Hear this life

When we arrived at Lu Mansion, the middle-aged steward from last time came to greet us.

"Are you a student here to receive the award? Please follow me."

Under the setting sun, the Lu Mansion exudes a quiet and solemn atmosphere. Walking along the road, the scenery along the road seems to be covered with a layer of warm yellow gauze. When passing by the green lawn last time, Wen Tingli subconsciously stopped. There were still a group of snow-white pigeons strolling leisurely on the lawn, but Lu Shicheng was not there to feed them like last time.

The steward led Wen Tingli to the small living room, and after she sat down, he said to her, "Mr. Lu will be here later."

After serving tea, Wen Tingli was the only one left in the small flower hall.

Wen Tingli sat there without looking around, but as soon as the Lu family's servants walked away, she turned her head and quickly looked around the furnishings in the room: pearl gray walls, chic cherry wood furniture, and a large cluster of pearl orchids and tulips in a crystal vase in front of the window.

This place should be where the Lu family lives every day. There are fruit plates, water bottles, tea cups and other items on the table. In addition, there is a stack of newspapers on the coffee table.
The newspaper was dated today, and the front page happened to be a report about Dean Deng's accident. If this incident was done by someone sent by the Lu family, Lu Shicheng would have paid special attention to such news, but the newspaper was neat and tidy, with no signs of having been read by anyone.

She cast her eyes towards the small desk in the corner of the room. Last time, Lu Shicheng sat there and wrote a letter of recommendation for Huang Yuanshan. But at this moment, there were only two foreign books on the desk, and no documents or anything like that.

That's right, who would put important things in a reception area? Li Chengying also reminded her that clues often appear in unexpected places. She was about to pretend to look at the scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling window and go somewhere else, when she suddenly heard footsteps in the corridor.

This time it was two people.

Wen Ting Lili's chest tightened, and she hurriedly took out the anti-inflammatory tablets she had prepared in advance from her school bag and poured two pills into her palm.

When Lu Shicheng and the housekeeper came in, Wen Tingli was holding medicine in her left hand and tea in her right hand, looking hesitant.

The steward was reporting something in a low voice as he walked, and Lu Shicheng listened casually. After entering the house, Lu Shicheng stopped and nodded politely to Wen Tingli. From his eyes, it was difficult to tell whether he had any impression of her.

Wen Tingli pretended to be at a loss, put down the pills and teacup in her hand, stood up and said with a smile: "Hello, Mr. Lu."

Lu Shicheng looked at the pills in Wen Tingli's hand in surprise, and the manager was also a little puzzled: "Miss Wen, what is this?"

Wen Tingli said embarrassedly, "The doctor told me to take anti-inflammatory medicine on time at 6:30 every day. I don't know how long the award ceremony will last, so I want to take the medicine before Mr. Lu Xiao comes, but I'm not sure if tea will dilute the medicinal properties of Western medicine."

"I see. I'll go get Miss Wen a glass of cold water right away."

"Thank you for your help." She glanced at Lu Shicheng secretly. Perhaps the pills brought back his memories, as he was looking at her calmly across from her.

Wen Tingli simply met Lu Shicheng's gaze head-on, raised her eyes to look at him, then quickly lowered her long eyelashes and smiled shyly: "Mr. Lu, we meet again."

Lu Shicheng put his left hand in his trouser pocket and gestured for her to sit down. After Wen Tingli sat down, he stood there and pointed at his left arm with a look of concern.

"Much better." Wen Tingli smiled, "I took the medicine just to prevent the fever from coming back. I cried like that that night, and that must have embarrassed Mr. Lu."

Her smile was as sweet as a petal containing nectar. If it were someone else, they would be infected by her smile and their expression would become a little softer. But Lu Shicheng just smiled slightly, leaned over to pick up a glass of water from the coffee table, drank it himself, and sat quietly on the sofa opposite.

The air froze briefly.

Wen Tingli was a little discouraged, but she was not in a hurry to find something to say. Since Lu Shicheng didn't move, she just sat there obediently.

Fortunately, Lu Shicheng has a subtle sense of peace, and people don't feel awkward even if he doesn't speak.

Because Wen Tingli was sitting with her eyes lowered, she could only catch a glimpse of Lu Shicheng's trouser legs opposite her. Even his shoes were spotless, which showed how much attention he paid to details. If the assassination was done by Lu Shicheng's men, she was not surprised that Li Chengying and others had not found any clues about the murderer so far.

Soon the butler came in with a large glass bottle and a glass on a silver tray.

"I was negligent just now. Please enjoy your meal, Miss Wen."

Wen Tingli stood up and thanked him again and again. After sitting down, she picked up the cup of water and took the medicine.

Lu Shicheng waited patiently by the side, watching Wen Tingli finish taking the pills, then he stood up and personally led her to the study.

Wen Tingli had already figured out how to find conversation with Lu Shicheng in the study and how to observe the surroundings, but unexpectedly the steward also came in.

Wen Tingli had no choice but to swallow her words back, and dared only to stare at the area in front of her for the time being.

Lu Shicheng walked straight to the desk, took out a pen from his coat pocket, sat down, and quickly signed a check.

The old steward walked to the closet, opened the door, took out a small red velvet box and placed it in front of Lu Shicheng, then spoke solemnly to Wen Tingli: "Mr. Lu has always attached great importance to education and industry. The original intention of establishing this award is to encourage pragmatic students to work hard... I also hope that student Wen will cherish his own talents, aspire to serve the motherland, work diligently, and cultivate both inside and outside..."

He said more than ten sentences in one breath, all words of encouragement and exhortation to study.

Wen Tingli bowed slightly, and Lu Shicheng waited until the old steward finished speaking before handing the box and check to Wen Tingli. The whole process was a bit formal, but Lu Shicheng's expression did not show any perfunctory attitude.

Wen Tingli took it carefully. Inside the red velvet box was a golden "Yuying Award" medal.

There are six words engraved on it: [Educate talents and revitalize our country].

Below is Lu Hongjun’s autograph.

Wen Tingli raised her eyes to look at Lu Shicheng, who was staring at the medal quietly.

From his serious eyes, she felt that the Lu family attached great importance to the cultivation of practical talents. She was actually very excited. She subconsciously hugged the medal in her arms and raised her head to express her gratitude happily: "The student union will remember Mr. Lu's teachings. Thank you Mr. Lu for personally presenting the award to me."

Lu Shicheng's eyes flickered, and the steward saw it and said with a smile, "Students in previous years were a little reserved when they came to receive their awards. This is the first time we've seen a student as lively as Wen."

Wen Tingli was embarrassed, and Lu Shicheng nodded to her, as if to say "it's okay", and then made a gesture of invitation to her, apparently intending to send her out personally.

The old steward immediately followed the two men, but at this moment, the phone in the hall suddenly rang, and the old steward hurried out to answer it.

Wen Tingli seized the opportunity to turn around, looked up and said to Lu Shicheng behind her: "I was so nervous when accepting the award that I forgot that I had something very important to tell Mr. Lu. Hey, what was it? Let me think about it."

As he spoke, he held his forehead and pretended to be thinking. He took this opportunity to look around the study.

Damn, she was a little far from the desk, and there was the tall Lu Shicheng between them.

When she looked up again, she found Lu Shicheng looking at her meaningfully. She said hurriedly, "I remembered that the dresses Mr. Lu asked someone to compensate me last time were a little too big for me, so I brought them back to school to avoid wasting them. Could Mr. Lu please ask someone to return the clothes to the department store?"

Lu Shicheng didn't react for a while, as if he was thinking about what Wen Tingli meant.

It's true that noble people forget things easily! Wen Tingli pointed to her arm and said, "Last time, my dress was... was... scratched by the theater backdrop, and Mr. Kuang compensated me with a bunch of expensive dresses. I can't wear them anymore, and it's a pity to just leave them at home and collect dust. Mr. Lu, please return them for me. I only tried one of them, so it won't affect the store's continued sales."

Lu Shicheng moved this time, but he just raised his wrist to check the time.

Wen Tingli's face became even hotter. It was the first time she saw such a perfunctory look on Lu Shicheng's face. He seemed to think that such a small matter was not worth talking to him about. Or, for him, anything given away could never be taken back, so he simply did not respond.

The atmosphere became a little subtle, but if she stopped there, she would not be Wen Tingli.

With a roll of her eyes, she immediately took out two tickets from her bag.

"If Mr. Lu insists on not helping me return the money, then I can only give you a gift in return. There are several reward shows at the Golden Theater next week. These are first-class box tickets, the only two available. Manager Zhao of the theater gave them to me because of my status as a champion. This is the most decent gift I can give you right now. I wonder if you and Mr. Kuang...will be willing to honor me?"

Her eyes were so clear and her tone was so sincere, that looking at someone with such eager eyes would melt even the hardest heart into a puddle of water.

Lu Shicheng was startled for a moment, his eyes fell on the ticket in her hand, and he looked thoughtful. Wen Tingli's heart quietly rose to her throat. Lu Shicheng nodded at her, as if to express his gratitude, but he did not take the ticket in the end. He pointed outside and continued to lead her out.

Taking this opportunity, Wen Tingli quickly turned around and scanned the desk, then slowly caught up with Lu Shicheng and asked tentatively, "So you agree to help me return my clothes, right?"

Lu Shicheng once again pointed at his watch apologetically, meaning that he had other things to do. Then he turned around and looked around. Seeing that the old steward was still on the phone, he planned to find another servant to send Wen Tingli out the door.

Wen Tingli looked dejectedly at the stairs below her feet. It was obvious that Lu Shicheng didn't buy her talk at all. Fortunately, although he rejected her without saying a word, his attitude was not embarrassing.

It was her fault. She was a little too anxious about Dean Deng's matter. Looking at Lu Shicheng's condition, she might not have the chance to meet him again in the future.

Fortunately, she took advantage of the chaos to take a closer look at the things on the desk. She saw a "customs declaration form" on the table. Maybe it was just an unimportant thing, but at least it was not a complete loss.

The servants of the Lu Mansion were probably having dinner. Lu Shicheng looked around for a while but didn't see anyone passing by nearby. He turned around to look at the steward who was busy answering the phone in the flower hall, then looked at the time on the wall, hesitated for a moment, and walked down the stairs first.

Wen Tingli looked up in frustration and suddenly found that Lu Shicheng was still waiting for her downstairs.

Although she was a little confused, she immediately decided to follow.

Lu Shicheng led her along a bend in the flowers and stepped onto a tree-lined avenue lined with red-leaf plums. The two walked forward, one in front of the other. Not long after they walked, a large garage appeared in front of them. The door was open and several cars were parked inside. Lu Shicheng walked to a car, took out the key, opened the door, turned around and nodded to Wen Tingli, motioning her to get in.

Wen Tingli then realized that Lu Shicheng was going to personally escort her out. She was delighted and pretended to be reserved as she walked forward: "Thank you, Mr. Lu."

Lu Shicheng waited for her to get in the car, stepped on the gas, and drove out of the garden.

(End of this chapter)