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nHearing this, Jin Xiangdong fixed his gaze on Lu Jia’er. “I don’t know about other men. But, you are to my taste!”

nLu Jia’er was struck. She found it hard to agree, or to disagree, so, she changed the subject. “Alright, now can you tell me who you are?”

nThe subject was shifted quickly but Jin Xiangdong’s reaction was swift as well. “A man!” He said those two words while full aware what Lu Jia’er was referring to.

nLu Jia’er stared at him, discontented, “That is not what I am talking about!”

nJin Xiangdong put some food on her plate and grinned. “I am Ironman!”

n“You are so boring!” Lu Jia’er sighed.

nJin Xiangdong smiled at her. “Why don’t you believe my words?”

nLu Jia’er retorted, “Because I am not a three-year-old!”

nJin Xiangdong went on with a smile. “While you can interpret those words as child-lulling, there is some truth to it!”

n“Ironman?” Lu Jia’er repeated the word.

n“Yes!” Jin Xiangdong nodded.

nLu Jia’er was baffled. “Ironman is a character made up in the Marvel comics. I do not believe there is such a thing in the real world. Do not leave my hanging. Tell me, what are you?”

nJin Xiangdong’s lips curled up as he proclaimed in a serious tone. “I am not a human being.”

nDoubt rose in the depth of her eyes as Lu Jia’er heard his answer. She stared at Jin Xiangdong and asked. “What did you say?”

nJin Xiangdong smiled. “Are you scared?”

nWhile in shock, Lu Jia’er shook her head. “No. It’s just that I can’t understand what you are trying to say. If you are not a human being, then what are you?”

nJin Xiangdong gazed at her for a few seconds before he answered, “It is not exactly accurate to say I am not a human being!”

n“A mutant?” Lu Jia’er guessed.

nJin Xiangdong shook his head.

n“A clone, a man-made man?” Lu Jia’er had more guesses.

nAgain, Jin Xiangdong shook his head no.

nLu Jia’er looked at him, and many ideas were coming into her mind. Before she knew it, her eyebrows were knitted together.

nJin Xiangdong picked up the sign. He stopped her at once. “Stop with the wild ideas. Let’s eat lunch now!”

nBut the next second, Lu Jia’er blurted out, “Are you… an AI?”

nJin Xiangdong was taken aback. Lu Jia’er kept staring at him. “I am right, am I not?”

nJin Xiangdong smiled. He did not deny it, nor acknowledge it. “As far as the answer is concerned, I stand by what I said. I am waiting for you to decode my body!”

nLu Jia’er, of course, found Jin Xiangdong’s answer unsatisfactory. “It is not fun if you leave me hanging for too long!”

n“But you are still curious.” Jin Xiangdong grinned.

nSpeaking of curious, Lu Jia’er remembered something. At the very beginning, when she started to pursue Jin Xiangdong, it was because she was curious about him. What caught her interest when they first met?

nThey chatted and dined. It was an enjoyable lunchtime that was both happy and confusing.

nAke came out to clear out the tableware and Lu Jia’er offered to help.

n“Professor Lu, do you know what I like you the most?” while cleaning the table, Ake asked.

nLu Jia’er asked with a smile, “Ake, what do you like me the most?”

n“The fact that you make master happy, from head to toe!” Ake replied.

nHearing this, Lu Jia’er sized Jin Xiangdong up and down. “From head to toe?”

nJin Xiangdong raised his eyebrows and added, “Inside and out!”

nLu Jia’er chuckled. “Honeyed words!”

nJin Xiangdong replied, “Words that speak to the truth!”

nAke took a look at them. “Are you playing string up puzzle?”

nHearing this, Jin Xiangdong and Lu Jia’er laughed with one accord.

nLu Jia’er helped Ake finishing cleaning the table. She had just gone back to the living room when her phone in her bag began to ring.

nLu Jia’er took out her cell phone and recognized the number on the screen. It was from Xu Lei.

nLu Jia’er picked it up. “Deputy Xu!”

n“Professor Lu, are you free this afternoon?” She heard Xu Lei’s voice.

nLu Jia’er looked at Jin Xiangdong before she answered. “Yes, I am. Anything wrong?”

n“I have a mission tonight. Can we change tonight’s session to this afternoon?” Xu Lei asked.

n“Sure!” Lu Jia’er replied without demur. She looked at her watch and added. “Meet at the center at 2:30!”

n“Okay. I’ll see you later!” Xu Lei said.

nShe hung up the cell phone and updated Jin Xiangdong. “I need to leave for a moment. I have a psychological counselling session this afternoon.”

n“What is the address? I’ll drive you there!” Jin Xiangdong said.

nLu Jia’er did not refuse. “At XX Road!”

n“It’s not far from here. We will leave in half an hour!” With that said, Jin Xiangdong pulled Lu Jia’er over into his arms.

nAt this, Ake left for the study at once, in case he would interrupt his master and Professor Lu enjoying their boudoir pleasures. That being said, Ake did murmur something: man and woman in love were like two pieces of magnet that would always stick together.

nAt 2:30 in the afternoon, Jin Xiangdong had driven Lu Jia’er to Han Yi’s psychological counselling center.

nLu Jia’er had readied everything when Xu Lei pushed the door open and stepped in.

nLu Jia’er stood up to welcome him. “Deputy Xu!”

nXu Lei smiled at Lu Jia’er. The two took seats. Then, Xu Lei began, “Professor Lu, I am sorry that I have interrupted your date with your boyfriend!”

nLu Jia’er was surprised to hear this. Xu Lei continued to explain. “I arrived a bit early. I was answering a call in my car and happened to see!”

nLu Jia’er smiled. “He dropped me off.”

nXu Lei looked at her and stately bluntly. “But… he seems to be a different guy from the one I saw last time!”

nHis observation made Lu Jia’er feel a bit awkward. For the moment, she did not know how to explain this to Xu Lei.

nShe forced a smile. “He is always my boyfriend. The person you met last time is a friend of mine who is a boy!”

nXu Lei’s sharp eyes flickered. Last time after their session, Xu Lei ran into Ian picking her up. Back then, she introduced Ian as her boyfriend.

nWas he remembering it wrong? But that would be unlikely given that Xu Lei had a good memory. Besides, it was only a week ago.

nJudging by Xu Lei’s looks, Lu Jia’er knew that he had doubts. However, keeping on explaining would be fooling him and she might lose his trust. She thought she just might as well change the subject to their counselling.

n“Let us begin!” Lu Jia’er said.

nXu Lei was not in the habit of prying into other’s private matters. He did find it hard to understand. However, since Lu Jia’er was avoiding the subject, it was not his place to pursue.

n“Sure!” Xu Lei nodded.

nLu Jia’er moved into her role at once. “Deputy Xu, how are you feeling this week?” She asked.

n“I am not in a good mood this week!” Xu Lei answered.

n“Why is that?” Lu Jia’er questioned.

n“I don’t know exactly. Maybe it is because the weather is too hot?” Xu Lei answered.

nLu Jia’er wrote it down on her notebook and added, “How is your work?”

n“It’s fine!” Xu Lei replied.

n“How many times did you drink this week?” Lu Jia’er asked.

n“Five times.” Xu Lei gave an honest reply.

n“Five times, two times more than last week.” Lu Jia’er compared the data.

nXu Lei nodded silently.

nLu Jia’er gazed at him. “It is only natural to drink some beer to refresh yourself afterward when it is hot as long as you don’t indulge in excessive drinking. Have you been drunk this week?”

nXu Lei shifted his looks to the end table as if he was avoiding Lu Jia’er. “Yes.”

nLu Jia’er asked at this point, “How many times?”

nXu Lei’s answer was, “Three times!”

nLu Jia’er wrote this down as well. “Compared with last week, your situation has made a change back to the original state. Did you really drink a bit more because it is hot?”

nXu Lei’s eyes flickered and his hand was rubbing his leg involuntarily. “I was thinking of my comrade-in-arms again.”

nLu Jia’er looked at his face and then his hand. “Is it because you saw someone picking me up last week?”

nHearing this, Xu Lei was startled but he shook his head. “No.”

n“Well, even if it is, it’s okay.” Lu Jia’er said in a gentle voice.

nAt this point, Xu Lei lifted his eyes to her. “Professor Lu, well… the cause of my psychological ailment is mainly the fact that I miss the army.”

nLu Jia’er did not probe further now that Xu Lei was avoiding the subject. She nodded. “I understand! I want to hear more stories of you and your comrade-in-arms. Can you tell me?”

n“Sure!” Xu Lei said.

nThen, Xu Lei began to tell the story of him and his comrade-in-arms. “The first year that Brother He and I joined the Special Force, we were both going through such intensive training by our squadron commander. In our previous unit, we were top performers but to our squadron commander, we were nothing. We started from scratch. So, we cursed our squadron commander behind his back and while doing so, we kept our chin up. Once during an outdoor training, Brother He was bitten by a snake. He asked me to handle it. I asked where he was bitten and he pointed to his bottom. I said, you were so mean. Why did it just so happen to be your butt? He just said that it was a life-and-death matter!”

n“What did you do eventually?” Lu Jia’er asked with a smile.

nXu Lei laughed. “What do you think I did? I had to suck out the venom even if it was on his butt!”

nWhen Xu Lei spoke of his life in the army, the looks in his eyes were completely different. The vigor added a touch of special charm to him.

nLu Jia’er listened with all ears. Every now and then, she would ask a question with a laugh and Xu Lei talked himself out.

nThis was the third session for Xu Lei. He realized that he loved chatting with Lu Jia’er because she was a good listener. He felt she could read his mind, discovering what he was thinking of and recognize the desire buried deep in his heart. When he relieved himself of his thoughts, he could adjust better than before even when the effect was not produced immediately.

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