The sudden ringing of the phone shattered the silence, finally snapping Lu Buyu out of his daze.

Lu Wan’s figure had already disappeared at the entrance to the stairwell.

The call was from Lu Buyu’s assistant. A few hours ago, this ancestor of his had run off from the rehearsal site, only saying that he had something important to take care of.

Lu Buyu answered the call and spoke first, “I’m done here. I’m heading back now.”

The assistant was stunned for a moment. He didn’t ask much but felt even more puzzled.

The boss was always meticulous and responsible. This was the first time something like this had happened. So what exactly had gone down?

After hanging up, Lu Buyu dialed another number.

“I found her.”

“She wasn’t picked up by the Zhao family?”

“No. I just watched her go home.”

“Good. I’ll handle the rest.”

Earlier, Lu Buyu had seen a boy approaching from a distance and thought he had mistaken the person.

But the moment the other party got close and he saw that face clearly, his heart skipped a beat. The brows and eyes were far too similar to their father’s.

There could be no mistake.

────ρя


Lu Wan didn’t have much luggage. She packed two sets of clothes and her textbooks, nothing else.

And then there was her pet of five years— a tiny turtle she had bought from a roadside vendor for five yuan.

That man had said he’d pick her up in the morning, but Lu Wan waited until nine o’clock and didn’t see a single soul.

She glanced at the yellow carnation she’d brought back last night and couldn’t help but pin it back on her ear, posing in front of the mirror.

Actually…… one could tell she was a girl, right?

The half-closed front door creaked open.

Lu Wan turned her head. It was Xu Yao.

“……What the hell happened to your hair? You look like a dragon fruit.”

Xu Yao hadn’t slept well the entire night. The thought of Lu Wan leaving made him uncomfortable. So, like a maniac, he went and dyed his hair red in the middle of the night.

“It’s for seeing you off. Look how festive and fiery it is.” He paused, looked at the flower in her head, and added, “……You, a guy, wearing a flower in your hair like some girl?”

Lu Wan was in a good mood. She leaned in and asked, “What do you think? Doesn’t it look great?”

Xu Yao stared at her for two seconds. It just felt all kinds of wrong. He stepped forward and yanked the flower roughly off her head.

“A man should look like a man! So sissy! It’s disgusting!”

Lu Wan clutched her head. Was this idiot insane?

“My hair! What the hell?!”

Xu Yao opened his palm. Aside from the flower, there were seven or eight strands of hair.

He looked a bit awkward. “It’s just a few strands.”

Lu Wan rolled her eyes. “A few? You illiterate brute. Do you even know how important hair is?”

A lot of students in the science class talked about hair loss and receding hairlines in between problem discussions.

Although Lu Wan didn’t have that issue yet, who knew when it might hit? Like the sentence ‘balding overnight with the spring breeze’.

So every strand mattered!

Xu Yao seemed distracted. He asked in a small voice, “Hey…… if you like big boobs, would big pecs work too?”

Lu Wan didn’t hear clearly. She looked up and asked instinctively, “What?”

She was still mourning her fallen hair. Her deskmate had once told her every strand was precious and deserved a name.

She believed that humble names helped things thrive. So she mourned Cuihua^[1]Green Flower, Ah Qiang^[2]Strong, and Goudan^[3]Dog Egg, who had perished at Xu Yao’s idiotic hands.

Xu Yao muttered, “……Nothing.”

The reason Lu Wan liked curvy girls was simple— her own secondary sex characteristics were too underdeveloped. She suspected her body had even been fooled by her male disguise.

So she needed good role models to silently remind her body how flesh was supposed to grow.

────ρя


Zhang Weidong could already hear voices chatting inside the house from far away.

He stepped up to the door and said sarcastically, “Wow, you’ve got quite the social circle. Yesterday it was white hair, today it’s red. Don’t you have any normal friends? Birds of a feather, huh.”

Xu Yao turned around with an annoyed face. “Are you looking to die? I was the white-haired one from yesterday.”

Zhang Weidong froze. It really was that delinquent from yesterday!

He recognized the look. The other party was definitely someone he couldn’t beat.

Feeling uneasy, he tossed out, “Hurry up then, I’m waiting downstairs”, and fled.

Xu Yao handed over a small jar he had been hugging. “This is for you. It took a lot of effort to get.”

“What is it?”

Xu Yao cleared his throat. “Folk remedy. It supposedly works wonders for men. Ten-Whip Super Tonic Wine.”

“……”

“Don’t be embarrassed. I left it in my room, and my mom found it. She thought I was drinking it myself and told me to take care of my health and not spend so much time with my girlfriend.”

Lu Wan said, “Hmm…… your mom’s right. You should keep it.”

“I don’t want it! I’m still a damn virgin! Don’t you dare not believe—”

Lu Wan said in a ghostly tone, “I believe you. You’ll be a virgin your whole life.”

Xu Yao nodded earnestly. A few seconds later, something clicked.

Wait, was that supposed to be a compliment?!

……

He forced her to take the wine. So Lu Wan had no choice but to sling her bag over one shoulder, carry the wine jar in one hand, and hold the turtle tank in the other as she got in the car.

Zhang Weidong practically rolled his eyes into the sky.

What a country bumpkin! Totally lacking class!

Because of some tension between them, Zhang Weidong looked sour. Lu Wan didn’t care. She didn’t want to talk to anyone anyway. Quiet was perfect.

……

The car cruised smoothly down the road. But after ten minutes or so, several cars suddenly appeared from all directions, boxing them in and forcing them to stop by the roadside.

Lu Wan immediately sensed something was wrong. What the hell was going on?

Zhang Weidong was already in a bad mood, and now he was fuming. He got out of the car, hands on hips, and shouted, “Are you crazy?! Do you even know whose car this is?!”

“The Zhao family? Who the hell are they? We’re here to stop you.”

A bald man leaped down from a black Land Rover, face fierce and full of menace.

He ignored Zhang Weidong, who was still yelling, and strode directly to the Audi. He knocked on the window and flashed what he believed was a friendly smile, then said to Lu Wan in the back seat, “Young Miss, would you kindly step out and change cars?”

Lu Wan: “……”

Even with a smile, a bald, muscular man was still terrifying.

She was completely bewildered. What was going on?

Zhang Weidong froze for a moment. Where the hell had this person come from? He was about to speak, but the bald man easily subdued him with one hand.

The man sneered, lips curled without warmth. “Best you stay out of this.”

Zhang Weidong was pinned against the car and instantly shut up.

The bald man turned back to Lu Wan in the car. “Alright, Young Miss, please get out now.”

Lu Wan: “……”

This was scary as hell! Was this a kidnapping? What was happening?

Were these enemies of the Zhao family? Were they going to do something to her just to vent their hatred?

Lu Wan’s heart sank. She blinked innocently. “……I’m just a high schooler hitching a ride. I don’t even know the driver. Uncle, maybe just let me go back?”

Zhang Weidong: “……”

What nonsense was this bumpkin spewing?

The bald man was unmoved. He insisted, “You’re very funny, Young Miss. But please, come out now.”

Lu Wan scanned the area. There were three Land Rovers, each with two muscular men.

The difference in strength was clear. Resisting would be like throwing eggs at a stone.

She dropped her smile, admitted defeat, hugged her turtle, and obediently climbed into one of the Land Rovers.

She’d just have to adapt as the situation evolved.

Zhang Weidong was stunned. Snatching someone in broad daylight? These guys had some serious nerve.

The bald man saw the disbelief on Zhang Weidong’s face and grinned. “I’ll tell you the truth. She’s the Lu family’s young miss!”

The Lu family. A name suddenly flashed through Zhang Weidong’s mind, and his face twisted in disbelief.

No way. That couldn’t be true.

The muscle man said, “You’re not mistaken. Now get lost! You piece of trash!”

────ρя


Lu Wan’s heart was pounding. What on earth was happening?

These people clearly didn’t like the Zhao family, but…… they didn’t seem to want to hurt her either?

The man in the passenger seat started a video call. Once it connected, he said loudly, “Boss, we’ve successfully picked up the young miss.”

A few seconds later, a deep male voice came through the phone.

“Good. How is she?”

“She’s very brave, beautiful, and smart. She looks just like you!” The bald man said.

“Is that so? Hand her the phone. I’d like to speak with her.”

Lu Wan hesitantly took the phone.

She glanced at the screen, and her composure shattered.

Another bald, muscle-bound man filled the video frame, face fierce and jawline thick with developed masseter muscles.

A walking wall of steel.

How did she look like him?!

Not that she was judging appearances. But they looked nothing alike! She was just a teenage girl, and she couldn’t accept being compared like this!

Then the camera shook, switched angles, and revealed another man on-screen.

This man wore a shirt made of soft linen. He had thick brows and deep eyes, with faint lines at the corners, but he was well-groomed, elegant even.

He didn’t seem to have a specific age, but he exuded a calm dignity, the kind earned from years of experience.

Lu Wan guessed he was around forty-five.

If they said he looked like her…… well, that she could accept.

The man smiled gently. “Hello, Wanwan. I’m your uncle^[4]father’s elder brother.”

Lu Wan: “……”

“Wanwan, your parents miss you very much. If they could, they would’ve come themselves. But it’s the May Day holiday, and return tickets to the country have been sold out for days. Even chartering a plane didn’t work, so they couldn’t come right away. Don’t be upset.” The man said warmly.

His younger brother was attending an academic conference in France, and his sister-in-law was on a business trip in Australia.

Lu Wan replied, “……I see. That’s okay.”

“I’ve already sent both of my private jets to pick them up. You’ll see them tomorrow night. I was going to come myself, but it’s better that you see your parents first.”

Lu Wan blinked. She thought she’d misheard. “Both of your…… private jets?”

Lu Junye mistook her reaction as doubt about the number and chuckled. “Usually I only use one. The second is a backup in case the first is under maintenance. If you’d like, I can give you a helicopter. Your new school has a helipad. The environment’s quite good.”

“……”

She understood every word, but somehow when strung together, they made no sense.

Surely he wasn’t talking about those little airplane graphics used for tipping streamers, right……?

What kind of absurd situation was this?