Chapter 23.1 - The so-called Romance is Simply the Absence of a “Afterwards” (1)
Sheng Huainan stood at the door, bathed in the bright autumn sunlight.
“What were you doing just now? Eating chips?” His opening line clearly had the intention to warm up the atmosphere.
Luo Zhi raised her eyes to look at him. The person in front of her was so good-looking, so elegant, and even the way he walked was graceful and unhurried. Under his gentle brows, there was an innate nobility that carried an aura of authority without anger.
She admired him seriously until he seemed a bit uncomfortable.
“No, I’m saving space in my stomach to eat you later.” Luo Zhi laughed, smiling as wide as possible.
They were still in the school’s café, and she had chosen a bright seat by the window.
“Is this okay? I love autumn sunlight,” Luo Zhi asked.
“Sure, I like it too,” Sheng Huainan answered.
A lazy waiter stood by their table. “Are you two ordering food or drinks?”
“What do you want to eat?”
“Bone broth ramen, vegetable tempura, and hot milk,” she said without looking at the menu.
“I’ll have the same,” Sheng Huainan closed his menu as well.
The waiter, looking like he had no bones, didn’t say a word and sluggishly moved away.
Within two minutes, the food arrived.
While waiting for the food, Sheng Huainan took the chopsticks out of the wrapper, looked at them, and then smiled as if he remembered something.
Luo Zhi noticed. “What a pity, there are not three chopsticks,” she immediately seized the opportunity and said.
He looked up, his face showing the perfect amount of curiosity. “How did you know?”
“I don’t know what,” she said with an innocent look.
Luo Zhi had heard in her first year of high school that Sheng Huainan used three chopsticks when eating. It wasn’t a quirk, just something he did because he got bored and wanted to challenge himself. Having already mastered eating with his left hand, he now wanted to try using three chopsticks.
She had only heard about it, never seen it. But one day, when the homeroom teacher had kept her behind for a talk, she arrived late at the cafeteria. As she left, she saw a table ahead of her with four trays, and the one closest to her had three white plastic chopsticks.
She hurriedly looked down to tie her shoes, not wanting anyone to see her dazed expression. She rushed to her seat with the tray and didn’t notice the four boys sitting at the table ahead.
She didn’t see them.
The next day, she was alone in the cafeteria and secretly took three chopsticks. While eating, she still used two, but she kept glancing at the boys at the table across from her, afraid they’d notice her odd behavior. After they left and the surrounding tables cleared out, she solemnly picked up the three chopsticks and began experimenting—awkwardly getting rice all over her face and then laughing at herself.
It was really fun. She wondered if he had ever ended up looking like a silly cat while practicing. She wiped her face with a napkin and quietly leaned her face on the table to think.
“When I was in high school, I practiced eating with three chopsticks for a while. But I didn’t succeed, and my mom scolded me, saying I wasn’t eating properly,” she pretended to reminisce, staring at the chopstick wrapper.
Sheng Huainan smiled broadly. “You practiced with three chopsticks in high school too? Haha, me too.”
She pretended to be surprised and nodded. “Oh?”
He clearly hadn’t realized yet, just smiling while gently rubbing the cup she had jokingly described as resembling excrement. “Oh my, this is too funny. I really didn’t expect this,” he said.
The ramen arrived at the table, and the creamy bone broth lifted their spirits. Half a boiled egg, two slices of pork, a few pieces of vegetables—this was about the best the school’s Japanese ramen place could do.
However, Sheng Huainan looked troubled. She leaned over to look, and to her surprise, his bowl had two pieces of meat—both were fatty.
She laughed.
“You don’t like fatty meat, do you?”
He pursed his lips and nodded, looking helpless.
“I don’t like fatty meat either, but it’s not so bad now.”
“Really? Most girls seem to hate fatty meat. It’s rare for a guy like me to dislike it,” Sheng Huainan shyly scratched the back of his head.
She didn’t continue the conversation but pretended to get lost in her thoughts, smiling foolishly, and said,
“When I was little, when I went to other people’s homes, they would always serve me food. I would say thank you, but it was awkward because I didn’t like the food—especially the stir-fried onions, ginger chunks, and fatty meat. I didn’t dare spit it out on the table, so I would secretly spit it into my hand when no one was looking and put it on the crossbeam under the seat. After the meal, I would secretly get rid of it—once, I got caught because I lined the entire crossbeam with fatty meat, neatly arranged.”
She said this seriously, even gesturing as she spoke.
“Did you—seriously do that?” Sheng Huainan was so excited, and he had never been this animated before.
“Of course, I did.” She continued, “The adults were laughing so hard they couldn’t even scold me. And I shamelessly praised the hostess.”
“…How did you praise her?” He looked at her expectantly.
And she knew exactly what he was waiting for.
“The adults asked me how I arranged it so neatly. I said it was because the aunt cut the meat so well, all the pieces were the same size, or else I couldn’t have arranged them so neatly…”
Sheng Huainan laughed so hard that, for a full minute, he couldn’t say anything, just waving his hand at her.
“I can’t take it. This is such a coincidence. You know what? When I was little, I did the same thing! I lined up the fatty meat on the crossbeam! And even said the same thing to the hostess… my goodness…”
Sheng Huainan’s face turned red as he got lost in the memory, looking so happy. When he looked at her, his eyes were bright, as if he had found someone who truly understood him.
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