After eating, they settled into a casual chat.
Unfortunately, no one at the table was mature enough, and they couldn’t start discussing international politics in a place full of prying eyes.
So the main topic of conversation was school life.
“Little Bird, Little Bird, how did you two get together?” Ye Qingchang asked, resting her chin on her hand and speaking in a flat, monotone voice.
“Do you even hear what you’re asking?” Zhu Niao shot back. “Most of my time with Gou Yu happens right under your nose, doesn’t it?”
“It’s just that at engagement banquets, or when you witness someone else’s love story, that question feels as unavoidable as ketchup with fries.”
Ye Qingchang poked at the minced meat in her bowl with her chopsticks.
“But I am curious. Aside from whatever you two do behind closed doors, everything else is out in the open. I haven’t seen a single sign that you two had reached this stage.”
That was exactly the point. Even Zhu Niao herself had only recently learned that their feelings had progressed to an engagement.
She didn’t even know when she and Gou Yu had reached the point of discussing marriage.
“Um, that’s actually a complicated question,” Zhu Niao said, thinking for a moment and glancing at Gou Yu beside her.
“If I told you right now that we’ve never actually been together, would you believe me?”
“Are you treating me like some college student with a child’s brain who only thinks about eating?” Ye Qingchang replied, her expression flat.
Yang Shuli looked up and tilted her head.
‘I feel like someone’s slandering me.’
Just her imagination.
Zhu Niao wore a helpless expression.
That was how the world worked now—tell the truth and nobody believed you; only wild lies won people’s hearts.
“Saying something like that is like when the dorm leader and Xu Nian came back really late last time, and then she told me she’d been kidnapped,” Ye Qingchang said, crossing her arms with an even more exasperated look.
She couldn’t believe that after all the time they’d lived together in the dorm, two of them were now lying to her.
“I think my story is a little more believable,” Zhu Niao murmured.
“Better not say stuff like that in the future, especially with your Gou Yu right there.” Ye Qingchang wagged a finger at Zhu Niao. “If you tell your fiancé that you two were never together, what will he think?”
Zhu Niao turned to look at Gou Yu.
What could Gou Yu think? He’d just sit there and take it.
But Ye Qingchang did have a point. Gou Yu had given himself to her completely; she should respond appropriately instead of pushing him away.
Even if she still felt she didn’t deserve such burning love.
“Yeah, yeah.” Gou Yu put on a goofy grin at that moment, acting as silly as ever. “I’m so heartbroken now, boohoo…”
He effectively pulled back the heavy mood Zhu Niao had just started to feel.
“Although Xiao Yi’an, who’s always reading romance novels, would be more professional on this topic, I’ve picked up a thing or two under his influence.” Ye Qingchang adjusted her glasses. “You’re what they call a tsundere—only tsun and no dere, and you’ll lose the love you had and regret it for the rest of your life.”
Gou Yu, sitting next to Zhu Niao, nodded in strong agreement. “Yeah, yeah.”
Then, beside Ye Qingchang, Liu Xie—who had lost all his pride and only remained affectionate—met Liu Anran’s teasing gaze.
“You need to give Gou Yu some care too. Don’t let pride hold you back, or you’ll regret it later.” Ye Qingchang spoke with a weighty tone.
“Yeah, yeah.” Gou Yu kept nodding right by Zhu Niao’s ear.
For the first time, Zhu Niao felt he was as annoying as a fly.
Then a flash of inspiration struck.
“You really want me to be close to you?” Zhu Niao’s lips curved into a beautiful arc. She rested her hand on the edge of the table, her upper body slowly leaning toward Gou Yu. “Really?”
Seeing Zhu Niao like that, Gou Yu gulped involuntarily.
He sensed she was serious—and that she was up to no good.
But weren’t they close enough already?
They slept in zero-distance contact at night—what could be closer than that?
Then a thought hit Gou Yu.
What was even more intense than zero-distance contact? Negative-distance contact.
No way. Was Little Bird really going to go that far?
Or was this her response to his advances?
Gou Yu didn’t dare gamble.
He had to charge into that mist-shrouded unknown, because he couldn’t fully read Zhu Niao’s intentions.
If this really was a response to his feelings, backing down would make him an utter sinner.
“Of course, what fiancé wouldn’t want to get close to his fiancée?” Gou Yu leaned his upper body forward as well, as if trying to overpower Zhu Niao.
But Zhu Niao only let out a cold laugh.
“Great, I was afraid you wouldn’t dare.”
To the others, it looked like the two were about to throw down.
Ye Qingchang shrank her neck. “I was just saying—you don’t have to start practicing right now. If you fight, don’t get blood on me.”
Zhu Niao and Gou Yu drew closer and closer.
Each other’s faces grew larger in their eyes.
Then Gou Yu’s approach slowed down.
He was afraid they might actually kiss.
But Zhu Niao’s pace didn’t slow at all, as if she really intended to kiss him right there in front of everyone.
Gou Yu’s forward motion came to a complete stop, and he even began to edge backward as Zhu Niao drew near.
He thought this woman might actually be serious this time.
But this was an engagement banquet—so many eyes were watching. It didn’t make sense.
Zhu Niao wouldn’t let him retreat. She grabbed the back of his neck, and with a yank, she pressed his upper body down onto her lap.
A dazed Gou Yu lay face-down on her lap, his view hidden by the dangling tablecloth.
Then Zhu Niao grabbed his ear and pulled an ear pick out of her small bag.
“I recently learned an ear-cleaning technique. Perfect timing to try it on you.”
“Where did you learn that?” Gou Yu asked, stunned.
“From the borderline ASMR in your browsing history.”
“Dad, I was wrong, Dad.”
“You’re even calling me ‘Dad’ to beg for mercy?”
Everyone else at the table breathed a sigh of relief. This was their normal way of interacting.
Only the store manager lady and the car-selling guy, both holding up their phones, sighed as if deeply regretful.