The blind boss's nanny

A thought popped into my head uncontrollably:

She would just lie down on the sofa in the living room on the first floor for a while, and leave as soon as it was light.

The main house is so big, everyone would be fast asleep at this time, and no one would know.

Lin Xiaoman put on her coat and quietly crossed the courtyard.

The distance from the guest house to the main house seemed exceptionally long in the cold night, and she could hear her teeth chattering with every step she took.

The key to the back door of the main house is in the pot of that pink camellia.

Lin Xiaoman slipped inside, and the familiar warmth enveloped her in an instant.

She almost let out a sigh of relief.

The living room on the first floor was empty, with the fireplace still warm from the embers that hadn't burned out the night before.

She chose the sofa closest to the fireplace and wrapped herself in the soft wool blanket... it was the one Lu Tingzhao usually used, but she was too cold to care.

Sleepiness washed over her. Before her consciousness sank into darkness, Lin Xiaoman's last thought was:

She had to leave before dawn.

Lu Tingzhao woke up at 6:30 in the morning.

He fumbled his way through washing up, changed his clothes, and went downstairs with his white cane.

Yuanbao followed at his feet as usual, but today was a little different.

It stopped abruptly as it descended to the first floor, its nose twitching rapidly in the air, and its ears perking up.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Tingzhao noticed its abnormality.

Yuanbao let out a short, excited whimper, suddenly broke free from his side, and ran towards the living room.

Lu Tingzhao frowned and followed.

Then he heard... steady, shallow breathing.

Yuanbao had already jumped onto the sofa and started licking the face of someone who was sleeping with his wet tongue.

In her sleep, Lin Xiaoman felt a warm, damp touch on her face and smiled groggily.

"Stop fooling around... Yuanbao..."

She instinctively reached out to rub the dog's head, her fingertips touching the familiar fur.

and many more.

Gold ingot?!

Lin Xiaoman suddenly opened her eyes.

The first thing that catches the eye is Yuanbao's enlarged smiling face and wagging tail, and then—

She froze.

Lu Tingzhao sat upright on a single sofa three meters away.

He was wearing dark gray loungewear, holding a glass of water in his hand, his unfocused eyes "looking" in her direction, his face expressionless.

Clearly, he had been sitting here for a while.

Lin Xiaoman's mind went blank.

She remembered that she should have been in the inn, so how could she be...?

The heating malfunction, sneaking in late at night, falling asleep on the sofa... all the memories flooded back instantly, followed by an overwhelming wave of embarrassment.

She sat up almost instantly, the wool blanket slipping off her body.

Hearing the noise, Lu Tingzhao slowly put down his water glass.

"Who are you, and why are you sleeping on the sofa?"

He said.

Lin Xiaoman opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

She looked down at herself... wearing wrinkled clothes, with messy hair, and probably some of Yuanbao's drool at the corner of her mouth.

Lu Tingzhao, dressed neatly with his hair perfectly styled, sat in the morning light, the contrast so stark that Lu Tingzhao wanted to disappear immediately.

She decided to run away.

Lin Xiaoman tiptoed off the sofa, her bare feet touching the carpet, and moved step by step toward the door.

As long as I step out of the living room and run back to the guest room, I can pretend that nothing happened...

"Stop right there! Where do you think you're going?"

Lu Tingzhao's voice wasn't loud, but it made her freeze in place instantly.

At the same time, Yuanbao ran happily to her, plopped down, and blocked her from the door.

It looked up at her, its tail slapping the ground happily, completely unaware that its "enthusiasm" was cutting off her escape route.

Lin Xiaoman looked at Yuanbao blocking her way, then at Lu Tingzhao sitting motionless, and realized something...

It's 6:30 in the morning, at least an hour before anyone gets up.

How is she supposed to spend an hour alone in a room with this man without revealing herself?

As she racked her brains for a way to escape, and even considered whether to risk climbing out the window, Lu Tingzhao had already silently stood up.

With a light tap of his cane on the ground, he accurately circled the coffee table, walked straight to her, and stopped.

She was so close that she could smell the faint scent of cedar on him.

"Lin Xiaoman".

His voice was deep and steady, not a question, nor a test, but a statement... a certainty that had already been confirmed and was beyond dispute.

Lin Xiaoman was so startled that her breath caught in her throat for a second, and the thought that had formed in her mind burst out without any processing:

"You can see now?!"

Lu Tingzhao's heart felt as if it had been tightened by an extremely fine thread.

The tone was a little higher than I remembered, a rising lilt unique to surprise, with a slight tremor at the end...

It wasn't fear, but more like some kind of...hope? His speech was also faster than usual, almost blurting out without thinking.

He remembered all her voices:

The calm and composed demeanor when making excuses, the light and bouncy rhythm when happy, the tense suppressed anger when annoyed by him, and... the brokenness of her voice, choked with sobs yet forcing a calm, on the night she left.

But this question is different.

There was a pure and direct concern in it that he hadn't heard in a long time, which even overshadowed the panic she was trying to hide.

A long, noisy yet quiet month passed, and countless late nights were spent reading suspense novels...

Her voice came crashing back without warning.

It carries a familiar warmth and a nature that seems to have never left.

Upon hearing this, Lu Tingzhao raised his brow bone almost imperceptibly.

The morning light outlined the handsome yet aloof lines of his profile. He subtly twitched the corner of his lips, a fleeting moment that seemed like an illusion.

Then, he lowered his head slightly. His deep, unfocused eyes were precisely "gazing" in her direction, as if they could truly penetrate the darkness and see the look of surprise and frustration on her face.

"The person who can make Yuanbao this excited,"

His voice was devoid of emotion.

There are very few like that in the world.

Lin Xiaoman opened her lips, but all her words of explanation got stuck in her throat.

A subtle sense of loss, one she herself was unwilling to admit, quietly began to spread within her...

It turns out that he did not regain his sight.

But before this sense of loss could even take shape, it was completely shattered by his next words.

"But I always like it this way..."

He paused.

"Sneaking around, and you're the only one doing it."

"!"

Lin Xiaoman was instantly furious, her cheeks flushing red uncontrollably.

She dared not utter a word in rebuttal, but couldn't help but bare her teeth at the man in front of her, silently clenching her fist and mouthing a few words of protest that only she understood.