Chapter 152: All Kinds of Sweet Breakfasts

The sky at a little past four was tinged with a faint purple.

Though there was no sign of sunlight yet, birds could already be heard singing atop the trees.

An Jing still hadn’t fallen asleep.

But Yu Minghui and Yu Mingfei were sleeping soundly.

As for that story, she hadn’t finished listening to it at all—because halfway through, Yu Minghui had dozed off.

Before sleepiness could set in, An Jing felt as if she had downed ten cups of coffee—wide awake.

She finally couldn’t keep squeezing in that bed any longer, so she chose to get up.

But the moment she got up and walked to the door, her two cousins clung to each other, practically like a pair of magnets.

An Jing draped her school jacket over herself, her bare, pale legs exposed to the chilly morning air, making her shiver involuntarily.

Whatever little drowsiness she’d accumulated over the night instantly vanished.

She was so alert that she started to wonder if she’d awakened a new superpower—like not needing to sleep.

“Since I’m already up, might as well go out.”

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, An Jing tidied her bangs.

“Hmm… Should I go see if the shop selling Snow-Clad Red Bean Paste is open today…”

The ground was a bit damp, but it hadn’t rained as she came out.

Perhaps it was last night’s rain, or maybe the morning dew.

In front of the shop that sold Snow-Clad Red Bean Paste, the rolling shutter was tightly closed, with a handwritten note stuck on a white piece of paper: “Boss went fishing, closed today!”

Just like that, An Jing’s rare early-morning snack run was ruined.

But it was still early—actually, very early—so even if she turned back the way she came, she could still take her time and stroll leisurely.

To her, who hadn’t slept at all, today felt like the continuation of yesterday.

And this day seemed especially long.

So long that even squandering time wouldn’t make her feel the slightest bit guilty.

Although she still felt like it was Friday, time had already truly entered Saturday.

This was an era when many people still had Saturdays off. Office workers and students slept in at home, and the breakfast shops lining the streets were deserted, nowhere near as lively as usual.

Usually, even at just five in the morning, there would be two or three customers waiting at the doors of the breakfast shops, but today—not a single one.

Steam from the breakfast shops drifted through the air.

An Jing sneezed and took out her phone to send Zhu Ying a message:

“To:
‘Want to meet at the school gate this morning?’”

She was about to put her phone back in her pocket when, after a few seconds, it vibrated.

Zhu Ying, who should have still been in dreamland, had replied.

The message was very brief—just a single period.

About half a minute later, she finally sent a proper message: “So early?”

“You’re the one… Up this early, really.”

“What time?”

“Half an hour or an hour later?”

“Okay!”

After that, Zhu Ying went quiet.

An Jing had no idea whether she’d gotten up to wash or fallen back asleep.

Knock, knock, knock, knock.

The sound of the door being knocked startled Zhu Ying awake.

She hurriedly grabbed her phone to check the time.

There were already five or six new messages, and the number representing the time had changed from ‘5’ to ‘6’.

But she felt like she’d only closed her eyes for a moment.

“Coming..!”

With a whoosh, she flung off the covers and jumped out of bed, wearing nothing but those orange-red lantern pants and a loose dudou.

She crashed into her bedroom door, dashed to her front door, twisted the locks a few times, and pulled open the plain, thin security door.

“Didn’t see you at the school gate, guess it really was too early—mmph!!”

An Jing’s eyes landed on Zhu Ying’s fair skin, and she unconsciously swallowed.

“It’s fine… I actually planned to get up early to see you today anyway. Come in, my parents aren’t home, they left super early this morning, yawn…”

Zhu Ying stifled a yawn, grabbed a pair of Bunny-Eared Slippers from the shoe cabinet and tossed them on the floor, then dashed back to her room barefoot.

“When you texted, they’d just left—close the door behind you!”

Half her face buried under the blanket, Zhu Ying watched as An Jing, carrying several transparent food bags, gingerly pushed open the door and came in, unable to stop herself from yawning twice more.

“What are those in your hand?”

“Oh, these? Breakfast. I wanted to buy Snow-Clad Red Bean Paste, but the Boss wasn’t open. On the way back, I suddenly got the idea to see which breakfast shops sold sweet snacks. I picked one or two sweet items from each shop.”

“Hm? You bought breakfast for me?”

“Yep, though it might be a bit much, but we can eat together.”

Maybe because she found it amusing, An Jing started pulling out the breakfast items in front of the computer desk and introducing them one by one, unable to wait: “This is Sweet Soy Milk, this is Sweet Tofu Pudding, then this is Red Bean Bun, this is Sweet Sesame Flatbread—all pretty common. Look, this, Sweet Fried Dough Stick! And White Sugar Rice Cake…”

“What’s that one?”

“Brown Sugar Steamed Bun and Red Date Cake, and the last one is Sweet Red Rice Porridge—all from breakfast shops.”

“All kinds of sweet breakfasts, huh.”

“Yep, you like sweets anyway.”

“But this is too sweet, all sweet things.”

“I just wanted to find the sweet breakfasts from each shop, it’s really fun. The most unusual is this Sweet Fried Dough Stick.”

“Which shop sells this?”

“Right across from Dapeng Shopping Street.”

“Really? I only knew they sold Sweet Soy Milk.”

“Yeah, I just joked and asked if they had sweet fried dough sticks, and the Boss actually made one for me. See, they sprinkled a ton of powdered sugar on top, it’s like it came out of the snow.”

“I have to try that fried dough stick~”

“So, getting up?”

“It’s so warm in bed—”

“If it gets cold, it won’t taste good.”

“If Xiaojing gives me a kiss, I’ll get up!”

“…A kiss on the cheek, okay?”

“Nope~ It has to be on the lips!”

“Ew, no way, you haven’t even brushed your teeth—”

“That’s what makes it authentic!”

“Authentic in what way!”

Breakfast was still eaten in Zhu Ying’s room.

Even though she suggested eating in the living room, An Jing insisted on eating here.

Maybe it was because the living room was too gloomy and oppressive, making it feel like eating in the Principal’s Office—not much of an appetite.

Compared to that, Zhu Ying’s cute and cozy room was much more relaxing.

A funny video was playing on the computer screen. Zhu Ying was laughing so hard she nearly fell over, choking on the powdered sugar from the fried dough stick.

“O—cough, cough cough… cough cough—”

“Don’t laugh so hard, eat slower.”

An Jing helplessly patted her back, helping her catch her breath bit by bit.

“Phew… But it was so funny! That face just now, pfft, so exaggerated!”

“At least swallow what’s in your mouth first… Look, look, it’s all over the desk now.”

“Then just wipe it with a napkin, it’s fine.”

“Hey, it’s leaking out again!”

“Sigh…

‘What’s so funny this time?”

“Not the video—it’s that Xiaojing acting like a little mom is so cute~”

“Are you saying I’m naggy?”

“That’s not what I mean, just… mm, just that your nagging is cute.”

“Isn’t that still nagging…”

An Jing pouted.

“Xiaojing, you’re eating a lot today! Looks like you could even finish the Sweet Tofu Pudding?”

“Cough, I don’t know why, I can eat so much sweet stuff today. Normally, if I ate just a couple of these sweet breakfasts, I’d get sick of them.”

“Oh~ just thought of something.”

“What?”

“I heard that when couples swap saliva a lot, they catch each other’s habits—like suddenly liking spicy or sweet food.”

“Want to try swapping some now? I just brushed my teeth! Plus, I drank soy milk, my mouth’s all sweet!”

“Th-then… then… then…”

“Come on, if you want to, don’t act so shy!”

Zhu Ying, kneeling on the chair, straightened up, placed both hands on An Jing’s shoulders, then quickly leaned down.

“Mmm!!”

“Mmm… smack…”

“Mmmm, mmm ah! Hah… hah, almost suffocated…”

“Just breathe through your nose.”

“I forgot…”

“Well? Was it sweet?”

An Jing stared blankly at Zhu Ying: “N-no, couldn’t taste it.” “Tsk, let’s do it again!”

“N-no, let’s not! We’ll fall! Whoa, whoa!!”

What followed was the sound of the two of them tumbling to the floor.

From the sound alone, you’d think the chair was about to fall apart.

Zhu Ying, lying on top of An Jing, lifted her head and gazed intently into her eyes.

She opened her mouth, about to say something, when she suddenly failed at keeping a straight face and burst out laughing.

“Pfft, pffft! X-Xiaojing! Stop making that face like you’re scared I’ll devour you whole!”

“…Am I?”

“Yes, absolutely! Like this—looking so pitiful.”

“Honestly, when you make that face, you’re not pitiful at all.”

An Jing lowered her eyelids and grumbled, “Also, can you get up now? Your elbow’s pressing on my chest. It hurts.”

“Okay, moving now. Want me to rub it for you?”

“No!”

An Jing’s face turned a little red.

“Absolutely not!”

“Tsk, stingy.”

“Go rub your own… It really hurts to touch there, I don’t even dare wash it carelessly when bathing, not joking.”

An Jing muttered, half aggrieved, half serious, as she got up from the floor and sat back on the chair, grabbing Zhu Ying’s half-finished soy milk as if in defiance and gulping it all down.

“Hey, my soy milk!”

“It’s mine now.”

“Fine, then I’ll drink your Tofu Pudding!”

“Go ahead, Sweet Tofu Pudding isn’t even good…“

An Jing let out a huge yawn.

“Tofu pudding is really only good savory, with half a fried dough stick and pickled mustard, best with a little dried shrimp and green onion… ha—haah…”

Zhu Ying suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder.

She glanced sideways and saw that the energetic An Jing from just moments ago had powered down, eyes tightly shut, chest rising and falling steadily, already breathing in an even rhythm…