WMR | Chapter 10

Early the next morning, while his mother was still home, Jiang Baiyu wanted to ask her about Yan Shuyan.

He did not remember when the Yan family had first proposed the marriage alliance with the Jiang family in his previous life, nor did he know why his fiance was Yan Jinzhou. But Yan Shuyan personally came to find him today, and that left him deeply uneasy.

This marriage alliance was probably not as simple as he had imagined.

He had finally been given a second life, and he did not want to get caught up in the Yan family’s open and hidden struggles without even understanding how.

After going downstairs, he saw two guests sitting in the living room, and the atmosphere was somewhat heavy. When he saw their faces, he stopped in his tracks at once.

Sitting in the living room were Lu Qingci and his mother, Su Man.

In his previous life, only after Lu Qingci returned to the Lu family did he learn that Su Man had once been his mother’s close friend. It was also then that he learned Lu Qingci and Lu Qingchu’s true backgrounds.

But why had they taken the initiative to come find his mother now?

“Mom.”

With his doubts in mind, Jiang Baiyu slowly walked downstairs.

Seeing him, Shen Shiyi hurriedly called out, “Xiaoyu, come over quickly and say hello to your Aunt Su Man.”

Shen Shiyi’s eyes were a little red, and Su Man’s were too.

Only Lu Qingci looked at him after seeing him. The tall teenager rose from the sofa, his cool eyes calm as he looked over at him.

Jiang Baiyu pretended to be confused. “Class rep, why are you at my house?”

Shen Shiyi wiped at the corners of her eyes and pulled him over, saying, “This is your Aunt Su Man, Mom’s best friend since we were little. Because of some matter, we haven’t seen each other in more than ten years.”

Jiang Baiyu gave a slight bow and politely greeted her, “Hello, Aunt Su.”

Aunt Su said with tears in her smile, “Oh, hello, hello. You’ve grown this big already. I only just found out that you and my Qingci go to the same school, and are even in the same class.”

Lu Qingci gave him a slight nod.

Jiang Baiyu still looked at the teenager with feigned confusion.

“What a coincidence, after so many years of not seeing each other, our children ended up in the same class.”

Shen Shiyi chided Su Man, “And you too, keeping this from me all this time. Why didn’t you come find me?”

“It’s a long story.”

Su Man seemed to want to say more, but stopped. With a miserable expression, she gave a bitter smile and said, “Shiyi, you helped me with such a big favor, and I have no way of repaying you. Qingci’s grades are pretty good. How about letting Qingci tutor Xiaoyu? That’s the only way I can repay you.”

Shen Shiyi said fondly, “What repay me? I’ll be relieved as long as Qingchu’s illness is treated as soon as possible.”

Su Man shook her head. “You know my personality. If I don’t do something for you, I can’t be at ease.”

Lu Qingci actually stood up as well and volunteered, saying, “Aunt Shen, I heard you’re looking for a tutor for Jiang Baiyu. If you trust my ability, let me do it. If I don’t do something for you, my mom probably won’t accept your help.”

Jiang Baiyu: !

From their words, he roughly understood that Su Man had come to his mother for help with Lu Qingchu’s surgery fee.

This was so different from what had happened in his previous life.

Could it be that because he had not clung to Lu Qingci, and had not secretly given Lu Qingci money like he had in his previous life, Su Man had been driven to the end of the road and come to ask an old friend for money?

And a tutor.

He had only mentioned to Zhou Nan at school that he wanted to find a tutor. He had never expected that Lu Qingci, for all his pride, would actually set aside that pride to tutor a classmate?

Jiang Baiyu wanted to refuse and hesitantly said, “Well, that’s not quite right. Class rep, we’re classmates.”

Lu Qingci asked softly, “Are you worried I’m not capable?”

“That’s fine too,”

Shen Shiyi said after observing the steady teenager for a long while. “Xiaoyu, I’ve long heard that your class rep has excellent grades and won many competition awards. And since you’re in the same class, seeing each other every day, he’ll definitely know your studies better. Letting him tutor you should work even better.”

Lu Qingci said, “Thank you, Aunt Shen. I’ll definitely tutor Xiaoyu properly.”

Jiang Baiyu: ......

He was completely stunned.

Shen Shiyi gave him a look and said, “Xiaoyu, your Aunt Su and I have some things we want to talk about. Can you take Qingci to eat breakfast first?”

Jiang Baiyu had no choice but to take Lu Qingci away. “Class rep, this way.”

Lu Qingci followed Jiang Baiyu to the dining room.

The boy was still wearing loose pajamas, the soft fabric wrapping his slender, lean frame. He walked barefoot over the soft, thick carpet, and a section of his smooth ankle showed beneath the loose pajama pants, warm and fair.

He was clearly the pampered young master of a wealthy family.

The Jiang family was very well off. The distance from the main hall to the dining room was spacious, and the entire villa was luxurious and bright. Jiang Baiyu ought to have been living such a carefree life.

It was his fault.

He had not offered help to him when the Jiang family was at its hardest, which had left him and his family drifting from place to place, and also made that boy, who loved him so deeply, grow disappointed in him bit by bit.

In the end, he abandoned him completely.

It was his fault.

Breakfast that Jiang Baiyu often ate was laid out on the table, milk, bread, fried eggs, salad, and so on.

Jiang Baiyu pulled out a chair. “Class rep, sit here.”

His voice was soft, carrying shyness and embarrassment.

Lu Qingci said quietly, “Thank you.”

Jiang Baiyu was not very used to Lu Qingci’s politeness, especially when there seemed to be a gentle smile in his words.

The boy touched the hair at his temples and said, “I, I didn’t expect your mom and my mom to be friends.”

Lu Qingci said, “I didn’t expect it either.”

Jiang Baiyu opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, so he could only point at the breakfast on the table and say, “I don’t know if it suits your taste.”

“Thank you.”

Lu Qingci thanked him again and said, “I’ll start tutoring you tomorrow. Today I’ll first make a study plan for you.”

“After school, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we’ll do science review. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, math, Chinese, and English. On weekend mornings we’ll do quizzes. The classes can either be in the school study room or come to your house.”

Jiang Baiyu’s mouth opened in surprise. “Isn’t that schedule too tight? Do you really have that much time? I don’t have that much time for classes either, and sometimes I might go out with Zhou Nan and the others...”

“That’s my time.”

Lu Qingci’s lips quietly curved with a trace of a smile. “If you can’t make class, you can tell me in advance.”

As he spoke, he took out his phone and placed it on the dining table.

Jiang Baiyu went a little dazed.

Lu Qingci was trying to add him as a contact.

One had to know that in his previous life, he had worked so hard just to get Lu Qingci’s phone number. It was only after he offered to pay for Lu Qingchu’s surgery that Lu Qingci agreed to date him and give him his number, while coldly warning him, “Don’t contact me for no reason. I hate it.”

But now, Lu Qingci was actually taking the initiative to exchange numbers.

Thinking of everything from his previous life, Jiang Baiyu felt a little self-mocking.

Anyway, in this life, no matter how the plot changed, there would never again be any emotional entanglement between him and Lu Qingci.

After they added each other as contacts, Lu Qingci saw Yan Shuyan’s name in the boy’s newly added contacts list.

He looked around the living room and dining room, then asked in a low voice, “Where are the flowers Yan Shuyan gave you last night? Why don’t I see them?”

Jiang Baiyu told the truth. “My mom doesn’t like the smell of chamomile. I brought them to Aunt Lin last night and asked her to throw them away.”

“I see.”

Lu Qingci lowered his eyes, hiding the satisfaction in them.

Even though he knew Jiang Baiyu’s heart only had him in it, he was still jealous when he saw the boy accept Yan Shuyan’s flowers last night.

He also wanted to give the boy flowers, wanted to see that surprised and happy expression on his face. For that, he had to enter the Lu family sooner, to touch his boy sooner. To make up for all the love he owed him.

---

After Lu Qingci and the others left, Jiang Baiyu hurried to find Shen Shiyi. “Mom, why did you agree to let Lu Qingci be my tutor? We’re classmates!”

Shen Shiyi rubbed her son’s head and said, “Silly child, tutoring is just an excuse. Your old friend is in a difficult spot right now, and if I just gave her money, she would definitely feel bad about it.”

Jiang Baiyu tested cautiously, “How much money did you give her?”

Shen Shiyi said, “Lu Qingci has a twin younger sister, and because of her congenital heart disease, she urgently needs surgery now. The surgery costs three hundred thousand, so I gave her three hundred thousand.”

Jiang Baiyu: ......

In his previous life, he paid this surgery fee. In this life, his mother paid it.

So this money had to come from the Jiang family after all. He only hoped Aunt Su Man would not be as coldhearted as her son and repay kindness with ingratitude.

“Xiaoyu, there’s another reason I agreed to him.”

Shen Shiyi smiled. “When I first saw your classmate’s face, and then saw that his surname was Lu, I thought of one person. The Lu family’s Mr. Lu, Lu Mingxiu.”

“Just now, Su Man also told me everything from these years. As expected, he is Lu Mingxiu’s son.”

Shen Shiyi sighed. “Su Man’s personality, really, has caused the two children to suffer for more than ten years because of her. Now, for the sake of her child, she has finally figured it out and wants me to serve as a matchmaker in the middle, so the two children can enter the Lu family.”

Jiang Baiyu was very shocked.

If his mother succeeded in arranging it, Lu Qingci would enter the Lu family more than a year earlier than in his previous life, and escape his current predicament sooner.

Then in his previous life, had it been because he clung to Lu Qingci that Lu Qingci suffered more, and even caused Lu Qingchu’s illness to go untreated in time, leading to her early death?

So that was why he had ended up so badly?

“Xiaoyu.”

Shen Shiyi lifted a hand and patted her son on the shoulder, saying earnestly, “Your father and I are very relieved seeing you like this now. You seem to have suddenly become sensible, and you even know to study hard.”

“So, we also want to tell you something about business. The project our family is currently working on has always wanted to get in with Mr. Lu. If we can use this matter to build a good relationship with Mr. Lu, it will be very helpful to the future prospects of our company’s development.”

“I understand.”

Jiang Baiyu frowned.

In this life, his relationship with Lu Qingci was still fairly ordinary. He did not expect Lu Qingci to help the Jiang family, only hoped he would not end up in such a miserable state again like in his previous life.

---

On the way home.

Su Man’s expression was cold as she questioned him, “Qingci, I already did what you said and found Shen Shiyi to arrange for you and your sister to return to the Lu family sooner. But why did you have to tutor your classmate, and even make us owe the Jiang family a debt?”

“As long as your father recognizes you and your sister, let alone a two hundred thousand surgery fee. You’ll soon have more things than Jiang Baiyu. Why go out of your way to owe him a favor now?”

“Because...”

Lu Qingci turned back to look at the Jiang family villa and said in a low, even voice, “I want to owe him a favor. That way, I’ll have a chance to repay him.”

“You...”

Su Man looked at her son in surprise. “You, you like him?”

“Mom, I won’t be like before anymore, hurting the people who love me deeply, and tormenting myself too.”

Lu Qingci looked at his mother and said seriously, “I hope you can do the same, and stop torturing each other with Lu Mingxiu.”

“My business with Lu Mingxiu is none of your concern.”

Su Man’s expression was complicated. After hesitating for a long time, she asked, “Does Jiang Baiyu like you too?”

“Mm, he does.”

Lu Qingci nodded lightly, his eyes flashing with a soft light. “Mom, be a little better to him in the future.”