Chapter 27

Ever since Lu Yao's identity was exposed, his popularity had risen to an even greater level.

After school on Friday, inside the classroom.

Lu Yao sorted a large stack of love letters out of his desk, neatly stacked them, and put them into his backpack.

When Jiang Bai walked over and saw this, his thin lips pressed together slightly, but he quickly concealed his emotions.

He walked up to Lu Yao, his gaze and voice both softening. "Let's go. The department dinner we agreed on earlier."

Lu Yao: "..." There was really no need to call it a dinner. After all, their entire department consisted of only the two of them. Calling it a date might have been more appropriate.

Lu Yao had been in the Flowers and Plants Club for some time. A few days ago, Jiang Bai had suggested holding a department dinner in the name of a club gathering. After discussing it, they set the time for after school this Friday.

Jiang Bai had reserved a private room at an upscale seafood restaurant near the school. Many clubs from Huiying High School chose to hold their gatherings there.

Since the restaurant was close to the school, the two chose to walk there.

Thinking about what he had just seen, Jiang Bai lowered his eyes and casually asked, "I saw you put those love letters into your backpack just now. Are you planning to read them at home?"

Lu Yao: "No. I'm just taking them home to deal with them all at once. Since I don't plan to accept them, it might be more appropriate not to open them."

Hearing that he was only taking them home to dispose of them, Jiang Bai secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

His lips curved slightly. "Did you take the previous love letters home like this too?"

Lu Yao: "Yes. If I dealt with them directly at school and the girl happened to see it, it might be awkward."

They were, after all, expressions of someone else's feelings. Though Lu Yao had no intention of accepting them, he still knew to show their feelings respect.

Hearing Lu Yao say that, Jiang Bai's eyes crinkled with a smile, and the furrow between his brows finally eased completely.

He was still as gentle as ever, Lu Yao. Though he usually seemed cold and distant, anyone who observed carefully could always sense his thoughtfulness and kindness in the smallest details.

After only a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the restaurant entrance.

Seeing Jiang Bai and Lu Yao, a waiter warmly came over. "Hello, is it just the two of you? Do you have a reservation?"

Jiang Bai: "Yes, two people. We reserved the Listening Rain Pavilion private room."

Waiter: "All right. Please come to the front desk with me to confirm your reservation."

After opening the restaurant's reservation system on the computer, the waiter looked hesitant.

How could two groups have both reserved Listening Rain Pavilion for the same time slot?

At that moment, a burst of noise came from the restaurant entrance.

Lu Yao turned around and saw members of the Basketball Club and the Cheerleading Squad.

Seeing Lu Yao, Lu Qi walked over in surprise. "Didn't you go home? Why are you here with him?"

Lu Yao: "Club dinner."

Lu Qi burst out laughing. "There are only two of you. What kind of dinner is that? Do you two have problems understanding Chinese?"

Jiang Bai curved his lips. "Lu Qi, forgive me for saying so, but someone who regularly fails Chinese doesn't seem qualified to question anyone else's Chinese proficiency."

Lu Qi: "..." He had been living too comfortably lately and had forgotten how sharp-tongued this annoying guy was.

Xia Yue was the Basketball Club's manager, so trivial matters like reserving restaurants were all handled by her.

Standing at the front desk, Xia Yue directly said to the confused waiter at the computer, "Hello, we're the guests who reserved Listening Rain Pavilion. Please show us the way."

Seeing that Lu Yao and Jiang Bai seemed to know Lu Qi, the waiter relaxed. This made the problem much easier to solve.

The waiter apologized, "We're very sorry, everyone. Due to a bug in our reservation system, Listening Rain Pavilion was booked twice for the same time slot. Would either group be willing to wait in the waiting area? We'll do our best to free up seats for you, but you may have to wait for some time."

Xia Yue glanced around the restaurant. It was already full, with no empty tables. The popular private rooms were surely the same. She did not want to give up the room. Who knew how long they would have to wait for another spot?

Xia Yue turned to Lu Yao and Jiang Bai. "When did you make your reservation?"

Jiang Bai: "Yesterday at noon."

Xia Yue deliberately put on a troubled expression. "We booked it the night before last. How about we go by order of reservation? Besides, there are quite a lot of us, and it wouldn't be very suitable for everyone to wait outside."

Lu Yao: "You can have it first. First come, first served."

Xia Yue: "Than—"

Before she could finish, Lu Qi impatiently interrupted her.

"What's there to keep yielding over? There are only two of them. They can just share a table with us. It's not like there isn't enough room."

Xia Yue: "But this is a Basketball Club gathering. Wouldn't it be a little inappropriate to have outsiders here?"

Ever since she had been forced to switch classes because of Lu Yao last time, Xia Yue had held a grudge against him. Now that she had a chance to make him uncomfortable, she naturally did not want to let it slip away.

Lu Qi: "What's inappropriate about it? You never cared about this or that when you were in the Basketball Club. Why are there suddenly so many fussy rules today? I have no objection to sharing a table. Chu Jiaojiao, does your Cheerleading Squad have any objections?"

Chu Jiaojiao called out, "No one has any objections."

Being able to have two more handsome guys join the gathering made the Cheerleading Squad members so happy they nearly laughed out loud. This was exactly what they wanted. Only an idiot would refuse.

Seeing Lu Qi embarrass her in front of so many people, Xia Yue was furious.

This little incident quickly passed.

Once everyone was seated, dishes began arriving one after another.

Noticing that Lu Yao, who sat across from him, had glanced at the plate of boiled shrimp for the third time but had yet to pick up even one, Jiang Bai's lips lifted slightly.

He picked up a shrimp from the plate and leisurely began peeling its shell with his hands. The tender shrimp meat gradually emerged.

Seeing a peeled jumbo shrimp suddenly appear in his bowl, Lu Yao looked up in surprise. Jiang Bai's eyes curved as he pressed his lips together and smiled. "I was going to eat some anyway, so I peeled one for you while I was at it."

Lu Yao: "Thank you." He really wanted shrimp, but he also hated peeling the shells. Jiang Bai's gesture had helped him immensely.

Seeing Jiang Bai be so considerate toward Lu Yao, and thinking of how cold and distant he had always been when she tried to get closer to him before, Xia Yue smiled and deliberately said, "Jiang Bai, I'm afraid of getting my hands dirty. Could I trouble you to peel some shrimp for me too?"

Jiang Bai: "There are disposable gloves beside you. You can put them on, so you won't have to worry about getting your hands dirty."

The smile on Xia Yue's face stiffened for a moment. She could only find herself an excuse. "All right, thank you for reminding me. I didn't even notice the gloves just now."

Jiang Bai had been intently peeling shrimp shells when he suddenly felt a hand reach toward him. As soon as he raised his head, Lu Yao's fingertips brushed across his face.

Heat instantly rushed to Jiang Bai's face, and his ears turned red and burning hot.

Lu Yao wiped his fingers with a towel, his expression calm. "A little shrimp juice splashed onto your face just now. I already wiped it off for you."

Lu Yao remembered that Jiang Bai seemed to have a cleanliness obsession. Seeing his face get dirty, he did not think much of it and simply reached out to wipe it for him.

Hearing Lu Yao's explanation, Jiang Bai lowered his head and nodded, pretending to focus on peeling shrimp. He felt that if he opened his mouth now, his voice would probably shake terribly.

Seeing Jiang Bai peel shrimp for Lu Yao, Lu Qi felt he could not lose to him, so he started peeling shrimp as well.

At some point, the two of them somehow began competing over peeling shrimp.

They did not eat the shrimp they peeled themselves. At first, they only fed Lu Yao, but later Lu Yao became so sick of eating shrimp that they began handing out the shrimp they had peeled to everyone at the table. Everyone got some.

Seeing the last shrimp left on the plate, Lu Qi and Jiang Bai looked up at each other, then simultaneously shot out their chopsticks with lightning speed.

Lu Qi's chopsticks pinned down the shrimp's head, while Jiang Bai's gripped its tail.

Lu Qi: "I touched it first."

Jiang Bai: "I saw it first."

Lu Yao: "..."

Jiang Bai was actually doing something this childish with Lu Qi. Today seemed to have shattered Lu Yao's previous impression of him.

In the end, the two could only settle ownership of the shrimp with rock-paper-scissors.

Lu Qi hummed a little tune smugly as he peeled the shell. After peeling so many shrimp during this meal, he had trained up his hand speed. He quickly finished peeling it and looked toward Lu Yao.

Lu Yao sighed, picked up his chopsticks again, and picked up the shrimp, but he held it to Lu Qi's lips instead. "Open your mouth."

Lu Qi had initially grumbled in dissatisfaction, but when he thought about how this was the first time Lu Yao had fed him something, he happily enjoyed the shrimp.

Seeing that Lu Qi had won and still received this kind of treatment, Jiang Bai could not help pressing his lips together in annoyance.

He should have calculated first before throwing his hand. Next time, he absolutely would not be so careless.

After the dinner, everyone went their separate ways and returned home.

Late that night, as Lu Yao passed Lu Qi's room, he saw that the door had not been shut properly, leaving a wide gap.

Lu Yao casually glanced inside and saw Lu Qi sitting at his desk, writing furiously as if he were doing homework. Surprise appeared in Lu Yao's eyes.

Was Lu Qi actually taking that monthly exam bet so seriously?