“So is it really okay to change the subject like this...?”

The boy protested under his breath, a little dissatisfied.

The moment Lin Ruoxing looked over, Lu Huai immediately looked away. That was basically surrender.

“We’ve been waiting this long. Should we just switch places?”

Still changing the subject...

Lu Huai said helplessly, “It’s only been less than five minutes since we ordered...”

“Really? I thought you’d feel like every second dragged on forever.”

“How would that be?”

Lu Huai asked back on instinct.

Then the girl in black-framed glasses nodded thoughtfully.

“True. Being with a girl like me, even spacing out should feel enjoyable every second.”

“...”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Lu Huai, his face slightly red, shifted his gaze away.

“I just didn’t expect you to be so... confident, Class Monitor.”

He couldn’t exactly call her thick-skinned, could he?

She really was pretty, sure. But saying that so openly to her face... wouldn’t that feel awkward?

At least Lu Huai couldn’t do it. Heck, he couldn’t even tell people he wrote novels.

Lin Ruoxing nodded calmly.

“Thinking I’m pretty is just standard public taste. You don’t have to act different on purpose.”

“I’m not...!”

“Then why won’t you compliment me?”

“That’s way too embarrassing, okay?!”

Lu Huai argued while staring at the window. Even his ears had turned red. He looked like he was blaming the window for not being cleaned properly.

Seeing what the boy looked like right now, Lin Ruoxing couldn’t help smiling.

“There’s nothing embarrassing about it. Praising beautiful things is human instinct. Writers, painters, and all kinds of artists have always celebrated beautiful scenery, flowers, and beautiful women.”

“...Makes sense.”

Lu Huai answered casually. Mostly because he’d never seen someone this openly narcissistic...

Oh, wait. He had. Xu Wenxi.

No, that wasn’t narcissism. That was arrogance taken to the extreme.

Compared to Xu Wenxi, Lin Ruoxing was still better. At least she mainly polluted people mentally. Xu Wenxi attacked on every front.

“You don’t think I’m pretty?”

Hearing how perfunctory Lu Huai sounded, Lin Ruoxing grew doubtful.

Lu Huai shook his head helplessly.

“No. I’m just at a loss for words. I can’t properly praise your beauty...”

Lu Huai was smart now. He wouldn’t casually say things that provoked people anymore. Online or in real life, who knew if another girl like Xu Wenxi might show up?

“Look at you. You’re getting smooth-tongued now.”

“...Then what exactly am I supposed to say, Class Monitor?”

If he didn’t say she was pretty, he’d feel fake.

If he did say it, then he was being slick.

“Boys should never suddenly say things like that just because of a girl’s mood. It’s really annoying.”

And then... he got lectured...

Lu Huai sighed. Life was hard.

“Why isn’t the food here yet...”

“Pfft...”

Seeing the boy lower his head gloomily, like even his whole figure had shrunk a little out of thin air, Lin Ruoxing found it a little funny.

“Alright. Let’s talk business.”

Only when Lin Ruoxing straightened her slender body again did Lu Huai suddenly realize this wasn’t some random meal invitation.

She had asked him here for a reason.

“What is it...”

He was a little uneasy.

Lu Huai felt he had already more or less guessed why Lin Ruoxing had specifically asked him out for a meal.

“What’s your relationship with Xu Wenxi?”

Ah... just as expected.

No surprise there.

Honestly, it was hard to connect Lin Ruoxing with Xu Wenxi. But with a little thought, it became obvious what on him was worth Lin Ruoxing going through the trouble of arranging a meal just to talk.

Only Xu Wenxi.

Lu Huai turned and looked out the restaurant window.

The view from the second floor wasn’t exactly spectacular. Just the same traffic flowing along the roadside.

The same dense crowd below.

After thinking it over, Lu Huai decided to tell a lie.

A well-meaning lie.

He didn’t want others getting dragged into some whirlpool because of his troubles. Some things wouldn’t change just because one more person sympathized.

And besides... sympathy and a little righteous anger to his face might be all he got.

“We knew each other before... then ran into each other again. There’s no real relationship. At most, we’re friends who’ve met a few times...”

Lin Ruoxing looked at Lu Huai calmly.

The eyes hidden behind those black frames were like a deep sea.

“Xu Wenxi doesn’t have any especially close friends. She wouldn’t invite someone into her car.”

“Really? Then maybe I’m just very lucky...”

Lu Huai wasn’t trying to convince her. He just wanted to use that attitude to tell Lin Ruoxing that he didn’t want her digging too deeply into this matter.

But Lin Ruoxing’s focus didn’t seem to be on that at all.

“Do you really think being targeted by someone like that is lucky?”

“Someone like that...?”

“Xu Wenxi. A girl who’s very good at pretending and acting. She’s been like that since she was little. One face in public, another in private. In front of parents, she’s a well-behaved child. In front of teachers, an obedient student. In her classmates’ eyes, she’s a graceful, polite, generous princess. But underneath it all, she reeks of hypocrisy. She’s selfish and self-serving, and when she stops caring about other people’s feelings, she can’t even be bothered to keep up the act.”

Lu Huai wanted to give that speech a big thumbs-up.

But he couldn’t show even the slightest sign of agreement.

Who knew if Xu Wenxi had installed spyware on his phone?

“You seem pretty familiar with her...?”

Lu Huai changed the subject with a headache coming on. He didn’t want her to keep talking. If there really was spyware, or if Xu Wenxi found out about today’s conversation through some other method, then they’d really be sharing the same disaster.

“Just observation.”

Lin Ruoxing showed a careless look of disdain, as if she was very resistant to being associated with Xu Wenxi at all.

Which looked exactly like textbook overcompensation.

So... these two had a grudge?

Could he ask when they planned to fight to the death? And if possible, could they move it up a little?

“Is that so...”

That was what he thought, but Lu Huai had no desire to dig deeper into this kind of thing. Neither girl was simple. Both were complicated. And for an ordinary person like him, with no grand ambitions and no matching ability, the less he knew, the safer he’d be.

“What I mean is, if something’s going on, maybe I can help.”

Lu Huai had every reason to suspect she knew something. Or maybe this was just another layer in some rich-girl scheme. Make him think he’d found salvation, when really it was just a deeper trap.

It was a pretty dark thought. But the current Lu Huai really couldn’t afford to look at too many things through an idealistic lens.

After thinking for a moment, he still shook his head.

“It’s nothing... just a normal relationship... It’s fine if people don’t connect us together.”

“Oh.”

Lin Ruoxing nodded blandly. At that moment, the dishes arrived.

That let Lu Huai neatly end a topic he really didn’t want to explain.

If it were anything else, Lu Huai would’ve been happy for someone’s help. He would’ve been grateful. But for something like this, better not. The odds of winning were low, and if he failed, the consequences would be brutal.

Lin Ruoxing had good manners while eating. She didn’t talk.

Instead, Lu Huai ended up hearing most of the conversation between the two girls behind him.

He was just short of memorizing their period schedules too. Exaggeration, obviously.

As for the young couple in front of him, he wasn’t that interested in their topic.

The guy said, “You know what? One of my bros is seriously miserable.”

The girl said, “What happened?”

The guy said, “One of his shoes went missing, so he asked his roommate if he wore them out.”

The girl asked, “And then?”

The guy said, “His roommate said no, said it wasn’t him. So my friend posted on Moments: There are some things I don’t say, but I know.”

The girl laughed. “That’s it?”

The guy suppressed his excitement and said, “No, you know what the craziest part was?”

“What?”

“Right after he posted that, his girlfriend texted him: Sorry. Hahaha...”

“...”

People in love were all idiots.

Lu Huai suddenly came to that conclusion, one that sounded a little sour-grapes on his part.

Lu Huai ate a little faster than Lin Ruoxing. The well-mannered girl kept to the rule of not talking while eating.

After finishing, Lu Huai felt awkward just sitting there watching Lin Ruoxing eat, so he could only glance around less often than he wanted.

This was seriously awkward. He should’ve just pretended to eat slower.

Best case, they’d finish at the same time, wipe their mouths, then stand up and leave in perfect tacit understanding.

That would’ve been the ideal arrangement for Lu Huai.

Lin Ruoxing seemed to notice that the boy across from her had already finished. He had set down his chopsticks and was looking at his phone.

With one side of her hair tucked back, she raised her head.

“Wait a second. I’m almost done.”

Lu Huai quickly said, “It’s fine. No rush, take your time.”

Lin Ruoxing hesitated and glanced at Lu Huai.

“Okay.”

Then she lowered her head again.

Even though she said that, she was obviously eating much faster.

Less than two minutes later, Lin Ruoxing put down her chopsticks. Since the tissues were on Lu Huai’s side, he pushed the box over.

“Thanks.”

“It’s nothing...”

A conversation so simple it was like two strangers talking.

Lu Huai watched the girl lower her head and wipe her soft pink lips, then fold the used tissue so the greasy side wouldn’t show.

Maybe there was nothing special about it. Maybe it was just manners a little above average.

Maybe it was only because the faint sunlight by the window had stubbornly made it through the glass and fallen across half her profile.

“Class Monitor, how are your grades?”

Lu Huai took the initiative and asked a question.

For students, it sounded perfectly normal on the surface. But in reality, almost no student actually wanted to discuss that kind of thing.

After wiping her lips, the bespectacled girl sat there quietly, with no intention of getting up right away, and answered lightly.

“First in the grade.”

“That amazing?”

Lu Huai’s surprise wasn’t fake at all.

With both hands resting steadily at her sides, Lin Ruoxing looked at him in confusion.

“We’re already in second year. You didn’t know?”

Lu Huai gave an awkward but polite smile.

Could he really say he paid zero attention to rankings because they only gave him pressure? He didn’t pay attention to Lin Ruoxing either.

“Why are you asking?”

Lin Ruoxing seemed to understand what he meant and didn’t press the issue. Instead, she asked about his real purpose.

Lu Huai hesitated over whether to say it.

But Lin Ruoxing’s gaze shifted slightly, and she said, “You want me to tutor you?”

Can you read minds?!

No, wait, you don’t just analyze people, you can see straight through them?!

Lu Huai’s expression sold him out completely.

So he said, a little helplessly, “What if I do...”

He wasn’t really expecting much. She’d probably think he was using that as an excuse to get close to her, just putting on a show. And even if she knew he was sincere, she still might not agree. After all, he had no charm to speak of, no persuasive power, and no superior conditions to offer.

The girls behind them were giggling.

The couple in front were whispering sweet nothings.

The crowd below moved coldly through the noisy street.

Across from him, Lin Ruoxing’s gaze remained calm.

“Then remember to bring your textbooks tomorrow at lunch.”

Just as expected... Huh? Wait—something feels off.