Mu Chenxi didn’t expect Luo Shangqing would suddenly give her a call. Just as she was about to lift the covers, her hand stopped, and she sat on the bed and pressed the answer button.
"Professor Luo." Mu Chenxi was toying with the blanket under her, her face full of a young girl’s shyness. Although she wanted to ignore the unexpected incident that night, the more she tried to forget, the more it magnified in her mind.
"Co downstairs." Luo Shangqing’s tone was assertive and brooked no refusal, "I’m at the bottom of your building."
"What?" Mu Chenxi hurried to the window, stuck her head out to look down, and indeed saw a familiar black sedan parked at the flowerbed outside the community.
However, she didn’t imdiately agree but asked tentatively, "What for?"
She looked forward to being alone with Professor Luo every day, but when she actually was alone with him, she would get so nervous, sotis she felt her heart was about to stop.
"They called for a card ga, they’re short of one person, you co fill the spot."
"? But I’m not good at it, and also, I don’t have money."
"We’re just playing for fun, no one will take your money, hurry down." After saying that, Luo Shangqing didn’t give her a chance to think and hung up the phone.
Mu Chenxi let out a quiet sigh, and after putting down the phone, ran into the bathroom to tie her hair into a ponytail. Then, she took out a light pink lip balm from her makeup bag and applied it. Quan Jin had taught her how to draw eyebrows and eyeliner, but she gave up after trying twice because she lacked patience; neither too thick nor too crooked, she couldn’t stand to look at the result.
After patting her face in the mirror, Mu Chenxi then hurriedly grabbed her bag and ran downstairs.
The weather in spring was sunny and bright, the lazy warmth of the afternoon complented by the lush trees on both sides of the street.
Luo Shangqing was sitting in the car and turned his head to see the figure hurrying out of the stairwell; she wore a three-quarter sleeve white hoodie with light blue jeans, her hair in a ponytail showing her smooth forehead. He thought back to when he was younger, indifferent to the cold and heat, liking to wear thin clothes to show off his physique. However, the recklessness of youth catches up with age, and various problems eventually co knocking at your door.
"Professor Luo." Mu Chenxi ca running breathlessly, bent over to talk to him through the car window: "Do I need to bring a lot of money? I’ll go withdraw so."
"I told you, we’re not playing for money, get in the car." Luo Shangqing pointed to the passenger seat with his mouth.
Mu Chenxi dutifully opened the car door and got in.
She knew his friends were either rich or prestigious, not from the sa circle as her own life, so she was sowhat apprehensive about such gatherings.
As expected, Luo Shangqing took her to Xiangshan, that luxurious club where even an ice cream costs a four-digit figure, to a private room on the top floor, where two people were already waiting.
"Old Luo, you’re late again." Nan Zhan snuffed out his cigarette and looked up with interest when he saw the timid little figure following behind, asking: "Yo, did you bring an assistant?"
"This is my student." Luo Shangqing naturally pointed to the two people standing by the window, "This is Nan Zhan the famous lawyer from Aus City, and this is Bai Chengxi, you’ve probably often seen him in entertainnt news."
Although Mu Chenxi was not in their circle, she was very familiar with the prominent people in it. Nan Zhan needed no introduction, the number one lawyer in Aus City; it was said he had only lost one case in his career. As for Bai Chengxi, the president of Stardom Entertainnt, he was often seen at film festival red carpets and movie openings.
But knowing their glamour and fa in Aus City, seeing the two people’s casual smiles made them seem no different than ordinary people, except their handsoness was almost blinding. Other than that, they were all just people.
People are just people, sotis only mythologized by themselves, each supported by two legs and a belly, five feet tall n, not knowing spells or living a hundred years, yet still looking... extraordinary.
"Old Luo’s student?" Bai Chengxi looked over with interest, "Co on, call uncle."
Luo Shangqing squinted his eyes: "Are we playing cards or not? I still have to get back to the lab tonight."
"Play, play, of course we’re playing," Bai Chengxi settled down at the card table, turned on the mahjong machine switch, and casually asked, "Little beauty, how old are you this year?"
Since entering the door, Mu Chenxi had been nervously on edge. Hearing Bai Chengxi’s question, in her rush she blurted out, "Two hundred."
Nan Zhan laughed out loud, laughing uncontrollably, as if it had been a long ti since he had been so delighted: "Then we should respectfully call you little ancestor."
Mu Chenxi was incredibly embarrassed; she intended to say twenty, but sohow it ca out as two hundred. Listening to the laughter of the others, her face flushed, wishing she could transform into a mahjong tile and get reshuffled along with them to avoid being recognized.
Luo Shangqing was the most composed, taking out his wallet and placing it on the mahjong table while saying, "Stop teasing her, can we play properly?"
"Your teacher openly brings his own student to gamble, report him to the school and he’s guaranteed to lose his job," Nan Zhan joked on the side, "Where’s the proper deanor for a teacher?"
Mu Chenxi quickly said: "Professor Luo said there would be no gambling with money."
"No gambling with money?" Bai Chengxi glanced at Luo Shangqing, and after receiving his suggestive look, shrugged his shoulders, not interested in playing mahjong without stakes. He would rather listen to the stars in his company babbling complaints than waste an entire afternoon accompanying a mahjong novice with no money to be made.
Luo Shangqing said, "Old Bai, it’s your turn, why are you just standing there stunned?"
Bai Chengxi hesitated before playing a tile, muttering to himself, "This is like risking my life to accompany a gentleman."
After several rounds of mahjong, Mu Chenxi noticed that Luo Shangqing hadn’t won a single hand. Not only that, but also his played tiles were all over the place, completely erratic and without any strategy.
She thought her own skills were bad enough, but Luo Shangqing was even worse. As the ga went on, it was either her losing or Luo Shangqing, in any case, their two opponents across the table won with much glee and joy.
Mu Chenxi sighed inwardly, thankful that they weren’t playing for money, just for fun. Otherwise, if they continued playing until the evening, she might have ended up losing her house deed.
"Little ancestor, what’s your na?" Nan Zhan teased.
"Mu Chenxi," Mu Chenxi answered imdiately with utmost respect.
Nan Zhan nodded, his tall brows showing a hint of interest.
Although he had known Luo Shangqing for so long, except for Cheng Lin, he’d never seen him so close with the opposite sex. He had been teaching for years, but bringing his own student to join their card ga was a first, so it was inevitable for him to be quite interested in this twenty-year-old girl, wanting to know what set her apart that she could capture the exclusive affection of their Professor Luo.
"Judging by your accent, you must be from Aus City, right?" Bai Chengxi played a tile.
"Yeah, from Aus City. I also have a cat nad Kong Tai at ho," Mu Chenxi simply spilt all the beans about herself, which caught Bai Chengxi off guard montarily, but soon he started laughing: "Good kid, honest, I like that."
Luo Shangqing frowned, "You like being an uncle so much? Zhuo Yuqing is about the right age to be your niece, why don’t you go and act as her uncle?"
"Old Luo, don’t think I don’t understand what you’re thinking – you’re just afraid I’ll take advantage of you. Rest assured, if one day you marry little Mumu, I’ll let you off from calling uncle. Just call ’big brother,’ and that’ll be fine."
Luo Shangqing slamd his hand of tiles down in front of him: "Are you taking it or not?"
"Taking it, and not just that, I’ve won as well."
Mu Chenxi listened to their conversation and couldn’t help but blush. These people were too good at teasing her. Not to ntion that she would never marry Professor Luo, her relationship with Professor Luo was rely that of a student and teacher, not even close to being ordinary friends or a couple.
But Luo Shangqing didn’t refute any of it and just let him concoct stories.
The four played until evening before wrapping up. Nan Zhan suggested going downstairs for dinner. Although Mu Chenxi felt like she was sitting on pins and needles, since Luo Shangqing didn’t state his position, she didn’t feel it was appropriate to suggest leaving and had to follow them to the private room with a stiff upper lip.
While waiting for the dishes to be served, Luo Shangqing ordered her an ice cream. Sitting in her place, she scooped her ice cream while listening to the n talk about topics she couldn’t understand at all. It was at this mont when she truly felt the imnse disparity between people, even to the point where their topics of conversation could be worlds apart.
"Is everyone here?" A bright female voice brought a mont of silence to the room, and imdiately after Cheng Lin appeared at the doorway, Mu Chenxi almost choked on her ice cream. She quickly turned her eyes to look at Luo Shangqing.
Luo Shangqing seed indifferent to her arrival, maintaining his usual cold and distant deanor. He was never one to talk much, and after Cheng Lin arrived, he spoke even less.
Cheng Lin naturally sat on the other side of Luo Shangqing, smiling and saying, "Shaoqing told you were having dinner here, so I ca by to see."
"If you haven’t had dinner yet, stay and eat with us," Bai Chengxi gestured for the waiter, "Add two more dishes."
Cheng Lin said how embarrassing it would be, but she didn’t get up to leave. Instead, her curious gaze fell on Mu Chenxi, "And who is this?"
"Professor Luo’s student," Nan Zhan sipped his tea, "nad Mu Chenxi."
Mu Chenxi was wondering whether she should proactively greet her to be polite when Cheng Lin flashed her a smile, and then... didn’t look her way again.
Mu Chenxi didn’t mind, she wasn’t the kind of person to flatter others. Wanting to greet Cheng Lin was purely to avoid embarrassing Professor Luo, not to give rise to talk of his student lacking manners. But since Cheng Lin didn’t seem interested in her anyway, she naturally didn’t want to be overly familiar.
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