Chapter 30

030.

The moment the words 'essay exemption pass' appeared in the chat box, it looked like it was edged in gold, dazzling Lu Yan instantly.

He rubbed his eyes, refusing to believe it, pulled the screen closer to get a better look, and after confirming word by word, a grin quickly spread across his face—but then he remembered someone who, with a straight face, had told him that Bai Yu was easy to talk to and had egged him on to memorize the essay.

His smile dropped. Lu Yan squinted at the message and let out a cold snort.

Family's #2 Looker: With a deal this good, you still thought of your bratty little brother?

Lu Yuan inwardly cringed—he'd really hurt his third brother's feelings last time.

Rubbing his nose, he decided to be sincere in return.

Aka: telling the truth.

Sesame Dumpling: It's not even that great /embarrassed, I just need to snap a photo, while you have to go through all the trouble of buying the same stuff. From what I know about rich people, there might even be limited-edition pieces in there.

He might not even be able to buy them anyway, after all, he'd only just entered high society a few days ago—when it came to connections, he had basically none.

Lu Yan: "..."

Bratty little brother.

A real black-hearted sesame dumpling, through and through.

But...

Lu Yan glanced back at the printed essay and figured this loss wasn't so bad after all.

At worst, it'd just cost a bit more time and money. With his skills as Third Young Master Lu, this was no big deal!

Getting a huge 'emperor-approved' OK emoji, Lu Yuan immediately put away his phone, scanned the room to make sure the man in question, Bai Yu, wasn't around, and then flashed a perfect smile and shared his idea with the old butler.

Upon hearing that the young master wanted to prepare a surprise for the gentleman, the old butler's smile grew, adding more creases around his eyes.

He added, "Young Master, take your time with the pictures. The gentleman just went to the gym, so he'll be a while."

Lu Yuan let out an 'eh' in mild surprise. "He just got up too?"

Then he thought about it and found it normal.

With the ultimate sleep destroyer, Good Kid, in the house, it was no wonder Bai Yu couldn't sleep well.

But since that was the case, he could relax and take the pictures.

He bent down to pick up the dark silk robe, its soft, smooth texture slipping through Lu Yuan's hands like a cloud, and he scrambled to catch it before it hit the ground. In just a second or two, a familiar yet richer woody fragrance rushed toward him, and Lu Yuan's mind unconsciously conjured up the image of the man standing before him last night in that loose robe.

Lu Yuan: "..."

His pale face flushed red for no reason. He instinctively went to rub his nose, but his fingers were still buried in Bai Yu's robe. A strange flutter and thrill spread from his fingertips all the way through his body—the illusion of touching Bai Yu's skin made his fingertips, ears, and neck burn. He clumsily tossed the robe onto the sofa.

Not daring to take another look.

Hearing the noise, the old butler turned around and asked worriedly, "Is something wrong?"

Lu Yuan shook his head like a rattle. "Nothing, nothing! You go about your business."

Watching the old butler's figure disappear down the hall, Lu Yuan stared at the robe for a long moment before picking up his phone and quietly snapping a photo.

The clothes and pants in the basket totaled about a dozen pieces. Lu Yuan had initially only focused on photographing the logos and styles, until a certain pair of trousers landed on the sofa completely unfolded. He glanced at them and suddenly froze.

These pants didn't look torn at all?

He picked up the trousers and held them up to his eyes, examining them carefully while muttering, "Where's the problem?" when a deep voice suddenly came from behind: "Lu Yuan."

Lu Yuan jolted.

His first thought: Oh crap, I'm screwed!

He quickly wadded up the trousers and shoved them behind his back, his panicked gaze darting toward where the voice came from.

There stood Bai Yu at the corner of the hall, still in his familiar dark training tank top and light-colored athletic pants, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs. The only difference was the unreadable complexity in his cold, phoenix-like eyes as they rested on him.

And the cat lying in his palm—looking listless, as if utterly exhausted—perked up its head at the shift in atmosphere, revealing a pair of curious eyes.

After a full two minutes of silence.

Lu Yuan: "...First of all, I'm not a pervert."

Lu Yuan: "...Secondly, I was just looking."

His mind went blank, but his mouth seemed to move on its own: "Lastly, you know I studied design. I've been around fabrics since I was young—oh wait, since I started this major. I just saw your pants and thought the fabric was quite unique, so I picked them up to take a look and study them. You wouldn't overthink this, right? I actually don't think you would, because this is a perfectly normal behavior. If you did overthink it, it would make your thoughts seem quite filthy and dirty."

The words 'filthy' and 'dirty' made Bai Yu's brow twitch slightly. Then he stared at Lu Yuan for a long while—long enough that Lu Yuan was about to crack under the gaze—before finally speaking slowly: "So, did you figure out what kind of fabric it is?"

Lu Yuan was stunned.

He wasn't actually studying the fabric, but based on his general knowledge and his understanding of the keywords 'CEO' and 'dress pants,' he moved his lips: "Maybe high-count worsted wool?"

"Is that so?" Bai Yu walked up to him, leaned down, and pulled the pant leg from his tightly clenched hand, glancing at him. "You don't have to hold on so tightly. I'm not going to take it away—I just want to see if your guess is correct."

Lu Yuan: "..."

He wasn't trying to hold on tightly!!

*

Inside the guest bedroom.

Face thoroughly lost, humiliated in someone else's home, Lu Yuan lay sprawled on the bed, pulling the blanket up to cover his face—and to muffle a nearly hysterical wail of despair.

He didn't understand. He truly didn't understand why Bai Yu had to show up at the exact moment he was holding the pants up close to his face. From Bai Yu's angle, didn't it look like he was sniffing his pants?

A complete pervert, through and through.

Although Chairman Bai was gracious enough to show understanding, personally confirmed the fabric of the trousers, and even thoughtfully told him there were more trousers in the closet if he was interested in studying others.

Lu Yuan: "..."

Right now, he just wanted to find the exact location of the Earth's self-destruct button so he could start all over again.

This time, he absolutely, absolutely, absolutely would not observe whether Bai Yu's trousers were torn or not!

"Meow."

Good Kid struggled to crawl from the carpet onto the bed, then flopped down onto Lu Yuan's chest. Lu Yuan let out a muffled grunt and grabbed the kitten, scolding it: "This is all your fault. From today on, you lose the cute name Good Kid. From now on, you're Stinky Treasure."

"Meow meow meow!"

"Overruled." Lu Yuan scratched the kitten's soft belly, which felt wonderful under his fingers, reluctant to let go.

But his phone rudely buzzed with a series of notifications. When he picked it up, besides a barrage of angry emojis, there were voice messages from Third Young Master Lu, wailing like a banshee.

"You little brat, are you seriously not messing with me? Do you know how much that robe you sent me costs? So little fabric, zero design sense, as plain as can be, and they have the nerve to charge me 300,000! And I have to wait three months in line!" Lu Yan was fuming, "Do you fashion design majors make that kind of money?"

Lu Yuan paused for a second, then said slowly, "Not really, it mainly depends on how shameless you are."

Lu Yan: "Then you should be able to make a fortune too."

Lu Yuan: "?"

He called back, his face serious: "Personal attack, warning number one!"

Lu Yan snorted twice, knowing full well that bickering with his bratty little brother was beside the point; the important thing was still the exemption from memorizing that paper. He sprawled sideways on the sofa, resuming his rant:

"Do you know what the scariest part is? He was talking to me in some godforsaken language, saying that because every robe from their studio has a soul and its own unique personality, even a replica can't guarantee two robes look exactly the same. Excuse me? A piece of clothing, with a soul? With a personality? Are you fashion design folks alright in the head?"

"Personal attack, warning number two!" Lu Yuan was firmly against Lu Yan's sweeping generalization and asked, "Which studio?"

Lu Yan: "That A·E something or other in France."

Lu Yuan suddenly understood: "Oh, they're notorious for being handcraft obsessives. That whole 'every robe has a soul and personality' thing just means everyone's stitching is different, so they can't sew identical clothes."

Lu Yan: "...Can't hack it is can't hack it, why dress it up so fancy!"

Putting the robe aside for now, Lu Yuan thought of the other clothes and asked, "What about the rest? Can you get the same one?"

Lu Yan immediately let out a cold laugh: "Ha, your Brother Yu lives large but he's loyal—his suits are all bespoke, so where are you gonna find a dupe?"

Lu Yuan didn't know what to say for a moment, finally finding his voice after a while: "Aren't there two sweaters?"

Lu Yan: "Limited edition, sold out, gone. They said to ensure customers who purchased the product can enjoy the supreme honor their brand brings, even if you put a gun to their brand manager's head, they wouldn't agree to release the same official version again. Hilarious, now wearing clothes comes with a sense of honor."

Lu Yuan: "..."

He met the eyes of Stinky Treasure, who had padded up to him, and forced a smile: "Sweetheart, you really know how to pick 'em."

Stinky Treasure: "Meow meow meow!"

Lu Yuan: "That wasn't a compliment."

Lu Yan's ears perked up: "Who are you calling sweetheart?"

Lu Yuan: "The one who started all this."

Lu Yan: "..."

They both fell silent, the call so quiet only each other's breathing could be heard. After a moment, the brothers, in perfect sync, let out a long sigh at the same time.

Lu Yan kicked all the papers on the table to the floor, out of sight, out of mind, and said weakly, "If worst comes to worst, just make him a set. At least it's handmade by the Lu family's one and only young master... At worst, you can hand-stitch it too. It'd be no less valuable than that so-called soul studio's stuff, right? Not to mention 300,000, even if you charged a million for it, I bet Lu Ke and Lu Zhuo would jump at it."

Figuring Lu Yuan was only a sophomore and might not have the skills down yet, he added to himself, "Even if you made a potato sack, it'd be a one-of-a-kind potato sack, and it'd look great."

Lu Yuan asked expressionlessly, "And you? Would you be willing to buy it?"

"Me? I'm not some rich idiot—" Before he could finish, Lu Yan slapped himself on the mouth and quickly backtracked, "Buy it, of course I'd buy it, I'd pay two million! You know what 'one of a kind' means? Worth every penny, no matter the price."

Too bad, no matter how sweet he talked, it was too late. Lu Yuan snorted coldly: "Don't wanna talk to you, I'm hanging up."

Lu Yan: "..."

Listening to the dial tone, he grumbled and fished the papers he'd kicked under the table back out. Forget it, memorizing this crap was the more practical option after all.