."
"'Forever lost my love'?" Lei Xirui's gaze flickered. She recalled Xia Qingyu's calm demeanor as she tidied the flowers that Xi Fu had messed up in front of her.
With what kind of feelings did she arrange such a bouquet, and then asked her to deliver it to Xia Qingtian...
Just recalling it made Lei Xirui's heart ache.
"She wants me to give up on her," Xia Qingtian's gaze fell on the wilting flowers.