Chapter 10
The unsigned box of tonics and fruit basket was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples in Su Rui's heart.
He was almost certain who had sent it. It couldn't have been anyone else but Ling Yao. This silent, unconcerned care was completely different from the official help he had previously provided through Sister Yang. It felt more like... a clumsy, unspoken gesture of kindness.
This realization made Su Rui's heart feel like being gently scratched by a feather, causing a slight tingling sensation. The previous sense of loss from being coldly rejected was diluted, replaced by a complex, slightly sweet confusion.
After carefully unpacking the soup, he stewed the tonic for his grandmother. As the old woman drank the soup, she kept muttering, "This soup is so delicious... Xiao Rui, you must invite that classmate over someday..."
Su Rui lowered her head and hummed softly, but this time she didn't immediately refute it. Somewhere in her heart, a faint, inappropriate expectation seemed to have arisen because of that anonymous gift.
After her grandmother was discharged from the hospital and returned home, life seemed to be back on track. Su Rui returned to school and continued working in the cafeteria, but something was definitely different.
Occasionally, when he met Ling Yao on campus, Su Rui no longer lowered his head and ran away in panic like he used to. He would subconsciously slow down his pace and even muster up the courage to quickly look up at him.
And Ling Yao seemed to have changed slightly.
He was still surrounded by his friends, and he still looked straight ahead, as if Su Rui was nothing but air. But once, at a deserted corner in the corridor, the two of them met, and Ling Yao's footsteps paused almost imperceptibly.
His gaze lingered on Su Rui's face for a fleeting moment, almost an illusion. A tiny, elusive flicker of emotion seemed to flicker across those eyes, always filled with indifference. Then, as if nothing had happened, he continued chatting and laughing with Ah Zhe beside him as he walked on.
No taunts, no warnings, not even any expression.
But Su Rui clearly felt that moment of pause.
His heart began to beat faster again. The anonymous gift and this brief pause, like two small codes, established an unspoken, secret channel between him and Ling Yao.
After school that day, Su Rui went to the cafeteria to help out as usual. After finishing his shift, he leaned backstage to catch his breath and pulled out his phone. For some unknown reason, he clicked on the number he had only sent a few messages to.
After hesitating for a long time, his fingertips trembling, he typed out a line of words, deleted it, typed it again, and deleted it again. In the end, he only sent out a sentence that could not be simpler:
"Grandma is out of the hospital and feeling much better. Thank you for the stuff."
He didn't ask if it was given by him, as if it was a secret known to both of them.
After sending the message, he held the phone nervously and waited. This time, he didn't wait too long.
A few minutes later, the screen lit up. The reply was still brief:
"Um."
Just one word.
But when Su Rui looked at the cold "hmm", she seemed to be able to see through the screen and see the other person's awkward look of pretending to be indifferent but unable to help paying attention to him.
He lowered his head, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up little by little.
Like a little fox that was finally secretly comforted by its owner with dried fish, the grievance and uneasiness in its heart were gently smoothed out, and it became soft and docile again.
He even began to think that those harsh words of Ah Zhe (which he had overheard) might not be entirely true. Ling Yao...maybe he didn't hate him that much.
He just doesn't understand yet.
It doesn't matter, he can wait. He can teach him slowly.
Su Rui put away his phone, picked up the rag again, and wiped the stove vigorously, as if he had endless energy. The afterglow of the setting sun fell in through the window, casting a warm glow around him.
He didn't know that at this moment, on the rooftop of the teaching building, Ling Yao was looking at the simple report message on the screen of his mobile phone, his fingers unconsciously stroking the edge of the screen, and he absentmindedly said "hmm" to Azhe who was complaining about the difficulty of the game next to him, but the corner of his mouth curled up in a very shallow arc that he himself did not even notice.
His little fox seemed... not so afraid of him anymore. He would even come to report on the situation.
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