Chapter 9: Lunch

Chapter 9: Lunch

I wanna play on my phone so bad…

Chen Shiyu propped her chin up with both hands, staring blankly at the English written across the blackboard. Her brain was full of random nonsense, drifting all over the place.

Back in college, a lecture would fly by easily—chatting on her phone, messing around, bragging with friends.

Now, back in high school? Everything was dull, monotonous, and suffocating. Even break time was eaten away. You had to report just to go to the bathroom.

“Shiyu~”

Her back was suddenly poked. Chen Shiyu tilted her head slightly in confusion.

Chen Jing leaned forward, lowering her voice and whispering, “Did you bring one?”

“…One what?”

“A pad! I was rushing this morning and forgot to pack any.”

Chen Shiyu blinked, then her face darkened.

“Why don’t you ask someone else?”

The hell?! Periods?! Why does she, a perfectly normal man, have to endure this crap in Chen Shiyu’s body?!

“Alright then~”

Chen Jing turned to borrow from another classmate. A moment later she was back, poking Chen Shiyu’s back again, clearly eager to chatter.

“Shiyu, Shiyu! I saw this super handsome guy the other day!” Once her chatterbox opened, there was no stopping it. “He kinda looked like Hu Ge, you know? Tall, lean, really good-looking!”

“Like Hu Ge?”

Chen Shiyu had zero interest in pretty boys, but Hu Ge was another story entirely.

She resisted the urge to turn around, leaning her body back against the desk instead and lowering her voice. “And then?”

“He even had abs!”

“Abs? Ehehe~” Chen Jing’s deskmate cut in with a lovestruck look. “Our school basketball team has tons of guys with abs! Now that it’s hot, sometimes they take their shirts off. Ugh, makes me wanna touch~”

“Ew, you perv!”

“What, you don’t like looking? You don’t like them? Fine, then they’re all mine—don’t you dare steal them!”

“Share one with me~”

…Was this conversation actually happening?

Chen Shiyu glanced back. Chen Jing, with her glasses, looked so quiet and prim. Her deskmate, Shen Jiayi, was petite and cute. Both looked like the pure, innocent type.

And yet here they were, talking like this.

She knew it was mostly just talk, but still—weren’t girls supposed to be clean, gentle, and adorable? Was that just the delusion of naive boys?

“How about I share one with you too, Shiyu?” Shen Jiayi offered generously.

Chen Shiyu’s face went dark. “No, no thanks.”

“She already got Shen Yan anyway~”

“Next time the basketball team practices, I’ll take you guys to watch!”

“Chen Shiyu!”

Just when the gossip hit full swing, the teacher’s sharp voice rang out. Chen Shiyu whipped her head forward—just in time to get pegged in the forehead by a piece of chalk.

“Ahhh!”

She yelped in pain, both hands clutching her forehead, eyes wide with panic as she looked toward the podium.

“If you love talking so much, then come up here and do it in front of the class!”

The classroom erupted in laughter. Chen Shiyu pressed her lips together, cheeks blazing red as she quickly straightened up, folding her arms neatly on the desk in a picture-perfect “good student” pose.

It wasn’t even her fault! It was Chen Jing doing all the talking!

And to make it worse, everyone thought she was into guys’ abs now?!

As if!

Well… if it had been the original Chen Shiyu, then maybe…

A faint memory flickered. Right—those two “perverts” behind her had actually been corrupted by the previous Chen Shiyu.

After all, that girl had been obsessed with seducing her childhood friend, constantly scheming and acting shameless just to get Shen Yan’s attention.

The thought made Chen Shiyu wilt.

There was no way she was going to keep up that persona by flirting with Shen Yan.

Her manly dignity from her past life would shatter into pieces!

Riiiing—

The bell rang for the end of class. Immediately, the classroom buzzed with restless energy.

But the English teacher stood unfazed at the podium, continuing to lecture and drag things out. Boarding students squirmed in their seats, anxious to get to the cafeteria—if they didn’t hurry, not only would they be stuck in a long line, they might miss out on the good dishes too.

Chen Shiyu noticed a boy in the back row slip quietly out through the back door while the teacher was writing on the board.

“Class dismissed. On-duty students, wipe the blackboard.”

The moment the English teacher dismissed class, the students bolted out of the room like zombies breaking out of their cages. In the blink of an eye, only a dozen or so stragglers were left behind.

Chen Shiyu stretched lazily as she stood up, feeling her backside completely numb from sitting too long.

“Shishi, I’m eating at your place today.”

“Huh?”

She turned back. Shen Yan strolled over with his empty backpack slung loosely over one shoulder, then casually perched himself on a desk beside her.

“My family’s busy, no one cooked.”

“I’ll message my mom then…” Chen Shiyu pulled out her phone, but after opening WeChat, she froze. Her mom hadn’t cooked either. “She’s not free either. Guess we’ll just eat out? Cafeteria?”

Shen Yan thought for a moment. “Let’s go out. My treat.”

“Deal!”

Eating alone with Shen Yan was way better than being surrounded by a whole crowd of girlfriends and nosy classmates.

In her past life, she could go an entire month without chatting properly with a girl. Yet now, it felt like she’d already used up a lifetime’s quota of girl talk.

The two of them left the school side by side, taking the usual left turn into a nearby residential complex.

Inside was a place called Yimei Fast Food, a little diner with surprisingly good flavor. The pair of childhood friends came here so often that whenever they didn’t eat at home, this was basically their default choice.

They’d been around enough that even the lady boss recognized them.

“Ohh, you two again~ What’ll it be today?”

“I’ll grab the food. You just sit and wait.”

Not long after, Shen Yan came back balancing two trays—two meat dishes, two veggies—before sitting right down at her side.

Chen Shiyu subtly scooted a few inches away, keeping a buffer between them.

“Look, your favorites—mushrooms and bok choy.”

“…Uh.”

Mushrooms? Seriously?!

Chen Shiyu hated mushrooms more than anything. Give her meat every meal, no veggies at all, and she’d be happy!

But the original Chen Shiyu had always been figure-conscious, eating light, avoiding oily foods, not touching much meat.

With a sulky little purse of her lips, Chen Shiyu forced down two bites of mushroom. Her brows furrowed ever so slightly, her gaze locked on the meat dishes like a starving wolf, but she said nothing.

Shen Yan caught her expression and had to fight back a laugh. Pretending not to notice, he just kept shoveling meat and rice into his mouth.

When he lowered his head for another big bite, Chen Shiyu struck like lightning—snatching up the one and only fried chicken drumstick. The prize of the meal. Ten yuan’s worth of glory!

“…Weren’t you the one who doesn’t like meat?”

“I suddenly felt like eating it. What, is that a crime?”

Hey, if she was gonna play the role of a girl, then she might as well be willful about it. That’s perfectly reasonable, right?!

“Fine, fine.” Shen Yan chuckled, polishing off the last of his rice in just a few minutes. He grabbed his soup bowl, downed it in three gulps, then sighed. “Hurry up already. You always eat so slow.”

“Don’t rush me…”

Chen Shiyu gave up and just went full speed, cramming food into her mouth like a hamster with stuffed cheeks. “Okay! Done, let’s go!” she mumbled through bites.

Seeing her cheeks puffed out, her little face all round and full—Shen Yan felt an odd warmth tug at him. Somehow, this version of Chen Shiyu was… actually kind of cute?

Wait. What the hell?!

That was basically a betrayal of his loyalty to his childhood sweetheart image!

He quickly shoved that dangerous thought down. Grinning instead, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Chen Shiyu’s hand.

“Eh?!”

Chen Shiyu nearly jumped out of her seat.

Hold on—Shen Yan had never been this forward with his “childhood sweetheart” before. Why the hell did he suddenly decide to hold her hand?!

“Come on, let’s go walk around.”

“Wait, I—”

“No waiting. Let’s go!”

Chen Shiyu’s eyes darted around wildly. She could feel the curious stares of passersby, could see the restaurant owner smiling at them with that auntie-matchmaker grin. Her whole body went stiff, head ducking low as her face burned red.

Inside, she cursed Shen Yan to hell and back—yet outwardly, she looked just like a shy little girl being pulled along.

Meanwhile, walking in front, Shen Yan’s face had gone dark. His eyes narrowed, thoughts turning sharp.

As expected, this fox spirit clearly hated being close to him. She resisted him every single time.

Good. The more miserable she looked, the happier he felt.