A group of students entered the cafeteria.
At this hour, there weren’t many people left. Apart from a few students still eating at their tables, the food stalls stood empty.
Each of them grabbed a tray.
Qin Sheng tugged gently on the hem of Shen Xiyan’s shirt with her thumb and forefinger, her voice pitiful and sugary: “Xiyan~~”
“What now?”
Judging by that suspiciously sweet tone, she was clearly up to something.
“I don’t come to school often, so I don’t have a campus card. Can you treat me to lunch…?”
Shen Xiyan let out a cold laugh.
“Why don’t you say it louder? I’m sure some guy out there would be happy to pay.”
“…But I don’t want another guy to treat me,” Qin Sheng replied with a pout. “Eating leads to a full stomach. Would you really be okay with some other guy making me full?”
Lin Ci: “???”
Shen Wen: “???”
What was she even saying?
But… technically, she wasn’t wrong?
“If you take back what you just said, maybe I’ll consider it…”
“Or what?” Qin Sheng pressed.
Shen Xiyan gave her a cold glare.
“Or you can go hungry.”
“Hey, no! I take it back! I take it back!”
Qin Sheng didn’t resist further. She smiled brightly and stepped closer, satisfied that he’d relented.
“You use my card, I’ll share with Wenwen.”
“There’s no yours or mine between us, is there?” Qin Sheng said sweetly. “Let’s just share one tray!”
With zero shame, Qin Sheng fully leaned into her “double-standard queen” behavior. She deliberately slowed her steps, keeping just enough distance from Lin Ci and Shen Wen.
“Xiyan, do you know the best thing about couples eating in the cafeteria?”
“What?”
“Efficiency!” she declared. “Guys eat more, girls eat less—so when girls give their extra food to their boyfriend, nothing goes to waste!”
“Even though life’s better now, saving food is still important! And you get more variety too—one meal, two dishes.”
Shen Xiyan gave her a look, sharp and knowing.
“I don’t care about any of that. But if you say you want to share my meal, I’ll…”
“You’ll what?”
He gave a sly smile.
“You’re welcome to try and find out.”
“But I really want to eat with you!” Qin Sheng pleaded, blinking her big eyes innocently. “I rarely come to the cafeteria…”
“Then just order your own.”
“That’s wasteful! Let’s try it your way~”
“…Get lost.”
Shen Xiyan ignored her and walked to the first serving counter. The lunch lady scooped a portion of rice into the largest section of a tray and handed it over.
He passed the tray back to Qin Sheng, then leaned forward.
“Auntie, can you give me half a scoop more on mine?”
The woman looked surprised. “That much?”
“It’s enough, thank you.”
He accepted the tray.
While the staff were stingy with veggies—shaking off even bok choy leaves—they were generous with rice.
Credit for that went to an older generation.
Beyond the rice counter came the meat, mixed, and vegetarian stations—“All Meat,” “Half Meat,” “All Veg”—clearly marked with prices. The most expensive meal was only seven yuan; the cheapest just two.
Qin Sheng gasped in delight.
“That’s pretty cheap!”
Shen Xiyan remained silent, holding his tray and walking forward.
“Xiyan, aren’t you eating?”
It really was cheap. Outside of school, you’d never find such a filling lunch at this price. But for them, even this was a bit too much.
His aunt hadn’t gone to grad school, choosing to work early. A college grad these days earned barely five or six thousand yuan a month.
His aunt, despite working for years, wasn’t much better off.
Clothes alone cost a fortune with how fast he was growing. Life was still tight.
“I’ll eat then!” Qin Sheng chimed in, cheerfully swiping her card.
Then she handed her tray to Shen Xiyan.
“Help me find a seat, I’m going to get soup.”
“You even know how to get soup?”
“What do you take me for?”
After she left, Lin Ci walked up quietly, having been waiting nearby.
A faint unease rose in her heart.
Women were sensitive creatures—especially when it came to love.
What unsettled her was Qin Sheng’s blatant affection.
If one day Shen Xiyan changed his mind…
How could she ever compete?
“…Let’s find a seat.”
Shen Xiyan glanced down at Lin Ci’s tray and couldn’t help recalling the past.
All throughout high school, Lin Ci had claimed she was dieting and always ate vegetarian. And he’d believed her?
What a fool.
Still, the small details she paid attention to often left him feeling inexplicably warm inside.
They found an empty table quickly, but for the first time, Lin Ci hesitated about where to sit.
Normally, she’d sit across from Shen Wen. Not because she didn’t want to sit with Shen Xiyan—but because he preferred it that way.
But today…
If she sat with Shen Wen again, wouldn’t that mean giving Qin Sheng a clear path?
Before she could decide—
Qin Sheng returned with four bowls of soup and plopped down across from Shen Xiyan without hesitation.
“Phew! Who knew getting soup would be such a battle? It’s so annoying! How do those guys manage to smell gross already at lunchtime?”
“I can do it too,” Shen Xiyan said.
“You smell good though—I don’t mind you! Let’s eat~”
She sat down opposite him, and as she reached for the chopsticks in his hand, her fingers brushed against his. She pulled back slightly, then lowered her head, ears tinged pink.
If this were the old Shen Xiyan, his heart would’ve been racing by now.
Then Qin Sheng casually picked out some meat from her own bowl and dropped it into his.
“Eat your own food,” Shen Xiyan scolded.
It had been years since he last tasted cafeteria food.
The rice was undercooked, the vegetables bland, the soup tasteless—exactly how he remembered.
Still, Shen Xiyan wasn’t picky. He ate happily.
“Xiyan, I forgot to grab veggies. Can I have some of yours?”
“No.”
“You’re so stingy!”
“You’re eating my food and calling me stingy?”
“You won’t even share a little vegetable—of course you’re stingy! Hmph!” Qin Sheng wrinkled her nose like a pouty little girl.
“Qin Sheng,” came a gentle voice, soft as spring wind, stirring the air around them. “Didn’t you say you didn’t like coming to school?”
Upon hearing that voice, everyone except Qin Sheng looked up—each with a different expression.
Lin Ci: “President?”
Shen Wen: “Senior Song Wan?”
Shen Xiyan: —“I’m just here to have lunch with my boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?”
Song Wan’s lips curled into a graceful smile as her gaze landed on the only boy at the table.
A siren… she was like an enchantress in human form.
Qin Sheng sneered.
“So the student council’s been helping delete forum posts. Of course she knows.”
“I just didn’t want to believe it.”
“Do you believe it now?”
“Sort of…”
Song Wan ran her hand over her face, smiling softly with a trace of self-pity.
“It’s been so long. Why are you so cold to me?”
Her tone was delicate—almost coquettish.
This unsettled Lin Ci even more.
It was common for class monitors to join the student council, so she’d known Song Wan for a year.
As council president, Song Wan had an intimidating presence that made people instinctively cautious around her.
But now…
Why was she acting like a spoiled little girl?
Did she know Qin Sheng too?
Qin Sheng impatiently set down her chopsticks.
“Xiyan! I’m done eating. Let’s go.”
“No need. You keep eating. I just saw you and thought it was strange, so I came to say hi. I’m leaving now.”
Song Wan patted Qin Sheng on the shoulder and turned to go.
Shen Wen whispered, “Qin Sheng-jie, do you know Senior Song Wan?”
“Nope.”
But just as she walked away, Song Wan suddenly spun back around and gave Qin Sheng a light smack on the head.
“Qin Sheng, don’t go overboard! You don’t even recognize your own sister?”
Shen Wen and Lin Ci: “Sister?!”
Meanwhile, Shen Xiyan calmly wiped his mouth.
man, shen xiyang is not the one speaking there, kindly fix like in previous chapts