Playing Dirty to Feed Him

The next morning.

Pu Yu got up a little earlier than usual.

The sky had yet to fully brighten, and a thin mist hung over the alley.

She quietly washed up, then went to the kitchen herself to heat a few flatbreads left over from the night before and cook some congee, which she ate with her grandmother's pickled vegetables.

Li Suhua came out of the inner room to find her already wearing her backpack, ready to leave for school.

The old woman's brows drew together out of habit. "This early?"

"Yeah, I want to get to school early to memorize my lessons." Pu Yu nervously tightened her grip on her backpack straps. "I'm off, Grandma."

"Take it slow on the way."

"I will."

The door closed softly.

Pu Yu walked down the damp alley.

She was still some distance from the breakfast shop when the rich scent of soy milk and billows of hot steam washed over her.

"Four pork buns and two cups of soy milk, please."

She paused, thinking of the boy who had said he didn't eat breakfast, then added, "Make them nice and hot."

After buying breakfast, Pu Yu followed the main road toward the grain and cooking oil shop in town.

That little sleepyhead Suiran was surely still struggling to get out of bed.

Sure enough, that was exactly what she found when she arrived.

The moment Mr. Xu saw Pu Yu, he shouted upstairs, "Xu Suiran! Get down here! Yu's here!"

Pu Yu thanked him, then stood obediently by the door to wait for her.

Xu Suiran thought she was about to be late. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she charged downstairs with her backpack on and her hair sticking up like a bird's nest. "Le's go!"

When they reached school, she took a look.

There were still more than ten minutes before morning study began!

Xu Suiran gave Pu Yu a resentful look. "Yu, you-mmph, mmph?"

Before she could finish, a large pork bun was stuffed into her mouth.

Huh?

A bun?!

Xu Suiran's eyes lit up instantly. She took a satisfied bite. "Is this from the bun shop at the entrance to your alley?"

"Yep, yep, yep!" Pu Yu nodded with a smile.

"Fine, I forgive you for waking me up early. It smells so good, so good!"

"There's soy milk too." Pu Yu took it out of her backpack, unwrapped a straw, and put it in for her, then said with a serious face, "Skipping breakfast is bad for you. You can't skip it just because you want to sleep."

Xu Suiran gave a perfunctory reply, then asked through a mouthful of food, "Have you eaten?"

Pu Yu answered quite naturally, "I eat breakfast every day."

Xu Suiran crooked a finger at her, signaling for her to come closer.

Though Pu Yu didn't understand, she obediently did as she was told.

Once she leaned in.

Xu Suiran couldn't smell any trace of buns on her.

"How do you pronounce 'apple' in English?" she suddenly asked.

Pu Yu had just opened her mouth. "A..."

Xu Suiran promptly stuffed the other bun into it.

Pu Yu froze in bewilderment as Xu Suiran grinned at her. "I'm a germaphobe. Now that you've bitten it, I'm not eating it."

Apart from the buns her mother had made herself, preserved in her memories.

This was the best bun Pu Yu had ever eaten.

As class time approached, the classroom gradually grew lively.

The bell for morning study had rung twice.

The chair beside her remained empty.

Looking at the buns in her backpack as they slowly lost their warmth, Pu Yu began to feel uncertain.

He wasn't... really going to stay away, was he?

According to Suiran, skipping class was the norm for Yuan Su.

Even when he came, it was usually at noon or in the afternoon. Since transferring here, he hadn't attended a single morning study session.

Pu Yu lowered her eyes, withdrew her gaze, and focused on memorizing vocabulary.

During the last few minutes of morning study, only the rustling of pages and occasional yawns remained in the classroom.

Maybe he really wasn't coming today.

That was what Pu Yu was thinking.

But then the back door creaked open.

Yuan Su walked in just as the bell rang to mark the end of morning study.

Morning light slanted through the corridor windows, casting shadows of varying depths across his profile and outlining his straight, sharply defined nose.

He looked as though he had just woken up. A few unruly strands of hair stuck up, and his school jacket hung open, revealing the white T-shirt beneath.

Even looking so sleepy and distant.

His face was still ridiculously handsome.

Yuan Su went straight to his seat, pulled out the chair, tossed down his backpack, and sat.

He glanced at the bare desktop.

His gaze paused briefly, then flicked into the desk compartment with studied nonchalance.

Inside were only his few old books with their curled corners.

There was nothing there either.

Yuan Su's movements stalled for a moment.

Then, as though nothing had happened, he prepared to put his head down and go back to sleep.

"What are you looking for?" A soft voice came from beside him, feigning a little confusion over a question whose answer she already knew.

Pu Yu tilted her head at him, flecks of light reflected in her clear eyes.

Yuan Su: "..."

The boy swept a glance over her with eyes that always seemed covered by a thin layer of ice.

None of your damn business was written plainly in them.

Yuan Su turned away expressionlessly, not bothering to answer her.

Just as he was about to get up from his chair and leave-

Pu Yu reached out almost instinctively and caught the hem of his jacket.

"You weren't coming, so I put it in my backpack because I was afraid it would get cold."

Yuan Su stopped and looked down at the jacket she was holding, his brows creasing in impatience.

"I said I didn't need it." His voice was low and rough, edged with irritation at being bothered.

They remained locked in a brief standoff.

Some classmates had already noticed the commotion and cast curious looks their way.

All they could see was an unhappy Yuan Su; they hadn't heard what was being said.

Sure enough, anyone who sat next to him was out of luck.

Even the new girl, quiet as she was, was getting told off.

Yuan Su tugged, trying to pull his jacket free.

But Pu Yu tightened her grip.

She lifted her face and looked stubbornly at him, steeling herself before simply playing dirty.

"Then throw it away."

As she spoke, she swiftly took the plastic bag, now barely warm, out of her backpack and shoved it into his desk compartment without giving him a chance to object.

Then she turned back around and opened her math workbook.

Now she was sitting perfectly straight.

As though she hadn't been the one clutching his jacket and acting shameless just moments before.

Right then, the shrill bell rang for the break.

The classroom instantly erupted into noise.

Some students rushed to the cafeteria to grab breakfast, while others lay their heads on their desks to catch up on sleep.

Amid the noisy backdrop, the buns and soy milk lay there quietly.

Yuan Su remained silent for a long time.

So long that Pu Yu thought he really would throw the food in the trash.

But the next second.

He tore the plastic bag open roughly with a rustle.

He picked up a bun and finished it in two or three bites, then pushed in the straw and drank the soy milk.

Had that even been thirty seconds?

Pu Yu silently counted to herself.

Definitely not.

Yuan Su casually tossed the empty soy milk cup and plastic bag into the trash bag hanging between their seats.

With that done, he lay back down on the desk and buried his face in his folded arms.

"We're even."

Yuan Su tossed the words her way in a flat voice.

Pu Yu turned her head, but all she could see was the boy's silent back and the exposed stretch of pale skin at his nape.

"Mm," she answered softly.

Being even was good.

In this final year of high school, full of uncertainty and upheaval, in this little town where she lived under someone else's roof, she didn't want to owe anyone any extra favors.

Even if that person was a boy like him...

Who seemed cold and distant, yet had helped her time and again without making anything of it.