In the old mansion, Mu Ziyue was chattering away with Lu Xue about the new bag and clothes she'd just bought.
"I'm telling you, this is a limited - edition item. You can't get it even if you have the money! You need connections! These new styles are always super popular. As soon as they're out, they're snapped up. I had to pull a lot of strings and ask an acquaintance to reserve one for me. It was really hard to get!"
As she spoke, Mu Ziyue looked a bit smug.
"I took these new items to show my girlfriends today. They were so jealous of me!"
Lu Xue glanced at the new clothes and bag in Mu Ziyue's hands and was a bit puzzled.
"Doesn't this kind of life seem a bit boring?"
Mu Ziyue didn't understand. She thought Lu Xue was complaining about her own boring life, so she immediately leaned in.
"Have you been feeling cooped up at home these days? How about this? Tomorrow you can come with me to the equestrian class. I'll introduce you to some new girlfriends!"
Just then, Mu Yuze walked in from outside.
As soon as Mu Ziyue saw her elder brother coming back, she greeted him enthusiastically. Lu Xue also turned around and waved at Mu Yuze as a greeting. But Mu Yuze just gave them a cold look and walked upstairs expressionlessly.
The smile on Mu Ziyue's face froze a bit.
"Lu Xue, do you think my brother is acting strange today? He's as cold as ice as soon as he gets home, as if we owe him a fortune. Did I do something to offend him?"
Mu Ziyue lowered her head and started thinking about whether she'd failed any subjects recently, while Lu Xue gently comforted her.
"Maybe he's been too busy with work recently, so he's exhausted. I once stayed in his office and know that he has a huge workload every day. It's normal for someone to be in a bad mood if they have to handle so much work every day."
Mu Ziyue thought Lu Xue made sense and didn't take it to heart.
She thought her brother would be back to normal the next day.
But to her surprise, for the next three days in a row, Mu Yuze was extremely cold towards them.
After some time, Mu Ziyue realized that her brother wasn't being cold to her, but to Lu Xue.
Whenever they were under the same roof and he ran into Lu Xue, he would act as if she didn't exist, looking away as if she wasn't there.
Even when they were having dinner at the same table, if Lu Xue was there, Mu Yuze would usually go back to his room first to avoid spending time with her.
As this happened more and more often, Mu Ziyue sensed something was off. Could it be that their relationship wasn't going smoothly? Had her brother suddenly grown tired of Lu Xue?
No way... They hadn't even started dating, and he was already bored with her. That was way too fast!
One day, the weather was bad. It suddenly started pouring outside, and Mu Yuze was trapped in the security booth outside to take shelter from the rain.
Mu Ziyue caught a glimpse of her brother from the window and urged Lu Xue to go and give him an umbrella.
Lu Xue looked at the rain outside. "It's a shower these days. The rain will stop in five or six minutes."
Mu Ziyue rolled her eyes. She was just trying to create an opportunity for the two of them. Why didn't Lu Xue understand?
"Five or six minutes is still time! My brother's time is precious! Hurry up and give him an umbrella and bring him back. Go, go, go! Right now!"
She pushed Lu Xue out of the door and stuffed an umbrella into her hand. Lu Xue had no choice but to open the umbrella and trudge through the rain with difficulty.
It took about ten minutes to walk from the house to the security booth. By the time Lu Xue got there, more than half of her body was soaked, and her hair was in a mess from the wind. She looked extremely disheveled.
Standing in front of Mu Yuze, she found it hard to explain why she'd come all the way here.
But Mu Yuze didn't ask anything. He calmly bent down and stood under her umbrella. He took the umbrella from her and led her back in the rain.
Lu Xue stood beside Mu Yuze. She was a whole head shorter than him. She could feel that his shoulders were broad, and he seemed to be shielding her from a lot of the rain.
This scene seemed familiar, making her feel as if she'd gone back to the time when she and Mu Yuze were locked on the open - air terrace together.
It was also a stormy day. They'd both been drenched and had to be hospitalized with high fevers.
But at that time, their interaction had been quite pleasant, nothing like the coldness today.
The walk back took more than ten minutes. During the whole process, Mu Yuze walked in the rain expressionlessly, not saying a word to Lu Xue.
He didn't even give her a single glance.
From start to finish, he looked straight ahead and just maintained a steady pace.
When they got back to the house, both of them were quite wet, but their relationship still seemed as cold as before.
Lu Xue took a shower in the bathroom and changed into a new set of clothes. When she went out again, she saw Mu Ziyue looking curious.
"So, how was it? When you went to pick up my brother just now, did the two of you have that feeling of going through thick and thin together? Was my brother touched by your actions? Did he feel that you really care about him?"