Lu Mingzhe’s hand gently caressed her shoulder.
Being held in his arms, listening to his soft whispers, felt so good.
Anyway, Xiang Wan had no intention of getting married in this life.
Rather than finding another man, building trust, and developing such a relationship.
It was better to accept the known.
“Then promise me. You’re telling me the truth. I won’t end up in a predicament of destroying someone else’s family.”
“Okay. I promise you. I will never let you fall into such a predicament.”
After speaking, their eyes met, and that electrifying feeling surged again.
Lu Mingzhe lowered his head to touch her face, his voice soft and gentle.
“Are you sleepy?”
Originally, her heart felt heavy, she was very sleepy, and she wanted to numb herself by sleeping.
But now, her limbs felt relaxed, and she didn’t feel like sleeping at all.
Xiang Wan told the truth: “Not sleepy.”
“Then come on. I’ve been suffering terribly these past few days.”
The next morning, her younger brother got up early again and prepared breakfast.
The two of them dawdled for a long time before coming out.
At first glance, her sister had a faint smile on her face, and Lu Mingzhe stood beside her, with his arm around her shoulder.
They looked like a loving couple.
Her brother couldn’t help but feel his mood lift as well.
“You’re up, come and eat.”
Well.
He was fierce to her last night, and now he was smiling at him again.
Lu Mingzhe smiled and looked at her brother.
“You’re not angry with me anymore? Don’t you think I’m bullying your sister?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Her brother quickly put away his smile.
“If you ever make my sister sad again, I won’t let you off.”
“Although I can’t beat you now, I’ll start working out from today and strive to knock you down with one punch in the future.”
“Hey, kid. Your sister really didn’t raise you in vain.”
Soon, they finished washing up, and the three of them sat down together.
Her brother put some cold cucumber salad into Xiang Wan’s bowl.
“You’ve worked hard, Sis. Eat more.”
Lu Mingzhe looked at her, then at his own bowl.
“Isn’t it me who worked harder? Why don’t you let me eat more?”
“What hard work? You’re a grown man.”
“It’s precisely because I’m a man that it’s hard work, don’t you understand?”
Both her brother and Xiang Wan’s faces turned red.
Xiang Wan kicked him under the table.
“Can’t you shut your mouth even while eating?”
Lu Mingzhe found their reactions amusing and continued to tease her brother.
“Honestly. Do you understand? Have you ever had a girlfriend?”
Her brother ignored him, pretending to eat seriously with a shy expression.
Lu Mingzhe continued to smile.
“What’s there to be shy about? A man should know what he knows, and if he doesn’t, it’s troublesome.”
Xiang Wan kicked him again.
“Are you done? He’s still a child!”
“Is someone who’s almost 20 years old still a child? When I was her age, I…”
“You what?”
Xiang Wan and her brother looked at him simultaneously.
Lu Mingzhe chuckled, realizing he had slipped up, and didn’t say anything further.
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing, let’s eat.”
Xiang Wan, however, was insistent.
“Clarify what you said, what happened when you were 19?”
“It’s really nothing.”
“That’s a lie. Did you already have a girlfriend and understand everything?”
“I did have a girlfriend, but it wasn’t as exaggerated as you think.”
Lu Mingzhe changed the subject.
“We’re talking about my brother, why are you always asking me?”
“Xiang Yang, you’re so handsome and have such a good personality, there must be many girls who like you. Let me tell you, you should date when it’s time. College romances are the purest. Otherwise, you’ll regret it once you leave campus.”
Xiang Wan teased him.
“It seems you had a very pure romance when you were 19, you’re so nostalgic. Then why did you break up with her?”
Lu Mingzhe was truly exasperated.
“Can’t you just pretend I said nothing and let it go? Don’t ask anymore.”
“No. You said it yourself, I have to get to the bottom of it, why did you break up?”
Lu Mingzhe countered.
“What about you? What were you doing when you were 19?”
Xiang Wan recalled her own 19th year.
“I was either working or working. Anyway, not like you.”
Lu Mingzhe was helpless and resorted to acting cute.
“Oh, Sis, Sister, good sister. Please spare me, don’t ask anymore.”
“Everything I did in the past was foolish. If you hear too much, you’ll hate me.”
Xiang Wan pushed him away.
“If I don’t hear much, I still don’t like you. You’re glib.”
After eating, the three of them went out together.
Lu Mingzhe wanted to ride in Xiang Wan’s car.
“Didn’t you drive yourself here?”
Lu Mingzhe told her about meeting her brother last night.
He also praised her brother again.
“This kid is really something for you. Didn’t you hear the tone of his voice last night? He looked like he wanted to beat me up.”
Xiang Wan drove slowly and sighed.
“He’s grown up after all. Time flies so fast.”
“When he was still a child in kindergarten back then.”
Lu Mingzhe had never asked about Xiang Wan’s family or childhood.
Since she brought it up, he couldn’t help but inquire.
“You’ve been raising him alone since he started kindergarten?”
Xiang Wan said.
“When would I have had time to raise him alone? My father had cancer back then, and all the family money was spent. In less than a year, he passed away.”
“The family was completely broke, and people kept coming to bully my mother. Later, she couldn’t stand it anymore, so after we went to school, she quietly left by herself.”
“I was in my third year of high school that year. My grandmother came to school crying to find me and told me that the family had no money to buy food. So I dropped out of school.”
“I found a job as a waitress in a restaurant in our county town, working more than ten hours a day. I was exhausted, and the money I earned was only enough for the three of us to eat.”
So her background was so tragic.
She had even worked as a waitress in a restaurant.
“How did you end up becoming a model later?”
Xiang Wan said.
“Sometimes I really don’t know if being beautiful is a good thing or a bad thing for a woman.”
“If something hadn’t happened back then, and I couldn’t stay in the county town, I probably wouldn’t have come to Nancheng.”
Lu Mingzhe looked at her, signaling her to continue.
She then recounted a major incident that happened at that time.
The owner of the restaurant where she worked was a middle-aged man around 40 years old.
At first, he was normal, but after she got used to the job, he began to take advantage of his position to grope her frequently.
Xiang Wan was young and felt lost about her future. She didn’t know what else she could do if she lost this job, so she endured it in silence.
But as time went on, rumors began to circulate between them.
The other waitresses in the restaurant often made jokes about it, until the matter reached the boss’s wife.
When Xiang Wan was about to go home after work one day, the boss’s wife locked the restaurant door, raised her hand, and slapped her.
She said all sorts of nasty things.
She withheld half a month’s wages and told her to get out of the county town forever.
“Otherwise, I’ll go to your neighborhood and announce it with gongs and drums, saying you’re shameless! Your grandmother must have some dignity, right? I’ll shame her to death!”
Xiang Wan, with no way out, stayed at home idly for several days.