Chapter 9: The Neighbor Brought Me Food

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For high school, no, male students, there are a few moments that rank in the top three for sheer bliss.

From the boys: "I'll give you that, you're impressive."

This can't be shaken; the value is too high.

Dad!

This is the inheritance of thousands of years of filial piety culture, which also must be counted.

Beyond that, there's only that collective 'Ohhh～～' from the boys.

"Chen Yuan, someone's looking for you oh～"

"They brought you lunch; hurry up, it's getting cold oh～"

"Bro, awesome, awesome～"

Almost all the boys still in the class were cheering in this direction.

The remaining girls, though quieter in their speech, kept sizing up the girl outside the door with their eyes.

So beautiful.

Just like a princess out of a Japanese manga, exquisitely perfect, with smooth black hair, a delicate face, the picture of docile grace, absolutely flawless, the only complaint being—she's not mine.

Zhou Fu is considered pretty, but her bonus points are entirely because of her big... assets. In terms of sheer looks, they're not on the same level, of course. This girl has the advantage of wearing a dress. If Zhou Fu dressed a bit more revealingly, she could have been a contender.

"Sorry about this, you guys go eat. My neighbor brought me food..."

"You traitor, the wound of betrayal never heals!" Zhou Yu cried. He was in agony to find that his solo buddy was actually doing well, damn well at that.

As a bro, it's not that I don't want you to do well.

Don't starve, just get by with some simple meals.

Who asked for every meal to be gourmet, huh?! Tell me this is a paid service you did just for this moment of vanity, and you spent half a month's living allowance.

You're so vain, you really deserve to die, Chen Yuan!

"Sorry, gotta go." Chen Yuan fist bumped Zhou Yu and the others in apology, and then went to find Xia Xinyu.

This girl looking for Chen Yuan...

Seeing Xia Xinyu at the door, Zhou Fu's expression suddenly froze for a moment, showing quite the surprise.

No, that's not right.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yu suddenly realized that if Chen Yuan was going to lunch with that girl now, did it mean that he could possibly go with...

Thrilled yet trying to hide it, he turned his head to look at Zhou Fu and He Sijiao, and Zhou Yu's face slowly revealed an embarrassment deep enough to bury himself...

No, man, I'm not even close with these two.

Chen Yuan, come back and take me with you, will ya?

"I didn't expect you'd actually bring me lunch. How did you find your way to this class?"

As it wasn't good to eat in class, Chen Yuan took Xia Xinyu to the round flower bed in front of the school gate. They sat on the stone bench under the arc-shaped canopy for shade, placed the food on their laps, and began to eat lunch together.

"I glanced at the school's science rankings, and there was only one from class 18 in the top hundred. Didn't you say you were in a less impressive class? So I asked around by the door... and sure enough, you were in this one."

"You're using that 'sure enough' a bit maliciously, aren't you?"

"You, you're in this class?" Xia Xinyu corrected herself, asking earnestly.

"That sounds even more embarrassing now." Chen Yuan clasped his hands with chopsticks inside, pleading her to stop talking.

"The eel rice is just too delicious... I'm really sorry to have made you overspend again." What embarrassed Xia Xinyu the most was the fact that for the sake of enjoying a Boston lobster meal, she had even postponed committing suicide.

Shame on such a foodie.

"Didn't you also pack a few portions of small dishes? Consider it returning the favor." Chen Yuan didn't mind, devouring the other dishes.

"No, I made those."

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"…" Hearing this and then looking towards the lunchbox compartment filled with tantalizing stir-fried cucumber with ham sausage, poached egg, and stir-fried pork with green pepper, Chen Yuan was stunned, his face filled with disbelief.

Could a 17-year-old really cook something this delicious?

No wonder the compliment she used for my cooking was 'can make food clear and understandable'.

It's like Sun Wukong saying that the Wolf Fang Fist is pretty strong—praise that's too insincere indeed sounds fake.

"I used your lunchbox, so I'll clean it for you when I get back," Xia Xinyu was still very polite.

Such a girl, with nearly exemplary behavior, should have made Chen Yuan feel flattered and his heart race. But seeing her unwavering determination, as if it was set in stone, he felt any affection right now was superfluous.

She wasn't being unconditionally kind to him, clinging to him like a little nanny.

She just wanted to repay her debts before dying.

The debt could be repaid to the Boston lobster or this box of eel rice, but it definitely couldn't be just him.

While Chen Yuan was distressed, his hand holding the chopsticks suddenly shook, and a piece of eel fell onto the hem of Xia Xinyu's divided skirt, probably at the position of her thigh.

"My fault, my fault," Chen Yuan immediately apologized upon seeing this.

"Ah? Oh, okay." Xia Xinyu was startled for a moment, then picked up the piece of eel quickly and placed it in Chen Yuan's bowl, saying weakly, "You, yours."

"…"

Looking at the eel slice lying in his own lunchbox, which had touched Xia Xinyu's thigh before he did, Chen Yuan didn't react for a moment.

And after replaying the scene in his mind, he wanted to bury his stupid self in the ground and erect a small tombstone.

No, you got it wrong.

My meaning was, mine.

It was short for 'this round is my bad'.

Damn, I should watch fewer live streams and learn less of that abstract talk!

Language has lost its ability to express at this very moment!

"My bad... it's my fault for dirtying your dress. It's not a big deal, right?" Chen Yuan asked.

My fault?

Ah!

After realizing it, Xia Xinyu had the same thoughts as Chen Yuan, but hers were more extreme and she was more about action—better to just end it all when she gets home than to keep thinking about this embarrassment tonight.

Goodbye, Mr. Chen Yuan.

Am I some kind of idiot? How could such a generous person like him be so protective of his food? Moreover, it's something that fell on my leg; he'd definitely find it gross.

So silly, so silly, so silly…

Better to just die when I get back home.

Thinking about this, Xia Xinyu's face turned red with strain. Seeing this, Chen Yuan naturally picked up the eel slice with his chopsticks and said, "It's fine, it's still edible within three seconds."

"If it fell, just leave it…"

"Based on the original price, that piece of eel is worth three yuan."

When she thought about the cost, Xia Xinyu's thrifty nature kicked in, but it was too embarrassing to let Chen Yuan eat it, so she leaned over and ate the eel straight from his chopsticks.

Indirectly wet… ah, not, it's a kiss.

Although Chen Yuan thought the action was fine, as long as the other person didn't have Helicobacter pylori, atypical pneumonia, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, hepatitis A or other saliva-transmittable diseases, and this girl did smell faintly fragrance when close, clearly a very clean person.

It was just that Xia Xinyu seemed to mind, turning her head completely away after eating, leaving him only the sight of her face, which was almost blushing, as she chewed carefully.

I've wanted to say this for a while, this girl's skin is too sensitive, why does her face turn red at the slightest thing?

Not exactly the constitution of a Chinese 'baby' beauty.

"Chen Yuan, what are you doing!"

Just then, Lao Mo, holding a lunchbox bag in his hand like an Armored Titan, blocked their way, his face looking terrible.

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