Chapter 17

There was a small gas station along the road. When Lin Sheng drove over to refuel, he also picked up a pack of cigarettes from the station’s mini-mart. His hand rested in his pocket, and perhaps because he came from a military family, he stood with a straight back and legs.

Lin Sheng lowered his gaze, looking toward the cigarette display.

The cashier cautiously pointed to a pack where his eyes lingered. “This one, sir?”

Xu Xiyi watched from the window, tilting her head, still wondering what “how to use it” meant.

Then she suddenly recalled what the homeroom teacher said and had an epiphany!

—So, Brother Lin meant he promised to share his successful study strategies with her? To tutor her?

Haha!

That was great~

As Lin Sheng walked back, he happened to see a girl in a school uniform with a low ponytail, smiling shyly with her head bowed, clearly delighted about something.

From the car window, she caught sight of the nape of her neck, her pale skin almost translucent, loose, with a few strands of hair scattered about.

—

With Lin Sheng tutoring, she really did solve problems much faster.

For the math worksheet assigned today, Xu Xiyi had left the last few problems blank. Lin Sheng reviewed them one by one, briefly recalling the well-practiced concepts from before, and explained them to her.

“Look, draw an auxiliary line here, mark it as AD, then extend BC until it intersects…”

The desk lamp cast a clear white glow.

Xu Xiyi tilted her head, resting her cheek on her palm, eyes following the tip of Lin Sheng’s pen as it moved across the paper, then noticed the man’s hand holding the pen—his nails clean and pale, the tendons on the back of his hand prominent, veins slightly raised. The black watch on his wrist, the white shirt cuff spotless.

Her gaze lifted quietly to look at Lin Sheng.

He was lowering his brows, speaking very earnestly. The lamp’s light from above cast shadows of his eyelashes on his eyelids with clear, delicate strands.

“Got it?” Lin Sheng looked up.

Xu Xiyi stiffened: …

“Uh?”

She realized she had been distracted. Lin Sheng frowned, then smiled slightly, “So, where exactly were you looking just now?”

Xu Xiyi: “…”

Please don’t expose her, she silently pleaded.

When Lin Sheng explained it a second time, Xu Xiyi dared not lose focus at all.

Lin Sheng didn’t spend long—he briefly summarized the key points, then left her room. As he went downstairs, he ran into Du Juan carrying some late-night snacks.

Du Juan stiffened, then smiled, “So, you finished all the problems?”

“Almost.”

She relaxed a bit, “Thanks for helping Xiyi these past few days, driving her back and forth every day. Hope it hasn’t been a bother?”

“No,” Lin Sheng replied coolly. Passing by on the stairs, he paused briefly and said calmly but coldly, “I don’t dislike her. You really don’t need to be so worried.”

Du Juan was momentarily at a loss for words. When she recovered and looked back, the young man had already disappeared into the shadowed corner of the living room stairs. Lin Sheng kept a habit of drinking every day—he was probably heading down to the wine cellar on the basement level.

Du Juan touched her face, furrowing her brow in frustration at her own timidity.

Though she had been married into the Lin family for over ten years, her contact with her stepson was minimal.

Lin Sheng had grown up in the large compound with his grandfather until he was fifteen and only moved back to this home during his third year of middle school.

In others’ eyes, Lin Sheng was gentle and humble, but Du Juan knew well how proud and aloof he truly was—hardly approachable!

During those years under the same roof, Lin Sheng had treated her like air.

Such temperament and composure were not something ordinary children could manage.

The window by the desk was cracked open; a chilly autumn insect had flown in, circling under the lamp’s light.

Xu Xiyi propped her chin on her palm, staring at the worksheet and pondering the formulas Lin Sheng had written. After a minute, she exclaimed,

“Ah!”

Her eyes brightened, and the furrow in her brow instantly relaxed.

—

She quickly sat upright, buried herself in writing, following Lin Sheng’s thought process. Within minutes, she solved the problem. She exhaled lightly, “Brother Lin’s method really works!”

The clever “master,” Brother Lin.

This helpful ally was truly reliable.

For the first time, she solved the last big problem on a math test, feeling utterly refreshed both mentally and physically.

Looking at the clock, it was already past eleven-thirty.

She hurriedly got up, packed her books and worksheets carefully into her backpack.

While washing up in the bathroom, Xu Xiyi picked up the men’s facial cleanser again and sniffed it—damn, such a faint fragrance.

She had noticed the scent earlier when Lin Sheng lowered his gaze to explain the problem.

—So that was Brother Lin’s cheek, emitting this scent?

Coming out of the bathroom, she noticed the balcony light was still on.

She quietly walked over.

Lin Sheng faced away from her, one arm resting casually on the railing, holding what seemed to be the same wine glass from last night. The small table nearby still held the bottle of wine, but it wasn’t the same one as before.

Xu Xiyi leaned against the doorframe of the balcony, tilting her head as she observed Lin Sheng. Probably because he had been tutoring her and delayed changing clothes, he was still in his white shirt.

His shoulders, wrapped in the crisp white shirt, were broad and square—a textbook perfect build, looking solid.

Xu Xiyi studied Lin Sheng’s back for a while.

As a high school girl, the males she knew were mostly the rowdy boys from school. She rarely encountered men like Lin Sheng—broad-chested, strong-shouldered.

That kind of masculine aura, stirring hormones, was somewhat incomprehensible to a seventeen-year-old girl.

“Brother Lin is really tall…”

After staring for a while, the only conclusion the young girl could come to was that. She saw no other charm.

After muttering to herself, Xu Xiyi yawned and went back to sleep.

—

Spring and autumn were the busiest seasons for plastic surgery.

In late September, after two rounds of autumn rain, the temperature dropped sharply by over ten degrees.

With many surgeries scheduled, Lin Sheng became very busy.

Having stayed at the Lin residence for over a week, Xu Xiyi had grown familiar with her surroundings and declined Lin Sheng’s offer to drive her. There was a bus outside the community that went near the Second High School. If she woke up early, she wouldn’t be late.

So, she hadn’t seen Lin Sheng all week.

He probably lived in his apartment near the hospital.

The first monthly exam of senior year was scheduled for October 9th and 10th, right after the National Day holiday.

Two days before the break, the students in Class 5 groaned in unison, calling it a “devil’s holiday” meant for extra studying.

Xu Xiyi didn’t mind much—she had no other plans during the holiday. The only bittersweet thought was that the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 2nd would be spent alone, as her parents were far away in Tibet. It felt a little lonely.

On the evening of the 30th, after the holiday began, Zhang Xiaoli, Yang Bingbing, and several other girls invited her out shopping. Since entering senior year, they hadn’t gone out together.

Xu Xiyi called Du Juan to say she wouldn’t be eating dinner at home.

The holiday shopping streets were crowded, packed with people.

The girls came straight after school, still in their uniforms with backpacks.

“Xuxu, why haven’t we seen that handsome guy who drives you around lately?” Zhang Xiaoli asked.

“You mean Brother Lin? He’s been busy recently, so I go to school on my own.”

Yang Bingbing nudged Xu Xiyi’s shoulder, “What do plastic surgeons even do? It sounds so mysterious.”

“I’m not really sure… I only heard from my godmother that Brother Lin is really good at facial reconstruction and restorative surgery,” Xu Xiyi replied.

The girls thought about it but still couldn’t grasp the concept.

Zhang Xiaoli couldn’t help asking, “Reconstruction, restoration—what exactly do they fix or rebuild?”

Xu Xiyi sipped her milk tea, thought for a moment, and vaguely said, “I think it’s like… surgeries that other doctors botched and couldn’t fix properly, so they use ribs to sculpt ears or something.”

“Wow! That sounds amazing…”

“I heard from a nurse sister that fixing failed surgeries is super difficult!” another girl said.

“And carving ribs—sounds so scary.”

“Doctors are supposed to do this kind of work. If you’re not a doctor, you’d be scared. Medical students aren’t.”

The girls chattered excitedly, their interest in Lin Sheng growing. There were many doctors, but few who had studied abroad—and even fewer who were handsome and kind like him.

They asked many questions, but Xu Xiyi couldn’t answer most of them. Although she’d known Lin Sheng for some time, their interactions were limited.

After all, their lives were on different wavelengths.

She didn’t understand his world.

And as for hers…

Xu Xiyi thought Brother Lin probably didn’t bother understanding it either.

He was so busy, always receiving calls whenever he drove.

Besides, although Lin Sheng never said it outright, Xu Xiyi had read it in his occasional smiles.

—In his eyes, she must seem rather naive—so many things she didn’t understand.

“Hey, Xuxu! Look at that!” Yang Bingbing spat out her milk tea straw and quickly tapped Xu Xiyi’s arm, “Isn’t that Brother Lin’s car? Looks just like it.”

“Where where?” Zhang Xiaoli asked.

The other girls leaned in eagerly.

“Really?”

“What a coincidence.”

“Let me see, let me see—where is it?”

Following Yang Bingbing’s gaze, Xu Xiyi looked toward the parking lot outside the upscale cafe ahead.

There was a black Porsche.

License plate: ALS607

“Xuxu, is that Brother Lin’s car?”

Xu Xiyi adjusted the strap on her backpack, “Looks like… yeah.”

She had recognized it immediately. Yes, it was.

LS.

So, Brother Lin had come here for coffee again?

—

The waiter brought coffee to the table, placing each cup in front of the respective person.

Soft music flowed quietly. Around a long wooden table sat four or five young men and women wearing niche designer brands. Most were dressed casually, except for one tall man in a silver-gray shirt, neat and proper, carrying an indescribable aura of cleanliness.

“Mid-Autumn Festival is right around the corner, Brother Sheng. How’s your family’s old commander… doing?”

Lin Sheng lazily leaned against the sofa, holding a half-smoked cigarette, his eyes calm and unresponsive, clearly not in the mood.

The atmosphere grew slightly tense.

Chu Yuefei, wanting to lighten the mood, looked out the glass window and noticed several girls in Second High School uniforms peering in from outside.

Several lively, fresh-faced schoolgirls were teasing and pushing each other, seemingly talking about them.

“Hey, look—Brother Sheng out there!” Chu Yuefei raised his voice a bit, smiling, “That girl over there… looks a lot like your obedient little sister?”

Lin Sheng glanced toward the floor-to-ceiling window.

Among the youthful girls in uniform, Xu Xiyi seemed to be the one being teased. They pushed her toward the glass window facing his side. The girl blushed, shyly resisting. The ponytail at the back of her head drooped over the collar of her white cotton shirt, soft and smooth.