Jealousy

Once she figured this out, Fu Liangxia's gaze toward Fu Haoyao gradually turned strange. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly, and her eyes drifted over his chest as if she could see through the not-so-thin fabric to the muscles beneath.

She remembered that Fu Haoyao was a tennis recruit, so his figure should be...

She recalled the firm thigh her left hand had brushed against moments ago, and a faint blush crept up her face.

"Actually, it wasn't for nothing," Fu Liangxia murmured.

"Oh, good... wait, who asked you about that!" Fu Haoyao's face reddened too, his voice tinged with embarrassment and irritation. "How are you so... so..."

"So what?" Fu Liangxia discovered that blushing was contagious—as the boy's face grew pinker, her own temperature dropped, and she could even tease him with a smile.

The two stared at each other in silence, unaware that the car was speeding up. The small space was filled with an unusual tension.

As their eyes met, Fu Liangxia watched Fu Haoyao's turned-away profile burn nearly red. With a soft laugh, she braced her left hand on the front seat back to sit up and leave his embrace.

However, her movement was stopped by a gentle tug at her right hand.

"What happened between you and that Liang guy earlier?" Fu Haoyao's voice was low, carrying a slight unnaturalness, but as the words left his mouth, it became smoother, with a deliberately polished casualness. "Did he threaten you? Did he do anything else to you?"

Just thinking about the possibility seemed unbearable to him; a flicker of fire appeared in his eyes. "If you have nowhere to talk, you can tell me. Since you're... tutoring me, I'll protect you and stand up for you."

His tone was quite tough.

Fu Liangxia smiled, looking at his delicate brows and eyes in the night. "So you punched him?"

"..."

Fu Haoyao turned his face, looking at her in shock. "How did you know?"

"Guessed."

Fu Haoyao stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly lowered his head in defeat, touching the tip of his nose with frustration. "I can't hide anything from you."

His light, fluffy hair shone in the night. Fu Liangxia suddenly felt he resembled a little dog that had secretly avenged its owner but been caught—irresistible, making her want to ruffle his hair.

She thought it, and she did it.

She shifted her right hand, which was intertwined with his, and in his gradually dimming eyes, she gave his fingers a firm squeeze.

Not too hard, but very clear—like praise for what he had done.

Fu Haoyao froze, feeling as if all the blood in his body rushed to that one point in his fingers, burning hot.

His face was also terribly hot.

"You..."

Her soft, clear features were close at hand, a faint fragrance surrounding him. Fu Haoyao saw her eyes curve into crescent moons, and she said, "Well done."

Well done.

It was hard to describe how Fu Haoyao felt at that moment. If he had to, it was like fireworks bursting all at once in his mind—spectacular and overwhelming, almost too much to bear.

She praised him?

She praised him!

A strange curve slowly crept up the corner of Fu Haoyao's mouth, as if he tried to suppress it but failed.

He turned his head aside, his tone stiff. "You think I did well?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Then you..." Fu Haoyao struggled to voice the thought in his heart, but as his gaze met something, he froze and trailed off.

Fu Liangxia looked at him in confusion. "I what?"

She didn't understand why Fu Haoyao had suddenly changed expression. Following his gaze, she turned around and saw Fu Langshu, who had already braked, looking at them with a half-smile.

"He means, choose him," Fu Langshu precisely pierced through the secret thought hidden in Fu Haoyao's heart, earning a stiff "I didn't" from the other.

Fu Haoyao hadn't expected his brother to hear even his quiet words. Recalling the ambiguous relationship between him and Fu Liangxia, a feeling he might call guilt rose in him.

Something like being caught stealing a glance at the rightful owner?

Especially with their current posture, which seemed to add another layer to this forbidden situation.

He tried to put on a serious face, thinking that since Fu Liangxia had said she had nothing to do with his brother, why should he feel guilty?

Besides, his brother was used to playing the field; countless beauties had been photographed around him, so he probably didn't take Fu Liangxia to heart either.

How could he compare to him?

Fu Haoyao thought that his own romantic history was as clean as a blank sheet compared to his brother's, and he was... well, anyway, he was the better choice.

With this thought, his initial guilt evaporated, and he met his brother's gaze head-on with an air of confidence.

Confidence.

Fu Langshu almost laughed at the sight.

Under Fu Langshu's meaningful gaze, Fu Liangxia calmly straightened up, climbed off Fu Haoyao, and sat back in her seat.

She sat up straight and said, "Seems I need to exercise more."

"That shouldn't be the reason," Fu Langshu glanced at her in the rearview mirror, then as the red light passed, he pressed the accelerator again. "It's my fault for driving unsteadily."

"Oh, no," he paused, then slowly broke into a smile. "Maybe it was just right. Right, Xiao Yao?"

Fu Haoyao scrambled up from the floor, leaned against the other door, and said nothing.

Fu Langshu didn't get angry at his evasion, but cast a light glance at him before looking away.

Both Fu Liangxia and Fu Langshu were polite people, so they quickly steered the conversation to a safe topic, chatting idly as if they were getting along well.

It wasn't until the car pulled up to the Fu residence gate, with warm yellowish lights shining on the car door, that they stopped.

Fu Liangxia opened the door, got out, thanked him, and watched Fu Langshu drive away again.

Even after the car had gone far, Fu Haoyao still hadn't withdrawn his gaze from that tiny dot. Maintaining his turned head, he suddenly spoke. "Brother, are you serious?"

He didn't wait for Fu Langshu's answer. A few seconds later, he said casually, "I am."

[Fu Haoyao's Affinity Points +3, current Affinity Points 61.]

Out of politeness, Fu Liangxia kept watching until Fu Langshu's car rounded the bend and descended the mountain, disappearing from view, before she finally looked away.

Holding the blanket Fu Haoyao had given her, she turned and walked toward the courtyard.

Today there was no tutoring, so she had come back unusually early; it was just past eight o'clock.

The courtyard was empty, and there were no water marks on the flowers by the roadside, indicating that Fu Liangxia's father hadn't watered them yet.

She reached out and turned on the living room light. The media room was silent, and her mother must have gone to the company to accompany her father.

The house was quiet, with the second floor pitch black—Fu Liedong probably hadn't come home yet.

No one was home, which made Fu Liangxia feel relaxed. She no longer had to pretend to be the obedient girl of the original owner. Wiping off her faint smile, she became expressionless again.

With one hand holding the blanket, she used the other to type a message to Xu Yuan, asking how she was feeling and mentioning her idea about the financing.

The latter was just a sudden thought of hers, not yet formally proposed; she only wanted a more experienced person to discuss it with.

Obviously, Fu Langshu and Fu Liangxia's father weren't the best candidates. Xu Yuan was smart, had a keen sense of business, and had more life experience than her. Fu Liangxia thought asking her was undoubtedly the best choice.

As she had imagined, Xu Yuan was knowledgeable and thoughtful. In their exchange, Fu Liangxia's vague idea gradually took shape into a clear framework.

A faint smile curled on her lips as she typed and opened the refrigerator, pulling out a can of iced camel milk before closing the door.

The next second, she was startled by the figure standing a few steps away behind the closed door.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Su Xingshu's seductive face wore an unreadable expression. He looked at the faint smile on her lips, then at the blanket with the Fu Corporation logo wrapped around her, and raised an eyebrow.

God knew how he had spent the whole day.

From the moment Su Xingshu saw the group photo Fu Haoyao had posted, or even earlier when Fu Liangxia rejected him for a camping group, his mood had been off.

Su Xingshu had just realized he might have fallen for Fu Liangxia; his concern for her wasn't without reason, and judging by her actions, she didn't seem indifferent to him either.

But today had been a series of blows.

If he could still maintain a good attitude when rejected for the camping group, then when he had half-coaxed Fu Liedong into getting drunk over a photo and waited at the Fu residence under the pretext of taking care of him, only to see Fu Liangxia wrapped in a Fu Corporation blanket and chatting cheerfully with someone on her phone, Su Xingshu felt his rationality slipping away.

Who was she chatting with? Fu Haoyao?

Was it that joyful?

Jealousy reached its peak at that moment. Su Xingshu took a deep breath, his chest heaving.

After a long pause, he finally spoke calmly, "Can you smile like that at anyone?"

So, he wasn't special after all.

Fu Liangxia looked at him, frowning slightly. "What are you talking about? Why are you here, and where's Fu Liedong?"

Her impression of her irresponsible younger brother deepened again. The friend he brought home was blocking her here, while he himself was nowhere to be seen.

However, since the person in front of her was still someone she needed to use, Fu Liangxia didn't show too much impatience. After firing off three questions, she regained her composure.

But the other party didn't seem to think so.

"Don't want me here? Then who do you want? Fu Haoyao?"

Su Xingshu looked at her, and whether it was a trick of the light or something else, his eyes actually seemed glistening.

He even looked a bit hurt.

Perhaps stung by the barrage of questions, Su Xingshu pressed his thin lips together and let out a bitter laugh. "What, changed your taste? Cold ice not to your liking, now you're into idiots?"