Liu Shuyou had cleared off an empty table and opened the food container, neatly stacking the dishes together.
There was spicy beef with green peppers, Mapo tofu, garlic broccoli, and a braised fish. The spicy beef had a tempting heat, while the Mapo tofu exuded a rich aroma of fermented black beans...
The delicious scent gradually wafted from the container, causing Xiang Ran, who hadn’t been very hungry, to feel a bit swayed.
Liu Shuyou pushed a box of rice toward him.
“Thank you.”
Xiang Ran bowed his head, rubbing the disposable chopsticks in his hand.
“Oh~ just saying thank you is enough, right?” Liu Shuyou muttered softly.
“What?”
Caught off guard by Xiang Ran's question, Liu Shuyou felt her face heat up and quickly lowered her head to dig into her bowl of rice.
The lab fell silent.
Neither of them spoke, and only the sounds of chewing broccoli could occasionally be heard.
Liu Shuyou had ordered enough for two, but noticing Xiang Ran’s gradually slowing eating pace, she frowned slightly.
Could it be that the food choices were poor?
That shouldn’t be...
Liu Shuyou felt she understood her boyfriend about eighty to ninety percent, especially his taste, which she had already figured out.
After some thought, she concluded that this wasn’t the reason.
But before she could ponder further, her boyfriend had already set down his chopsticks, seemingly not wanting to eat anymore.
Looking at the half-eaten dishes, Liu Shuyou instinctively touched her slightly protruding belly.
What to do?
She felt like she couldn’t eat anymore either...
Biting her lower lip, her thick eyelashes fluttered nervously.
As a child, she had been picky with food, which had led to some stern lessons from her mother. During that time, she often felt dizzy from hunger, and afterward, she would eat whatever was given, not to mention leftovers.
So now, looking at the food on the table, she felt a bit embarrassed.
Yet she still cradled the small bowl of rice, chewing slowly bite by bite, and soon her cheeks were stuffed, resembling a cute hamster.
However, her wrinkled little face, with the corners of her eyes pulling down, didn’t look like she was enjoying the food.
Xiang Ran had thought Liu Shuyou was simply hungry, but after seeing her chew a small piece of broccoli for nearly half a minute, he sensed something was off.
“If you don’t want to eat, just leave it.”
To his surprise, Liu Shuyou shook her head, her mouth stuffed to the brim, and only after drinking some water did she have space to speak.
“I don’t want to waste food.” She didn’t want to recall that unpleasant experience.
Xiang Ran frowned, seemingly caught off guard by her reasoning, feeling it was a bit ridiculous. But looking at Liu Shuyou’s silly expression, he couldn’t help but smirk, wanting to tease her.
“There are only the two of us here. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Still can’t.”
“It’s my fault for thinking the amount I bought was suitable, but it turned out there would be leftovers.”
...
Watching Liu Shuyou still stuffing her mouth with broccoli, Xiang Ran felt uncomfortable.
Actually, he wasn’t very hungry tonight, but seeing Liu Shuyou’s earnestness, he unconsciously picked up his chopsticks again.
It seemed that some dishes would ultimately have to be eaten by him!
...
“I’m not full yet, but you’re almost done!”
Xiang Ran thought for a long time to come up with such a clumsy excuse.
He then saw Liu Shuyou widen her eyes, scanning the remaining food as if trying to confirm.
Once he nodded, Liu Shuyou swallowed a piece of tofu and asked uncertainly, “Really?”
“Mm.”
Thus, the leftover food eventually found its way into Xiang Ran's stomach. Once Liu Shuyou was full, she propped her chin on her hand, watching him eat like a little supervisor, pointing and commenting.
Surprisingly, Xiang Ran didn’t make a sound and quickly finished his meal.
Afterwards, they both cleaned up the table, and Liu Shuyou reflected on her decision from earlier.
“You really don’t look very hungry tonight.”
“Mm.”
Xiang Ran replied and then pointed at the rabbit-shaped teapot under the table.
There was still a little water left, but it was now all gone.
“Drinking water before a meal doesn’t affect food intake, but it does take up some stomach space, making you feel full.”
“So it was your own fault then?”
Liu Shuyou found the crux of the issue, tilting her head up, her tone playful and sweet.
“Mm, I won’t do it again next time.”
Xiang Ran subconsciously promised.
But after saying this, he felt something was off, yet Liu Shuyou had already cheerfully gone to throw out the trash.
...
The trash bin was just around the corner, so she returned quickly.
Watching her boyfriend wipe the table with a wet towel, Liu Shuyou asked expectantly, “Since you overate tonight, should we go for a walk?”
To her surprise, Xiang Ran didn’t immediately refuse.
Strangely, given his current heartbeat, he should want to go.
However, from his nineteen years of life experience, he should refuse such a meaningless post-dinner stroll.
Yet when research and his heartbeat collided, for the first time, Xiang Ran hesitated.
Then he did something even he found incomprehensible.
He glanced at the screen, where the code was running.
If there were error messages, he probably wouldn’t be able to go, right?
Xiang Ran thought.
But unexpectedly:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
He looked at the successful response message on the screen.
And then at Liu Shuyou’s bright, expectant eyes when he turned around.
After a moment, he said in a low voice, “Let’s go.”
“Oh yeah~~~”
Liu Shuyou successfully secured an hour of post-meal relaxation with her boyfriend and celebrated slightly by shaking her body.
So the two of them headed downstairs, one in front and the other behind.
Xiang Ran originally intended to circle the teaching building, but soon saw Liu Shuyou looking at him with a dissatisfied expression.
After locking eyes for a moment, he conceded.
“Where do you want to go then?”
“There aren’t any places to stroll around the Computer Science Institute,” he replied honestly.
Then Liu Shuyou made a gesture, signaling Xiang Ran to follow her.
“Why would you think something so strange?”
“No one goes for a post-dinner stroll just circling around the teaching building. It’s not military training!”
By seven or eight o'clock, the sky had completely darkened, and the streetlights in the school lit up, casting halos on the stone path, like a little path laid out for them.
Xiang Ran clearly sensed Liu Shuyou's good mood.
As they wandered around, they unknowingly turned into a small grove.
The path here was particularly lush with branches, and the originally bright streetlights suddenly dimmed by half. Their shadows intertwined, almost merging into one.
Due to the narrow path, their shoulders inevitably brushed against each other. Xiang Ran felt Liu Shuyou’s relaxed body tense up, her fingers intertwining awkwardly, biting her lower lip, her gaze flickering.
Their originally lively steps also slowed down.
The atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous.
He cleared his throat, wanting to find a topic to ease the current awkwardness.
However,
The dense branches and leaves around them felt like a natural barrier, leaving only the chirping of insects...
And a faint voice!
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