"Coach Du, is Xu Lai just too dumb?" Ruan Tang asked cautiously.
"No, no, no! Xu Lai’s skills are too good. There’s nothing left I can teach him." Du Li quickly added, "That’s right. He can book his exam right now."
Du Qingguo and Ruan Tang looked at each other, baffled.
Usually, it was the instructors who were driven half to death by their students. Why would one push a student away for being too skilled?
"Coach Du," Xu Lai said earnestly, "I don’t think I’ve learned enough. I still need more of your guidance."
Hearing those words, Du Li’s vision went black and she fainted on the spot.
Xu Lai scratched his head. Did I go too far? How did I scare her into fainting?
Ruan Tang pulled Xu Lai aside and asked hesitantly, "Did you do something improper to the coach because you think she’s pretty?"
"Honey, how can you sully my good name like that!" Xu Lai said, speechless. "Search your heart and tell me, is she prettier than you? Does she have a better figure? I’ve never even laid a hand on you, so how could I possibly do anything to her!"
"...Yesterday evening was an accident."
Ruan Tang snorted. "And here I was, worried you’d get scolded by the coach. I shouldn’t have bothered coming to see you on my lunch break, especially since your coach says you’re so good."
"Honey, you’re not getting jealous, are you?" Xu Lai asked, a strange expression on his face.
"Me? Jealous?" Ruan Tang touched Xu Lai’s forehead with concern. "It’s not even hot today. Why are you starting to talk nonsense?"
Xu Lai was speechless.
"Study hard," Ruan Tang said before hurrying away. She had several meetings that afternoon. The company was developing rapidly and couldn’t spare her for a moment.
The driving lessons continued in the afternoon.
It had to be said that after Du Li woke up from her faint, she was absolutely terrified of Xu Lai. Sitting in the passenger seat, she didn’t dare utter a single word. Not only did she fasten her seatbelt, but she even had her father buy her some heart rescue pills. With pills in her left hand and a bottle of mineral water in her right, she was in a total panic.
Look how scared I made her, Xu Lai sighed to himself.
Driving was a simple matter. Having mastered the basics, Xu Lai had already started driving with one hand. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveI[F]ire.net
If this were any other time, Du Li would have already reprimanded her student. But with Xu Lai... she didn’t dare!
She only ventured in a pleading tone, "Xu Lai, I don’t recommend driving with one hand. It’s dangerous."
Xu Lai put both hands on the wheel and asked casually, "Coach, I heard you used to be a professional race car driver?"
Du Li’s expression darkened. The place where she once reigned supreme wasn’t a driving school, but a racetrack. Unfortunately, an accident left her with a foot injury, forcing her to leave the world of racing.
"It’s nothing. I’m a doctor," Xu Lai said slowly. "Come by the school’s medical office when you have time. I’ll treat it for you."
"A school doctor can’t fix this," Du Li muttered under her breath.
Xu Lai slammed on the brakes, his expression stern. "Are you looking down on school doctors?"
Thinking he was about to send the car flying again, a terrified Du Li immediately swallowed a pill and stammered, "No, I respect them! I have the utmost respect! School doctors are the best!"
"Our school’s medical office is brimming with talent. We even have two veterinarians. Treating a minor foot injury like yours will be a piece of cake."
"I’m a human!" Du Li snapped.
Xu Lai floored the accelerator. In a panic, Du Li quickly added, "Sometimes I can be a wolf! Awoo! Awoo!"
Isn’t that how huskies howl?
Xu Lai said no more. He only ever said things once. Whether Du Li seized this opportunity was entirely up to her.
After his driving lesson, Xu Lai returned home.
He cooked a feast: five dishes and a soup!
Ruan Lan, a seasoned foodie, was so happy she nearly fainted. "It looks like brother-in-law actually listened to me," she said gleefully. She then called out to Xu Lai in the kitchen in a syrupy voice, "Brother-in-law, your dream will definitely come true!"
"What was that about?" Ruan Tang asked, her curiosity piqued.
Ruan Lan blinked mischievously. "That’s a secret just between my brother-in-law and me!"
Ruan Tang fought the urge to hit her. With a grim face, she demanded, "Spill it!"
But Ruan Lan refused to say a word.
Just when Ruan Tang was at her wit’s end, her thoughtful little Xiao Mian’ao, Xu Yiyi, appeared.
Yiyi considerately sidled up to her mommy and whispered the entire conversation she had overheard between Ruan Lan and Xu Lai. She even included the part about Ruan Lan telling him to use pillow talk to persuade her. The little girl then added in a hushed tone, "Mommy, don’t tell Daddy it was me who told you, okay?"
From the kitchen, Xu Lai pressed a hand to his forehead. Alright then. I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that. I’m completely unaware that my precious daughter is a little snitch.
Ruan Tang flicked Ruan Lan on the forehead. "So that’s how it is," she said, annoyed. "Selling me out is one thing, but to put a price tag on it? Am I only worth two dishes to you?"
"In this world, only delicious food and love cannot be forsaken," Ruan Lan asserted righteously. "You’ve forsaken both. I’m merely helping you get back on the right path."
After a beat, she muttered, "Besides, you’re not even worth two dishes. One, at most."
Ruan Tang’s heart shattered.
Yet, the sumptuous dinner suddenly made Ruan Tang feel that her sister had a point. Delicious food cannot be forsaken!
"Mommy, bath time," Xu Yiyi said politely after dinner.
"Okay." Ruan Tang nodded, ready to go to the bathroom to fill the tub with hot water.
"Mommy, Yiyi wants to soak in the hot spring," Xu Yiyi called out.
Ruan Tang paused. Mount Haitang did have hot springs, and it seemed a pipe in the backyard of Haitang Court led directly to them, but they had never tried to see if it worked.
"Soak in the hot springs?" Ruan Lan’s eyes lit up. "Drinking red wine by the infinity pool while looking out at the night lights over the East Sea... that sounds divine!"
"Yiyi, come with your aunt to the backyard to check it out!" Ruan Lan dashed toward the backyard like a child.
Ruan Tang found her sister’s antics both frustrating and amusing.
Soon, Xu Yiyi came back to report that the hot spring water was flowing. Now even Ruan Tang was tempted. The women and girls went to their rooms to find their swimsuits.
In just half an hour, the pool was filled with hot spring water at the perfect temperature.
Wearing a blue swimsuit, Ruan Lan excitedly leaped from the second-floor balcony.
Water sprayed everywhere.
Xu Yiyi, bobbing in a little duck swimming ring, quickly raised her hands to shield her face before slowly paddling out to float on the surface.
In contrast to her sister’s boldness, Ruan Tang’s choice was much more conservative: a black one-piece swimsuit.
Glancing at her older sister, Ruan Lan suddenly felt that soaking in the hot spring wasn’t so interesting anymore...
She poured herself a glass of red wine and guzzled it down, her gaze growing distant.
While the sisters chatted, Xu Lai didn’t change into swimwear to join them. He simply stood at the edge of the pool, overlooking the bustling city below the mountain.
Suddenly, Xu Lai’s gaze shifted to the distant horizon.
Visitors were coming from afar.