Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  Seeing that everyone looked over, the old patriarch then slowly enunciated a name: “Lu Chao.”


  The name was very normal.

  Seeing that the old patriarch had nothing more to say, Xue Xi picked up her chopsticks and continued eating.

  Xue Sheng frowned. “I haven’t heard of anyone exceptionally important from the Lu family. Who exactly is this person?”


  Old Master Xue shook his head. “Anyway, just take note if you guys meet someone with this name. Apparently, he hides in some unknown corner and no one knows why he is here in Bin City. Just don’t offend him!”


  Xue Sheng thought a little deeper. “Is Elder Gao preparing anything?”


  The old patriarch replied, “It will be Elder Gao’s 69th birthday soon and he will invite the man. Mhm, everyone can start preparing their outfits.”


  The latter was meant for Ye Li.

  She quickly nodded her head.

  After dinner, Xue Xi returned to her room to practice her questions. At exactly 10 PM, someone knocked on her door. Ye Li then walked in with a bowl of bird’s nest with milk upon receiving her acquiescence.

  She placed the bird’s nest soup on the side. When she spotted the thick stack of papers, she could not help but say, “Xixi, don’t force yourself too much. You must rest too.”


  “.……Okay,” Xue Xi replied without even raising her head.

  Ye Li: “.……”


  After stuffing the bird’s nest into her hands, she said, “You must rest for a while.”


  Xue Xi sighed. She was a little helpless against Ye Li and quickly devoured the bird’s nest soup. After that, she could not help but peer at the mathematics questions again, then Ye Li said, “Xixi, do something else first. Take a ten-minute rest.”


  The girl was confused. “Do what?”


  Ye Li was also lost. “Right, what should you do?”


  She eyed Xue Xi’s phone. “Don’t you chat with your boyfriend?”


  Xue Xi: “.……No need.”


  The former could not help asking further, “You didn’t go out during the weekend either. Why didn’t you guys go watch a movie?”


  Ye Li felt fatigued inside. In other families, they were worried that dating would cause their child to neglect their studies, but as a mother, why was she always encouraging her child to go out to date?

  Still, before she could say this, Xue Xi quickly answered, “Watching a movie is a huge waste of time. It affects my studies.”


  Ye Li: “?”


  Xue Xi blinked, then asked slowly, “Mom, may I continue with my questions?”


  Ye Li: “.……”


  She picked up the bowl and moved for the door. “Fine. Remember to sleep early.”
……

  As Xue Xi studied until late at night every day, Ye Li would habitually let her sleep a few more minutes and pack her breakfast for her so that she could eat on the road.

  Watching her walk out with her breakfast in hand, Old Lady Xue could not help but mock, “Do you really think you’re a study god after getting first place just once? Other than participating in the Mathematical Olympiad, you even registered for the Physics one. Heh, are you sure you have enough time? Humans should not be too greedy, lest you end up failing on both ends.”


  Xue Xi did not listen to her at all and promptly boarded the car.

  When they reached the provision shop, Xue Yao peered at the place meaningfully and clucked her tongue. Still, knowing that Xue Xi would not respond to her at all, she could not be bothered to say anything.

  Xue Xi silently alighted from the car.

  While they were eating, the phone rang, signaling a received message.

  Since Xue Xi did not use her phone much, it was always in her bag. Hence, she continued eating and did not go check her messages immediately.

  In contrast, the lackadaisical Xiang Huai looked up. After swallowing his food, he then said, “Little kid, you have a message.”


  Xue Xi continued eating and blandly answered, “.……Oh.”


  But she did not move.

  Xiang Huai raised an eyebrow and leaned back to look at her bag. His sharp jaw was taut. “Not gonna take a look?”


  The girl finished her bun first before picking up her bag to retrieve her phone. Only then did she notice that the message was from Ji Silin.

  She had saved his contact as “Brother Silin.”


  This was the only person in her contact list.

  Xiang Huai, who had been staring at her, noticed the slight curl of her lips that disappeared in the blink of an eye. His gaze slowly shifted to her phone screen.

  Even with the distance between them, he, who had good eyesight, still managed to catch sight of the message:

  Brother Silin: “Go download WeChat and add me as a friend. It’s easier to contact each other this way.”


  He then saw his little girlfriend, who usually had a slow response, quickly switch to the application store, download WeChat, and proceed to register with her phone number.

  Immediately after she registered, a red-colored “1” appeared on her friends list. His little girlfriend clicked it without any hesitation and accepted the friend request.

  After she had completed doing all these, the other party sent a message over: “Xixi, you should be starting class soon, right? I hope I’m not disturbing you.”


  She was just about to type a reply.

  However, as she was still eating, it was not exactly convenient.

  At this moment, Xiang Huai spoke. “You can reply using voice message. Click here.”


  He pressed on the voice message button on the chat interface with his long fingers and said in a low voice, “Girlfriend, you can speak now.”


  Two seconds later, Xue Xi then spoke. “What’s the matter, Brother Silin?”


  When she was done, Xiang Huai released the button and the voice message was sent.

  Beside them, Lu Chao was totally flabbergasted. His mouth was wide open with the soup dumplings he had eaten inside it. He had forgotten to swallow it.

  The corner of his lips twitched. He then watched as the girl placed the phone aside and slowly finished her breakfast. After she was done, she directly grabbed Xiang Huai’s hands.

  Meanwhile, his usually-domineering boss was as obedient as a husky. He did not resist at all and even had a hint of doting, seemingly allowing her to do as she pleased.

  Lu Chao suddenly felt secondhand embarrassment from watching his boss!

  Xiang Huai lowered his head to look at the girl’s pristine and fair fingers. Her hands were so soft, as though they had no bones in them. As he thought of how nice it must be to squeeze her hands, his fingers moved and rubbed against her palms.

  He was just about to try teasing this little kid when the grip on his hand tightened. Next came the girl’s cool yet threatening voice. “Don’t move.”


  Xiang Huai: “?”


  After ten seconds, when her heart no longer hurt, Xue Xi released his hand, picked up her bag, and walked out the door as though she had just completed an assignment.

  The man lowered his head, suddenly feeling as though something was missing in his hands.

  Meanwhile, Lu Chao waited for a while until his boss’s smile had slowly disappeared and he had regained his usual ice-coldness before reporting, “Boss, there have been some flies coming over to check us out, so Old Gao released a smoke bomb, claiming that I had come over.”


  Xiang Huai: “Oh.”


  Lu Chao thought for a while and said, “He even said that he has invited me for his 69th birthday celebration, and that he will also introduce a girlfriend to me. He he he.”
……

  Xue Xi stepped into the classroom just as the bell rang.

  Her phone rang right at this moment. Thinking that it must be Ji Silin, she was just about to take a look when she heard the class president’s shriek, “Where’s the class fund? The class fund was stolen!”


  The entire class was instantly silenced.

  Xue Xi subconsciously turned to look at Qin Shuang, only to find that this talkative person was sprawled on the table. She seemed very fatigued and a little abnormal.