Shen Xingruo came from school, wearing a loose white T-shirt and denim shorts, carrying an Arni color-block accordion bag that Lu Xingyan had given her for her birthday this year.
As she walked up to the car, Lu Xingyan instinctively took her bag from her shoulder and introduced her to everyone, “This is Shen Xingruo, my girlfriend.”
This group had only heard about how outstanding and beautiful Lu Xingyan’s girlfriend was, and they thought the descriptions were exaggerated. Now, seeing her in person, they were speechless.
No wonder so many girls at school, openly and secretly, tried to win Lu Xingyan’s favor but couldn’t shake his long-distance girlfriend’s position even slightly. She was truly beautiful!
Her beauty was hard to describe specifically. On closer inspection, her features were not particularly deep or striking; her contours were gentle and soft. However, there was a hint of aloofness in her brows and eyes. Standing there in simple clothes, she was a captivating sight, both stunning at first glance and compelling enough to make one want to look again.
After about ten seconds, people began to come back to their senses and greeted Shen Xingruo.
Shen Xingruo nodded slightly in response.
With the greetings done, Lu Xingyan saw no reason to stay longer. He opened the passenger door for Shen Xingruo, gestured for her to get in, then walked around to the other side and got in himself. He leaned over to help her fasten her seatbelt.
As Lu Xingyan was fastening her seatbelt, Shen Xingruo’s fingers lightly tapped the edge of the seat, her gaze drifting to Chen Mengmeng, who stood to the side. Her eyes lingered on Chen Mengmeng for a few seconds.
Even after the car disappeared down the main road, Chen Mengmeng’s back still tingled.
For some reason, seeing Lu Xingyan’s girlfriend in person filled her with a strong sense of defeat and inferiority.
Although the other girl had said nothing and barely even glanced at her, that fleeting, indifferent look made Chen Mengmeng feel deeply ashamed.
At that moment, she felt an overwhelming urge to open Weibo and delete all her petty, shameful posts.
The night was deep, and the city’s lights shimmered, neon signs flickering and casting colorful reflections. Restless heat waves rose from the ground, mingling with the noisy air, the dust swirling and bringing warmth to her face.
While stopped at a red light, Lu Xingyan reached over to adjust the radio.
When they first got into the car, Shen Xingruo softly said to him, “You did well.” This made him so happy that he was still in high spirits.
“Stop, let’s listen to this one,” Shen Xingruo suddenly said.
Lu Xingyan promptly stopped fiddling with the radio.
A cheerful melody danced in the night breeze.
Shen Xingruo turned her head and asked, “Did you have dinner?”
“Of course I did,” Lu Xingyan paused, “Did you not eat?”
Shen Xingruo replied, “No, I haven’t.”
With eight seconds left at the red light, Lu Xingyan glanced at the time. “Let’s go to Hu Jin Street. I’ll take you for some barbecue.”
Hu Jin Street was a famous night snack street in Xingcheng, but it was far away, in a completely different direction from Luoxing Lake. Despite having lived in Xingcheng for so long, Shen Xingruo had never been there. Lu Xingyan, who had lived in Xingcheng for over ten years, had never been there either. It was only because Shen Xingruo had sent him a food recommendation video a few days ago, which featured several places on Hu Jin Street, that he had even thought about it.
Lu Xingyan’s suggestion was exactly what Shen Xingruo wanted, so she naturally nodded in agreement.
“Why are you behaving so well today?” she asked, tilting her head and observing Lu Xingyan’s focused expression as he navigated the road. She couldn’t help but reach out and gently pinch his cheek.
“When have I not behaved well?” Lu Xingyan replied absentmindedly, focused on driving. “Besides, what’s the use of behaving well if there’s no reward…”
Before he could finish, he suddenly raised his voice in annoyance, “Damn it, that idiot! How did they even get a driver’s license? Can’t they switch their high beams off? Trying to blind someone?”
Shen Xingruo sighed internally. Here we go again—his severe road rage was acting up.
Over the next twenty minutes, Lu Xingyan muttered complaints about seven or eight cars.
“Does this lady have no sense of decency? She wasted an entire 20-second green light all by herself, unbelievable!”
“Are you going to move or what? Who stands in the middle of the road on the phone at this hour? Ridiculous!”
“Is this moron in a hurry to the crematorium? This rickety van is going to fall apart at 40 mph and it still wants to overtake, seriously?”
Shen Xingruo finally couldn’t take it anymore. “Lu Xingyan, be more civilized.”
“You don’t understand,” Lu Xingyan responded. “It’s already a huge courtesy that I haven’t sped up and taught them a lesson on how to drive properly.”
Shen Xingruo pressed her temples and said nothing more.
When she first returned to Xingcheng, she had fantasized about Lu Xingyan driving her to the riverside for a romantic ride. But she quickly realized that reality was a far cry from the dreamy scenes in TV dramas.
Lu Xingyan had severe road rage, and when driving, he would continuously mutter complaints, using every word in his vocabulary to criticize and insult other drivers mercilessly. There was no trace of romantic drives.
Shen Xingruo couldn’t even say anything harsh. She had specifically looked up information and found that many new drivers, who thought they were excellent at driving, often became particularly irritable when encountering unruly drivers. If you didn’t go along with them, they might floor the gas pedal, and then you’d both end up seeing the traffic police.
As they reached the riverside, the wind turned cooler. Shen Xingruo looked up at the sky; the moon had hidden behind the clouds.
“Why do I feel like the weather’s changing?” she wondered aloud.
“It won’t. Chen Du said yesterday in the dorm that it wouldn’t rain for the next two weeks.”
Shen Xingruo didn’t respond.
They entered the tunnel.
The Xingjiang Tunnel normally only takes three minutes to drive through, but they were unlucky. Just as they entered the tunnel, an accident occurred at the other end. By the time they reached the middle, traffic had come to a complete stop.
Lu Xingyan muttered, “Damn it, what’s happening now?”
The signal in the tunnel was poor, and the traffic radio was cutting in and out, making it impossible to hear clearly. Soon, the tunnel was completely jammed, with cars stuck in both directions, unable to move forward or backward.
They were stuck for a full forty minutes, enough to test the patience of even the most serene individuals. For someone with severe road rage like Lu Xingyan, it was unbearable. He was fuming, wishing he could blow up the entire tunnel.
Shen Xingruo was already feeling unbearably hungry, and his constant complaining was only making it worse. After holding back for a while, she finally snapped, “Lu Xingyan, can you stop? You should stop driving altogether. Every time you drive, you can’t keep your mouth shut. If you have so much to say, why don’t you give a speech?”
“…?”
“Why can’t I drive? It’s not like I caused the traffic jam. Besides, if I weren’t taking you for a barbecue, we wouldn’t be stuck in this tunnel.”
“Be reasonable. I didn’t even ask to go for a barbecue; you suggested it. Can you be more of a man and stop making excuses for everything?”
“The link was sent by you…”
Before he could finish, the cars ahead started moving. Even though Lu Xingyan was still seething, he forced himself to hold back from arguing with Shen Xingruo.
He told himself to be a man and not argue with her. But then again, how was he not being a man? How would she know if he wasn’t being a man if she hadn’t tried?
As he drove on, thinking about how to reason with Shen Xingruo, they reached the tunnel exit, and he suddenly realized something was wrong. He was going too fast to react in time, and before he knew it, they were out of the tunnel and into a downpour.
“Whoosh—!”
The sudden drenching rain cooled their tempers instantly.
Lu Xingyan was stunned for a couple of seconds. Fortunately, the road ahead was clear, so he steered and turned on the wipers, wiping the rain off his face in confusion.
“Why won’t this rain wipe away?” he muttered.
“Shen Xingruo, quickly open the umbrella! There’s one beside your seat,” he urged.
“…”
“Are you an idiot? Close the roof!”
Oh right, the roof. That explained why the rain was getting in.
Thoroughly soaked and disoriented, Lu Xingyan raised the roof and slowed the car down to a cautious twenty kilometers per hour.
Shen Xingruo had been very angry, but Lu Xingyan’s first reaction was to tell her to open an umbrella. For some reason, this made her want to laugh.
She held back for a couple of seconds but couldn’t suppress her laughter and turned her head away quietly. Although they were only in the rain for a few seconds, it was heavy enough to soak them both. With such a downpour, the snack street was likely to close early. Lu Xingyan drove a bit further before turning back to Luoxing Lake. Along the way, he found a noodle shop and bought Shen Xingruo a bowl of small wontons and a braised chicken leg.
By the time they got home, it was late at night. Neither Pei Yue nor Aunt Zhou was around; the house was quiet.
They went upstairs, both looking rather bedraggled.
After her shower, Shen Xingruo went downstairs to make a simple version of ginger soup. She returned upstairs and opened Lu Xingyan’s room door, only to find it empty.
“Where did you go? I wondered why you weren’t in your room,” she called out.
His voice came from behind her; he had just been looking for her in her room.
Shen Xingruo turned around and handed him the ginger soup. Remembering how they almost had a pointless argument in the car earlier, Lu Xingyan felt a bit awkward.
Shen Xingruo asked, “What, do you want me to feed you?”
“Yes, I want you to feed me,” he replied, unsure if he was being stubborn or something else.
Lu Xingyan thought Shen Xingruo would retort with, “Drink it yourself or get sick for all I care,” but she didn’t say anything. She just walked into his room, sat on the bed, and waited.
Seeing this, Lu Xingyan got the hint, moved closer, sat next to her, and deliberately opened his mouth with an exaggerated “Ah.”
Shen Xingruo had never fed anyone before and wasn’t gentle. She scooped a small spoonful and shoved it into his mouth, almost choking him.
Lu Xingyan was bewildered by her rough feeding. “…Shen Xingruo, are you trying to murder your husband? This is attempted murder!”
“Stop whining. If you don’t like it, drink it yourself.”
“No, no… alright, alright, do it your way. However, you feed me is fine.”
Shen Xingruo remained expressionless, but her movements became gentler.
Lu Xingyan had just showered and smelled like fresh grass-scented body wash. His hair was still slightly damp, lying flat. He sat beside her, obediently waiting to be fed ginger soup, looking particularly well-behaved, like a child in kindergarten. Yet he also looked very handsome, even his frowning expressions were appealing.
As Shen Xingruo fed him, she kept glancing at him. At some point, her ears began to blush.
“Shen Xingruo, wait a moment.”
For some reason, Lu Xingyan suddenly burst out laughing. His laughter made him choke, and as he coughed, he said, “Cough, cough, I know I’m very handsome, but the ginger soup is gone.”
He pointed to the bowl.
“You’ve been feeding me empty spoonfuls.”