Moonlit: I made a Discord server. You can join the server for pinged updates, schedules, sudden announcements, etc… ♡⸜(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⸝♡
In the evening, after returning home, Zuo Ning recounted to Lu Chenghe all the gossip and rumors he had heard at school. Then he even mimicked the boy he had seen in the cafeteria. That boy, who already carried a hint of arrogance, was exaggerated by Zuo Ning to the point of being downright pompous. Head held high, he walked in such a way that it fully embodied the phrase “eyes above the head”.
“Look, just like this. That’s exactly how he walked past us at the time, didn’t even spare us a glance.”
Lu Chenghe looked at him like he was a little live treasure, chuckling, “You’re exaggerating. If someone really walked like that, they’d look like a fool.”
Seeing that Lu Chenghe didn’t believe him, Zuo Ning jumped onto the bed and grabbed his head to turn it toward himself. “I swear it’s true, really! If you don’t believe me, go ask Lu Nianqi!”
Lu Chenghe pushed his hand away and looked down at the magazine in his hands. According to his old habits, he liked to read for a while before bed. But at some point, that habit had been broken by Little Pudding. Reading required a very quiet environment to focus on the words, but whether in human form or dog form, Little Pudding could never stay quiet for even fifteen minutes. He would always make some kind of commotion—either suddenly come up with some wild thought and say a few words to you, or while playing on his own, suddenly run over and rub up against you.
In the end, Lu Chenghe simply couldn’t concentrate on reading anymore. But since he was still used to doing something before sleeping, he had now switched to flipping through travel and geography magazines, the kind that didn’t need much focus, just enjoying the scenic photos taken by others.
Seeing that Lu Chenghe still wasn’t reacting, Zuo Ning huffed, “He ignored me, and now you’re ignoring me, too. All you Lu family people are bad!”
Lu Chenghe replied flatly, “You’re a Lu, too.”
Zuo Ning grumbled to himself in his heart. He was clearly a Zuo!
Seeing Little Pudding glaring at him with puffed cheeks, Lu Chenghe smiled. “If he ignored you, then just ignore him back.”
Zuo Ning grabbed Lu Chenghe’s arm and, without warning, bit down on it.
Lu Chenghe immediately slapped the top of his head. “What, are you a dog snapping out of desperation? Don’t you know how dirty clothes are? They’re full of bacteria and dust.”
Zuo Ning grunted, “Then roll up your sleeves and let me bite them!”
Lu Chenghe pried open his mouth to take a look. “Could it be that you’re about to change your teeth again, and your gums are itchy?”
Zuo Ning pushed Lu Chenghe’s hand away and immediately nestled against him, rubbing back and forth. Lu Chenghe patted his head and said, “Are you really that upset? He was targeting Lu Nianqi, not you.”
Zuo Ning looked up at him. “But Lu Nianqi is my good friend. If my good friend is dissed like that, of course I’m upset. You really don’t know that guy? I heard he’s quite popular at school—handsome, and looks like he’s very knowledgeable and cultured. The key is, he’s from the Lu family, with a good background, talented writing, and good looks. I don’t know how many people are chasing after him.”
At noon, Little Pudding had asked him how many Lu family members there were at school besides Lu Nianqi. On this point, Lu Chenghe really wasn’t very clear. The Lu family was neither very big nor very small; they had quite a few descendants. In their branch, apart from Chenghan’s family, which had two sons, both he and his eldest brother’s family were only children, so it seemed a bit sparse. But the other branches had plenty of people. After all, the environment was good, and having more children wasn’t a problem financially.
So later, Lu Chenghe had someone check, and there were supposed to be three Lu family members attending the same school as Lu Nianqi. One was an exchange student currently abroad; another was in the art department of a branch campus, which was quite far away—so unless they made a special effort, they wouldn’t run into each other; and finally, there was Lu Jinsheng, who was still studying for a graduate degree in the literature department.
Lu Jinsheng’s grandfather had given up inheriting the family business to focus on his passion for literature, inheriting the scholarly spirit deeply rooted in the Lu family’s bloodline. It was unclear when exactly, but that branch of the Lu family began to see themselves as the legitimate core of the family, the true heritage, a pure stream untouched by the smell of money—essentially the classic image of proud literati. At first, they even looked down on the grandfather who was involved in business and trade. If it weren’t for the increasingly tight financial situation, they might never have accepted the stain of commercialism.
When the grandfather took over the family business, he established the Lu family’s dividend system: as long as someone was listed in the Lu family genealogy, even if they didn’t want to engage in business, they could receive a substantial annual living allowance from the Lu family fund to support their own interests. This model was common in ancient times, where branch families supported the main family. The main family was responsible for honoring the family name, while the branches either went into commerce or farming to financially sustain the main family.
At first, the older generation’s views were indeed influenced by this, and it somewhat shaped the next generation’s opinions as well. But times have changed, the older generation is gone, yet this mindset remains, causing a new kind of internal conflict: holding on to old thoughts, yet having to accept the new social reality.
These kinds of people, to put it crudely, are just fake and pretentious about their purity. So Lu Chenghe didn’t have much goodwill toward them and naturally didn’t pay them any special attention. If Little Pudding hadn’t asked, he really wouldn’t have known how many Lu family descendants were studying at that school.
Patting Little Pudding’s head, Lu Chenghe said, “Now that you know who he is, what do you plan to do? Go up to him and look down on him in return?”
Zuo Ning rolled his eyes dramatically at Lu Chenghe. “How is that possible? Am I that childish?”
Lu Chenghe thought to himself, Actually, you kind of are. But he kept that thought to himself, not wanting to offend the little brat with such a small heart. Seeing that Little Pudding was still muttering and saying he wanted to investigate that guy’s background at school thoroughly, to know both himself and the enemy, Lu Chenghe reluctantly told him some information about Lu Jinsheng.
Zuo Ning was immediately surprised. “So he’s not really dissing us, he’s just dissing everyone? Could he really be a fool?”
Lu Chenghe ruffled his hair, and Zuo Ning grabbed his hand. “But hearing you say that just makes me hate him even more. What should I do? I really want to tear off that kind of person’s fake mask of purity. You say I have no grudge with him, but am I being too mean thinking like this?”
Lu Chenghe ignored him and just let him grumble on his own. Anyway, with Little Pudding’s courage, he probably only dared to mutter like this in front of Lu Chenghe. If he were really told to go confront that person, he’d likely chicken out before even reaching him.
Suddenly recalling an online joke that said the “Sled’s Three Fools” never lost an argument but never won a fight, Lu Chenghe thought it really fit Little Pudding’s character perfectly. Listening to him fantasize about a “Dragon Aotian” mode beside him, Lu Chenghe couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Hearing Lu Chenghe’s laughter, Zuo Ning, who was still imagining the slap-in-the-face scenario, immediately stopped and then looked at Lu Chenghe expressionlessly. “Are you secretly mocking me in your heart and just couldn’t hold back your laughter?”
Lu Chenghe smiled gently at him. “No, I just think you’re very cute.”
Zuo Ning pounced on him in an instant and said fiercely, “Even your compliment now can’t erase the fact that you just laughed at me!”
With the information he got from Lu Chenghe, Zuo Ning immediately turned and told Lu Nianqi, patting his shoulder to comfort him: “I guess that guy is just vain, wishing everyone would go worship him, but he isn’t all that great. So he can only flaunt the Lu family name at school. Once he enters society, who would take him seriously? You stayed with the Lu family for a while before, right? I bet he knows that, and he’s jealous, which is why he deliberately said he doesn’t know you.”
Lu Nianqi couldn’t help but laugh. “You even went to ask Second Brother about it? Actually, it’s no big deal. Those rumors have died down quite a bit these days. People just talk about it for fun.”
Zuo Ning snorted. “It’s best if there’s nothing to it, but what if that guy can’t help but stir trouble again later? There are always some inexplicable crazies in this world. It’s better to be on guard.”
Lu Nianqi smiled and asked, “Are you going to Second Brother’s place again today?”
Zuo Ning nodded. If he’s not going to Lu Chenghe’s, where else would he go? “What’s up? Do you want me to pass something along for you?”
“No, I bought some little toys. Can you help me bring them to Little Pudding? But it’s been so long, I guess he probably forgot about me. Little Pudding must have grown a lot by now. Also, Second Brother hasn’t updated much on Weibo lately.”
Zuo Ning scratched his head out of habit. “Why did you suddenly think of buying toys for Little Pudding? He lacks nothing in the Lu family. His toys must have piled up into a mountain by now.”
Hearing this, Lu Nianqi smiled even more warmly. “It’s because last time on Weibo, I saw that Little Pudding got a haircut. In the video, he looked totally miserable. I happened to pass by a toy store then, so I bought a few toys intending to comfort him. But I kept forgetting to ask you to bring them over.”
The original feeling of warmth quickly faded. If we didn’t mention the haircut, maybe we could still be friends.
Though he internally rolled his eyes at this, Zuo Ning still went with Lu Nianqi to the dormitory. College dorms here were different, and the living environment was also different. Even though Lu Nianqi had come to university through work-study and loans, the dorm he stayed in was way better compared to Zuo Ning’s old university. The environment wasn’t exactly luxurious, but it was considered quite refined and rare. Even though Lu Nianqi now owned an apartment not far from campus, he still usually stayed in the dorm, only going back to his own place for a couple of days on weekends.
When Zuo Ning followed Lu Nianqi back to the dormitory, he saw a bunch of packed-up things all placed together. Zuo Ning instinctively asked, “There are still a few months before summer break, why are you guys already starting to pack so early?”
Lu Nianqi shook his head: “No, I’m planning to move out.”
Zuo Ning glanced at the empty dorm room: “Are they excluding you?”
“Not exactly excluding me. It’s somewhat different from before, but it doesn’t matter. Anyway, university graduation means everyone will part ways eventually. This is just an early start.”
Zuo Ning looked at Lu Nianqi for a moment, then suddenly said, “You’re different from before.”
Lu Nianqi looked at him, puzzled: “Different? How am I different?”
Zuo Ning smiled but didn’t answer, turning instead to explore the dorm. The sensitive and insecure Lu Nianqi from before hadn’t necessarily become confident and open now, but compared to when he was with the Lu family, he seemed to have grown up quite a bit.
Since there were some things to take, though not many, he usually got picked up by a car outside the school every day. Today, however, the car went straight to Lu Nianqi’s dormitory building. The car wasn’t anything fancy; at least for Lu Chenghe, he didn’t want this Little Pudding to cause trouble at school during these short three months, so even the car was downgraded to just something worth a little over a million.
Just as he was carrying things downstairs and reached the entrance, Lu Nianqi was suddenly stopped by someone. Zuo Ning turned to look and didn’t know how long Lu Jinsheng had been waiting there. Standing in front of Lu Nianqi, Lu Jinsheng was a whole head taller, so he was looking down at him completely.
Lu Nianqi paused, looking at Lu Jinsheng, and asked, “Hello, may I ask what you want?”
Lu Jinsheng coldly scrutinized him for a moment, then said with an extremely indifferent tone, “Don’t tell anyone that I have anything to do with you from now on. It causes me unnecessary trouble. Recently, because of you, my normal life has been affected. I hope you reflect on yourself properly. Don’t think that just because your surname is Lu, you’re really part of the Lu family. Before you act, please weigh yourself carefully. Don’t disgrace this surname.”
After Lu Jinsheng finished speaking, he turned and walked away. Zuo Ning immediately stood right in front of him. He might not be as tall, but his presence was more than enough. Under Lu Chenghe’s influence, if he couldn’t master at least seventy percent of that aura, he could mimic at least thirty percent of it.
“Do you even think before you speak? Telling him not to think he’s part of the Lu family, then telling him not to disgrace the surname. If I’m not mistaken, aren’t you some graduate student in the Chinese department? What kind of contradictory nonsense is that? Are you really a graduate student?”
After speaking, he looked down on him with a quick glance up and down: “The head of the Lu family never said such things. Excuse me, who do you think you are?”
Lu Jinsheng didn’t know this Lu Ning, but he had heard of him. His entry into the school was thanks to Lu Chenghe’s connections, but no more details had been uncovered. Without knowing the other’s background clearly, Lu Jinsheng wasn’t foolish enough to pick a fight with someone of unknown standing, even though those contemptuous eyes made him very uncomfortable.
The driver, seeing this young man so carefully cared for by the young master having a conflict, quickly got out of the car: “Young Master Lu Ning.”
Lu Jinsheng glanced at the driver, then at the car, and sneered coldly. He ignored Zuo Ning and walked around him to leave directly.
This obvious attitude of not taking anyone seriously made Zuo Ning’s blood boil. If Lu Nianqi hadn’t rushed over and grabbed him, he almost couldn’t hold back from throwing a punch.
Tearing himself away from Lu Nianqi’s hold, Zuo Ning said with disbelief, “Is that guy crazy? Totally ridiculous. And what was with that look he just gave? A cold sneer—what does that mean? Does he despise me or even my car?!”
Lu Nianqi sighed tiredly: “Probably just trying to prove his existence. I don’t know what he means either, but some people’s brains just don’t work like normal.”
Meanwhile, Lu Chenghe, waiting in the office for someone to finish school, kept checking the time. It was well past when they should have arrived. Just as he was about to call, he saw Little Pudding come out of the elevator, puffing out his cheeks while rifling through his wallet, taking out his own bank card to make a phone call.
Lu Chenghe asked confusedly, “What’s going on?”
Without looking up, Zuo Ning replied, “I want to check how much money I have.”
Lu Chenghe frowned, “What for?”
Zuo Ning’s eyes widened as he stared at Lu Chenghe: “I’m going to buy a car! A luxury car! And then blind that guy’s eyes so he despises me even more!”
lmao go off Zuo Ning
thx for the chapters!