"Nо nееd, nоthing imрortant," Wu Маngmаng sаid, рutting away hеr рhone.
Lu Sui rаised an еуеbrоw slightlу. "Yоur attitude rеminds me of someone еlsе."
Wu Mаngmang liftеd hеr еуelids, wаiting fоr Lu Sui tо соntinue.
"Мy subordinatеs," Lu Sui sаid.
In the рast, he had bеen toо confidеnt tо sее сlеаrly, thinking that hеr оbediеnсе and gеntlenеss сame frоm аffeсtion. It was onlу later that Lu Sui rеаlizеd Wu Mаngmang’s attitude wаs mоrе like thаt оf аn еmрlоyее trying tо plеase hеr boss bесаuse shе wаs bеing рaid.
At its worst, it wаs even an attitude оf "I can’t be bоthered tо resist уоu." Bеcause she had no expectations, she didn’t want to waste energy arguing or fighting for anything.
"Fighting is intimacy, scolding is love" isn’t just a funny saying.
Wu Mangmang smiled. "So, do you want me to call you Mr. Lu or Boss?"
Lu Sui replied, "Since you don’t want to marry me, there’s really no need to try to please me."
Wu Mangmang chuckled. "I’m not trying to please you; I’m just showing you respect. It’s called manners, understand? Don’t be too narcissistic, Mr. Lu."
"Oh, you’re quite well-mannered," Lu Sui responded.
Although this was a compliment, Wu Mangmang felt undeserving. For some reason, she remembered the first time she and Lu Sui had met. A girl who could say such things was hardly well-mannered.
"Speaking of which, why were you so petty back then? Over such a trivial matter," Wu Mangmang asked.
Her words jumped around, but surprisingly, Lu Sui understood. He leaned closer. "Want to hear the truth?"
Hearing the truth came at a price.
Lu Sui’s car was parked by the famous Lovers’ River at A University.
Any place with "lovers" in its name usually had dim streetlights, making it hard for even campus patrols with flashlights to see people’s faces clearly.
Wu Mangmang’s lips and tongue were numb. A simple kiss had left her as breathless as if she had just run an 800-meter race.
With the last shred of clarity in her mind, Wu Mangmang pushed Lu Sui away. The Lovers’ Woods were dimly lit but not deserted. Although couples were lost in their own whispers and kisses, anything more would have to stop. No one wanted to put on a live show.
"Go on," Wu Mangmang said, turning on the overhead light and taking out a small mirror to check her makeup.
"Go on with what?" Lu Sui’s blood wasn’t exactly in his brain at the moment, so his reaction was a bit slow.
Wu Mangmang snapped her mirror shut and snorted. "You’re not keeping your word. You won’t be able to trick me next time."
Lu Sui pulled Wu Mangmang back into his arms. "Back then, I thought this girl was pretty but not too bright, which was a shame. I just wanted you to learn a lesson and rein yourself in a bit."
Wu Mangmang was a bit confused, taking a moment to process it. "So, you were just doing a good deed for the day?"
Lu Sui said, "I’m usually not one to meddle in other people’s business."
Looking back now, it seemed like fate had played a hand.
Because of a sudden whim, feeling that Wu Mangmang needed a bit of discipline, he remembered her. Everything that followed naturally fell into place.
Wu Mangmang scoffed. "If there were more people like you meddling in others’ affairs, I probably would’ve died young."In the following days, Wu Mangmang and Lu Sui didn't see much of each other, but surprisingly, all three daily meals were consistently provided.
Annie delivered breakfast, lunch, and dinner to Wu Mangmang's dorm room right on time every day. Having a woman deliver the meals was much more convenient—no need to go downstairs to pick them up.
"Hey, what's Mr. Lu's background? Why do I feel like your life has become so decadently capitalist?" Zeng Ruling asked while sipping her morning coffee. "This coffee tastes way better than Starbucks."
Wu Mangmang took a sniff and then sent Lu Sui a WeChat message: "Don't spoil Zeng Ruling. Be careful, her future boyfriend might curse you."
"As long as her sexual orientation is normal, I can supply her with coffee beans for a lifetime," Lu Sui replied.
"Are you sure you're not trying to pursue her?" Wu Mangmang typed rapidly.
Lu Sui ignored her after that.
When Wu Mangmang saw Lu Sui again, the enthusiastic girl from last week was still sitting beside him. Wu Mangmang walked over with a cold expression. "Mr. Lu, trying to do a good deed every day again?"
Lu Sui pinched Wu Mangmang's cheek. "Why aren't you gaining any weight?"
In reality, she was already overnourished. Wu Mangmang had gone to the gym three times that week. Zeng Ruling and Dai Tingting, however, were worse off—their faces had noticeably rounded, yet they remained blissfully unaware.
Wu Mangmang swatted Lu Sui's hand away and handed her phone to the enthusiastic young girl. "Classmate, could you please take a photo of us?"
She linked arms with Lu Sui and affectionately rested her head on his shoulder.
"Thank you." Lu Sui intercepted Wu Mangmang's hand as she reached to take back the phone, holding it in his own first.
Wu Mangmang wasn't angry at all. Having effortlessly dealt with a little rival just now, she was in high spirits.
"What are you trying to do?" Lu Sui raised the phone slightly.
Wu Mangmang said, "Ning Zheng asked me to take a photo of you saving a seat for me. He promised me a million. How about we split it fifty-fifty?"
Lu Sui sent the photo from Wu Mangmang's phone to his own, then manually deleted it from hers. "Keeping it as a memento is fine, but selling it is out of the question. Are you that short on money?"
Wu Mangmang didn't respond.
It seemed she was always in a state of financial shortage. She was the type who could spend whatever she had. After experiencing financial hardship alone at A University, she was determined to become an independent, self-sufficient woman who could support herself—at the very least, she needed a place of her own, right?
Dorm rooms were available at school, but after graduation, that wouldn't be an option.
In this regard, Lu Sui was of no help to Wu Mangmang. He could certainly give her money, but what Wu Mangmang lacked was a sense of security—the kind that could only come from a small home bought with money she earned through her own efforts.
"I'll find another way for you to make money." After class, Lu Sui took Wu Mangmang to the sixth floor of Lychee Garden.
As soon as she entered, Wu Mangmang immediately crossed her arms over her chest. "Boss, I sell my skills, not my body."
Lu Sui scoffed, "With your dead-fish technique?"
"I'm not playing along." Wu Mangmang sat down angrily on the sofa, only to see Lu Sui take a blue-and-white celestial globe vase from a partitioned shelf. Before Wu Mangmang realized what Lu Sui was about to do, she had already lunged forward to catch the falling vase.
"What are you doing, Lu Sui?!" Wu Mangmang screamed.Although this bowling pin wasn't exactly a rare treasure, it still cost six or even seven figures, okay?
"Giving you a chance to make some money while getting some practice," Lu Sui said.
"Fine, can't argue with a rich man!" Wu Mangmang grumbled angrily.
It was unclear whether it was the word "rich" that was wrong or the term "man," but either way, Wu Mangmang didn't make it back to her dorm that night.
Sometimes Wu Mangmang felt Lu Sui had changed, and other times she felt he hadn't—still just as domineering, just as ruthless.
Because the surface beneath them was a soft, plush bed instead of a thin moisture-proof mat, Lu Sui's movements grew even more unrestrained and wild.
"Am I old?" Lu Sui leaned down and whispered in Wu Mangmang's ear.
His sweat-drenched chest allowed Wu Mangmang's taste buds to savor the salty, damp flavor, and she could barely catch her breath.
But some people never truly yield. The next afternoon, after finally recovering her strength, Wu Mangmang narrowed her eyes and provoked Lu Sui, "You must have been even more impressive when you were younger, right?"
Lu Sui's slender fingers were elegantly fastening the cufflinks of his shirt. Hearing this, he didn't get angry but simply turned his head and gave Wu Mangmang a faint smile.
A smile that sent chills down one's spine.
Wu Mangmang missed her morning classes. Fortunately, there were only two classes that morning, and even more miraculously, the teacher didn't take attendance. What a blessing.
But faced with the curiosity of Zeng Ruling and Dai Tingting, Wu Mangmang had only one thing to say to them, "Didn't the school offer a public elective course on sex education? Why ask me?"
"If we could get into that class, would we still need to ask you?" Zeng Ruling snapped.
It was another super-popular elective course, a sign of the times.
After rolling in the sheets again, Lu Sui seemed to spend more and more time at Lychee Garden, while the days of fetching hot water and delivering meals were gone for good. Later, even the sweetness of saving seats completely disappeared. Lu Sui simply tossed Wu Mangmang a cloud account containing recordings of that elective course.
Lying sore and aching in the bathtub, Wu Mangmang mentally cursed Lu Sui to hell. Men were indeed extremely pragmatic creatures—once there was a prize, time magically appeared.
When there was no prize, Lu Sui would fly off to handle business matters in various places, leaving Wu Mangmang with a frantic, last-minute cramming session during finals week.
Dating was an incredibly time-consuming activity, a painful truth Wu Mangmang only fully grasped during exams. And her infuriating boyfriend showed no intention of sharing this burden—instead, he only made unreasonable demands.
For example: Send a photo in your pajamas. The pink bunny ones with the tail.
Or: Send a voice message saying "Yamete."
Or even: Come to Fushan Airport to see me, then fly back tomorrow morning.
What a lunatic!
Finals week finally passed. After the first-year graduate courses ended, the various tasks for her thesis officially began. Her university now allowed early graduation applications—as long as she earned enough credits and passed her thesis defense, she could graduate in two years.
So Wu Mangmang didn't hesitate to reject Lu Sui's suggestion of returning to the city. Besides, she wasn't at all ready to announce to familiar people that she was back together with Lu Sui—it was just too much trouble.Wu Mangmang was sleeping in her dormitory when she was awakened by a phone call from Lu Sui in the middle of the night. She had no choice but to slip on her slippers and walk downstairs.
The main gate of the girls' dormitory was locked at night. If you needed to go out for any reason, you had to wake up the dorm supervisor to open the door. Wu Mangmang walked to the entrance and looked out through the transparent glass. Lu Sui was standing outside, but unfortunately, even holding hands was impossible through the glass door.
"Why did you come so late?" Wu Mangmang asked, feeling a pang of heartache at Lu Sui's slightly weary expression. "We could have met tomorrow morning." She spoke into her phone, facing the glass door.
"I have to fly to Canada tomorrow morning and will probably be gone for a week. I just wanted to see you," Lu Sui said.
"Didn't you just return from the UK today?" Wu Mangmang asked. "Why not fly directly from the UK to Canada?"
Lu Sui didn't answer, but Wu Mangmang already knew the reason—it was simply because he wanted to see her.
However, chatting through a glass door wasn't much different from video chatting online.
After enduring a week, Wu Mangmang's time with Lu Sui was still rushed. He would usually arrive in City A in the afternoon and have to fly back to the city the next morning. That was considered good—at least they could spend the night together. Sometimes, Lu Sui would fly over just for a quick lunch before leaving.
Wu Mangmang was filled with frustration over this relationship, but seeing the weariness between Lu Sui's brows and his willingness to fly between two cities just for a meal, she could only swallow her anger. The result was two large pimples sprouting on the tip of her nose.
"I'll come over tomorrow morning to have breakfast with you," Lu Sui said over the phone.
Wu Mangmang could hear the noise from Lu Sui's phone. She wondered what he was busy with. When they were together before, she never saw him this busy at night. Who would dare disturb Mr. Lu's rest without any sense of tact?
"What about lunch?" Wu Mangmang asked.
"I have a meeting at two in the afternoon," Lu Sui replied.
"But I have something to do tomorrow. Do you have time to come over the day after?" Wu Mangmang asked.
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