His Archenemy's Photography Skills Were Enough to Chill Her Heart

The job of changing the guest room sheets passed from Professor Lu to Lu Jiayan.

The Lu family's rule was that men did the housework and women enjoyed life.

Shao Enci leaned against the doorframe, a little surprised as he watched Lu Jiayan slip on a pillowcase with quick, practiced movements.

"Let me do it."

Lu Jiayan didn't even turn around. "No need."

He patted the pillow flat, then glanced back at the young man, a hint of a mischievous curve at the corner of his mouth. "Once you're actually together with my sister, all this will be your job."

Shao Enci walked over to the bed, picked up the other corner of the sheet and helped pull it smooth, his lips curving slightly. "That's fine. I'm happy to."

Besides, his family had a housekeeper, so there was no need for him to do it himself.

The down-to-earth Shao Enci made it easy to forget that he was actually a princeling of the Beijing elite, a filthy-rich third-generation heir.

That afternoon, when Shao Enci used Lu Xiaoxiao's computer to work on an experimental project, he seemed like a different person.

His long fingers flew over the keyboard, line after line of code flickering across the screen.

Lu Xiaoxiao sat in her room doing homework. She wrote three lines, then spent ten minutes staring into space.

She stared at the topic on her computer: "The relationship between cell cycle checkpoints and tumor development." At least 1,500 words.

She had written an identical paper before her rebirth. It had taken her three late nights, and now she had to write it all over again.

She scratched her head, feeling a little close to a breakdown.

All the nights she had spent in the lab, all the reports she had written and all the hours she had spent holed up in the library in her previous life—she had to do it all over again.

The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt.

That evening, Ms. Wen and Professor Lu went out to dinner with their colleagues.

Only three people were left at home. Lu Jiayan lay on the couch, holding his phone in front of him, a goofy grin on his lips as he looked down and chatted with someone.

Lu Xiaoxiao came out of her room to get some water. She glanced at him as she passed and didn't need to guess who it was.

"It's rare for you to come back to China. Aren't you going out to meet up with your friends?"

Lu Jiayan put down his phone and gave her a lazy look. "So you can make a move on him once I'm gone?"

Lu Xiaoxiao nearly choked on her water.

He sat up, his tone turning a little more serious. "Lu Xiaoxiao, you'd better stay in your own room tonight."

"I'm going out to eat with Shao Enci." Pretending not to have heard him, she turned and headed for the guest room with her glass of water.

Lu Jiayan's voice came from behind her. "Remember to bring me something."

"..."

When Lu Xiaoxiao knocked on the guest room door, Shao Enci was writing code. His back was straight as he typed intently, not noticing at all that someone had come in.

She leaned against the doorway and watched him for a few seconds before calling softly, "Shao Enci, we're not cooking tonight. Let's go out to eat."

Shao Enci got up from his chair and pressed the spot between his brows, looking languid and tired. "Sure."

Lu Xiaoxiao was about to turn around when he added, "Ask your brother along. We'll all go together."

Lu Xiaoxiao was puzzled. "...Don't you dislike third wheels?"

"That's your brother," Shao Enci said, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Anyone else would be a third wheel, but not his future brother-in-law.

Lu Xiaoxiao picked the restaurant, a Japanese yakitori place. It was beautifully decorated, with warm yellow lighting and hanging paper lanterns that made them feel as though they were in another country.

The three of them sat in a row in a booth.

Lu Xiaoxiao sat on the inside, Shao Enci in the middle, and Lu Jiayan on the outside.

The two tall men looked like her personal bodyguards, there to protect her.

While they waited for the food, Lu Xiaoxiao was in a rare good mood. She held up her phone, leaned toward the camera, and tried several angles before taking a photo.

Lu Jiayan propped up his chin and tilted his head to look at her. "Whatever you do, don't post that on your Moments. You'll scare your friends to death in the middle of the night."

The smile vanished from Lu Xiaoxiao's face. She put her phone facedown on the table and said irritably, "Ugly people don't deserve to talk to me."

Sitting between them, Shao Enci couldn't hold back a quiet chuckle.

"Lu Xiaoxiao, I finally know why you were so sharp-tongued in high school." He turned to look at Lu Jiayan. "It runs in the family."

"Don't," Lu Jiayan said, sitting up and taking a sip of his drink. "I never took on an apprentice like that."

Lu Xiaoxiao couldn't even be bothered to retort. Her gaze fell on the grilled skewers that had just been set down in front of her.

Lu Jiayan picked up a piece of yakitori and chewed it a couple of times. Finding it not very tasty, he put down his chopsticks and clicked his tongue. "I really don't understand how you girls think. You'll sacrifice your stomachs for a pretty meal."

"What do you know?" Lu Xiaoxiao retorted, even as she ate her fresh salmon.

No wonder Sister Su Yin had chosen to break up with him in the third year of her previous life at university. With that nasty mouth and cluelessly straight-man personality of his, he deserved to get dumped.

Shao Enci said nothing, simply peeling shrimp for Lu Xiaoxiao.

Lu Jiayan took another sip of his drink. His stomach rumbled, and he rose with a grave expression. "I'm going to the restroom."

After he left, the booth fell quiet in an instant.

Lu Xiaoxiao lowered her head to pick up some food and saw Shao Enci push a whole plate of peeled shrimp into her view.

Her heart trembled slightly, and she lifted her lashes to look at him.

Shao Enci was leisurely wiping his fingers. The corners of his lips lifted as he asked quietly, "How many points would you give my performance?"

Lu Xiaoxiao looked utterly bewildered. "What?"

"Can't you tell? I'm trying to please you."

His voice was lazy and seductive as he said it, with a hint of indulgence.

Lu Xiaoxiao's starry eyes filled with amusement. She tossed him her phone. "Then take a nice picture of me first. After that, I'll consider how many points to give you."

"Then strike a pose." Shao Enci took the phone, and when he looked down to open the camera, a WeChat message popped up at the top of the screen.

He Jiran: [Are you free tomorrow? I'd like to take you to a movie.]

The young man's gaze darkened. He held up the phone absentmindedly and took a few pictures of the girl posing earnestly, his attention entirely on He Jiran's message.

A movie?

Heh, Lu Xiaoxiao and I have already kissed at the cinema, and He Jiran hasn't even managed to invite her to a movie yet.

At this rate, even by the time Lu Xiaoxiao and I get married, he might still not have caught up.

But Shao Enci should have felt fortunate that his love rival He Jiran posed no threat to him.

"Done yet?" Lu Xiaoxiao asked, her face full of anticipation.

"Done." Shao Enci handed her the phone.

She wanted to see just how good Peking University's god of learning was at taking pictures.

Lu Xiaoxiao took the phone and brought up the first photo. Her face instantly darkened.

There were eight photos in all. Either her mouth was crooked or her face was tilted, or her eyes were half-open. By the time she finished looking through them, she had turned to stone.

"Shao Enci, this is how you try to please me?"

Furious, Lu Xiaoxiao shoved the phone screen in front of him.

Shao Enci glanced at it and explained mildly, "I think they look pretty good."

He was telling the truth. She looked good even in pictures that crooked, proving her good looks could withstand an unflattering photo.

Lu Xiaoxiao couldn't resist complaining, "With photography skills like yours, wait until your next life to start dating."

Shao Enci: "?"