After adding Zhou Linxiao on WeChat, Xiang Di thought of her damned brother again.

It was almost lunchtime, yet he still hadn’t shown up. Xiang Di had no choice but to send another message to Xiang Sheng, asking where he was.

Xiang Sheng: 【Right away.】

Xiang Di practically wanted to roll her eyes: 【Is your “right away” the kind from Miller’s Planet?】

Miller’s Planet was a setting from the movie Interstellar, an extremely terrifying planet where one hour there equals seven years on Earth.

Xiang Sheng replied with utter righteousness: 【Yeah, how did you know】

Xiang Sheng: 【So I’ll need another six years and three hundred sixty-four days before I reach your school. Just wait.】

Xiang Di: 【……】

If Heaven gave birth to Yu, why did it also give birth to Liang¹If Heaven gave birth to Yu, why did it also give birth to Liang: A classical Chinese idiom from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, originally expressing Zhou Yu’s frustration at being overshadowed by Zhuge Liang. It is commonly used to convey resentment or helplessness when two outstanding people exist at the same time and one is constantly eclipsed by the other.. Xiang Di didn’t know why their parents had to give birth to this pile of dog shit of a brother with no concept of time credit. Even if she was the one born later, taking ten thousand steps back, couldn’t their mom have just aborted her brother first and then gotten pregnant with her?

Xiang Di was so angry at her brother that her blood circulation felt blocked. She only hated that she wasn’t a real imperial consort—otherwise, no matter what, she would have had the emperor behead this damned brother.

In the blink of an eye, it was noon. There were still ten minutes before class ended, and the teacher told everyone to study on their own. Very few actually studied; most people were discussing where to eat and what to eat later.

As the class monitor, Ye Minjia planned to take Zhou Linxiao to check out their No. 14 High School cafeteria and grab a meal while they were at it.

If he was going to bring an extra person to eat, he had to report it to his lunch partner first. So Ye Minjia asked Wang Sichen to help pass on the message, telling him to ask Bai Jiangxin whether it was okay to bring Zhou Linxiao along for lunch.

Soon, Wang Sichen replied: “He said whatever.”

To Bai Jiangxin, “whatever” meant it was fine.

Ye Minjia said, “OK, but I have to tell you first—Bai Jiangxin is very particular. If you eat with him, you need to be careful, otherwise he’ll give you a look on the spot.”

Zhou Linxiao: “How particular?”

Bai Jiangxin was the kind with a young master’s body and a prince’s illness. Not only was he aloof by nature, he also had severe mysophobia. He rarely ate with others. The school cafeteria had ready-made utensils, but he wouldn’t use them—he insisted on bringing his own, as if the cafeteria’s utensils were unbearably dirty. Eating with him made the rest of them, who used the cafeteria’s utensils, seem especially unrefined.

Ye Minjia even told him a bloody personal example: “Back in our first year, I ate with him once. I didn’t know he had mysophobia at the time. I thought the food he got looked pretty good, so I wanted to pick some from his bowl to try it. I almost got scolded to death. He said, was I so poor that I couldn’t afford food, that I had to pick up leftovers from someone else’s bowl to eat.”

Zhou Linxiao: “……”

For three generations upward, Zhou Linxiao’s family were all senior intellectuals. Although he was mixed-race, he still came from a proper scholarly family. The first Chinese proverb he learned was: a kind word warms for three winters; harsh words wound people even in June.

It wasn’t just Zhou Linxiao who couldn’t stand listening anymore—even Liang Qianqian, who had been discussing what to eat for lunch with Xiang Di nearby, couldn’t help but complain.

Even if he’s the school heartthrob, he can’t be like this, right? These days when you read novels, that whole cold, sharp-tongued male lead persona isn’t even popular anymore.

“That’s a bit too much,” Liang Qianqian said. “I’m just saying, Bai Jiangxin insulted you like that and you can still take it? Don’t lick him so hard, class monitor. If you’re like this, I’ll really think you’re secretly in love with Bai Jiangxin.”

Xiang Di, who was actually secretly in love with Bai Jiangxin, didn’t say anything beside them. She only weakly retorted in her heart: so what if it’s a secret crush, secret crushes are great, secret crushes are noble—how did a secret crush become licking boots? You’re not allowed to belittle secret crushes.

Then Ye Minjia spoke again: “I was about to lose my temper back then, but the next second he threw his meal card at me and said, since I can’t afford to eat, then use his. From then on, I could swipe his card for whatever I wanted to eat—just don’t pick food from his bowl.”

Ye Minjia shrugged helplessly. “Sure, he scolded me, but he said I could swipe his meal card however I wanted from now on. What do you think I could do?”

As a person, one must have bottom lines and dignity—this was beyond question. Insulting my dignity? No. But if you use money to insult me, that’s another matter.

Hard to judge. One willing to hit, one willing to take it. No wonder these two were good friends. Liang Qianqian twitched the corner of her mouth. “…Alright then. Respect and blessings. As long as you’re happy.”

Ye Minjia said, “It’s really not that I have no bottom line as a person. How good this kept-man feeling is—you guys wouldn’t understand.”

Liang Qianqian said, “That I really don’t understand.”

After being looked down on by Liang Qianqian, Ye Minjia tried again to seek affirmation from Zhou Linxiao. “You grew up abroad, your thinking is more open-minded. Can you understand me?”

Zhou Linxiao smiled honestly. “Not really. Compared to being kept, I probably prefer keeping someone else.”

Faced with his frank declaration that he wanted to be a sugar daddy, Ye Minjia didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Then I’ll wish you success.”

At this point, only Xiang Di was left.

Xiang Di blinked her eyes, wearing an expression that said, ask me.

Unfortunately, Ye Minjia didn’t get it. He thought, forget it, no need to ask. Just looking at that pure and cute face of hers, she was clearly the kind of stubborn little white lotus heroine in idol dramas who would say, “Don’t think you can trample on my dignity just because you have a bit of stinking money,” while throwing pickled vegetables at the domineering CEO.

Ye Minjia gave up on communicating and waited, lonely and desolate, for the class-ending bell to ring.

Xiang Di wrinkled her nose, thinking why didn’t the class monitor ask her. If he had asked, she definitely would have said she understood, she understood, she understood ten thousand times over!

Xiang Di quietly leaned her body to the side and secretly glanced at Bai Jiangxin in the same row.

The boy was lowering his head, writing the test paper. His side profile was handsome, and those lips that would slightly press together when he was focused were simply sexy to the extreme.

People who didn’t understand Bai Jiangxin’s appeal, people who didn’t understand dirty talk—she had nothing to say to them.

She really wanted to be scolded by those good-looking, sexy thin lips of his. Unfortunately, he didn’t even like to bother with her.

Xiang Di exhaled a breath in disappointment. Just then, she suddenly heard Zhou Linxiao ask her where she planned to eat lunch.

Xiang Di said, “The cafeteria.”

“Then how about we eat together?” Zhou Linxiao invited her. “Everyone eating together will be livelier.”

Xiang Di froze for a moment.

Wouldn’t that mean she could eat with Bai Jiangxin?

White Lady and Xu Xian cultivated for ten years to share a boat, a hundred years to share a pillow, and she—after just three years—had cultivated enough to eat at the same table as Bai Jiangxin. She really was the luckiest little girl in the world!

Xiang Di nodded. “Sure, sure!”

─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───

Wang Sichen used his pen to poke Bai Jiangxin’s arm again. He really didn’t want to disturb the top student, but he couldn’t disobey the class monitor’s order. Otherwise, if the class monitor made things difficult for him, he’d get scolded by the homeroom teacher again.

Bai Jiangxin endured the irritation of being disturbed repeatedly, his voice very calm. “Speak.”

Wang Sichen’s tone was extremely good. “The class monitor is asking if you mind adding two more people to eat with you at lunch.”

After a while, Wang Sichen held back his laughter, then turned back to Ye Minjia and said, “Bai Jiangxin said, no wonder you’re so bad at playing Honor of Kings—just eating a meal and you still need a full five-man party begging for carries.”

Ye Minjia: “……”

Damn sharp tongue—and he even rhymed it.

“So is it okay or not?” Ye Minjia said irritably. “If he’s not willing, then he can solo-queue and eat by himself. I’m going four-man.”

Wang Sichen turned around again to pass on Ye Minjia’s words.

After a while, Wang Sichen said, “He asked which two?”

Ye Minjia rolled his eyes. “It’s just eating a meal and he’s doing a household registration check—so damn troublesome. Xiang Di and Liang Qianqian. Absolutely law-abiding citizens. Go ahead and check.”

As he spoke, he suddenly worried that this young master might even have requirements about the family backgrounds of his lunch partners, so he asked Liang Qianqian and Xiang Di an extra question: “The two of you—your families for three generations up should all be law-abiding, right? No illegal or criminal behavior? I’m afraid Bai Jiangxin might mind that.”

Liang Qianqian looked at Ye Minjia: “?”

What, eating a meal with Bai Jiangxin requires passing political screening now?

Xiang Di said worriedly, “Ah—then when my brother was a sophomore, he rode an e-bike across the road without a helmet and got fined fifty yuan by a traffic police officer. Does that count as illegal? Would he mind that?”

Liang Qianqian looked at Xiang Di again: “?”

Why are you answering so seriously?

After another while, Wang Sichen relayed to Ye Minjia, “He said whatever.”

Ye Minjia said, “Congratulations. You two passed the assessment.”

Xiang Di looked delighted. “Yay.”

Liang Qianqian: “……”

Is Bai Jiangxin some kind of civil service exam unit? Is it her who’s not normal, or is this world not normal?

─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───

Because of Ye Minjia’s advance warning, the three of them all knew that Bai Jiangxin had severe mysophobia. As long as they paid attention to that, everyone could still eat peacefully at the same table.

The cafeteria had a wide variety of dishes. Sometimes, if you were lucky, the cafeteria aunties would make all the things you liked. For example, today was very lucky. When Xiang Di queued up and glanced into the window, today’s cafeteria lineup was practically charity—there was not only sweet-and-sour ribs and sweet-and-sour pork, but also hamburger steak and fried pork cutlet, and the small desserts were actually cheese pudding and fries.

She wanted to eat everything, but with her meal card tight on funds, Xiang Di hesitated in front of the window for quite a while. The lunch lady holding the big ladle urged her, “Student, have you decided yet? There are lots of students waiting behind you.”

Unable to choose, Xiang Di clenched her teeth—when life is good, enjoy it to the fullest—and simply ordered everything she liked.

Although this meal cost over twenty yuan and made her heart ache a bit, coming back with a plate piled high with meat was still worth it.

Liang Qianqian laughed as soon as she saw her tray. “How many days have you been starving? Eating that much?”

Xiang Di said, “You need to eat your fill to have the strength to study.”

Liang Qianqian sighed. “Having a small frame is nice—you can eat a lot without worrying about gaining weight. If I ate like that, my weight would’ve broken a hundred long ago.”

Xiang Di said, “But at your height, a hundred is already very thin, isn’t it?”

Compared to her own figure, Xiang Di sincerely thought Qianqian’s tall, elegant body type was the ideal. So every time she indulged in fantasies, she didn’t really dare imagine her own body—afraid that the Bai Jiangxin in her imagination would think she was too skinny and feel no desire for her.

Liang Qianqian said, “But it looks really fat in photos.”

Girls were just like this, always envying each other. The two of them chatted casually while looking for where the class monitor and the others were. Ye Minjia had good eyesight and quickly spotted them, waving from his seat. “Over here!”

Xiang Di really had taken a bit too much food today. She liked fried pork cutlet and had directly ordered two portions. When she set her tray on the table, Ye Minjia couldn’t help but sigh. “Didn’t expect that with your height not looking very tall, you can eat this much.”

Zhou Linxiao glanced at the plentiful dishes on her tray and asked in confusion, “Why didn’t I see fried pork cutlet when I was lining up just now?”

“Then you must’ve lined up at the wrong window. It’s the one at the very end.” Xiang Di paused. “But if you go now, there probably won’t be any left.”

Zhou Linxiao said, “It’s fine. Eating it tomorrow is the same.”

Ye Minjia said, “Tomorrow it might not be there either. Our cafeteria menu is randomly refreshed—you never know what dishes there’ll be until the day itself.”

Footnotes

• 1
  If Heaven gave birth to Yu, why did it also give birth to Liang: A classical Chinese idiom from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, originally expressing Zhou Yu’s frustration at being overshadowed by Zhuge Liang. It is commonly used to convey resentment or helplessness when two outstanding people exist at the same time and one is constantly eclipsed by the other.