Chapter 38
Lu Ze looked up at him.
The young man was only seventeen, his eyes clear and a little dazed. In this era where there was no clear education on that matter, perhaps he himself did not have a clear definition.
Lu Ze couldn’t help but laugh. What was he in a hurry for? Xu Qingyan was still young, and he didn’t understand these things. What Lu Ze had to do was not to coax and deceive him while he was still ignorant in this aspect of his feelings. How would that be any different from the original host?
The current situation had already exceeded Lu Ze’s expectations. As long as the person was by his side, what difference did it make if it was a little earlier or a little later? Every stage and every age had its own unique memories. Xu Qingyan was at the most critical moment. Even if they were not in a relationship, just accompanying him like this would be a good memory to look back on in the future.
The chicken soup in the pot was already boiling. Lu Ze scooped out the chicken pieces, left some soup, and threw the noodles in. He didn’t look up the whole time, his voice flat, “Then you can rest assured. I won’t get married before you do.”
Xu Qingyan looked up, staring at him in a daze. The young man’s face was handsome, his lowered gaze clear, and it contained a deep emotion that he couldn’t understand, which made one’s heart a little flustered.
Xu Qingyan hastily averted his gaze, his eyes fixed on the flame, his fingers intertwined, not knowing what to say.
The fire in the wood-burning stove was strong, and the noodles were cooked in a short while. Lu Ze took a bowl to serve the food. Xu Qingyan was not willing to wait for the food for free and hurriedly came forward. “Let me.”
The chicken soup was delicious, and the noodles were chewy, no worse than the craftsmanship of the masters in the factory.
Xu Qingyan unknowingly ate more than a bowl, and in the end, he was holding his stomach, his face full of shame.
Lu Ze knew that he was thin-skinned and didn’t laugh at him. He just led him to the west wing after he had insisted on washing the dishes. After the electric light was turned on, the layout inside was presented in front of him.
There was a desk and a wardrobe. Lu Ze said, “There’s an electric blanket on the bed. Remember to turn it on before you go to sleep, so the bed will be warm. There’s also a stove. I’ll help you light it later, so you won’t be cold when you study here.”
Xu Qingyan glanced around. The preparations were meticulous and thoughtful, obviously the result of great care. His eyelashes trembled, and he said in a small voice, “Why… did you prepare all this?”
Lu Ze looked at him. “I didn’t know when you would come, so I just prepared things for you in advance.”
Xu Qingyan looked at him. “What if I didn’t come?”
“How could you not come?” Lu Ze rubbed the back of his head and chuckled softly. “Didn’t I just trick you into coming?”
The lights in the room were bright. Xu Qingyan met Lu Ze’s eyes and only felt that his words had a hidden meaning. He lowered his eyes and muttered, “That’s right. I was tricked by you, and I still have to help you make money.”
Lu Ze couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t disturb his thoughts anymore and let him read in peace. He himself was at the table in the middle of the room, dealing with some documents.
At first, Xu Qingyan couldn’t calm down and would look back at him from time to time. The young man was exceptionally serious when he was working, unlike the gentle smile he had before. He was calm and efficient when he was dealing with work.
Perhaps he was infected by this environment. Xu Qingyan also slowly calmed down and focused all his attention on his books.
Time passed quickly. There was a stove in the room, and although he didn’t feel cold, he couldn’t help but feel stiff after sitting for a long time. Xu Qingyan would move his neck and stretch from time to time to stretch his body.
When Lu Ze looked at him, he saw him resting his chin on his hand, his brows tightly furrowed as he looked at the book in front of him. He was even unconsciously putting the pen in his mouth and biting it on and off.
Lu Ze got up and took the pen out of his mouth. “Eating a pen is not a good habit.”
Xu Qingyan looked up, a little dazed for a moment, and then a little embarrassed. He pursed his lips. “I’m used to it. I just do it without thinking…”
Lu Ze pulled over a stool and sat down beside him. Hearing this, he said, “In the future, when you’re not thinking, you should think about where you’ve put this pen and how much dirt might be on it.”
Xu Qingyan followed his words, and his brows instantly furrowed.
Lu Ze looked at him. “Do you still want to bite it?”
Xu Qingyan wrinkled his face and shook his head. “What you said is too disgusting…”
Lu Ze just smiled without speaking, his gaze falling on the book in front of him. It was an English exercise book. He raised an eyebrow. “Did you run into something you don’t understand?”
Xu Qingyan nodded and subconsciously complained to him, “I don’t understand all these grammar rules… In the past, English only accounted for ten percent of the college entrance examination, but it has been increasing in recent years, from thirty percent to fifty-seven percent, and now it’s one hundred percent.”
Xu Qingyan sighed. “In the past, schools didn’t pay much attention to this subject in elementary and junior high school. We just learned it simply, and we didn’t understand the grammar at all.”
Not to mention that the most important grammar knowledge in English was learned in high school. He hadn’t even gone to high school. Facing this subject, even if he was a genius, he was still at a loss now.
Lu Ze said, “The country is expanding its foreign exchanges, and English is the most widely used language in the world. Even if you don’t learn it now, you can’t escape it when you go to university. Even if you take a professional route, many cutting-edge materials are written in English, and you can’t not understand them.”
“I know…” Xu Qingyan was a little listless, and his whole body was lying on the table. “But I’m just afraid that I might not even be able to pass the college entrance examination.”
It wasn’t that he hadn’t worked hard. He would get up early every morning to memorize words and painstakingly study the grammar. He spent more time on English than on other subjects, but his progress was still not obvious.
Lu Ze looked at him. The young man was listless, like a wilted cat, without a trace of energy. Lu Ze pulled the book towards himself, glanced at it, and said, “Where don’t you understand?”
Xu Qingyan tilted his head and looked at him. Lu Ze poked his forehead with his pen. “Where don’t you understand?”
Xu Qingyan slowly sat up straight. On a practice paper, except for some things that he had memorized by rote, he didn’t understand the rest that involved grammar. Xu Qingyan usually did the questions by feeling, but for some things, just feeling was useless.
Lu Ze glanced at the questions he was pointing at. Most of them were about clauses. He pointed at the questions with his pen, and fluent and standard English slowly came out of his mouth.
“The reason why you fill in ‘who’ here instead of ‘which’ is because the object it refers to is…”
From lying down at the beginning, Xu Qingyan couldn’t help but slowly sit up straight. The deep voice sounded in his ear and passed by. Xu Qingyan didn’t know what was wrong. He didn’t even hear what he was saying, and was only thinking about the burning sensation at the root of his ear.
Lu Ze’s voice suddenly paused. He looked at the obviously absent-minded Xu Qingyan and couldn’t help but laugh to himself. He tapped his head with his pen. “Is this your attitude in class, classmate Xu Qingyan?”
Xu Qingyan suddenly came back to his senses, and the eyes he looked up at him with were both innocent and a little unconsciously flustered.
Lu Ze’s expression paused, and he continued to smile. “Did you hear what I said just now?”
Xu Qingyan subconsciously nodded. “I heard it clearly.”
“Then what did I say?”
Xu Qingyan was silent for a moment. Lu Ze couldn’t help but laugh and moved a little closer to him. “Little classmate Xu, what are you thinking about?”
Xu Qingyan’s cheeks turned red unconsciously, and he said in a muffled voice, “I’m not thinking about anything…”
He couldn’t say that he was thinking about his voice…
“Not thinking about anything?” Lu Ze’s gaze slowly fell on his earlobe. “If you’re not thinking about anything, then why are your ears red?”
“No!” Xu Qingyan subconsciously raised his hand to cover his ears, swallowed, and stammered, “Maybe… maybe it’s from the fire.”
He was eager to change the subject. “I didn’t expect… how is your English so good, Lu-ge?”
Lu Ze looked at his flustered face and kindly let him off. “I wasn’t interested in other subjects before, but I just thought English was a little interesting, so I paid more attention to it. Sometimes I would listen to English broadcasts on the radio. Or if someone had a TV at home, I would also go to their house to watch English programs, and I slowly learned it.”
He said, “A feel for the English language is very important. You have to listen and practice more, and then you will naturally be able to integrate it with the grammar.”
“In two days, I’ll see if there’s a radio for sale. You can listen to it more when you’re not busy at work. It will become a habit.”
“Now,” Lu Ze tapped the question with his pen and looked at Xu Qingyan. “I’ll explain it again. Little classmate Xu, if you don’t listen carefully again, I’ll have to punish you.”
Xu Qingyan nodded hastily with a red face.
Lu Ze looked down at him, a smile flashing in his eyes.
Xu Qingyan pursed his lips. Usually, no matter what others did to interfere with him, he could concentrate, but at this moment…
The warmth of Lu Ze’s words would brush against his ear on and off. Xu Qingyan tried his best to restrain himself, but his thoughts would always wander unconsciously.
He didn’t even know what he was thinking, but his heart would beat faster uncontrollably, and his ears would get hotter and hotter. In the end, he only managed to put seventy percent of his attention on the question itself.
After Lu Ze finished explaining the similar question types to him, he turned his head and asked him, “Do you understand now?”
Xu Qingyan nodded. “I understand.” He paused. “I really understand.”
Saying this, Xu Qingyan couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed.
Lu Ze’s explanation was indeed good, simple and profound, with examples and arguments, and he successfully explained the knowledge points that Xu Qingyan had never understood thoroughly. But because of this, he felt even more self-reproachful in his heart, not understanding what he was thinking about.
He was wasting his time, and he was still constantly distracted. It was really not right.
How could Lu Ze know Xu Qingyan’s struggle? He just patted his head. “Since you understand, then let’s wash up first. Let’s rest early. It’s getting late, and we have to get up early tomorrow.”
Xu Qingyan nodded in agreement. Lu Ze went out to get some water to wash his face and feet. Xu Qingyan had originally wanted to wash after him, but he glanced at him. “The water will be cold if you wait any longer.”
Only then did Xu Qingyan go over and sit on a small stool, soaking his feet with him.
The water was still very hot. As soon as Xu Qingyan put his feet in, he was scalded and flinched, grimacing.
Lu Ze’s foot pressed on the back of his foot, pressing down bit by bit. “Don’t move. You’ll get used to it slowly.”
Xu Qingyan endured the scalding sensation and waited for a long time with a wrinkled face before he slowly got used to it.
The basin was very large and deep, more than enough for two people’s feet.
Xu Qingyan had been stepped on by him all along. After he got used to the water temperature, he couldn’t help but move. Looking at his feet, which were obviously a size bigger than his own, he couldn’t help but feel playful and raised his foot to step on his.
Lu Ze looked up at him. Xu Qingyan didn’t use much force, like a kitten kneading dough. Lu Ze just indulged him, looked at him with a smile, and a smile also appeared in his eyes.
Xu Qingyan played for a while, then felt that he was a bit childish, so he obediently stopped moving.
By the time both of them had finished washing up, Xu Qingyan returned to his room and found that Lu Ze had already turned on the electric blanket for him. When he reached out to check, it was warm inside.
Xu Qingyan couldn’t help but be a little surprised.
Lu Ze said, “Remember to turn it off before you go to sleep. It’s too hot, and you’ll easily get heaty when you wake up tomorrow.”
Xu Qingyan obediently agreed. He watched him walk out of the room, slowly lay down in the bed, and pulled the blanket over his chin. Not only was his whole body warm, but his heart was also warm.
The next morning, the two of them went out for breakfast, and then they went back together with large and small bags.
The sun was good today. At a little after ten in the morning, Xu’s mother was drying radishes in the yard when she suddenly heard a noise at the door. She looked up and was instantly pleasantly surprised. “Aiya! Why are you back!”
She quickly threw down the things in her hand and went up to them, so happy that she didn’t know where to put her hands. “This child, why did you suddenly come back…”
She looked at her own son, then at Lu Ze. “Have you eaten? When did you come back? Was it cold on the road?”
As she spoke, she quickly greeted the two of them into the house. Looking at the large and small bags on the back seat of the car, she couldn’t help but say again, “Why did you bring so many things… hurry up and come in, hurry up and come in!”
The smile on Xu’s mother’s face could not be hidden. Xu’s father, who was in the room, also asked when he heard the noise, “Who is it? Is it little Lu?”
Xu Qingyan pushed open the door first. “Dad, I’m back.”
