Huayu: Live a carefree life

I had a pleasant evening with my classmate Xiao Hu.

On Saturday morning, Lu Jie slept in late, a rare occurrence, and cuddled with Xiao Hu until almost 11 a.m.

We were so hungry that we had to get up, wash up, and decide to cook noodles at home.

Although Xiao Hu is a native of Guangdong province, he surprisingly loves noodles.

Lu Jie boiled two pots of water and took out a plate of braised beef from the refrigerator. Although Xiao Hu couldn't cook, he could still help wash some vegetables.

Xiao Hu was curious why two pots of water were being boiled. "Brother, why are you boiling two pots of water?"

Lu Jie placed four sterile eggs into one of the pots of boiling water that had been turned off. "This pot is for making onsen tamago (soft-boiled eggs)."

Then, I put the noodles into the boiling water. "This is the pot for cooking noodles. Do you put lard or sesame oil in the noodle soup like I do?"

"I just want it to be the same as yours." Xiao Hu stood to the side watching Lu Jie make noodle soup. "Is this soup base the kind from your hometown, brother?"

"I don't know if it counts, but my mom has always done it this way since I was little. I learned to cook from her and my dad."

"Oh, that's it." Xiao Hu glanced at the four eggs simmering in the pot next door. "Brother, you're amazing! I didn't know you could make soft-boiled eggs."

"This is my first time making it. I watched a video online that said to boil water, turn off the heat, put in the eggs, and let it sit for eight minutes. I hope it will be successful."

"Brother will definitely succeed! Hey, I want a kiss~"

Lu Jie affectionately pecked at Xiao Hu, then diluted the soup base in both bowls before turning off the heat and scooping out the noodles.

Xiao Hu needs to control her carbohydrate intake, so Lu Jiejiu scooped out a little over one or two bowls of noodles for her. "If my mom saw you eating so little, she would definitely think I'm mistreating her daughter-in-law."

"No way, she doesn't have a big appetite to begin with." Xiao Hu was overjoyed to hear his daughter-in-law's words. "Brother, Auntie and Uncle will probably like me, right?"

"Of course, Xiao Hu is beautiful, kind-hearted, well-behaved, and adorable." Lu Jie smiled and nodded, then dropped an even bigger bombshell, "My parents will be coming to Beijing to see me during the National Day holiday. You'll come with me to pick them up and formally introduce you two."

Xiao Hu was surprised by the sudden surprise. "Ah, Auntie and Uncle are coming to Beijing? Oh... I..."

Lu Jie smiled and held Hu Lianxin's fair hand. "Don't be nervous. You greeted me when I video chatted with my mom, so it's not like we're meeting for the first time."

"How can I not be nervous...?"

"Then you'll be nervous for a while. I'll go scoop out the onsen eggs." Lu Jie smiled and patted Xiao Hu's shoulder. He went back to the stove, scooped out the four onsen eggs, rinsed them in ice water, and tapped them into four separate small bowls.

Xiao Hu was overjoyed to see that all four eggs were intact and without any defects. "Wow, brother, you're amazing! Wait, I need to take a picture and post it on WeChat Moments!"

Just then, Xiao Hu received several WeChat messages, all from his roommates.

Upon clicking, the content was similar, all informing her that she and her wealthy boyfriend had become a trending topic on Weibo.

"Huh?" Xiao Hu opened Weibo with a puzzled look, then blinked at Lu Jie, "Brother, who is Meng Ziyi?"

Lu Jie paused for a few seconds before replying, "It's the daughter of one of my business partners. What's wrong?"

"Nothing much, it's just that the three of us are trending on Weibo~" Xiao Hu showed Lu Jie the Big Eyes interface with a strange expression. "The headline was pretty sensational, saying that you, this mysterious man, were two-timing, meeting Meng Ziyi and her daughter on the same day, and then trying to seduce me, the Central Academy of Drama's most beautiful girl. I inexplicably became the third party..."

"What the heck?" Lu Jie almost choked. He took the phone, glanced at the trending topics, and shook his head with a laugh. "Is Meng Ziyi that famous? I hadn't heard of her before yesterday."

"She's been getting a lot of buzz lately, you just haven't been paying attention, since you don't even register on DaYanZai..." Xiao Hu explained. "There have been rumors that she got the role with her own investment, and some people have even claimed she stole the lead role from them. Then there were reports of her being arrogant in 'Grade One,' and her past scandals about allegedly outshining Yoona when she debuted. Anyway, she has a lot of negative press. Could she be intentionally creating hype?"

Lu Jie hadn't really known Meng Ziyi. He had only met her once yesterday and thought she was quite pretty. Unfortunately, he was too familiar with her parents to make a move. Otherwise, with her looks, he would definitely have pursued her further.

"Don't make wild guesses, I'll call her mother." Lu Jie reassured Xiao Hu, then dialed Sister Qian's number directly. It took about ten seconds for her to answer. "Good afternoon, Sister Qian, is it a convenient time to talk?"

"It's convenient, Xiao Lu, but it might be a bit noisy. I'm shopping with Ziyi." Through the phone, I could vaguely hear Meng Ziyi complaining, "But I'm the one shopping with you, right?"

"Mengmeng's here too? That's perfect." So Lu Jie made another video call, and after Meng Ziyi appeared on screen, he told her about the scandal trending on social media, "Which agency is Mengmeng signed with now? My girlfriend said you have a history of malicious hype, are you deliberately trying to drag me into this?"

Lu Jie's tone was far from polite, and his last sentence made Sister Qian even more nervous. Just as she herself said, the little bit of beans they had was no match for the wealth controlled by Lu Jie.

"No! Absolutely not!" Meng Ziyi quickly denied. "Mr. Lu, let me explain. If you really wanted to create hype, you'd have to plan ahead. You and my mother bumped into each other by chance at the Shanghai airport. I didn't even know you were coming before I picked you up. How could I possibly arrange for someone to take photos and create hype!"

"Oh right, Xiao Lu, I only found out about this because you called to tell me. If I really didn't do it, how could we be in the mood for shopping?" Although Sister Qian was nervous, she quickly regained her composure and picked up the shopping bags in her hand to show them off.

Seeing that their expressions didn't seem fake, Lu Jie softened his tone and said, "Okay, I believe you. So, this matter must be someone targeting Mengmeng, and I, an innocent bystander, got caught in the crossfire."

"And me, brother! I've become a mistress without even realizing it!" Seeing that Lu Jie was no longer so arrogant, Xiao Hu also came over and entered the frame. "Hello, Auntie, hello, Sister Ziyi, I'm Hu Lianxin, brother's girlfriend~"

"Hello, hello, I'm really sorry, I didn't expect this to happen." Meng Ziyi was stunned for a moment when she saw Xiao Hu appear on the screen before she greeted him.

Lu Jie affectionately let Xiao Hu sit in his lap for a video call. "That's all for now, I'm still having lunch. Sister Qian, you and Mengmeng discuss it and see if you've offended anyone, then tell me their names, and I'll handle the rest."

"Okay, Xiao Lu, let's look into it first. Oh, Ziyi's agent called, I'll contact you later."

After hanging up the phone, Hu Lianxin jumped out of Lu Jie's embrace, knelt face-to-face on the carpet, blinked her bright eyes, and said pitifully, "Brother, you call me 'Mengmeng' so affectionately, what are you going to do about my reputation as your official girlfriend?"

Lu Jie gently smoothed a stray hair from Xiao Hu's forehead, smiled, and looked into her eyes. "How about we just go ahead and make it official?"