The Little Brat’s Sweet And Sassy

“Second—”

Before Ning Li could finish her sentence, the words got stuck in her throat, and she was forced to swallow them back.

Lu Huaiyu had come back from the capital in the middle of the night and looked for her despite the heavy rain just to bring her back. He must be exhausted.

A normal person might not even be able to handle all the hassle and trouble, let alone Lu Huaiyu who was still in rehabilitation in Yunzhou. His body condition was not in the best condition, and running back and forth would surely take a toll on him.

It would be better for her to explain herself tomorrow.

“Good night, Second Brother,” she said before she headed to the guest room on the first floor.

Lu Huaiyu paused before he went up the stairs, taking one last glance at her. Holding her bag, the slender girl looked extremely lonely in the vast and clean space. He frowned slightly before he went up to the second floor.

…

Ning Li went into the room.

Lu Huaiyu had been living in this mansion alone. The guest room was decorated minimally, and it was obvious that no one had stayed here before.

She put her bag down. It was already 4:00 a.m., just a few more hours before dawn, and she still had to go to school in the morning.

She took off her uniform and held it in her hands. Then, she stood there and stared at the clean and tidy bed blankly as she was having a hard time settling down.

Along the way, her clothes had gotten wet and soiled because of the rain, but since she came in a hurry, she had not brought a fresh set of clothes to change into.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

She went to open the door and saw Lu Huaiyu standing outside with a pile of clothes.

“These are mine, but they are new. You can wear them for now.”

“Uh, it’s okay…” Ning Li said. Even though he had never worn them before, they were still his.

Lu Huaiyu noticed that she was holding her uniform. “Then, I’ll call them to bring your fresh clothes over right now.”

Ning Li’s eyes twitched as she quickly said, “It’s fine! I’ll just wear this!”

It would already be difficult for her to explain things if someone found out that she was in Lu Huaiyu’s place at this hour, and if she asked someone to send her a fresh set of clothes, things would only worsen.

Lu Huaiyu then passed her the clothes.

When she took the clothes off his hand, her fingers accidentally grazed his.

‘They’re cold,’ she thought.

The weather had turned cooler recently, especially on such a rainy night, but Lu Huaiyu’s hand was unusually cold as if he was a block of ice.

Something in her did not sit right. She did not care about what the Ye family thought of her, but to see Lu Huaiyu go through all sorts of problems for her in a single night, she felt bad.

After giving her the clothes, Lu Huaiyu wanted to walk away, but Ning Li held him back after a quick hesitation.

“I’m sorry.”

Lu Huaiyu turned around and stood outside the door.

The lighting in the corridor was poor, so only half of his face was visible. His features were hidden in the darkness.

“Why are you apologizing?”

Ning Li tightened her grip on the clothes and took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have turned off my phone without informing anyone. As a result, I made everyone worried about me.”

“Mm-hmm…and?”

And?

Surprised, Ning Li looked at him, seemingly confused about what he was referring to. “And…I shouldn’t trouble you and Brother Xiyue…”

Lu Huaiyu stared at her with his deep eyes.

“Ning Li.” His lazy tone suddenly changed into a strict and cold one.

Ever since they met, other than the first few times when he had called her by her full name, he had always called her Lili. It was the first in a long time since he addressed her by her full name. It had never been clearer that Lu Huaiyu was mad.

“Wrong answer. Think again.”

Then, he went upstairs without saying anything else.

…

Think again?

After a quick bath, Ning Li came out of the bathroom. She was pondering what he said while drying her hair.

Whether it was that time when she had gotten arrested because of a fight or any other trouble, he had never been mad at her before.

This time, however,…

She looked at the clothes on the bed. The cotton pajamas were grayish-blue. The price tag was still attached, so they were obviously new.

She had washed her uniform while having a bath, thus it should be dry in the morning.

Now…

She sighed and changed into the pajamas as if she was resigned to her fate.

Then, she realized the pajamas were too big for her. The opening at the sleeves and the leg cuffs did not only gape but were way too long for her and concealed all four of her limbs.

She popped her hand out of the sleeve and went to bed with her phone.

When she turned on her phone, she was bombarded with a ton of messages. They were from Su Yuan, Ye Ci, Cheng Xiyue, and Wei Songze, but not Lu Huaiyu.

The last message in the chat window with him was the message she had sent earlier.

[Second Brother, I’m home.]

She finally realized why Lu Huaiyu was mad.

…

In the master bedroom on the second floor, Lu Huaiyu took a quick bath and came out in fresh clothes.

He went to the book rack and simply pulled one out for a quick read on the couch.

The soft night light drew a soft silhouette around his figure.

His eyes were half shut. He had gone through a lot for the day and should have been exhausted but he was not sleepy at all.

A moment later, he suddenly thought of something. He got up and went beside his bed to retrieve a folder. Inside was a stack of documents and the first paper inside it had Ning Li’s name on it.

It was the documents that he had asked Cheng Xiyue for. He went through the contents and stopped on the third page.

The third page was about Ning Haizhou’s life and the investigation about the car crash back then.

His eyes landed on the date of that ominous day. Coincidentally, the date matched today’s date.

He furrowed his brows. The report clearly stated that Ning Haizhou had been involved in that car crash because Su Yuan had left him the day before, which was her birthday.

He shut his eyes and rubbed the center of his brows.

…

Ning Li was on the bed, but she could not fall asleep, so she got up to read instead. She was in Lu Huaiyu’s place, after all, so she did not continue doodling.

When she switched on the table lamp and took her pencil and paper out, the table lamp flickered before dying out.

The whole room plunged into darkness.

Shocked, Ning Li looked outside and found that it was dark. It was a blackout. She turned on the torchlight app on her phone to shed light in front of her as she made her way out of the room.

The entire mansion was enveloped in darkness. Maybe the heavy rain earlier caused some damage to the power system.

Ning Li made her way upstairs and then knocked on the master bedroom door.

“Second Brother?”

Soon, the door opened.

Lu Huaiyu was surprised to find her in front of his room.

“Why are you not asleep?”

“The lights went out, and I can’t sleep.”

Lu Huaiyu nodded. “It’s a blackout, but I’ve called maintenance to fix it. The power should come back soon.”

It was then that he had a clear look at Ning Li.

She was wearing oversized pajamas. One of the sleeves was dangling like a monkey’s tail while her other hand was gripping her phone.

Her freshly washed hair softly draped around her shoulders, and her porcelain-white face was looking up at him. Maybe because she had just come out from the bath, her face was flushed and her charming eyes were crystal clear.

She looked tiny in the oversized pajamas as if she was a little newborn creature.

He looked at her deeply and found that she looked extremely bulliable.