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Cai Wenchuan didn't insist on having dinner with her anymore; he just looked at her silently and with concern.
"Well then, Professor Cai, I'm going to eat now, goodbye!" In order to get rid of Brother Wen's concern as soon as possible, Ye Wenyu slipped out of the classroom like a rabbit.
Watching her flee like lightning, Cai Wenchuan smiled gently. He had watched her grow up since she was a child. In his eyes, she was like a piece of crystal glass; he could understand what she was thinking with just one glance.
Ye Wenyu walked out of the teaching building, and only after she figured Cai Wenchuan couldn't see her anymore did she breathe a sigh of relief. She slowed her pace, patted her chest, and began to think. Sigh, how could she let Cai Wenchuan eat with her? She had been eating only one vegetarian dish in the cafeteria. If Brother Wen knew, he would definitely feel sorry for her! Then he would endlessly care for her like an old father. She really couldn't stand his fiery and passionate concern right now, so she absolutely couldn't eat with Brother Wen.
It was lunchtime, and students were walking towards the cafeteria in twos and threes. Someone shouted that she was so hungry she could eat a whole cow. Ye Wenyu listened to their laughter and passed by the student cafeteria. Although her stomach was growling, she didn't go in but went to the library instead.
Ye Wenyu studied in the library for half an hour. Estimating that most of the students had finished their lunch and there weren't many people left in the cafeteria, she packed up her books and slowly walked towards the cafeteria.
Because it was past mealtime, she was starving. Her stomach felt like an empty bag, and the walls of her stomach were rubbing against each other, making her very uncomfortable. She felt dizzy, unsteady on her feet, and her fingers were trembling. She knew that she had low blood sugar because she had been hungry for too long.
Ye Wenyu rallied her spirits, persevered, walked to the cafeteria window, and took out her meal card to buy food.
Prices are skyrocketing these days. Even though university cafeterias receive government subsidies, they're still too expensive for poor students. A bowl of rice costs 80 cents! A vegetable dish costs 3 yuan! If you add even a little meat, it's 5 yuan. Today, the cafeteria didn't have any cheap specialties, so she only ordered rice and a vegetable dish. The cafeteria lady kindly added some leftover soup from the soybean and pig's feet stew for her.
Not wanting her classmates to see, Ye Wenyu bent slightly, hunched her chest, and used her body to cover the specific dishes on her plate. Then, she quickly walked to a secluded corner of the cafeteria and began to wolf down her food.
Because of hunger, she ate with great relish even though there was no meat or vegetables. She even optimistically thought that if a person is hungry to the extreme, then all the food in the world will become delicious.
She had barely wolfed down a few bites when gossip reached her ears: "Look, look! She's that student who always wears a mask and has a terrible birthmark on her face—" "Yes, yes, I heard her family is very poor. She only eats one vegetable dish per meal. My God, how poor is she?"
Ye Wenyu froze, forgetting to swallow the food she had just put in her mouth. It felt as if a spoonful of boiling oil had been poured into her ears. She remembered that before the National Day holiday, her roommates had seen her eating in the cafeteria. They discovered the truth—that she didn't eat with them—and left in a panic. Now, after the National Day holiday, the gossip that she only ate one vegetable dish per meal had spread throughout the entire campus. Women's mouths are truly the most unreliable.
She looked up with rice in her mouth, following the direction of the sound. She saw two unfamiliar female students looking at her with pity, pointing at her with their chopsticks and gossiping about her. "She's ugly and her family is so poor. Oh, she's so pitiful!" "I think even the poorest family can afford to eat. She must be a little neurotic, or maybe she's on a diet, that's why she eats like that on purpose, saving money to buy cosmetics so she can cover up the ugly birthmark on her face, right?"
Hearing this, her heart ached as if stabbed by needles. The food she was about to swallow turned into sand and stones in an instant. Ye Wenyu lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes. She took a deep breath to stop the tears from falling, and then forced herself to continue eating as if nothing had happened.
She always knew that reality was as cruel as a knife, and society was as cruel as a knife, but she never imagined that such cruel bullying could exist in a university that was as pure as an ivory tower.
Is being poor a cardinal sin?
She only ate one vegetarian dish per meal. She only hurt herself and didn't hurt anyone else. Why did these students she didn't know come and hurt her in groups of two or three?
She painfully recalled her past life. In her past life, she finally agreed to become Lin Tingfeng's mistress. Besides being bewitched by his gentleness, the cruel pressure she was under now was probably the most important reason!
Now, having experienced rebirth and the life of luxury and wealth she enjoyed in her previous life, she still feels sad when she hears these harsh words.
After all, humans are mortal beings, living in this society, and cannot escape the seven emotions and six desires.
As I was grieving, I heard a familiar, gentle voice above me: "Come, have dinner with me."
Is that Brother Wen?!
Ye Wenyu suddenly looked up, a warm feeling washing over her. It was indeed Cai Wenchuan, standing in front of her with a tray, smiling at her.
Upon seeing Cai Wenchuan, Ye Wenyu felt her tears welling up uncontrollably. Not wanting him to see, she quickly lowered her head. But as soon as she looked down and saw her pitiful vegetables, she blushed with embarrassment, wishing she could disappear into a hole. Instinctively, she bent over, lowered her head, and reached out to cover the vegetables on her plate.
Cai Wenchuan seemed not to notice. He smiled and sat down in the chair opposite her. His tray had five dishes, three meat and two vegetable. Most people wouldn't have such a large appetite, which made her tray with only one vegetable dish seem even more pitiful.
Ye Wenyu sat there awkwardly.
Why did he come? She had run away like a rabbit just now because she didn't want him to know that she was so poor that she could only afford to eat one vegetarian dish per meal in the cafeteria. She didn't expect that he would still come looking for her.
The arrival of Cai Wenchuan caused the two girls who were gossiping to fall silent, their mouths agape in shock.
What magic does that poor and ugly girl possess that made the school's most handsome professor personally invite her to lunch?! Jealousy and shock twisted the faces of the two girls who had been speaking ill of Ye Wenyu, turning them into envious lemons in an instant.
Cai Wenchuan seemed not to hear or see anything. Holding his chopsticks, he smiled at Ye Wenyu and said, "I always eat alone, which is very lonely. It's great that you're studying at this school. Let's eat together from now on."
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