The unattainable beauty was driven to depravity and madness by a wicked seed.

Does it matter?

Shen Qinghuai felt a tightness in his throat from that tone, as if a thin wad of cotton was stuck in his throat, making it difficult to breathe and causing a slight pain in his heart. After a few seconds of confrontation, he looked away from Lu Sui's cold gaze first and said softly, "It doesn't matter."

Why does he have to be so talkative?

What kind of answer are you looking for?

He himself didn't have an answer regarding his feelings for Lu Sui, did he?

As they left the supermarket, Liu Qiushui could clearly sense the tense atmosphere between the two. "Did you two have a fight?"

"No." Shen Qinghuai looked at Lu Sui, who was staring at his knees. When they got home, Shen Qinghuai carried Lu Sui down, and Lu Sui went straight back to his room. Shen Qinghuai pursed his lips and watched his back as he went to cut and marinate the meat, then skewered it on bamboo sticks. They couldn't just eat this for lunch, so Liu Qiushui went to steam rice, and Xu Suya and Wen Chengyu brought in the barbecue grill.

When Liu Qiushui saw Wen Chengyu, she said, "That's great! My son is back, and your daughter is back too. Let's have lunch at my house. We brought a lot of things, so let's all have a good time together!"

Wen Chengyu glanced at Shen Qinghuai and said with a smile, "Okay, I heard from my mother that you went to the hospital yesterday. You must take good care of yourself. Health is the foundation of everything."

Liu Qiushui liked Wen Chengyu more and more as she looked at him. Thinking that Shen Qinghuai had a girlfriend, she thought to herself that it was a pity. "I'm just a little malnourished. I can make up for it by eating a few more eggs. Qinghuai is worried about me, so he came back to see me with his friend and brought a lot of tonics."

"friend?"

"Yeah, his name is Lu, Lu Sui, but I don't know which Sui it is."

Wen Chengyu paused, subconsciously looking up at Shen Qinghuai, only to see that his expression was normal, his fingertips tightly clenched in his palm.

Do you know him?

"Ah, ah? We...we're not in the same major, we don't know each other."

Shen Qinghuai quickly started grilling the skewers of meat and brushing them with seasoning. Liu Qiushui cut the peeled potatoes into slices and washed the chili peppers, eggplants, mushrooms, and corn. Wen Chengyu then skewered them. After Shen Qinghuai finished grilling, he let them all try some. After hearing that they were delicious, he started grilling corn, potatoes, and shrimp for Lu Sui.

"Mom, come over here and help me take a look."

"I'll do it, Qinghuai," Wen Chengyu said.

She went to the barbecue grill and watched, skillfully flipping the food. When she saw Shen Qinghuai return to his room, she responded to Liu Qiushui's smile with a hint of bitterness.

Knock knock.

Shen Qinghuai tapped twice with his fingers, then went inside. The air conditioning was off. Lu Sui sat in a chair at the table and looked outside. The curtains were half-drawn, and from this angle, he could see everyone outside, busy and chatting. "Wen Chengyu is here."

"Hmm." Shen Qinghuai walked over and opened the window to let in some fresh air. He placed the plate on the table, picked up a meat skewer and fed it to Lu Sui. "Try it and see if it's good. The rice is also cooked. I'll go stir-fry some vegetables in a bit."

"She'll eat the dishes you cook."

The atmosphere became tense for a moment. Lu Sui took the skewer himself, ate it quietly, and Shen Qinghuai wiped his mouth. "You eat first, I'll go outside and continue grilling, and bring it back to you later."

He walked to the door and heard Lu Sui say, "You hate that I'm so immature."

Shen Qinghuai returned to Lu Sui's side, bent down to look at him, "I don't think so. My mom invited her to dinner, firstly because we've been neighbors since childhood, and secondly because we were using her family's barbecue grill, and she helped out."

Lu Sui hummed in agreement. After Shen Qinghuai left, he stopped eating and continued watching them through the window.

When Shen Qinghuai came in again, he brought Lu Sui rice with several dishes and a plate of barbecue. He was taken aback when he saw that Lu Sui's food on the table was untouched, and he recalled what he had said before he left.

—It's her family's barbecue grill.

So Lu Sui doesn't eat?

Shen Qinghuai ruffled his hair and pushed the hot plate towards him, saying, "It's just a loan; we bought all the meat and ingredients ourselves."

Lu Sui didn't eat a single bite, and he ate very little rice. Shen Qinghuai offered Lu Sui bread, but he refused.

After everyone outside left, Lu Sui went to the restroom to rinse his mouth. He took out his toothbrush cup, and Liu Qiushui saw it and asked, "Are you leaving tonight?"

"Let's go now." Lu Sui said, returning to Shen Qinghuai's room. Shen Qinghuai overheard, "Weren't we supposed to go to the arcade to play claw machines—"

"I'm not going." As for the doll he promised Chen Jingmo, he was going to break his promise.

Lu Sui now desperately wants to go home.

Liu Qiushui took Shen Qinghuai to the repair shop on her tricycle. After settling the bill, Shen Qinghuai drove back, put away the clothes he had brought, and Xu Suya saw him and called out to him, "Qinghuai, where are you going?"

"Kyoichi."

"Could Ayu ride in your car? She's leaving tonight, arriving in Beijing in the early hours of the morning. It'll be too much trouble," Xu Suya said. "Is that alright? I'll pay for the fare."

Upon hearing Xu Suya's words, Wen Chengyu stopped washing her hands, rushed out, grabbed Xu Suya's arm, and said urgently, "Mom, are you really trying to get rid of me? I still want to eat your eggplant fritters tonight!"

As she spoke, she pulled Xu Suya back. Xu Suya felt warm inside when she heard her daughter say she wanted to eat the food she had cooked. She told Shen Qinghuai that she wouldn't sit down anymore, and that she would cook a delicious meal for Wen Chengyu, and fry some biscuits and rice crusts, which Wen Chengyu would then take to Shen Qinghuai.

Liu Qiushui was reluctant to part with Shen Qinghuai. After some tugging and giving him instructions, she asked Lu Sui if he was angry because his car had been scratched. Shen Qinghuai replied, "I'm not angry. I just made a mistake in some experimental data and need to go back and correct it quickly."

"That's good then," Liu Qiushui said. "It's all that damned Lin Chang's fault!"

Before leaving, she hugged Shen Qinghuai. After he and Lu Sui left, she went to Shen Qinghuai's room to sit for a while as usual, only to find some snacks there.

In the car, Shen Qinghuai found some candy for Lu Sui, who pinched it, looked at it for a few seconds, and then put it back.

"Don't you want to eat anymore?"

"In no mood."

After arriving home, Lu Sui went straight to her bedroom in the apartment. Shen Qinghuai brought her things up and went to open the door, only to find her sitting outside, locked and reflecting on what she had said that day. After about two or three minutes, Shen Qinghuai knocked on the door and said, "How about I make you some teppanyaki and barbecue in a bit?"

He remade it for Lu Sui.

There was no response from inside. Shen Qinghuai ordered a stove grill and a teppanyaki pan on his phone, drove out to buy squid, shrimp, and vegetables, left the car at the paint shop, and took a taxi back. He prepared the food in the kitchen. An hour and a half later, Shen Qinghuai knocked on the door again, but there was still no response. He frowned slightly, a little worried. "Lu Sui, could you please open the door? Let's talk."

Lu Sui's eyes were cold. He glanced at the time; it was past ten o'clock, time to go to sleep.

The door was pulled open a little, and there was no light inside. Shen Qinghuai smelled smoke. Lu Sui stood behind the door and said in a hoarse voice, "You've become the same as before. You're not allowed to sleep with me."

Will it become the same as before?

What does that mean?