Cough!
Ning Li coughed.
Gu Siyang turned to her to ask, “Hey, Ning Li, are you okay?!”
Ning Li flushed as she pointed at his phone.
The call was still connected, why was he talking so loudly?
Gu Siyang failed to understand her. He grinned and said, “Ah? This? It’s Second Master Lu on the phone!”
Ning Li was exasperated. She had heard him clearly the first time he mentioned the man’s name!
On the other end of the call, Lu Huaiyu paused to look at his watch.
9:50 p.m.
The girl’s night self-learning class should have ended by now. However, by the sound of it, she must have gone out instead of going home.
He said, “Is Ning Li there?”
Gu Siyang nodded honestly. “Yeah, she just choked on some water…”
“Are you guys at a club?”
The noisy background was distinct.
“Yeah, at a friend’s place. Ji Shu got signed to LY, right? So there’s a celebration tonight. Ning Li came as well.”
Gu Siyang knew Ning Li called Lu Huaiyu second brother even though they were not related, but their relationship seemed thicker than blood.
Since her brother had asked, he felt compelled to answer honestly.
Lu Huaiyu went silent for a moment before he smiled.
“Oh, are you having fun?”
Gu Siyang felt chills run down his spine, but he maintained his lighthearted tone.
“Okay, I guess. I’m more happy hearing from you.”
He had called Lu Huaiyu earlier, but it had not gotten through.
His uncle had advised him never to try and call Lu Huaiyu twice, so he had given up.
He had not expected Lu Huaiyu to respond this quickly.
Ji Shu and friends went up to Ning Li with paper towels; some of them even wiped the table.
“Sister Lili, are you okay?”
“Sister Lili, how are you feeling?”
“Sister Lili!”
Lu Huaiyu heard all of it.
He bolted up and grabbed his coat.
His coat was hanging over his arm by the time he reached the door.
“Put Ning Li on.”
Gu Siyang nodded and passed the phone to her.
“Ning Li, Second Master Lu asked for you.”
Ning Li wanted to kill Gu Siyang, and then herself.
Her instinct told her that if she answered the phone, the man on the other end would kill her. However, If she did not answer the phone, it would be a fate worse than death.
After a deep breath, she braced herself and put the phone to her ear.
“Hello, second brother.”
Lu Huaiyu sounded flat but succinct. “Location.”
Ning Li knew what the man wanted to do based on that single word. “Second brother, I’m just here for a drink, I’ll be leaving soon! You don’t need to—”
Lu Huaiyu chuckled. “It’s okay. If it’s fun, stay a little longer. What kind of club is it? I want to go have a look.”
“You really don’t have to…”
Before she could finish, she heard him walking down the stairs.
She facepalmed herself in helplessness.
No one could stop Lu Huaiyu once he had decided on something.
Even if she kept quiet, he would have a way to find her location and be there in a jiffy.
Be frank and she would be forgiven; be dishonest and things would be difficult for her.
Ning Li sighed as she told him the location of the club.
“Mhmm. Wait for me.”
“Okay.”
Ning Li handed the phone back to Gu Siyang.
Gu Siyang blinked helplessly. He had not even spoken to Lu Huaiyu, but the phone call had already ended.
He looked at Ning Li. “Is second master coming over?”
Ning Li stared at him blankly. The look on her face had said it all.
Delighted, Gu Siyang added, “I heard that when second master was in Jingcheng, he rarely came to this kind of place, but now he’s agreed to come here! Ning Li, your second brother is really caring!”
The others had never actually seen Lu Huaiyu in person before, except for Ji Shu.
“Second master? Second Master Lu?”
“Huh? Do you mean the guy who sat in the passenger seat next to Sister Lili during the race?”
“That’s the man.”
Ji Shu sent a sympathetic gaze to Ning Li.
He knew how things were different when Ning Li was with Lu Huaiyu.
Lu Huaiyu was like a possessive God who controlled even Ning Li’s homework.
How would that God feel when he found out that Ning Li had come to a club on a Friday night?
The thought of it gave him goosebumps
Ji Shu pondered for a while and asked, “Sister Lili, do we need to… wait at the entrance? At least we can make ourselves clear.”
Ning Li found it difficult to meet his gaze.
Gu Siyang spotted something in Ning Li’s eyes. It was fear, fear of Lu Huaiyu.
Any guardian would be angry when they found out that their child went to a club at night.
That explained Ning Li’s nervous look when she answered the phone.
He said, “It’s fine, Ning Li! Look, you didn’t do anything wrong and you didn’t even have a drop of alcohol.”
Ning Li said expressionlessly, “You would be more convincing If you threw those empty bottles of beer away.”
“I didn’t drink all those…” Gu Siyang furrowed his brows.
He then whispered, “When I was 16, I snuck into my dad’s wine cellar and drank three bottles of wine. I ended up fine.”
Except that he had been beaten up like a dog.
Ning Li was not Gu Siyang.
Would Lu Huaiyu beat her like an angry parent?
Frustrated, Ning Li grabbed her bag.
“You guys continue, I’ll go downstairs to wait.”
Ji Shu’s suggestion might be stupid, but it might be stupid enough to work.
“Sister Lili, let’s go down and wait together! We can be your witness!”
The others wanted to support Ning Li.
Ning Li wanted to stop them, but remembering that Lu Huaiyu was already aware of the group around her, she sighed.
“Whatever.”
She strode down immediately.”
…
Ning Li and her friends stood at the entrance for around 10 minutes.
Lu Huaiyu finally showed up in a taxi.
As he got out, he spotted Ning Li with the other boys. There were six boys to be exact.
He stared at them… and smiled.