Chapter 9

09

In the evening, Lu Zhi finished washing her face and brushing her teeth, and was ready to throw the dirty clothes in the basket into the washing machine.

She picked up Ling He’s jacket and habitually checked the pockets. She found two tickets inside.

The planeterium had a lecture this Saturday.

She ran to the study excitedly with it. Ling He was wearing glasses while he worked on the computer. She liked seeing him in glasses. He always looked like a beauty with a sense of stoicism and fragileness.

“What is this?” She put her hands on the table and shook the two tickets in front of him.

The neckline of her strappy nightdress was low. With this position, Ling He could see all of her chest when he looked down.

Ling He took off his glasses, pinched his nosebridge. He replied, “It’s from the planeterium. Each person received two tickets for their family.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me? Am I not your family?” She pursed her lips to complain.

His eyes moved across her neckline, but he looked away soon. He saw a hair had fallen to her waist, and he reached out with his hand to grab it.

Lu Zhi misunderstood his action. She thought he wanted to hold her, so she sat on his legs.

Ling He stiffened, and then slowly put the hair out in front of her.

She was surprised. She suddenly blushed from realizing she got the wrong idea. She looked up and saw Ling He looking at her with a smile. She was about to get up from him with a red face, but her waist was pressed down. Ling He sniffed her neck and smelled the milk body scent from her washing up.

Lu Zhi realized that this position was extremely intimate, and they did it so naturally. And truthfully, she was not used to doing these couple-like things with Ling He except for when they did things in bed. This behavior was an intimate one done between husband and wife.

“I thought you wouldn’t be interested,” he explained.

Lu Zhi’s thoughts were then pulled back to reality. “At first, I was really not interested, but I am very interested in the commentator of this lecture.”

The name of the commentator written on the ticket: Ling He.

She asked, “Can I go and listen on Saturday?”

He smiled. “If you want to, then of course you can.”

Frankly, if it wasn’t for Ling He, Lu Zhi would never go to a place for sophisticated people like the planeterium. Even if she did want to go, she would just check in, take a photo and post it to Weibo.

Ling He had two tickets. Lu Zhi wanted to invite Cen Xue to go see it together, but she was suffering from working overtime. Thus, Lu Zhi came alone.

She arrived a little early. Before the lecture began, she wandered around. She was really drawn to the display of the vast universe in the planeterium. Of course, she also took several photos and posted them on Weibo.

When the lecture was about to begin, she lined up with the crowd to enter the exhibition hall. She found her seat, and then saw Ling He walk slowly onto the stage.

On the big screen, it showed that after the tireless efforts of humans, the glimpse of the universe that they had discovered was just the tip of the iceberg. It was beautiful and romantic.

“Although we can look up and see the sun, it is 150 million kilometers away from the earth.”

“We can also see the sun’s rays when we open our eyes, but it actually takes 8.3 minutes for the sun’s rays to reach the earth.”

She heard Ling He’s steady and magnetic voice on the stage, and it sounded like it was coming from the universe faraway. He gave the explanation in two langauges. When he was reading the script in English, Lu Zhi suddenly remembered the narration during the BBC documentary that her English teacher had shown them in high school.

Lu Zhi was bored staying at home every day. She wanted to have a look at Ling He’s work, and didn’t expect to be fascinated by his explanation.

For a moment, she felt that Ling He was the sun. He was charming and glowing when he was in his element. His light was shining on everyone present, and even reached the bottom of her heart.

After the lecture, Lu Zhi stood in the lounge area and waited for Ling He to get off work. She could always hear Ling He’s name being said by the girls passing by. They pretty much spoke about how handsome and talented he was.

Lu Zhi was a little proud after hearing that.

When the heater was turned on in the room, she took off her coat and put it on her arm. The body hugging dress outlined her beautiful figure. Even her hair was very elegant as she stood there. She was quite a view in the eyes of others.

She had been bright and beautiful since she was young, and was very used to bold gazes and stealthy glances. As if she was doing it unintentionally, she lifted her slightly curly hair to put it behind her shoulder, and the diamond ring on her ring finger sparkled. Several men who were hesitating to ask for her contact information decided to give up.

She was waiting for a while when she saw Ling He coming out with another woman. The woman was wearing professional clothes, so she should be his colleague.

She waved to Ling He. He came to her, and the woman followed.

“Did you wait long?” He walked up to her.

Lu Zhi looked up at him. She didn’t know why, but she felt like he was more handsome than before when she looked at him right now.

She shook her head. “No.”

The woman beside him smiled and asked, “Are you Ah He’s girlfriend?”

Ah He.

That’s really hard to hear.

Lu Zhi’s smile was still gentle and appropriate. She was about to answer, when Ling He turned around and stood next to her. “She is my wife.”

Lu Zhi proceeded to take his arm.

The smile on the woman’s face was stiff a bit, but she still kept her dignity and tried to look as normal as possible. “Oh, hello, I’m Ah He’s colleague. My name is You Qiao.”

Ling He joined the planeterium a year ago. When he first came here, he was a hot catch among the female colleagues. He was highly educated, good-looking, accomplished, and single. It was not an exaggeration to say that almost all the unmarried women in the planeterium were more or less interested in him.

Some were eagerly waiting for their chances, some developed feelings that were hard to express, and some were bold enough to give it a shot. But he was clear in cutting them all off with a rejection.

You Qiao belonged to the group of people who didn’t express themselves openly, but didn’t act too reservedly. She sometimes said things that were easily misunderstood, but she said it so appropriately, with the right amount of coyness, that it made others unable to grasp if it was true or not.

In fact, some time ago, she found out that Ling He suddenly had a diamond ring on his left ring finger. But she thought that people nowadays didn’t pay too much attention to the meaning behind the jewelry they wore, so maybe he just wanted to wear something on this specific finger.

But she forgot that Ling He never wore any jewelry. Maybe she was aware of it and thought she could pretend she wasn’t. She could continue to deceive herself if he didn’t tell her.

“My name is Lu Zhi,” Lu Zhi nodded to her and said. “It’s getting late. We’ll go first.”

You Qiao nodded and waved goodbye to them with a smile.

She looked at the back of the two figures leaving, and saw Ling He take Lu Zhi’s coat from her and draped it over her shoulders. His lips opened and closed, and he said something. Lu Zhi looked at him with her lips pouting. She was a little reluctant, but finally she put her arms through her coat sleeves obediently.

They walked out of the planeterium’s gate, and You Qiao saw Lu Zhi’s hair being blown by the wind. Her figure could make others develop amorous feelings since she looked so beautiful.

You Qiao lowered her head silently, and thought with bitter jealousy, Ling He looks like he is unattainable. But ultimately, he can not escape a man’s weakness: a girl’s looks. He was finally bewitched by an empty, pretty face.

She could only have these thoughts.