Chapter 8: 08

Chapter 8

In the classroom.

Li Dongliang had switched to another new pink backpack today. Despite his tall and sturdy build, his good looks allowed him to pull off such a pink bag without appearing gaudy. Instead, it gave him a youthful, teenage vibe.

Su Ci was lying on Lu Zhe's lap, having been brought to school early by him. She needed to catch up on sleep.

"Brother Zhe, I brought lots of good stuff for the little bunny," Li Dongliang excitedly approached them.

Su Ci lazily lifted her eyelids and noticed a pink pompom hanging from his backpack today.

Li Dongliang opened his backpack and pulled out several bags of rabbit food. "Brother Zhe, this is rabbit food I had someone bring back from abroad. The taste is absolutely fantastic. If you feed this to the little bunny, her fur will become smooth and beautiful."

Su Ci closed her eyes, knowing that even the most expensive rabbit food would just taste like grass in her mouth.

Lu Zhe glanced down at the rabbit, then looked at the rabbit food in Li Dongliang's hands. "How much in total?"

Li Dongliang, who had expected Lu Zhe to refuse, quickly shook his head. "No cost - I bought it for the bunny, it's free."

Lu Zhe looked up. "Then I won't take it."

"120 yuan per pack."

He had bought three packs, so 360 yuan total. For Lu Zhe, this wasn't cheap at all.

After all, he knew Lu Zhe spent a lot of money on medicine for his illness.

"Brother Zhe, instead of paying me money, why not let me pet the little bunny?" Watching Lu Zhe stroke the bunny during class every day made him envious. As his deskmate, he could only look on with envy - forget about petting the rabbit, he hadn't even touched its fur.

Lu Zhe gave him a cool glance. "Take out your phone."

Li Dongliang pulled out his phone and added Lu Zhe as a friend. The next second, he received the money transfer.

Looking at Lu Zhe's completely black profile picture, Li Dongliang clicked into it and saw that there was nothing posted on his Moments page.

This was too much.

The little bunny was so cute - not using its photo as a profile picture was one thing, but not even posting any pictures of it on Moments?

This was simply unacceptable!

Before Li Dongliang could complain, Zhao Youyou walked over.

Her complexion was good, probably because she had won five million yuan in the lottery. She didn't seem to mind the subtle mocking glances from her classmates anymore.

"Brother," Zhao Youyou came to Lu Zhe's desk.

She looked at Lu Zhe with guilt in her eyes. She was grateful that Lu Zhe had saved her in her previous life, but as her father had said, Lu Zhe's illness was incurable. Even if she gave him part of the money, it wouldn't make much difference.

Beside them, Li Dongliang wore an expression of someone eager to watch drama unfold. He thought Lu Zhe's nominal sister was quite dramatic.

It was strange how Zhao Youyou, who used to have such a fierce and foolish personality, had suddenly changed so much recently, as if she had become a different person, transforming into a delicate flower.

Yesterday, when she failed to take credit for something in class, she cried so pitifully that anyone would think she had suffered some great injustice.

"What is it?" Lu Zhe looked up.

"Dad wants you to come home for a bit."

Zhao Youyou bit her lip, hesitating before saying, "You still have some clothes at home... Dad said you can come get them after school today."

Hearing this, Li Dongliang next to them pursed his lips and clicked his tongue. Hmph, they just wanted Lu Zhe to collect his things and get out for good.

Su Ci squinted her eyes as Lu Zhe's long fingers continued to stroke her back. Hearing Zhao Youyou's words, she hummed disapprovingly and went back to sleep.

"Mm," Lu Zhe agreed.

...

The residential complex where the Zhao family lived was somewhat old but well-maintained, with good landscaping around it. The environment was several times better than Lu Zhe's rented place.

Su Ci poked her head out of Lu Zhe's backpack and saw him standing at the door, pressing the doorbell.

A thin-faced middle-aged woman opened the door. She had curly hair and upturned eyes with a calculating gaze - clearly Zhao Youyou's mother.

"Come in. We haven't touched your things. Take a look at what you want to take with you."

Knowing her daughter had won five million yuan in the lottery, Zhao's Mother had been so excited she hadn't slept all night, but still looked fresh. Now seeing Lu Zhe, she even had a smile on her face, no longer calling him a freeloader.

Lu Zhe walked into the house.

In the living room, Zhao's father had a cigarette in his mouth and was holding his phone. When he saw Lu Zhe enter, he looked up briefly without making a sound.

Ever since his daughter had found Lu Zhe's medical records in his room and learned about his terminal illness, Zhao's father hadn't shown Lu Zhe a kind face. In his view, the decades of raising Lu Zhe had been wasted.

He hadn't gotten any benefit from Lu Zhe at all.

"Stop with all this nonsense, just give us back the ticket." Li Changfang had nearly died of anger last night after hearing her husband Dong Jian's account of what happened.

It was clear the other party had deliberately tricked her husband into giving up the ticket.

"She bought it from you, so the ticket belongs to my daughter. Stop making trouble here and leave our house immediately," Zhao's Mother said, having gathered the gist of the situation from their conversation.

The five million was now theirs, and no one was going to take it away.

"Little sister, given how things have developed, let's split the five million between our two families. My business has failed, and I owe over two million to others. This money would help me pay off my debts." He had given up hope of getting back the entire amount.

"We won't give you a single cent. Leave now." Zhao's Father spoke from the side, his half-closed eyes flashing with menace as he firmly refused.

Hearing this, Li Changfang became furious and lunged forward, grabbing Zhao Youyou's clothes, about to slap her.

......

After leaving the Zhao family, Lu Zhe went to the computer store.

Su Ci lay listlessly in the backpack, feeling somewhat regretful as she wanted to know what happened next.

Lu Zhe entered the store and saw Boss Fang organizing some things.

"Ah Zhe, you're here?" Boss Fang's face was full of smiles as he put away the receipts and closed the store, "Come on, let's go upstairs for a drink."

"Something good happened?" Lu Zhe rarely saw Boss Fang this happy.

"I found a good technician. Little Joy will be able to get his prosthetic limb soon."

While good prosthetics were important, having a skilled technician was even more crucial.

Boss Fang had learned that if the prosthetic wasn't installed properly, it could cause skin abrasions or blisters while walking.

He didn't want Little Joy to suffer like that, so he had been searching for a skilled technician.

Lu Zhe knew about this, and his usually rigid expression softened slightly, "Congratulations."

Boss Fang sighed thoughtfully. He understood Lu Zhe's condition; when he first hired him, it was indeed out of sympathy. But later, he discovered Lu Zhe's strong abilities - he had taught himself programming and coding, and had helped him tremendously.

Now Boss Fang was about to get through his difficulties, but Lu Zhe's situation was different.

Lu Zhe's path led to an inevitable end.

Boss Fang cooked a few small dishes and brought out the beer he had prepared earlier.

"Just have a few sips with me," Boss Fang said, worried that Lu Zhe couldn't handle alcohol.

Lu Zhe smiled, and a small dimple appeared on his usually stern face, "It's fine, I want to know my alcohol tolerance too."

At eighteen, Lu Zhe had never drunk alcohol before.

"Alright, if you get drunk, I'll call you a car," Boss Fang said, popping a crispy peanut into his mouth and opening the cans of beer.

In the backpack, Su Ci yawned, feeling bored. She didn't want to watch them drink.

Some time later, Lu Zhe was brought home by Boss Fang.

Only after Boss Fang left and the door was closed did Su Ci crawl out of the backpack.

She saw Lu Zhe lying on his side with his eyes closed.

He was clearly drunk.

Su Ci hopped closer to Lu Zhe, catching the faint smell of alcohol mixed with his cool, fresh scent - it wasn't unpleasant.

She reached out her little paw and pushed Lu Zhe's arm, but he didn't respond.

Her red eyes suddenly lit up.

Without thinking, Su Ci jumped forward, bringing her little head close to Lu Zhe's handsome face.

Her small mouth pressed directly against Lu Zhe's cold lips.

She did it!

It was just a light touch.

Su Ci waited quietly, and after a while, she saw her snow-white, jade-like skin and long legs.

With a smile on her red lips, Su Ci quickly pulled the nearby blanket over Lu Zhe's head.

She went to the wardrobe, put on Lu Zhe's school uniform, and turned to pull back the blanket covering Lu Zhe's head.

The moment she pulled it back, she unexpectedly met the youth's pitch-black eyes. Su Ci's heart jumped in fright, and she immediately let go of the blanket.

Ah ah ah, was he awake?