Mr. Lu was an elegant and refined man, but he had a particularly crass friend named Baldy. Thus, his understanding of relationships and romance were discussed in conversations like, “Are you doing 

it 

today?” “Yes!” “You want to do her, don’t you?” “Yes!” 

Although Lu Chenzhou of course knew how to be tactful, he felt that being vulgar sounded better, perhaps because of Baldy’s “education.”

o(╯□╰)o

This side of Lu Chenzhou really scared Lu Chenming silly.

He looked at his older brother, and his entire face and neck area turned a deep shade of red. However, he didn’t dare to admonish his brother for being too crass. In the end, after quite a while, all he said was, “Oh.”

After Lu Chenzhou forcefully transmitted his incorrect understanding of love and relationships to his younger brother, Lu Chenzhou even thought that he had finally enlightened him. He felt somewhat gratified and a little proud. And when he returned home to Cheng Xi that night, he immediately told her, “Chenming has seen the truth.”

Cheng Xi was shocked. “Really?” She had assumed that for someone as introverted and stubborn as Lu Chenming, it would be very difficult to change his way of thinking. Thus, she asked, full of genuine interest, “You convinced him? How did you do it?”

“Yes.” Lu Chenzhou seemed to be trying to act modestly. “He’s still young, so he doesn’t know what love really is.”

……The words “doesn’t know what love really is” didn’t seem like they should be coming from Lu Chenzhou’s mouth, and it made Cheng Xi feel discombobulated. Cheng Xi didn’t fully trust Lu Chenzhou’s appraisal, but she nonetheless smiled and said, “Actually, I think that you’re right. He’s too introverted, so if you have the time, you should find some more opportunities for him to temper himself on.”

Cheng Xi’s choice of words was already very neutral: Lu Chenming wasn’t just introverted; at this point, he was most likely already starting to develop a social impediment. If his environment didn’t quickly change for the better, his future life and emotional development would be greatly impaired.

In Cheng Xi’s opinion, the best course of action for Lu Chenming would be to immediately undergo therapy. However, because of Lu Chenzhou’s instinctive dislike for doctors and hospitals, she didn’t explicitly say this. Perhaps she’d have a chance to mention it to some other members of the Lu family in the future.

But Lu Chenzhou actually understood her insinuation, and he asked back, “Are you sure that it’ll be effective?”

“Didn’t you say that he’s still young? If so, then his personality is still forming. Also, in my opinion, it’s always better to do something than nothing.

Lu Chenzhou thought her words over for a little and then nodded. The next day, he called Lu Chenming over again, this time throwing him into a job as a basic salesperson for Donglai Corporation. Since Lu Chenzhou knew that his younger brother was still in school, he didn’t assign him much work, and even gave him some choices. “You can work wherever you want—hotels, pharmaceuticals, supermarkets, or something else. I don’t care where, but the main point is that you have to go out and help the team with sales on the weekends. Treat it like an internship or something.”

Lu chenming’s mouth made a wide round “O,” and it seemed like he was about to burst out into tears. “Brother~~”

But his brother remained hard-hearted, merely glancing at him coldly. “Yes?”

And Lu Chenming had nothing else he could say.

When he returned to school, he felt completely disheartened; he was studying applied mathematics, and even if he wasn’t a nouveau riche, he had the credentials to become a future engineer. What was his brother thinking, forcing him to enter sales?

He didn’t even have any real life friends to complain to, so he tapped around on his phone, aimlessly trying to find someone to talk to. And, almost as he thought that he wouldn’t, he finally did. Yes, it was actually “‘Sweetheart’s’ Brother, Cheng Yang.”

Lu Chenming didn’t dare directly call Cheng Yang, so he instead texted him: Brother, I’m about to die……

When Cheng Yang received this message, he was busy and didn’t see it. However, when he did, he was so shocked that his heart skipped a beat. Poor Cheng Yang was surrounded with people who rarely ever exaggerated; when they said that they were about to die, they meant it. For example, his grandmother, on the day that she had killed herself, had called her grandchildren on the phone and merely said, “Grandma’s going to leave now. Take good care of yourselves in the future.”

And then she really did leave, forever.

Due to this incident, the Cheng family never talked about death frivolously, not even as a joke. When Cheng Yang suddenly read this message, his horror was only exacerbated by the fact that it had been sent by someone who was suffering from mental trauma and wasn’t in a good mental state to begin with. So when Cheng Yang read the words, “about to die,” he automatically assumed that Lu Chenming was being serious.

In that moment, he disregarded everything else at hand, quickly turned his phone on, and called Lu Chenming. Crap! His phone was off! Cheng Yang’s scalp went numb, and he became so scared that he started sweating buckets. He threw down everything he was working on, ran outside, and called Cheng Xi as he did so. “Sis! Something big’s happening! Something really big! Lu Chenming sent me a text about an hour ago, saying that he was about to die! Contact his family, and tell them to contact the university!”

Lu Chenming normally lived in the university dorms whenever classes were in session.

Cheng Xi also jumped up in shock, and subconsciously muttered, “It can’t be, can it? His brother even said yesterday that he was getting better.”

“Better, my ass!” When Cheng Yang became flustered, his hooligan-like personality surfaced. “That stubborn mule! Even after I spent all my efforts to brainwash him, it seems that all of it just went in one ear and out the other. Quickly, contact his family! I’m running to the university now!”

Cheng Yang then hung up, and Cheng Xi quickly contacted Lu Chenzhou—between her brother and Lu Chenzhou, she trusted Cheng Yang’s judgment more. While Lu Chenzhou might be better in all other areas, in terms of emotions and feelings, Cheng Yang was lightyears ahead of Lu Chenzhou. While she had naturally discounted what Lu Chenzhou had said yesterday, she didn’t expect that he would be this far off the mark!

The Cheng siblings were so anxious that they felt like organs were about to burst into flames. However, when Mr. Lu heard this, all he said was, “There’s no need to be in such a fuss.”

Cheng Xi barely restrained her impatience as she politely asked, “Then, can you contact a professor at the university? Or perhaps one of his close classmates?”

“……”

Lu Chenzhou had no idea whom he could call. Luckily, he had a reliable assistant, who had already collected all the other students in his dorm’s phone numbers in case he couldn’t reach Lu Chenming when he needed to bring him over to Donglai Headquarters.

When Cheng Xi called some of them, it turns out that there were no classes in the afternoon, which meant that…… No! One! Had! Seen! Him! 

There was no one in his room either.

All right, it seems that something really had happened.

Cheng Xi and Lu Chenzhou both rushed towards Lu Chenming’s university. He had to be there, as Lu Chenzhou’s people had dropped him off there themselves.

The three of them scoured the entire university and ultimately did find him, all thanks to Cheng Yang’s sharp eyes. They had been about to climb to the tallest local building’s rooftop to get a better view when Cheng Yang turned his head around and suddenly spotted Lu Chenming walking listlessly out of the art building, amidst a whole throng of other students.

He anxiously yelled out, “Lu Chenming!”

The listless fellow raised his head, and then all three people noticed him.

Cheng Yang was the first to rush over, ignoring the curious glances from the nearby bystanders as he pulled on Lu Chenming’s collar. “Where on earth were you?!”

Lu Chenmin was shocked by their sudden appearance, and he immediately turned pale and stammered, “In…… in class.”

“What class? Don’t you have no classes in the afternoon?”

“I- I- I’m auditing a class.”

For Lu Chenming, auditing classes was a standard, everyday thing; hadn’t he often gone to the medical university next door to attend Cheng Xi’s classes, through wind and rain?

And since he was even willing to go to a neighboring university, then taking a class in a different college of the same university was no big deal.

When Cheng Xi heard Lu Chenming’s bewildered reply, she didn’t know whether she should laugh or to cry, but at the very least, she did feel a sense of relief in her heart. As for Lu Chenzhou…… from start to finish, he had been cool, calm, and collected. Even when he was accompanying them and searching for Lu Chenming, she hadn't seen him look anxious even once. Now, he wasn’t angry either, and he merely looked silently at his brother as if he were just another bystander.

Of the three of them, Cheng Yang was the most agitated. When he saw Lu Chenming’s innocent bunny-like expression, an irresistible urge to smack it welled up, so, ignoring the fact that his brother was right there, Cheng Yang grabbed Lu Chenming’s collar, dragged him to a nearby enclosed park, pushed him against a rock, and started spanking him.

The pitiful Lu Chenming didn’t even know what was going on.

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