Lunchtime

When Bai Yao saw Kong Wu's reaction, his first thought was that there might be something wrong with this handsome guy's head.

Otherwise, how had he gone from being so cold he inspired no interest to acting like he'd swallowed two pounds of pills, all in the blink of an eye?

But since Kong Wu didn't say anything, Bai Yao pretended he hadn't noticed. He didn't want to invite trouble.

Then he turned his attention back to Gu Yang.

Eating melon on the spot when it had nothing to do with him was pretty nice.

Listening to Gu Yang's well-reasoned argument—it was an argument, probably—he felt Gu Yang was about to come off worse. After all, not everyone was so reasonable.

And things did go pretty much as Bai Yao had expected.

The outcome was just a little different.

He'd thought Gu Yang would come off worse, but unexpectedly, the girl with him who hadn't said a word all this time struck without another word.

Smack!

A loud slap rang out.

Right on its heels came a succession of slaps: "Smack! Smack! Smack!"

"If you dare run your mouths and slap labels on people again, I'll slap those pig faces of yours to pieces!"

The words were fierce, but coming from a delicate-looking girl, they didn't seem threatening however one looked at them.

And yet that really was the end of it.

Others might not have known what had happened, but how could the people who'd been slapped not know?

Bai Yao didn't know exactly what had happened, and he had no intention of asking. Once the show was over, he withdrew his Mental Power.

Only then did he discover that Kong Wu was sitting right up against him.

Bai Yao: ???

Hadn't there been more than twenty centimeters between them just now? How were they suddenly touching?

More importantly, how had he not noticed? His Mental Power had been covering the area the whole time.

As for the possibility that he'd been distracted and failed to notice, he dismissed it outright. He'd remained on guard against anything near him the whole time.

Let alone a whole person approaching, he would have known even if a mosquito had landed on him.

So the only possible conclusion was that there was something off about Kong Wu, the handsome guy with the crew cut.

He just didn't know exactly what it was yet.

With that thought, Bai Yao no longer felt like chatting.

Kong Wu was a man of few words to begin with, so he sat quietly too.

Hu Yang and Dongfang Dazhuang, on the other hand, kept chatting away, their topics all over the place.

For instance, seven milk candies really couldn't make a glass of milk, and sparrows actually didn't taste good.

They chatted on until an attendant came by asking if anyone wanted a boxed meal. Only then did they finally stop.

"It's noon already," Hu Yang said, glancing at his watch.

He'd been having so much fun chatting that he'd forgotten the time.

"Mm. Hu Yang, what do you want to eat? I'll bring it back for you from the dining car," Dongfang Dazhuang asked.

"No need. My family packed me something to eat before I left." As Hu Yang spoke, he pulled a lunchbox out of his bag.

Seeing that Hu Yang had food, Dongfang Dazhuang turned to Bai Yao and Kong Wu and asked, "Do you need me to bring you a meal? If you do, I can pick it up for you when I go order mine."

"I brought my own," Kong Wu replied briskly, taking out his lunchbox.

"I brought mine too," Bai Yao replied with a smile.

"All right, I'll just get mine, then."

Dongfang Dazhuang spoke as he started to get up.

Seeing this, Bai Yao hurriedly said, "Dazhuang, wait. I brought plenty of food. Let's eat together. Otherwise, in this weather, it'll probably have gone bad by dinner."

Dongfang Dazhuang had agreed to help with the move to the countryside and had already helped him out. Bai Yao had to show some appreciation.

Besides, Dazhuang was a good guy, and Bai Yao wouldn't feel bad about giving him some of his food.

Dongfang Dazhuang was about to refuse. Even though food wasn't as scarce these days, no one went out of their way to eat someone else's meal.

"Don't be polite. It's nothing special, just vegetable dumplings." Bai Yao opened the large lunchbox he'd specially prepared to show him, then picked one up and handed it to him.

Giving him just one might have seemed stingy, but each of these vegetable dumplings was as big as an adult's fist. With all the filling packed inside, one was sure to fill him up.

Seeing that Bai Yao was genuinely offering him food, Dongfang Dazhuang stopped refusing. He made a note of it, thinking he could simply repay the food once he got back to the village.

Besides, cornmeal vegetable dumplings really weren't anything precious in the countryside.

But when he bit into one, his eyes went wide.

Good grief! This slightly dark cornmeal vegetable dumpling really couldn't be judged by its appearance.

With that one bite, he got a big mouthful of meat.

"Bai Yao, this is the most extravagant vegetable dumpling I've ever eaten," Dongfang Dazhuang remarked.

His words made Hu Yang, who had just taken out his lunchbox, curious. He leaned over for a look and was shocked too.

Fresh meat, diced cured meat, and chopped glass noodles. The only thing that could be called vegetables was the pitifully small amount of dried greens.

"With filling like this, you could have made anything. Why did you make vegetable dumplings?" Hu Yang asked, looking utterly speechless.

Bai Yao smiled. "When you're away from home, eating too well draws too much attention. Wrap it up as vegetable dumplings, and there's nothing to worry about."

"And the dough isn't just cornmeal, is it?" Dongfang Dazhuang asked.

He knew the texture of cornmeal all too well, but the vegetable dumpling in his hand wasn't dry at all, and it was especially fragrant.

"Mm, I added bean flour and wheat flour. It tastes good without drawing attention," Bai Yao replied.

Dongfang Dazhuang gave Bai Yao a thumbs-up, then took another big bite.

The vegetable dumpling was so delicious that he felt he could remember this meal for the rest of his life.

Seeing how much Dongfang Dazhuang was enjoying it, Hu Yang's mouth watered too. He pushed his lunchbox toward Bai Yao and asked pitifully, "These are pork and cabbage dumplings. Bai Yao, could you trade me for one?"

"Sure," Bai Yao agreed. He had four in his lunchbox anyway.

No sooner had he spoken than another lunchbox appeared in front of him, accompanied by a cool voice that nevertheless sounded aggrieved.

"I want to trade too."

The lunchbox opened to reveal a whole box full of braised meat.

Bai Yao looked up. When he saw Kong Wu's eyes, he suddenly felt as though he were looking at a big wolfdog waiting for his answer, its eyes full of anticipation.

Seduced by such good looks, Bai Yao agreed in a daze.

"Okay, let's trade."

And so the four of them each held a vegetable dumpling and munched away with blissful expressions.

As for the dumplings and braised meat, no one touched them.

It wasn't that they didn't taste good, but Bai Yao's vegetable dumplings were genuinely substantial. One really could fill an adult up.

In the end, Kong Wu and Dongfang Dazhuang had eaten just enough to feel full, Bai Yao was a little stuffed, and Hu Yang was truly stuffed.

The two who'd overeaten didn't want to move at all, so Kong Wu and Dongfang Dazhuang fetched hot water for them.

But by the time the water had cooled, neither had taken a sip. They'd gotten sleepy from eating so much and taken a nap.

They'd slept a little long, though. By the time they opened their eyes again, two hours had passed.

For Bai Yao, however, sleeping too long was nowhere near as startling as the critical hit of a beautiful face the moment he opened his eyes.

How had he ended up lying on Kong Wu's lap?