Lu Yinghan caught the last bus and made her way back to the Lu family residence.
The sky had turned a deep, dark color.
Butler Liu had been waiting at the entrance for a long time.
This time, he was genuinely anxious.
This was completely different from her usual dismissal time—a whole hour late!
“Why isn't Miss back yet?”
Butler Liu muttered to himself.
Just as he was about to go inside and report this to Master and Madam, Lu Yinghan's small figure slowly appeared in the distance.
“Miss?... Miss!!!”
Butler Liu smiled with relief as he stepped forward, hurriedly taking the backpack from Lu Yinghan's hands.
“Miss, why are you so late today? Were you kept behind by a teacher?”
“No, Grandpa Butler. A few classmates wanted to 'chat' with me, so I missed the previous bus and got back late.”
Butler Liu let out a sigh of relief.
“Miss, you must be starving, right? Come inside quickly, I'll fetch your dinner.”
Opening the front door, he revealed He Shu carrying Lu Xuanyao out of the dining room with a bright smile on her face.
Instantly, a rich aroma of savory sauce wafted into Lu Yinghan's nose.
The sound of the door opening drew the attention of both He Shu, who was passing by, and Lu Xiong.
“Yingying?! Did you just get out of school now?”
It was almost seven o'clock, wasn't it???
During dinner, she had indeed felt like something was missing, but she just couldn't put her finger on what it was.
The second she saw Lu Yinghan, He Shu finally remembered.
Suddenly, her ability to form coherent sentences began to falter again.
“Um, Yingying... your younger sister has to eat at five-thirty, so we ate first. Are you hungry? I'll have Butler Liu prepare another portion for you.”
“Oh, it's fine. You don't ever have to wait for me in the future. I'll probably be coming back late like this from now on.”
Lu Yinghan's tone was polite yet distant and cold. While courteous, it felt somewhat strange to family members.
Standing off to the side, Lu Xiong's expression darkened slightly.
“Is that how you speak to your mother?”
“Hey! Don't say anything!”
He Shu immediately turned and shot Lu Xiong a glare.
She curled her lips into a bright, beaming smile and said to Lu Yinghan,
“Yingying, don't mind your father. Oh, right, Mom will take you to school tomorrow morning, okay? How does that sound?”
How did what sound?
Was she asking if she was happy about it?
Lu Yinghan raised her small head to look up at He Shu, who towered over her.
“Mm. If you're willing to drive me, Mom, anything works.”
There was none of the excited reaction or expression she had imagined.
He Shu was so embarrassed she felt like curling her toes into the ground.
Thinking about it, a flash of anger and displeasure flared up in her heart.
What kind of attitude was this?
Had her wings really grown full?
She had already spoken to her so nicely, did she really expect her to hold her and coax her too?
How old was she already?
He Shu suddenly felt a surge of regret about her decision to drop her off at school tomorrow.
But to save face, she forced herself to push through.
Right, the room!
“Yingying, actually, I have a big surprise for you today! Come and take a look first!”
He Shu carefully handed Lu Xuanyao over to Lu Xiong, then stepped forward to hold Lu Yinghan's hand.
In her excitement, He Shu moved a bit too fast.
Standing by the door, Lu Yinghan saw He Shu's hand reaching over toward her head.
Her whole body shuddered.
In her past life, the orphan director's punishments after she was thrown out...
And right before being thrown out, the way He Shu had grabbed her firmly and shoved her...
Her pupils contracted violently, and the terrifying lingering sensation turned her limbs ice-cold in an instant.
As a reflex, she immediately raised both arms in front of herself in a defensive stance.
Lu Yinghan's reaction sent a shock through everyone present.
The instinctive defensive posture was so heartbreakingly familiar.
Her tightly clenched fists showed just how guarded she was right now.
Lu Xiong's eyes froze.
His dark pupils trembled.
“Yingying?! What are those scars on your arm?!”
Lu Xiong stepped forward immediately, tossing Lu Xuanyao back into He Shu's arms.
He slowly squatted down and reached out to grasp Lu Yinghan's arm.
Covered all over it were dense, thin red scratches.
Some long, some short.
The wounds weren't large, but they were very noticeable.
Like a withered tree ravaged by time, the cracks within were beginning to fissure.
Rage surged straight into Lu Xiong's heart.
Someone from the Lu family had actually been bullied?
That was Lu Xiong's very first thought.
“Who did this? Was it your classmates? Why did they bully you?”
Lu Xiong's barrage of questions made Lu Yinghan relax her muscles.
“Nobody bullied me. I tripped and fell while running on the sports field today. Those grainy things on the track scraped me.”
It was the synthetic rubber track.
Lu Xiong's anger extinguished, and he released her arm.
Scratches this dense...
...indeed looked very likely to have been left by scrapes from a synthetic track.
“How could you be so careless?”
His excitement from a moment ago vanished as if it had been fake all along.
Lu Yinghan knew that he simply didn't want the Lu family's reputation to be tarnished.
If word got out that a young lady of the Lu family was bullied at school...
Lu Xiong's dignity would be completely ruined.
Lu Yinghan drew her arm back, rubbing at the residual warmth left where Lu Xiong had grasped it.
The clammy feeling sent goosebumps spreading across her skin in waves.
She was not used to it.
She squeezed that spot tightly, covertly rubbing it hard.
Standing to the side, Butler Liu saw her reddened skin and opened his mouth to say something.
But the expression on Lu Yinghan's face truly sent a chill through his heart.
Her pale face and her brow slightly furrowed in disgust...
The terrifying emptiness in her eyes was frightening.
The scratches on her arm...
Butler Liu felt that things were not that simple.
How could Lu Xiong possibly fail to see through it?
Although he claimed to believe Lu Yinghan out loud, as soon as he stood up, he gave Butler Liu a look.
Signaling him to investigate what had actually happened.
Butler Liu gave a subtle nod to show he understood.
Lu Yinghan naturally noticed the exchange between the two of them.
She felt it was completely unnecessary.
If this was investigated, her identity as a member of the Lu family would be exposed.
But she didn't want to have anything to do with the Lu family.
“Everyone in class is really nice. After I fell, they were all worried about me, came over to talk to me, and even took me to see the nurse in the infirmary.”
Coming over to talk was true—like cornering her after school.
Going to the infirmary was a total lie.
Where the elite school's infirmary even was, she had no idea to this day.
Lu Xiong looked down at Lu Yinghan, who was suddenly sharing her school life with him.
He looked into her bright eyes.
He tried to look past those clear, bright eyes to see her true intentions.
But she didn't flinch, remaining just as she had been the past few days.
Looking at you with sincerity and earnestness, yet feeling impossibly distant.
Fine.
As long as she wasn't being bullied.
She wasn't showing any negative emotions either.
It seemed she really had just fallen on the synthetic track.
Butler Liu exchanged a look with Lu Xiong.
The matter was dropped just like that.
Lu Yinghan walked up to He Shu.
“Mom, didn't you say you had a surprise to show me? What is it?”
“Ah, oh, right! Mom will take you to see it.”
Still shocked by the cuts on Lu Yinghan's arm, He Shu snapped out of it when her daughter took the initiative to speak to her.
She hurriedly led her to see her room.
Rate on N.U.
