Ying Qian didn't expect him to offer any opinions, so she nodded in agreement.

*

As soon as the bell rang for the last class, everyone packed up their things at a leisurely pace. Since they were already on the fifth floor, a little late wouldn't matter. Even the teacher was taking his time.

Xu Tiantian came over to find Ying Qian to have dinner together.

Ying Qian hadn't put away her history book on her desk yet. She apologized, saying, "I won't eat lunch; I'll stay in the classroom."

"Oh, okay." Xu Tiantian was deflated. She had wanted to say a few words of advice, but seeing how engrossed she was in her book, she gave up.

Gu Xinan was packing up his books when he heard this conversation. He nudged Ying Qian's arm with his elbow and said, "Why aren't you eating? I heard there's braised shrimp for lunch today."

"I don't want to eat."

She has an exam tomorrow and has no appetite at all.

"Just to win first place?" Gu Xinan paused in his act of putting away the book. "I'll just let you have it."

It was nothing at first, but Ying Qian got angry when he said that.

This is utterly humiliating!

"Get lost! I don't need you to let me!" Ying Qian nudged him back with her elbow and continued reciting her lessons.

Gu Xinan saw the lunchbox she had placed on the windowsill and took it without Ying Qian noticing.

He brought the food back to the classroom.

"You're not allowed to eat in the classroom, don't you know that?" Ying Qian looked at the food in front of her.

Gu Xinan shrugged: "I'm not the class monitor anymore, don't worry, you eat, if you get caught, just say it's mine."

Do you think everyone else is blind?

"Hmm, can't I just bury my head in the sand?" Gu Xinan coaxed and tricked her into going to the stairwell to eat.

They sat on the first step.

There are still ten minutes until lunch break, and the stairwell is deserted.

You could hear Ying Qian chewing; she hadn't eaten properly for the past two days and was starving.

"No wonder you've gotten uglier." Gu Xinan carefully examined her face, picking out flaws everywhere, and sighed, "You've even turned yellow lately."

Ying Qian scoffed, "I'm yellow-skinned!"

"...Who's the one who keeps calling themselves 'cold-skinned' next to me every day?" he scoffed.

Ying Qian ate her rice silently without saying a word.

The sound of footsteps, "tap tap tap," came from downstairs.

Ying Qian hurriedly packed up.

"Don't panic, it's not the teacher's right now."

"Not even classmates! How embarrassing!"

"Didn't you feel ashamed when you were eating?" he joked.

“…You’re so annoying, Gu Xinan!” She slapped him on the chest.

Suddenly, there was silence beside them, and the footsteps stopped instantly.