Getting Caught Up In His Cycle Of Passionate Love - Chapter 10

Good night.

During September, everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction for the upcoming Cultural Arts Festival.

By the end of the month, there was already a hint of autumn in the air. Zhuo Mi, the kitten, had grown noticeably under the collective care of several people—though most of the time, it was Lu Que looking after it.

When Xu Tao Yue saw Zhuo Mi again, the tiny, helpless kitten she remembered had turned into a chubby little puffball. Shocked, she turned to Lu Que—the stand-in caregiver—for confirmation.

“You’re telling me… this fat little guy is my poor, fragile kitten who couldn’t take care of itself?!”

Lu Que nodded, even sounding a bit proud:
“What do you think? I raised it well, didn’t I?”

Xu Tao Yue picked Zhuo Mi up and gave it a little lift. Its fur was glossy and smooth, soft to the touch, and its weight…

Well, it was about the same as her younger brother.

Xu Tao Yue gave Lu Que a big thumbs-up, then planted a kiss on Zhuo Mi:
“Fat? No way! It’s still growing!”

Lu Que nodded in agreement. “The festival’s next week. I think this year’s theme is traditional Chinese culture. Have you finished your research?”

Xu Tao Yue thought for a second. “More or less.”

Lu Que didn’t ask further. As Xu Tao Yue put Zhuo Mi down and stood up, she glanced around—and spotted Octopus Bro lying next to the TV stand.

“How could you just leave Octopus Bro next to the TV?”

“He’s mine now,” Lu Que said, implying: I’ll put him wherever I want.

Xu Tao Yue huffed and picked up Octopus Bro, accidentally pressing a button in the process.

“Stupid,” the toy said in Lu Que’s voice.

Lu Que immediately realized something was wrong and tried to snatch it back.

But Xu Tao Yue had already sensed a secret and, for once, reacted lightning-fast by pulling her hand away:
“Classmate Lu, you’re hiding something!”

Lu Que felt a little guilty. He hadn’t even realized the toy could record audio—apparently, it had captured the whole moment back then.

Lu Que started trying to wrestle it back from her.

Xu Tao Yue raised an eyebrow and turned her back to him, inspecting it further.

And then—she pressed another button.

“Stupid,” Lu Que’s voice echoed again.

“You didn’t even delete the recent ones.”

Xu Tao Yue instantly remembered the scene. Her face darkened with mock fury.

“Lu Que! Care to explain?”

“It really wasn’t my fault!” Lu Que tried to explain, but she cut him off.

“Why did you call me stupid?” she asked, slowly and clearly.

Lu Que opened his mouth, but the words got stuck. He ended up just echoing back, “Huh?”

“Why. Did. You. Call. Me. Stupid?” she repeated.

Lu Que suddenly relaxed with a sigh of relief.

Yep. She didn’t remember the rest of it.

What a dummy.

Didn’t even recall the whole scene.

Lu Que got cocky again, raising an eyebrow:
“What, you’re saying you’re not stupid?”

Xu Tao Yue blinked in confusion. “Huh? How am I stupid?”

Lu Que nodded solemnly:
“Remind me who wasted hundreds of tokens and only managed to win one Octopus Bro?”

“Oh…”

Xu Tao Yue nodded slowly.

Okay… that was her.

Thanks to Lu Que’s quick thinking—and Xu Tao Yue’s conveniently bad memory—the situation was temporarily under control.

Xu Tao Yue scratched her head. Her memory really was getting worse.

Even in real life, she was forgetful… and now that she was inside a novel, it was somehow even worse?

She patted her own head:
“I better not be developing memory loss…”

Neither of them dwelled too long on the incident. They quickly shifted their focus to preparing for the Cultural Arts Festival.

Class 3 was doing a tea ceremony demonstration. Xu Tao Yue had spent the weekend reading up on it, and as expected, she found Chinese traditional culture incredibly rich and fascinating.

Lu Que’s house had a ton of teacups. The four of them shamelessly hung out at his place under the pretense of “festival prep”—but really, they were just enjoying the luxury.

Lu Que: “…”

“How long do you guys plan on staying?”

Xu Tao Yue waved a hand dismissively. “Until I’ve finished studying this stuff.”

Lu Que turned to the others. “What about you two?”

Ye Wan and Xia Xiangyang pretended not to hear. Ye Wan raised a teacup and studied it under the light:
“Xia Xiangyang, do you see anything different about this cup?”

Xia Xiangyang stroked his imaginary beard and nodded seriously:
“Mmm. Smells like money.”

Lu Que crossed his arms, picked up Zhuo Mi, and headed upstairs.

The moment he disappeared, the three instantly huddled up to start scheming.

“It’s only ten. Does Lu Que really go to bed this early?”

Xu Tao Yue shook her head. “No idea.”

Ye Wan kept inspecting the cup. “This must be really expensive, right?”

Xu Tao Yue shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Xia Xiangyang gave her a look. “Why do you know nothing?”

Xu Tao Yue blinked back:
“No idea.”

…

Lu Que eventually came back downstairs after being woken up by their loud chatter.

He had no clue what the three of them were even doing so late at night. The living room was a chaotic mess.

“What exactly is going on here?” he asked, looking around at the junk food on the table, tissues scattered across the floor, and the sticky notes on their faces.

Xu Tao Yue peeled the note off her face with an awkward smile:
“We’ll totally, totally, totally clean this up in a bit.”

Lu Que sat down and pulled Zhuo Mi into his lap:
“I didn’t say you couldn’t eat. Even Zhuo Mi came downstairs.”

The gentle tone startled the other two—he was being too nice.

Xu Tao Yue stroked Zhuo Mi’s head.
“Maybe the smell of snacks brought him down. Want to eat with us?”

Lu Que shook his head and reached to peel off the note on her forehead.
“What’s this?”

“We’re playing cards. Wanna join? If you do, we can play a full game of mahjong.”

All three looked at him with shining eyes:
“Come on! You’re awake anyway—join us for a round!”

Lu Que hesitated.
“I don’t know how to play…”

Xu Tao Yue tugged his sleeve:
“Come on! Just for fun.”

Eventually, the three of them wore him down, and he gave in.

After a quick explanation of the rules from Xu Tao Yue, they started scheming. They finally found something Lu Que wasn’t good at—time to take revenge!

But Lu Que took his time with each move, and the three kept watching him intently, making him a little uncomfortable.

Xu Tao Yue had everything planned, just waiting for him to play the wrong card—
Then Lu Que casually said:

“I think I just won?”

Xu Tao Yue: “!”

Ye Wan: “?”

Xia Xiangyang: “Whoa.”

They rushed over to check. A clean winning hand.

Xu Tao Yue stared at him:
“Wait… didn’t you say you didn’t know how to play?!”

Lu Que blinked innocently:
“…Was it hard?”

Xu Tao Yue wanted to cry.
She had studied the game for a month before she got the hang of it!

Why could Lu Que just pick it up instantly?

She was so not okay with this.

“No way. One more round!”

Lu Que didn’t mind at all. In fact, he seemed to enjoy crushing them—so he happily agreed.

Over the next few games, Xu Tao Yue got a firsthand experience of the so-called “newbie luck.”

Lu Que started dominating.

And just when the others had hope again, he picked up a tile and said slowly:
“Self-draw. I win.”

All three: “……”

Whose bright idea was it to invite him to play again?

Xu Tao Yue realized she had been way too naive.
This guy was a natural strategist—future business prodigy.
There’s no way he’d lose at a simple game like mahjong.

She went quiet, feeling utterly defeated.

“So… I won, right?”

Xu Tao Yue nodded.

“Then can I make a request?”

She nodded again.

Lu Que pointed at the mess on the table and floor, then looked at the sticky notes still stuck to their faces.

“Please clean everything up and go to sleep. We have data collection tomorrow.”

After getting thoroughly destroyed by Lu Que, none of them were in the mood to argue. In fact, his request came as a relief.

Xu Tao Yue quickly got to work. After cleaning up all the trash, she went over to him for a reward.

“Was I awesome or what?”

In the past few months, Lu Que’s attitude toward Xu Tao Yue had completely flipped. Now, he could even nod with a straight face and say she was awesome.

Xu Tao Yue giggled.
“Then tomorrow, help me with that group assignment Ms. Xiang gave us. Let’s pair up!”

Lu Que handed her a wet wipe to clean her hands.
“When have I not helped you?”

Xu Tao Yue glared at him. “You didn’t agree the first time! I had to beg you for ages.”

Lu Que nodded thoughtfully.
“Then maybe you can do it alone this time.”

She rolled her eyes. “Too late! Wan Wan already submitted our names. You’re stuck with me all through senior year!”

Lu Que’s expression darkened a little, as if something stirred behind his eyes.
“Go to bed now.”

Xu Tao Yue nodded.
“Good night, Lu Que.”

“Good night.”

Later, as she lay with Ye Wan, neither of them looked remotely sleepy.

“Peach, do you really like Lu Que?”

“Why do you ask?”

Ye Wan gazed at the starry sky outside the window:
“It just feels like you’ve known him for a long time. But we’ve only known each other a few months.”

Xu Tao Yue thought back to all those nights spent binge-reading the novel in her world. Watching all the side characters sacrifice so much for the heroine and feeling it wasn’t fair. And especially… Lu Que.

She looked down, unsure how to answer.
The timeline was all messed up now.
She wasn’t even sure if she could protect Lu Que from getting hurt.

It was rare for her to feel so pessimistic, but his recent expression haunted her like a nightmare she couldn’t escape.

“Wan Wan… no matter what I do, you’ll support me, right?”

Ye Wan nodded without hesitation.
“Of course. Not just me—Xia Xiangyang and Lu Que will, too.”

Xu Tao Yue turned to her.

“What if I have to deliberately push you all away… would you still listen to me?”