“Hehehe…”  
Ren Jie beside him burst into laughter, nearly doubling over.  

Lu Yu thought he hadn’t hit hard enough just now, so he gave Ren Jie a firm punch on the back.  

“Ow! Ahhh—” Ren Jie yelped in pain, yet kept chuckling. “Hahaha… that hurts! Hahaha…”  
Even while crying out, he couldn’t stop teasing Lu Yu about falling for it.  

Ren Jie had used endless tricks to bait Lu Yu before—  
phrases like “Hot girl over there!” or “Look! Black thigh-highs!” or “Whoa, insanely cute white socks!”—  
but none had ever worked.  

He’d almost started wondering if his best friend was completely uninterested in girls.  

But now… now he finally knew exactly how to hook Lu Yu.  

“Stop it, stop it! You’re gonna knock some brain cells loose!”  
Ren Jie laughed until tears streamed down his cheeks.  

The harder Lu Yu hit him, the more embarrassed Lu Yu seemed—  
or at least, that’s how Ren Jie interpreted it.  

And he’d keep pushing this angle, again and again,  
until the stubborn guy finally admitted out loud that he liked “Sister-in-law”!  

Ren Jie silently set that as his new personal mission.  

“Hi, one order of stir-fried pork with red peppers and a drumstick.”  
“And another—braised lion’s head meatballs with boiled bok choy.”  

The cafeteria serving window was a bit too low, so Lu Yu had to stoop slightly to speak to the auntie behind the counter.  
He swiped his own meal card first, then used Lin Beixing’s card for her order.  

His meal cost 24 yuan; hers, 12 yuan—the difference came down to the meat portions.  

Beep.  

As the card scanned, both Lu Yu and Ren Jie froze for a split second at the number flashing on the screen.  

Yesterday at lunch, since the cafeteria had been quiet, they’d ordered at separate windows—  
so Lu Yu hadn’t seen Lin Beixing’s card balance until now.  

That string of “999” made him seriously doubt it was the actual amount.  
Maybe she’d actually recharged thousands, but the cafeteria’s ancient card reader could only display three digits.  

“Bro, maybe you should just go ahead and mooch off her,” Ren Jie sighed wistfully. “At least I’d get some free meals out of it.”  

Lu Yu shot him a sharp glare and walked off, balancing two trays.  

When he returned to their table, Lin Beixing was absorbed in a tiny notebook—  
smaller than her palm—filled with English vocabulary she needed to review.  

Lu Yu set the trays down gently.  

Lin Beixing tucked the notebook away and looked up. “Thank you.”  

Setting aside grades, her manners were easily among the best in the whole school.  
Yet this polite, formal distance made Lu Yu oddly uncomfortable—  
as if an invisible wall had suddenly grown between them.  

He actually missed yesterday’s Lin Beixing—the one who’d snapped at him on the rooftop, threatening him not to lift her skirt.  

Now holding his own tray, Lu Yu hesitated over where to sit.  
At this hour, nearly every cafeteria table was full.  

A long bench could seat ten, but Lin Beixing sat tucked in a corner. Directly across from her sat an unfamiliar underclassman. Only two seats remained:  
one diagonally opposite her, and one right beside her.  

Lu Yu wavered.  

Behind him, Ren Jie was even more conflicted.  
There was no way he’d dare sit next to the class monitor.  

So Ren Jie quickly lunged for the diagonal seat—surrounded by strangers on both sides.  

Now, the only remaining spot was right next to Lin Beixing.  
Lu Yu swallowed hard and sat down.  

No one spoke. All three ate in silence.  

Somehow, the drumstick in Lu Yu’s hand no longer tasted as good.  
Beside him, Lin Beixing’s faint, delicate scent made his thoughts scatter.  

“I’m done.”  

Not long after, Lin Beixing set down her spoon.  
Yet barely a quarter of her food was gone.  

“Whoa—Monitor, are you secretly a cat?” Ren Jie blurted out, then quickly corrected himself: “…I mean, how come you eat so little?”  

“It’s fine. She’s always like this,” Lu Yu said without thinking.  

Ren Jie gaped. “How would you know??”  

Lu Yu: “…I guessed.”  

He took a huge bite of chicken to hide his embarrassment.  

Lin Beixing said nothing the whole time. She quietly pulled out her notebook again, reviewing words as she waited for them to finish.  

Ren Jie tried signaling Lu Yu with meaningful glances, but Lu Yu kept his head down, focused solely on his meal.  

So Ren Jie wolfed down the rest of his food, wiped his mouth, and stood up to leave.  

“Well… uh… Monitor— I mean, Sister-in-law—and Lu Ge, I’m full. Gotta go!”  

“Hey—” Lu Yu stood abruptly to stop him—  

—but Ren Jie wasn’t beside him. He was sitting right across.  
In a flash, he grabbed his tray and bolted.  

Lu Yu reached out—too late. He could only watch helplessly as his so-called best friend vanished.  

His throat tightened. He couldn’t quite name the uneasy flutter in his chest.  

It wasn’t like Lin Beixing would bite him.  
Yet he felt as if he were running away from something—from himself.  

With a resigned sigh, he sank back into his seat.  

Today had been strange from the very start. Ever since Lin Beixing asked him this morning, “Were you really such a good student before?”, his mind had been tangled—and seeing her only made it worse.  

“I’m done too… Should we head back to class?”  
After finishing half his drumstick, Lu Yu lost interest in the rest.  

Lin Beixing gave a soft nod. “Okay.”  

“Wait—just stay here a sec.”  

As if remembering something, Lu Yu dashed off and returned within two minutes—  
this time holding a bottle of cola.  

It had been scorching hot all day, and ice-cold cola was the one thing he’d been craving relentlessly.  
His sole source of joy for the afternoon.  

“Let’s go,” he said. Now that he had his drink, there was no reason to linger.  
All he wanted was to get back to the classroom and sit under the electric fan.  

Lin Beixing, still pretending to be absorbed in her notebook, quietly trailed behind him.  

The two walked in silence down the hallway.  
Dimly lit and nearly empty, the corridor had been freshly swept by duty students.  

Lu Yu twisted open the cola and took a long swig.  
He couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly—yesterday, he couldn’t even open a bottle cap by himself.  

A girl’s body might be soft and fragrant… but it was undeniably weak.  

“…Hm?”  

He hadn’t even capped the bottle yet when he caught sight of Lin Beixing’s eyes—  
shimmering, intense, and fixed hungrily on his cola.  

She could resist fried chicken drumsticks, but this…  

Lin Beixing bit her lip, her gaze locked on the bottle like it was a precious treasure.  

Lu Yu lifted the bottle slightly, testing: “Do you… want some?”  

She visibly swallowed, then turned her head away.  
Lu Yu assumed the ever-disciplined class monitor would firmly refuse.  

But after a brief pause—she gave a tiny, almost reluctant nod.  

“Just… a little sip…”