One hour ago.
Su Li was somewhat surprised to suddenly receive a special bento made by Cat.
Although she had added Miss Cat’s contact information recently, the two hadn’t really been in touch much.
“Because the teacher extended the last class in the morning, Su Li guessed that the dining hall was already packed with students, so Su Duan planned to just grab a quick bite to eat.
Actually, as long as the nutrition was sufficient, even if the food wasn’t very tasty, she could still manage.
Before her previous life as the male lead Li You, she had experienced times of going hungry.
What Su Li didn’t expect, though, was that she ran into Miss Cat while buying something in the school convenience store.
Meeting Miss Cat in the convenience store didn’t surprise her.
Miss Cat looked rather short on money, so it made sense for her to appear wherever she could find part-time work.
Although S City felt large, it was normal to run into people you knew if you lived there often enough.
And besides, she had no personal feelings about it.
When Su Li first entered the convenience store, Miss Cat’s eyes lit up as she was just finishing checking out the last customer.
Su Li could feel the emotion radiating from Miss Cat—it was like she was returning home, a strong desire to cling to her body.
However, since Big Thunder had just been delivered to her home by Bai Huizi, Miss Cat felt a little shy about coming over to Su Li’s side.
Miss Cat was like a timid little cat who wanted to greet her but felt embarrassed.
Her personality resembled that of the cat Su Li used to keep: when the two first met, it would keep staring at her without approaching.
Even when Su Li moved closer, the cat would secretly hide and continue observing her.
The midday sunlight shone on Miss Cat, making her seem like a lazy little kitten.
Her naturally pink hair gleamed like a snow peach under the noon sun, flowing over her shoulders.
When she lowered her head, her long bangs nearly covered her eyes, but she quickly tucked the strands behind her ears.
Today, Miss Cat wasn’t wearing the headphones she had before, and the blue cat hairpin she used to pin her bangs was nowhere to be seen.
She wore an employee uniform several sizes too big, making her look much thinner.
As Su Li walked toward her, Miss Cat occasionally lowered her head, then looked up at Su Li with watery eyes.
It seemed as if she had suddenly remembered something, because she tightly clutched her uniform, a bit nervous.
“Are you buying lunch for yourself?” Miss Cat asked curiously, her watery eyes fixed on Su Li.
Su Li nodded.
Seeing that Miss Cat had nothing more to say, she went to pick out what she wanted for lunch.
After casually buying some bread and snacks, she asked Miss Cat to help her check out.
Su Li quietly stood aside, watching Miss Cat work diligently, noticing that the latter kept sneaking glances at her, as if wanting to say something.
But after finishing checkout, Miss Cat didn’t say a word.
However, Su Li noticed that Miss Cat had secretly slipped a bento into her bag.
Although Miss Cat thought her action was extremely discreet, Su Li caught on immediately.
Realizing she had been discovered, Miss Cat’s cheeks flushed red, and she shyly whispered, “Y-you’ve helped me so much, you can’t just skip lunch. You have to take care of yourself!”
As she spoke, she fiddled nervously with her uniform, lowering her head and trembling slightly, as if afraid Su Li would refuse.
“Let’s just… let’s just call it exchanging lunches!”
Miss Cat said this, and since the convenience store was nearly empty, she discreetly showed Su Li the cat food tucked inside her pocket.
Fortunately, Su Li wasn’t an ordinary person, so she didn’t say much or make a fuss.
Since Miss Cat took the initiative to propose an exchange, Su Li felt she had no reason to refuse.
Su Li didn’t expect that the cat food she had last time given to Miss Cat—who loved cat food—had not yet been finished even after all this time.
So, she handed over the cat food she had bought along with her other purchases to Miss Cat in exchange.
Occasionally, stray cats and dogs could be seen wandering around the university campus.
Some faculty and staff even kept small pets at home, so cat food was sold on campus.
Originally, Su Li had no intention of going to the dining hall, but in the end, she went—and the meal she ate was the bento prepared by Miss Cat for her.
Because she arrived outside peak hours, Su Li managed to find a seat where no one was sitting.
Although Miss Cat preferred eating cat food, opening her bento clearly showed it was carefully prepared, with a good balance of color, aroma, and taste.
It was vegetarian, but looked surprisingly good.
This was a stark contrast to the dark cuisine boiled fish prepared by Chi Qingya.
Hearing Chi Qingya’s voice of doubt, Su Li naturally looked up and noticed the “sincere” bento.
She even suspected Chi Qingya hadn’t tried tasting it or watched the related videos, and simply made this dish half-heartedly.
So she lowered her head and continued eating the bento Miss Cat had prepared.
Her mood was steady, but she thought Chi Qingya was wasting food.
Chi Qingya felt a bit broken inside—not just because of Wanfang’s cold attitude, but also the frustration of being overshadowed by the carefully made bento.
It was like punching a cloud.
She had clearly spent so much time, yet the return was completely disproportionate.
Her intuition told her this bento wasn’t the Landlady Sister with Strong Desire for Control’s doing, though she had seen the Landlord keep cats before.
No matter what, someone else was caring for Su Li behind her back.
And that person did it better, slowly replacing her place in Su Li’s heart.
Anger, shame, unwillingness, panic—all kinds of emotions flooded Chi Qingya’s heart in an instant.
The two bentos placed side by side formed a stark contrast, making her feel like a clown at this moment.
After Su Li left, scenes replayed in Chi Qingya’s mind, filling her with fury as her reason gradually slipped away.
She spoke without thinking:
“Why? Why is your life better than mine after leaving me?”