Just Bringing It for Wanwan to Eat!

At the sight of the girl's wary, thief-guarding gaze, Jiang Yubai's mouth twitched involuntarily.

Seeing that she was practically about to pick up her tray and make a run for it, he said nothing. He simply walked past Lin Jianxia and sat down in an empty seat in the row behind her.

The moment he set down his tray, Jiang Yubai started eating without ceremony.

Li Yang glanced at "Lin Tingwan's" stiff back in front of him, then at Jiang Yubai wolfing down his food to the left. Sensibly, he kept his mouth shut and silently dug into his own meal.

In just three or four minutes, "Lin Tingwan" suddenly stood up, picked up her spotless tray, and fled her seat as though running for her life.

Only after watching someone leave the cafeteria did Li Yang finally lose his patience. He jabbed Jiang Yubai with an elbow.

"Come on, Brother Jiang, what's going on?"

"What do you mean, what's going on?" Jiang Yubai replied casually as he peeled a shrimp.

"Brother Jiang, I admit I was wrong to believe those rumors just now," Li Yang complained, "but you can't treat me like an idiot, either. There were clearly so many empty seats over there, yet you specifically had to sit behind Lin Tingwan?"

"Oh, that." Jiang Yubai tossed the shrimp into his mouth. "I wanted to get to know my new deskmate a little better, but she didn't seem too welcoming."

Li Yang did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Brother Jiang, we're already seniors. Don't you know what Lin Tingwan is like?"

"From freshman year until now, have you ever seen her get close to anyone? No, right?"

He jerked his chin toward the cafeteria entrance.

"Whether it's boys or girls, whenever someone goes up to talk to her, she either acts like she can't hear them or just nods and shakes her head. Anyway, she never says a word."

"So, Brother Jiang, going to bond with her is just asking to crash into an iceberg. If she actually responded to you, that'd be like the sun rising in the west."

"She has aphasia," Jiang Yubai snapped. "How do you expect her to speak?"

Li Yang choked, then said awkwardly, "Aphasia... but she can still communicate by writing. Yet she won't even write notes. She treats everyone with that same cold, icy attitude."

Hearing that, Jiang Yubai froze for a moment and subconsciously glanced toward the cafeteria entrance.

If he had not run into Lin Jianxia in Splendid New Village, then even if they had changed seats, would she have ignored his note completely?

"So," Li Yang continued his summary, "Brother Jiang, if you're really lonely and looking for a pretty girl to talk to, Lin Tingwan definitely isn't a good choice."

Suddenly energized, he said excitedly, "Brother Jiang, I think that Zhao Yun seems to—"

"Shut up and eat."

"...Oh."

After taking a few more bites, Li Yang seemed to have opened the floodgates. Clicking his tongue, he said, "But speaking of which, do pretty girls really care that much about their image? Her tray was nothing but thin soup and plain vegetables. It wouldn't even be enough to feed a cat. That's some brutal body management."

Jiang Yubai could not be bothered with him and simply continued eating in silence.

He did not know whether Lin Jianxia was short on money this month or whether she always ate this simply.

If it was the former, that was one thing. But if it had been like this for a long time...

He truly could not imagine how Lin Jianxia had endured the crushing academic pressure of senior year on nothing but such meager food.

If Jiang Yubai ate so little for one meal, he would probably be hungry the moment his afternoon nap ended.

Wait, hungry?

Jiang Yubai blinked, seeming to think of something.

During the third afternoon period, a self-study class.

Lin Jianxia held her pen, her brows faintly furrowed as she stared intently at the analytic geometry problem.

She drew and erased auxiliary lines again and again. Calculations gradually filled every corner of her scratch paper, yet her thoughts were like tangled threads that she could not straighten out no matter what she did.

A faint but distinct tightening sensation came from her stomach, as though an invisible hand had gently squeezed it.

She had long since grown used to that feeling. She instinctively pursed her lips and pulled her attention back to the diagram before her.

Math had always been her weak subject. Otherwise, their homeroom teacher would not have arranged for Jiang Yubai to sit beside her.

But not only had this Jiang Yubai been no help at all with her math grades, he also...

The instant that thought crossed her mind, Lin Jianxia caught sight of a notebook quietly being pushed to the boundary between their desks again from the corner of her eye.

Again! He! Was! At! It!

She could not help feeling annoyed.

It had been nearly two days already. How could Jiang Yubai still act as if he had not noticed her attitude and keep passing little notebooks to her every day?

Lin Jianxia took a deep breath and tried to pin her gaze back onto the math problem in front of her, but the numbers and symbols seemed shrouded in mist, refusing to enter her mind.

She waited patiently for more than ten seconds. Sure enough, the notebook in the corner of her eye slowly retreated again.

Lin Jianxia let out a silent breath of relief.

Based on the pattern of the past two days, after failing to pass her the notebook, he should leave her alone for the rest of this class.

Annoying as he was, at least... he had not stooped to relentlessly pestering her.

At that thought, Lin Jianxia unexpectedly felt a faint trace of goodwill toward him.

Pah, pah, pah.

Steadying herself, she prepared to tackle the torturous geometry problem again.

But just as she began to sort out a little of her train of thought, the rustling sound of paper brushing against paper came from beside her once more.

Jiang! Yu! Bai!

I just thought you had finally learned to take a hint!

Lin Jianxia's anger flared up. She shifted her eyes slightly, only to freeze on the spot.

On that familiar sheet of scratch paper lay a large, perfectly centered—

vacuum-packed chicken drumstick.

Its glossy soy-braised color gleamed beneath the plastic wrapping, its firm texture clearly visible. It was as if its rich, savory aroma had already seeped through the plastic and drifted over to her.

The moment she saw the chicken drumstick, Lin Jianxia's stomach let out a thoroughly uncooperative growl.

The tips of her ears reddened slightly, and her throat bobbed involuntarily.

She forced herself to look away, but that rich brown sheen and plump shape seemed to have hooks in them, dragging her gaze back.

Two tiny versions of Lin Jianxia were throwing rapid-fire kitty punches at each other in her mind.

The one in a little white dress stamped her foot anxiously, her voice crisp. "You can't take it! Taking it means showing weakness, and it means silently accepting this irritating behavior of his!"

The one wearing little black devil horns put her hands on her hips and declared righteously, "What's the big deal? Didn't we take the strawberry gummy candy he left on the first day?"

"Besides, there's no reason not to eat free food. At worst, we can take it back and give Wanwan an extra treat!"

That reason was like the last straw, crushing Lin Jianxia's already wavering resolve.

Biting her lower lip, she silently repeated, Take it back for Wanwan to eat, then reached out and took the chicken drumstick along with the notebook.

After stuffing the drumstick into her schoolbag, Lin Jianxia finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the little notebook before her.

"By the way, what does your sister like? Waiting online, urgent."

Lin Jianxia: "..."

Does he really want to learn about his crush's preferences through her little sister that badly?!

In her heart, she cursed Jiang Yubai, that "playboy," over and over again. In a huff, she scribbled several large words in the notebook: "Don't know!" Then she shoved it back with force.

After doing all that, the knot in Lin Jianxia's chest finally eased somewhat. She silently swore that she would never reply to him again.

The chicken drumstick was already in her bag, anyway. Surely he would be too embarrassed to take it back.

Yet in less than half a minute, the familiar rustling sound reached her ears again, like little claws scratching at the air beside them.

I won't reply! Absolutely not!

Lin Jianxia forced herself to stare at the math formula in front of her, but her peripheral vision uncontrollably drifted toward the corner of her desk.

There, sitting perfectly centered atop the notebook, was a...

meat floss bun that looked absolutely delicious.