Chapter 86

Lu Jingzhe stood at the gate. His superior height made him stand out in the crowd. The young women passing by couldn’t help but sneak a peek at him, but people in this era were very reserved. Even if they had any thoughts, they would just look and wouldn’t come up to chat.

Lu Jingzhe was always cold and automatically blocked out all the gazes directed at him. He stood there indifferently.

Just then, Liú Xiǎohóng walked up to him. Her bright fox-like eyes stared at him without blinking, and she said:

“Comrade, hello.”

Lu Jingzhe had exceptional memory skills from his reconnaissance training in the army. He quickly remembered that this was the woman who had been riding her bike without looking at the road this morning. He couldn’t help but frown slightly.

Seeing that the man didn’t react, Liú Xiǎohóng thought he had forgotten her and immediately reminded him:

“Do you remember me? You helped me steady my bike this morning. I haven’t thanked you yet.”

“No need.” Lu Jingzhe uttered two words in a deep voice.

His cold attitude didn’t deter Liú Xiǎohóng. She looked at him eagerly and continued to chat with him:

“My brother is also in the army, oh, right, his name is Liú Yuánzhēng. Do you know him?”

“No.” Lu Jingzhe frowned slightly, his expression clearly showing impatience. He didn’t like to chat with strangers, especially when it was such an obvious attempt to flirt.

“Oh.” Liú Xiǎohóng was clearly disappointed.

Just then, Lu Jingzhe saw Xia Qingning walking out with a group of female workers. She seemed to be in a good mood, a delicate smile on her face, and she was talking to someone as she walked.

“Qingning, look, your husband is here to pick you up again.” The female workers had just reached the gate when they saw Lu Jingzhe, who had an absolute height advantage, standing outside. Then, they curiously asked:

“Hey, isn’t that Liú Xiǎohóng next to him?”

Liú Xiǎohóng had her back to Xia Qingning and the others, so she didn’t notice that they had already walked towards them.

She herself was very beautiful, and she also had a handsome brother. So, ordinary men couldn’t catch her eye. Now that she had finally met someone she liked, she naturally wouldn’t let this opportunity slip away. She continued to talk to Lu Jingzhe:

“Thank you so much for this morning. My brother said that when someone helps you, you should know how to repay them. Comrade, do you have time? How about I treat you to dinner?”

She looked at Lu Jingzhe with eager eyes, her alluring fox-like eyes smiling, her gaze shifting with a natural charm. She raised her hand to brush the hair that had fallen on her cheek. She was very confident, believing that no man could resist her beauty.

Just as she was trying to radiate her charm, a gentle woman’s voice came from behind her:

“Okay.”

Liú Xiǎohóng turned her head subconsciously and saw Xia Qingning and a few female workers from her group standing behind her. The one who had just spoken was Xia Qingning.

It was obvious that everyone had heard her previous words, and they quickly understood that she was flirting with Xia Qingning’s husband.

Liú Xiǎohóng, who was usually as proud as a princess and never looked at men, was actually taking the initiative to flirt with someone and even inviting them to dinner…

After everyone understood, they looked at her with strange, amused, and mocking eyes.

Liú Xiǎohóng didn’t understand what was going on, but she saw Xia Qingning, with a smile, walk up to the man in a relaxed and confident manner. She asked Liú Xiǎohóng:

“Can he bring his family?”

The words were so direct that Liú Xiǎohóng immediately understood their relationship. Her face turned red visibly.

Flirting with a man, and a colleague’s man at that, and being caught by so many people. She felt like she had never been so embarrassed before. She just wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

The female workers all knew how much Liú Xiǎohóng looked down on people. Now that they saw her so embarrassed, they naturally couldn’t help but tease her:

“Haha… Xiaohong, didn’t you say yesterday that he was a boilerman? Why are you inviting him to dinner today?”

“Xiaohong, you want to invite him to dinner? You can’t just invite the man, haha… Why don’t we all go together…”

“Aren’t you clearly trying to steal Qingning’s man? Isn’t that a bit unfair?”

“Next time you flirt, Xiaohong, you should make sure if they’re married or not. Look how awkward it is now!”

Amidst everyone’s teasing laughter, Liú Xiǎohóng completely lost her usual arrogance. All her sense of superiority seemed to be crushed in an instant. She blushed, didn’t say anything, quickly got on her bicycle, and rode away as if she was escaping.

On the way back, Lu Jingzhe clearly felt that Xia Qingning was in a good mood. Noticing her gently swaying legs, Lu Jingzhe unconsciously frowned.

Someone was flirting with him, and she wasn’t angry. She seemed to be quite happy!

“Can we go to the bookstore now?” Xia Qingning suddenly said to Lu Jingzhe as they were about to turn.

“I want to buy some review materials for my brother.”

After listening, Lu Jingzhe controlled the handlebars and turned onto another road. After a moment, he asked in a deep voice:

“You really want to take the college entrance exam?”

“Yeah.” Xia Qingning nodded vigorously. After nodding, she realized that Lu Jingzhe couldn’t see, so she teased him:

“Don’t they say that knowledge changes destiny? I also want to have more knowledge and then take my destiny into my own hands.”

After hearing Xia Qingning’s words, a look of surprise flashed across Lu Jingzhe’s face. He didn’t expect her to have such a high level of awareness. As he was surprised, he heard her say with some worry:

“But now, the foreign language exam is in Russian, and I don’t know anything about it.”

Xia Qingning remembered that the college entrance exam was restored in 1977, but the foreign language exam was not in English, but in Russian. This was indeed a bit difficult for her, who had never been exposed to Russian. As she was thinking about whether to enroll in a class or buy books to learn on her own, she suddenly heard the man in front of her say in a deep voice:

“If you really want to learn, I can teach you.”

“You know Russian?” Xia Qingning was very surprised and couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

“I do.” Lu Jingzhe gave a definite answer.

He said “I do,” not “I know a little bit.” That meant he was very good at it. Xia Qingning didn’t expect Lu Jingzhe to be so knowledgeable. She quickly nodded in agreement:

“Then I’ll trouble you.” She thought for a moment and said:

“When I get into college, I’ll definitely give you a big red envelope to thank you properly.”

After hearing these words, the corner of Lu Jingzhe’s lips unconsciously turned upwards. Hmm, she’s quite ambitious!

After arriving at the bookstore, they bought selections of classical Chinese prose, Tang and Song poetry, geometry textbooks, Russian grammar… They bought two copies of each, one for themselves and one to send back to her brother.

They packed the books and went to the post office to send a set back. The sooner her brother got the books, the sooner he could study. Once people have hope, they have a goal, and they will get better and better.

Soon, they rode their bicycles back to the courtyard. As soon as they entered the courtyard, the Wu family aunt, who lived at the entrance of the courtyard, hurriedly stopped them and said anxiously to Xia Qingning:

“Qingning, something has happened at your house!”