Chapter 308 - 268: Rui, Gu Muxue Is Looking for You

’Just... just go along with his plan.’

It’s just, she felt a little bad for Gu Muxue.

It was as if she and Xue Rui had conspired to trick someone.

’When Gu Muxue finds out, will she be heartbroken too?’

A flash of surprise crossed Xue Rui’s eyes. He had actually been thinking the same thing, because he was at a complete loss as to what to do about Gu Muxue.

Xue Rui took a deep breath and planted a firm kiss on the young woman’s forehead.

This girl spoiled him with no limits; she would even agree to such an outrageous request.

He had actually expected this, but hearing the words come from her lips still moved him deeply. Was that also a faint thrill of excitement he felt?

Lin Ruoxi’s eyes crinkled into crescents. ’Xue Rui is so happy.’

And if Xue Rui was happy, she was happy.

She reluctantly climbed out from under the covers, got dressed, and pulled the curtains wide open. The scorching sunlight flooded the room, making Xue Rui instinctively squint.

Xue Rui watched the young woman standing in the light, a brilliant smile on her face.

"Rui, time to get up and eat," Lin Ruoxi said, picking up the clothes Xue Rui had carelessly tossed on the bed. She lifted them and took a gentle sniff.

Xue Rui’s brow twitched. ’What kind of strange habit is this?’

’Doesn’t she even do it in secret?’

He instinctively reached for the clothes, but she pulled them just out of his reach, making him grab at empty air.

His hand hovered in the air. ’What is she trying to do?’ he wondered.

’Is she confiscating my clothes so I can’t leave this private compartment?’

’This need for control... it’s a little pathological!’

Xue Rui sucked in a sharp breath. "Xixi, this kind of mindset isn’t really heal—"

Just as he was about to say "healthy," she had already turned his shirt right side out and was carefully draping it over his head.

"Rui, lift your arms," Lin Ruoxi said, her eyes filled with doting affection as she looked at Xue Rui.

Xue Rui dazedly lifted his arms. She was dressing him as if he were a small child getting up in the morning.

He racked his brain, but he couldn’t recall ever experiencing something like this as a child, no matter how young.

After all, decades had passed. He never thought someone would still be treating him like a child now.

Ah, yes. She had always been the mothering type of girlfriend.

"You’re going to be a natural at taking care of kids one day," Xue Rui commented, quickly finishing dressing himself.

When Lin Ruoxi heard the word "kids," her cheeks flushed bright red, and she nervously wiped her small hands on her legs...

Xue Rui thought she was really too much. He couldn’t help but recall the conversation he’d overheard between his parents the other day...

Xie Jianfeng had said that someone like Lin Ruoxi wouldn’t be able to raise a child properly...

Looking at it now, his old man was quite farsighted. A child spoiled by Lin Ruoxi would certainly be healthy and strong, but their personality... that was another matter...

Lin Ruoxi was the classic type to value loyalty over logic; even if the entire world said he was wrong, she would still believe he was right.

She had been deprived of so much in the past that she subconsciously wanted to lavish the affection she herself had missed onto the person she loved.

"Um, do you need to use the restroom?" Lin Ruoxi asked, her eyes fixed on Xue Rui’s bandaged foot. She had just changed the dressing last night.

Xue Rui sighed. He got up on his own and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Let’s go."

Lin Ruoxi always worried too much, and he could never win an argument with her on matters like these.

As the two of them left, they happened to run into a passing train attendant.

The female attendant stared after them for a long time. ’Both of them seem to have trouble walking. How did I not notice that yesterday?’

As she passed the compartment they’d just come out of, she opened the door and peeked inside. ’Did I see that right? Was that a flash of red?’

And just as she suspected, the standard train furnishings had all been replaced...

"Kids these days are really something else. No wonder no one else came to these seats."

The attendant’s eye twitched. She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture. This wasn’t something you saw every day. It would make for a great story to tell her colleagues over dinner.

...

By the time the two returned, it was already lunchtime. Lin Ruoxi bought a boxed meal from the attendant for him, while she started eating the bento she had saved for him from yesterday.

"It’s been sitting out for a whole day. Is it still okay to eat?" Xue Rui asked.

"Mm, the train has air conditioning. I tried it; it hasn’t gone bad," Lin Ruoxi said softly. She didn’t want Xue Rui to eat leftovers.

Suddenly, her brows furrowed as she stared at Xue Rui’s boxed meal. With her chopsticks, she picked out a short shred of steel wool.

"Steel wool?" Lin Ruoxi murmured.

Xue Rui, however, wasn’t bothered. This was just how train food was—expensive and terrible.

He said nonchalantly, "Look on the bright side. It means they actually washed the pot."

Lin Ruoxi’s lovely eyes widened. ’Is washing the pot really something worth praising?’

She decisively swapped their meals. "You... you eat mine."

She felt that the food from outside wasn’t even as good as her leftovers.

"Can you cook in college?" Lin Ruoxi asked, tilting her head.

"No," Xue Rui said, shaking his head. Making a simple hot pot might be possible, but Lin Ruoxi would need a full kitchen...

"Then... then..." Lin Ruoxi fell into thought.

Xue Rui spoke up, "If you cook three meals a day, you’ll waste all your time."

Cooking is a very draining activity, both physically and mentally. From buying groceries and prepping ingredients to finally serving the food, a single meal takes at least an hour for the person cooking.

If there were a lot of dishes, like the feast Lin Ruoxi made on the Qixi Festival, you’d have to start bustling about in the morning.

"Mm, I don’t think it’s a waste," Lin Ruoxi said with a smile.

"The college cafeteria isn’t bad. Isn’t that how everyone eats?" Xue Rui said with a laugh.

’He’d lost count of how many times he had cursed it in his past life, and now, in this one, he was actually praising it?’