Cute
Hengzhiyuan is Hu Tong's favorite canteen. It is always bright and clean with the lights on, and the aroma of hot food wafts through the air at all times.
Hu Tong carried the tray and slowly walked to the window seat, sat down, rubbed his chopsticks aimlessly, and began to wolf down his food.
It was nearly noon, and she had just come out of Professor Wu's laboratory. Her mind was filled with unfamiliar theories, but her stomach was empty, and she desperately needed to eat.
A bowl of stir-fried greens, a serving of Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles, and a plate of roast duck.
The enticing aroma made her forgive her rumbling stomach and groggy mind.
As the weather warmed up, Hu Tong wore a loose-fitting pullover sweatshirt and gulped down rice noodles, the golden oil splattering onto the snow-white fabric.
She put down her chopsticks, staring at the glaring oil specks, and secretly regretted wearing that color today. But the Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles were just too delicious, so…
It's worth it.
After calming herself down, Hu Tong started slurping down her noodles again.
Suddenly, a plate of yellow and green scrambled eggs appeared in front of her.
The man's voice and his figure slowly fell onto the wooden tabletop, as if it were moldy, dull and gloomy.
"Here, toon sprouts and eggs are a must-eat dish in spring. Why don't you try some?"
Hu Tong looked up through the shadows and saw a familiar, slightly square face. The smiling eyes appeared even more elongated, and the skin was neither fair nor white, but it radiated a brightness as if it had been exposed to sunlight.
Zhou Jin'an, Cheng Zhou's roommate, has dyed his hair black from green, and it looks neat and fluffy, giving him a touch of Latin American handsomeness.
Hu Tong, a reading comprehension whiz, immediately spotted the key point in the sentence the moment he opened his mouth—"our place." Well, he's from Beijing, showing off his local residency.
If she wants to try it, she'll buy it herself; does she need to hold a porcelain plate and bring the food to her face?
Who knows if you've ever touched scrambled eggs, or if you've washed your hands thoroughly after using the toilet...
Hu Tong rolled his eyes, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said, "My mom doesn't let me eat things given to me by strangers."
Zhou Jin'an wasn't annoyed; he just found her amusing. He chuckled and sat down across the table. "Hu Tong, what's wrong with your memory? We've met before, after military training, don't you remember?"
He rested his chin on one hand and tapped the edge of the plate lightly with chopsticks in the other. "Really not going to try it? Toon leaves taste best at this time of year. Frozen ones don't taste the same."
"Has modern cultivation techniques not been popularized in Beijing?"
Hu Tong asked abruptly, and upon seeing Zhou Jin'an's somewhat surprised look, he suddenly smiled, "Whether or not it's popular in the capital, I don't want to try this dish."
"Alright," Zhou Jin'an said helplessly, raising his thick eyebrows. "You don't mind me sitting here, do you?"
Hu Tong didn't reply, but his meaning was clear. Whether he minded or not, he had already sat down.
Zhou Jin'an, realizing he had made a fool of himself, stirred the noodles in the bowl with his chopsticks, poured in the scrambled eggs with toon leaves, and mixed it well.
Outside the window was a clear blue sky, and the entire canteen swayed amidst thousands of willow catkins stirred up by the spring breeze.
Some people basked in the spring sunshine with contentment, while others looked at the drifting catkins and felt a sense of emptiness in their hearts.
Zhou Jin'an started the conversation: "Why don't you ask where my Cheng Zhou is? Don't you care? Your dear childhood sweetheart."
His tone, somewhere between teasing and serious, was both probing and subtly smug, as if he were showing off that he had her weakness.
Hu Tong calmly asked, "Where?"
As he spoke, he pulled out a tissue and wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth.
Zhou Jin'an fiddled with the noodles with his chopsticks, one stroke after another, as if he didn't intend to eat them. He hesitated to pick them up, and a small ring of sauce and oil clung to the chopsticks, making them look disgusting at first glance.
He stared at Hu Tong without any attempt to hide his gaze, his eyes sharp as if he wanted to scrutinize her from head to toe, but the words that came out of his mouth were soft and weak, "I—don't—know."
Hu Tong retorted sarcastically, "It seems you don't care about your roommates at all."
Zhou Jin'an chuckled: "You're quite aggressive."
"I can't compare to you," Hu Tong said.
It wasn't that Zhou Jin'an wasn't good-looking, nor that Hu Tong hadn't picked up on the subtle, flirtatious signals, but he was just too skilled, too natural, like a standardized procedure, which made Hu Tong miss Cheng Zhou.
I fondly remember the innocent and earnest look on his face as he reached out to trace the outline of love.
Zhou Jin'an smirked and said magnanimously, "Alright, alright, I'll tell you, he's in his dorm revising a drawing. It's just a small homework assignment, but he's taking it so seriously. Is it really necessary? He's acting like a kid."
Seeing Hu Tong frown and not join in teasing Cheng Zhou, Zhou Jin'an tried to salvage the situation, adopting an air of worldly wisdom and detachment, with a faint smile on his lips, "Although the professor of that course is very famous, the assignments are all graded by graduate students. But a professor's hands aren't those of a pretty girl who only cares about looks. He can't possibly remember your name. Why make such a big deal out of it?"
"I advised him to relax like me, but he wouldn't listen at all, so stubborn."
Hu Tong didn't reply. He put the clean bowls and plates together, picked up the tray, and stood up.
"Huh?" Zhou Jin'an called out to her in surprise, his eyes deliberately widening to appear innocent. "You finished eating so quickly?"
Hu Tong took two steps, stopped, turned around, and looked down at him. "If we don't leave now, I'll be driven crazy by someone's cheesy words. They even want to copy my hairstyle. Is it really that serious?"
After saying that, Hu Tong didn't look at Zhou Jin'an's suddenly darkened face, turned around and left with light steps.
I was suddenly hit by a cool spring breeze, and the faint fragrance of flowers filled my nostrils.
Hu Tong took out his phone and sent a message to Cheng Zhou.
[Quack.]
A signal to invite someone to dinner.
I received his reply shortly afterward.
Okay, I'll come find you.
Hu Tong looked at her phone screen and couldn't help but smile. Cheng Zhou really understood what she meant.
Hu Tong hasn't found a good way to take things further with Cheng Zhou, but she doesn't mind continuing down the familiar path until things take a turn for the better.
Hu Tong typed rapidly: [Not now!]
She looked at the "typing..." message displayed at the top of the screen, pursed her lips, and even the wind seemed to taste a hint of sweetness.
[Let's have dinner together, you idiot.]
The "typing" indicator remained displayed above the screen.
Hu Tong walked slowly toward the library, glancing at his phone with every step.
Cheng Zhou did not reply for a long time.
Hu Tong's patience ran out: [Are you stupid? Can't type anymore?]
This time, the person on the other end of the phone replied quickly: [Mm.]
The short text message was followed by an emoji: a cartoon rabbit with a bright red face.
Cute, just like him.
My heart suddenly started racing.
Hu Tong turned off his phone, patted his burning cheeks, looked up at the sky, stomped on the ground, and hurriedly circled around a graceful magnolia tree.
Zhou Min happened to come out of the library and saw that she was blushing and looked like she wanted to crawl on the ground. She pushed up her glasses in puzzlement.
"What's wrong?" She walked over to Hu Tong, grabbed his arm, and asked, "Constipation?"
"I...sigh!"
Hu Tong sighed deeply, unable to speak, and stomped his foot heavily.
She's clearly entangled in a deep, lingering affection!
"You didn't bring any toilet paper, right?"
Zhou Min understood, took out a pack of toilet paper from her pocket, and handed it to her, saying, "Here, don't be shy!"
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