Feeding Her

"Shoo, shoo. Go play your games already. This is an innate gift. You couldn't learn it."

Xia Xu waved them away dismissively. The others scoffed right back at him before leaving one after another.

But Xia Xu really hadn't lied. He had indeed found Zhuo Ren through an innate gift that no one else could learn.

[Name]: Zhuo Ren

[Life level]: 1

[Fate potential]: Pickpocket (1 star)

[Talent potential]: Sprinting (1 star)

[Special]: None

[Obsession]: I have to buy that limited-edition weapon this time.

[Affinity]: 5

These were the attributes he had just discovered on Zhuo Ren.

As the saying went, steal a needle as a child, steal gold as an adult. The reverse held more or less true as well. With the fate potential of a pickpocket, it would have been stranger if he didn't engage in petty theft from time to time.

Zhuo Ren had also happened to be present when Tang Youxin returned the money. His seat gave him a clear view of what had happened, making him a prime suspect for having been tempted by the cash.

Even his obsession field offered some indirect corroboration. An obsession wasn't as outrageous as mind reading, but the name made its nature clear: it, too, reflected a creature's inner thoughts, and a particularly strong fixation at that.

Game items labeled "limited edition" usually weren't cheap. An obsession with buying one proved that Zhuo Ren had a strong motive for the theft. Alternatively, that obsession might have arisen after he succeeded and suddenly had a large sum of money.

"I didn't expect this ability to be even more useful than I'd imagined."

After this little trial run, Xia Xu, who had already been quite pleased with his special ability, grew even more satisfied.

It seemed to do nothing more than display a few simple attributes, but the information those panels could subtly reveal was astonishing. A little thought and analysis could provide all sorts of intelligence and advantages that ordinary people would struggle to obtain.

"C-could I treat you to something to eat?"

After returning Tang Youxin's wallet, Xia Xu had been about to head straight home, only for her to suddenly muster the courage to invite him.

"What's this? Trying to thank me?"

Xia Xu first gave her a surprised look, but this time he didn't refuse. "Sure. Let's go to the back gate. I haven't had malatang in ages."

Much like what he had said earlier to bluff Tang Youxin, he actually did have some vague understanding of the self-respect she guarded so carefully.

After all, he had helped her recover several thousand yuan. That was no small matter by any measure, and refusing her thanks now would probably only backfire.

Besides, if she couldn't repay this favor, someone with her personality would likely dwell on it and fret over it for a long time.

"Okay."

Hearing Xia Xu agree, Tang Youxin, who had been nervously twisting the hem of her clothes, breathed a sigh of relief.

Despite being the one treating him, she showed none of the confidence of a host. Instead, she let Xia Xu lead the way while she followed close behind with her head lowered, like a little tagalong.

When they reached the roadside malatang stall outside the school's back gate, Tang Youxin was visibly intimidated by the dazzling array of skewered ingredients available for customers to choose from.

Fortunately, Xia Xu only meant to accept a token gesture. He casually ordered a block of instant noodles and a few vegetable skewers. Once stripped off their skewers and placed in a paper bowl, they looked like quite a lot, but they actually cost only seven or eight yuan.

"You're not having any?"

Xia Xu turned to ask her, though he already knew the answer.

"N-no."

Tang Youxin handed over the same ten-yuan bill from earlier to pay, then walked on with her head down.

"Then I'll dig in."

Holding the paper bowl, Xia Xu followed her as he ate. After slurping down a few mouthfuls of noodles, he grinned, picked up two slices of kelp, and held them out to her. "Here. A little reward for you."

"No."

Tang Youxin quietly swallowed the saliva that had been building up from the spicy aromas and enticing smells of snacks wafting along the entire street. She turned her head away, dodging the food right beside her lips.

"It's already got your saliva on it. If you won't eat it, I'll throw it away."

Xia Xu put on a look of disgust and made as if to toss it.

The outcome went without saying. The soft-hearted little innocent was completely at the mercy of this "bad guy" and, in the name of not wasting food, was forced to accept his feeding.

Yes, she really was forced. She swore she wasn't being greedy.

In the end, most of the noodles in that seemingly generous bowl of malatang went into Xia Xu's stomach, while he ate half the vegetables himself and fed the other half to her.

Once they finished eating, the two walked together in silence for a while before finally parting ways because their routes diverged.

After walking for another ten minutes or so, Xia Xu returned to his cold, empty home.

There wasn't much to say about it: a cramped, rundown apartment in an urban village, with just one narrow bedroom and a living room. The location was remote, too. Because of the terrain, it seemed to have been built on a small hillside, and getting home required climbing stairs.

The difference in elevation between the hillside and the surrounding city seemed to form a natural barrier that cut them off from each other. There was none of the city's bustle here. Every house on the slope looked equally pale and dilapidated. Its only advantage was probably the quiet.

These surroundings really were worse than the countryside. At least there, he might have inherited a few acres of poor farmland instead of being stuck with this cramped apartment that would be difficult even to rent out. He would also have had neighbors who knew one another and lent each other a hand, rather than cold strangers who barely acknowledged each other in passing.

The instant noodles in the malatang were quite filling, so Xia Xu couldn't be bothered to make dinner. After washing up, he fell straight into bed.

The next day was Saturday.

Thankfully, this world didn't hold regular weekend classes under the flattering label of "remedial lessons."

Those "remedial lessons" were the most obnoxious kind. It would have been fine if they really helped struggling students review what they had missed, but instead, the classes simply continued at their normal pace. Those who couldn't keep up still couldn't keep up, defeating the entire point of remedial teaching.

Yet skipping them wasn't an option. Not only did the school make attendance mandatory, but missing regular lessons also meant falling behind. Summer and winter breaks were even worse: classes continued from wherever they had left off, and students had to pay extra fees. Most of those supposedly additional class hours only made up for a teaching pace that had been deliberately slowed during the term.

The Xia Kingdom on Blue Ocean Star had cracked down on this fairly early, so this kind of "mandatory remedial teaching" had now largely disappeared.

Still, Xia Xu had to go to school, and he headed there early in the morning. He wasn't going inside for lessons, though. He was continuing his stakeout of Xue Mingjie's noodle shop.

The first day yielded nothing. Xue Mingjie continued running his barely surviving noodle shop as usual, with business even quieter over the weekend.

The noodle shop doubled as his home. The small dining area was at the front, while a room at the back served as Xue Mingjie's living quarters. Xia Xu waited eagerly from morning until the shop closed without gaining anything. Forget the protagonist-he hadn't even glimpsed a supporting character.

"It's just setting up a gambling session. Surely that doesn't take ten days or half a month to prepare?"

The following day, Sunday, Xia Xu spent another fruitless morning waiting and began to mutter to himself.

Tomorrow would be Monday. Once he had to attend classes, keeping watch wouldn't be nearly as convenient, and even if he caught the plot getting underway, it would be difficult to follow along.