Meanwhile, Ji Zhaoxi, having finally figured out L’s identity, slept soundly.
She finally knew who L was!
As expected, that jerk had been hiding right beside her all along.
Poor classmates—she had suspected them so many times.
Still, she couldn’t help feeling a little sad. She had thought Lu Huainan genuinely enjoyed spending time with her.
But thinking back to those days, Lu Huainan really had hated her. So now that he had suddenly become so close to her, could it be that he was trying to get closer just so he could smear her more effectively?
The more she thought about it, the more Ji Zhaoxi felt that Lu Huainan was a very calculating person.
Compared to someone like him, she was practically an innocent soul…
“Whine… woof, woof, woof! Woof!”
The Golden Retriever had been pacing around the bed since early morning. It rested its muzzle on the mattress and stared at the person lying there deep in thought.
Ji Zhaoxi gazed at the ceiling while solemnly stroking its head. The Golden Retriever kept whining impatiently.
It stared at Ji Zhaoxi with pleading eyes. Was she going to eat breakfast or not? If she wasn’t, then it still had to eat!
Ji Zhaoxi suddenly sat upright. The Golden Retriever jumped in fright, all four legs stiffening as it stared at her with utmost seriousness.
Ji Zhaoxi pulled a dog toy out from under the bed and said earnestly, “Lu Huainan, no!”
The Golden Retriever tilted its head in confusion. Ji Zhaoxi repeated herself, waving the dog toy Lu Huainan had bought. Her expression was extremely solemn.
“Lu Huainan, no!”
The Golden Retriever furrowed its brow and thought for a moment. Finally, it understood and howled a few times.
Ji Zhaoxi happily rubbed its head. “Good dog.”
Unable to resist testing it, Ji Zhaoxi called out brightly,
“Lu Huainan!”
“Whine… awwoo… woof, woof!”
The Golden Retriever immediately began howling. It started snapping furiously at the air, mangling the toy in Ji Zhaoxi’s hand in the process.
Moved by the sight, Ji Zhaoxi climbed out of bed. “Ji Xinxin is such a good dog.”
The Golden Retriever followed her with pleading eyes.
Didn’t good dogs deserve a treat? Humans were so mean.
After finishing its meal, the Golden Retriever got the treat it had been hoping for.
The sun was blazing today, and Ji Xinxin didn’t even have the energy to play in the garden. It simply sprawled around the house and slept.
The air outside seemed to ripple from the heat. Even Ji’s father and Ji’s mother, who almost never stayed home, had decided not to go out and were sleeping in the living room.
Ji Zhaoxi lay on the sofa, eating fruit and playing a game. She excitedly shouted, “I won again!”
The moment she said it, she turned around warily to check on her parents. Fortunately, she hadn’t woken them. She quietly munched on her watermelon.
She suspected that Ji Xinxin slept everywhere because it had learned the habit from her parents.
The ground was scorching hot, and the cicadas in the trees were screaming themselves hoarse. Standing beside the car with an umbrella over his head, Ji Jiangbai’s forehead was covered in sweat.
He was so sun-struck that he could barely keep his eyes open. Panting, he said, “Bro, are you serious?”
The night before, his brother had asked him what kind of thing would make that girl forgive him. He had only been joking when he replied,
“Just go and beg forgiveness on your knees.”
He hadn’t expected his brother to actually do it the next day—and in the literal sense of begging forgiveness on his knees.
Lu Huainan knelt on the burning-hot ground with a cold expression, his back ramrod straight. Not only was he kneeling, he also had a huge bundle of thorny branches tied to his back—who knew where he had even found them?
Ji Jiangbai wanted to pat Lu Huainan on the shoulder, but he was afraid of getting pricked by the thorns, so he thought better of it.
“Bro, I’m begging you. She’s going to think you’re insane!”
Lu Huainan closed his eyes. His voice was hoarse. “If she won’t talk to me, how am I any different from a mental patient?”
Ji Jiangbai: “…”
Ji Jiangbai was so hot he was practically panting. Why had he made that joke in the first place? If he hadn’t, he would be with his girlfriend right now instead of standing in the sun with his brother.
Lu Huainan looked at Ji Jiangbai and pondered for a moment. “Why don’t you kneel with me?”
Ji Jiangbai jumped. “Why would I kneel? Bro, don’t lose your mind!”
The ground was so hot!
Ji Jiangbai sighed and began cutting away Lu Huainan’s clothes with a pair of scissors. The thorns had to be able to make contact with his brother’s entire body.
Why hadn’t Lu Huainan simply arrived at Ji Zhaoxi’s house shirtless, carrying the branches on his back from the beginning? Because he might have been arrested for indecent exposure and disturbing public order.
To ensure that this apology went smoothly, Ji Jiangbai decided it would be more appropriate for Lu Huainan to strip at Ji Zhaoxi’s front door.
Sweat trickled down Lu Huainan’s stern face drop by drop. His skin had been reddened by the sun, and his lips were slightly cracked. He knelt perfectly upright in place.
His lips moved. Ji Jiangbai leaned closer with a solemn expression.
Lu Huainan said weakly, “Spray on some perfume. I smell sweaty.”
Ji Jiangbai: “…”
He took a bottle of perfume from the car and sprayed some on him.
Then Ji Jiangbai returned to the car.
If that girl didn’t come outside, his brother could just kneel there for the rest of his life!
No one knew how much time had passed. After finishing her game, Ji Zhaoxi began to feel tired too. She put down her phone and prepared to take a nap.
Just then, Ji’s mother’s phone rang. Still half-asleep, she answered it.
“Hello?”
An anxious voice came from the other end.
“Old Ji, why is there someone kneeling outside your house? He’s got something strapped to his back—I don’t even know what it is! It’s terrifying!”
Ji’s mother sat up in confusion. “Outside my house?”
Ji Zhaoxi also sat up with a serious expression, and the Golden Retriever leaped out of its bed.
Ji Zhaoxi hurried over in her slippers and pressed herself against the floor-to-ceiling window to look outside. The Golden Retriever rushed over as well.
When she saw who was kneeling outside, she jumped.
“Lu Huainan?!”
Having received its signal, the Golden Retriever immediately began howling.
Ji Zhaoxi ran outside without even changing her shoes. Was Lu Huainan cosplaying Lian Po or something?
The Golden Retriever hurried out after her too, but the ground outside burned its paws. It spun around a few times inside before rushing out again.
It spotted Lu Huainan as well. Before Ji Zhaoxi could react, it launched itself at him in a full-bodied tackle.
“Ji Xinxin!” Ji Zhaoxi cried in alarm, but it was already too late.
Lu Huainan’s brain had already been dulled by the sun. After taking the Golden Retriever’s full weight, he toppled backward.
Ji Jiangbai, who was sitting in the car, was horrified. He shouted, “Fat dog, no!”
His vision went black. His brother wasn’t going to die here, was he?
Don’t worry, he wouldn’t die. But he was definitely going to be in pain for quite some time.
Bang!
Lu Huainan hit the ground hard. The thorny branches dug viciously into his back. The muscles throughout his body jerked from the pain, and his face shifted from white to red, then from red to green.
His instinct was to relax his muscles so it wouldn’t hurt as much, but he immediately felt ashamed of the thought.
He had come here to apologize, not to make things easier for himself!
He kept his muscles tense and lay there in a sorry state.
“Lu Huainan, are you all right?” Ji Zhaoxi was nearly scared senseless.
She couldn’t tell whether she was about to pass out from the heat or from fright, but the most urgent thing now was to get Lu Huainan off the ground.
Lu Huainan was in agony. He pulled his hand free of Ji Zhaoxi’s grip and wiped the sweat off on his own pants. Then he took her hand again.
Looking at her, he cried with a stony expression.
“I’m sorry. Please don’t ignore me, okay?”
His voice trembled violently.
He really knew he’d been wrong.
In the final second before he passed out, his voice trembled with pain.
“Please, take me off your blacklist, okay?”
Ji Zhaoxi was just about to say yes when Lu Huainan fainted.
Ji’s parents hurried over and stared at the scene in utter shock.
What was going on?
