Chapter 159: Grandmother's Seventieth Birthday [Three]

Lu Yuanqiu was momentarily stunned. Catching a glimpse of the girl’s quarter-profile from his angle, he suddenly chuckled and asked, "Are you jealous?"

Bao Qingxia’s hand holding the pen tightened abruptly, and her chest rose and fell slightly. With her back turned to Lu Yuanqiu, she said in a hurried voice, "I need to do my practice problems. You should hurry up and study too."

Lu Yuanqiu glanced at her and, after thinking for a moment, roughly guessed Bai Qingxia’s state of mind.

After all, to Bai Qingxia, he was already a very close person, and she felt a sense of reliance on him. Now that he had suddenly received a love letter from another girl, as long as Bai Qingxia was a normal person, her possessiveness was bound to act up.

Lu Yuanqiu smiled. Bai Qingxia’s reaction was entirely normal, but it still made him happy—the kind of happiness that comes from feeling cared for.

It felt somewhat like that time many years ago during the election for sports commissioner, when he learned that someone had given him their single vote.

Being cared for brought a warm strength regardless of the time or place.

Lu Yuanqiu slid the letter back into its envelope. Just then, he heard Bai Qingxia, still facing away from him, muttering in a soft voice, "...You said you wanted to get into a university... Being in a relationship will ruin your studies. After the college entrance examination, no one will care what you do..."

Hearing those words, Lu Yuanqiu quickly replied, "We're not dating, not at all! I just thought it was quite interesting, which is why I added her on QQ. I don't even know her. If you don't believe me, I'll give the letter to you and you can deal with it."

"It's none of my business."

Bai Qingxia felt a bit better and slowly turned her body to look at Lu Yuanqiu. Perhaps she didn't even realize it herself, but her pretty eyebrows were still knitted together.

Lu Yuanqiu suddenly stared at her and broke into a smile.

Bai Qingxia didn't understand what he was smiling about. Thinking that Lu Yuanqiu might be happy because of that letter, she felt a pang of distress all over again.

Lu Yuanqiu reined in his smile and asked, "Then what if someone gives you a love letter? How would you handle it?"

Bai Qingxia’s little face turned serious. Seeming eager to prove her resolve to Lu Yuanqiu and give him something to learn from, she said, "If they give it to me in person, I won't accept it. If they put it in my desk drawer, I won't even look at it; I'll throw it straight into the trash."

She had indeed done exactly that during her first and second years of high school. However, because she gave people the impression that she was hard to get along with, there weren't many boys who actually gave her love letters.

"Wow~ Such firm resolve~"

Lu Yuanqiu clapped his hands with an exaggerated expression and praised her.

Bai Qingxia gave him an annoyed glare and then lowered her head to look at the mock exam papers in front of her.

Lu Yuanqiu smiled and said, "What if I'm the one who gives you one? Would you throw it away?"

Hearing this, Bai Qingxia silently turned her head, staring at him blankly with her beautiful eyes. Seeing the mischievous smile on the boy's face, she furrowed her brows again. "How childish."

"Child~ish~" Lu Yuanqiu pouted, playfully mimicking the tone of her voice.

Bai Qingxia glared at him, her chest heaving with anger. Unable to bear it any longer, she raised her hand and gave Lu Yuanqiu's arm a hard thump, her eye rims turning slightly red. "You aren't focusing your mind on your studies... What will you do if your grades drop this exam? Uncle Lu will scold you, the teachers will point fingers at you, and your uncle will be disappointed in you too."

Lu Yuanqiu rubbed his arm. "Why are you putting so much pressure on me?"

Bai Qingxia glared fiercely at him, and tears suddenly streamed down the corners of her eyes without warning. Before she even realized it, she lowered her head to glance at them.

Knowing he had pushed the joke too far, Lu Yuanqiu quickly straightened his expression, stepped forward, and raised his hand to wipe away her tears. "Why are you crying? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was just teasing you."

Perhaps upon hearing the words "teasing you," Bai Qingxia's tears began to flow even faster. Since Lu Yuanqiu couldn't wipe them all away with his fingers, he lifted his sleeve to help dry her face.

"I'm sorry..."

Bai Qingxia pushed away his arm, averted her head, took a deep breath, and stared at the mock exam collection in front of her, ignoring Lu Yuanqiu entirely.

She suddenly felt that she was utterly useless, always crying so easily. But...

The sense of helplessness when she saw someone giving Lu Yuanqiu a love letter; the shock when she heard Lu Yuanqiu say he would give her one; and the subsequent dejection when she turned to look and realized he was only joking.

These ups and downs of emotion overwhelmed her for a moment, and she never expected herself to shed such weak tears.

What kind of nonsense was this? Compared to everything she had faced in the past, this was clearly nothing at all. So why did it hurt so much?

Bai Qingxia sniffled. Once her tears were wiped dry, she began working on the problems without saying another word.

Realizing he had gone too far with his joke, Lu Yuanqiu silently turned to look at her. At this moment, he didn't dare utter a single word, nor did he have the mood to continue studying.

Damn it. Lu Yuanqiu looked at the envelope in his hand, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the trash can behind him.

When evening self-study ended, Lu Yuanqiu and Bai Qingxia left the teaching building together and headed for the bicycle shed. The girl followed closely behind him the entire way without uttering a single word, acting like a silent little mute.

Lu Yuanqiu couldn't take it anymore. He turned around and poked both corners of Bai Qingxia's mouth upward with his fingers.

"My fault, alright? I apologize to you. I swear, from now on I'll study hard and put all my mind into my studies! I won't pay attention to any of that random nonsense."

Though that wasn't actually the reason she was upset, upon seeing the boy sincerely apologizing to her with a serious face, Bai Qingxia still nodded gently.

Lu Yuanqiu encouraged her, "Smile a little. Do you know that seeing you upset makes me upset too? If you smile, I can be happy for a whole day."

Hearing this, Bai Qingxia looked up at him, her gaze softening considerably. She twitched the corners of her mouth and revealed a faint smile.

Only then did Lu Yuanqiu let out an "Aiya," feeling as though the stone in his heart had finally dropped. Pinching Bai Qingxia's soft, tender cheek, he smiled and said, "That's more like it! In the future, if I say anything that makes you unhappy, you must bravely point it out. I'll change. You know how my brain sometimes short-circuits and I just love to act up..."

Seeing the boy engage in self-reflection, the girl lowered her head and smiled slightly before shaking her head. "It's fine. Let's go."

"Okay."

Lu Yuanqiu put on his raincoat and said to her as she sat in the back seat, "Hunker down behind me. Don't worry, if I need to fart, I'll let you know in advance."

Bai Qingxia delivered a moderately firm punch to his waist.

...

Returning home at night, Lu Yuanqiu saw Lu Tian wearing a suit, observing himself from left to right in front of the mirror.

"Dressed in a suit in the middle of the night, are you going to a wedding banquet?"

Lu Tian turned his head and gave him a blank stare. "The custom-made suit just arrived, I'm trying it on to see how it looks. Did you forget that Grandma's seventieth birthday is on December 1st?!"

"Oh right, I just remembered."

Lu Yuanqiu suddenly raised his head with a startled expression, instantly recalling that seventieth birthday from before his rebirth.

Lu Tian began, "For her seventieth birthday, your second uncle said he wants to throw a grand celebration for your grandma. This time they're planning to host a very formal birthday banquet and invite a lot of people."

Lu Yuanqiu's mouth twitched. "Are they also going to make us younger folks make longevity noodles on the spot for Grandma, and whoever makes the best one gets a gold ingot as a reward?"

Lu Tian stretched his neck forward in astonishment. "How did you know?"

Originally four chapters were scheduled for today, but due to some matters, there are only three chapters for now, leaving two chapters still owed. They will be repaid on the 24th and 26th. Thank you to "Brain lost, eyes open, mouth shut" for the donation of 15,000 reading coins.

(End of this chapter)