At half past seven in the evening, when Lu Jingming returned to the mansion, the city below the hill was already a sea of neon lights.
"You're back."
Housekeeper Zhang came out from the living room to greet him and asked, "Have you had dinner yet?"
"Not yet, I just finished working overtime at the company," Lu Jingming looked around and asked again, "Where's Xiao Xia?"
Hearing her name, Xu Yanxia hurried out from the kitchen to greet him. "I'm here, Mr. Lu. Dinner will be ready soon."
"No rush," Lu Jingming just wanted to ask her, "How are things with your family?"
— After finding her uncle in the urban village at noon, he had suddenly received an urgent call from the company and had to leave first. He had been busy ever since returning to the office and hadn't had a chance to ask her about it.
Xu Yanxia gave an "oh" and said, "My brother and my aunt have already taken that person back. We'll see how the police station handles it later. Thank you so much for today."
"What about your night market stall?" he asked again.
Xu Yanxia said, "Some of my brother's friends are still there. The service might just be a bit slower, but since it's not the weekend these days, selling a little less is fine. It won't be too badly affected."
Lu Jingming nodded and handed her a shopping bag. "You left this in the car at noon."
It was the gift Xu Yanxia had bought for Aunt Zhang at the mall at noon. Later, in the rush to catch that scoundrel uncle Yuan Jincai, she hadn't remembered to take it.
"Thank you."
Xu Yanxia quickly reached out to take it, smiling sheepishly. "I've been so busy since I got back, I almost forgot."
However, Lu Jingming noticed the medicated patch on her wrist and asked, "Are you injured?"
"I might have twisted it a bit too hard when grabbing the person at noon. It's nothing serious," Xu Yanxia said dismissively, then hurriedly made to run back to the kitchen. "I made noodles for you, they're almost done. Please wait a moment."
Lu Jingming nodded and went upstairs first to change.
By the time he came back down, dinner was already set on the dining table.
Shrimp oil braised cabbage, French-style roasted lamb chops, a assorted platter of marinated meats, and a bowl of Fujian-style seafood braised noodles. It all looked incredibly tempting.
The meal at noon had been rather unsatisfactory, so seeing such a sumptuous dinner now made it hard to resist diving right in.
But he still said to Xu Yanxia, "Your wrist is injured. You didn't have to make so much. Or you could have told me in advance; I could have eaten at the cafeteria."
"It's alright,"
Xu Yanxia told him frankly. "These dishes don't really require much handwork anyway. Besides, we need to eat too."
"Well then."
Lu Jingming had no choice but to start eating.
Mmm. The rich, savory flavor immediately left him speechless.
Xu Yanxia then solemnly presented the shopping bag from earlier to Housekeeper Zhang, who was standing nearby, and said with a smile, "Auntie, this is a little token of my appreciation. I hope you like it."
"For me?" Housekeeper Zhang was very surprised as she took it. "Child, why are you buying me things for no reason?"
Xu Yanxia smiled and said, "You've been taking care of me all these days, and thanks to your reminder to change clothes at noon today, I actually did run into the person I took the photo with. It's nothing special, I just wanted to thank you."
"What's there to thank? Why are you being so polite, child?" Housekeeper Zhang sighed. "Your family needs money right now. Why did you spend on this?"
"It didn't cost much,"
Xu Yanxia quickly explained. "It's just a small gesture. Please don't think twice about it."
Lu Jingming, who was eating, also chimed in to help her out. "She spent a long time carefully picking it out. You should just accept it."
"Well then,"
Housekeeper Zhang smiled and accepted the gift, then instructed her, "Don't be so polite in the future."
"Okay."
Xu Yanxia smiled. Seeing that everything was settled, she returned to the kitchen first.
An hour later, Lu Jingming finished dinner, and Xu Yanxia also ended her day's work, coming to the garden as usual to feed the cats.
"I made you chicken liver mixed with rice today. Is it to your taste?"
Her furry little friends ate with enthusiastic "meows," answering her question with their actions.
Just as she was happily petting them, footsteps suddenly sounded on the lawn. She turned to see Lu Jingming walking over, dressed in cream-colored loungewear, looking both handsome and relaxed.
"Mr. Lu,"
she greeted with a smile, only to see him hand her something and say, "I originally wanted to find some medicated wine, but it's all used up. This topical analgesic spray is also quite good. It's very effective for relieving pain."
"Oh, thank you so much."
Xu Yanxia took it and added, "Actually, it's not that serious. It'll be fine in a couple of days."
Lu Jingming smiled instead. "You usually look quite slender, I didn't expect you to be so strong. But it's better to be more careful next time. If the other person is truly vicious, they might hurt you."
"There probably won't be a next time,"
Xu Yanxia also smiled. "Besides, I do wield a kitchen cleaver, so I have a bit of strength. It's just that I was a bit too hasty today and accidentally twisted it."
"..."
This was the first time Lu Jingming had heard "wield a kitchen cleaver" used in this context.
"Would you like to join me in petting the cats?"
Xu Yanxia put the analgesic spray into her pocket and then enthusiastically invited him.
"Sure."
Lu Jingming readily agreed, squatting down with her to scratch each kitten behind the ears.
Xu Yanxia was a bit surprised. "Have you had cats before? You seem very skilled at this."
"My grandmother had one back in our hometown. I used to play with it often,"
he recalled. "It was an orange tabby, very big and fat, and excellent at catching mice. Sometimes neighbors in the village would specifically invite it over to catch them."
"Orange tabbies are indeed great mousers!"
Xu Yanxia immediately agreed and shared her own experience. "We have two at home, one a tabby and one an orange tabby. Since we've had them, there's never been a mouse in the restaurant."
Lu Jingming made an understanding sound and asked her, "After the restaurant was demolished, where did they go?"
"They're living in the rental place with my grandparents,"
Xu Yanxia said with a smile. "Luckily we rented a ground-floor unit. Those two can't stand being cooped up inside and often go out to play. Fortunately, they always find their way home."
As soon as she finished speaking, before Lu Jingming could respond, her phone chimed with a WeChat notification.
Opening it, she saw a voice message from Chu Hao.
Without much thought, she tapped to play it and heard him ask, "Hey, do you have time right now?"
His voice carried a hint of his usual roguish charm, causing Lu Jingming beside her to frown almost imperceptibly.
Xu Yanxia, however, didn't pay it any mind and directly used voice input to reply, "Please go ahead if there's something."
Who knew he would directly call her via voice chat.
Afraid it might be urgent, she quickly answered, "Hello, Mr. Chu."
Mr. Chu...
Lu Jingming thought for a moment and roughly knew who it was.
It was probably that famous playboy Chu Hao from the Chu family, who are in retail. He's the childhood friend of his younger brother, Lu Jingyao.
