Chapter 66

When Zhai Da and Lu Wei were cooking together.

Several kilometers away.

"Wenwen, your TOEFL teacher is coming at nine, remember to be prepared; I'll have Auntie Liu send your dinner up in a while."

In the only villa complex in Dongyang County, Lu Siwen was changing her shoes while kicking her legs, and said crisply: "Okay, Mom, I'm going now."

She actually didn't have evening self-study today either, because she had a tutor; she was just waiting for the driver to pick her up when she was in the classroom earlier.

Stepping into her giraffe-colored plush slippers in the entryway, Lu Siwen walked upstairs, and a ragdoll cat appeared from nowhere, following its little master with a "meow," climbing the stairs with effort.

A show-grade blue bicolor ragdoll, worth 80,000, equivalent to a small car that can poop.

If Zhai Da were here, he would probably have to take out his "monetary unit of measurement" in his heart again.

Lu Siwen's room was on the third floor of the villa, very spacious, and had its own bathroom.

Even with a large bed, desk, computer desk, and bookcase, there was still plenty of space to place various decorations.

A bear doll over a meter tall, various exquisite ornaments, and several musical instruments hanging on the wall.

Lu Siwen pulled the curtains and took off her school uniform; the green and soft spring light was watched intently by the ragdoll cat. Lu Siwen chased it away with her slender ankles: "Go, male cats can't look."

The ragdoll cat patted Lu Siwen's ankle with its paw in dissatisfaction, as if emphasizing that it no longer had a "Doraemon."

After changing her clothes, Lu Siwen found the study materials for her "TOEFL" tutor and placed them on the desk.

Her future path was different from most people in school.

Having been well-off since childhood and receiving countless love, under the influence of the trend of the times, her family naturally wanted to arrange for her to go abroad.

If it weren't for her grandfather's opposition back then, insisting on her taking the college entrance exam, she might have been sent out in junior high.

And now, the time wasn't too far off; after the college entrance exam, she would go to the United States to study, and even though her own grades weren't bad and she could steadily get into a key university, it still didn't shake her parents' ideas.

In their eyes, the top universities in China couldn't compare to ordinary universities abroad.

Even, her parents hoped she could stay in the United States directly in the future, because they also wanted to go there in the future.

Making money in China and then taking all assets to "where people should stay" was the collective consensus of the vast majority of "property owners" in this era.

But Lu Siwen wasn't interested in foreign countries; like many international students, this wasn't a choice made after careful consideration, but rather following her parents' arrangements and the trend of society.

In the gap while waiting for dinner, Lu Siwen looked at the golden-red sunset outside the window, lost in thought for a moment.

The orange light dyed her short hair red, like a canary looking at the sky from inside the window.

Lu Siwen inexplicably thought of the scene when she first met Zhai Da.

That day was also filled with afterglow, golden red everywhere.

Thinking of the 50,000-word 'Long Road of Manman' Zhai Da gave her, she felt a bit happier, but such good stuff was better left for the night when everything was done and she was alone; she wanted to savor the words written by Student Zhai.

After a moment of hesitation, Lu Siwen fished out the paper stained with a few saliva marks from the bedside table.

Once again, she savored Zhai Da's words.

"The sunset drowns in the orange sea, the evening breeze sinks into the city's forest."

"But the streetlights only shine on me; she watches me look up at the bright moon, she watches me bend down to pick up broken silver."

"I take the girl surnamed Lu home..."

The girl surnamed Lu... is it her... Lu Siwen had always felt this way; even if it was a coincidence, it was a coincidence that belonged to her.

Or, the girl on the back of the bicycle that day...

But it should be me... after all, my surname is Lu...

Lu Siwen couldn't help but think so.

Before Lu Siwen could pull herself out of those words, dinner was sent in by Auntie Liu.

And before Lu Siwen finished eating completely, the TOEFL teacher walked in.

She was like a machine that was tightly fitted and running at high speed, and every day was packed full.

The TOEFL tutor was specially invited from Qian City and was a female teacher in her thirties.

She had study-abroad experience, dressed fashionably and dashingly, and had the most trendy Chinese-English mixed accent of the moment.

Twice a week, she was driven to and from Dongyang County; as for the price, it was naturally far more beautiful than the person.

The tuition (excluding books and miscellaneous) at Maofang Middle School was only 900 yuan a year, while this TOEFL teacher cost 2,000 for three hours.

Because of the business industry, although the Lu family couldn't leave Dongyang, they strove for the best in terms of "quality," even at the cost of several times the price.

The smaller the place, the more the rich need to show their difference.

Following that, what Lu Siwen faced was three hours of English study.

Listening, speaking, reading, and writing were all required; she hadn't stopped her TOEFL classes since Grade 10, and she was diligent and intelligent, having a spoken English that was more standard than the English teacher at Maofang Middle School.

The English teacher never called on her in class, which only added to the awkwardness.

After the TOEFL teacher left, Lu Siwen rubbed her temples with her slender fingers, feeling dizzy.

Then she had to continue writing homework for various subjects; after all, she wasn't the type who only went abroad because she couldn't study anymore. Having excellent grades in the college entrance exam would also make applying to prestigious foreign universities easier.

By the time she finished her homework, took a shower in her own bathroom, and lay back on the bed, it was already twelve o'clock.

The time from now on was what belonged to her.

She finally took out Zhai Da's notebook, full of anticipation.

Her fingertips slid over the four characters "Long Road of Manman."

Compared to English, she preferred Chinese characters, liked every metaphor, rhetoric, and the story behind these square strokes; this was something English letters couldn't bring her...

When her grandfather was alive, he taught her to write stroke by stroke, and also cultivated her interest in writing, which had influenced her to this day.

After going to the United States, would these hobbies of hers... become worthless?

Her grandfather said that only the mother tongue could touch the deepest emotions of a person; it defined a person's way of thinking and extended a person's way of dealing with the world...

Just like... just like Student Zhai's 'Streetlights and Wine,' why could it capture so many people's hearts?

Li Bai gave meaning to the two characters "bright moon," Bai Juyi composed the bitterness of the two characters "broken silver," and for thousands of years, countless writers and readers had jointly constructed this "synesthesia" engraved in their blood.

So thousands of years later, when a new user of the language picked up a pen to write "bright moon," it was equivalent to raising a hand to catch a wisp of thin light from the Poet Immortal thousands of years ago.

Compared to just now, Lu Siwen could be said to be in two completely different states; even she herself didn't know that she, with her special constitution, had ears that were already starting to heat up, becoming flushed and translucent.

Stretching, her beautiful figure stretched out its charm; her height could only be considered standard, 166, but there was no fat where there shouldn't be, and there was no lack of it where there should be; the overall proportion was very pleasing to the eye.

If she had to say, she belonged to the type that looked thin but felt soft when pinched.

It was a pity that this spring light was still only appreciated by a eunuch cat without a "Doraemon."

"Then, I'll read Student Zhai's work today; I only saw the beginning last time."

"This time it's a full 50,000 words... It's too extravagant to finish it in one day, so I'll just read a little... just 2,000 words..."

"2,000 words is enough, it's already very long; Student Zhai said that chasing the update is the best way to read..."

In the blink of an eye, bird calls came from outside the window.

Lu Siwen, with dark circles under her eyes, looked up blankly.

She tilted her head.

"Hmm?"