Wang Sichen was truly a bit speechless. “Hey, she was the one who mentioned eighteen-plus first, okay?”

Xiang Di spoke. The moment she opened her mouth, it was an innocent and naive tone. “But I’ve only heard of eighteen-plus. I don’t know what eighteen-plus specifically refers to.”

Liang Qianqian: “See? She doesn’t even know this. You almost led a pure little girl astray.”

Wang Sichen: “……”

A few seconds later, he cupped his fists and admitted defeat. “Fine, I’m wrong. You two young ladies, forgive me.”

─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───

After finishing the meal, Wang Sichen and the two girls had completely reconciled. Wang Sichen solemnly apologized to Xiang Di about the puff matter and treated Xiang Di and Liang Qianqian to a meal. As for Xiang Di, she was originally a pure-hearted and generous kind little girl, so naturally she forgave Wang Sichen.

After evening self-study ended, Xiang Di was preparing to go home when Wang Sichen suddenly asked her in a flattering tone whether she could help bring a portion of puff to school for him to eat.

Wang Sichen said, “This puff really tastes good. When I ate it in the afternoon, the skin was already wilted, but it was still very tasty.”

Xiang Di held out her hand. “Pay up. Also, I only have time to buy it on the weekend, so I can only bring it to you on Monday. You can only eat overnight puff, okay.”

“No problem, overnight is fine. Overnight rice is even more fragrant.” Wang Sichen immediately took out his phone. “I’ll transfer it to you now, plus I’ll give you an extra fifty as errand fee, okay?”

“Forget the errand fee. A poor person does not accept charity.” Xiang Di waved her hand. “I’m leaving. Going home. Bye-bye.”

Wang Sichen said respectfully, “Ah, take care.”

Xiang Di walked out of the classroom amid Wang Sichen’s respectful send-off. Just as she reached the door, she happened to run into Bai Jiangxin, who was coming back from the office.

Her eyes lit up, and she said, “Um, when we have a break this week, I’ll wake up early to buy puff. Do you have anything else you want to eat? I can bring it together for you on Monday… Oh right, do you mind eating overnight food? If you do, then I’ll find a delivery guy to bring it to you?”

“Either is fine, whatever is convenient for you.” Bai Jiangxin said. “I’ll just transfer the money to you.”

“No, no!” Xiang Di said. “I already said I’d treat you, so I’ll see what to do then.”

Bai Jiangxin: “Mm.”

Xiang Di and Liang Qianqian left together arm in arm. Under the dim corridor lights, Bai Jiangxin watched her figure disappear at the end of the hallway.

He returned to the classroom, packed his schoolbag, and prepared to go home.

Wang Sichen was also packing his bag, sighing happily as he did so. “Ah, so nice. Next week there’ll be delicious puff to eat again.”

Only then did Bai Jiangxin realize that she had also agreed to buy puff for Wang Sichen over the weekend.

But there was no longer that unpleasant feeling from the afternoon. He slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and left directly.

Bai Jiangxin didn’t like squeezing onto buses, so he directly took a taxi home.

After arriving home, there was no one on the first floor. The aunt was upstairs cleaning, and the late-night snack she had prepared for him was placed on the dining table.

Casually tossing his schoolbag onto the sofa, Bai Jiangxin sat down at the dining table.

The porridge the aunt made today leaned toward the sweet side. Actually, he didn’t like it very much, but to be considerate of the aunt’s hard work in making him a late-night snack, he still drank more than half of it.

Puff was the same. He thought it was sweet, yet he still had Xiang Di help him buy it.

Logically speaking, the puff matter had already been explained clearly. Xiang Di had already agreed that she would bring him another portion of puff. His mood at this moment should have been lightened, but it wasn’t.

Those questions he hadn’t asked had instead all become knots in his heart.

Xiang Di thought he cared that she had clearly brought puff but didn’t share it with him. Before her explanation, even he himself had thought so. He had even mocked himself—was he a child, to actually fuss over just a few puffs?

However, after she explained, he realized that what he cared about wasn’t those few puffs at all. It wasn’t that she had shared pork cutlet with Zhou Linxiao, nor was it that she had shared puff with Wang Sichen.

It was that she hadn’t placed him first. She had given all the remaining puff to another boy, yet had no idea that he had actually been waiting for her to give it to him all along.

Don’t you like me? Then why am I not the first place in your heart?

Why is it that once another member of the opposite sex appears, your heart immediately tilts away?

How much do you like me? Those blazing inner thoughts of yours that disturb me—are they just your own self-moving performance in this secret-love play, or do you really like me to the point that it has to be me?

Is your liking for me eternal, or is it just a flash in the pan? Will you soon fall in love with someone else.

Bai Jiangxin couldn’t ask.

He knew that once he asked, it would be over.

Xiang Di would definitely be shocked that he could perceive her inner thoughts, that he had actually long known her secret.

Bai Jiangxin knew very clearly that no matter what Xiang Di liked about him—whether it was his passable exterior, or his cold interior—she would never like this illness of his.

If she found out, she would probably feel extremely humiliated, and she would also be very angry. Angry that he could clearly hear it, yet had been pretending not to know all this time, like an annoying and arrogant superior, sneering at her foolish feelings while at the same time enjoying her admiration and longing.

She would feel her self-esteem shattered, and then completely distance herself from him.

Just like Grandpa said, no one can guarantee that their heart is always upright and bright. Everyone has their own dark side inside. A person who isn’t honest might even lie in their own diary, but inner thoughts cannot lie. Whether kindness or malice, love or hate, a person’s inner thoughts are the greatest privacy. No one would be willing to accept having a monster by their side who can see through inner thoughts.

He couldn’t tell her.

If he did, then he wouldn’t be Bai Jiangxin anymore.

In his chest, there had always lived a proud peacock. Even his shadow held its head high. His distance and coldness toward people were not arrogance, but exhaustion from dealing with complicated human hearts, and a habit of digesting all emotions alone.

Even children know that as long as they cry, as long as they make a fuss, adults will shift their attention over. But Bai Jiangxin disdained such things entirely. Any so-called concern, so-called love—whether from parents or from friends—if it wasn’t given willingly, then even if there were the slightest bit of falseness mixed into that love, he would rather have none of it.

Only Ye Minjia, that careless fool, over these three years, had not minded his coldness and was willing to tolerate his annoying personality.

But he also wouldn’t tell Ye Minjia that people always move forward with time. No matter how deep the friendship of high school classmates is, it will eventually gradually fade with the arrival of graduation. Ye Minjia will have his own circles in the future, more compatible friends, and even a lifelong lover. That is the life Ye Minjia should have.

That is the life Xiang Di should have.

The life a normal person should have.

Not one like his.

Originally, he had already made up his mind to live properly on his own, until Xiang Di’s appearance used an extremely blatant way to attract his attention, forcing him to have to care about her.

He didn’t want to admit that he cared about her, didn’t want to show that he was actually very happy to be cared about by her. She was the one who liked him first, unilaterally liked him—so why, in the end, was it him who lowered his head to look for her?

He thought that once he could no longer hear her inner thoughts, life would return to how it used to be. Anyway, once they graduated, they wouldn’t see each other again. Her secret—he would keep it for her forever.

But now, life clearly could no longer return to its former calm. He couldn’t hear anymore, and he was even more troubled.

At this moment, Bai Jiangxin finally realized that he cared about Xiang Di very, very much.

Once you start caring about someone, you will want to know what she is thinking in her heart. This point, he couldn’t control.

But unfortunately, now he could no longer hear her inner thoughts at all.

The remaining half bowl of porridge could not be swallowed no matter what. Coincidentally, the aunt who was coming downstairs saw it and thought that today’s porridge didn’t taste good.

“Did I put too much sugar?” The aunt’s tone was guilty. “My fault. I clearly know you don’t like sweet things.”

“No, I ate too much dinner.” Bai Jiangxin added, “The porridge is very good.”

Only then did the aunt feel relieved and let out a breath.

Going upstairs, returning to his room, after doing test papers for a while, Bai Jiangxin picked up his phone.

It was already very late. The elderly person should already be resting.

He thought about it. Not wanting to disturb the elderly person’s rest, he decided to first send a message over and wait for the elderly person to reply after waking up.

However, just a few minutes later, the elderly person called him back.

On the phone, the elderly person’s tone was gentle. “Xin’er, third year of high school is so tough, huh. It’s already so late and you still haven’t slept.”

Bai Jiangxin said, “Aren’t you also not asleep?”

“Once I start playing chess, I easily forget the time. I’ll go sleep right away.”

The elderly person said, “Why did you suddenly ask about our family illness? Did something happen?”

“Nothing.” After a pause, Bai Jiangxin said, “There’s just a question I want to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Some time ago, I accidentally drank a classmate’s milk tea, and then I heard her inner thoughts. But after a few days, I couldn’t hear them anymore.”

The elderly person explained, “That’s very normal, because your body has already metabolized it. Actually, according to a normal person’s metabolic process, after another person’s saliva enters the body, the water, digestive enzymes, and some antibacterial proteins contained in it are digested and broken down very quickly inside the body. Generally, they’re completely digested within a few hours. It’s just that our body constitution is rather special, so the digestion is slower. When you were in elementary school learning biology, didn’t I already tell you this?”

“I know that. What I want to ask isn’t this.” Bai Jiangxin said. “…After it was metabolized, even with physical contact, I still couldn’t hear it.”

On the other end, the elderly person let out a long “oh.”

Bai Jiangxin: “Grandpa?”

“Mhm, I’m here. This can actually also be explained with biology, because your body has produced antibodies, so light physical contact is no longer useful.”

The elderly person’s tone was relaxed. “Actually, back when you had just started school, I already wanted to tell you about this method. You could treat all your classmates to a drink, then drink again from the bottles they’ve already drunk from. That way, you’d be able to get along normally with all your classmates.”

Bai Jiangxin frowned instantly. “……”

“Hahaha, but Grandpa knows you’re a clean freak, so I didn’t tell you. But now isn’t it just perfect?” The elderly person laughed. “From now on, you and that classmate can get along completely normally, and you won’t need to avoid physical contact anymore.”

“……”

“Xin’er? Why aren’t you speaking?”

Bai Jiangxin gave an “mm.”

The elderly person asked, “Do you have anything else you want to ask?”

Several seconds of silence passed. Bai Jiangxin spoke. “Then how… can I hear that classmate’s inner thoughts again?”

The elderly person sounded puzzled. “Huh? You finally can’t hear them anymore, and now you want to hear them again?”

“……”

Bai Jiangxin’s expression stiffened slightly.