Chapter 4 : Dinner

This morning’s class wasn’t one of the usual cultural lessons — it was an important theory class.

A stern-faced male teacher stood at the podium, explaining the scientific ways to practice spiritual energy to everyone.

Xu Chuyao glanced up a few times, then stopped listening.

What was the point of practicing scientifically? Even if you practiced hard, how many levels could you reach? In the end, everything still depended on lucky draws.

Let’s take a look at the heroine who fainted in class yesterday. Hey, why didn’t she come today?

As soon as class ended, Xu Chuyao couldn’t wait to lean toward her deskmate Mi Xiaolu.

“That Shen Ning is really something,” she muttered.

“Clearly there’s nothing wrong with her, yet she’s acting like she’s recovering from a serious illness and skipping class just to slack off.”

Mi Xiaolu was curious.

“How do you know there’s nothing wrong with her?”

Xu Chuyao thought to herself that in the original novel, there hadn’t been any mention of Shen Ning fainting this time — which meant it was probably nothing serious, or maybe she was even faking it.

“Of course I know,” Xu Chuyao replied confidently.

“I know every move that small fry makes~”

“Really? Then do you know…” Mi Xiaolu pointed toward the window behind Xu Chuyao.

“What she’s doing here looking for you?”

Xu Chuyao turned around — and saw a silver-haired girl standing outside the window.

Her face was expressionless, but her gaze was complicated as if she was about to knock on the glass to call her.

Chuyao felt her face drain of color.

“Xiaolu.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m going outside for a bit. If I’m not back in five minutes, go find the homeroom teacher and tell them Shen Ning’s gone crazy. Oh, and buy me a train ticket too — to anywhere, the farther the better.”

“…?”

Xu Chuyao had no idea where it had all gone wrong.

In the original novel, the heroine had been someone who endured everything in silence before she gained enough power — someone who bowed her head and put up with hardship to the bitter end.

But now Shen Ning was personally coming to find her.

The two of them stood in the empty path outside the classroom, neither of them speaking at first.

They just stared into each other’s eyes, both equally serious.

Whatever. If this was going to blow up, then let it blow up.

Xu Chuyao took a deep breath — and then spoke at the same time as Shen Ning.

“Xu Chuyao, have you eaten yet?”

“You want to fight me— wait, what did you just say?”

Xu Chuyao then saw Shen Ning gaze at her with a complicated expression and said : “After school this afternoon, I’d like to treat you to a meal.”

Her face looked as if someone had forced her to do some painful dare — so full of reluctant misery that words couldn’t describe it.

Xu Chuyao scratched her head, feeling a little itchy.

“Why?”

“No reason. Let’s just say… I have something to talk to you about. After school, I’ll wait for you in the cafeteria.”

And with that, Shen Ning left without waiting for Xu Chuyao’s reply, leaving her standing there dumbfounded.

“What the heck was that about?”

Since the conversation had ended so quickly, Xu Chuyao was back in the classroom within five minutes.

Mi Xiaolu didn’t need to go find the homeroom teacher after all, but she did have some bad news.

“I didn’t buy the train ticket. Actually, we can’t buy train tickets without going through academy approval first.”

“That’s fine. Looks like I don’t need to run away for now.”

Then Xu Chuyao told her everything that had just happened — especially the part about Shen Ning’s mysterious dinner invitation.

“You mean she invited you to dinner?” Mi Xiaolu was shocked.

“Why?”

“A Hongmen Banquet! Dangerous and deadly!”

After Xu Chuyao declared this and paused for dramatic effect, she realized Mi Xiaolu wasn’t going to pick up on the reference — it dawned on her that people in this world didn’t even know those old movies from the Spiritless Era.

She sighed and continued, “I have no idea why. But there’s no way she just invited me for a simple dinner.”

After all, she’d been plotting every day to make Shen Ning go hungry — and yet Shen Ning had turned around and invited her to a meal? That was some next-level return of kindness for evil.

There had to be some dark reason behind it.

Mi Xiaolu thought for a moment.

“Do you think maybe she’s hoping to make peace? Like, hoping you’ll stop messing with her and live in harmony from now on?”

“Impossible,” Xu Chuyao replied with absolute certainty.

“That’s not who she is.”

She’d read the story in her last life — Shen Ning was someone who held grudges.

More importantly, there was no such thing as ‘swallowing one’s pride’ in her dictionary.

“Then are you going?”

“Of course! Who passes up a free meal?”

…

Since there weren’t any classes today, Shen Ning had come to the cafeteria early to plan the meal.

Normally, if they just ate like usual, twenty yuan would be enough for the two of them, but the task required spending at least 66 yuan.

After spending forever picking at the big serving counter, she only managed to spend 28 yuan.

Then she went to a smaller stall and ordered a dry-pot of spicy shrimp for 30 yuan, grabbed two cartons of milk for 10 yuan, and finally hit the target.

“I’m here.”

Xu Chuyao appeared in a white dress, looking pure and breathtaking like a perfect first crush next door.

The dress hugged her graceful figure in all the right places, and passing classmates couldn’t help sneaking extra glances.

By contrast, Shen Ning was still dressed in her gray hoodie—totally plain—aside from her slender legs wrapped in black knee-high socks, which were the only real eye-catcher.

“You went home to change first?”

“Yep.” Xu Chuyao sat down lightly.

“Is that a problem~?”

Of course, she’d rushed home after class to change.

Fighting in a dress would be impossible, and this way she had a perfect excuse to refuse any “sparring.”

That was called scheming—no, wait—strategy. Take notes, kiddo.

“Why’d you order so much food? Even a dry pot?”

The dinner spread was a bit too generous—it must have cost a fortune.

Definitely up to something.

But Shen Ning simply handed her a pair of chopsticks without a word.

Xu Chuyao picked them up and tentatively poked at the food. “Can I eat?”

“Go ahead.”

“You sure?”

“……”

Shen Ning had no interest in this back-and-forth and simply dug in herself, taking a bite of shrimp before hurriedly drinking some milk to douse the spice.

Fine, whatever. Xu Chuyao decided to join in too.

And so the two girls silently settled into a rhythm, focused solely on their food.

Shen Ning paused after finishing half a bowl of rice and glanced up at Xu Chuyao.

The thunder-girl’s table manners weren’t exactly elegant, but she ate quickly in small, neat bites that made her look like a cute little animal stuffing its cheeks.

From this angle, Shen Ning could also see the neckline of Xu Chuyao’s dress—wide and breezy, flashing pale skin with every tiny movement.

Before this, back in the dorm, Shen Ning had puzzled over one thing for ages: why would Xu Chuyao become her future wife? Sure, they weren’t sworn enemies, but they definitely had some bad blood between them.

By all rights, they ought to tear into each other one day and settle the three years of grudge once and for all.

And yet here they were, face to face, sharing a meal.

Watching this girl look both cute and a little sultry, Shen Ning thought of one possibility.

To be fair, no matter how you looked at it, Xu Chuyao was one of the prettiest girls Shen Ning had ever met.

She had the most beautiful face, the most charming looks, a great figure, a lovely voice, and even a sweet floral scent about her.

Could it be that her future self had been so powerful, so shameless, that she’d gone ahead and taken Xu Chuyao for herself like some kind of prize?

Was that what she was going to become?

“What are you staring at?” Xu Chuyao covered her neckline with one hand, glaring at Shen Ning with embarrassed, angry eyes.

“I feel like you’re thinking something terrible.”

My friends, this heroine is really annoying.