♡ Chapter 3.1 ♡

Ten minutes later, at the entrance of the hospital, Yu Xia pulled her down jacket’s hood tightly over her head. She watched as his car disappeared into the distance, before she suddenly realized that she had forgotten to ask for his name.

With a sigh, she dragged herself toward the emergency department, walking with a sense of loneliness and exhaustion.

Lu Yanzhou returned to the company around 4 p.m. Zhou Sheng took the file from him and asked, “It only takes about half an hour to go from the company to your house, so why did it take you almost two hours?”

Lu Yanzhou gave him a glance and casually replied, “Had a little accident.”

“A car accident? Are you okay?” Zhou Sheng quickly looked him over.

“Are you illiterate? Does ‘accident’ always mean a car crash?” Lu Yanzhou retorted impatiently.

Zhou Sheng sighed in relief, ignoring the personal jab, and asked, “So, what happened?”

“What happened?” Lu Yanzhou repeated in frustration. “Mind your own business.”

“I was just asking,” Zhou Sheng quickly waved his hands. “No need to report to me about everything. You can leave that for your future girlfriend.”

He walked out of the office with the file in hand.

The door was just about to close when it was suddenly pushed open again. Lu Yanzhou looked up to see Zhou Sheng leaning halfway into the room with a mischievous grin. “You must have been caught up with a woman again.”

“Get lost,” Lu Yanzhou said coldly.

Zhou Sheng swiftly closed the door, and the office was finally quiet again.

Lu Yanzhou leaned back in his chair and casually looked out the window. He noticed the glass was covered with winding water streaks.

It was raining again.

He remembered that Yu Xia had forgotten her umbrella.

Why was he thinking about her again? Lu Yanzhou realized what he was doing and smirked self-deprecatingly. It was just a grown-up forgetting their umbrella—nothing serious.

And besides, why should he care?

—

Around 7 p.m., the project team finished their work earlier than expected. Zhou Sheng changed the dinner plans to tomorrow night, allowing the overworked staff to head home and rest.

Walking to the garage, Zhou Sheng turned to Lu Yanzhou and asked, “How’s everything at your place? Do you need help?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Two years ago, the company ran into some financial problems, and Lu Yanzhou had to sell his house to make up for the funding gap. Since then, he had been renting. However, the company had since grown, and the money was recovered. Earlier this year, he bought another property, which was being renovated. The house he had rented could no longer be lived in due to certain reasons.

Zhou Sheng’s aunt had an empty house that she didn’t rent out, even though it had been renovated with great care. Lu Yanzhou was sure there would be no complaints. Since Zhou Sheng’s aunt was not short of money and had particular tastes, she preferred to keep the house empty rather than rent it to just anyone. When Zhou Sheng mentioned Lu Yanzhou, his aunt immediately agreed.

And so, Lu Yanzhou became Yu Xia’s neighbor.

The house he was temporarily staying in didn’t have much to unpack. Some things were left in boxes, stored in the balcony storage cabinet, as they weren’t needed yet.

The fine rain continued outside. Through the car window, the city at night looked like a blurry oil painting, with a girl standing at the side of the road, looking at her phone before raising her head to glance around anxiously.

Lu Yanzhou recognized her because the hood of her down jacket had a ring of fluffy fox fur. At that moment, her hood was pulled down over her head, resembling the image he had seen in the rearview mirror earlier that afternoon.

There weren’t many girls dressed like that on the streets tonight.

Even fewer were standing in the rain without an umbrella.

Was she having trouble hailing a cab?

Lu Yanzhou should have stepped on the accelerator and driven past, but suddenly, he remembered the way she had hugged him last night, her face upturned with a smile, her eyes squinting with joy. He also remembered how pitifully she had begged him to take her to the hospital.

These two moments flashed through his mind.

His car slowly came to a stop right in front of her.

It was hard to get a cab on a rainy night, and Yu Xia had already started queuing for one on the ride-sharing app when the nurse was removing her needle. When her turn finally came, she didn’t notice what car model was accepting the ride, only paying attention to the fact that it was 4.5 kilometers away and would take about 8 minutes to arrive.

That was too far…

She bit her lip, hesitant to cancel the ride, and had no choice but to wait.

When she looked up again, she found a black car had stopped in front of her. The window rolled down slowly, and she instinctively glanced at it. From her angle, she could only see the man’s body below his neck. The most noticeable thing was his hand resting on the steering wheel—long, pale, and elegant, with distinct knuckles, and even the veins on the back of his hand looked sensually defined.

Was he trying to entertain her by parking right in front of her?

Yu Xia couldn’t help but stare at his hand.

When the person inside saw her reaction and realized she wasn’t responding, he finally spoke, “Get in.”

Hmm?

His voice was unexpectedly pleasant.

Was he talking to her?

Yu Xia looked around, wondering which lucky girl had a private car waiting for her, and someone whose hands were so attractive and whose voice sounded so good.

That person must look great too.

Unlike her, pitifully waiting alone for a cab in the rain.

Eh? No!

She looked around and realized she was the only one within a ten-meter radius!

Was this a good-looking guy trying to strike up a conversation?

She hesitated and stepped down from the curb, leaning in to look inside the car. Lu Yanzhou wasn’t wearing a coat, just a black wool sweater. He looked refined and distinguished, his elbow resting on the car window, one hand still on the steering wheel, turning his head to meet her gaze with a calm expression.

Yu Xia froze for a moment, and when she came to her senses, her face lit up with joy, her eyes sparkling as she beamed at Lu Yanzhou. “Wow… Lu Yanzhou, are you asking me to get in?”

The exaggerated “wow” in her voice made her excitement stand out, and the rain only made her expression more vibrant. Lu Yanzhou paused, and his initial thought of giving her a ride seemed to carry more weight.

The feeling of being expected and of surprising someone softened his indifferent mood. He cleared his throat and answered with a low, subdued “Mm.”

“Ah, this lucky girl is me, huh…” Yu Xia mumbled happily as she opened the car door.

Lu Yanzhou didn’t quite hear her clearly, but watched as she sat down. He tried to throw the jacket from the passenger seat to the back, but when he pulled it halfway, the sleeve got caught as Yu Xia sat down.

“Huh? What’s this?” Yu Xia noticed, glanced down, and naturally shifted her position to pull his jacket sleeve back. “Let me grab it.”

Lu Yanzhou was about to say “no need,” but Yu Xia had already placed the jacket on her lap.

“…” Forget it.

“Seatbelt.”

“Oh, right…”

Yu Xia obediently fastened her seatbelt. Then, she suddenly remembered she had booked a ride, so she hurriedly opened the app and saw that the driver was stuck at a traffic light.

The car was still 3.8 kilometers away, with an estimated arrival time of eight minutes.

Sorry, she’s been picked up!

Yu Xia quickly tipped the driver three yuan and canceled the order. The car slowly moved forward. She had been running a high fever in the afternoon, and as soon as she got in the car, she felt dizzy and closed her eyes to rest, not paying attention to the car’s make or model.