Having no other choice, Nanxi forced herself out of bed to get dressed and leave. As she walked into the living room, she saw her uncle Liang Youquan pouring himself some tea. Upon seeing Nanxi, he was taken aback. "You’re going out this late?" he asked.
Feeling awkward, Nanxi laughed awkwardly and said, "Actually, uncle, I have something I need to attend to outside right now!"
After a moment’s hesitation, she added, "But I’ll be back soon, don’t worry, nothing bad will happen!"
"Is it Li Weihuan, that kid, coming to look for you?" Liang Youquan asked.
"..." Nanxi blinked in surprise. Why would her uncle guess that?
Earlier, Liang Youquan had overheard Nanxi’s phone call with Li Weihuan. So naturally he assumed Li Weihuan was the reason she was stepping out.
Liang Youquan knew all too well the tendencies of young people in love. They craved excitement and romance. It wasn’t odd for them to be drawn to each other late at night, consumed by their affection for one another.
We’ve all been young before, and felt love. It’s something everyone goes through.
Thus, in a rather understanding manner, he said, "Go on then, be careful. Also tell that boy to come have a few drinks with me when he has time. I’ll be waiting for him."
Nanxi stood rooted to the spot, still in a daze!
"What’s wrong? Not going?" Seeing Nanxi standing still, Liang Youquan asked.
"... I’m going, definitely going, I’ll leave right away! Goodbye, uncle~~" Nanxi was about to sprint away!
"Hold on!" Liang Youquan stopped her!
Immediately, Nanxi stopped, "What is it, uncle?"
"Nanxi, you and Weihuan have been together now for quite a while. Now that you’ve graduated, your uncle won’t pressure you into anything, but you need to understand that love doesn’t last forever. A girl has to settle down eventually..."
Nanxi remained silent, biting her lip, obediently accepting the lecture.
Liang Youquan continued, "Actually, Weihuan is quite a good young man. He’s just too young, too emotional, and he still needs some tempering. But he’ll need to grow up and mature eventually. Even though you are two years younger than him, you are more mature. So guide him more in the future!"
"... I understand, uncle!"
"Understanding isn’t enough, you have to act on it!"
"Never mind, we’ll talk more about it later. You better get going now, don’t keep him waiting too long. And remember to bring your house keys!"
"Remember to invite him over for dinner sometime!"
"Go to bed early, uncle. Don’t worry about me. I’m leaving now!"
Liang Youquan simply nodded as Nanxi hastily ran down the stairs and left.
Nanxi didn’t try to correct Liang Youquan’s assumption because telling him about Lu Yinchu wanting to meet her might dissuade her uncle from allowing her to go out.
Although Liang Youquan hadn’t interacted much with Li Weihuan, deep down he knew that Li Weihuan wouldn’t dare to do anything inappropriate with Nanxi. Just like Liang Youquan had said, Li Weihuan was a good kid.
But what he didn’t realize, was that the reason this ’good kid’ hadn’t crossed the line over the past six years wasn’t because he was ’good’. It was because his niece, was really ’good’!
Once Nanxi stepped outside her residential area, she noticed the roads in West Street were dimly lit. Because the area is old, there were many faulty, and even some damaged, street lights. The dim lighting felt gloomy and unclear!
Nanxi stood at the entrance for a while, searching for Lu Yinchu’s car, but it wasn’t there!
Could he have left already? Surely not!
Just as Nanxi was about to set off to look for him, a car horn sounded. Squinting her eyes, she looked over towards the noise and saw a black Land Rover driving towards her. It then came to a halt right in front of her!
The driver was Lu Yinchu!
He opened the passenger door and his voice sounded cold, "Get in!"
Nanxi paused for a moment, unable to say a word, and she felt as though she had been given an imperial edict that she could only obey!!
She got into the car, which then started rolling slowly under the cloak of night.
Nanxi felt a bit nervous, she didn’t know where Lu Yinchu was taking her!
Because she felt that Lu Yinchu was a little... off tonight!
After a few minutes of silence, the man beside her cleared his throat, breaking the silence first:
"If you’re scared, why didn’t you ask me?"
"Ask you... ask you what?"
"Ask me where we’re going!"
As he spoke, he curved his lips into a smile, "Nanxi, are you defenseless towards me, or do you simply trust me too much? Either way, I’m hoping it’s the latter!"
Nanxi frowned. Defenseless? Trusting? What was the difference?
Seeing Nanxi’s confusion, Lu Yinchu explained with a calm voice, "If you’re defenseless towards me, it could mean you are careless, lack the life experience, trust people easily, or your self-protection consciousness is weak, so on and so forth."
"But if it’s trust, then all those factors I just mentioned can be ignored. You chose not to ask, simply because the person you’re facing is me, and you trust me!"
He laughed, turned to look at Nanxi, and smiled lightly, "Nanxi, I’m honored to have earned your trust. Of course, you can completely trust me. Entrust me with your undefended self!"
"..." Nanxi felt a bit weird about his statement. It sounded appropriate, but it gave her an uncomfortable feeling.
"Oh, by the way, why were you calling me earlier?" Lu Yinchu suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Nanxi then recalled their earlier phone call. She hurriedly said, "Right, I was calling you because my uncle told me that you signed a new contract with him and also bought all of West Street."
"Yes, that’s true!" Lu Yinchu didn’t attempt to hide anything. As a matter of fact, there was no need to hide anything!
"But why though?!" Nanxi was confused.
Lu Yinchu’s thin lips curved into a small smile, while turning to look at her he said lightly, "Nanxi, did you perhaps think I did that for you?"
"Nanxi, I’m a businessman. Every penny I spend, I earned it with my sweat and blood. Naturally, every investment I make, I hope to see a multiplied return..."
It meant that Nanxi was overthinking things. His investments had no connection to her whatsoever!
Nanxi opened her mouth, but she wasn’t sure what to say. At this moment, she truly believed what Li Weihuan had said earlier – that she had a speech disorder!
Especially when she was faced with someone as evasive and elusive as Lu Yinchu. She was at her wit’s end!
Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone. It was Lu Yinchu’s phone!
Lu Yinchu glanced at the screen, then directly handed the phone... to Nanxi!
"..." Nanxi was taken aback, "What?"
"It’s Qingtian calling, probably an unimportant call. You answer it for me. Many street lights in West Street are broken... I have to focus on driving!"
"..." What a great excuse!
Nanxi answered the call!
"Brother, brother, brother, something’s wrong, I can’t sleep, what should I do? Brother, don’t you have some sleeping pills? Where are they? I couldn’t find them in your bedroom, brother, where have you been hiding them? ..."
"......" There was a long silence because Nanxi didn’t know what to say!
"Brother? Are you there? Say something, I really can’t sleep, I promise, I’ll just take one pill, no, half a pill, otherwise I won’t get any sleep tonight! Brother~~~~~~"
"...Err, Qingtian!" Nanxi, feeling awkward, forced a smile. Hearing Lu Qingtian say this, she suddenly felt conflicted, mostly out of concern for Lu Qingtian!
"......" Equally long silence ensued. When Nanxi was starting to think that she might have scared Lu Qingtian, who was suffering from insomnia, she heard him scream, "Ahhhhhh...little, sis, in, law !!!"