Sunny Xu stopped organizing his notebook and pencil case, raised his head, and stared at the beautiful and charming girl in front of him.

At the same time, even without turning his head to look around, he could still feel the piercing gazes coming towards him.

Sunny Xu suddenly had a deep understanding: as an ordinary boy, the experience of getting too close to Seigetsu Zhu was different from the time when the rumors of "him and Starry Lin being a couple" were spreading in school.

The similarity between the two was that their appearances were outstanding among their peers. It could be said that Starry's long straight hair was even more impressive. However, due to Starry's bad reputation and her somewhat unsociable personality, she rarely interacted with others. Therefore, in the impression of most people, even classmates, she was a beautiful girl who seemed distant from them.

Years later, when people gathered for a class reunion, they would occasionally talk about the independent and pure girl with a touch of sentimentality. They would wonder where she was now, what she was doing, and who she would be with... That kind of feeling.

Seigetsu Zhu, on the other hand, was different. She was approachable, had excellent grades, and was highly trusted. She was practically a perfect superhuman.

For the boys who spent time with the class president day and night, Seigetsu Zhu was someone who seemed within reach but could never be touched.

Knowing that the class president had no interest in dating, they felt regretful but also secretly relieved, thinking that it was better this way.

However, the current situation exceeded everyone's expectations: she suddenly became particularly close to a certain boy from another class, which caused the others to be secretly vigilant.

If when walking with Starry Lin, most onlookers were envious, now there was more than one person feeling sour.

As for Sunny Xu himself, he had successfully ignored the gazes of others - or at least pretended to be unaffected on the surface. When he saw Seigetsu Zhu coming to invite him, he asked somewhat strangely:

"Aren't you going out to eat with your friend?"

It was his own business, and he knew that their relationship hadn't reached that level yet, unless Seigetsu had something else to say to him.

"I was supposed to eat with Xiaofang, but she just said she wanted to go help with the garbage and ran off by herself," Seigetsu Zhu replied.

...So that person was in a hurry to get rid of the evidence of the love letter?

"Then, why not go with the people from your class?"

Sunny Xu lowered his voice.

"I looked around just now, everyone already has their own companions. I suddenly felt a bit embarrassed to join in halfway," the girl said with a hint of regret.

No, no, if you really join, whether those people are boys or girls, they will definitely welcome you with open arms, Sunny Xu thought.

Of course, this conclusion also applied to him. He was also happy to receive the invitation.

"Just the two of us?"

"Is there someone else? If it's someone from your class, remember to introduce them to me early."

"No, it's just me."

He no longer hesitated and nodded at her firmly.

"Let's go eat, just the two of us!"

...

The two of them, who had agreed to go together, went to the cafeteria first.

If they wanted to eat here, they had to buy meal tickets.

"Chicken leg, bean sprouts, greens, seaweed soup... These skewers look dry, and there are only three in a serving... Shredded potatoes, cabbage and tofu, is that all?"

In the small cafeteria, there were only seven or eight people sitting sparsely, half of whom were teachers or staff members, and not a single student from No. 15 High School could be seen.

Sunny Xu looked around the food tray and felt that even the meat dishes looked average.

"It's just like our school cafeteria," Seigetsu Zhu made a fair evaluation.

The damp iron plates, sticky rice, and even the slightly cold dishes, while ensuring food safety, were not appetizing at all.

The food here was mainly for the students who came for extra classes, so the taste could be predicted.

In school, most students would obediently eat in the cafeteria because they didn't want to risk being stopped by security guards when bringing food from outside. Plus, after listening to classes all morning, everyone was hungry, so they would wolf down the set meals provided by the cafeteria.

But here was different. Next door was a commercial street, and the atmosphere of the cram schools was livelier than in school. As the end of class approached, everyone's thoughts had already flown to the various stalls and vendors on the street.

Only parents who were very worried about their children eating outside would buy meal tickets in advance. And even if they bought them, it was likely that some students would still waste them and secretly run to the street to buy food.

"Let's go out."

...

On the way, they met a few more students. Sunny Xu and Seigetsu Zhu crossed the road with them and headed towards the commercial street on the other side.

The bustling street stretched horizontally, with restaurants, breakfast shops, noodle shops, and fast food restaurants... Standing by the shop windows and looking inside, the crowd was bustling, and among the people lining up, they could see students from cram schools.

There was also a KFC at the intersection, with a long line of people waiting outside the door all year round.

Fried chicken burgers were indeed tempting, but as high school students who didn't have the ability to support themselves yet, they wouldn't choose a place like this just to have lunch.

In this era, for the locals with average family conditions, this place was still not somewhere they could frequently consume. They would only come here for family gatherings, birthday celebrations, or when inviting someone on a date.

Finally, Sunny Xu and Seigetsu Zhu found a relatively secluded alley with a dumpling restaurant hanging a red lantern in front.

They lifted the transparent curtain and found that it was quite spacious inside, with six rows of seats from the entrance to the kitchen.Through the inner cloth curtain, you could see the kitchen emitting billowing white steam. The shop owner, wearing a white apron, carefully held a large bowl of steaming dumpling soup and greeted anyone who entered with enthusiasm.

As spring approached, the weather was gradually getting hotter. The fan hanging on the wall was spinning with a continuous noise, as if it could fly off at any moment.

Sunny Xu saw several students sitting at the innermost table, taking off their jackets and burying their heads in the soup. Occasionally, they would glance at the TV and chat casually, bursting into laughter from time to time, attracting the attention of those around them.

People who were alone would always be silent and hardly make any noise, because there weren't many interesting things or topics in the world. However, if they were with familiar friends, everything they said would become funny, even if it was a boring topic in the eyes of others.

Noticing the two of them entering, someone showed surprise and started whispering to their companion sitting next to them.

Sunny Xu turned his head.

On a high platform, a square color TV was playing a singing program, with a rough sound coming out of it. Below the TV, there was a plastic board displaying prices and types of food. The walls, peeling off white paint, were covered with posters of Hong Kong and Taiwanese stars. One of the posters had half fallen off, revealing a dirty yellow color covered with thick grease.

A little boy was concentrating on his homework while lying on a plastic stool, and next to his feet was a green rack for beer bottles.

"What would you like?"

The owner wiped the water off his clothes and approached them, speaking Mandarin with a strong local accent.

Sunny Xu ordered a plate of chive and egg dumplings and a plate of pan-fried dumplings, while Seigetsu Zhu ordered a bowl of vegetarian dumplings.

They sat down and took out two pairs of disposable chopsticks from the chopstick holder on the side.

The stools and tables felt greasy, but the customers in the restaurant didn't seem to mind and didn't use napkins to wipe them.

"...?"

While waiting for the dumplings to be served, Sunny Xu turned his head to look at the TV program on the shelf behind him. Suddenly, he heard Seigetsu Zhu sitting across from him make a soft sound of surprise.

"What's wrong?"

"Look behind you."

Sunny Xu's gaze moved from the TV screen and downwards, and he saw two customers chatting as they entered the dumpling restaurant.

He recognized both of them, one was Teacher Yang and the other was Sun Xiaofang.

Sunny Xu instinctively turned his head back.

The two of them made eye contact, and they could both sense a strange emotion from each other's faces.

The classmates sitting in the back row also noticed the teacher and a girl coming out, but they didn't find it strange. After greeting them, they continued chatting among themselves.

However, the two who had just seen the letter felt somewhat complicated. Sunny Xu and Seigetsu Zhu pretended to have just noticed and greeted Teacher Yang.

"...I heard that Teacher Yang comes here for classes on weekends."

Sunny Xu whispered.

"Yeah."

Seigetsu Zhu nodded and continued.

"And this cram school is owned by Xiaofang's family."

"Yeah. So, their relationship is indeed closer than ordinary teacher and student." Sunny Xu showed a pensive expression. "Sun Xiaofang liked him because of this, right?"

After chatting for a few more sentences, the owner approached with two bowls of dumpling soup and quickly brought two plates of condiments.

The plates contained soy sauce, vinegar, and celery.

Seigetsu Zhu picked up a dumpling from the bowl, dipped it in the sauce on the small plate, held it with one hand, and used the other hand to hold the chopsticks, carefully sending the dumpling into her mouth.

"It's hot...!"

She stuck out her pink tongue and started blowing into the bowl.

When she looked up, she noticed that Sunny Xu, sitting across from her, had a look of contemplation as if he was lost in thought.

Curiously, she asked, "Aren't you eating?"

"...Wait, I suddenly remembered something. I need to go out for a moment and make a phone call. I have something to tell Starry." Sunny Xu stood up from his seat.

"Hey, what are you doing? The dumplings won't taste good if they get cold." Seigetsu Zhu said.

"I'm going to make a phone call and I'll be back soon. There's something I need to tell Starry." After saying that, he hurriedly left.

What does this have to do with her? Seigetsu Zhu stared at his back, wondering if Lin, her classmate, was having lunch at home at this time.

She watched him walk away and chewed on the dumpling filling, completely unable to understand.

By the way, she heard that these two were neighbors and usually got along well. Could it be that they had lunch together?

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread.com".

But even if that was the case, did they really need to report it?

Could it be that this was what they called... "henpecked husband"?

Seigetsu Zhu found it strange and couldn't help but burst into laughter, attracting curious gazes from Teacher Yang and Sun Xiaofang.

She quickly restrained her expression and picked up another dumpling.

No, it's not a good thing to always gossip about others.

...

As Sunny Xu had said, he returned soon with two glass bottles covered in water droplets.

"Here, I brought back some ice-cold cola from the nearby shop. You seem to be afraid of hot food, so have this with your meal. Don't eat too fast." Sunny Xu handed it over and said.

"Ah, thank you!"

Seigetsu Zhu happily took the cola.

She didn't expect him to be so considerate... No, come to think of it, Xu has always been a considerate person, right?

Seigetsu Zhu took a sip of the cola. The liquid felt slightly cold and stimulating on her slightly numb tongue.

She looked at the bubbles rising in the glass bottle and suddenly a thought came to her mind, a thought that would sound strange to everyone else but could only be understood by herself:

```"Is it a bit of a waste for a good kid like Sunny Xu to become friends with a troublemaker like me in the future?"

*

After a hearty meal, they paid the bill and left the dumpling restaurant.

Before this, the tutoring students, Teacher Yang, and Sun Xiaofang had all said their goodbyes and left. They were the last group to leave among the three batches.

Crossing the road, as they were about to reach the entrance of the tutoring class, Sunny Xu suddenly proposed to the girl beside him:

"Seigetsu Zhu, I think it's not good for our health to sit in the classroom after a full meal. How about we take a stroll somewhere before class?"

This time, he was the one who took the initiative to invite.