Shi Fa Ke only felt a buzzing in her ears, and just when she couldn’t stand it anymore and was preparing to take her leave, another young couple walked in.

The woman wore a veiled hat, making it impossible to see her face clearly, but her voice was extremely gentle and pleasant to hear. She said, “I’ve heard that the plum wine at this Shengxing Restaurant is unparalleled in Tongluo Town. Now I can finally have a taste.”

Her tone was filled with anticipation.

The man beside her had a cold expression and didn’t respond to her words. However, after sitting down, he said to the waiter, “First warm a pot of plum wine.”

“Big Brother Ming, there’s no need to warm it. I’d like to drink some cold wine,” the woman said coquettishly.

“Go warm the wine,” the man still ignored her, only speaking to the waiter.

Shi Fa Ke looked at them and found the man quite interesting. He seemed to be someone with a cold exterior but a warm heart – clearly appearing to keep the young lady at arm’s length, yet unable to help himself from caring for her, not allowing her to consume cold things.

It was just a pity that the plum wine had already sold out. That young lady had come with such high expectations, she was destined to be disappointed.

Just as Shi Fa Ke was silently sighing and feeling sorry for her, she saw the waiter briskly respond with acknowledgment… and headed toward the back kitchen.

…Hey?! What happened to it being sold out?

Shi Fa Ke turned her head again, quietly looking at the chattering waiter in front of her. “Could it be that this was also pre-ordered earlier?”

The waiter nodded without the slightest blush, lying boldly without even blinking, “Yes, it is.”

Shi Fa Ke narrowed her eyes. Without making much of a fuss, she let out a light snort, picked up the roasted chicken, and turned to leave.

Behind her, the waiter secretly wiped away some sweat, letting out a long sigh of relief, thinking that he had finally managed to deceive her into leaving.

“Isn’t there still plenty of plum wine? Why not sell it to that young lady?” A newly arrived junior waiter curiously approached and asked.

“The owner gave specific instructions. You’d better be alert too – if you sell wine to that young lady, you won’t need to continue working here,” the waiter who had managed to deceive Miss Shi away said with a warning expression.

The new junior waiter was startled and nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Meanwhile, Shi Fa Ke carried the roasted chicken wrapped in lotus leaves out of Shengxing Restaurant, still feeling something was strange in her heart, having some vague suspicions… Come to think of it, Third Brother was also a regular customer of this restaurant, wasn’t he? Could it be that he had done something underhanded, threatening the waiter not to sell wine to her?

In Shi Fa Ke’s view, only her Third Brother would do such a thing.

Although she was somewhat disappointed not to have bought the plum wine, looking at the roasted chicken in her hand, Shi Fa Ke’s mood improved again. Remembering Zhu Yanyan’s request, she excitedly went to the school to find Lu Chi.

At this time, Lu Chi was teaching at the school. Zhu Li hadn’t come to school for many days now. Without that noisy little fatty, it was indeed much quieter for the ears… As for what kind of dire straits that little fatty was experiencing at home, the heartless Lu Chi naturally didn’t care.

After class ended, students gradually returned home, and Lu Chi also tidied up, planning to go back and rest.

These past two days, he always felt empty inside, unable to summon any enthusiasm for anything. This was truly the first time in his life experiencing lovesickness – once it began, it became harmful lovesickness.

Sigh, he thought he probably had contracted lovesickness.

Since that day at Shengxing Restaurant, he hadn’t had a proper conversation with Shi Fa Ke, and she hadn’t come looking for him either. When he went to the Shi family… he would always encounter that Miss He whom he very much wanted to respectfully keep at a distance. For Lu Chi, who had just figured out the true meaning of “soul-stirring longing,” this was extremely vexing.

Walking out of the school somewhat absent-mindedly, he heard a familiar voice calling him.

“Master Lu!”

The voice was crisp and sweet, making one’s heart brighten just from hearing it.

Lu Chi looked up and saw a smiling face – exactly the face that had been haunting his dreams… Could it be that his lovesickness had reached such depths that he was beginning to hallucinate?

Though thinking this, he seemed to be under some kind of spell, involuntarily lifting his legs and walking over.

Standing before her, Lu Chi moved his nose and suddenly caught a whiff of… hmm, the aroma of roasted chicken? His gaze fell on the lotus leaf-wrapped roasted chicken in her hand. If this were a hallucination… it couldn’t possibly make even the aroma so realistic.

“A’Ke?!”

It wasn’t a dream – it really was her!

Lu Chi’s eyes brightened, and he immediately became happy, truly surprised and delighted. It was really true that not seeing someone for a day felt like three seasons apart. Look, in his excitement, he accidentally blurted out the intimate address he had been using in his heart…

Then… he regretted it, staring at Shi Fa Ke without blinking, afraid she might be unhappy or feel offended.

But obviously, he was overthinking.

“Mm?” Shi Fa Ke instinctively responded, completely unaware that there was anything improper about his spontaneous address. At this moment, seeing Lu Chi, she immediately thought of that pale and frail young lady from the Zhu family again. Her mind was completely occupied with how to probe whether he was indeed the young man who had saved Zhu Yanyan back then, so how could she spare any attention for other matters?

Lu Chi, however, thought she was accepting the address “A’Ke,” and his eyes immediately filled with little stars, making that already very handsome face even more radiant.

Even the absent-minded Shi Fa Ke was stunned by this sight, then quickly shook her head to snap back to reality, silently muttering “forgive me” to herself.

“Did you come looking for me?” Lu Chi chuckled softly, feeling his entire being become spirited and radiant.

“Yes, I happened to pass by the restaurant and bought a roasted chicken, bringing it to you for a little feast,” Shi Fa Ke said, then pursed her lips, quite dissatisfied as she complained, “I originally wanted to get some plum wine too, but that waiter was very strange. He insisted on lying that the plum wine was sold out, when I clearly saw other customers ordering it, yet he just wouldn’t sell it to me.”

She was fine not mentioning the plum wine, but once she brought it up, Lu Chi couldn’t help but recall her adorable drunken appearance that day at Shengxing Restaurant, as well as his own unspeakable dream. All at once, he felt heat rising, and even his breathing became somewhat labored.

“Master Lu, what’s wrong with you?!” Shi Fa Ke widened her eyes, seeing two streams of crimson nosebleed slowly flowing from that straight, beautiful nose…

“Hm? What?” Lu Chi shook his head, dispelling those improper images from his mind, but saw her face showing a panicked expression, asking somewhat puzzledly.

“Oh my, you’re having a nosebleed!” Seeing him still in a daze, Shi Fa Ke anxiously stamped her feet, hurriedly standing on her tiptoes to press her handkerchief against his nose.

Shi Fa Ke was only focused on helping him stop the nosebleed, completely unaware that due to their height difference, she was practically pressed against his entire body…

And so, Lu Chi’s nosebleed became even more unstoppably torrential.