Chapter 4: 4. Chapter 4: The Gentle Lion

Chapter 4: The Gentle Lion

Perhaps because the stimulation before sleep was too great, the dreams tonight were not peaceful.

This was true for both Film Empress Gu on the 18th floor and the top-tier idol Lu on the 19th floor.

——

The young man, unruly and rebellious, sat on a high stool in front of the bar, idly plucking at the guitar in his hands.

Yet, even as beautiful melodies poured out, he did not feel satisfied.

He always felt something was missing.

The spotlight overhead cast a white, translucent light, leaving a heavy shadow along one side of his high-bridged nose.

The boy sat with his back to the light, one leg braced on the floor, the other bent, his foot resting on the metal ring of the high stool.

Cargo pants, Doc Martens, a tight black short-sleeved T-shirt paired with a camouflage jacket, and a freshly buzzed crew cut—he looked both cool and wild.

Lu Nanting lowered his head slightly, his deep gaze sweeping toward the entrance from time to time; he was clearly in a foul mood.

As the youngest son of the Lu family, he had been raised in the palm of his family’s hand since he was a child.

The Lu couple were a harmonious pair who had raised three sons. Unlike the families in their social circle—where someone was cheating today and a secret child was popping up tomorrow, always filled with foul air—their home was different.

As the child born late in their lives, with two excellent older brothers—even the second brother was eight years his senior—he did not bear the pressure of carrying a business empire or securing the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people.

From childhood to adulthood, the only requirement his family had for him was to live healthily and happily.

As long as he didn't get addicted to starting businesses, didn't touch gambling or drugs, and tried his best to be law-abiding, he would always be the apple of the family's eye.

Furthermore, whatever he liked was fine; whatever he wanted to do, the family supported him.

But some things, even with money and power, are not easy to solve.

For instance, he was a terrible student.

In the past, it didn't matter. He was handsome, his family was rich, and he was sought after wherever he went; he never felt that being bad at school was a big mistake.

After all, he didn't need to get into a good university, nor did he need to rely on a degree to find a good job after graduation.

That was until he turned seventeen and faced the hurdle of the college entrance exam.

He passed the art audition, but his academic scores were far behind.

What was even more terrifying was that there were only six full months left until the exam.

The Lu family had strict traditions; when it came to a child's education, they never allowed for crooked paths.

If he didn't seize the time to improve his grades, he would likely miss out on his dream music conservatory because of this.

For the first time, this gave him a sense of frustration—the feeling of wanting something he couldn't have.

Since deciding to apply for this university, his family had already hired over a dozen tutors for him.

However, the young master was used to doing as he pleased. He didn't like those subjects from the bottom of his heart and couldn't absorb the material. Plus, given his family background, no matter how impressive the tutor was, they couldn't force a cow to drink water if it didn't want to.

After struggling for several months, it wasn't that his grades hadn't improved at all, but the results were negligible.

Just a moment ago, his mother called to say that the sixteenth tutor she had found for him was ready, and she wanted him to go home and give it a try to see if it would work.

He felt a bit self-destructive, wanting to just give up and apply to some lax, low-tier university abroad.

He wasn't particularly desperate for a college degree, but without one, whenever he attended banquets in his social circle, he felt like he had lost the moment he appeared.

The proud young master could not tolerate that.

Since one path was blocked, he had to settle for the next best thing and take another route.

Although it would be far from home and he would miss his family, he felt he could overcome it.

Even if the school wasn't good, there were plenty of kids in his circle who went abroad to "gild" their resumes at low-tier universities; no one was in a position to mock anyone else.

So, he refused the meeting and went straight to a bar owned by a friend, intending to play music and vent.

Life is rarely perfect; even born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he had learned early on that "money isn't everything."

Then he received another call from his mother, saying the tutor hoped to have a face-to-face meeting to see if he was still salvageable. She had already agreed, and she hoped he, as her son, would cooperate.

Lu Nanting had no choice but to agree.

And then, he saw Gu Lanxi.

A girl white as glowing jade, wearing long, straight, soft black hair that reached her waist, dressed in a black turtleneck sweater paired with a white sleeveless knit dress, carrying a canvas bag. She walked toward him along the dim corridor with steady, powerful strides.

Her calves were visible beneath the hem of her dress—fair, smooth, and firm.

She looked like a fairy, carrying an aura of untouchable divinity.

Her bare face made her look very gentle, but her movements were decisive; clearly, her personality did not match her appearance.

The new tutor was a beautiful girl who made one feel the peace of the passing years at a single glance.

Lu Nanting seemed to lose his perception of the world.

He forgot the guitar in his hands and ignored his friend's teasing gaze, hearing only his own heartbeat, each thud more powerful than the last—

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

...

Perhaps young people are always like this; the budding of love must begin with appearance.

The seventeen-year-old boy understood for the first time what love at first sight was.

He sat there blankly until Gu Lanxi stopped in front of him, verified his identity against the photo on her phone, and said that cold, heartless line in her soft, sweet voice—"You're the one whose science scores don't even hit a hundred?"

Perhaps naturally quiet, she was a person with very vivid expressions. She looked at him as if looking at some rare creature, her face full of incomprehension.

The tone was just like some mischievous male students teasing girls—"If your weight isn't over a hundred, you're either flat-chested or short, hehehe."

Feeling a faint, mocking humiliation, he should have been annoyed; he should have raised his eyebrows, stood up, and lost his temper at her. But he just sat steadily on that high stool, gripping his guitar tightly, and then slowly shifted his gaze from her face down to her feet.

She was wearing a pair of yellowing white sneakers, which she tucked back slightly when she realized he was staring at them intently.

She must really be in need of money to have fought for this meeting after he had clearly refused.

After all, as long as he was willing to accept her tutoring, his mother would pay a high salary of thirty thousand yuan a month, and she would even receive a bonus of five hundred thousand once he achieved his goal.

Lu Nanting was born into wealth, but he wasn't someone who didn't understand the realities of life.

He knew that the national per capita disposable income for urban residents last year was only a little over forty thousand.

He also knew there were countless people in the country worrying about their next meal...

For her, this job must be a very good opportunity.

He wanted to use this job to build a closer connection with this girl, whose baby fat hadn't even fully faded, yet because of that one sentence, his youthful pride made him remain silent for a long time.

It was a contradictory state.

He unconsciously plucked the strings, describing his inner feelings directly.

Compared to his clumsiness in academics, he possessed talent in music far beyond the average person.

Much like a peacock courting, at critical moments, he couldn't help but spread his feathers.

Unfortunately, it backfired.

The inspiration was fleeting.

He was immersed in the world of music, forgetting to pay attention to the new tutor, sitting there and playing the melody in his heart to himself, not even noticing when she left.

That night, he put down his pen and wrote five wild characters at the top of the sheet music: "The Gentle Lion."

Only after coming to his senses did he remember to contact her, apologizing for his rudeness while expressing his willingness to accept her tutoring.

He had read her resume.

A genius girl who started university at fourteen, possessed a photographic memory, and was extremely sensitive to numbers.

That sentence must have been simple curiosity, not humiliation.

Just like a giant arriving in the land of Lilliput, one would unconsciously exclaim—"How can there be such a small person in the world?"

Perhaps in her circle, a "superhuman" whose science scores didn't hit a hundred had never appeared.

He had thought the matter was dead, but things took a turn for the better. The Lu family not only signed a labor contract with her according to the promised terms but also took the initiative to offer to provide an internship certificate for her senior year.

Gu Lanxi gladly accepted the job. That winter break, she appeared at the Lu family's door on time almost every day.

She was very good at organizing knowledge; it seemed that every subject was three-dimensional in her mind.

Knowledge points were systematic, and there were intersections between various disciplines.

She spoke gently, her emotions were stable, and she was extremely patient in her work. In just one week, she won the favor of everyone in the Lu family.

Including the young master of the Lu family, who was extremely resistant to learning.

In order to see Gu Lanxi every day, that winter break, he erupted with unparalleled enthusiasm for learning.

The knowledge points that used to give him a headache were all smoothly stuffed into his brain with Gu Lanxi's help.

His grades improved rapidly; his mother wept with joy several times, and his two sisters-in-law kept their nieces and nephews away so they wouldn't disturb him.

It is very difficult for a poor student to maintain a long-term passion for learning, but Lu Nanting persisted.

All because he confessed to Gu Lanxi, and Gu Lanxi did not refuse.

Just like those couples who can no longer stand each other but pretend to be loving for the sake of their child's college entrance exam.

Facing the young master's confession, Gu Lanxi, for the sake of the reward, did not directly refuse, but told him not to talk about these things now, and that everything would be discussed after his college entrance exam.

The tutoring went smoothly. Half a year later, Lu Nanting successfully got into his dream university, and Gu Lanxi successfully received 880,000 from Lu's mother.

Yes, because she was so satisfied with her, Mrs. Lu waved her hand, and the 500,000 directly became 880,000.

Gu Lanxi invested all of this money, along with her savings over the years and her previous wages, into a classmate who was very good at "painting cakes" and had high emotional intelligence.

The classmate opened a coffee shop. Because they were good at telling stories, they continuously raised funds over a few years, finally successfully going public, killing it in the stock market, and harvesting leeks crop after crop.

Relying on that successful first step, Gu Lanxi earned over a hundred million RMB.

In the following years, she took countless more successful steps and smoothly accumulated a significant fortune.

From a genius girl who was so poor she couldn't afford a decent pair of shoes, she became the Film Empress Gu Lanxi, who could wake up peacefully in a luxury mansion today.

It was all because she met Lu Nanting when she was seventeen.

"I congratulate you on getting rich,

I congratulate you on being brilliant,

Let the best come over,

Let the bad walk away..."

At six in the morning, Gu Lanxi rolled over and sat up.

She turned off the alarm.

She sat on the edge of the bed, slightly dazed.

She got up, washed, and put on makeup.

The nanny had already prepared breakfast. Seeing her come out, she smiled and called out, "Miss Gu."

Gu Lanxi nodded and sat at the dining table.

She tilted her head slightly, seeing the red sun hanging high in the east.

The heroine lives on the 18th floor, with money trees and wealth trees in her home, two tea pets in the tea room—a Pixiu with black, shiny claws and a golden toad holding a copper coin in its mouth. Her alarm clock is "Congratulations on Getting Rich," and her spring couplets are full of beautiful wishes for a prosperous career.

The hero lives on the 19th floor, singing about Gu Lanxi in his mouth, and dreaming of Gu Lanxi in his sleep.

One wants to "get rich" (fa), one wants to "last long" (jiu).

You probably understand their character settings now, right?

This is the foundation of sweetness, sweetness, and more sweetness.

I am truly as thoughtful as ever.

Please bookmark, please follow, throw those recommendation tickets my way~ Sending you all my heart.

(End of chapter)