Xia Liyang was momentarily caught off guard by his casual question. She struggled to think and said, “Because… I felt like you weren’t in a good mood tonight, so I wanted to do something for you.”

“How do you know I’m not in a good mood?” Lu Huaicheng asked with a nonchalant smile, his dark eyes fixed on her.

“Just…,” Xia Liyang said carefully, searching for the right words, “It feels like you’re not very willing to engage with me tonight.”

“That has nothing to do with my mood,” Lu Huaicheng said with a calm tone.

At his words, Xia Liyang felt her heart drop and tentatively asked, “So, is it because I didn’t clean properly last time?”

Lu Huaicheng glanced at her without responding, making her feel even more uneasy.

It seemed the problem really lay with her.

But she couldn’t recall what she hadn’t done right, so she quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, Mr. Lu. Maybe I got a bit distracted while cleaning since you weren’t home last time…”

“Do you really need me to supervise a cleaning?” he asked, his voice low and steady.

“Well, not exactly supervising.” Xia Liyang bit her lip and decided to take a direct approach, looking at him with her sparkling eyes. “It’s just that I kind of felt your absence after getting used to you around.”

Lu Huaicheng’s inscrutable dark eyes lingered on her for a moment, and the corners of his lips curled into a light smile that was neither a smile nor a frown: “Is that so?”

“Mm.” Xia Liyang felt her ears heat up under his gaze.

It was hard to tell if her nervousness came from lying or some other unfamiliar emotion.

She couldn’t help but look away, hastily changing the subject, “How about I make you a cup of coffee as a way to apologize?”

“Whether that’s acceptable depends on how well you make coffee,” Lu Huaicheng replied with a smile, his dark eyes warming slightly.

Xia Liyang didn’t want to raise his expectations too high, so she just vaguely said, “I’ll do my best to satisfy you,” and moved to the coffee machine to start preparing.

Lu Huaicheng didn’t leave; he leaned against the edge of the island counter, his deep brows lowered, seemingly interested in watching her operations.

Feeling his gaze, Xia Liyang’s nerves heightened even more. Her hands, already unsteady, trembled on the first stroke of the latte art, causing it to stray from the intended design.

She paused, glancing awkwardly at Lu Huaicheng beside her. “Please wait over by the sofa; there’s no need to watch me the whole time, or I’ll get nervous and mess up.”

“Don’t the customers at the café watch you more closely than I am now?” Lu Huaicheng said, his tone calm, with a hint of teasing in his deep eyes.

“…You’re not just any customer, Mr Lu,” Xia Liyang bit her lip and tried to argue.

Lu Huaicheng quietly studied her for a few seconds.

Xia Liyang fought the impulse to look away and forced a smile, slightly bending the corners of her eyes.

On a whim, she added, “And I wouldn’t poison your coffee either.”

Lu Huaicheng paused for a moment, then let out a low laugh: “I’d actually like to know how you would poison my coffee.”

“…” Xia Liyang felt her face heat up as she stumbled over her words, momentarily at a loss.

Seeing her flustered and awkward expression, Lu Huaicheng finally straightened up.

“Alright, I’ll go wait for it,” he said, lowering his gaze and casually putting his hands in his pockets as he took long strides back to the sofa.

Once he settled back comfortably on the couch and picked up a *Financial Weekly* from the bookshelf beside him, Xia Liyang finally sighed in relief and focused again on the latte art.

However, she didn’t have enough skill to fix the mistake from the first stroke.

The final product didn’t even compare to her best attempt at home.

Xia Liyang looked at the crooked rose in the coffee cup with a bit of a headache.

After some deliberation, she decided to leave it as is.

After all, as Song Jinhe had said, as long as her intentions were conveyed, that was enough.

She took a deep breath, picked up the coffee cup, and cautiously walked in front of Lu Huaicheng.

“Mr. Lu, your coffee is ready.”

Lu Huaicheng lifted his eyelids slightly and glanced at the coffee in her hand.

Then he completely raised his dark eyes, which settled on her fair, rosy face, his tone seeming to tease: “It’s quite creative; a whole radish.”

“…”

Does this man have bad eyesight?

How could he mistake a rose for a radish?!

Xia Liyang’s lips twitched slightly as she forced a smile, “No, um… please take a closer look.”

Lu Huaicheng lowered his gaze, paused for a few seconds, and the corners of his lips curved up imperceptibly as he lifted his gaze again: “A bird?”

“…How did you see it was a bird, Mr Lu?” Xia Liyang glared at him, speechless.

“Aren’t those two sides wings?” Lu Huaicheng pointed lightly at the leaves beside the stem of her rose.

“…”

With him saying that, the more she looked at those two leaves, the more they resembled a bird’s wings, making her feel a bit embarrassed.

Lu Huaicheng quietly enjoyed the moment as he observed her attempt to argue but shy away from speaking, before finally putting on a knowing expression: “Oh, I get it. It’s a rose, right?”

Hearing him finally say the answer she wanted, Xia Liyang’s crumbling mood recovered somewhat. She quickly nodded, trying to save face: “Yes! It seems my latte art skills haven’t regressed too much after all.”

“Abstracted to this extent, and you haven’t regressed too much?” Lu Huaicheng raised an eyebrow, smiling warmly as he said, “You probably got fired from the café for your skills, which is why you came here to work part-time.”

“…”

This man really had a talent for delivering the sharpest remarks with the most gentle smile.

She felt an urge to throw the coffee on his pristine white shirt, hoping it would wipe that smile off his face.

Xia Liyang tightened her grip on the cup handle, forcing herself to suppress the devilish impulse inside her. She blinked her eyes innocently, switching to a pitiful puppy mode: “I’m sorry for not doing well; I’ll just pour it away if you don’t like it.”

“Give it to me; it would be a pity to waste it,” he called after her.

But before she could feel happy for even a second, he added blandly: “It’s still a waste of my coffee beans.”

“…”

Xia Liyang’s mouth, which had been curving up, dropped. With her long lashes cast down, she reluctantly handed the coffee cup to his slender fingers: “Then enjoy it slowly, Mr. Lu; I’ll go back to cleaning.”

“Mm.” Lu Huaicheng nodded slightly, one hand lifting the coffee cup while the other picked up the magazine that had been resting on his lap.

After Xia Liyang took the mop to the bathroom, he put down the magazine and pulled out his phone, taking a picture of the rose.

This was probably the most unremarkable rose he had ever received in his life.

But it wouldn’t hurt to commemorate it.

Lu Huaicheng curved his lips slightly, turned off his phone, and took a sip of the coffee.

The rich flavor spread across his palate.

Surprisingly, it was quite good.

Meanwhile, Xia Liyang, hiding in the bathroom rinsing out the mop, used the sound of water to mask her actions as she angrily thumped the bucket, venting her inner frustration.

This man was truly insufferable!

Clearly, such a romantic rose could be mistaken for a plain radish by him.

And he didn’t forget to mock her skills either.

She didn’t come here to gain inspiration for romance; she was clearly here to experience the oppression of capitalism!

Xia Liyang bit her lip, suddenly regretting not listening to Xu Songnian’s advice from the start.

She had thought she had a general idea of his character.

His obsessive cleanliness and compulsive tendencies seemed like nothing in her eyes.

Little did she know he was much more difficult to deal with than she had anticipated.

He could dismantle all her carefully prepared tactics almost effortlessly.

Perhaps she should cut her losses.

Once the idea of resigning took root, Xia Liyang’s motivation dropped by half.

In the following cleanings, she no longer tried to flirt with Lu Huaicheng; she became utterly proper.

Partly because she couldn’t think of what else to do, and partly to give herself a buffer to contemplate whether she should completely abandon this plan.

Song Jinhe suggested she try for another month, betting on the possibility of developing feelings over time.

But she felt the phrase “develop feelings over time” didn’t quite fit with Lu Huaicheng.

Because he inherently gave her the impression of being a cold and aloof person.

As for Xu Songnian, he had never been optimistic about her plan and bluntly stated, “You’re just wasting your time. A person like Lu Huaicheng isn’t someone you, a relationship novice, can handle.”

“Like you know him so well,” Xia Liyang scoffed, dissatisfied with his description of her as inexperienced.

“Perhaps I know him a bit better than you do,” Xu Songnian shrugged.

“You didn’t look into him, did you…” Xia Liyang frowned, staring at him as she slowly asked.

“Don’t look at me like that; I just did a simple check, I’m not breaking any laws,” Xu Songnian innocently raised his hand. “I have to make sure he’s not a bad person; otherwise, how could I be at ease letting you go to his house to clean every night?”

“… I can’t believe you. I know what I’m doing,” Xia Liyang sighed helplessly.

“What do you know? Do you know how ruthless he is in business?” Xu Songnian said seriously.

“You just said it’s business; what does it have to do with me?”

“Someone who can be decisive in business is usually indifferent in relationships. What you want from him now is his affection.”

“I just want a little piece of his affection, not everything.”

“It’s been over a month; have you dug up even a millimeter of affection from him?” Xu Songnian asked bluntly.

“……” Xia Liyang fell silent for a moment, then retorted, “So, has Lu Huaicheng had any girlfriends in the past?”

“Come on, you were just complaining about me looking into him, and now you want to ask?” Xu Songnian smirked.

“Since you’ve already checked, it would be a waste not to ask,” Xia Liyang argued confidently.

“Fine.” Xu Songnian reluctantly conceded, speaking honestly, “He hasn’t had any publicly known relationships, but the Lu family has a good relationship with the Wen family of Xinyu Group. Wen has a daughter seven years younger than him, who will probably be his future marriage partner.”

“You even found out about his potential marriage partner, and you call that a simple check?” Xia Liyang’s mouth twitched.

“If I dug deeper, I could tell you whether he’s had any undisclosed girlfriends,” Xu Songnian shrugged noncommittally.

Xia Liyang: “…”

“In short, you’re not his match. Don’t waste your time on him,” Xu Songnian concluded again.

Xia Liyang remained silent, her mood sinking as she sank into the lazy sofa in his office.

Seeing this, Xu Songnian didn’t continue to persuade her. He took off his headphones and stood up from the computer: “Let’s go out and clear our minds.”

“Where to?” Xia Liyang looked up at him.

“Aren’t you overdue for a trip to the gym?” Xu Songnian raised an eyebrow.

“… I feel like the cleaning work as a part-timer can replace my gym workouts.” Xia Liyang pressed her lips together.

“Come on, stop making excuses for your laziness. Today, let’s run 10 kilometers.” Xu Songnian extended his well-defined hand and pulled her up from the lazy couch.

“I’m not wearing workout clothes.”

“There’s a lululemon downstairs; I’ll buy you some.”

With him saying that, Xia Liyang couldn’t think of any other excuses, so she took a hair tie out of her jeans pocket and, while tying her hair up, said, “Forget it, I’ll just run a bit; no need to buy new clothes.”

“Then wait for me to change,” Xu Songnian said, turning his back and directly taking off his loose T-shirt, revealing his broad back and well-defined waist.

“Can’t you change in the bathroom?” Xia Liyang shot him an exasperated glance.

“I’m turned away, aren’t I?” Xu Songnian looked back at her, half-jokingly grinning, “What, are you shy about watching me change?”

“Ha ha.” Xia Liyang coldly laughed twice. “I’m just reminding you, and I’m not interested in seeing a naked man. It’ll give me a headache.”

“…” Xu Songnian paused for a few seconds with a complicated expression before honestly taking his shirt and going to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

…..

The gym Xu Songnian took Xia Liyang to was near his office. Because it operated on a pricey membership basis, even on a Saturday, there weren’t many people working out, creating a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere.

“This gym feels much newer and has better facilities than the one near my house,” Xia Liyang said as she stepped onto the treadmill, adjusting the settings.

“Why don’t you switch to working out here?”

“Forget it, it’s a bit far for me, plus I have to drive.”

“It’s only about twenty minutes by car. After working out, we can grab a meal together,” Xu Songnian said, lifting a barbell and continuing to persuade her.

“Hmm…” Xia Liyang paused, stretching out her words as she lifted her head. “I’ll consider it…”

Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly caught sight of a familiar tall figure walking into the gym.

He was dressed in all black sportswear, with a tight-fitting top that outlined his smooth, muscular lines. His deep features and upright posture made it seem as if all the lights were focused on him.

As he took out his access card with his long fingers and bent down to swipe it at the entrance to her workout area, Xia Liyang felt her heart stop.