She seemed to recognize who that girl was—wasn’t she the one from the women’s restroom the other day, the one who said she was downstairs?
With a snap, the notebook was shut again. She worried her unusual behavior might be noticed by her roommates and raise questions.
But after several seconds, no one asked anything.
Song Qiuyu found this strange.
She glanced over and saw her three roommates all absorbed in their phones, completely oblivious to her.
Not thinking much of it, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief and returned her gaze to the notebook on the table.
The notebook wasn’t hers, but it looked exactly like hers.
After all, both were bought at the University Supermarket, so a coincidence was normal.
Recalling the collision in the corridor, she could only guess that the other person had hurriedly picked up the wrong notebook and taken hers by mistake.
Now this was a problem. She didn’t even know the other person, and that notebook had things written inside—plus, it had been handed over to one of the story protagonists’ real-life inspirations…
If it were her, she’d probably just accept losing it.
But she had to get her own notebook back!
Song Qiuyu frowned and fell silent for a moment before taking out her phone and snapping a photo of the notebook’s cover.
Then she posted a message on the university Tieba, hoping the Lost Owner would come forward.
She had no habit of peeking into others’ notebooks and promptly stuffed it back into her bag.
Class began.
Without the notebook, she could only take notes in her textbook for now, but her mind was distracted, constantly worried about the notebook in her bag.
“What are you thinking about?”
Jiang Xiao noticed her odd behavior and asked with concern.
Startled by the question, Song Qiuyu paused her writing and forced herself to look calm as she glanced at him.
He was also one of the real-life inspirations behind the other protagonist in the notebook.
What she had just seen was the very beginning of their story—it started with horseback riding, and she was the horse, while Jiang Xiao was qi/ta that…
What would happen next? She didn’t dare imagine.
In any case, she couldn’t let Jiang Xiao see the notebook; if he misunderstood, she’d definitely be labeled a pervert!
Although she could explain later, it wasn’t necessary.
“I’m just thinking about what to eat for lunch.”
She answered seriously.
Jiang Xiao rolled his eyes, clearly knowing she was making things up, but he didn’t press further.
The Lost Owner hadn’t responded all morning.
“We’re rich now. Let’s be a bit extravagant. No cafeteria today. There’s a buffet restaurant nearby—want to check it out?”
Stepping out of the Teaching Building, Xie Zhuran suddenly suggested.
“Being extravagant for a few days and then becoming broke? Besides, what rich person eats at buffets?”
Song Qiuyu’s blunt and straightforward words cut through the suggestion.
They had a group dinner planned in a few days that would cost a lot, and now she wanted to…
“It’s thirty yuan per person, unlimited time, eat as much as you want!”
“Lead the way.”
Song Qiuyu changed her mind instantly. Thirty yuan for unlimited food was happiness.
Though it was unlimited time, they still had afternoon classes, so they could only eat from noon to about 1:30 PM.
Seeing this, Xie Zhuran, Lin An, and Jiang Xiao exchanged glances.
“Let’s hurry then. That place is popular. If we’re late, we’ll have to queue forever. We’ll get the number online while we walk.”
Lin An said.
Song Qiuyu nodded, a small smile appearing on her lips, but her thoughts drifted to the notebook in her backpack, filling her with unease.
They headed straight to the buffet restaurant.
On the way, Song Qiuyu frequently opened the Tieba app to check.
The Lost Owner still hadn’t responded.
She felt like an ant on a hot pan—anxious and restless—but there was nothing she could do.
Jiang Xiao noticed her anxiety and grew restless as well.
They hadn’t arrived early; the huge buffet restaurant was already full.
Even though it was November, the restaurant still offered cold drinks and ice cream, as well as rich soups like pork bone broth and sour plum soup.
When Song Qiuyu reached for a bowl of ice cream, Jiang Xiao shot her a glance, so she turned and picked up a steaming bowl of pork bone soup instead.
The buffet was cheap but impressively well-stocked, with desserts, fruits, and seafood all available.
They picked and chose a bit of everything and sat down to eat.
“I grabbed a lot of desserts. You guys can share.”
Xie Zhuran nodded toward his pile of sweets on the table.
Lin An and Jiang Xiao didn’t respond immediately—one was eating curry rice, the other fried noodles, seemingly too busy.
“Fine, I’ll take a few then.”
Song Qiuyu didn’t hesitate and plucked a chocolate doughnut and a cheese cakelet, placing them in front of her.
“Ah~ mm!”
She leaned forward slightly and bit into the chocolate doughnut, holding her other hand close to her mouth.
As her cheek moved, tiny crumbs fell onto her cupped hand.
Her plump, glossy lips were stained with chocolate sauce, speckled with cookie crumbs.
After a few more cheek twitches, her small pink tongue peeked out and gently swirled around her lips, cleaning everything up.
Jiang Xiao’s eyes narrowed as he watched her blissfully cute way of eating.
He set down his fork wrapped with fried noodles and went to get a cream puff.
Taking a bite, his eyes lit up.
The cream inside was fruit-flavored—he wondered if it was orange flavor.
“Hm?”
Jiang Xiao suddenly stood up, catching Song Qiuyu off guard.
She tilted her head and saw him return with three more cream puffs from the dessert station.
“This one’s good. You all should try some.”
He handed them out to his three roommates.
Song Qiuyu was shocked, her eyes widening, and the next moment, they felt wet with tears of emotion.
He actually offered snacks to his roommates.
Lowering her eyes, she looked at the cream puff Jiang Xiao had handed her without hesitation and popped it into her mouth.
Her teeth bit down, and a flood of cream spilled out, filling her mouth and even oozing from her lips.
“This tastes like orange flavor!”
Her mouth full of cream, she looked at Jiang Xiao and mumbled indistinctly.
Jiang Xiao was stunned.
Her eyes were slightly red, and with cream all over her mouth, her appearance made his heart race.
Snapping out of it, his hand almost reached out to wipe the cream slipping down her lips but he quickly restrained himself and simply gave a cool, “Hmm.”
Song Qiuyu stuck out her small tongue and gently licked the cream clean.
“Pork bone soup doesn’t clear the grease. Drink some Dabaicha.”
Seeing her finish the cream puff and reach for soup, Jiang Xiao passed her the barley tea nearby.
“Okay!”
Song Qiuyu gulped down a couple of sips and handed the barley tea back.
“This barley tea doesn’t taste very fragrant.”
She muttered softly.
Jiang Xiao said nothing and took the tea, planning to sip it to settle his nerves, but accidentally drank from the spot she had just sipped.
The mixed taste of orange flavor and chocolate doughnut spread across his lips.
He immediately choked.
“It’s fine.”
Seeing Song Qiuyu’s lips move slightly, he spoke first.
“Qiuyu, the curry here is pretty authentic. Let’s try it later.”
Lin An had just polished off a plate of curry rice and gave his honest opinion.
“Sure, let’s try it later.”
Song Qiuyu nodded, somewhat looking forward to it.
The three of them saw their roommate’s unpicky eating attitude and fell briefly silent.
After a while, they exchanged a glance and remained quiet.
Halfway through feeling full, Song Qiuyu took a break and pulled out her phone to check Tieba again.
Still no response from the Lost Owner.
But many replies had come in asking about the notebook’s content.
Song Qiuyu was exasperated—how was she supposed to explain this…
Could that girl really be planning to pretend to be dead forever? How infuriating!
Maybe she should be ruthless too and just throw it away?
Song Qiuyu adamantly rejected the idea. If she were to get rid of it, burning it would be safer.
But if she threw it away, all the notes she’d taken all semester, including key notes related to short videos, would definitely be lost.
She sighed deeply, channeling her frustration into energy, picked up her empty plate, and continued to gather more food.
By the time she left the restaurant, her once-flat belly was starting to bulge slightly.
She wasn’t the only one with a swollen stomach.
“Great, guys, this meal was more than worth it!” Song Qiuyu stretched her long legs toward the school direction.
“We’ll come again next time!”
Xie Zhuran shrugged and glanced at Lin An and Jiang Xiao, who were also sporting bulging stomachs.
Without lingering, he followed along.
The entire afternoon passed without any news from the Lost Owner.
“I actually brought it back to the dorm…”
Song Qiuyu sat on her bed, staring at the notebook in her hands, her scalp tingling.
It was time again to check Jiang Xiao’s messages as usual.
But now, the notebook issue felt more important than Jiang Xiao’s updates!
She should be resisting the story in the notebook, yet somehow, while her heart resisted, her hands still wanted to flip through it.
Perhaps she wanted to criticize this behavior?
She closed her eyes, hesitated briefly, then picked it up and flipped through it at lightning speed.
At last, expressionless, she closed the notebook, grabbed it, and stood up to head downstairs.
Halfway down the stairs, Jiang Xiao came over from the balcony side and their eyes met.
Her whole body shivered.
With a snap, the notebook fell to the ground, flipping open.
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