Chapter 9: Have dinner with me.

The next day Lu Xi went out at 7:07 and saw breakfast on the doorknob again.

Today’s breakfast was whole wheat steamed buns, custard potato pancakes, and a cup of corn juice.

Compared to yesterday, the time he took to accept was halved.

At around nine o’clock in the evening, he waited for his mom to return home so she could “discover” that he was doing homework.

“Mom,” Lu Xi pretended to hold the pen as he asked, “I want to ask you a question.”

“What is it?” Xu Xuelin moved her shoulders over.

Lu Xi pointed out. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“Let me see-in order to explore the relationship between current… and voltage, Xiaohong designed…”

 Xu Xuelin’s brows furrowed, “As shown in Figure A circuit…Use a stroke line instead of a wire to connect the unconnected circuit in Figure B…”

“Adjust the position of the slide…change the value resistance at both ends…dizzy, no, this question is too long, and it makes me dizzy.”

Lu Xi blurted out, “Do you realize how hard it is for me to solve problems?”

“You bastard, dare to wait for me here!” Xu Xuelin raised her hand, “I haven’t studied physics for ten years. How can you be like me?”

Lu Xi said in a monotonous way, “No, I dare not, I sincerely asked for advice.”

“Resistance circuits or something, I’ve forgotten all about it long ago.” Xu Xuelin said, “Why don’t you ask Sisi?”

Lu Xi’s eyes slightly moved. “Okay.”

Xu Xuelin thought for a while, “But that’s all for now, I won’t bother you. You can ask the teacher at school tomorrow? Or if you have time, ask Sisi after school?”

“Ah…” Lu Xi was embarrassed. “I have to submit it tomorrow morning, so I need to get it sorted out tonight”

When did her son become so studious? Xu Xuelin was surprised and happy, with a trace of suspicion.

“Check on the Internet to see if there are any ideas for solving the problem?”

“No, we can’t find it or we can only find the answer. I just don’t want to copy the answer.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

Lu Xi “thought” for a moment and said, “We can ask Sister Zhou Sisi on … WeChat? Do you have her WeChat or QQ?”

“Fine, if she isn’t taking a break, she’ll give you an answer.” while speaking she turned on the phone’s photo function, “Sisi, this child has good grades. Do you want to take this picture?”

“Wait a minute.” Lu Xi covered the subject with his palm.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you say you wanted to ask?”  

“You send her WeChat ID to me.”

Lu Xi’s tone was quite sincere. “I’ll ask her, it is convenient for me in case if I encounter other problems that I don’t understand.”

“Alright.” Xu Xuelin fiddled a few times. “I sent it to you on WeChat.”

“You can go and do your work, mom.”

“I’m going to write some reports. Say thank you and be polite when you ask advice from Sisi.”  

“Got it.”

***

Zhou Sisi practiced her speech twice in front of the mirror at night.

For the third time, she was going to record with a mobile phone.

The blue and white WeChat icon displayed a red number in the upper right corner. Zhou Sisi touched open, prompting “Trick” to request to add friends.

 The display picture was a foreign athlete lifting his leg and shooting a football. It was the backside of a soccer player. Then the contact note said “Lu” so Zhou Sisi passed his verification.

Getting out of WeChat, she recorded the practice video as planned.

After recording, she looked back at the tape and wasn’t satisfied.

After drinking some warm water to moisten her throat, she wrote down the areas that needed to be changed.

The second sentence doesn’t sound strong enough, and the third needs to be more emotional……

A WeChat message popped up.

[Transfer] Please confirm receipt.

Zhou Sisi clicked in, and it was from Lu Xi.

Before she had time to ask “Why did you transfer money?”, the other party sent three words: Breakfast money.

She erased the word in the input box and replaced it with: No need.

And send it out.

He responded very quickly: Accept it.

Thanks — came quickly within two seconds.

Another message: Hurry up and collect the money.

Zhou Sisi almost regarded Lu Xi as a benefactor, so how could she collect money from him?

She repeated “no need” once more and exited the page.

She turned off her cell phone and gathered her long black hair that was almost dry and concentrated on the speech.

…….

Bang–

The soccer ball crashed into the side of the goal rim.

The players let out a regretful groan.

“Axi, when are you going to play?” Huang Zhou shouted from inside the stadium.

Lu Xi looked up briefly at the phone screen, “You guys play first.”

“What are you playing with for almost half of the class?” Huang Zhou walked to the rest area. “Later Lao Zhuang or some leader will come out to confiscate your new apple…”

“Shut up. If it’s confiscated someday, see if I won’t punch you in the crow’s mouth.” Lu Xi sneered.

“In broad daylight, you’re always playing so aggressively, how many phones …. Ok, don’t fight! I won’t say anything.”

The three or four o’clock sun made everything seem warm and bright.

Everything gave off the fragrance of spring.

Huang Zhou, who remained silent for a while, said: “Axi, two girls are coming over.”

“Look, they have come to see you?”

Similarly, Lu Xi listened to this two or three times a day on average and had already practiced the skills of getting his left ear in and right ear out.

…Why didn’t Zhou Sisi confirm the receipt of the money?

“Lu Xi.” Among the two girls, the one in pleated long skirts walked up to him. “Class teacher.”

The keywords touched his nerves, and Lu Xi quickly stuffed the phone into the pocket of his sweater.

“The class teacher asked you to meet him at the office,” said the pleated skirt.

 “…Classmates,” Lu Xi couldn’t remember the name of the pleated skirt. “Can you not break sentences casually when you speak?”

 “That’s right, Deputy Squad Leader, you have to compensate for scaring me and Axi.” Huang Zhou laughed.

The pleated long skirt was the third grade (1) deputy squad leader. She said with a straight face, “Hurry up, Lu Xi, go to the office.”

“All right.” Lu Xi stood up haughtily.

 In the direction of the deputy squad leader’s eyes, the boy inadvertently exposed the small part of his collar bone outside the collar. Seeing his slender neck and raised Adam’s apple made her cheeks flushed suddenly.

 The deputy squad leader stood frozen in place after a few seconds of silence.

She was pulled back by her partner and restrained, “I……Go with you.”

The well-known boy from the entire junior high school had already walked several tens of meters.

Even the back was extraordinarily good-looking.

***

 Lao Zhuang asked Lu Xi why he didn’t hand over his math homework recently and also asked why he hadn’t received a call from his parents so far.

 Painstakingly, Lao Zhuang expanded from the importance of math homework to the significance of learning, then spread out the numerous drawbacks of mobile phones, and then shifted to the urgency of time.

Every two minutes, Lu Xi gave, “Hmm.”

It was hard to keep Lao Zhuang from being a stand-up comedian.

By the time Lu Xi walked out of the office it was already half-past five o’clock after passively accepting a long talk. The school bell rang long ago.

Huang Zhou said he was going to meet his online friend this evening and had no time to play games. Lu Xi also didn’t bother to go to the Internet cafe.

The weather was nice this morning, and there was not much wind, so Lu Xi came to school by bicycle.

Now the sunset haze painted half of the sky.

As he pedaled hard, the trees and stores on the street were left behind, and the oncoming evening breeze puffed up the corners of his coat.

In order to enter the community, the resident must swipe an access card.

Lu Xi slowed down and swiped the card with one hand, then lifted the brake lever to the proper height and the motorcycle just slid in.

Keep straight, turn left, and pass the small rockery park to reach his apartment building.

Going past there seemed to be a familiar figure passing through his line of sight. Lu Xi squeezed the brakes, stepped on the ground with his left foot, and turned back.

It’s really her.

He turned and rode over and parked on the side of the road.

Zhou Sisi was standing five or six meters away from the pavilion separated by an artificial river and carrying something.

The girl wore a simple beige sweater, her figure was slender, and her features were delicate and soft. She looked very concentrated. The whole person had a jade-like appearance.

Lu Xi waited for a few seconds, but she didn’t even notice him.

He honked his horn.

“Youth is a state of mind……”

Zhou Sisi raised the volume, raised her right hand in front of him, and swayed away.

 ……great.

His corner of mouth twitched, “Zhou—who.”

Zhou Sisi finally looked over, her eyes as glossy as lacquer, blinked suspiciously, she stopped reciting, and her pink cherry lips were half-open.

“Quickly accept the money for breakfast” Lu Xi was straightforward.

The system would return payments that had not been confirmed.

Zhou Sisi shook her head, “You don’t need to give me money.”

“Just accept it.” Lu Xi was not happy to owe her.

“It’s just a little effort.” The gentle breeze and drizzle brushed Zhou Sisi’s eyelids as she continued, “I treat you as…neighbor, brother.”

 Lu Xi ignored the sudden heartbeat, “…oh.” His long legs swiped on the ground, and his hand controlled the handlebar to turn around.

“Have you had dinner?” Zhou Sisi said, “Lu Xi?”

 Lu Xi: “No.” What time is it now?

“Are you going out to eat?”

“I’ll order takeout.”  

“Come to my house for dinner.” Zhou Sisi’s voice was soft as she said, “I am eating alone.”

Lu Xi’s foot on the pedal stagnated, “No.” But his Adam’s apple rolled, revealing a slight unsteadiness.

  …

More than ten minutes later, Lu Xi was sitting on Zhou Sisi’s sofa, scratching his ears.

~I didn’t know why I agreed to have dinner with her.

Tsk…

“So, do you need my help?” Lu Xi walked to the kitchen.

Zhou Sisi’s long hair was rolled up into a ball, and her sleeves were rolled up to reveal two slender white arms while she was washing vegetables.

“No,” she smiled sideways. “Just wait!”

“If there’s anything I can do,” Lu Xi looked over the wall. ” Just ask .”

Zhou Sisi’s eyes curved in a gentle arc. “You can do your homework or read a book.”

“…oh.”

So nagging.

That sounded like Mrs. Xu, his mother, but the gentle version.

But the meal was much tastier than Mrs. Xu.

The mobile phone’s screen, which was left on the edge of the table, lit up again and again. On the fifth light, Lu Xi pulled it over with his left hand and unlocked it with his thumb.

The messages were all from Huang Zhou.

Huang Zhou: I’m here

Huang Zhou: Should I order the milk tea first?

Huang Zhou: The panda is nervous and wipes sweat.jpg

Huang Zhou: How about some fresh highland barley taro milk for xiaosha? Creamy coconut green tea? ? Which one do you think she likes?

Huang Zhou: Axi! You reply to my message!

Lu Xi clamped a potato and slowly poked his index finger on the phone keyboard: How do I know what she drinks?

He did not have any contact with Huang Zhou’s online friend “Xiaosha”. Who was he going to ask?

Huang Zhou: I ordered the most expensive one.

Huang Zhou: Why isn’t Xiaosha coming yet?

Huang zhou: She said she was almost there.

Huang Zhou: rely on rely on rely on

Huang Zhou: The panda is nervous and wipes sweat.jpg

It was important to eat. Lu Xi put his phone back on the table and was not interested in watching his live broadcast and online friend.

“Eat more meat.” Zhou Sisi said the first sentence at the dining table.

Lu Xi raised his eyebrows slightly. “You should eat more.”

He wondered if one day the wind would become stronger and blow away her delicate body.

“Well, thanks.” Zhou Sisi said in a warm voice.

Lu Xi: “……” What is there to thank?

Having had a meal for nothing, Lu Xi put down the chopsticks first, wiped his lips with tissue, then waited for Zhou Si Si to finish before he stood up consciously to clean up the dishes.

“I’ll do it.” Zhou Sisi followed.

Lu Xi said firmly. “No, you don’t move.“

“Really no need.” Zhou Sisi said, “I am worried that you will break the bowls and plates.”

……Fuck. Lu Xi stiffly said, “It’s not like I haven’t washed the dishes at home.” Even though it was the dishwasher.