Chapter 42: Little Fei

The two of them wandered around.

In the end, they returned to the lanterns.

The lanterns, in various colors, revealed the bulbs inside due to their simple craftsmanship.

A few children were playing with flying rockets, bouncing around.

The flying rocket landed next to Lu Xiaoxi, startling her, and she hurriedly moved closer to someone.

As long as she was near someone, she inexplicably felt a sense of security.

“Did you change your shampoo?”

“No, why? Does it smell?”

“A bit, it smells bad.”

“Get lost.” Lu Xiaoxi pinched him, but seeing that he didn’t budge, it felt like pinching cotton, making her feel even worse.

Lu Xiaoxi sniffed her hair; it clearly had no smell, and that annoying guy just knew how to tease her.

“Are you still shopping? If not, let’s go back.”

“Mm.” Lu Xiaoxi nodded gently.

It was already past ten o’clock, and judging by the situation, her parents had no intention of messaging them.

Li Mu shared his location with Su Wen, and they quickly reunited with their parents.

But neither set of parents showed any intention of going home.

They had no choice but to follow behind.

Li Mu rubbed his stomach, feeling a bit hungry.

He wasn’t picky; it was just that after eating Lu Xiaoxi’s cooking every day, his stomach had become spoiled, and Su Wen’s cooking was hard to describe. For the past few days at home, he had always made excuses to sneak away after eating half-full, leaving the leftovers for his dad to deal with.

He had only eaten three skewers of fried food earlier, leaving the rest for Lu Xiaoxi.

“Lu Xiaoxi, do you have anything to eat at home?”

“What?”

“Weren’t you going to treat me this morning? I’ve thought about it; just treat me to a late-night snack.”

“Oh, you mean that…” Lu Xiaoxi’s eyes shifted. “There’s only leftover food.”

“Can you heat it up for me?” Li Mu chuckled.

“You’re so troublesome.”

By the time they got home, it was already eleven o’clock at night.

Li Mu took a shower and sat on the sofa playing with his phone.

From time to time, he heard the lines from “The Dragon King Has Arrived” and “Dragon Team Agent.” He knew his dad was watching short videos again.

Su Wen arrogantly occupied three sofa seats, lying sideways with a face mask on while watching TV, one foot resting on Li Changheng’s leg, constantly squeezing Li Changheng’s living space.

Seeing his dad’s helpless expression made Li Mu even more determined that he must have a family throne when he gets married in the future! The throne of an emperor!

“Mom, do you have any face masks left?”

“What for?”

“I want to use one to get a bit whiter.”

“You’re not ugly now; you look quite healthy.” Su Wen assessed her son and was quite satisfied with Li Mu’s appearance.

Other kids in middle and middle school go through puberty and break out in acne, but her son rarely had any, and the few he had were small and didn’t leave scars.

Her skin was so good that even she, as a mother, envied it.

“Being whiter is better than being darker.”

“Here, use this one before bed; you can take it off in half an hour.” Su Wen took out a stack of face masks from the drawer of the coffee table and instructed him, then changed the subject, “If you don’t use it, take it to school for Xiaoxi. Girls need to take care of their skin, you know?”

“Uh, you tell her that. What good does it do to tell me? It’s not like I can make her use it.”

Li Mu’s phone buzzed, and he glanced at it, smiling as he picked it up and ran out.

In front of Lu Xiaoxi’s door.

He cleared his throat, not knowing why he was making it so formal.

He knocked on the door, and the sound of slippers pattering came from inside.

The girl seemed to have just taken a shower, her hair was wet and hadn’t been dried, and she was wearing loose bear pajamas.

Lu Xiaoxi only opened the door a crack, her big, resentful eyes sizing him up. After checking that no one was around, she let him in.

“Mm, it smells so good.”

“Pervert, don’t smell around!” Lu Xiaoxi complained, tightening her pajamas.

“The pervert is you; I said it smells like food, not you. Of course, you smell good too.”

“Still saying you’re not a pervert!…” Lu Xiaoxi’s small fist clenched, but thinking about Li Mu saying she smelled good made her feel warm and restless, as if ants were crawling all over her.

Li Mu looked around this “home” he hadn’t visited in months; the layout of the house hadn’t changed at all. If he had to say anything, it was that the table mat had changed color.

It was a two-bedroom apartment, with Lu Xiaoxi’s room on the left, the door tightly closed, and a bit of light seeping through the crack.

“Where are Uncle Lu and Aunt Qin?”

“They went downstairs to play badminton.”

“Hehe, it’s just the two of us here.”

“Meow~”

The big orange cat, Little Fei, pounced and rubbed against Li Mu’s pants. Li Mu picked it up, swaying it up and down to feel its heavy weight. “Wow, it’s getting as fat as a little pig.”

“Meow!!!” Little Fei seemed to understand human language, swiping its tail across Li Mu’s face, pushing its paws against Li Mu’s increasingly close face, but a little cat’s strength couldn’t compare to a person’s.

Li Mu gave Little Fei a kiss on its furry face before putting it down.

Little Fei was the orange cat Lu Xiaoxi had raised in fifth grade, always lounging around, almost evolving into an orange pig. Since Lu Xiaoxi was going to college out of town, it had been living at her parents’ workplace, continuing its lazy lifestyle.

“Don’t kiss Little Fei’s face.”

“Little Fei doesn’t mind.”

“Meow~” Little Fei’s big paw left a small mark on Li Mu’s face.

“I mind!” Lu Xiaoxi mumbled, looking down.

She had just kissed Little Fei’s face a few minutes ago, and now Li Mu had kissed it again…

Oh no, Little Fei is no longer clean.

“What about food?”

“On the table, hurry up and finish eating; my parents will be back soon.”

“What are you afraid of? It’s just a meal, not something shameful.” Li Mu pulled out a chair, lifted the stainless steel lid, and a waft of delicious aroma floated up.

He had smelled it when he entered; if it were cold dishes, there wouldn’t be any smell.

Braised pork, pig’s feet, tilapia—these were all meat dishes, and they were all Li Mu’s favorites. The tilapia wasn’t big, but half of it was untouched. The only downside was that all the dishes had big chunks of chili.

Leftovers were unavoidable; he could eat spicy food, but he preferred lighter flavors.

“Thank you for the hot dishes, Class Leader!” Li Mu dramatically clasped his hands and bowed, while Little Fei on his lap meowed in agreement.

“Now that we’ve graduated from middle school, don’t call me Class Leader anymore…” Lu Xiaoxi wanted to laugh. She had been the class leader in middle school, and Li Mu didn’t know what got into him to call her Class Leader, and he even called her that in class, which was a bit embarrassing. Over time, she got used to it.

“Then it’s Classmate Lu Pig.”

“Go eat your food, and hurry up and leave after you’re done.”

“Almost done, just a little bit more.”

Li Mu devoured the food.

He hardly touched the pork but finished the remaining fish, beads of sweat forming on his forehead; he had overestimated his ability to handle spicy food.

“What about drinks?”

“You’re getting greedy, huh?” Lu Xiaoxi looked at Li Mu, whose face was completely red from the spice, and found it amusing yet a bit pitiful. She handed him a bottle of orange juice and casually picked up Little Fei from his lap.

She wouldn’t let Little Fei play with him.

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