Chapter Sixteen: Why the Rush?

When Song Chengyi came out, Luo Yixia had just managed to calm her mood.

She glanced at Song Chengyi, who was standing there with a puzzled look, then at the living room she’d left in chaos, and the mess she’d made.

“I’ll clean up the trash,” Luo Yixia hurried to say.

Song Chengyi sighed. “I’ll do it.”

Then, as if it were the most natural thing, he walked over to the corner where the vacuum cleaner was kept.

Only then did Luo Yixia remember the vacuum cleaner she had taken apart until it was beyond recognition, and she rushed after him, trying to stop him, but Song Chengyi was a step ahead.

When Song Chengyi stared in disbelief at the device, now reduced to a pile of scattered parts, he could hardly trust his own eyes. Was this still something that belonged in his home?

Luo Yixia closed her eyes, turned around, and tried to slip away from the “scene of the crime.”

Song Chengyi’s voice drifted over, slow and deliberate. “Luo—Yi—xia.”

Each syllable was measured, every word dripping with his anger.

“Uh, what is it…” Luo Yixia replied, deliberately avoiding his gaze and refusing to look at the vacuum cleaner she’d reduced to a heap of who-knew-what.

“Explain,” Song Chengyi said, arms crossed, fixing her with a direct stare.

“Explain what?” Luo Yixia tried to feign innocence.

Song Chengyi had seen through this move long ago; there was no way he’d fall for it now. He nudged the parts on the floor with his foot. “Well? What happened here?”

“Oh, that… Well, you see, at the end of last semester, our teacher gave us an assignment to embody Edison’s spirit of exploration. Today, I happened to have some free time, saw the vacuum cleaner, and thought I’d take it apart and put it back together again. But then I went to the mall and didn’t have time to finish. I’ll put it back together for you in a bit, I promise.” Luo Yixia squatted at Song Chengyi’s feet, pretending to reassemble the pieces.

Song Chengyi looked at this little liar, who could spin a tale without so much as blinking, and couldn’t help but smile wryly.

He was curious to see how she would manage to put it back together.

He was about to sit on the sofa, but seeing it covered with shopping bags, there was nowhere to sit.

Luo Yixia noticed immediately and, eager to please, quickly cleared the bags off the sofa.

Then, grinning sheepishly, she invited Song Chengyi to sit down.

Song Chengyi settled in, watching her with leisure.

In the end, with no other choice, Luo Yixia squatted down beside the vacuum cleaner, staring at the jumble of parts on the floor, completely at a loss.

How had she even managed to take it apart in the first place?

And with those two eyes boring into her back, she felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.

Awkwardly, Luo Yixia turned her head. “You must be busy, right? Don’t mind me—go do what you need to do.”

Song Chengyi shook his head. “I want to learn from your spirit of exploration. Go ahead, assemble it—I’ll watch and learn.”

Luo Yixia forced a smile and turned back around, but then, as if grasping at a lifeline, she asked, “Where’s the manual? With the instructions, I could put this together so much faster.”

Song Chengyi smiled. “It’s been a while, I threw it out. No rush, take your time.”

Luo Yixia felt like Song Chengyi was deliberately toying with her—did he have to make things so difficult?

Why had she been so impulsive and careless with his things?

She stared at the mess, utterly miserable. What was she even doing? She was a clinical medicine student, training to be a doctor, someone who would wield a scalpel in the future. Why hadn’t she just made up some other excuse? Why did she have to claim she could assemble things, as if she were studying engineering?

It was a rare thing for Song Chengyi to sit on the sofa, watching Luo Yixia for over half an hour.

He found her scratching her head and racking her brains quite amusing.

Luo Yixia, meanwhile, was growing hungry. Why hadn’t this man left yet?