Chapter 20: I Also Want Cake (20)
“You two, don’t block the sauce station, hurry up.” Yang Xiao walked behind them and said faintly.
Jiang Zhiyan glanced at her: “We’ve only been here for half a minute.”
“Really? But I feel like you two have been standing here for half a century.” Yang Xiao narrowed her eyes, her tone tinged with jealousy.
Jiang Zhiyan added a spoonful of minced garlic to Yang Xiao’s bowl: “Anything else?”
“Five milliliters of vinegar, two grams of chopped chili peppers, three point five grams of chili powder, an appropriate amount of peanut butter, hmm… and some sesame oil.” Yang Xiao scanned the ingredients and said solemnly.
Jiang Zhiyan quietly listened to her finish: “You should make it yourself, it sounds a bit complicated, I’m not very good at it.”
Yang Xiao snorted softly, then watched as Jiang Zhiyan scooped another spoonful of sauce for Liang Xi.
This person practically had the words “double standard” carved on her face, not bothering to hide her bias.
“Give me some too.” Lin Shenyu handed his bowl over.
“Why are you here? I thought your family was very particular about where they ate.”
“I snuck out.” Lin Shenyu lowered his eyes. “Didn’t Miss Jiang say she usually doesn’t eat at restaurants under a thousand yuan per person?”
“Maybe that was just an excuse not to eat with you.” Jiang Zhiyan smiled. “Last week, I ate Jianbing, which costs eight yuan, with Liang Xi.”
Just as Lin Shenyu was about to speak, Wei Ting interjected.
“Big brother, are you that broke? Can’t even afford a restaurant with a thousand yuan per person? Oh, so it’s Sister-in-law who doesn’t want to eat with you, Big Brother.”
When everyone at the sauce station looked over, Jiang Zhiyan wanted to dump the bowl on his face.
“Excuse me, who are you?” Jiang Zhiyan looked at Wei Ting questioningly, then looked at Lin Shenyu. “Do you know him?”
“No.” Lin Shenyu shook his head.
Yang Xiao, standing beside them, almost burst out laughing. When Wei Ting approached, she had quickly moved away, afraid of being seen as being with him.
Now the strange gazes were all directed at Wei Ting.
“So scary.” Liang Xi leaned against Jiang Zhiyan and frowned.
Wei Ting looked at the three of them expressionlessly, then glanced at Yang Xiao. Yang Xiao pretended not to know anyone and turned to leave.
“Bro Yan.” Wei Ting moved closer to Yan Yanzhuo, wanting to put an arm around his shoulder to show closeness, but Yan Yanzhuo nimbly dodged his hand.
Wei Ting: ?
Liang Xi leaned against Jiang Zhiyan and laughed: “Are you done? If you’re done, let’s go back, Xiao Xiao has already gone back.”
“She’s so easily embarrassed.”
“Yes, Xiao Xiao seems outgoing, but she’s actually very shy.” Liang Xi nodded. “Let’s go back too, I’m actually also easily embarrassed.”
“Indeed, your ears are all red.”
“I’ve never been so embarrassed.” Liang Xi nodded, shivering slightly.
Wei Ting stared at Liang Xi in disbelief: “You’ve only been with Jiang Zhiyan for a few days, I remember you didn’t even dare talk back to anyone before, and now you’ve learned to be sarcastic.”
“Rapid progress.” Liang Xi gave a thumbs-up.
“Oh, so you do recognize me.”
Jiang Zhiyan pulled Liang Xi away, ignoring him. Liang Xi took quick, small steps, not looking back.
“Ha.” Wei Ting looked at Yan Yanzhuo. “Bro Yan, your face looks terrible.”
“You’re mistaken.” Yan Yanzhuo picked up his sauce bowl and left.
Wei Ting looked at Lin Shenyu: “I have a feeling you’re about to be dumped.”
“You’re such a nice person, thanks for the reminder. I’ll also remind you to book a hospital room in advance.”
Returning to the table, Wei Ting felt ostracized. The distance between Yang Xiao and him had clearly increased.
“There might not be any seats at the library this afternoon.” Liang Xi looked at Jiang Zhiyan. “Do you mind going to a paid study room? We can book a private room.”
“I don’t mind.” Jiang Zhiyan rested her chin on her hand. “I haven’t been to one before.”
“Okay, then I’ll book one in advance, we’ll be there at 1:45.” Liang Xi replied.
During the meal, the atmosphere at the table improved considerably. Wei Ting, the mood-killer, was forced to shut up. In order to prove he could handle spicy food, he practically mixed chili peppers with his rice, and the end result was that he was too spicy to speak.
“He really does seem like a sixteen-year-old.” The system commented wisely.
“Indeed.”
“Host, what were you like in high school?”
Jiang Zhiyan’s hand holding the chopsticks paused, and she replied after three seconds: “I don’t know, I don’t remember.”
Yan Yanzhuo paid for the meal. Although Liang Xi knew it was just a small amount for him, she still felt uncomfortable.
“It’s frustrating. Just thinking that Yan Yanzhuo paid for the meal makes me feel uneasy, like I owe him something.” Liang Xi pulled Jiang Zhiyan and Yang Xiao behind, lowering her voice.
Jiang Zhiyan searched for the price of queueing services on Xianyu (second-hand marketplace app) and showed it to Liang Xi: “If you calculate it based on the price per person, you came out on top. This restaurant just opened, there’s a daily limit on customers, and it’s always crowded, so the price of queueing services is quite high.”
“That expensive?” Liang Xi’s eyes widened, and she gasped. “It’s just hot pot. I’m so lucky today.”
“Indeed, if we hadn’t let them join our table, they would have had to find another place to eat.” Jiang Zhiyan said.
“Thank you, I feel much better now.” Liang Xi touched her chest and let out a sigh of relief.
“Do you need a ride?” Lin Shenyu turned around and asked.
“No, I rode my electric scooter today.”
“Three people on one electric scooter?” Lin Shenyu frowned. “Since when did you learn how to do that?”
“Two people, Yang Xiao is riding a shared e-bike. Electric scooters aren’t difficult, you just sit on it and you’ll know how to ride.”
Wei Ting looked at Yang Xiao with pity, then shook his head without saying anything, but his meaning was clear.
Yang Xiao was used to it and wasn’t usually bothered, but being looked at with that kind of look by “Wei Ting” suddenly made her feel pathetic.
She had never thought she would feel this way about Wei Ting. Because she wasn’t close to him before, and his family was rich, she always thought he was a rather “high-class” person. Seeing him today, so foolish and naive, she was worried he would get beaten up for what he said.
Seeing Liang Xi hugging Jiang Zhiyan along the way made her feel even more pathetic. Liang Xi turned around and glanced at Yang Xiao, then patted Jiang Zhiyan, and Jiang Zhiyan slowed down the scooter.
Yang Xiao’s mood instantly brightened, and she sped up to catch up.
“Do you want to get some milk tea before we go? What do you want, I’ll buy it now.”
“Let’s get it from Jiang Jiang’s again, the new flavor last time was good.” Yang Xiao said.
“Okay, no ice, half sugar, with extra boba, right?”
“Yes!” Yang Xiao replied loudly, her frustration dissipating considerably. When passersby looked over, she looked back with a bright smile, a strange sense of pride filling her.
“What are you having?” Liang Xi asked.
“The same new flavor.”
“Full sugar?”
“Yes.”
Liang Xi placed the order and then leaned against Jiang Zhiyan’s back: “You’re too thin, why do you still feel like you haven’t gained any weight after all this time?”
“Maybe it’s my constitution. I have gained a few pounds, but it’s not noticeable.”
Liang Xi looked at the red light ahead and touched Jiang Zhiyan’s stomach through her clothes. “There’s really no fat at all, it’s still hard, abs? Do you even have time to work out?”
“No, I’m just thin, not abs.”
“I only have a small belly.” Liang Xi touched her own soft belly.
“Yours will be hard too if you straighten your back.”
“That’s true.” Liang Xi giggled at her own silliness.
The three arrived at the study room on time. As soon as Yang Xiao entered, she pushed the “extremely difficult” problems she had painstakingly found that morning towards Jiang Zhiyan. She could barely understand the questions herself: “Teach me, kind Jiang classmate.”
Jiang Zhiyan glanced at them: “Are you participating in a competition? These kinds of questions don’t appear in normal exams. And I remember your grades are in the second tier, you should focus on other questions.”
“Don’t look down on me, can’t you do them?” Yang Xiao challenged her.
Jiang Zhiyan looked at Yang Xiao, frowned, and said with some difficulty: “It would be embarrassing for you if I explained it and you didn’t understand.”
Yang Xiao smiled.
“If you insist that I explain it, I will, until you understand. After you say you understand, I’ll give you similar questions to test you. If you can’t do them, we’ll continue. When I teach someone, I must teach them until they understand. If you don’t understand today, I’ll find you after every class.”
Yang Xiao couldn’t smile anymore, and let out a couple of dry laughs: “Ha, ha, ha, I haven’t finished my homework yet, I’ll do my homework first, we’ll talk about this later, yes.” What kind of demon was this? Although Jiang Zhiyan might not actually do that, it was already scary to hear.
Liang Xi looked down at the test paper, covering her mouth and smiling silently. Yang Xiao poked her arm in dissatisfaction.
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop laughing.” Liang Xi waved her hand. “After you finish your homework, look at my notes.”
The small room became quiet again. Jiang Zhiyan had already finished her homework, but in order to stay with Liang Xi, she forced herself to do three more test papers.
Liang Xi glanced at Jiang Zhiyan’s test papers from the corner of her eye. After a minute, her gaze was still on the papers.
“What are you looking at?” Jiang Zhiyan wiped her hands and looked at Liang Xi.
“You don’t have any working steps? And you don’t even use scratch paper.”
“I did.” Jiang Zhiyan pointed at a few equations on the test paper. “I’ve practiced mental calculations before.”
“So impressive.” Liang Xi exclaimed, moving her own test paper closer. “These two questions, I feel like something’s not right about how I did them. Teach me.”
“Let me see.” Jiang Zhiyan moved her chair closer, and Liang Xi also moved closer to her. Their heads were almost touching.
Yang Xiao leaned in to look at the question, glanced at it, and then sat back down. She should just focus on her own work. That long string of things gave her a headache just looking at it. She let out a long sigh, listened to Jiang Zhiyan’s soft explanation, yawned, and rubbed her eyes.
Leave a Reply