As soon as Zhang Zhaomu finished speaking, Xiang Qing whipped her head around.
"Really?"
This time, she actually spoke aloud instead of passing him a note.
"Of course." Zhang Zhaomu smiled.
"Then..." Xiang Qing pursed her lips slightly. "Then I..."
Her gaze began to wander again, and the words that had been on the tip of her tongue stuck fast in her throat.
"You can." Zhang Zhaomu saw what she wanted to say and answered, "If there's anything you want to talk about in the future, you can say it anytime... write it to me."
Xiang Qing's eyes lit up, then curved into crescent moons without her realizing it, the corners of her cute mouth turning up slightly.
It was the first time he had seen Xiang Qing smile.
She had looked like a figure in a painting before: breathtakingly beautiful, but always a little out of reach, with an unreal quality that made her seem as though she didn't even exist in the real world. Now she suddenly came alive, as if she had crossed time and space and stepped off the page.
Zhang Zhaomu believed that, while in his [Refined] persona, he would have a hard time doing anything impolite. Yet now he felt unable to control his gaze and stared straight at her, rather rudely.
How the hell can someone look this amazing?!
Luckily, the bell rang just in time. Zhang Zhaomu hurriedly looked away and cleared his throat. "It's noon. I'll go find something to eat... right, where do you eat lunch?"
As Zhang Zhaomu recalled, every time he left the classroom for lunch, she seemed to still be studying at her seat, and when he returned, she was still there, as though she had never left at all and didn't need to eat.
"Res..." Xiang Qing lowered her head. "Restaurant."
Her voice was faint, and she still didn't dare meet Zhang Zhaomu's eyes, but at least she had shared some useful information.
"You eat out every day?" Zhang Zhaomu was taken aback.
"Mm." Xiang Qing nodded. "Because..."
"Because?"
"Um..."
Zhang Zhaomu said, "...If you're not used to speaking, you can write it down."
Xiang Qing immediately looked relieved. She pulled out a slip of paper and wrote quickly: "Mom arranged a long-term meal plan for me at a restaurant near the school. It covers all three meals."
"That's lavish!" Zhang Zhaomu gave her a thumbs-up.
He saw Xiang Qing wearing her school uniform every day, without any little accessories or anything, and had thought her family must be having a pretty hard time.
"Mom says a healthy body is the foundation of studying, so even if it costs a little more, I need to eat nutritious, healthy meals."
Xiang Qing wrote earnestly: "She checked out a lot of places before choosing that restaurant. The food tastes really good. Do you want to try it? I can bring you some takeout."
"No need." Zhang Zhaomu waved his hands repeatedly.
Damn it, he had even felt a little sorry for the girl's family situation before. Reading between the lines of what she wrote, he had always felt that her mother was a little extreme in some way, causing her to develop a personality that made even everyday communication difficult. But now it seemed... the clown was actually him.
She was a child who had grown up steeped in love.
"I'll just grab a couple of bites at the cafeteria." Zhang Zhaomu stood up and headed for the back door.
Then he saw someone already waiting by the doorway.
Chen Zhenzhen leaned against the corridor railing with her arms crossed and a half-smile on her face.
Zhang Zhaomu jolted all over, a bad feeling washing over him.
What he had done during the break earlier had certainly felt good, but this girl had always been ridiculously vengeful. She was clearly here to get even.
Without hesitation, he turned around, intending to slip out the front door and avoid her for the moment.
"Zhang Zaowan!"
Chen Zhenzhen called out, and Zhang Zhaomu immediately walked even faster.
"If you keep running, I'll tell everyone how you insisted on making me wear that!"
Zhang Zhaomu: "..."
He silently turned back and walked out the back door under the gossip-hungry gazes of his classmates.
"Heh heh." Chen Zhenzhen raised her chin slightly. "Go on, keep running. Why did you come over on your own?"
"Chen Zhen!" Zhang Zhaomu practically ground his teeth. "Are you crazy? Is white silk something you can talk about in public?"
"Oh?" A sly look appeared on Chen Zhenzhen's face. "Didn't you say before that white silk was perfectly normal to wear? Why can't I talk about it in public?"
"I never thought that besides being good at Wing Chun, you'd know the Seven Injuries Fist too!" Zhang Zhaomu couldn't help covering his face. "You're hurting both of us. Aren't you afraid people will get the wrong idea about you?"
"Heh." Chen Zhenzhen sneered. "What other wrong ideas could your classmates get about me? Didn't they already get them all when you brought me here to show me off last time?"
She put on a convincing imitation. "'Who cares what other people think? As long as our own consciences are clear, isn't that enough?'"
The boomerang had finally come back to hit him.
Zhang Zhaomu sighed. "What do you want?"
"I want payback in kind!" Chen Zhenzhen reached up to grab Zhang Zhaomu's hair, but the height difference was a little too great. Zhang Zhaomu leaned back slightly, and she came away empty-handed.
"Don't move. Lower your head!" Chen Zhenzhen threatened. "Or next time I'll come straight to your classroom wearing white silk!"
"Do you mean that?!" Zhang Zhaomu's eyes lit up.
"-And then I'll whip them off and slap you in the face with them in front of your whole class!"
Zhang Zhaomu's face reddened slightly. "...Master Chen, your Seven Injuries Fist has actually reached the mastery stage. In that case, I accept your challenge."
Chen Zhenzhen: "?"
"What the bubble teapot are you blushing for?!!!"
In the end, Chen Zhenzhen had been defeated in the field of shamelessness, and her composure cracked a little.
"I was just joking." Zhang Zhaomu acted as if nothing had happened. "You don't actually think I'd be interested in that sort of thing, do you? Come on, I'm not a pervert!"
"Don't you just want to grab my hair? Go ahead."
He lowered his head, looking like a lamb ready for slaughter.
But Chen Zhenzhen had already lost interest.
"With you acting like this, I don't get any pleasure out of getting revenge."
"I understand." Zhang Zhaomu nodded in agreement. "It's like when I catch mice. Sure enough, it's only fun to catch the ones that fight back. If they lie there playing dead without moving, it's no fun."
"What kind of bizarre comparison is that? Why are you catching mice?"
Zhang Zhaomu: "...I don't. Of course I don't!"
Damn it!
He hurriedly changed the subject. "Come on. I didn't even eat breakfast, and I've been starving for ages. Buy me a meal."
"Why should I pay? You obviously have more money than me now, big celebrity!"
"Come on, what's our relationship? I don't even care about that little bit of money, so why do you?"
"Do you even hear yourself? You make it sound like you're the one treating me!"
"I feel like eating red-braised fish. I wonder if the cafeteria has any."
"Zhang Zaowan, are you listening to me? I'm not paying!"
"That jumper dress you're wearing today looks pretty good. Can I tug on your strap?"
"?"
When she saw Zhang Zhaomu actually raise his hand, Chen Zhenzhen abruptly stepped aside and looked at him warily. "Zhang Zhaomu, what on earth is wrong with you today?"
"Don't tell me you're in heat?"