Chapter 3: Running Away for Graduate School
998 Words
The next day.
Zhan Xiang stared blankly. “Who? What are you talking about?”
Duan Xiuming snapped, “The one in the qipao at the wedding yesterday! The most stunning one there!”
Zhan Xiang shook his head furiously. “There was no such person!”
Duan Xiuming was practically fuming. “Are you blind? She was more beautiful than any celebrity! And she was barely wearing makeup!”
Still baffled, Zhan Xiang shook his head again. “If someone like that had shown up, I’d definitely remember. But no, there was no qipao beauty surpassing a movie star.”
Duan Xiuming’s face turned dark as he sneered, “Great, so I had a run-in with a ghost, huh?”
Zhan Xiang: “…”
Duan Xiuming stared him down.
Zhan Xiang scratched his head awkwardly. “Uh… do you know her name? I can ask around.”
Duan Xiuming grew even more irritable. “No idea.”
Zhan Xiang was stunned. “Huh?? Then how are we supposed to find her?”
Duan Xiuming didn’t even bother to reply.
She vanished in the blink of an eye.
Slept with him and left—without a second’s hesitation.
Heartless.
Exactly the kind of woman who’d destroy her own paintings.
Zhan Xiang felt something was off. “Wait… Ming-ge, the wedding you went to yesterday—was it my great-uncle’s golden anniversary?”
Duan Xiuming blinked. “Golden anniversary?”
Zhan Xiang nodded emphatically.
Duan Xiuming: “…”
Zhan Xiang: “You… went to the wrong wedding?”
Duan Xiuming: “How many weddings were held at that hotel yesterday?”
Zhan Xiang: “Five.”
Duan Xiuming stared him down. “Find her.”
Zhan Xiang nearly dropped to his knees. “Ming-ge! That’s not even our turf! How am I supposed to find her? She was a guest at someone else’s wedding!”
Duan Xiuming: “Your great-uncle?”
Zhan Xiang looked miserable. “How many generations apart do you think we are? We haven’t seen each other in over a decade—he’s barely even family!”
Duan Xiuming gritted his teeth. “You have no connections at all?”
Zhan Xiang: “Ming-ge, this is my first time in Xizi City! We’re miles away from Xiangjiang!”
Fair point…
Duan Xiuming shut his eyes, too exasperated to speak.
But all he could see was her—the sound of her voice from last night, and those breathtaking eyes.
Zhan Xiang studied him and said, “Ming-ge, I always thought women weren’t your thing.”
Duan Xiuming’s eyes snapped open, sharp as blades.
Zhan Xiang waved his hands in panic. “No, no, that’s not what I meant! I just thought… Jiangnan women? Soft and gentle? That’s not your type…”
Duan Xiuming frowned. “She’s the furthest thing from a gentle Jiangnan woman.”
Zhan Xiang had no comeback.
With that kind of description and tone…
Something wasn’t right.
Did she owe him money or something?
Zhan Xiang ventured, “Real people don’t just disappear. Maybe call the police?”
Duan Xiuming wanted to strangle him.
——
The day after her wedding, Lu Qian returned home. Her new husband was nowhere to be seen.
The dinner table was lively—aside from her grandmother, the entire Lu family was present.
Lu Mingyu sat quietly in the corner, eating in silence.
Lu Qian shot a cold glance toward the end of the table and declared loudly, “Lu Mingyu made a spectacle of herself at my wedding yesterday!”
Without lifting her head, Lu Mingyu replied calmly, “I wasn’t even in the banquet hall—I was painting in a private room the entire time. I made no scene.”
Lu Qian glared at her. “Your painting got vandalized! Someone drew a blood-red skull over it—completely ruined! Why weren’t you there guarding it?!”
Lu Mingyu explained softly, “I was feeling a bit hungry, so I left early.”
Lu Qian scoffed. “You’d die if you waited a little longer? My husband didn’t even show up today—because of that cursed painting! What a bad omen! You’re so brainless!”
Their aunt, Du Wenxin, also looked toward Lu Mingyu, frowning. “Mingyu, as a daughter of the Lu family, you ought to be more mindful of your conduct. Everyone’s been gossiping about you since the wedding—people from all walks of life asking questions. What do you think that makes us look like?”
Lu Qian chimed in, “Exactly! Do you even have a shred of shame?”
Her older brother, Lu Lin, finally spoke. “Enough. She didn’t do anything wrong.”
Lu Qian was furious. “Brother! Why are you defending her? I told you she shouldn’t attend my wedding. I said to lock her up! Why did you take her with you anyway?!”
At that moment—
Knock knock.
Uncle Lu Qiuliang tapped the table. “Enough. Mind your manners.”
The table fell silent.
He looked over and said, “Mingyu, come to my study after dinner.”
Lu Mingyu replied, “Yes, Uncle.”
——
In the study.
Lu Qiuliang sat behind the desk, gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, calmly flipping through a book. In his other hand, he toyed with a string of olive pit beads, producing a rhythmic clicking sound.
He exuded scholarly elegance—a quintessential aristocratic businessman.
Lu Mingyu stood quietly before him; there was no seat offered.
An hour passed.
Lu Qiuliang finally looked up and asked, “You wish to go to the rear courtyard?”
Lu Mingyu replied, “Uncle, I’m still part of the Lu family. Am I not allowed to walk freely in my own home?”
Lu Qiuliang said, “Your grandmother is unwell. Do not disturb her.”
Lu Mingyu: “…”
Lu Qiuliang: “When you’ve truly reflected, you may see her.”
- Writer
