The next morning.

Xu Xing sighed over a math problem, and Wang Zicong, sitting beside him, sighed too.

Their sighs were perfectly synchronized.

Xu Xing turned his head and saw Wang Zicong frowning while eating breakfast—holding an egg tart, with three more on the table. It was the first time Xu Xing had seen Wang Zicong look so gloomy while eating, so he couldn’t help but ask, “How bad does it taste?”

Wang Zicong turned to Xu Xing and said, “It’s super delicious! Want to try?”

Xu Xing shook his head, eyeing him suspiciously, “Your expression doesn’t exactly scream ‘delicious’.”

Wang Zicong shyly replied, “Well, I once heard a saying: ‘When you’re not in a good mood, the food you eat becomes meaningless.'”

Xu Xing curled his lips, “So?”

Wang Zicong, full of hope, said, “So~ I hope that with a sad heart, whatever I eat will become meaningless too. Actually, I already had a tea egg for breakfast~”

Xu Xing, knowing him all too well, gestured for him to continue.

Wang Zicong, feeling a little embarrassed, chuckled and said, “Also had a packet of egg rolls, a corn cob, a sticky rice chicken, two red bean cakes, and a—”

Xu Xing cut him off: “Stop, stop.” Then, without mercy, he added, “With that diet, you’re dreaming if you think you’ll lose weight!”

Upon hearing this, Wang Zicong sighed again and said, “Actually, I did dream last night.”

Xu Xing snorted, “What, did you dream you lost 50 pounds?”

Wang Zicong shook his head, “I dreamt that I woke up at dawn, half-asleep, opened Taobao, and claimed a discount coupon for a snack store—spend 300, save 50! Since the coupon was only valid that day, I placed an order right away.”

“When I woke up, I’d completely forgotten about it. Then, just now, I got a notification on my phone that the store had shipped the order. Turns out, it wasn’t a dream after all!”

Xu Xing: “…”

Wang Zicong beamed, “Isn’t that amazing?”

Xu Xing pinched the chubby flesh on Wang Zicong’s face and said, “You should zip it. Weren’t you just saying you’d finish off your current stash and not buy any more snacks this month?”

Wang Zicong pouted, picked up the second egg tart, and didn’t dare argue. Instead, he changed the subject to curry favor with Xu Xing, “Oh, and I bought your favorite milk-flavored white chocolate candies~”

Xu Xing couldn’t hold back a chuckle and said, “Give it a rest. The candy in my desk always ends up in your stomach, doesn’t it?”

Wang Zicong fell silent.

He peeled off the foil from the egg tart, and as the thin, crispy crust crumbled onto the desk, he picked up a piece and ate it, even licking his fingers for the crumbs.

At that moment, Tang Mian arrived at the classroom. She was holding her backpack, and as she sat down, she habitually pinched Wang Zicong’s cheek affectionately, “Zong Zong, want some steamed eggs?”

Wang Zicong’s eyes lit up, and he eagerly asked, “Did you make too much and can’t finish it?”

Wang Zicong had a unique way of rationalizing things—if someone else had excess food, his eating it would be to avoid waste, which eased his guilty conscience.

Tang Mian smiled, “I brought a steamer and six eggs. The school only sells tea eggs, which are too unhealthy, so I figured it’s better to steam my own from now on.”

Wang Zicong quickly agreed, “Yeah, tea eggs are way too unhealthy.”

Xu Xing interrupted, “Tang Mian, don’t tempt him. He already ate a tea egg this morning.”

Tang Mian said, “No worries, we can steam them during the break.”

Wang Zicong added eagerly, “Tang Mian, I bought your favorite dried jackfruit on Taobao this morning.”

Aside from his love for food, Wang Zicong had an excellent memory, always recalling what others liked to eat as if he had a little notebook in his mind.

Tang Mian squealed and pinched his cheek again, praising, “Our Zong Zong is like a warm little jacket.”

Xu Xing snorted, “More like a whole quilt.”

Tang Mian said to Wang Zicong, “Don’t mind him. Xing Xing’s just being stubborn—deep down, he finds you warm and sweet too.”

Wang Zicong munched on his egg tart, replying, “It’s fine. Quilts are warmer anyway.”

Xu Xing smiled but was suddenly distracted by a conversation behind him between Ke Di and Fu Dai.

Ke Di: “Where’s Che-ge? Not up yet?”

Fu Dai: “Wasn’t he right behind me?—Oh, why’s he going through the front door?”

Xu Xing turned to look, not because he heard Lu Che’s name, but because Ke Di and Fu Dai’s voices seemed unusually close.

He glanced and confirmed they were still sitting at their seats, some distance away. Xu Xing rubbed his ear and turned back—

Only to see Lu Che walking in through the front door of the classroom.

Xu Xing merely caught a glimpse of him from the corner of his eye, and before their gazes could meet, he quickly looked away, pretending to focus on the math problem.

Lu Che, with a piece of bread in his mouth and a cup of hot sweet milk in hand—clearly bought from the campus bakery—walked past Xu Xing’s seat and greeted him with a smile, “Morning, class monitor~”

“…”

Since Lu Che had called him out by name, Xu Xing couldn’t ignore him, so he reluctantly raised his head and responded, trying to keep calm, “Morning…”

Xu Xing felt conflicted. Every time he saw Lu Che now, he couldn’t help but think of the recording. Yet, with Lu Che acting all calm and unbothered, Xu Xing had no choice but to pretend to be composed as well.

It was better if Lu Che didn’t bring it up; Xu Xing hoped he would forget about it altogether.

Fortunately, Lu Che greeted him briefly and then went about his own business, allowing Xu Xing to have a peaceful morning.

At noon, Xu Xing went to the cafeteria with Tang Mian and Wang Zicong.

They arrived neither too early nor too late, just in time to take the seats vacated by a group of four who had just finished their meal. Xu Xing and Tang Mian sat on one side, while Wang Zicong sat across from Tang Mian.

At the table next to them sat a few of their classmates, two boys and two girls, including a trio involved in a love triangle that Xu Xing had noticed before in class.

Xu Xing remembered that the boy’s name was Lin Peisang, and he was romantically linked to one of the girls, Huang Mengjiao. The other girl, Liu Peilian, was Huang Mengjiao’s desk mate, and she had an unspoken connection to Lin Peisang.

As soon as they sat down, Huang Mengjiao asked Liu Peilian, “Oh no, I forgot my hair tie! Do you need yours? If not, can I borrow it to tie up my hair?”

Huang Mengjiao had fair skin and spoke in a gentle, slightly coquettish voice.

Liu Peilian replied, “How do you keep forgetting?”

Lin Peisang chimed in sarcastically, “Peilian, you shouldn’t tie your hair up anyway; it makes your face look big, like this cafeteria tray.”

Liu Peilian shot him a glare. “Shut up!”

After a brief hesitation, she handed over the hair tie from her wrist to Huang Mengjiao.

Liu Peilian had long, straight, and thick hair that kept falling over her shoulders, and without the hair tie, she had to keep pushing it back with her hands.

Tang Mian noticed and immediately took off the hair tie from her own wrist. “Peilian, I have a hair tie. You can have mine; I don’t need it.”

Tang Mian had short shoulder-length hair, but she always kept a hair tie on her wrist out of habit, especially for when the weather was hot and her hair would irritate her neck and shoulders.

Liu Peilian gratefully accepted the hair tie and smiled brightly as she thanked Tang Mian.

Xu Xing barely paid attention to this small interaction. He was about to eat a spoonful of potato when he noticed someone standing in front of him out of the corner of his eye.

“Is this seat taken?”

A familiar voice spoke.

Wang Zicong and Tang Mian responded in unison, “Nope!”

Xu Xing was speechless.

Lu Che sat down across from Xu Xing, completely at ease.

Xu Xing shot him a glance, wanting to ask, Why are you sitting here? but instead, he politely asked, “Where are Fu Dai and the others?”

The underlying meaning: Go sit with your friends. Why are you sitting in front of me?

Lu Che nodded toward a nearby table. “There are only two seats over there.”

Xu Xing turned to look and saw Fu Dai and Ke Di sitting face-to-face, with Ke Di waving at him.

Xu Xing was silent.

He continued eating, feeling puzzled as to what Lu Che was up to, but surprisingly, the meal passed in peace.

Lu Che’s tray was piled high with food. He ate systematically—one bite of rice, one bite of meat, then one bite of vegetables—never mixing them, displaying his clear-cut, obsessive-compulsive eating habits.

Xu Xing poked at his braised fish with his chopsticks and decided not to overthink things.

After finishing the meal, Xu Xing asked Tang Mian for a napkin.

Usually, Tang Mian would tear one napkin into three parts and hand them to Xu Xing and Wang Zicong to wipe their mouths. But today, because Lu Che was there, she generously took out a whole pack of napkins and handed a full sheet to Xu Xing before offering another one to Lu Che. “Here you go~”

Although Tang Mian didn’t have any particular feelings for Lu Che, she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous around the school’s most popular guy.

But Lu Che didn’t take it. Instead, he turned to Xu Xing and said, “Class rep, just tear me off half. No need to waste.”

“…”

Xu Xing rolled his eyes internally and reluctantly tore half the napkin to give to him.

After Wang Zicong finished eating, Xu Xing got up to leave, only to see Lu Che pick up his tray first.

Xu Xing was startled. “What are you doing? I can carry my own tray.”

Lu Che, holding both trays, gestured toward the cutlery with a nod. “You can take this.” Then, with a slight chuckle, he added, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “No need to be so polite with me.”

At the tray return station, trays and utensils were placed separately.

Xu Xing would sometimes share the load with Tang Mian and the others, one person carrying trays and the other the utensils, to avoid crowding.

But with Lu Che doing it, something just felt off to Xu Xing.

“…”

Dude, do you realize you’re acting kinda… suspicious?

Xu Xing chalked it up to his imagination… or was it?

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