Chapter 130: The Lu Enterprise

The heart is cheap when it is given away, and it is rare; to take back a gift already given is excessive and greedy. How could she possibly take back another?

Of course, to Lu Yuanqiu, having one each was perfectly fair, but she would only think of herself as too gluttonous, even though the egg tarts were bought with her own money.

Girls like her are just so stubborn, persistent, and rigid. She has no idea how to be flexible, like an old person living in the seventies or eighties.

Bai Qingxia kept her head down, her small hands gripping her knees, her face taut.

Lu Yuanqiu bit into an egg tart, and at that moment, Bai Qingxia looked up. Seeing him finish both, she wiped away her tears, and the sorrow on her face finally dissipated a little.

After finishing, Lu Yuanqiu reached out and tapped her on the nose, chiding, "You big dummy!"

The girl recoiled, looking at the boy with a bewildered gaze, her eyes still glistening with pearl-like tears.

Lu Yuanqiu glared at her: "Still daring to dodge?"

He reached out again to flick her petite nose bridge and asked, "Are you a dummy? Answer me."

This time, Bai Qingxia didn't dodge, but she lowered her eyes without answering, like a mistreated kitten sitting in the chair opposite, allowing anyone to bully her at will.

Lu Yuanqiu grumbled, "Turned into a little mute now, have you? Little mute? I'm asking you a question."

Seeing she had no reaction, Lu Yuanqiu sighed. He glanced at the untouched rice and stir-fried spinach on her tray and waved his hand, helplessly saying, "Fine, fine, just eat your lunch."

Only then did Bai Qingxia pick up her chopsticks and, with her head lowered, begin to eat her rice and spinach in small bites.

Lu Yuanqiu was truly infuriated; he rolled his eyes, not knowing what to say. Although Bai Qingxia was a wonderful person, sometimes he really hated her rigid, inflexible nature.

Take these last two egg tarts, for instance. You eat one, I eat one—is it poisonous? Will you die from it?!

Come to think of it, Bai Qingxia’s obsession with rules was a bit like the "Second Master" back home, who was the current chairman of the Lu Corporation.

Back in the day, Lu Yuanqiu’s grandfather and the Second Master had co-founded the Lu Corporation. After his grandfather passed away prematurely, he entrusted the Second Master to take care of his wife—Lu Yuanqiu’s grandmother.

The Second Master had no children of his own, so he raised his two nephews—Lu Yuanqiu’s eldest and second uncles—as his heirs. The three of them now formed the backbone of the Lu Corporation.

The third uncle, Lu Yuan, disdained business and pursued a career in politics.

Then there was Lu Yuanqiu’s useless father, whose grades were abysmal from a young age. Like the younger Lu Yuanqiu, he was just a spoiled landlord’s son who knew only how to run around with snotty noses and silly grins.

By the time it reached the third generation, there were only five children. Aside from the siblings Qiu and Winter, there was the eldest sister who was a graduate student, the second sister who was an undergraduate, and the third sister (the third uncle’s daughter), who was currently a freshman.

Lu Yuanqiu, the only boy in the third generation, was originally intended to be groomed as the heir to the Lu Corporation. However, his performance in his previous life had disappointed the Second Master, who then shifted his focus to training the eldest and second sisters.

The third sister was a melancholic, frail girl obsessed with painting and had zero interest in business. As for Lu Yidong’s future, one could only say that Lu Tian’s genes were too powerful; Lu Yidong eventually grew up into a perfectly silly daughter of a wealthy family.

As he pondered this, the girl opposite set down her chopsticks. Lu Yuanqiu realized she had finished, so he got up and walked with her toward the trash bin.

After dumping the trash, however, Lu Yuanqiu didn't rush off. Instead, he pulled her toward the egg tart stall.

"What are we doing?"

"Going to buy you an egg tart."

Once there, Lu Yuanqiu turned to look down at her: "I'm buying it this time. I'm treating you, and you have to eat it."

At the window, the cafeteria lady looked at the two of them, paused, and then pointed helplessly at the only egg tart left. "Only one left. Just swipe for two yuan."

Lu Yuanqiu swiped his card and placed the egg tart into the girl’s cupped hands.

"Eat!"

He leaned close to Bai Qingxia’s face, his aggressive gaze seeming to say that if she didn't eat it, he would eat her.

Bai Qingxia looked at him blankly. Lu Yuanqiu turned his head and gestured at the egg tart with his eyes.

Only then did she lower her head, open her mouth, and take a bite.

The girl chewed in small bites, looking up at Lu Yuanqiu again. He stood right beside her, staring intently to supervise her. She shifted her timid gaze away, lowered her head, and began to eat earnestly, not looking at him again.

"Is it good?"

"It's good."

"I don't believe you. You answered too quickly, without any feeling at all."

...

The next day, Tuesday.

When Lu Yuanqiu arrived at the classroom, he noticed Bai Qingxia was wearing the black-and-white baseball jacket he had bought her over the weekend. Her pants were the tight blue jeans that came with the other outfit.

Under the desk, the girl’s thighs, wrapped in jeans, were round and slender, pressed together without a gap. The smooth surface of her legs made one want to reach out and rest a hand on them.

Honestly, if his deskmate were a boy, Lu Yuanqiu would have worn the finish off his legs by the end of the semester.

It was just a pity that his deskmate was a girl.

He asked, "Why aren't you wearing the other black pair of pants? Those were meant to go with this baseball jacket."

Hearing the question, Bai Qingxia’s expression became unnatural. She spoke softly, "I did wear them when I left home this morning..."

"And then? What happened?"

Lu Yuanqiu yawned, resting his cheek on his hand as he watched her nonchalantly.

The girl stopped talking. She opened her textbook and began to read silently until her earlobes turned red from Lu Yuanqiu’s stare.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

As he watched, it suddenly dawned on Lu Yuanqiu: it was the end of the month... was she on her period?

Cough, it wouldn't be that she leaked this morning, would it?

He had almost forgotten about her cycle. The sanitary pads he had given her at the supermarket might have already run out. Remembering that black plastic bag, Lu Yuanqiu asked seriously, "You didn't go cheap and buy those loose ones again, did you?"

Bai Qingxia suddenly turned her head, her beautiful eyes fixed directly on him, clearly surprised that Lu Yuanqiu had guessed the reason.

"No."

After saying this, she shyly turned her head away.

Lu Yuanqiu nodded. "That's good."

In the first period, which was Chinese class, the sports representative Zhang Bowen’s speech today was about the famous basketball star Kobe Bryant.

For the speeches before Chinese class these past few days, everyone either introduced a book, a movie, or a celebrity; it had almost become a fixed template.

Once Zhang Bowen finished his speech, it was time for the most thrilling part.

Liu Wei stood by the classroom door and said, "Pick the next person to give a speech."

Everyone lowered their heads, as if the matter at hand was a life-or-death situation. Of course, those who weren't particularly close to Zhang Bowen didn't need to worry too much.

"Wang Haoran."

Zhang Bowen pointed seriously at the boy with the middle-parted hair, who was sitting in the middle of the classroom and currently keeping his head down; they were usually on good terms.

Wang Haoran jerked his head up, glaring at him with indignation, wearing an expression that said, "I knew you were going to pick me!"

On the platform, Zhang Bowen laughed, his scheme successful.

Seeing this, Lu Yuanqiu gloated and said to the girl beside him, "If it's your turn to speak, will you pick me as the next person?"