Century Egg and Pork Congee Wasn't So Bad After All

Chen Lu felt as though a silly little white rabbit had suddenly bitten him, leaving him stunned for a moment.

When all was said and done, he had high attack and low defense.

After all, he had spent the past few years pursuing Mo Yuqing. He had never been in a relationship, nor had he ever received any positive feedback from her. How could he withstand this?

What did that "mm" mean?

Was she joking?

She didn't seem like the joking type, though.

Had someone else sent it?

That didn't seem right either. Liang Zhirou should be renting a place with her mother.

Her account being hacked was even less likely. As the saying went, no scammer would ever try to swindle someone with a two-dimensional avatar like his.

At that thought, Chen Lu suddenly grew curious about Liang Zhirou's mother. Though he couldn't rule out the possibility that Liang Zhirou didn't want to talk about her, he had indeed never asked, afraid of making her sad.

He could get to know Liang Zhirou better when he had the chance...

What a strange girl.

The next day.

Chen Lu was up early, with dark circles under his eyes. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he snatched one of Jiang Chao's steamed buns and prepared to leave.

"You bastard..." Seeing his breakfast stolen, Jiang Chao opened his mouth to curse, only to look up and pause at the sight of Chen Lu already dressed.

Although Chen Lu wasn't like the others, who often wandered around in nothing but their underwear, it was still extremely rare to see him fully dressed so early.

"Give me two more buns. I'm hungry," Chen Lu muttered.

"Get lost. My girlfriend gave me these. Find yourself a girlfriend if you're so capable."

Jiang Chao looked as though he had seen a ghost. "Where are you going?" he asked in confusion.

"To do manual labor for the drama club. When I helped Li Sinian yesterday, I ended up owing their vice president a favor," Chen Lu said truthfully.

Though he hadn't told the whole truth.

"Are you interested in that girl you met at the school gate or not?" Jiang Chao picked up the conversation they hadn't finished last night.

In this respect, he really was like an old mother hen.

He hadn't been like this before, but ever since he got together with Liu Yan, it was as if he had been assimilated.

Chen Lu swallowed his food. "Do I look like such a frivolous person? But she really is pretty nice, at least..."

Chen Lu didn't finish saying that, at least, being with her made him happier than before.

"Just think of it as her luring me away with a piece of fruit candy."

With that, he opened the door and left.

The weather was nice today. At least, at this hour, it was neither hot nor cold. The clouds sailed high overhead, and the air was fresh.

I actually got up at seven two days in a row. As a college student, I've really fallen.

Chen Lu was thinking to himself, and soon he arrived at the drama club's practice venue.

Seeing that he had arrived before Liang Zhirou, Chen Lu felt relieved.

After all, she wanted to see me early, so I shouldn't make her wait.

"Senior, those panda eyes are way too obvious, aren't they?" Lin Miaomiao had changed into normal clothes today and still looked like a high schooler.

Of course, that also had to do with her being a "flat-chested princess."

Chen Lu glanced at her sitting leisurely in a chair. No matter how he looked at her, she rubbed him the wrong way.

"Your Excellency, Vice President, there's a cockroach on your chair."

"Ah!" Lin Miaomiao sprang out of her seat in fright, just short of unleashing a five-strike lightning whip combo.

Chen Lu gently pulled the chair over and sat down comfortably.

"...You!" Lin Miaomiao had been about to curse him out, but when she heard someone calling her, she suppressed all her anger.

No, Liang Zhirou would be sad if I killed him.

Watching the girl walk away, Chen Lu felt even more comfortable in his seat.

A stolen chair really was more satisfying to sit in. How could your own ever be as appealing as someone else's?

He really had come prepared to do manual labor today, but that didn't mean he wanted to stand while waiting for Liang Zhirou.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and Liang Zhirou still hadn't arrived.

This made Chen Lu curious. Although she didn't live on campus, she had kept saying she wanted to come early.

Just as he was beginning to suspect his feelings had been toyed with, he saw a somewhat slender girl walking slowly toward him from afar, carrying a lunchbox.

She swayed as she walked, like a clumsy penguin with no strength.

After spotting Chen Lu, Liang Zhirou hurriedly picked up her pace a little.

Finally, she reached him and held out the lunchbox.

With her head lowered, she said, "I made you some congee. Would you like to try it?"

The girl's voice was so low it seemed ready to sink into the dust, and her hands fidgeted anxiously, pinching at each other.

She was like an elementary school student who had just handed in her homework, worried she had made a mistake and would be scolded.

Liang Zhirou's long hair hung loose. Even though her eyes were hard to see, a closer look revealed her delicate, fair face and gentle expression. She had the charm of a Jiangnan woman and looked somewhat classical, a different kind of beauty from her usual low ponytail, which suited her work.

She'd probably look great in traditional clothes.

Chen Lu was stunned for a moment, but he still instinctively took the lunchbox. Blinking, he asked gently, "Why did you make me congee?"

When he noticed the dark circles under the girl's eyes, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Seeing that Chen Lu hadn't reacted with the disgust she had expected, Liang Zhirou breathed a sigh of relief.

After a little while, she slowly spoke. "Your stomach isn't good, so you probably don't like eating breakfast... That's why I made you some congee."

With that, she lowered her head even further. "I-if you don't like it, never mind. If you do, I can bring you some when I have time. It's not much trouble."

That was, of course, a lie.

She had gotten those dark circles because she had stayed up late massaging her mother, then gotten up early to make congee for Chen Lu.

To make it taste better, she had cooked it over low heat the whole time. She had also felt that plain congee alone would be too meager a gift, so at the first hint of dawn, she had gone out and spent a long time looking for a supermarket that opened early. She bought the vegetables and lean pork she needed and made century egg and pork congee.

Chen Lu looked at Liang Zhirou's dark circles, which matched his own, and thought, Like hell I believe you.

Still, he was a grown man, and he had genuinely almost broken down.

In his twenty-one years of life, the only person besides his mother who had ever gotten up early to make him congee was Liang Zhirou.

This silly girl had even taken his joke seriously...

And then she must have gotten up at the crack of dawn.

As for whether she really wanted to see him that badly, Chen Lu was no longer in the mood to think about it.

In the face of her dark circles and this congee, the answer no longer mattered.

Chen Lu had never been able to stand the taste of century eggs. He had even thrown up after eating them as a child, but this time he still forced down every last bit, as if his life depended on it.

He deliberately ate in great big mouthfuls, making it look as though he was enjoying every bite.

Mainly, he really was a little hungry.

Jiang Chao, do you see this? Can your girlfriend do that?!

Suddenly, Chen Lu felt a little puzzled.

What's going on... Why don't century eggs taste so bad anymore?

Seeing Chen Lu wolf down the congee, the last stone weighing on Liang Zhirou's heart finally fell away. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, thinking that since Chen Lu liked it, she would make him more when she had time.

Because of her father, she hated stomach problems, so she didn't want anything to happen to Chen Lu's stomach.

If Chen Lu disliked eating breakfast because he was lazy, she just had to put in a little more effort.

After all, they were good friends...

"Didn't you sleep well?" Liang Zhirou asked tentatively.

"Guess whose fault that is?" Chen Lu carefully closed the lunchbox and yawned lazily.

The girl fell silent, unable to shake the feeling that Chen Lu was hinting at her. To be honest, after she had sent that "mm" last night, she had truly wanted to die.

She had hesitated for ages over whether to unsend it, but she was also afraid Chen Lu had already seen it and that unsending it would make things even more awkward.

After hesitating a little longer, she had felt even more certain that Chen Lu might have seen it already, making her even less willing to unsend it.

What possessed me to send it?

When all was said and done, wasn't it because Chen Lu had insisted on asking whether she wanted to see him that badly?

Liang Zhirou blinked, and the scene before her grew hazy.

Can I go live on Mars...

Why does today's Liang Zhirou have to take responsibility for what yesterday's Liang Zhirou did?!