After the meal, Song Yunshen looked at Xia Yunuo, who had polished off every last bit of food on her tray, and struggled to keep a smile off his face.
Who was it that said she had enough to eat? She still finished every last bite.
You have to eat more to grow.
Song Yunshen glanced at Xia Yunuo's chest, then immediately looked away.
Hearing Song Yunshen's inner thoughts, Xia Yunuo, sitting across from him, lowered her head with a slight blush, too embarrassed to look at him.
This is so embarrassing. If I'd known, I would've eaten less.
But it really was delicious. I hardly ever eat meat at school, and I finally got to have some. I just couldn't stop myself.
But it'll probably be just this once. Sigh... I'll have to eat vegetables again this evening.
Compared with how quiet Xia Yunuo was at school, her inner life was quite lively.
As Song Yunshen saw it, Xia Yunuo was no different from a normal girl. At least judging by her inner thoughts, she was quite cute and interesting.
The thought of a girl like her being so poor she could only eat vegetables every day, scrimping and saving with her older sister, and still having to find a part-time job over summer break to help support the family made Song Yunshen's overflowing sympathy a little hard to contain.
"How about we discuss something?" Song Yunshen asked.
"What is it?"
"I'll cover your lunch from now on," Song Yunshen said. "But you have to lend me your English homework to copy every day."
"Can't you borrow Kang Ping's?" Xia Yunuo was still a little reluctant to get too involved with people, so she spoke without thinking.
"Ahem... Your handwriting is prettier, so it's easier to read when I copy it." Song Yunshen silently apologized to Sister Ping as he gave a perfectly serious explanation.
"If you want to borrow my English homework, just tell me. You don't need to buy me lunch every day." Xia Yunuo shook her head gently. "That's too expensive."
"It's not that bad." Song Yunshen did the math. The cost of Xia Yunuo's meal, with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, wasn't much to him.
A serving of rice at the cafeteria cost one yuan, with unlimited refills.
Vegetable dishes cost 1.5 yuan a serving. For meat dishes, stir-fries that were half meat and half vegetables cost three yuan, while all-meat dishes like crispy chicken cutlets cost 4.5.
Xia Yunuo's meal only came to ten yuan in total.
Even if Song Yunshen treated her from Monday through Saturday, it would only add sixty yuan to his weekly expenses.
But Xia Yunuo was already used to eating rice mixed with soup and a vegetable dish every day. Lunch and dinner together only cost her five yuan.
Song Yunshen's sixty yuan a week would only cover her lunches, yet it was enough to last her half a month.
"I said there's no need." Xia Yunuo continued to shake her head in refusal.
She was grateful that Song Yunshen had treated her to lunch today, but she couldn't indulge her appetite.
People were fickle. If Song Yunshen changed his mind someday, and she had grown used to feasting on fish and meat, going back to the way things were would be even harder.
Xia Yunuo would never place her hopes in any man.
Even among the boys who had once tried to win her favor and confessed to her, there were plenty who secretly spoke ill of her behind her back after being rejected.
So she had long since made it a rule not to expect anything from anyone.
Aside from the family she depended on, everyone else was just someone who could betray her at any time.
"All right." Seeing how determined she was, Song Yunshen stopped insisting. He picked up his tray and stood. "Let's head back to the classroom."
"Mm." Xia Yunuo nodded calmly and stood up after him. She snuffed out the faint trace of regret in her heart, adjusted her mindset, and followed Song Yunshen.
"Speaking of which," Song Yunshen said to the girl beside him as they left the cafeteria and walked along a tree-lined path on campus, "if you're looking for a part-time tutoring job, you could ask Teacher Song."
"Teacher Song?"
"Yeah, our dear math teacher," Song Yunshen said. "He probably knows quite a few tutoring centers outside school. You could ask him if there are any part-time tutoring jobs he can recommend."
"Just go and ask him?" Xia Yunuo hesitated.
Her math grades weren't very good, so she felt a little unsure of herself around Teacher Song.
"Just tell him Song Yunshen recommended you ask him," Song Yunshen said. "He and I are close."
"Oh." Xia Yunuo nodded gently. "Then I'll ask him when I have time."
Song Minggui, the math teacher for Class 5 of the first year, was Song Yunshen's own uncle, so of course they were close.
But Song Minggui didn't want him advertising their relationship at school, so Song Yunshen didn't elaborate.
Xia Yunuo assumed Song Yunshen was close to the math teacher because he was good at math and thought nothing more of it.
The two of them walked all the way to the classroom door.
Xia Yunuo went to the restroom, while Song Yunshen entered the classroom.
The very next second, someone shoved him hard against the wall and pressed down on his head.
"Song Yunshen! Do you know your crime?!" Xu Zhuoyue, drenched in sweat from just finishing a basketball game, viciously apprehended him.
"What's gotten into you now?" Song Yunshen looked exasperated. After breaking free, he straightened his collar. "What are you so worked up about?"
"You've got the nerve to ask!" Xu Zhuoyue said irritably. "Take a good look at yourself. How long has it been since you played basketball with your bro? And today at noon, you didn't even fucking eat lunch with me!"
"Got a woman and forgot your bro, huh?"
"With those thick brows and big eyes, I never would've guessed you'd make a move so fast."
"Don't talk nonsense." Song Yunshen walked back to his seat and sat down, looking perfectly calm. "I just treated her to a meal to thank her for lending me her English homework."
"How come I haven't seen you treat Sister Ping to a meal?" Xu Zhuoyue sneered. "So you serve different dishes to different people, huh?"
"Sister Ping, how about I treat you to dinner tonight?" Song Yunshen asked Kang Ping, who sat in front of him.
"No need." Kang Ping adjusted her glasses and answered seriously, "I'm buying bread and milk at the convenience store for dinner, then coming back to the classroom to eat while I work on problems. I'm not going to the cafeteria."
"See?" Song Yunshen looked at Xu Zhuoyue and spread his hands helplessly.
"Hmph! You bastard sure have a lot of excuses." Xu Zhuoyue sat down in his seat, annoyed. "Sister Ping, don't spoil him. Last time I borrowed your homework, I bought you a carton of milk."
"Oh," Kang Ping replied. "He's more handsome than you."
"Pfft-" Hearing that, Xu Zhuoyue spat out half a jin of old blood on the spot. He clutched his chest as though gravely wounded. "Sister Ping... that's a little too hurtful."
"Just for saying that, Sister Ping, your bread and milk are on me tonight," Song Yunshen said with a grin. "That's what I love to hear."
"Handsome men interfere with my studying." Kang Ping glanced at him. "So no thanks."
Song Yunshen: "..."
"Hahahahaha!" Xu Zhuoyue burst out laughing, as if he hadn't been the one spitting blood just now.
Having been turned down by two girls in a row when he offered to cover their meals, Song Yunshen felt deeply wounded. He let out a long sigh. "Sure enough, money isn't everything."
Xu Zhuoyue patted him on the shoulder. "Then treat me tonight, and your bro will forgive you for abandoning me at lunch."
"Are you worthy? Worthy my ass."
"Get lost!"
Another tedious day of studying soon passed.
School let out that evening.
On his way to the school gate, Song Yunshen took another detour to the English Club and picked up Xia Jinshu's reply.
Xu Zhuoyue followed beside him, eyeing the envelope in his hand suspiciously. "So who on earth wrote that to you?"
"A pen pal from the English Club," Song Yunshen said.
"Class and name."
"Didn't I tell you? Xia Jinshu from Class 4 of the second year."
"Like hell I believe you!"
"Believe it or don't."