Lu Mingyu carried Jiang Yu’s drawing board and led her toward his car. Walking behind him, Jiang Yu thought that although the two brothers looked alike, their personalities couldn’t have been more different, like night and day.
“You’re really not much like your brother,” she said.
Lu Mingyu replied, “My da ge… is he very stuffy? He wasn’t always this cold. At most, he was just a bit aloof. But after he got sick, well… Ah, why am I telling you this?”
He scratched his head, opened the car door for her, and said, “Come on, come on, I’ll take you to dinner. Do you like seafood? I know a place that’s absolutely amazing.”
Jiang Yu stopped at the door without getting in. Lu Mingyu looked at her blankly.
“Wait a bit. Your brother’s already on his way. Let’s wait for him,” Jiang Yu said.
Lu Mingyu: “…Huh?”
So what was supposed to be a dinner for two turned into dinner for three. And Lu Mingyu ended up as the chauffeur.
“Da ge, why are you here?” he complained, disgruntled. He had worked so hard to arrange this dinner with the pretty girl.
Lu Mingshen tugged at the tie around his neck. “Why else? To eat, of course.”
He wore a black suit that day, which set off his physique even better; broad shoulders, slim waist, and that cold, handsome face lent him a powerful, masculine charm.
It was the first time Jiang Yu had seen him in a suit. She couldn’t help glancing at him a few more times.
“What is it?” Lu Mingshen caught her gaze.
Jiang Yu said, “It’s the first time I’ve seen you in a suit, Mr. Lu. It suits you very well.”
Before he could answer, Lu Mingyu piped up from the driver’s seat, “I look good in a suit, too, you know. Jiang Yu, if you’d like to see, I can wear one for you sometime.”
Lu Mingshen didn’t even bother to look at him. “Just drive,” he said coolly.
“…” Lu Mingyu pouted, then complained to Jiang Yu, “See? That’s how cold my brother is to me. And I’m his only younger brother!”
Jiang Yu stayed quiet. Their family matters weren’t for her to meddle in.
“Coo! Coo!”
Suddenly, a sound came from Lu Mingshen, it sounded like… a pigeon?
“Oh, I almost forgot.” He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small white pigeon, placing it carefully into Jiang Yu’s hands. “This is yours, right? When I passed by, the little thing was pecking at my shoe. I just slipped it into my pocket.”
Jiang Yu blinked, holding the little bird in both hands. “This… this isn’t mine. It must be from the square.”
Lu Mingshen: “…”
Lu Mingyu burst out laughing. “Bro, did you just… steal a bird?”
“…”
Jiang Yu asked uncertainly, “Pigeons… they can find their way back, right? If I let it go, it’ll return on its own?”
“Most birds are good at finding their way home,” Lu Mingshen answered. The blurred glow of streetlights fell across his face, but his expression was unreadable.
Still… his ears seemed a little red?
“Then I’ll let it go!” Jiang Yu said. She rolled down the car window and gently tossed the bird outside.
Lu Mingyu asked, “Isn’t throwing a bird out of a moving car against traffic rules?”
Jiang Yu blinked. “I… I don’t know.”
The three of them looked at one another, at a loss for words.
Despite the little incident, they finally sat together in a hotpot restaurant, the warm air blowing, ready for a hearty meal.
“Why were you there, anyway?” Lu Mingshen asked Jiang Yu, taking her coat and hanging it on a nearby chair.
“I’ve been practising figure drawing lately,” Jiang Yu said as she sat down. “My teacher told me to go where there are lots of people and draw them. He said if I draw enough, I’ll make progress, and then he’ll teach me the next step.”
Lu Mingshen nodded. “Still, it’s so cold. You have to keep yourself warm when you’re outside…”
He reached into his pocket again and handed her a small ointment. Meeting her puzzled gaze, he explained, “It’s for chilblains. Didn’t you get one on your finger?”
It was a tiny mark, but he had sharp eyes and noticed it.
Jiang Yu instinctively curled her fingers back, embarrassed. “You noticed… It’s really just a little one.”
In her previous life, she’d had chilblains before. They only itched a bit in warm places, not a big problem.
Lu Mingshen inclined his head slightly, his eyes flicking to her hand. Such beautiful fingers, it was a shame to see them marred by chilblains.
Since Jiang Yu didn’t eat much spicy food, they ordered two broths: one spicy, one tomato-based. The tomato broth was tangy and appetising. When the pot began to boil, they dropped in thin slices of meat. A quick swish through the bubbling broth, and the pink turned white, ready to eat.
Lu Mingyu ate until sweat beaded on his forehead. While chewing, he said, “Their beef and lamb are amazing, no strange smell at all. Let me tell you, I went to this one hotpot place before, and oh my god, the meat reeked so badly that the whole pot stank. I nearly swore off beef and lamb forever.”
Meat like that always had a strong odour. People who liked it enjoyed it; people who didn’t, like Lu Mingyu, found it unbearable. He could only eat mutton that barely had any gaminess.
The warm air made Jiang Yu flush after a while, a fine sheen of sweat on her pale face, her cheeks blooming red like she had brushed on rouge, beautiful beyond words.
They had ordered quite a lot. Jiang Yu ate very little, and she thought for sure they’d have leftovers. But she had underestimated the Lu brothers’ appetites. The two of them polished off nearly everything, leaving her only a small bowl of hand-pulled noodles at the end. The chewy texture was excellent, but even that small bowl left her feeling stuffed.
As for Lu Mingyu, he was a complete chatterbox. With him around, the room never once fell silent.
“Jiang Yu, so you study painting? Which university are you in?” Lu Mingyu asked.
Jiang Yu blinked and replied, “Me? I’m still in my second year of high school.”
“Second year…? Which university is that… huh, second year?” He widened his eyes at her in shock. “You’re in high school?”
Jiang Yu nodded.
Lu Mingyu: “…”
He sucked in a breath and asked, “Are you an adult yet?”
Jiang Yu nodded, then shook her head. “I’ll be an adult after the New Year.”
Lu Mingyu: “…W-wow… what a coincidence. I’m twenty-two this year.”
Coincidence, my ass!
“My da ge is even older than me by two years, he’s already twenty-four. Doesn’t look like it, right? You probably thought he was in his thirties? Hahaha, my brother just aged prematurely.”
Jiang Yu instinctively glanced at Lu Mingshen. He was quietly drinking soup, eyes downcast.
In truth, he didn’t actually look old. But his aura was so calm, steady, and laced with a kind of fierceness, that it naturally made people assume he was older.
Jiang Yu was the same. When she had just been reborn, her face still carried some youthful softness. Now, influenced by her aura, most people would never guess she wasn’t yet an adult. Only upon closer inspection would one realise how young she really was.
Lu Mingyu, however, was devastated. He had assumed Jiang Yu was his peer; otherwise, he wouldn’t have entertained flirtatious thoughts. Now, learning she was only seventeen, all those thoughts vanished instantly, leaving him only with the feeling that he was a beast.
Even after dinner, his mood still hadn’t recovered. He looked utterly dispirited.
Lu Mingshen jingled the keys in his hand and said, “I’ll take the car. You can grab a cab back.”
At the sight of the familiar keys, Lu Mingyu instinctively patted his pockets. Empty. He gaped. “When did you take them?”
Lu Mingshen ignored him. He turned instead to Jiang Yu. “I’ll take you home.”
“I can just call a taxi,” Jiang Yu said.
“Come on,” Lu Mingshen replied. “If I let you go home by taxi, the old man will probably tear me apart tomorrow.”
“Our teacher isn’t that cruel,” Jiang Yu laughed, amused. This time, she didn’t refuse again.
Beside them, Lu Mingyu: “…”
After they left, he suddenly realised, “Wait, I could’ve gone with them to drop Jiang Yu off, and then come back with my brother!”
On the way back, without Lu Mingyu, the car was much quieter.
Lu Mingshen tossed his suit jacket onto the passenger seat and even tugged off his tie. In the middle of winter, wearing so little, he didn’t seem cold at all. In fact, he radiated heat, so much that, back at dinner, even through their clothes, Jiang Yu had felt the warmth radiating from him as he sat beside her.
“You dressed like this… were you at work? Do you work in the military?” Jiang Yu asked curiously.
Although she had known Lu Mingshen for some time, she realised she didn’t actually understand him much at all. But seeing him dressed this way today, her curiosity finally piqued.
Just as the car rounded a corner, Lu Mingshen finally spoke: “I don’t work in the military. I started my own gaming company.”
At that, Jiang Yu grew even more curious. Clearly, there was a story behind this, but she didn’t press further.
“When I was in the army, I got injured. I wasn’t fit to stay there anymore. They offered me a desk job, but I turned it down…” Lu Mingshen continued on his own. When he had first left the military, he had gone through a rough patch, but soon managed to pull himself together.
They chatted idly as the drive continued. After a while, the backseat fell silent, broken only by the sound of calm, even breathing. Glancing in the mirror, Lu Mingshen saw Jiang Yu had lain down, eyes closed, fast asleep.
His fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel. Looking at the building just ahead, he suddenly turned the wheel, steering the car in a different direction.
When Jiang Yu woke up, the car was still moving.
“You’re awake? Perfect timing, we’re almost there. I was just wondering if I should wake you,” Lu Mingshen said.
Jiang Yu flushed with embarrassment, cheeks reddening. “I… I fell asleep.”
Lu Mingshen drove into her neighbourhood and said, “You’re exhausted. Go home, take a bath, and rest well.”
Jiang Yu nodded, not noticing anything unusual. But once she got home and looked at her phone, she froze.
The bright screen read 11:00 PM.
She remembered they had finished dinner at only around seven. But now, it was already eleven?!
Jiang Yu’s face instantly turned crimson.
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