Chapter 39: Five Adorable Ones

Water droplets fell through the gaps in the fruit basket, forming a small path of spreading droplets between the kitchen and the table.

“Could you please be more careful? The floor is all wet.” Su Wen went to get a mop to clean up after Li Mu’s carelessness.

“Want to eat something?”

“Finish this first.” Lu Xiaoxi was still busy with her own missions, squinting her eyes as she cut along the crease, splitting a piece of cardstock into two.

“Why aren’t you wearing your glasses?”

“Don’t want to.”

Li Mu lounged on the sofa, eating the recently popular Sunlight Rose grapes, one leg resting on the sofa, his thumb hooked on his flip-flops to keep them from falling off.

“You look like an old man…” Lu Xiaoxi muttered quietly.

“What?”

“I said you look like an old man!”

“That’s fine, anyway, there will come a day when I become an old man. Doesn’t this mean I have saved myself twenty years of detours?”

“Then why don’t you buy a coffin in advance and save yourself eighty years of detours…” Lu Xiaoxi’s voice grew softer as she spoke, almost forgetting that they were not alone in this space, and it was a festive occasion, so some things shouldn’t be said.

She nervously glanced at Su Wen, who was still searching for the mop in the storage room, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“You are cursing me, aren’t you?” Li Mu said mischievously.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Once Lu Xiaoxi finished her missions, she put down what she was doing and modestly started eating some fruit.

Su Wen assigned some household chores and then took a bag of sunflower seeds downstairs to chat with the neighbors from nearby.

After a break, they began to get busy again.

The process of making paper lanterns was not complicated, and with Lu Xiaoxi’s help, it became much easier.

Li Mu took double-sided tape and glue, and in no time, he made a paper lantern about the size of his head.

This handmade lantern could not compare to the glowing lanterns sold outside, but it was simple and cheap, and Li Mu had started making them since he was young, so it had become a habit over time.

If there was a year during the Mid-Autumn Festival when Li Mu and Lu Xiaoxi did not hang paper lanterns in front of their door, that would be serious.

At this moment, Li Mu had already made two and was staring straight at Lu Xiaoxi.

In class, even if someone was sleeping and looking at him, he would feel uncomfortable, let alone being stared at directly like this. Lu Xiaoxi quickly felt uneasy and looked up to meet the gaze of that annoying guy.

The two of them tacitly began to compare.

Whoever looked away first would lose!

Li Mu was not going to back down; he had trained his eyes in class before, and now he could hold his gaze for one minute and thirty-eight seconds without blinking.

He scrutinized Lu Xiaoxi’s delicate little face.

Hmm, her eyes were sparkling and so cute.

Hmm, her nose was small and adorable.

Hmm, her ears were a bit red, so cute.

Hmm, her lips were pink and lovely.

Hmm, her eyebrows were thin and curved, so cute.

Li Mu’s mouth unconsciously curled up; the little person in front of him was getting more and more beautiful the longer he looked.

He was a novelist, an online writer, and had accumulated many words to describe girls over the years. He could say a girl was stunning, like a beauty that could topple kingdoms, but he wouldn’t use those words to describe Lu Xiaoxi.

In his eyes, Lu Xiaoxi was truly beautiful in every way, not a beauty created by fancy words, but something genuine and real.

A cuteness that could not be described with flowery language.

He had such a lovely girl by his side all along.

Suddenly, Li Mu furrowed his brows, creating a frown, his face stern, eyes wide open, mouth tilted to one side, muscles in his face tensed, making a very difficult funny face.

“Puhahaha, what kind of expression is that?!” Lu Xiaoxi immediately couldn’t hold back, her little mouth pouting, and she burst out laughing, her laughter like a yellow oriole singing, constantly patting the sofa, holding her stomach, almost gasping for breath.

Being stared at so intently by Li Mu almost made her blush; she was just about to soften up when Li Mu suddenly did that.

“You lost.”

Lu Xiaoxi’s face turned red from laughing, all the way to her ears and neck, as she lay on the sofa gasping for air, her stomach aching from laughing so much. It had been a long time since she had laughed so hard. When Li Mu spoke, she slowly regained her composure and adjusted her emotions.

“So what? We are not competing on who can hold it in longer…”

“Hehe, you are too weak.”

“Childish…”

“Come on, you stick the glue here.” Li Mu, feeling a bit embarrassed, started teaching Lu Xiaoxi how to make the lantern.

“Like this?” Following Li Mu’s instructions, Lu Xiaoxi successfully glued two pieces of cardstock together. The lantern’s core was done.

“Classmate Little Pig Lu is really smart.”

“Go away.”

Whether it was because she successfully made a lantern core or because of Li Mu’s compliment, those three words had no impact at all.

“Just be careful; this glue is very sticky. If it gets on your hands, it will peel off a layer of skin. Look.”

“Who told you to be careless?”

“Don’t you care about me at all? What if my finger really peels?”

“You brought it on yourself.”

Lu Xiaoxi frowned as she looked at the hardened glue on Li Mu’s hand, feeling inexplicably uncomfortable. In her heart, she secretly scolded Li Mu; such a beautiful pair of hands, and their owner didn’t know how to cherish them.

Although she was slow, at least she wouldn’t get glue on her hands.

“Actually, if you soak the glue in hot water, it will come off.” Li Mu smiled as he walked to the bathroom, and when he came out, his hands were wet, but the glue was gone.

“Why don’t you just burn yourself?”

“Such a sharp tongue?”

“Aren’t you the one who calls me a pig every day?!”

“Hehe—”

The process of making paper lanterns was not complicated; the hardest parts were folding and cutting, and now those two parts were done, so the final assembly was nothing.

When Lu Xiaoxi placed the red edges on the yellow lantern core, her eyes sparkled.

She raised the lantern, her tone excited.

“Success!”

“Although it’s a bit ugly, congratulations anyway.” Li Mu clapped sincerely.

“You talk too much; make a few more.”

“Okay.”

The two of them worked from morning until noon, making a total of ten paper lanterns.

Although most of them were made by Li Mu, Lu Xiaoxi insisted on taking five.

Li Mu let her have her way; after all, they were just a few paper lanterns, and there were still plenty of materials left. He could make as many as he wanted.

Lu Xiaoxi carefully cradled the five paper lanterns, which were bigger than her head, as she headed home.

“So many?” Qin Xiaoqian saw her daughter struggling to carry them and hurried over to help, taking two paper lanterns to hang by the door.

“Yeah, hang one on the lamp, and the other two in the room.”

“Okay.”

Lu Xiaoxi happily hung a lantern on her parents’ room window and then returned to her own room to hang one up.

Looking at the lantern on the window, Lu Xiaoxi felt extremely satisfied, her back straightening a bit.

After making a few lanterns, she felt capable; wasn’t it just making lanterns? It was as easy as pie… How was the paper supposed to be folded again?

……

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