The Ceo Of The Company Next Door Seems To Have A Crush On Me Chapter 33

Scent and Experience

Lu Zhijian opened his mouth. His intuition told him not to follow Yan Xucheng’s line of questioning; he should say something else. But what should he say?

Right now, countless chaotic thoughts were flying around in his mind. Lu Zhijian wanted to catch them, but he couldn’t grasp a single one, only letting them fly in and out.

Lu Zhijian’s social skills were mostly focused on business negotiations, and his daily life was a mess. When chatting with people, such as his friends Yan Zhu or Ming Qiutai, when the conversation got intimate, he could only respond with “Mm-hmm,” “Ah-ha,” “Is that so?” and “I see.” It was truly difficult for such a Lu Zhijian to spontaneously bring up a topic.

Moreover, he didn’t even know what he wanted to say.

Although reluctant, he could only follow Yan Xucheng’s question and say, “I just called the driver. It’s better not to drive when fatigued.”

“Oh, oh, I see.” Yan Xucheng nodded vaguely.

For a moment, no one spoke in the car. Lu Zhijian was a man of few words, and if Yan Xucheng didn’t speak, he didn’t know what to say either.

A confined space inherently carries a sense of intimacy. Lu Zhijian’s car usually had no particular scent, so the interior space was easily dominated by the scent of a forest after rain, which emanated from Lu Zhijian.

Although Lu Zhijian had time to spray cologne, in his haste, he hadn’t even properly tidied his clothes. How could he have paid attention to such minor details?

The answer was clear: this must be the scent of Lu Zhijian’s body wash and shampoo.

Lu Zhijian was a meticulous person. His cologne, body wash, and a series of other personal care products were specially designed and custom-made to maintain the same scent.

Once, when Yan Xucheng was having dinner at Lu Zhijian’s house, he noticed that the hand soap had the same scent as him and asked about it out of curiosity.

At the time, Yan Xucheng exclaimed, “You’ve been marinated!”

Realizing this, Yan Xucheng’s cheeks began to heat up. Lu Zhijian was sitting right beside him, and although his scent had become fainter, it still drifted into his nose in wisps.

Am I getting sick again?

Yan Xucheng wondered. My constitution shouldn’t be this weak, right?

A friendly-looking uncle tapped on the car window, then opened the door, bending down to Lu Zhijian, “Young Master.”

The deeply cool air of dawn entered the car, breaking the confined space. Yan Xucheng didn’t even realize he had let out a sigh of relief.

The coldness of the night caused the floating water vapor in the air to condense into small dewdrops on the grass blades. The moisture that hadn’t condensed floated in the air. Yan Xucheng felt as if he had just experienced an unknown suffocation, and now, taking a deep breath, he smelled the scent of water, tasting a hint of sweetness from his throat to the tip of his tongue.

Yan Xucheng inappropriately thought of a phrase: “The night deepens and the dew is heavy.”

He first encountered this phrase in elementary school and was immediately struck by its beauty, wanting to use it in every diary entry. As a result, he accumulated a diary full of “The night deepens and the dew is heavy.” At the time, his homeroom teacher even called his father to school and very seriously told Yan Hong that his child needed sufficient rest.

Yan Hong was utterly confused, but it didn’t matter. He had extensive experience dealing with parent-teacher meetings, so he nodded very seriously, looking as if he regarded the teacher’s words as a sacred decree.

Yes, yes, good, I will definitely cooperate and firmly correct it.

Yan Hong sighed, “What a tried-and-true tactic.”

Yan Xucheng’s thoughts drifted ten thousand miles away. When he returned, the car was quiet. The uncle was driving diligently in the front. He truly was a professional driver; the car was driving smoothly and steadily.

He thought, this is infinitely better than Jiang Mingyi’s reckless, charging technique.

He completely failed to recall that his own driving skills were nearly identical to Jiang Mingyi’s.

Yan Xucheng looked out the window. The sky was turning a fish-belly white, but large parts of the sky were still dominated by night, allowing him to clearly see Lu Zhijian’s reflection in the car window.

Calmness—this was the most suitable word Yan Xucheng could think of for Lu Zhijian.

His posture was straight, his face serene and beautiful. His deep brown eyes looked almost black in this light, gazing quietly straight ahead.

Like a static painting, Yan Xucheng thought.

“Where do you want to go for breakfast?”

Yan Xucheng was startled. He moved his gaze away from the car window and secretly observed Lu Zhijian. “Break—breakfast,” he was tempted, but he had to refuse. “Can I save it? I’ll redeem it with you next time. I need to find someone to check on Jiang Mingyi. If she wakes up and finds me gone, she’ll definitely kill me…”

This was not an exaggeration.

Although he hadn’t truly witnessed it, he was certain that Jiang Mingyi could shatter his skull with one punch.

Lu Zhijian turned to look at him upon hearing this. His clear, deep brown eyes were very pure, looking straight into Yan Xucheng’s heart.

Yan Xucheng’s heart skipped a beat. Lu Zhijian was the kind of person who was very sensitive and prone to overthinking. Just as he was about to make a few more jokes, he saw Lu Zhijian curve the corner of his eyes. “Is that so? Then I’ll go home and catch up on sleep?”

Although Lu Zhijian had granted his wish, Yan Xucheng still felt a little uncomfortable, like having a painless, itchy pimple on his face—annoying. He didn’t know what was wrong with him and could only curse himself for being crazy.

He didn’t have time to dwell. Although logically, Jiang Mingyi shouldn’t wake up this early—after all, she was a night owl like him, and she hadn’t slept properly for thirty consecutive hours—there were always exceptions. What if she woke up early?

So, as soon as he got home, Yan Xucheng anxiously called Nan Xing.

Nan Xing was their high school classmate, Jiang Mingyi’s deskmate, and Yan Xucheng’s diagonal back-row neighbor. More importantly, she was a girl, making her the perfect person to look after Jiang Mingyi.

If Jiang Mingyi decided to sleepwalk naked, Nan Xing could at least put clothes on her.

Poor Nan Xing, though. Six in the morning was her prime time for deep sleep. The loud, exciting ringtone blared, sounding like a trumpet, and Nan Xing shot straight up from her bed, her soft, black long hair a mess.

She didn’t have time to worry about her hair. She pressed one hand against her rapidly beating heart and picked up the phone with the other, cursing, “Yan Xucheng, do you want to die—”

Yan Xucheng quickly knelt in surrender, “No, no, no, I want to live—”

“Pfft,” Nan Xing laughed. She pulled open the curtains and saw the rising sun, her brow furrowed like a pretzel. “Why are you up so early?”

Yan Xucheng immediately spilled the beans, explaining everything: “Jiang Mingyi and I ate ice cream until we ended up in the hospital. I woke up this morning and realized it was Jing San Hospital, so I ran away. Jiang Mingyi is still asleep. Can you go look after her?”

“Wow—” Nan Xing was amazed. “Your nightlife is so rich.”

“Alright, you stay home and rest well. Send me the address.” She immediately took on the responsibility of looking after Jiang Mingyi.

Yan Xucheng was naturally extremely grateful: “Thank you, thank you, Nan Xing, you’re such a good person, my savior, her earthly angel. A thousand thanks cannot express your kindness—” He changed his tone. “So let Jiang Mingyi repay you. Thank you, I’m hanging up.”

“Hey—” Nan Xing’s voice didn’t reach Yan Xucheng’s ears.

“Phew—” Yan Xucheng finally relaxed. He ordered takeout, then leisurely changed into a fluffy pajama set and nestled into his beanbag chair, waiting for breakfast to arrive.

Lu Zhijian returned home, but couldn’t fall asleep no matter what, so he sat up again.

Forget it, I’ll just take a nap at noon.

As soon as he closed his eyes, he recalled Yan Xucheng’s drawn-out request to hold hands last night.

That was a bit too intimate. Lu Zhijian didn’t spend much time with his parents when he was young, and even after they lived together, interactions between family members were mostly brief and polite, rarely involving any close physical contact. Therefore, his experience in this area was quite lacking.

As for his brief first relationship, Lu Zhijian was not a proactive person, and Ye Lian was immersed in the pain of their breakup. Thus, although they were nominally a couple, they didn’t actually spend much time together, let alone engage in any intimate gestures.

Should I consult someone with experience?

Lu Zhijian frowned, thinking seriously. Yes, he should ask him.