Young Brave Hearts – CH 064

Chapter 64

Every adult knew how delicate the passenger seat position was.

Not to mention Deng Jiao’s gossipy, almost nagging gaze.

She immediately got out of the car and, before heading to the back seat, eagerly explained to Zhu Yunque, “Teacher Zhu, don’t misunderstand. I don’t often sit here, and of course, there aren’t many women who can sit here. My sworn brother is very traditional about men’s virtues. As for me, well, I’m not considered a woman—”

Before she could finish, she received a solid flick on the forehead.

Deng Jiao clutched her head and screamed.

Lu Rangchen glared at her with a mocking smile, saying, “So you think you’re all that, huh?”

His deep, resonant voice filled her ears, genuine and captivating. Even the car was filled with the same faint scent of ebony and sandalwood as him, making her feel as if she had intruded into his territory.

Zhu Yunque, sitting in the passenger seat, felt a silent flutter in her heart. She lowered her eyes, pursed her lips, and fastened her seatbelt.

Deng Jiao hummed softly, remaining silent and obediently playing the role of her mascot.

Although this high school was private, it wasn’t exactly aristocratic. So, his car looked rather flashy at the school gate, just like him. Even lingering there for a short while attracted curious glances from the opposite sex.

Even a few of Zhu Yunque’s familiar colleagues were among those who cast their gazes.

Lu Rangchen remained oblivious, staring straight ahead as he started the engine. His voice was calm as he said, “Getting off work pretty early.”

The car entered the main road, and the view opened up.

Zhu Yunque glanced at him upon hearing this.

To be honest, Lu Rangchen’s profile was striking.

His sharp, defined nose neatly divided his exceptionally handsome face in two, and his jawline was tight and smooth. When he was expressionless, he seemed as cold and aloof as an iceberg, but when his eyes gazed deeply into yours, you felt as if he were the sun.

Hot, dazzling, capable of melting you effortlessly.

No woman could resist a man like that.

Unable to describe her current mood, Zhu Yunque took a slight breath and looked away, saying, “Well, there aren’t any evening self-study sessions for the second year of high school yet.”

Upon hearing this, Deng Jiao became excited and clung to Zhu Yunque’s backrest like a leech, asking, “Then, Teacher Zhu, is it possible that there’ll still be evening self-study sessions for the second year?”

As she spoke, Lu Rangchen glanced at Zhu Yunque.

Her face was still as calm as still water, pure and serene like a white camellia.

Zhu Yunque said, “I don’t know; we have to wait for notification from above.”

Deng Jiao drawled, “What’ll I do if there really are evening self-study sessions? The club is so far from the school, my brother has no time to pick me up.”

Her worries weren’t unfounded.

Even if there weren’t evening self-study sessions for the second year, there would be for the third year. Yuhua High School had always been like this, very strict about academics.

Zhu Yunque, thinking it through without thinking, blurted out, “Couldn’t Brother Chen pick you up?”

What was said without malice was taken seriously.

Lu Rangchen raised an eyebrow at her words, his gaze naturally falling on her face.

His eyes held amusement, a hint of mockery. Before Deng Jiao could speak, he chuckled meaningfully and said, “Teacher Zhu is quite good at making arrangements.”

“…”

Zhu Yunque looked up and met his deep, dark eyes.

How could she not understand the sarcasm and teasing in his words?

She was about to explain…

Deng Jiao, however, grumbled and chimed in, “He wouldn’t even bother with me.”

It seemed she only dared to complain because Zhu Yunque was backing her up. “Every time he comes to school, it’s because my brother calls and begs him repeatedly. Oh, only this time was he so quick to pick me up. He came as soon as my brother asked; it’s unprecedented.”

The girl spoke frankly, never hiding anything.

This only fueled the speculation.

Zhu Yunque’s fingertips involuntarily curled.

Looking up, she saw Lu Rangchen’s eyelashes sweep down, his gaze sweeping over Deng Jiao with a menacing air.

He forced a smile, his voice quite cold. “Say that again?”

Deng Jiao pouted pitifully, leaning closer to Zhu Yunque.

Zhu Yunque felt a subtle awkwardness for a moment.

“How about you take a taxi? See if any classmates are willing to share.”

Deng Jiao said, “Okay.”

Then she asked, “How often do we have evening self-study sessions?”

Zhu Yunque shook her head and said, “I’m not sure yet, but it’s at least twice a week.”

Deng Jiao nodded, then sighed. The thought of only having one day off in senior year, plus evening self-study sessions, made her feel melancholy.

Unexpectedly, after a long pause, Lu Rangchen suddenly spoke.

His slender, long fingers lightly tapped the steering wheel, his tone lazy and casual. “I can switch shifts with your brother to pick you up.”

The light turned red, and the car stopped in the traffic.

Deng Jiao widened her eyes in disbelief and said, “Brother Rangchen, are you being merciful?”

Zhu Yunque pursed her lips and couldn’t help but look at Lu Rangchen.

But she noticed Lu Rangchen’s gaze was fixed on her.

He glanced at her briefly, then looked away, leaning back lazily, a faint smile playing on his lips, a mix of arrogance and roguishness in his tone. “Well, consider it me being merciful.”

“…”

Zhu Yunque turned to look at the bustling street scene, suddenly realizing that this traffic jam was perfectly timed.

It was just that the school and Xin Yuexiang Mansion were so close.

After passing this red light and turning again, she arrived at the entrance of the residential area.

It was only before getting out of the car that Zhu Yunque learned Deng Jiao wasn’t going to Lu Rangchen’s house, but rather that her group had a dinner party that day.

Deng Jiao, that girl, was quite straightforward, directly urging Zhu Yunque, “Teacher, you’re going home alone anyway; why don’t you come with us?”

Admittedly, Zhu Yunque’s heart did flutter for a moment.

Lu Rangchen, however, seemed uninterested. Hearing this, he frowned slightly, glancing at Deng Jiao, and said, “That’s enough.”

He’d lost count of how many times he’d scolded along the way.

Deng Jiao was truly speechless, rolling her eyes at him and muttering, “You blockhead.”

Lu Rangchen remained unmoved, only glancing at Zhu Yunque.

He seemed to want to say something, but then remained silent.

Zhu Yunque didn’t say anything either.

She calmly withdrew her gaze, uttering a simple, “Thank you for driving me,” before opening the car door and getting out.

Once she was out of the car, the gazes of the people in the car became pure and intense again.

Like someone staring at something they coveted, Lu Rangchen’s gaze followed Zhu Yunque’s figure until she disappeared into the residential area, only then withdrawing his gaze and restarting the engine.

Deng Jiao, watching all this, couldn’t help but say, “Serves you right for pretending! Now you regret it, don’t you? What a great opportunity that was!”

The opportunity was indeed great.

But the people present were wrong.

Thinking of Li Tie and Zhou Jin, Lu Rangchen frowned helplessly, chuckled, and said, “What do you know?”

Anyway, with those two, Zhu Yunque would only get scolded.

He must be crazy to push her into such a pit of fire.

–

It was still early when she got back, so Zhu Yunque met with Xu Linda that evening.

The two met for dinner at a nearby food street.

Zhu Yunque then took the opportunity to bring up her recent interactions with Lu Rangchen.

When Xu Linda heard that Zhu Yunque was sick, she exclaimed, her tone clearly displeased, “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick? You just endured it all alone; how silly!”

Zhu Yunque laughed. “I thought I could get through it alone.”

Xu Linda rolled her eyes at her and said, “Come on, I think you were just looking for an opportunity to provoke Lu Rangchen. But you’ve turned misfortune into a blessing in disguise, haven’t you?”

Zhu Yunque smiled but didn’t reply.

Actually, she really didn’t mean to do it that day.

She didn’t expect Lu Rangchen to know she was sick, nor did she expect him to cook for her that day, and she certainly didn’t expect them to run into each other that day.

“I think he did it on purpose,” Xu Linda said. “He deliberately came to pick up Deng Jiao and then see you one last time.”

“But I don’t understand either. With such a good opportunity today, why didn’t he bring you along? It’s just Deng Zhe’s birthday.”

Xu Linda found out about this on Weibo.

Speaking of which, Xu Linda and Deng Zhe were quite interesting. Although they hadn’t been in contact for many years, they still followed each other on Weibo.

Xu Linda only logged back into that account after hearing that Deng Jiao was Deng Zhe’s sister, and then she saw Deng Zhe’s Weibo post from that evening, showing a group of people celebrating his birthday.

He posted quite a few photos, one of which clearly showed Lu Rangchen’s hand.

She even showed it to Zhu Yunque.

But after Zhu Yunque glanced at it on the phone, she only noticed the hand of the woman wearing a ring next to Lu Rangchen.

She paused in her chewing of the meat skewer.

Zhu Yunque’s eyes glazed over for a few seconds before she said, “Maybe it’s inconvenient.”

Their relationship hadn’t reached that point yet.

Or maybe there were other women at the dinner party that night, and he didn’t want to cause any trouble…

Zhu Yunque hadn’t wasted her time on such trivial matters in a long time.

She couldn’t explain why, but after parting ways with Xu Linda and going home that day, she couldn’t help but think about many things.

She thought about what Zhang Leyao had told her during the day and what she had said to others in the office.

She wondered if she and Lu Rangchen had added each other on WeChat.

She wondered if they had chatted a lot in private.

She even wondered if she had attended that party tonight and if the woman sitting next to Lu Rangchen was her.

It seemed like suddenly…

She reverted to being the same Zhu Yunque she used to be, the one who would rack her brains for Lu Rangchen.

This feeling was rather ridiculous.

But she seemed unable to escape it.

Forcing herself to clear her mind for a while, Zhu Yunque decided to take a shower, trying to clear her head. However, she hadn’t expected to be so unlucky that night; shortly after she started showering, the entire neighborhood suddenly lost power.

Meanwhile.

A group of people who had just moved from the hot pot restaurant to the bar had just arrived.

The bar was set up by Lu Rangchen, and they were getting good treatment—a VIP booth upstairs. They had ordered a table full of various drinks, snacks, and fruits, and the view below was of the live performance stage—a superb vantage point.

Deng Zhe, having had his fill of novelty, returned cheerfully, only to catch a glimpse of Lu Rangchen there, his eyes downcast and his expression weary as he replied to messages. He guessed it was some annoying business partner again.

But he had been like that all night.

When someone was troubled, even drinking became like raising fish.

Deng Zhe vaguely remembered Deng Jiao mentioning that Lu Rangchen saw Zhu Yunque when he picked her up. He really wanted to ask what was going on between them, but with Zhou Jin and Li Tie present, he didn’t say anything.

He’d wanted to ask now, but seeing Lu Rangchen’s utterly irritable temper, he didn’t dare say anything.

So he sat down, not joining in, and simply took out his phone to browse Weibo.

Then Lu Rangchen heard Deng Zhe curse.

The man lazily raised his eyes, looking at him with disdain, and chuckled in exasperation, “Can you stop being so jumpy?”

Deng Zhe said, “Can’t I be jumpy? Wouldn’t you be jumpy if your ex-girlfriend liked your Weibo post?”

“…”

Lu Rangchen’s eyes deepened, and Zhu Yunque’s face immediately popped into his mind.

It was difficult to empathize.

Because he didn’t even have Zhu Yunque’s Weibo account.

Whether Zhu Yunque used Weibo or not was another matter.

But before he could say anything… Deng Zhe asked, puzzled, “Do you think Xu Linda accidentally liked my post, or did she do it on purpose?”

Hearing Xu Linda, Lu Rangchen’s eyelids twitched.

Deng Zhe immediately exclaimed, “Damn, isn’t that Zhu Yunque?”

The name Zhu Yunque was like a wound branded on his heart.

Just mentioning it made his brows furrow.

Deng Zhe was even more perceptive than Deng Jiao.

He directly handed his phone to Lu Rangchen, saying, “Look, isn’t that her? She’s even interacting with Xu Linda.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and Lu Rangchen frowned as he took the phone, then saw the latest post from the account called skylark-.

skylark-: 【…Another power outage while showering; is this some kind of curse?】 【Laughing and crying emoji】

Clicking on the comments, the reply from account linda许 was: 【Ah, are you sure you can handle this? If not, I will come pick you up.】

Whether she saw Xu Linda’s reply or not, the conversation ended abruptly.

Just then, a WeChat notification sounded.

Instinctively glancing at it, I saw it was a group notification from the community group. The group admin, the building manager, was tagging all residents, saying there was a temporary power outage in the complex and the power company was on their way to inspect it, so everyone should be prepared.

Unsurprisingly, all the residents were cursing and swearing.

Lu Rangchen’s thick eyebrows furrowed, and he suddenly realized something.

Almost without hesitation, he tossed his phone back to Deng Zhe.

After downing the remaining half-glass of cocktail in front of him, Lu Rangchen put down the glass and stood up, his tall, slender figure resolute and arrogant.

The sharp, imposing manner startled Deng Zhe. He asked, “Where are you going?”

“Home.”

A clear, cool voice.

His handsome, sculpted face was indistinct in the dim neon light. With that, Lu Rangchen grabbed his car keys and walked away without looking back.