Chapter 27: The Implications of a Man and Woman Alone Together

After having the cake, Shen Chutang no longer felt like staying, so she suggested leaving first. Lu Beiqin offered to take her home. Shi Hanhan wanted her to stay and play longer, but Shi Shaoxun looked at Lu Beiqin with a knowing smile. “Hanhan, don’t make a fuss. Your Brother Beiqin and Sister Chutang have things to attend to.”

“What things?” Hanhan asked, confused.

“Grown-up matters, of course.”

“I’m a grown-up too!” Hanhan protested.

Lu Beiqin shot Shi Shaoxun a sideways glance. “Enough.”

But Shi Shaoxun, emboldened, hooked an arm around Lu Beiqin’s shoulders. “Telling me to hush? You’re my driver today, you know. Since when does a driver tell the master of the house to be quiet?”

It suddenly occurred to Lu Beiqin that he hadn’t expected to run into Shen Chutang there today, so it was Uncle Zhang who had driven him over, and in the only car of its kind in the capital. If he drove it back, it would surely attract attention.

He shook off Shi Shaoxun’s arm and hailed a taxi by the roadside. “I didn’t drive today.”

Shen Chutang nodded; she could understand. She and Lu Beiqin got into the car together.

The backseat of the taxi was a bit cramped, and in the confined space, Shen Chutang could even catch the scent of him. She couldn’t help but lean in and take a sniff.

Lu Beiqin looked down to see her head swaying before his chest, and then she gently inhaled near his neck.

He swallowed hard and nudged her away. “What are you doing?”

“You’re wearing cologne today. It’s a lovely, cool, woody scent.”

Lu Beiqin hadn’t expected this little thing to pick up on such a subtle fragrance. He quickly replied, “I probably picked up the scent from Shi Shaoxun by accident.”

Shen Chutang didn’t doubt him and simply nodded.

Before long, they arrived at their destination. Lu Beiqin pulled out his phone to pay, when he suddenly remembered that the phone he was carrying was his other one—the wrong one to use if he wanted to remain discreet.

The driver urged, “That’ll be twenty-six. Who’s paying?”

Shen Chutang suddenly recalled that Lu Beiqin had given her all his bank cards—he probably didn’t have a penny on him—so she quickly took out her phone. “I’ll pay.”

Lu Beiqin thought that would be the end of it, but he didn’t expect Shen Chutang to knock on his door that night.

When he opened the door, she looked as though she’d just showered, wearing a pink silk camisole nightdress that revealed her fair skin and carried the fresh scent of a bath.

“Something you need?” he asked.

She held out her hand. “Give me your wallet.”

Lu Beiqin had no idea what she wanted with it, but he fetched his empty, barely-used wallet from the room and handed it over.

She opened it and, sure enough, not a single bill was inside. As she thought, this man really was making things hard for himself.

She stuffed two thousand yuan into the wallet and said, “My master always said a man should keep some cash on him. Otherwise, you never know when you might need it.”

With that, she closed the wallet and handed it back to him. “Here, consider this your pocket money.”

Lu Beiqin raised an eyebrow, his expression growing complicated.

He’d been investing in stocks and bonds with his grandfather since he was eight; from then on, he’d always provided for himself. He never expected that after all these years, someone would give him pocket money.

He took the wallet, feeling strangely out of sorts. “Alright.”

“By the way, do you get lonely sleeping alone at night?”

At the snap of a wallet hitting the floor, Lu Beiqin stared at her in disbelief. “What did you say?”

“I meant, are you comfortable living here? If you need anything, just let me know.”

Shen Chutang was utterly unselfconscious, unaware of just how startling her words had been.

She bent down to pick up the wallet, and as she did, the neckline of her nightdress gaped, giving Lu Beiqin a view from her collarbone right down to her ankles, her pale skin fully exposed to him.

He quickly averted his gaze. If it weren’t for the innocence in her eyes, he might have suspected she was deliberately seducing him for this very moment.

“Take it,” he said. “Out. I’m going to sleep.”

He accepted the wallet, ushered her out, and shut the door with crisp finality.

Left standing outside, Shen Chutang frowned at the closed door and muttered, “Was it not enough? I was going to ask if you wanted a midnight snack.”

Behind the door, Lu Beiqin pressed his temples in frustration. Was this girl truly so naive, or just foolish? Didn’t she realize what her little display meant, alone with a man in his room at night?