Leisure Time

The morning classes quietly slipped away amidst the professor's steady tone.

Outside the window, the plane tree leaves rustled, and sunlight streamed through the glass, casting dappled shadows on the desks.

When the dismissal bell rang, the students, as if relieved of a burden, packed their things, chatting in twos and threes about what to eat for lunch and where to go in the afternoon.

Lin Mo stuffed his textbooks into his backpack, and Su Wanqing naturally fell into step beside him.

"Want to eat together at noon?" she asked, looking up at him with anticipation. "A new stall opened on the second floor of the Number One Cafeteria, their stir-fried pork is especially delicious. You have to go early or the line will be long."

"I'm meeting Zhou Ming," Lin Mo zipped up his backpack.

"Then... can I join?" Su Wanqing blinked, a playful curve lifting the corners of her mouth. "I promise to eat quietly and won't disturb your brotherly chat."

Zhou Ming, who had just squeezed over from the back row, heard this and immediately winked enthusiastically, his lips moving silently: "Say yes, say yes!"

Lin Mo glanced at him and nodded, "Okay."

"Great!" Su Wanqing beamed, her eyes curving into crescents. She naturally linked her arm through Lin Mo's.

The three of them descended the stairs with the flow of students.

The midday school hallway was noisy and full of life.

Along the way, Zhou Ming had a stomach full of questions, but he couldn't ask directly with Su Wanqing present, so he could only make faces.

Su Wanqing seemed oblivious, her arm linked with Lin Mo's.

She spoke softly about recent interesting events in the department, occasionally letting out a gentle laugh, her body unintentionally pressing close to Lin Mo.

The second floor of the cafeteria was indeed crowded, with long queues in front of every stall.

The smell of cooking oil, the aroma of food, and the students' laughter mingled together, forming the most familiar background noise of a university campus.

Su Wanqing, with sharp eyes, spotted an empty table in the corner. "You guys go get food first, I'll go grab the seats!"

She placed her backpack on a chair to reserve the spot, then took out tissues from her bag and began to meticulously wipe the tabletop.

Lin Mo and Zhou Ming squeezed into the queue.

As soon as they were out of Su Wanqing's sight, Zhou Ming immediately lowered his voice:

"Holy crap! Lin Mo, spill it! When did you and the beautiful Su get together? You've been hiding it pretty well!"

"Just friends," Lin Mo said, his expression unchanged as he looked at the scrolling menu ahead.

"Friends my ass!" Zhou Ming rolled his eyes. "The way she looks at you could melt steel! And that gentle, caring act she put on in the classroom earlier... it gave me goosebumps!"

"She's just a nice person," Lin Mo replied dismissively.

"Nice person? Su Wanqing?" Zhou Ming scoffed. "The guys chasing her in the department could form a line from here to the school gate. Have you ever seen her be this proactive with anyone? But with you, she's just 'nice'? You're kidding yourself!"

Lin Mo shrugged, not saying anything further.

Zhou Ming stared at him for a few seconds, then leaned in, lowering his voice even further, almost to his ear:

"Lin Mo, tell me the truth... are you... 'that'?"

"That what?"

"You know... an Awakened," Zhou Ming's eyes burned. "I've felt something was off about you for a while! Your aura is ridiculously strong now. You crushed a bowl with your bare hands at dinner yesterday, and Su Wanqing is practically throwing herself at you today... What are the odds of that happening by chance?"

Lin Mo's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained calm. "You're overthinking it. If I had superpowers, would I still be attending classes?"

"That's true..." Zhou Ming scratched his head. "Then explain Su Wanqing."

Lin Mo picked up his food tray and casually said, "It's like a turtle meeting a green bean, they just hit it off."

As they walked back with their food trays, they saw from afar that Su Wanqing had already finished wiping the table and was looking down at her phone.

Sunlight slanted in through the window, casting a soft glow on her. Her skin was fair and translucent, and the profile of her face was as beautiful as a painting.

The young men at the surrounding tables kept glancing her way.

Lin Mo felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction. This beauty, who drew attention wherever she went, was waiting for him now, showing her tenderness only to him.

He pushed one of the food trays in front of her. "I didn't know what you liked, so I just got a bit of everything."

Su Wanqing looked at the dishes on the tray: sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried broccoli, scrambled eggs with tomatoes – all commonly ordered by girls.

She looked up at Lin Mo, her eyes gentle. "How did you know I liked these?"

"Guessing," Lin Mo sat down and picked up his chopsticks, starting to eat.

Su Wanqing pursed her lips and smiled, picking up her chopsticks and beginning to eat in small bites.

Her eating was elegant, but it was clear she had a good appetite.

Zhou Ming ate his meal silently beside them, feeling like a 1000-watt lightbulb.

For a moment, there was silence among the three, broken only by the gentle clinking of bowls and chopsticks and the noisy background sounds.

The girls at the next table were enthusiastically discussing the latest variety show, while a table diagonally across from them had boys arguing over game strategies.

Further away, someone was loudly talking on the phone—"Mom, I really didn't spend money recklessly..."

This ordinary sense of daily life made Lin Mo feel a bit dazed.

Last night, he was still fighting mountain bandits in another world, using poison blood to corrode enemies' bodies.

And now, he was sitting here, eating ordinary cafeteria food, with a beautiful classmate sipping soup beside him.

The sense of dissociation was so intense, yet so natural.

After finishing their meal, Zhou Ming excused himself, claiming he needed to rush back to the dorm to finish his homework. He picked up his tray and slipped away, not wanting to be a third wheel any longer.