Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Lu Boya and I met through a blind date.

According to my aunt, he was a university professor with excellent character and looks.

When I saw him in person, my teeth practically ached.

You call this excellent character and looks? This was clearly a celestial being descended to earth!

Lu the Celestial wore a perfectly tailored three-piece suit. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, with two fine chains dangling from the temples.

He looked up and smiled at me. The chains on his glasses swayed, and the lenses caught the crystal light of the Western restaurant, refracting it into a capital-B Beautiful, capital-C Celestial vision.

Lost in his beauty, I vaguely felt my own heart sway along with those chains.

He reached out with a hand as fair as white jade, his voice refined and gentle. “Hello, I’m Lu Boya.”

I gave a low cough, barely dragging myself back to my senses, and offered him my hand.

My hand was wheat-colored and rough, with calluses of varying depths on my fingers.

Holding Lu Boya’s hand felt like holding a soft ball of cotton. I didn’t even dare use too much strength, afraid I might crush that precious “jade hand” of his.

After the brief handshake, I awkwardly pinched my ear and laughed. “My mistake. I didn’t expect my blind date to be a celestial being.”

Probably because no one had ever praised him so directly before, Lu Boya froze for a second, then let out a soft laugh. “You flatter me.”

I really wasn’t flattering him.

With looks like Lu Boya’s, he was ten thousand miles removed from the dark, tough men on construction sites, weathered by wind and sun.

“My aunt told you about me, right?” I asked.

“She did.” Lu Boya nodded. “Director Xu said you’re an engineer at a construction group.”

I paused, then gave Lu Boya a helpless twist of my lips. “I’m not an engineer. I’m a contractor.”

A trace of surprise flashed through Lu Boya’s eyes.

Trying to salvage the situation, my mouth moved faster than my brain. “But I’m a very rich contractor! I make over a million a year, I have a car and a house, and both my parents are dead!”

After I threw all my material qualifications at him in one breath, Lu Boya was left speechless. He stayed silent for a long while.

Seeing his reaction, my heart, which had been floating and swaying a moment ago, crashed to the ground with a bang.

…It was over.

Chapter 2

That child Xu Li has had a hard life.

That was something my aunt always had on her lips.

I lost my mother at ten and my father at fourteen. I spent ten years hauling bricks on construction sites and built up a body full of brute strength.

My aunt was afraid that after spending too long on construction sites, I’d end up confusing my own gender, so she kept introducing me to blind dates without pause.

But with my looks, my aura, and this washboard figure that made people unable to tell whether I was male or female, I achieved a 100% blind-date failure rate without breaking a sweat.

For that reason, my aunt had gone against her conscience and prettied up “contractor” into “engineer.”

“It’s fine.” I gave Lu Boya an easy smile. “Let’s just treat this as making a friend. This meal’s on me. After we eat, we’ll each go home.”

Even as I said that, I couldn’t help feeling regretful.

Such a gorgeous celestial being… that heart-racing love at first sight…

At the same time, I found it a little laughable. We were never the same kind of people to begin with. A toad like me couldn’t expect to eat swan meat.

In the Western restaurant, there were knives and forks everywhere, big plates and small plates.

When the steak was served, I gripped the knife and fork, not knowing where to start.

“Let me.” Lu Boya took my plate and lowered his head to cut the steak.

I felt a little embarrassed, but I said honestly, “I don’t usually eat this. There’s a lot of work on construction sites, and this kind of thing doesn’t fill you up anyway.”

Hearing that, Lu Boya directly moved the steak from his own plate onto mine.

“No, no! You eat yours!” I hurriedly said.

“It’s all right.” Lu Boya looked up and smiled at me. “I wasn’t thoughtful enough. We should have had Chinese food.”

…How was it that he wasn’t thoughtful enough? He simply hadn’t expected his blind date to be not some elegant, intellectual engineer, but a contractor who ate in big mouthfuls and tore into meat in huge bites.

Still, even so…

This man was considerate and gentle, perfect for hearth and home.

Too bad I wasn’t worthy of him.