At half past nine in the evening, the party was coming to an end.
The well-fed boys left one by one, and the noisy lawn returned to peace.
When Xu Yanxia came out with the cat food, the garden had already returned to its tidy original appearance.
She was more than an hour later than usual to feed the cats today. The little guys were already starving and kept meowing at her, as if complaining about her being late.
She had to quickly divide the food and stroke each of them one by one to express her apology. "Sorry to keep you waiting so long."
The cats were already gobbling up the food and didn't even have the time to pay attention to her.
Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded from behind. "Still thinking about feeding the cats so late?"
She turned around and called out "President Lu", then said with a smile, "They're still here waiting for me so late. If I don't come, they'll be disappointed and might not come here anymore in the future."
Lu Jingming walked closer and stroked the cats with her.
"Actually, you don't have to work so hard," he said. "Our group cooperated with Nanjing University a while ago to develop a project to care for stray animals. Now, intelligent technology can be used for feeding."
"Really? There's such a thing?"
Xu Yanxia was surprised and quickly asked him, "How exactly does it work? Do you have to attach chips to the stray animals?"
"No, that's not necessary,"
Lu Jingming said. "It uses a neural network accelerator to quickly identify stray animals and sets up several fixed locations for automatic feeding. This can prevent the food from being consumed or wasted by other irrelevant animals and avoid some unnecessary troubles."
"This is great!"
Xu Yanxia's eyes immediately lit up. "In this way, it can save manpower and we don't have to worry about the uneaten food attracting rats and cockroaches. What an amazing high - tech!"
Lu Jingming smiled. "The main system was developed by the laboratory of Nanjing University. Our group provided the funds and some technical support. It has already been put into trial use in several universities in this city. By the way, your Huazhong Agricultural University is one of the pilot sites."
"Really?"
Xu Yanxia said expectantly, "I have to go back and have a look then. There are also many stray cats in our school. I used to be the president of the Fluffy Rescue Society."
"Fluffy Rescue Society?"
Lu Jingming asked her with a smile, "Is it a club dedicated to rescuing small animals?"
"Yes,"
Xu Yanxia also said with a smile, "Isn't it a cute name?"
"Yes, it's very cute."
Lu Jingming nodded with a smile and then said, "There seems to be an open - day event at Huazhong Agricultural University tomorrow. If you're interested, we can go and have a look together."
"Tomorrow..."
Xu Yanxia felt a little regretful.
She wanted to go, but she didn't have a day off tomorrow.
Lu Jingming, being considerate, automatically removed the obstacle for her. "My parents won't be back until Wednesday. You can definitely go with me tomorrow. Just think of it as an experience for cat lovers and you can also give some suggestions."
"That's great."
Xu Yanxia readily agreed without any precautions.
Since her boss invited her, there was nothing to worry about.
"Where are you going?"
Suddenly, a voice sounded from the side. It was Lu Jingyao coming back with the car keys in his hand.
Xu Yanxia said, "President Lu said there's an event about stray animals at Huazhong Agricultural University tomorrow. We're planning to go and have a look."
Lu Jingyao replied with an "oh", then looked at his elder brother and asked, "Aren't you busy this week, brother?"
"Yeah."
Lu Jingming nodded quite naturally and then asked him, "How is Chu Hao?"
- Actually, no one drank alcohol at the beginning of the party tonight. But after his confession was rejected, Chu Hao started pouring alcohol into himself desperately until he got completely drunk and passed out.
In this situation, they couldn't call a driver. So Lu Jingyao and Lu Tong sent him back.
"I carried him to the bed with Lu Tong. There's someone at his home taking care of him," Lu Jingyao said.
Xu Yanxia felt a bit uncomfortable and said to the two brothers, "Then I'll go back first."
Then she picked up the cat's food plate and went back to the dormitory.
Lu Jingming said to his younger brother, "It's late. Go to bed early."
Then he also walked towards the living room.
Lu Jingyao wanted to say something, but after looking around, he followed his elder brother back first.
All the way to the third floor where the two brothers lived, and then he followed his elder brother into the room.
"???"
Lu Jingming looked at him and asked, "What's the matter?"
Lu Jingyao stared at him with big eyes and said, "Brother, you've been a bit strange lately."
Lu Jingming raised his eyebrows and asked, "Strange in what way?"
Then Lu Jingyao started to reason with him. "First of all, you joined our group last night. You never cared about who came to our home for a party before. Now you specifically joined our group just because Sister Xiaoxia got injured?"
He thought that after being exposed, his elder brother would at least be a little flustered.
Unexpectedly, his elder brother just responded with an "um" and then asked, "And then?"
"And then?"
Lu Jingyao immediately continued, "Then you've been going out to eat with Sister Xiaoxia a lot recently. You're the kind of person who never eats at small eateries, but now you actually went to eat pot - stickers!!!"
"Also, I heard that you two went to Jiushan for a meal. And after that, you went shopping at MixC City? Don't try to deny it to me. I've seen the photos of you two on the Internet. You're the kind of person whose mind is always full of work, but now you even have time to go shopping?"
"Anything else?"
Lu Jingming picked up a cup and took a sip of water, then asked him.
"Yes!"
Lu Jingyao continued, "And then there's tonight. You never used to participate in our parties. Even though Mom asked you to watch over us tonight, you usually never even care about other people's confessions, but tonight you even spoke up for Sister Xiaoxia, and you were obviously angry at that time!"
That's right.
Even if others couldn't tell, as his younger brother who had been beaten by him since childhood, he could clearly understand his elder brother's expression.
If Chu Hao had dared to continue pestering at that time, his elder brother would definitely have kicked him out immediately.
Lu Jingming immediately became serious and said, "He made a confession without any prior notice in front of so many people tonight. That's okay. But after the girl clearly said she didn't like him, he still kept pestering. That's a very impolite behavior. Xiaoxia is part of our family. At that time, not only me but you should also have helped her."
"Right, Xiaoxia!"
Lu Jingyao immediately grasped the key point. "Now you're actually calling her Sister Xiaoxia like this? You're such a slow - warming person, but you've become so familiar with her in just a few days?"
After he finished speaking, he saw his elder brother pause for a moment.
Then he smiled and asked, "So, what's your conclusion?"
"So,"
Lu Jingyao stared at him with a look like he was interrogating a criminal, sneered, and said four words -
"You like her."
The air was silent for a moment.
Then, Lu Jingming nodded. "Yeah. Is that not okay?"
What?
Lu Jingyao widened his eyes. "You actually admitted it so quickly? Didn't even try to refute it?!!!"
Lu Jingming looked quite puzzled. "Why should I refute it? It's a fact."
Lu Jingyao gaped. "... Brother, how could you? Didn't you hear just now? Sister Xiaoxia has a boyfriend!"
"I heard."
His elder brother picked up the water cup again and slowly took a sip of water.
Lu Jingyao was even more astonished. "You heard that and still did this? You even openly asked her out tomorrow! Aren't you meddling in someone else's relationship? Don't you know this makes you a male home - wrecker?!!!"
Unexpectedly, his elder brother seemed not to hear and even smiled, saying, "What male home - wrecker? She's not even married."
"Come on, it's not like that,"
Third Brother Lu was so angry that he almost jumped up. "You're even smiling? Brother, when did you become so morally corrupt? Aren't you the just and strict brother I know?!!? Brother, you can't do this!!!"
Just as his voice faded and before Lu Jingming could say another word, a voice suddenly came from the living room on the first floor outside the door, "Is anyone there? Is anyone at home?!!!"
The voice was very familiar, but it had been a while since they last heard it.
The two brothers quickly went out to check and saw Second Brother Lu Jingxi standing in the living room, pulling a suitcase and looking extremely listless.
