Just saying it would have been one thing, but he also gazed at Ji Nian with those sparkling eyes, brimming with affection, as if they could speak.
No woman in the world could resist her lover looking at her with such adoration, as though she were the greatest miracle in existence.
Ji Nian, who had never thought much of herself, felt an inexplicable surge of pride.
"Ah, it's nothing," she said with a laugh, pressing a kiss to Lu Jinghuai's fingers.
She had mentioned before how much she admired his hands—elegant, with well-defined knuckles, pale and slender, devoid of visible veins, pristine in appearance. Yet they weren’t soft to the touch, more like polished jade, his palms bearing the roughness of calluses.
Lu Jinghuai took the opportunity to tilt her chin up with his fingers, leaning in to brush his lips against her cheek. The bridge of his straight nose pressed into the softness of her face, impossible to ignore.
Ji Nian occasionally returned the gesture.
The two of them pecked at each other like playful little animals.
Eventually, as if realizing how silly they were being, they burst into laughter simultaneously.
When they finally pulled apart, Lu Jinghuai murmured, "Ten more days."
His crimson tongue flicked out briefly, licking the corner of his lips as he fixed her with a smoldering look.
A blatant hint.
Ji Nian thought, I’m even more impatient than you are, okay?
Staring at Lu Jinghuai’s lips, lush and petal-like, she couldn’t help but salivate.
[When faced with improper temptations, let us say—]
The system weakly raised a wire: [Not enough.]
"Hey, Jinghuai," Ji Nian said, leading him deeper into her domain, "I heard that kissing someone with really thin lips feels like kissing a chicken."
This was the first time Lu Jinghuai had heard such a claim. He didn’t even need to look at Ji Nian—his mind had already conjured the shape of her lips, a detail he’d memorized long ago. "Then do thick lips feel better?" he asked.
Ji Nian wagged a finger, clicking her tongue. "Too naive, young man."
"It’s like kissing a prolapsed anus."
Lu Jinghuai: "……"
He decided it was time to change the subject.
Glancing around the stark, sterile laboratory with its heavy modern-tech aesthetic, he remarked, "Did someone tell you that, or…?"
His pause was deliberate.
Ji Nian grinned. "Jealous, are we?"
Lu Jinghuai let out an "Mmm," openly admitting it.
Ever since they’d gotten together, he’d learned just how indulgent Ji Nian could be with him. So he pulled her closer, draping an arm over her shoulders, feigning annoyance. "Why am I always the one getting jealous?"
Ji Nian took the chance to wrap her arms around his lean waist, giving it a few appreciative squeezes for good measure.
"Who says? I get jealous all the time too."
"Oh?" Lu Jinghuai’s tone dripped with skepticism.
Then Ji Nian declared, "Every time I think about your poop mingling with strangers’ in the sewer, I get furious."
Lu Jinghuai: "……"
Well.
At least it counted as jealousy.
Lu Jinghuai was only the second non-pharmacist Ji Nian had brought here, after Ji Tingzhou.
Even Chen Mo, for certain reasons, had never set foot inside.
Watching Ji Nian tie up her hair and slip into her white lab coat, Lu Jinghuai stared at her, utterly captivated. Propping his chin on one hand, he met her gaze and smirked. "Professor, got any love potions lying around?"
Hearing the title, Ji Nian nearly laughed out loud.
Fortunately, she held her composure, crossing her arms with a stern expression as she looked at Lu Jinghuai. "Student, that’s a dangerous thought you have there. It needs correcting."
"Professor, show me how it’s done. I promise I won’t do anything bad."
"Think of it as feeding chickens. Just a little dabble, okay?"
Ji Nian: "……"
[Now I kinda understand how Ji Tingzhou felt back then.]
"Fine, just this once. No exceptions."
With a serious tone, Ji Nian led Lu Jinghuai into the depths of the laboratory.
Lu Jinghuai gazed in awe at the exquisitely designed space, filled with instruments he’d never seen before—like a forest of technology.
And the master of this place was none other than the person he admired and loved.
Here, he watched as ordinary reagents, under Ji Nian’s deft hands, erupted into dazzling colors. Smoke swirled as if alive, dancing to the rhythm of her movements. A soft ‘click’ sounded as something collided, and then everything settled into silence.
Transformed into a dreamy, pale pink potion.
Ji Nian poured it into a vial, gave it a gentle shake, and flashed Lu Jinghuai a smile. "Want a taste?"
Lu Jinghuai stood up from his seat and approached, eyeing the miraculous concoction. "Is this a love potion?"
Ji Nian shook her head, lowering her voice. "No, it’s poison."
Lu Jinghuai chuckled, took the vial from her, and without hesitation, tipped it into his mouth.
The sweet flavor of strawberries bloomed across his tongue.
He licked the remnants from his lips, surprised. "It’s sweet."
Ji Nian dropped the act. "Of course. Did you really think I’d give you poison?"
"It’s a nutrient solution—good for your bones."
Lu Jinghuai set the vial down, his expression almost disappointed. "I thought it’d be the kind that makes me bleed from seven orifices if I ever wronged you."
Ji Nian reassured him, "Don’t worry. If that day ever comes, it won’t be something as simple as poison."
After giving Lu Jinghuai a brief tour of the lab, Ji Nian led him to her private lounge.
Originally, there had only been one lounge in the lab, but after Bruce and John Qiao joined, Ji Nian had expanded it.
The two nestled on the couch, shoulders touching, as Ji Nian quietly recounted how the lab came to be and how Ji Tingzhou had discovered her talent when she was young.
Under Lu Jinghuai’s persistent questioning, the conversation drifted to how Ji Nian had ended up with the Ji family after her birth.
When Ji Nian mentioned being taken for experiments as a newborn, Lu Jinghuai asked, "What happened to that man?"
"The one who used you for the soul-swapping experiment."
He didn’t show it, but Ji Nian, pressed close, sensed the unspoken fury beneath his calm.
"Back then, my father sent people to find him. Some said he was already dead, others claimed he was still alive, hiding like a rat. To this day, his whereabouts are unknown."
Lu Jinghuai silently pulled her into his arms.
Ji Nian buried her face in his shoulder, thinking to herself that she was fine—after all, it had happened so long ago, and technically, she hadn’t even been the original owner of this body back then.
But she couldn’t say that.
So instead, she poked at his belly button through his shirt to reassure him she was okay.
Lu Jinghuai: "……"
Time flew by.
And finally, Ji Nian’s birthday arrived.
That day, Ji Tingzhou was dressed impeccably, standing next to Ji Nian. To an outsider, he could easily be mistaken for her older brother—youthful and strikingly handsome, with their features bearing an uncanny resemblance.
Ji Tingzhou seemed well aware of this. Facing Wei Yang’s camera, he patted Ji Nian’s head teasingly and said, “Call me ‘brother.’”
Ji Nian, clad in a custom-tailored gown, raised her arm with some effort to sling it over his shoulder. “Ji Tingzhou, brother, smile for me.”
Ji Tingzhou’s expression twisted into one of mock disgust.
Beside them, Chen Mo threw his head back and laughed, his refined and dazzling face a stark contrast to Ji Tingzhou’s momentarily contorted expression. The moment was perfectly captured in Wei Yang’s lens.
It became the cover photo of Ji Nian’s eighteenth birthday album.
