Lu Mingzhe’s hand gently stroked her shoulder.
Being held in his arms, listening to him speak softly, felt so good.
Anyway, Xiang Wan had no plans to get married in this life.
Rather than finding another man, building trust, and developing into this kind of relationship.
It was better to accept what was known.
“Then you promise me. You’re telling the truth. I won’t end up in a situation where I’m breaking up someone’s family.”
“Okay. I promise you. I’ll never put you in that kind of predicament.”
After speaking, their eyes met, and that electric feeling surged again.
Lu Mingzhe lowered his head to touch her face, his voice soft and gentle.
“Are you tired?”
She had felt stifled, tired, and wanted to numb herself with sleep.
But now, her limbs felt relaxed, and she didn’t want to sleep at all.
Xiang Wan told him the truth: “Not tired.”
“Then come on. I’ve been suffering these past few days.”
The next morning, her younger brother got up early again and made breakfast.
They dawdled for a long time before coming out.
At first glance, his sister had a faint smile on her face, and Lu Mingzhe stood beside her, his arm around her shoulder.
They looked like a loving couple.
Her brother’s mood also brightened.
“You’re up, come over and eat.”
Well then.
She was fierce with him last night, and now she was smiling at him again.
Lu Mingzhe looked at her brother and smiled.
“Not angry with me anymore? Don’t you think I’m bullying your sister?”
“Of course I do.”
Her brother quickly put away his smile.
“If you ever make my sister sad again, I won’t let you off.”
“Even though I can’t beat you now, I’ll start working out from today onwards, striving to knock you down with a punch in the future.”
“Hey, kid. Your sister really raised you well.”
Soon, they finished washing up, and the three of them sat together.
Her brother put some cucumber salad into Xiang Wan’s bowl.
“You’ve worked hard, sis. Eat more.”
Lu Mingzhe looked at her, then at his own bowl.
“Seems like I’m the one who worked harder? Why aren’t you giving me more?”
“What are you working hard for? You’re a grown man.”
“It’s precisely because I’m a man that I’m working hard, don’t you understand?”
Her brother and Xiang Wan’s faces both turned red.
Xiang Wan kicked him under the table.
“Can’t you shut your mouth even when you’re eating?”
Lu Mingzhe found their reactions amusing and continued to tease her brother.
“Seriously. Do you understand or not? Have you ever had a girlfriend?”
Her brother ignored him, pretending to eat seriously with a shy expression.
Lu Mingzhe continued to laugh.
“What’s there to be shy about? A real man understands, and if he doesn’t, it’s a problem.”
Xiang Wan kicked him again.
“Are you done or not? He’s still a child!”
“Is someone who’s almost 20 still a child? When I was her age, I already…”
“Already what?”
Xiang Wan and her brother looked at him simultaneously.
Lu Mingzhe chuckled, realizing his slip of the tongue, and didn’t continue.
“Nothing, nothing, let’s eat.”
But Xiang Wan wouldn’t let it go.
“You explain yourself clearly, what happened when you were 19?”
“Really nothing.”
“If it’s nothing, then it’s strange. Did you already have a girlfriend and understand everything?”
“I did have a girlfriend, but it wasn’t as exaggerated as you think.”
Lu Mingzhe changed the subject.
“We were talking about your brother, why are you asking me?”
“Xiang Yang, you’re handsome and have a good personality, so many girls must like you. Let me tell you, you should date when you should. University relationships are the purest. Otherwise, you’ll regret it after you leave campus.”
Xiang Wan retorted, sounding a little sour.
“It seems like you had a very pure romance when you were 19, you can’t stop thinking about it. Then why did you break up?”
Lu Mingzhe was truly exasperated.
“Can’t you just pretend I said nothing and let it go? Don’t ask anymore.”
“No. You said it yourself, I have to know clearly, why did you break up?”
Lu Mingzhe countered.
“What about you? What were you doing when you were 19?”
Xiang Wan recalled her 19th year.
“I was either working or working. Either way, it wasn’t like you.”
Lu Mingzhe was helpless and started to act spoiled.
“Oh, sis, sister, good sister. Please spare me, don’t ask anymore.”
“Everything I did before was foolish. If you hear too much, you’ll hate me.”
Xiang Wan pushed him away.
“Even if I don’t hear much, I still don’t like you. You’re too glib.”
After eating, the three of them went out together.
Lu Mingzhe wanted to ride in Xiang Wan’s car.
“Didn’t you drive yourself here?”
Lu Mingzhe told her about meeting her brother last night.
He also praised her brother again.
“This kid really cares about you. Didn’t you hear the tone of his voice last night? He looked like he wanted to beat me up to feel better.”
Xiang Wan drove slowly and sighed.
“He’s grown up after all. Time flies so fast.”
“I remember when he was just a child in kindergarten.”
Lu Mingzhe had never asked about Xiang Wan’s family or childhood.
Since she mentioned it, he couldn’t help but inquire.
“Have you been raising him alone since he started kindergarten?”
Xiang Wan said.
“When would I have had time to raise him exclusively? My father got cancer back then and spent all the family’s money, but he passed away less than a year later.”
“The family was practically penniless, and people kept coming to bully my mother. Later, she couldn’t take it anymore and quietly left while we were at school.”
“I was in my third year of high school that year. My grandmother cried and came to find me at school, telling me there was no money to even buy food. So, I dropped out of school.”
“I found a job as a waitress in a restaurant in our county town, working over ten hours a day, utterly exhausted. The money I earned was barely enough for the three of us to eat.”
So her background was so tragic.
She had even worked as a waitress in a restaurant.
“How did you end up on the path of modeling later?”
Xiang Wan said.
“Sometimes I really don’t know if being a beautiful woman is a good thing or a bad thing.”
“If something hadn’t happened back then, and I couldn’t stay in the county town, I probably wouldn’t have come to Nan Cheng.”
Lu Mingzhe looked at her, signaling her to continue.
She then recounted a major incident that happened at that time.
The restaurant owner where she worked was a middle-aged man around 40.
Initially, he was normal. But as she became more familiar with the job, he started to take advantage of his position to touch her frequently.
Xiang Wan was young and lost about her future. She didn’t know what else she could do if she lost this job, so she endured it without saying anything.
But over time, as things went back and forth, rumors started to circulate between them.
The other waitresses in the restaurant would often joke about it, until the matter reached the owner’s wife.
That evening, as Xiang Wan was preparing to go home after work, the owner’s wife locked the restaurant door, raised her hand, and slapped her.
She said all sorts of nasty things.
She deducted half a month’s salary and refused to pay it, telling her to get out of the county town forever.
“Otherwise, I’ll go to your neighborhood and announce it with gongs and drums. If you have no shame, your grandmother does, right? I’ll shame her to death!”
Xiang Wan was at her wit’s end and stayed home idle for several days.