Zhang Zhaomu opened the food container. The ribs inside were neatly arranged and still warm, and their aroma wafted up to him.
Wasn't this a little too thoughtful?
Zhang Zhaomu even felt a little apprehensive. They were desk mates, but they had only started interacting today. They weren't really that close, were they?
At least, they weren't close enough for her to have gone out of her way to pack food and bring it to the classroom to share with him.
He turned to glance at Xiang Qing. She appeared to be working on her history homework as if nothing were amiss, but her pen was hovering above the paper, wavering back and forth without writing a single word.
Only her occasional stolen glances at the container betrayed the little bit of anticipation in her heart.
"Thank you." Zhang Zhaomu naturally wouldn't refuse her kindness. He picked up the chopsticks, took a rib and popped it into his mouth.
Then he couldn't help giving her a thumbs-up. "Delicious!"
"You packed quite a lot. Want to eat some with me?"
Xiang Qing shook her head and said softly, "You eat."
"No, I'd feel bad eating it all myself." Zhang Zhaomu thoughtfully turned the chopsticks around and handed them to her.
"Then..." Xiang Qing hesitated. "All right."
She took the chopsticks and picked up a rib. "That's enough."
"Wait-" Zhang Zhaomu was just about to remind her to use the other end of the chopsticks, but she had already popped the rib into her mouth. Only then did she look over at him, puzzled.
Zhang Zhaomu said, "...Never mind."
Forget it. She doesn't mind, and it's not like I have any infectious diseases.
This girl is probably a little oblivious.
"Mm." Xiang Qing looked at Zhang Zhaomu's expression, then at the chopsticks in her hand. Suddenly, realization dawned on her.
Her fingers trembled, and in an instant even the tips of her ears turned red. With the rib still in her mouth, she mumbled, "S-sorry!"
"I... I..."
She was so flustered that it became even harder to get a complete sentence out. She finally picked up a pen and wrote rapidly:
"I didn't mean to! I didn't think about it just now! Sorry I got your chopsticks dirty. I'll go wash them right away!"
She placed the note on Zhang Zhaomu's desk and started to get up.
"Forget it, class is about to start." Zhang Zhaomu stopped her.
Besides, it didn't really count as getting them dirty...
He couldn't help glancing at her naturally rosy lips.
That glance made Xiang Qing even more uncomfortable. Her whole body went stiff as if she had been electrocuted, and her mind went blank. "But... but..." she repeated.
"Doesn't this count as..."
She struggled to say it. "That..."
"No, it doesn't." Watching her cheeks grow redder and redder, Zhang Zhaomu figured they would catch fire if this went on. He could only reassure her, "It was just an accident. Don't worry about it."
Seeing that she was still uneasy, Zhang Zhaomu said whatever came to mind. "Besides, we're desk mates. We even use the same desk, so accidentally using the same pair of chopsticks isn't such a big deal, right?"
Xiang Qing tilted her head. "Really?"
"Yes."
That reason actually convinced her, and Xiang Qing finally felt a little more at ease. Still, she took out a note and wrote, "I'll be more careful next time!"
"Mm." Zhang Zhaomu picked up a rib with the end she had used and held it out to her. "Have another? There's too much for me to finish anyway."
Xiang Qing thought about it, then turned slightly toward him, raised her chin and bit into the rib.
Zhang Zhaomu was speechless.
She's taking it straight from the chopsticks with her mouth? Isn't she a little too natural about that?
It felt as though his desk mate had no concept of boundaries in certain respects. But come to think of it, that made sense. She had no experience interacting with boys.
Zhang Zhaomu didn't remind her again. For one thing, he wanted to avoid making her overheat again. For another... the way the girl was acting made him feel very much as though he were feeding a small animal.
It was quite a thrill.
They finished the ribs like that, taking turns eating a piece each. Xiang Qing rubbed her stomach and wrote, a little embarrassed, "I ate too much... I don't eat very much."
"You need to eat more to put some meat on your bones," Zhang Zhaomu said casually.
"I'm not skinny," Xiang Qing said, looking serious. "So I don't need to put on any more weight."
That made Zhang Zhaomu's gaze drift downward.
The girl was wearing her school uniform. Because it was rather loose and she was sitting down, he really couldn't make out much of her figure. But the fabric around her thighs hugged her skin, outlining curves that were full and slender.
They certainly weren't the kind of chopstick legs with no meat on them at all.
She's so tall and slender, her legs must be longer than her life. If she swapped her uniform pants for black stockings...
Zhang Zhaomu hurriedly looked away.
That damn [Cat] is still making trouble for me! How could a respectable young man like me fantasize about a scene like that!
He continued sleeping on and off throughout the afternoon. When he was awake, he mostly passed notes with Xiang Qing. Most of the time, Xiang Qing was the one pouring her heart out; he had no idea where she found so much to talk about.
During the evening break, he helped a girl in his class with a makeover. Although the process was rather grueling, with the [Cat] persona constantly urging Zhang Zhaomu to sabotage it, he still completed the makeover meticulously out of professional ethics.
By evening self-study, Zhang Zhaomu was finally no longer sleepy, but he found it even harder to endure than when he was tired. He fidgeted through all three periods, his mind full of the urge to flip his desk over and go wild in the classroom. The moment the dismissal bell rang, [Cat]'s ability activated, making him almost want to leap straight out the window.
Fortunately, he held himself back. He simply rushed out of the classroom and raced down the stairs. When he reached the first floor, Zhang Zhaomu glanced at science class one, whose evening self-study had yet to end, and hesitated.
In the end, he didn't wait for Chen Zhenzhen.
Right now, all he could think about was finding somewhere to let loose and vent a whole day's pent-up frustration. If he walked with Chen Zhenzhen, he was genuinely a little afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself.
After all, cats were very persistent creatures. If there was something they wanted to step on, they would stop at nothing to do it.
Before too many students got out of class, Zhang Zhaomu wandered over to the grove. Rather than rushing to climb over the wall, he twitched his ears, and every faint sound around him reached them clearly.
The next moment, he shot toward a corner of the wall like an arrow loosed from a bow. He crouched down and fixed his gaze on an inconspicuous mouse hole at its base.
The hunt had begun!
After keeping the class several minutes past the bell, the balding, middle-aged homeroom teacher finally dismissed them.
Chen Zhenzhen stretched mightily and grumbled, "It's supposed to be evening self-study, so why are we either taking a test in class or going over test papers every night?"
"I can't stand another moment in this damned class one. If I'd known, I would've chosen the humanities track."
Wang Qianzi leaned over from beside her. "You want to be in the same class as your special someone that badly?"
"Will you die if you go a day without spreading rumors?" Chen Zhenzhen was getting a little used to her teasing. "I told you already-"
"Pure friendship, right?" Wang Qianzi cut in.
"Th-that's right!"
Feeling a little guilty, Chen Zhenzhen quickened her pace out of the classroom and looked toward the stairway out of habit.
The figure she had expected to see waiting there every day was nowhere in sight.