Then pink bubbles would float back and forth between the two of them, and the clerk’s job would be to smile like an auntie while casually eating some dog food.

Young people these days were really good at playing with ambiguity. The clerk had already prepared herself to eat dog food.

The girl had already refused the boy’s offer to pay. Now it was the boy’s turn to perform.

“You’re too slow,” Bai Jiangxin said calmly. “I’ll pay first. You can give it to me later.”

The clerk’s expression froze.

Xiang Di’s expression was also a little awkward. If she’d known earlier, she would’ve stuffed the money into her school uniform pocket—now she was being thought of as too slow by him.

“Sorry about that, then you pay first. I’ll give you the cash once I find it.”

After paying, the boy even asked for an extra bag. The clerk muttered to herself that he was stingy—even a bag, and he still had to grab one.

The boy and girl in school uniforms left. Watching their backs, the clerk sighed.

Too off-putting. Clearly had a face chosen by heaven to be a crush, yet was so stingy—not even willing to pay this little bit of money.

That girl was also a pity. Clearly very cute, yet a hopeless romantic, actually apologizing to him. A stingy man like that—no matter how handsome he is, he’s still not worth it.

─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───

The two people who had left had no idea that their actions had already earned them the labels of “stingy man” and “hopeless romantic” in the clerk’s mind.

After going outside, Xiang Di continued rummaging through her backpack for money. She finally found it and hurriedly handed it to Bai Jiangxin.

Bai Jiangxin didn’t take it. “I don’t accept cash.”

Xiang Di’s brain didn’t quite catch up. She asked, “Then… card?”

“?”

Bai Jiangxin raised an eyebrow at her.

After a few seconds of silence, Xiang Di suddenly realized how stupid what she had just said was.

【What did I just say?!】

【Does he think I’m an idiot, ahhh!!】

Just as Xiang Di was wallowing in regret, Bai Jiangxin suddenly said, “I didn’t bring a POS machine. Can’t swipe.”

Xiang Di hadn’t reacted yet when he added, “Transfer it.”

“Oh, oh, that works too.” Xiang Di suddenly thought of something. “But you haven’t added me, so I can’t transfer.”

She thought for a moment and made a suggestion. “How about this—I transfer it to the class monitor first, then the class monitor transfers it to you. Is that okay?”

Bai Jiangxin suddenly frowned.

He could hear her thoughts and knew that she wasn’t deliberately playing dumb right now—she was genuinely thinking about how to give him the money.

Usually full of little schemes, yet now she had suddenly turned into a single-celled organism.

Sometimes so lewd it gave people a headache, sometimes so slow that it was helpless.

Seeing that his expression didn’t look very pleased, Xiang Di thought he found it troublesome and added, “Then I’ll bring my phone to school tomorrow and scan your payment code to transfer the money to you?”

Bai Jiangxin interrupted her. “Xiang Di.”

Xiang Di: “Huh?”

“Does my WeChat have a virus or something?” Bai Jiangxin’s tone was very flat. “What would happen if you added me?”

Xiang Di: “Huh?”

At the same time, there was also a huge question mark in her heart.

What did that mean?

Bai Jiangxin let out an almost imperceptible sigh.

So for some people, no matter how much they liked him in their hearts, how many times they called him “husband,” how many times they fantasized about being intimate with him, what use was it—if their brain didn’t work, they deserved to be stuck in unrequited love forever. He had finally softened a little, yet she hadn’t sensed it at all.

“Stop saying ‘huh.’” Bai Jiangxin couldn’t be bothered to waste words. “I’ll just add you.”

As he spoke, he directly took out his phone, opened WeChat, entered the Grade Three Class 97 group chat, and asked her, “Did you change your group remark? Which one are you?”

Before she could answer, he had already scrolled to Xiang Di’s name.

Her profile picture was a chubby orange cat. Bai Jiangxin directly added her to his contacts and told her, “Remember to accept.”

His whole sequence of actions was incredibly smooth. Xiang Di was completely stunned.

Her voice was wooden. “You really want to add my WeChat?”

Bai Jiangxin: “Am I not allowed to add you?”

【Heavens, am I dreaming?】

【Bai Jiangxin actually took the initiative to add me on WeChat?】

Xiang Di bit her lip in disbelief.

Bai Jiangxin actually knew very clearly why she looked so foolishly shocked and speechless right now, but he still leaned down slightly. His cool, dark eyes reflected her dazed, silly expression. Looking at her round, widened eyes, he deliberately asked her slowly, “Or is there some kind of threshold to adding your WeChat, and I’m not qualified?”

Xiang Di’s whole body tensed up, her heartbeat stopping abruptly. Her hand inside her school uniform sleeve clenched tight.

Afraid he would misunderstand, she spoke with both hands and mouth at once. “No, no, there’s no threshold, anyone can add!”

That made it sound like she had no standards at all, so Xiang Di stammered as she tried to fix it. “…That’s not it, there is a little bit of a threshold, but you’ve definitely met it!”

That didn’t sound right either. Xiang Di lowered her head in embarrassment, her face almost burning.

No matter how bold her usual fantasies were, she knew very clearly that those were her one-sided imaginings. In real life, they barely had any interaction—she could hardly even be considered an ordinary classmate to him.

And yet today, not only had he walked her home, they had also added each other on WeChat.

Even if she couldn’t continue being his deskmate anymore, it didn’t matter. Just this bit of sweetness alone was enough for her to savor for a long time.

She didn’t dare to hope for something as wonderful as unrequited love coming true, but even if it was just being friends, chatting on WeChat, liking each other’s Moments—that was already a huge surprise to her.

No matter how lustful she was, at her core she was still just a girl with a secret crush. Just looking at his clear, indifferent eyes, just thinking about meeting his gaze, made Xiang Di feel like she couldn’t quite take it.

Even doing it with him a hundred times in her imagination couldn’t compare to a single, simple “add me” in real life.

【I give up—it’s just adding WeChat, okay? Is it really that serious? Xiang Di, do you know how cheap you look right now! So undignified!】

She kept her head lowered, scolding herself, and naturally didn’t see the person in front of her quietly curve his lips upward.

After walking her downstairs to the apartment complex, there shouldn’t be any danger taking the elevator, so Bai Jiangxin stopped here.

Xiang Di of course wasn’t going to invite him upstairs for tea or anything like that. One couldn’t push their luck, and they weren’t close enough to go to each other’s homes for tea anyway.

Bai Jiangxin reminded her again, “Remember to accept.”

Xiang Di nodded vigorously. “I’ll accept it as soon as I get home, and then I’ll transfer the money to you right away. Don’t worry.”

Bai Jiangxin said, “It doesn’t matter whether you transfer the money or not.”

“How could that be okay?” Xiang Di put on a righteous, upright air. “I can’t accept benefits without doing anything. I can’t take advantage of you—this money, I definitely have to transfer it to you.”

Bai Jiangxin: “……”

Pervert—you don’t think you usually take little advantages all the time?

Forget it. Too lazy to expose her. Let her pretend to be a gentleman for once. Bai Jiangxin said, “Do whatever you want.”

He didn’t immediately turn around to leave, but instead picked up the cream puffs in his hand.

When paying, he had deliberately asked the clerk for an extra bag. It was just right to split the cream puffs into two portions, and he handed one portion to her.

Xiang Di pointed at herself. “For me?”

Bai Jiangxin: “Mm. Don’t you like them too?”

Xiang Di was very polite. “No need, no need. If I like them, I’ll buy them myself.”

“You treated me to milk, I’ll treat you to cream puffs—courtesy demands reciprocity,” Bai Jiangxin said. “Take them.”

That reasoning was flawless. Xiang Di could only accept them. “…Thank you.”

【By the way, can cream puffs be made into permanent specimens? I’ll check when I get home.】

Just as Xiang Di was thinking about how to turn the cream puffs into a specimen, Bai Jiangxin frowned and said, “Eat them all. Don’t waste food.”

“Oh, okay.” Xiang Di nodded obediently. “I’ll eat them all.”

She agreed readily with her mouth, but her heart was thinking something completely different.

【I can’t bear to eat them. Once I eat them, they’ll turn into poop, get flushed down the toilet, and be gone.】

【…I can’t exactly turn my own poop into a specimen, can I?】

Sigh.

Bai Jiangxin closed his eyes briefly, then bit his lip, but still couldn’t hold back. He let out a soft laugh on a sigh.

Xiang Di lifted her head and looked at him in confusion.

What was he laughing at?