“I’m back.”
Returning to Lin Du’s house, White Li dumped all the bags she bought onto the dining table in one go.
The plastic bags rustled loudly, and nine potatoes rolled out of the bag opening, nearly falling to the ground.
She quickly reached out to stop them, stuffed the potatoes back in, then picked up her phone and ordered the rest of the items all at once via delivery.
After doing all that, she flopped onto the sofa with a long sigh.
“Whew, I’m exhausted. Shopping is really tiring.”
She didn’t care about her image at all, tugging at her collar to cool down and fanning herself with her palm.
Fox Clan body temperature was naturally a bit higher than humans’, plus she had been squeezing through the vegetable market earlier, so the back of her clothes was damp.
She lay with her eyes closed for a few seconds when she suddenly noticed that since she’d come back, she hadn’t heard any movement from Lin Du.
“Lin Du?”
White Li opened her eyes, tilted her head, and called toward the kitchen.
No response.
“Lin Du?”
Still no response.
White Li sat up from the sofa and pricked up her ears to listen.
The only sound in the whole house was the low hum of the refrigerator.
She frowned.
Could that guy have run off?
Leaving her here alone to face that Young Lady?
She stood up, walked to the kitchen door, and poked her head in.
On the stove, bottles and jars were neatly lined up in a row.
In the sink, a few washed vegetables sat.
A knife rested on the cutting board, its blade gleaming as if freshly sharpened.
But there was no sign of him.
White Li sighed, feeling a bit baffled.
She walked back to the dining room and checked her purchases—none missing, everything on the list was accounted for.
She sorted the items into categories, then her gaze fell on the apron hanging over the back of a chair.
A dark blue apron, the one Lin Du had been wearing earlier.
White Li stared at that apron for a while, then looked away, but couldn’t help turning back and sniffing.
The whole house was filled with his scent.
The Fox Clan’s keen sense of smell was a disadvantage at times like this.
White Li couldn’t escape it.
The entire room was saturated with his odor.
Even the air reeked of him.
She had been enduring it, but…
White Li held her head in both hands and looked around.
“Ahh, damn it.”
Her eyes swept across the living room and finally landed on the edge of the dining table.
The table was solid wood, walnut-colored, coated with a layer of varnish, and the corners were rounded so they wouldn’t hurt anyone.
White Li stared at that rounded corner for a few seconds, a ridiculous thought popping into her head.
He shouldn’t be back for a while, right?
Anyway, she should be… pretty quick.
People are strange sometimes.
The same action, when a man does it, is criticized as lacking masculinity, but when a woman does it, it’s seen as an advantage.
White Li moved a few steps forward and stared blankly at the gleaming rounded corner.
She reached out a hand and lightly brushed her fingertip over the curved surface of the table corner.
It was cool and smooth, with the warm, oily texture unique to wood.
She gripped the table with both hands, standing on tiptoe, about to take another step forward.
“You’re back?”
“Eeeek—!”
White Li jumped as if electrocuted, almost knocking the potatoes off the table.
She turned around awkwardly, her face bright red.
Lin Du came out of the bathroom, the sound of flushing still echoing behind him.
He tilted his head and looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face.
“I’m… I’m back.”
White Li’s voice had changed pitch, full of barely concealed guilt.
Cold sweat ran down her back, and she didn’t know where to look.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did you forget something?”
Lin Du walked over, lowered his head, and checked the items on the table.
His fingers sifted through the plastic bags, pulled out the green onions from the bottom, examined them, then put them back.
“I… I already checked.”
“For the other seasonings and stuff… I already ordered delivery.”
“Nothing missing?”
“N-no, nothing missing.”
White Li fanned her face with her hand, trying to use the negligible breeze to cool down the heat on her cheeks.
“Your face is a little red.”
Lin Du looked up at her.
“Are you tired?”
“N-no, no, not at all.”
White Li quickly backed away a few steps, her back hitting the sofa armrest.
“I just… it’s too hot outside.”
“From the sun.”
Lin Du picked up a few bags from the table and turned toward the kitchen.
“Okay, don’t overdo it.”
The kitchen door slowly closed, and from inside came the sound of the tap turning on, along with the rustling of plastic bags.
White Li sat on the sofa, staring at the closed kitchen door, and punched the sofa cushion hard.
“I really can’t believe myself!”
She who prided herself on strong willpower had almost succumbed to desire again.
‘White Li, White Li, is this how vulgar you are?’
‘How did you become so… so…’
She thought for a long time but couldn’t find the right word to describe herself.
‘You were a guy in your past life too.’
‘You’ve seen everything.’
White Li pushed herself up from the sofa, tugged at her pants leg, and tried to look normal.
“I’m going out to get some air, and check if the delivery has arrived!”
She called toward the kitchen, and Lin Du’s muffled voice came back:
“Okay.”
White Li pushed open the door and practically fled down the stairs.
Once outside, the fresh air hit her.
Standing at the entrance of the building, she tilted her head back, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
Her heartbeat finally slowed down, and her head cleared up.
‘Calm down.’
She told herself.
‘Don’t give in to desire.’
About ten or so minutes later, a delivery rider in a yellow helmet roared into the compound on an electric scooter.
He braked at the building entrance, then jumped off, holding several bulging bags.
“Hello, is this for Building 3, 6th floor?”
White Li quickly stepped forward.
“Ah, yes, that’s right.”
The rider was panting, sweat all over his forehead.
He hurriedly handed over the bags, which were heavy and dragged his hands down.
Inside were all kinds of bottles and jars.
She looked them over—nothing missing.
White Li couldn’t be bothered with small talk and took the bags.
“Careful, it’s heavy, miss.”
“Thanks.”
With that, all the ingredients were assembled.
White Li hugged the bags to her chest and was about to head upstairs when a commotion came from the main gate.
Puzzled, she looked up and squinted toward the iron gate.
“Excuse me!”
“Excuse me!”
A sleek, black motorcade was slowly entering the compound.
Leading the way were two black SUVs, followed by a longer sedan that looked like it had just rolled off a car show floor.
On both sides, guards in black uniforms jogged to disperse the nearby residents.
An auntie carrying a vegetable basket stepped aside, and a few children were pulled to the roadside by their parents, craning their necks curiously.
White Li’s jaw dropped as she watched the black motorcade stop right in front of her.
“No way… this much fuss?”
She instinctively hugged the bags tighter.
The SUV doors opened simultaneously, and several people in sunglasses stepped out.
They wore crisp suits with earpieces on their ears.
They looked around at the surroundings, muttered a few words into their walkie-talkies, then quickly moved to surround the middle sedan.
Two stood guard at the doors, while two bent down to roll out a red carpet spread across the ground.
In the blink of an eye, a dark red carpet stretched from the car door to the building entrance.
The edges of the carpet were trimmed with gold tassels that glittered in the sunlight.
White Li frowned.
Did they come to eat or to attend some charity gala?
The sunglasses-wearing men respectfully opened the back door.
First, a girl’s slender calf emerged—lines long and graceful, the top of her foot fair.
That foot wore light-colored high heels with a few tiny shimmering embellishments on the toe.
The toe tentatively reached down, lightly pressing against the carpet.
After confirming, she gracefully stepped out of the car.
The sunglasses-wearing bodyguard bowed his head and carefully placed his hand above the door frame to prevent her from hitting her head.
Sitiao Shizhi appeared at the end of the red carpet.
She wore a light pink dress, tightly cinched at the waist, with a neckline cut just right.
Not too revealing, but enough to make people look twice.
Her hair was pinned up, revealing her slender neck and the small pearl earrings on her earlobes.
She had on light makeup.
She held up her skirt and walked over slowly.
Each step landed on the red carpet, unhurried, as if she were on a runway.
White Li twitched the corner of her mouth, thinking,
‘What is this, some Mary Sue novel?’
‘Do you really need this much fanfare just to come eat?’
‘Do you realize you’ve taken up all the empty parking spots in the compound?’
‘Don’t you have any public decency?’
That red carpet was laid right at the building entrance—how was she supposed to go upstairs?
If she stepped on it, she didn’t want to get mistaken for a suspicious person and stopped by those sunglasses bodyguards.
Sitiao Shizhi walked up to White Li and stopped.
She was half a head taller than White Li, mainly due to her heels.
“Afternoon, White Li.”
She lowered her eyes and looked at White Li.
“What are you doing here?”