Chapter 346: The Love-struck Young Man

The moment Yun Zijin picked up her phone, Lu Yunque knew what she was planning. He quickly reached out and held down her restless hand.

"How about something else?"

’A big red envelope transfer?’ ’Am I the kind of guy who’s short on cash?’ Lu Yunque kept her hand pinned down and looked at her expectantly.

"Mr. Lu... you shouldn’t be having such impure thoughts."

The moment he looked at her, Yun Zijin understood his meaning and seized the chance to tease him.

"You’re right, that’s exactly the kind of person I am. So, are you going to give me my reward or not?"

When it came to being shameless, Lu Yunque’s skin was as thick as a fortress wall.

Yun Zijin shot Lu Yunque a glare, then, catching him off guard, she leaned in and quickly planted a kiss on his right cheek.

But as quick as Yun Zijin was, Lu Yunque was like a predator lying in wait. Just as she was about to pull away, he grabbed her wrist, yanked her into his arms, and claimed his own reward.

After a long moment, Lu Yunque finally, and reluctantly, let her go.

"That’s cheating..."

Yun Zijin protested. Who ever heard of someone getting a reward, then taking another one for themself? It was completely unreasonable.

"Hm? How is kissing my girlfriend considered cheating?"

Lu Yunque had thrown all shame to the wind. Yun Zijin’s eyes widened, clearly not expecting this side of Mr. Lu.

"Go wash the dishes!"

Yun Zijin was annoyed and didn’t want to let Lu Yunque off so easily.

Normally, someone would come to clean up the dishes and kitchenware they had used, but now Yun Zijin was ordering Lu Yunque to do it.

’How could a cheater not be punished?’

Lu Yunque rubbed his nose, but ultimately went to gather the dishes obediently.

’He had gone a bit too far just now. If doing some chores would help calm Yun Zijin down, he didn’t mind at all.’

Besides, it wasn’t as if he’d never done it before during his time studying abroad.

After all, the housekeeper wasn’t available 24/7. He would often cook for himself after returning from his evening classes, and he’d usually clean up his own dishes.

He couldn’t just leave them sitting there for days until the housekeeper came, could he?

He was a bit of a neat freak; he couldn’t stand the sight of dirty bowls and plates and would feel compelled to clean them.

Even when the housekeeper wasn’t around, he would tidy everything up himself.

Seeing Lu Yunque actually listen to her and go wash the dishes, Yun Zijin started to feel like she was being a little unreasonable.

Feeling a pang of guilt, Yun Zijin followed him into the kitchen, where she found Lu Yunque bent over the sink, washing dishes.

"Why don’t you... leave them for the staff to clean up later?"

"It’s fine. I’ll be done in a minute."

’That was Lu Yunque for you—he either did nothing or couldn’t stop once he started. Such was the way of a neat freak.’

In any case, Lu Yunque was completely incapable of leaving the dirty dishes sitting there.

"Fine, then I’ll help."

Yun Zijin found a clean, dry towel. She took the bowls from Lu Yunque as he finished washing them, dried each one, and placed them in the kitchen’s sterilizing cabinet.

’Yun Zijin never thought that after barely doing any chores her entire life, she’d be having this experience here of all places.’

＊

As the sky darkened, Yun Zijin and Lu Yunque moved a lounge chair out into the open. The moment she looked up and saw the stars, Yun Zijin was delighted.

"There are stars!"

With so much light pollution in the city these days, you usually had to go to some remote, undeveloped village to see the stars.

She never expected to see them here!

"The stars are exactly why I had them install the transparent glass roof."

That way, they wouldn’t have to worry about rain, and on clear nights, it would be easy to watch the stars and the moon.

Yun Zijin hadn’t brought her camera, so she took out her phone and spent a good while looking up tutorials on how to photograph the Milky Way with a smartphone. After fiddling with the settings, she actually managed to capture a stunning picture of the night sky.

She immediately held the phone up to Lu Yunque to show it off. "Look! I took this!"

"Mm, it’s beautiful." Lu Yunque shifted his position, allowing Yun Zijin to nestle more comfortably in his embrace.

In such a tranquil setting, Yun Zijin might have been too scared to even breathe loudly if she were alone. But with Lu Yunque beside her, she felt completely safe.

At some point, she drifted off to sleep.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before he noticed that her breathing had evened out, signaling she was fast asleep.

Lu Yunque didn’t have the heart to wake her, but he knew she’d catch a cold if she slept like this. He took out his phone and contacted the manager of Hua Hai, asking them to send over two blankets.

Lu Yunque sent the message himself, adding a reminder to be quiet upon arrival. The manager immediately—and without a moment’s hesitation—arranged for two new, clean blankets and personally delivered them to Lu Yunque.

When he arrived at the cabin, the manager remembered Lu Yunque’s instruction to be quiet. Not daring to knock, he took out his phone and sent a message. Only after receiving a reply did he slowly open the door, doing his best not to make a single sound.

However, upon entering the cabin and seeing the scene inside, only four words echoed in the manager’s mind: ’I’m a dead man!’

"The blankets?"

Lu Yunque had already draped his suit jacket over Yun Zijin, so while the manager could see that Lu Yunque was holding someone, he couldn’t see the person’s face.

The manager hurriedly presented the two blankets to Lu Yunque with both hands. "Mr. Lu, shall I turn on the heating and ventilation system for you?"

It was late October, and it was already getting cold in Dijing.

If Lu Yunque and Yun Zijin were to actually sleep here all night without the heat on, they would surely catch a cold by morning.

Lu Yunque nodded. "Go ahead. Once it’s on, you can clock out for the night."

Fearing the manager would stay on duty all night just because he was there, Lu Yunque explicitly told him he could leave.

’Yun Zijin was already asleep, so there wouldn’t be anything else for the manager to handle tonight.’

Sure enough, upon hearing Lu Yunque’s words, the manager bowed gratefully. "Thank you, Mr. Lu!"

’If he could avoid working overtime, of course he would!’

’He never expected Mr. Lu to be so considerate. He’d been fully prepared to pull an all-nighter here.’

Still, even though he was off the clock, the manager didn’t dare turn off his phone. If something went wrong and the boss couldn’t reach him, he’d be the one to take the fall.

After the manager left, Lu Yunque carefully tucked the blanket around Yun Zijin, settled into a comfortable position, and closed his own eyes.

＊

「At the first hint of dawn」 Yun Zijin slowly opened her eyes. She realized almost immediately that this wasn’t her room.

Her mind cleared in an instant. Opening her eyes, she looked up and was met with the sight of Lu Yunque’s infuriatingly handsome face.

"Don’t tell me... I slept on the lounge chair all night!"

Yun Zijin was having a hard time believing it. How could she have just fallen asleep like that?

Lu Yunque was a light sleeper, and he woke up shortly after Yun Zijin started to stir.

"You’re awake? Why didn’t you wake me up last night?"

’Even if he had woken me up, us going back to the bedroom in the cabin would have been better than sleeping on this lounge chair all night.’

Yun Zijin couldn’t understand his logic at all.

"I didn’t want to wake you. Besides, the heat was on, so it wasn’t cold."

’But after holding her all night... his limbs had gone completely numb.’