Chapter 318: Chapter 318

When Lu Jingchen ordered Chen’s mother to go prepare breakfast, he walked straight to the couch and sat down. A servant quickly brought over a freshly brewed cup of coffee and placed it in front of him. After taking a sip, he turned his gaze to Yu Xia, who followed him with an obsequiously agreeable demeanor, and lightly opened his thin lips to speak, "Your old man kicked you out and how is that my problem?"

Yu Xia raised her eyes and met Lu Jingchen’s seemingly mocking and indifferent expression. She clenched her small fists, gathered her words for quite a while before starting with some hesitation, "This matter... is a bit complicated..."

"You can get to the point," Lu Jingchen said dismissively, giving her a casual glance.

Yu Xia, "...Considering our relation isn’t bad, Lu Jingchen how can you treat me ?"

Speaking of which, their relationship wasn’t actually bad. Aside from the marriage arrangement that bound them due to the old folks at home, setting that aside, they were still friends.

Lu Jingchen lifted his eyelids, gazing at her indifferently, and spoke in a detached tone, "How am I treating you?"

Feeling suddenly emboldened by his words, Yu Xia accused him directly, "Can’t you be a bit more gentle as a man? How are you going to find a wife behaving ? I really don’t know which woman would be blind enough to marry you. I think you, Lu Jingchen, should be kinder and not afflict any decent women."

Lu Jingchen heard what she said but did not respond, merely giving her a silent, cold glance, and the chill that emerged silently quickly filled the air.

Yu Xia’s heart skipped a beat, nearly scared into stepping back by Lu Jingchen’s aura, she swallowed subconsciously before trying to maintain her composure with a somewhat pitiful tone, "I... you can’t just leave me to die. Lu Jingchen, I’ve got nowhere to go, and if you don’t take me in, I’ll really end up on the streets..."

"You want to stay here?" Lu Jingchen asked directly, not immediately agreeing to let her stay but instead arching an eyebrow inquiringly.

Yu Xia, taken aback, nodded subconsciously, but when she caught the man’s warning and cold gaze, she immediately changed her nod to a shake of her head, and said, "It’s not that I must stay here, just arrange a place for me to live. I don’t have much money on me, not enough to rent a place..."

Before Yu Xia could finish her words, Lu Jingchen proposed directly, "You could choose to work and earn the money yourself."

She knew that this would naturally be the best solution, but...

"It’s not that I don’t want to work, it’s just that my old man has already quit my job at the school for me, and he’s also given strict orders for those companies not to hire me."

What’s more important was... her identification card and other documents had been confiscated by the old man. When she was kicked out of the house, she only took a suitcase, and even that suitcase only had a few changes of clothes.

Lu Jingchen looked at Yu Xia, thought for a moment, and finally said, "You can stay here."

Yu Xia’s eyes lit up, almost in disbelief, "Lu Jingchen, are you saying I can stay here?"

Lu Jingchen didn’t say anything, but nodded his head.

Yu Xia looked at the man sitting on the couch with a trace of suspicion, her mind spinning. She felt it couldn’t be so simple and after a moment of thought, she still asked, "Do you want me to do something for you?" New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novelꞁire.net

In her mind, this man was never so kind-hearted. It made her feel as if she were being walked around by a sly fox, possibly to be sold the next second, and end up counting her own money naively.

Lu Jingchen looked at her deeply, the corner of his mouth slightly tugged into a faint smile, took another sip of his coffee, and then said lightly, "Stay with Song Qiao and protect her..."

Although the man just said it this way, Yu Xia knew that his words of staying and protecting meant more than the ordinary sense. She was always smart; even if Lu Jingchen didn’t spell out everything, she could still understand.

What he meant was to stay and protect Song Qiao, either before the Lu Family took action or during their action.

As a child, she was bullied, and afterward, her family’s old man threw her into the army. Now her skills were not inferior to an ordinary person’s, possessing a capable quality.

Lu Jingchen did not rush Yu Xia for an answer, his face always wearing that faint smile, his voice low and pleasant, "I’ll give you three minutes to consider. If you can’t agree, you can leave right now... Of course, I won’t arrange any place for you to stay, you’ll have to sort it out yourself."

Yu Xia, "...Lu Jingchen, you’re threatening me."

"You can think of it that way." He didn’t deny it and stood up ready to go check if Song Qiao was up.

Watching Lu Jingchen’s receding figure, Yu Xia finally caved, immediately nodding, "Fine, I agree!"

Inside the master bedroom on the second floor, Song Qiao opened her eyes, but still felt very sleepy. Despite having slept all day yesterday, and having slept until now tonight, why did it feel like she still hadn’t gotten enough sleep?

Lying face down made her feel a bit uncomfortable as her chest was being pressed down. She slowly got up and noticed her back wasn’t as painful, which meant the medicine must be quite effective.

After spacing out on the bed for a while, she finally sat up, ran her fingers through her long hair, yawned, and then threw off the covers to get out of bed.

The bedroom curtains were not drawn, as Song Qiao had chosen blackout curtains when she bought them, making the room look less bright. She stepped barefoot onto the floor, the carpets having been put away a while ago due to the summer heat. She walked to the window and suddenly pulled the curtains aside, flooding the room with light.

The weather today wasn’t great, looking gloomy and like it might rain. But it didn’t matter to her; her back injury meant her vacation was the same as before, and she wouldn’t be returning to the company to end her leave anytime soon. If she did go back, she’d just have to take time off again, which would be quite bothersome.

Moreover, Lu Jingchen wouldn’t agree to her going back to work anyway.

Standing by the French window, Song Qiao gazed at the scenery outside for a while, wondering whether she should visit Ning Wan at the hospital later since she didn’t have to go to work anyway.

But with the injury on her back, she worried that Ning Wan would find out and then get worried about her.

When Lu Jingchen opened the door and walked in, he saw Song Qiao standing barefoot by the bed, lost in thought. She had worn an off-shoulder nightgown the previous night, so her still somewhat reddened back was exposed, but her beautiful clavicle, shaped like a butterfly’s wings, caught his attention.

Gently closing the door behind him, Lu Jingchen walked into the bedroom. His gaze immediately fell on Song Qiao’s bare feet, causing his face to darken slightly, and he sternly called out her name with a hint of severity, "Song Qiao!"

Hearing Lu Jingchen’s voice, Song Qiao snapped back to reality and turned around to see him standing there, his expression seemingly dark and not in a good mood. She paused slightly before asking, "What’s wrong?"

"Why aren’t you wearing shoes?"

She paused, looked down at her feet on the floor, her plump toes white and pretty, and suddenly remembered an online saying that whether a girl is pretty can be partly judged by her toes.

She tugged at the corner of her mouth, unconcerned, and said, "I forgot to put them on when I got up just now... Hey, Lu Jingchen, what are you doing?"

Before she could finish speaking, the man walked directly over to her and swiftly picked her up in his arms, which startled her into instinctively gripping onto the shirt on his chest, her face bearing a panicked expression.

The man glanced at her lightly but with a teasing tone, asked, "Should I have someone lay the carpet down again?"

Song Qiao, "...No need, it’s so hot; why put the carpet down? I’ll remember to wear shoes next time."

The man pressed his lips together silently, placed her on the bed to sit properly, and then took a pair of slippers from nearby to put on her feet.

Song Qiao watched as the man knelt in front of her to help her put on her shoes, her gaze lingering on his black head of hair, slightly dazed.

As Lu Jingchen looked up from putting on her shoes and stood up, he saw Song Qiao staring blankly at him. He paused and then curled the corner of his mouth into a slight smile, saying, "Do you need me to carry you into the bathroom?"

Song Qiao, "No need, I’m going to wash up now." With that, she stood up, her face still flushed from being caught off guard, and walked into the restroom in her slippers.

The man still stood in his original spot, watching as Song Qiao hastily retreated. The sight of her fleeing figure actually lifted Lu Jingchen’s mood quite a bit.

When Song Qiao finished washing up and came out, there was no trace of the man in the bedroom. Because of the injury on her back, she chose a rather loose, one-shoulder white shirt dress to wear. As she tried walking a few steps, she realized that even if she touched the burned area on her back, it wasn’t that painful.

Yu Xia was looking at Song Qiao properly for the first time, seeing her standard melon-seed face with features that matched beautifully, the kind that made you find her pretty at first glance and even more so the longer you looked.

She was wearing a somewhat loose, one-shoulder white shirt dress as she slowly descended the stairs. Her black hair was smooth, draping over her shoulders, and when she looked up, her eyes sparkled brightly.

Yu Xia, holding a spoon in his hand, stopped stirring the porridge, forgot all his movements, and turned his head towards Lu Jingchen, blurting out in a daze, "Lu Jingchen, your wife is really beautiful..."

Actually, at first glance, there wasn’t much of an impression, but the more he looked, the more pleasing and beautiful she seemed.