♡ Chapter 3.2 ♡

You can usually tell if a car is good or expensive by its interior. She glanced around and could tell this car was quite expensive.

She originally thought he was an ordinary tenant, but it seemed he wasn’t.

Her appearance now was completely different from how it had been in the afternoon. Lu Yanzhou drove the car and casually asked, “Feeling better?”

“The fever started to subside halfway through the IV drip,” Yu Xia replied. “Once the fever broke, I felt much better.” She waved her left hand beside him. “I had three bags of medicine. My hand is swollen from the IV.”

Her delicate, fair fingers briefly flashed before his eyes. Before he could get a good look, she had already pulled her hand back.

He pressed his lips together, remaining silent.

The car became quiet, and Yu Xia stared out the window for a while, unable to stand the silence. She turned her head and asked, “Aren’t you curious how I knew your name?”

“Asked the property manager,” Lu Yanzhou answered flatly.

“Mm…”

He had guessed it right on the first try.

Outside the window, the drizzle fell, and the air felt noticeably cold. The man beside her also felt distant and cold. The silence lingered. Yu Xia pouted and suddenly noticed a faint woody scent, which led her to find a new topic. “The car’s air freshener smells nice. What scent is it?”

She glanced at the dashboard. Usually, air fresheners are placed there, but the dashboard was completely empty.

Lu Yanzhou kept his eyes on the road. “There’s no air freshener in the car.”

“There is! I can clearly smell it.” Yu Xia was sure. Without realizing it, she had made his jacket into a pillow, hugging it with both hands, the fabric pressing against her chin. The woody scent grew stronger.

It was the kind of fragrance that smelled better the more you inhaled. If she ever bought a car, she’d make sure to use that air freshener.

Lu Yanzhou gripped the steering wheel, took a deep breath, and then calmly told her, “If you put my jacket in the back seat, you won’t smell it.”

“…”

What?

Yu Xia froze for a moment, then looked down at the jacket in her arms. Slowly, she realized the woody scent was coming from his jacket.

A woody male fragrance.

Helping him with his jacket had been an unintentional act, but now she felt a little awkward, especially since the woody scent was still lingering in her nose, inescapable.

Yu Xia had once helped a colleague pick out a perfume for her boyfriend and knew that some men’s perfumes had very subtle scents, only noticeable when you were close. A scent that only detectable when you were near carried an ambiguous implication. She must have been a bit out of it after her fever earlier, which was why she had eagerly grabbed his jacket to hold.

Now putting the jacket in the back seat felt a bit too deliberate.

Yu Xia stiffened and sat up straight, keeping her nose away from the jacket. She lifted a hand to brush her hair and tried to act casual. “It smells really nice, very tasteful. You still haven’t told me the name of the fragrance. Next time I get a boyfriend, I’ll buy him this one.”

“…”

She just broke up last night and already thought about what gift to give to her next boyfriend.

Lu Yanzhou was speechless. He turned the steering wheel calmly and turned into the intersection of the community. He said without any emotion: “I don’t remember. Wait until you find your next boyfriend.”

“…”

Unbelievable. She only asked for the name of a perfume, and she had to wait until she had a boyfriend to get an answer?

Yu Xia couldn’t help but turn her head to look at him, trying to gauge if he was joking from his expression. Lu Yanzhou kept his eyes on the road. His profile looked especially good, with a sharp, smooth jawline, exuding the aura of a male lead from a manga.

Lu Yanzhou was the most “manga-like” man Yu Xia had ever met in real life. Moreover, he had black hair and didn’t wear makeup.

He was a rare find.

But he was too indifferent. He seemed like the type who had no sense of romance.

As the car drove into the community, Yu Xia was sure of her thoughts. “You definitely don’t have a girlfriend.”

Lu Yanzhou didn’t answer, but it was clear he was silently agreeing.

Having a car was really convenient. It went straight to the garage, avoiding wind, sun, and rain. After taking the elevator up, Yu Xia couldn’t help but think this in her heart. She turned to Lu Yanzhou and said sincerely, “Thanks for today.”

Lu Yanzhou just gave a slight smile, noncommittal.

Although some people had mistakenly thought she died suddenly at home, having someone care for you felt nice. Plus, she had gotten a ride in his car twice. Yu Xia thought for a moment and then smiled up at him. “Are you free tomorrow evening? Let me treat you to dinner.”

Lu Yanzhou glanced at her, his gaze briefly resting on her. “Company dinner tomorrow evening.”

She quickly asked, “Then how about lunchtime? There’s a hotpot place near our neighborhood. It’s really good.”

“Can you eat hotpot?” Lu Yanzhou glanced at her.

Uh, maybe not.

“Well, there’s a Thai restaurant next to the hotpot place, and it’s also very good.”

Lu Yanzhou didn’t like hotpot, and he disliked the sour-sweet taste of Thai food. He was about to refuse but then saw her bright eyes. After a two-second pause, he unexpectedly nodded. “Mm.”

Yu Xia took her phone from her down jacket pocket, quickly pulled up her WeChat QR code, and handed it to him. “Let’s add each other on WeChat, so we can keep in touch.”

“…”

She blinked, signaling for him to scan it.

Reluctantly, Lu Yanzhou took out his phone, scanned the code, and added her as a friend. This was the first time he had scanned a girl’s WeChat QR code.

When the elevator arrived, Yu Xia walked out, satisfied with the conversation between them. She sent him a cat waving emoji and updated his contact info.

Lu Yanzhou glanced at the phone and noticed that the contact name wasn’t his, instead, it said “Best Neighbor in China.”

Unable to bear it any longer, he grabbed her phone, quickly deleted the five characters, and changed it to “Lu Yanzhou.” Without saying a word, he expressionlessly handed the phone back to her.

Yu Xia, feeling guilty, took the phone with a nervous laugh and tried to justify herself, saying, “I didn’t know which character in your name was the correct one…” After a brief pause, she added, “Now I know.”

“Oh.” Lu Yanzhou clearly didn’t believe her excuse.

Yu Xia coughed awkwardly and said, “Well, see you tomorrow.”