The Lighter and Princess Gown

Overgrown Grassland

28. Chapter 28

In the early morning, Zhu Yun had already packed her things into the car.

“Are you sure you don’t need us to send you?” Her mother suggested again, “Why don’t we call for a driver to send you?”

“It’s alright.” Wang Yuxuan pat his chest. “Auntie Liu, I have years of experience as a driver. I promise to send Zhu mei safely back to school.”

While Wang Yuxuan arranged the car trunk, Zhu Yun’s mother pulled her aside and told her quietly, “Don’t fall asleep on the way. Stay alert. Road conditions abroad are still different from those at home.”

“Mmh.”

“When you get there, you should reserve the hotel room. Let him drive. When you go out, don’t let him spend any money.”

“Okay.”

“Also—”

“I got it, I got it. Don’t worry, I’ll wait on him properly. We’re going now.” Zhu Yun slipped out of her mother’s grasp and slid into the car.

When the car finally drove out of the courtyard, Zhu Yun let out a long sigh. Wang Yuxuan grinned and stepped on the gas. In a clear voice, he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re currently watching the Dreamworks production, The Island. (t/n: The 2005 film is about a guy trying to escape an island, after finding out the island inhabitants are used for organ harvesting.)

Zhu Yun looked over out of the corner of her eye.

Wang Yuxuan laughed and said, “Come on then, give me the directions.”

“Keep going straight, and get on the highway.”

The whole trip, Wang Yuxuan chattered on incessantly, which only made Zhu Yun yawn continuously. She rested her head against the car window and pulled out her cellphone. No missed calls or unread texts.

Zhu Yun had already informed Li Xun that she’d be returning today. On the days leading up to the new year, the two of them had been in constant contact. But shortly after, Li Xun had accepted a new project, so there hadn’t much news from him lately.

Zhu Yun and Wang Yuxuan safely arrived at the school in the afternoon. Since winter break hadn’t wasn’t over, the campus was empty and deserted.

Zhu Yun grabbed her luggage from the car and said, “I’m going. You can find a hotel yourself, right?”

“You can’t be serious.” Wang Yuxuan looked at her, dumbfounded. “You’re just going to burn the bridge after crossing the river?”

It did seem rather disingenuous…

“How about this?” Zhu Yun suggested, “I’ll make some time to show you around tomorrow. It’s too late today, and you must be tired from driving. You should rest.”

Wang Yuxuan swung the car keys on his finger. He was about to speak but stopped, as he squinted at something behind Zhu Yun. Motioning to behind her, he asked quietly, “Hey, do you know him?”

Zhu Yun turned around and her hair stood on end. A certain person with golden hair, dressed in casual clothes, stood there. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, a plastic convenient store bag hanging off his arm, looking like someone just passing by. He lazily looked over Zhu Yun and Wang Yuxuan.

Zhu Yun considered whether or not to introduce the two. In the end, she decided against it. From the way Top Score Li looked right now, he probably didn’t much care for getting to know Wang Yuxuan.

“You’re back?” Li Xun asked.

“Mmh.”

Li Xun said plainly, “Let’s go.” He turned to head back to campus.

Zhu Yun quickly told Wang Yuxuan, “I’m heading back first. I’ll contact you tomorrow.”

Wang Yuxuan shrugged and replied, “Okay. Have a good rest.” He returned to the car and start it up. When he raised his head, he saw that Zhu Yun had caught up with that boy up ahead.

Zhu Yun dragged her suitcase as she walked beside Li Xun. She glanced at Li Xun, the latter walking leisurely, composed as before.

She cleared her throat and said, “About that…”

The lazy voice came, “About what?”

“What are you doing for the new project you accepted?”

“An integrated system for shipping and receiving forms for an auto parts company.”

“Will it be hard?”

Li Xun pulled out and lit a cigarette without responding.

Fine, let’s just pretend I didn’t ask.

“Who was that just now?” Li Xun’s voice was a bit unclear because of the cigarette hanging from his mouth.

Zhu Yun answered instantly. “My driver.”

Li Xun snickered. “Oh?”

When they returned to her dorm, Li Xun said to Zhu Yun, “Princess, do you need help carrying your bags up?”

I wouldn’t dare trouble you.

“I’ll be fine. I don’t have many things, so it’s not heavy.”

Li Xun nodded and added a quick, “When you’re done, come to the project base,” before leaving.

Now that winter break had reached its midpoint, the dorms had been unlocked. Zhu Yun carried her luggage in, but was already huffing and puffing halfway to her room. She started to regret letting her face swell just to look imposing when she slapped it. (t/n: To impress by feigning abilities)

But he was really something. She’d declined as a polite gesture, and he really didn’t help her.

Neither Ren Di or Fang Shumiao had returned yet. When she’d left for break, she hadn’t closed the window tightly enough, so there was now a layer of dust covering their dorm room. After Zhu Yun finished unpacking her things, she mopped the floor once over. Then she ran over to the lab building.

The project base was the only room open in the entire building. Zhu Yun hurried in to see Li Xun’s long legs raised up as he worked.

“Come here. Make a copy of these files and the code.”

Zhu Yun was deathly tired, and her throat felt like it was on fire. Instead of answering him, she walked over to the corner, grabbed a bottle of water, and gulped half of it down.

Li Xun looked up from his laptop at her. He taunted, “Carrying a suitcase tired you out that much? Truly pampered…”

Zhu Yun couldn’t be bothered with him.

Li Xun put down his laptop. Resting a hand on the back of his chair, he leaned to look at Zhu Yun. With a smile, he said, “Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you really that tired?”

“Not as tired as you.”

“The words in your head are different from the ones coming out of your mouth.”

Zhu Yun secretly rolled her eyes.

“Hurry and get to work. Finally, I have an assisstant.”

“……”

Although her work up until then, and even the reason she returned to school early, had been to help him, it was sufficient that she knew that. Hearing him say it out loud really felt shitty.

Zhu Yun put down her bottle of water. Calmly, she said, “School hasn’t started yet, so you don’t have any reason to ask me to work. This is cruel overtime.”

“Oh?” Li Xun tilted his head ant looked at her. “Then what will it take for Your Highness to start working?”

“Improve your attitude.”

He raised his eyebrows. Zhu Yun stared back, wordlessly. He walked over to the metal cabinet and bent down to grab a bag.

After a moment, Li Xun put his laptop on the table and stood up. Zhu Yun extended her head to look over with interest. Li Xun brought the bag over and placed it in front of Zhu Yun. It was a pretty large paper bag, and it seemed decently heavy.

“What is this?”

“Your overtime pay.”

“……”

Faintly, he said, “Take a look.”

Zhu Yun opened the bag. Inside was an exquisite, long box. When she saw the branding on the box, she had a suspicion regarding its contents. And after she opened the box, her suspicion was confirmed. Although her expression was calm and collected, her heart was pounding.

A dress!

Why would he gift her a dress?!

When had he bought it? How long ago? No, put those questions aside first. The dress was newly released, wasn’t it? And this brand was fucking expensive…

Zhu Yun looked up to see Li Xun leaning against the metal cabinet, calm and relaxed.

“Is it enough?”

How was she to answer that…

“If it’s enough, come over and start working.”

Since Boss Li had given her a way out of the situation, Zhu Yun respectfully accepted. She packed away the dress and then returned to her seat. Li Xun also walked over and sat down beside her to send over the documents.

“Why did you give me this?” Zhu Yun asked quietly.

As his hands continued typing, Li Xun chuckled and replied, “It’s only right for a princess to have a gown.”

Zhu Yun trembled. She felt like there was someone in her heart, twisting and turning uncontrollably.

A master. Truly, a master.

“I’ve copied the files to you. Read over the program first. If there’s something you don’t understand, ask me.”

“…Mmh.”

Zhu Yun focused and got to work. By evening, she’d combed through the entire program. She asked Li Xun, “I’m done. Do you need me to do anything.”

“Not right now.”

Ah? You said earlier that I’d be assissting you.

Li Xun asked plainly, “Don’t you need to hang out with your driver tomorrow?”

He’d heard her conversation with Wang Yuxuan?

Zhu Yun blurted out, “It’s fine. I’ll get him to leave.” When Li Xun didn’t respond, she continued, “I can work tomorrow. I’ll tell him to leave right away.”

After a few quiet seconds, Li Xun laughed. He spoke lightly, “Tell him to leave, then.”

At 8 o’clock that evening, Zhu Yun called Wang Yuxuan, who was overcome with boredom in his hotel room, watching TV. “Zhu mei! You finally thought of me!”

“Xuan ge.”

“…………”

“Xuan ge, there’s something I have to tell you.”

“Stop. Wait,” Wang Yuxuan cut her off. “What are you trying to do?”

Zhu Yun replied, “Let’s go out to eat. My treat.”

A cautious Wang Yuxuan said, “Something’s not right. What are you planning? What are you going to do to me?”

Zhu Yun was in a rush, and she couldn’t be bothered to joke with him.

“I’ll wait for you at the school gate. Hurry over.”

Thirteen minutes later, the two met up at the school gate. Zhu Yun directed Wang Yuxuan downtown. After driving in circles a bit, they finally stopped at a high-end shopping mall. “There’s a restaurant here that’s pretty good. It’s on the top floor.”

Wang Yuxuan pouted.

Zhu Yun said, “Let’s go.”

Wang Yuxuan looked up at the building and said, “You should have told me earlier that we were coming to this kind of place. I would have changed my clothes.”

Zhu Yun replied, “There aren’t so many formalities in China. Get out of the car.”

When they walked inside the building, they were greeted with a brightly lit lobby. The specs for the place were top-class. The first two stories were filled with imported goods.

“Aiyo, the tariffs must be high.” As they walked, Wang Yuxuan pointed to one of the stores. “This brand costs half the price where I’m at.”

Zhu Yun took a look. “Are they any good?”

Wang Yuxuan laughed. “I don’t know, I don’t smoke.”

The restaurant was just off the elevator on the top floor. It was past mealtime, so there weren’t many customers. The waiter brought them to their seats, and then Zhu Yun handed the menu over to Wang Yuxuan. “You order.”

He responded, “I won’t hold back then.”

“Order what you’d like.”

After they ordered and the waiter left, Zhu Yun spoke up. “About tomorrow, I won’t be able to show you around.”

Wang Yuxuan paused. “Ah?”

“After dinner, go back and get some rest. I’ll make up a guide for you, and you can go around on your own tomorrow.”

“So this is what was waiting for me.” Wang Yuxuan crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I was thinking that you couldn’t possibly be so kindhearted that you’d even invite me out for a meal.”

Zhu Yun explained, “There are important matters I have to deal with at school, otherwise I wouldn’t have come back so early in the first place.”

Wang Yuxuan opened up his napkin and tucked it into his collar. He chuckled and muttered, “The way I see it, you have an ulterior motive in mind.” Zhu Yun pretended not to hear.

When the food was served, Wang Yuxuan said, “Who was that blond kid?”

“A bastard.”

“…Can’t we have a civil conversation?”

Zhu Yun cleared her throat. “Let’s eat.”

Wang Yuxuan stared at Zhu Yun and didn’t move.

Zhu Yun asked, “Why are you looking at me?”

Wang Yuxuan shook his head slowly. “I have a feeling that I need to get to know you again.”

Zhu Yun straightened her posture, and Wang Yuxuan put up a defensive gesture. Zhu Yun gave him a strange look and then said, “I need to step out for a minute. You should start eating first.”

“Where are you going?”

Zhu Yun didn’t reply and stepped out. Ten minutes later, she returned, and Wang Yuxuan looked her over. Rather regretfully, he said, “It’s true, that saying. The more well-behaved a person is, the scarier they get when they rebel.”

Zhu Yun lowered her head and drank some soup. Wang Yuxuan gave a bit of genuine advice, “Zhu mei, young girls nowadays love picking out people based on their pretty faces. Don’t fall into that cliche.”

“……”

He picked up his fork, and looking at Zhu Yun, he said again, “Auntie likes those properly raised, undirtied, pure and innocent boys.”

Zhu Yun couldn’t help lifting her head to look at him. “You’ve gone crazy, right?”

“The first two things I said… You can take them as my going crazy. But the last thing…” Wang Yuxuan leaned in and fixed his eyes on Zhu Yun. “That blond kid, I don’t think he’s dependable.”

Zhu Yun dropped her spoon. “What do you mean?”

“His first impression may be that he’s very individualistic, but he’s too self-aware and lacks constraints. He doesn’t suit you. You won’t be able to change him. In the end, you’re the one who will end up getting hurt.”

Silence.

Then Zhu Yun responded quietly, “Where have your thoughts gone to…”

Wang Yuxuan said, “Zhu mei, I know you too well.”

When she heard that, Zhu Yun suddenly laughed.

She raised her head, and in that moment, Wang Yuxuan saw a frightening slyness in her eyes. Zhu Yun’s skin was soft and tender as tofu. With her dark eyes, and lips turned red from drinking hot soup, under the high-end restaurant lights, she looked indescribably beautiful.

Without realizing it, she spoke in Li Xun’s relaxed tone, “It’s obvious that you don’t know me well enough.”

“Zhu mei…”

Zhu Yun placed Wang Yuxuan’s spoon into his bowl of soup. “Eat your food. It’s getting cold.”

When that topic ended, the dinner table turned silent.

Under the table, there was a small box in Zhu Yun’s hand. She’d just bought it. An expensive, high-duty lighter.

This doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a present, since that dress had been so expensive. From a young age, her mother had always told her that she couldn’t spend others’ money without giving something in return.

An eraser formed in Zhu Yun’s head, slowly erasing Wang Yuxuan’s words from earlier. At the end of their meal, the only thing on her mind was how she would gift the lighter.