The night was deep, and the moon peeked out from behind the clouds, its hazy light spreading out, peaceful and beautiful.
Qin Mo took Qin Jia's shawl and retraced his steps. When he reached the bathroom door, he looked around but couldn't find her. He took out his phone to call her, but there was still no response.
There was no one around, and the aisles on both sides were empty. The wind blew through the hall, rustling the adhesive posters piled up in the corner.
Qin Mo carefully recalled Qin Jia's state before she left. She looked dazed, with a faint blush on her cheeks, somewhat similar to her drunken state yesterday.
Did she secretly drink champagne? And then, feeling stuffy indoors, she went outside for some fresh air?
Thinking it over, Qin Mo started walking forward.
He turned the corner, and the door was right in front of him. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of something bright. It was like the fabric of a skirt, shimmering softly under the light.
If he remembered correctly, Qin Jia's skirt was this color.
Qin Mo stopped and followed the light. He walked to the lounge, pushed open the half-closed brown wooden door, and his heart, which had been pounding, relaxed the moment he saw Qin Jia.
She dragged a mannequin from somewhere and leaned against it, hugging it like a tree.
Qin Mo smiled helplessly, reached out to pull her away from the mannequin.
As a result, his hand was stopped halfway through its reach. He looked up in a daze and inadvertently met a pair of cold and distant eyes.
Qin Mo shook his head, took a closer look, and was so frightened that he took two steps back.
The person in front of me is not a plastic mannequin, but Lu Tingzhou, the young master of the Lu Group!
Qin Mo had met Lu Tingzhou a few times before, and this was their third meeting.
Rumor has it that this person is decisive and never drags things out; he's not someone to be trifled with.
In addition, he had heard that Lu Tingzhou was not interested in women and especially disliked women who deliberately approached him.
Fearing that Qin Jia would be misunderstood, Qin Mo quickly explained, "President Lu, I'm sorry, this is my sister, she's been sick recently..."
Shen Yushu had instructed Qin Mo not to tell outsiders about Qin Jia's illness.
He paused for a moment, then quickly changed his story: "My sister has been craving colorful mushrooms lately, and she starts having strange hallucinations soon after eating them."
Lu Tingzhou lowered his eyes. "An illusion?"
Qin Mo nodded solemnly, "Yes, it's an illusion. She imagines herself as a koala and wants to hug every tree she sees. You know, koalas love to hug."
Lu Tingzhou fell silent. He looked down at Qin Jia, who was holding him tightly, dozing with her eyes closed, seemingly completely unguarded around him...
Could it be that she really sees him as a tree, or is she playing hard to get?
A wave of intense frustration washed over Lu Tingzhou, and he suddenly felt like he was going crazy. Since meeting her, his reasoning about her behavior had been almost infallible.
His prized observation and analytical skills seemed to have suddenly failed him. He didn't even know what had gone wrong.
Seeing Lu Tingzhou remain silent with a sullen face, Qin Mo's heart pounded with anxiety, and her voice lacked confidence as she began, "Mr. Lu, I..."
He had barely begun to speak when Lu Tingzhou interrupted him: "Do you need me to help you contact a doctor?"
Qin Mo shook his head, "No need, no need. We've seen a doctor, and the doctor said it's not serious. Just let her sleep quietly for a while and she'll be fine."
Lu Tingzhou gave a faint "hmm".
Qin Mo breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry for the trouble. I'll have my sister apologize to you when she wakes up."
"No need." Lu Tingzhou glanced down at her. "It's alright, no need to apologize."
Qin Mo gave an awkward smile and took a step forward to pull Qin Jia, but as soon as he touched her arm, she forcefully shook his hand away. This happened three times, and his hand turned red.
Qin Mo stood aside, questioning his existence. He didn't know if he had become weak or if his sister was too strong. He found it hard to accept the reality before him.
After a while, Qin Mo adjusted his mindset and gave Lu Tingzhou a look.
The man understood and raised one hand to indicate that it was inconvenient for him to touch Qin Jia.
Qin Mo asked, "So what do we do now?"
Lu Tingzhou was silent for a few seconds, then pretended to be hesitant: "I'll reluctantly make this sacrifice."
Qin Mo was stunned. "Are you sure?"
Lu Tingzhou: "Hmm."
"Then..." Qin Mo forced a smile, not knowing what else to say, "Thank you for your trouble."
After he finished speaking, he silently closed the door to the lounge, walked to the sofa in the corner, and sat down.
-
Lu Tingzhou never imagined that the Chinese word "一会儿" (yihu) could be so long.
The second hand on the wall had gone around countless times, but the person in front of him still hadn't woken up.
Lu Tingzhou silently calculated in his mind and realized that Qin Jia had been asleep for a full forty minutes.
He couldn't help but wonder: What kind of fungus could cause such a person to become like this? Is it really okay?
Thinking about it, he looked suspiciously at the corner.
At this moment, Qin Mo was already asleep on the sofa. He had a cloth draped over his body and looked relaxed, completely different from when he first came in.
Comparing the two situations, Lu Tingzhou temporarily suppressed his confusion.
If Qin Jia's condition were serious, as her brother, he couldn't possibly sleep so peacefully.
Lu Tingzhou withdrew his gaze and inadvertently noticed Qin Jia's high heels; after standing for a long time, the tops of her feet had turned slightly red.
He lowered his voice and gently called out, "Miss Qin Jia, wake up."
His response was a girl's muttered, "Okay, hug."
Lu Tingzhou froze, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips. Suddenly, all thoughts vanished from his mind. All emotions dissolved into dust at that moment, dissipating completely.
Worried that her feet would hurt when she woke up, Lu Tingzhou raised his hand and tried to push her away from his waist and take her upstairs.
Suddenly, the person in front of him moved and gently rubbed his back with their fingers.
Lu Tingzhou froze instantly, and slowly withdrew his hand that was hovering in mid-air.
He lowered his eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly, and called her in a tone as if coaxing a child: "Qin Jia."
"Take off your shoes."
-
As a koala, Qin Jia spends most of her life in trees.
She eats, plays, and sleeps in the trees, and sometimes even learns skills in the lush, leafy branches of the trees.
She was all too familiar with the scent of green trees. But the tree she was hugging tonight seemed a little different from the others.
What exactly is the difference?
breath?
She sniffed carefully; it was a faint woody scent mixed with a refreshing lemon aroma.
Is it a lemon tree?
She had seen lemon trees before, and in her memory, lemon tree trunks didn't seem to be this tall.
She touched it; the tree trunk had a unique feel—firm, without any roughness, with smooth lines, and it was even warm to the touch.
She recalled the trees she had seen, eliminating them one by one, and pondered slowly.
As she was thinking, a gentle voice suddenly popped into her mind, telling her to take off her shoes.
She looked down at her high heels and, as if possessed, took them off.
She took off her shoes, took a step forward, got a little closer to the tree, and hugged it tightly again.
However, as time went on, the tree she was hugging kept getting warmer.
It sounds like I have a fever.
-
It's 11:30 p.m.
Qin Mo was awakened by his mother's relentless phone calls. He sprang up from the sofa with sleepy eyes and answered the phone immediately.
Over there, Shen Yushu asked in an unfriendly tone, "Qin Mo, where are you? Where's Jiajia?"
Qin Mo yawned and looked up at the door. His older sister was still holding Lu Tingzhou, and the hand that had pushed him away was touching his abs through his clothes.
Lu Tingzhou seemed to be tired; he closed his eyes and fell asleep, completely unaware of what was happening.
Qin Mo choked up, suddenly unsure how to reply. He lowered his voice and said, "Mom, we're playing cards in the lounge on the first floor. We'll be up in a bit."
Hearing that her daughter was alright, Shen Yushu felt relieved and gave them a few more instructions, telling them to stop playing and go upstairs quickly.
Qin Mo nodded in agreement. He quickly put on his shoes, picked up the shawl from the sofa, walked briskly to the door, and patted Qin Jia on the shoulder.
"Sis, wake up!" he urged. "Don't sleep, Mom's calling us to go home!"
Qin Jia remained unmoved, but Lu Tingzhou was woken up by him.
The two met eyes, and Qin Mo picked up the shawl in his hand and said, "President Lu, can I do you a favor?"
Qin Mo wrapped Qin Jia's back with a shawl, while Lu Tingzhou put his arm around her waist through the knitted fabric and pushed her away with a little force.
Feeling a push, Qin Jia suddenly woke up. She looked at the person in front of her, her beautiful eyes gradually narrowing, filled with confusion.
Qin Mo draped the shawl over her shoulders, bent down to straighten the high heels on the ground, and brought them to her feet.
"Sis, hurry up and put on your shoes, let's go back."
Qin Jia snapped out of her daze and noticed that her younger brother, Qin Mo, was also there. She put on her shoes in a daze, filled with many questions, and followed Qin Mo out the door.
Dreams and reality were battling in Qin Jia's mind, and for a moment she couldn't distinguish what was real and what was fake.
"Xiao Mo, what did I do?"
Qin Mo raised an eyebrow, "You were drunk, clinging to President Lu like a tree, refusing to let go. I tried to pull you away, but you..."
Qin Jia: "What did I do to you?"
Qin Mo chuckled dryly twice. "It's nothing, I just got a friendly push from you."
Qin Jia lowered her head and remained silent, recalling the dream that seemed both real and unreal, and suddenly stopped in her tracks.
She turned around without saying a word, and Qin Mo was stunned for a moment before quickly following her.
Back in the lounge, Lu Tingzhou was still there. Qin Jia walked over and reached out to touch his forehead.
"Lu Tingzhou, are you alright?"
Lu Tingzhou stood still, looking down at her. The girl's amber eyes were big and bright, and her sudden closeness made him feel a little uneasy.
Lu Tingzhou looked away and said calmly, "I'm fine, thank you for your concern."
Qin Jia released his hand and touched his forehead again. The temperature was about the same, so he probably didn't have a fever.
"Then I'm leaving."
Lu Tingzhou: "Hmm."
Qin Jia took two steps and turned back. "Lu Tingzhou, aren't you going up?"
Lu Tingzhou took out his phone from his trouser pocket, looking nonchalant. "I'll make a call before I go up."
Qin Jia: "Goodbye."
"Goodbye," he replied.
After the person disappeared through the door, Lu Tingzhou moved his feet with difficulty, his heart filled with helplessness.
Actually, it wasn't that he didn't want to leave.
Just because...
His legs went numb from standing for so long.