At the mealtime, Chen's Little Restaurant outside the school was filled with students out for lunch.
“… I’ve really never seen someone so full of themselves! What a joke,” Lin Tiao couldn’t help but complain to Meng Xin about the boy she had run into in the classroom earlier.
Meng Xin laughed nonstop after hearing this, her hand shaking with the chopsticks even more than the cafeteria lady's, “No way, did he really say that? He must be a really confident guy.”
Lin Tiao stuffed a small ball of rice into her mouth, slightly pursing her lips, and waited until she had finished chewing before speaking, “Is that confidence? That’s just shameless.”
Seeing Lin Tiao's defeated expression, Meng Xin couldn’t help but laugh, “But I’m really curious about what this guy looks like.”
“What does it matter? Just two eyes and a mouth; how else could he look?”
Meng Xin’s eyes widened in surprise, “What, does he not have a nose?”
Lin Tiao: “…”
The two chatted about random things for a while, and Lin Tiao no longer cared about being misunderstood as intentionally flirting. After a bit, Meng Xin finished her meal first and stood up to pay the bill.
She asked Lin Tiao, “Should I get you a bottle of Coke?”
“Water is fine.” Lin Tiao loved carbonated drinks, but she had been experiencing some tooth pain recently, and under her mother’s stern instructions, she had cut back a little.
Meng Xin went to the front to buy water, while Lin Tiao continued eating. A few boys walked in, leaning against the counter to talk to the owner. “Uncle Chen, do you have any seats available?”
“Yes, yes, yes! A table will be free soon.” After finishing Meng Xin’s payment, Uncle Chen handed her two bottles of mineral water from the fridge and turned to the boys, asking, “How did you do on the exam today?”
“Uncle, what do you think we did?” Xu Yichuan said, reaching into the fridge for an ice cream. “Probably burnt out!”
Uncle Chen laughed, “Why isn’t Jiang Yan with you guys today?”
“He didn’t come; he went to the supermarket next door to buy something. He’ll be here soon.”
“Off to buy cigarettes again, huh?” Uncle Chen said knowingly. “I’ve told you guys several times, you shouldn’t be smoking at such a young age.”
“No, he’s just buying candy,” Xu Yichuan said with a grin, and he and Hu Hanghang exchanged jokes to steer the conversation away.
When Meng Xin returned to the table, Lin Tiao had already finished her meal. She took the water, had a sip, and asked, “How much is it? I’ll transfer you on Alipay later.”
“It’s fine, just treat me tomorrow. It’s a hassle to keep transferring money back and forth.”
Lin Tiao nodded, wiped her mouth with a napkin, picked up her things, and stood up. “Let’s go; I want to take a nap.”
“Okay.”
As the two got up, Uncle Chen approached with a cloth. “Finished eating? Come back again next time!”
Meng Xin smiled and replied, “Sure!”
Uncle Chen turned back to the group of boys crowded around the counter. “You guys can come and sit.”
“Coming!”
The boys’ loud voices caught Lin Tiao’s attention, and she instinctively glanced over, just in time to see Jiang Yan returning from buying cigarettes, tossing something to the boy who was speaking.
Her mind raced, and she quickly pulled Meng Xin back to their previous seats. “Sorry, Uncle, I haven’t finished eating; please wait a moment before cleaning up.”
Uncle Chen was startled by her sudden movement, “This…”
As he spoke, Jiang Yan, Xu Yichuan, and the other two boys, Song Yuan and Hu Hanghang, walked over to the table.
All four boys heard Lin Tiao’s words.
They stood in a row by the table, their gazes fixed on the two girls.
Lin Tiao remained unfazed, leisurely unscrewing her bottle of mineral water, pouring it into a disposable plastic cup, and taking a small sip.
“Lin Tiao…” Meng Xin tugged at Lin Tiao’s sleeve, feeling a bit guilty; after all, that was Jiang Yan, the big shot from their school…
“It’s fine; I just realized I didn’t eat enough earlier and want to order a bit more,” Lin Tiao replied, casually picking up the menu to order a few dishes.
After placing her order, she glanced at Jiang Yan standing nearby and nonchalantly said, “Could you please step aside? Thank you.”
Jiang Yan didn’t move.
The three boys standing next to him inhaled sharply, exchanging looks of disbelief.
Xu Yichuan: “Who is this girl?”
Hu Hanghang: “When did Jiang Yan get to know such a pretty girl?”
Song Yuan: “How the hell would I know?”
Thus, the three boys directed their gazes at Jiang Yan, filled with messages like “You’re sneaking around with a girl and not telling us?” and “Are you even human?” and “If you give me her contact info right now, I might just forgive you.”
Jiang Yan ignored their comments, slowly shifting his gaze from the menu in Lin Tiao’s hand to her face, their eyes meeting in the air.
They stared at each other for over ten seconds.
He slowly curled the corners of his lips into a smile, chuckled softly, and suddenly snatched the menu from her hand. Leaning down, he picked up a pencil from the table and quickly added a few more dishes to the menu.
“Perfect timing, I haven’t eaten either. Let’s share.”
Lin Tiao: “…”
Everyone: “…”
After finishing his additions, Jiang Yan pretended to casually ask the three boys next to him, “Want to eat together?”
The three replied in unison, “Sure!”
As soon as they said this, they quickly dragged over four chairs and sat down around the table.
Xu Yichuan greeted them cheerfully, “Come on, everyone’s family here! After this meal, we’re all brothers and sisters!”
Lin Tiao couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
As the situation continued to take a stranger turn, Meng Xin shook her leg anxiously and leaned closer to Lin Tiao’s ear, her voice almost in tears, “Do you know who’s sitting next to you?”
Lin Tiao raised an eyebrow. “Who?”
Meng Xin continued to shake her leg, saying, “It’s Jiang Yan, the leader of Class 18. He’s the one who supposedly single-handedly took on half a class from the neighboring Ninth High and walked away unscathed.”
Lin Tiao gasped in surprise, “Is it too late for us to leave now?”
Meng Xin looked like she was about to cry. “What do you think?”
Lin Tiao found her amusing but didn’t respond.
Xu Yichuan, who had been quietly listening to their whispered conversation, cleared his throat and raised his hand. “Sorry to interrupt.”
The two girls looked over.
Xu Yichuan cleared his throat again, pointing at Jiang Yan. “I need to correct something about this rumor of him single-handedly taking on half a class from the Ninth High.”
Lin Tiao and Meng Xin stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.
“It wasn’t half a class; it wasn’t that—”
At this point, Meng Xin thought to herself, as expected, rumors are just rumors. The big shot probably didn’t fight half a class.
“He’s not that weak; it was actually a whole class of boys,” Hu Hanghang chimed in, completing Xu Yichuan’s statement.
“…”
Meng Xin: I choose death.
After hearing this, Lin Tiao turned to look at Jiang Yan sitting next to her, their gazes locking once again in the air, this time maintaining eye contact for over twenty seconds.
Jiang Yan was the first to look away, and two seconds later, he raised his eyelids again, appearing in good spirits and even smiling, “It’s all just rumors; don’t take it seriously, everyone.”
Lin Tiao subtly scoffed, expressing disbelief at his humble attitude.
Sure enough, the next second, Jiang Yan’s voice came again, “But if you all want to take it seriously, it’s no big deal because it’s basically true.”
“……”
Lin Tiao genuinely suspected this guy's skin was made of reinforced concrete, otherwise, how could it be this thick?!
The three boys beside him clearly understood Jiang Yan’s behavior; their expressions hardly changed when he made that statement.
Lin Tiao shot countless cold glances at Jiang Yan in her mind.
They awkwardly sat down, and a few minutes later, Uncle Chen came over to clean up the table that hadn’t been finished yet.
Seeing that there was no point in staying any longer, Lin Tiao pulled Meng Xin up. “We won’t disturb your meal; we’re heading back now.”
Xu Yichuan was the first to disagree, thinking it was a rare opportunity for Jiang Yan to allow a girl to sit at their table. “Don’t go! We’re already sitting together, let’s eat a meal!”
The other two boys eagerly joined in to keep them there. “Yeah, let’s eat together!”
Lin Tiao tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Really don’t need to; we’ve already eaten.”
Hearing this, Jiang Yan, who had been silent all along, looked at Lin Tiao with a furrowed brow, as if he was pondering something. “Didn’t you just say you weren’t full?”
Lin Tiao continued to force a smile. “I’m full now.”
“Oh.” Jiang Yan’s eyelids drooped again, appearing lazy, but then he said something shocking, “So it turns out I’m so handsome that just looking at me is enough to fill you up.”
“…?”
Lin Tiao was stunned for three seconds, gradually realizing what he meant, and she didn’t even bother to maintain a false smile, looking at him expressionlessly.
“Has no one ever told you that you’re really full of yourself?”
As soon as Lin Tiao finished speaking, her rationality returned, but she managed to hold back saying the words “shameless” out loud, so she just stared at Jiang Yan, not daring to move.
Meng Xin and the three boys fell silent.
To be honest, with how Jiang Yan looked, no one had ever really told him that, especially with that cool and handsome face he had.
The surroundings fell silent for about half a minute.
Suddenly, Jiang Yan stood up.
Lin Tiao felt her legs involuntarily tremble when she saw Jiang Yan getting up, thinking he wouldn’t do something crazy here, would he?
She silently swallowed hard, surveying him with her eyes.
Three seconds later, Jiang Yan suddenly raised his hand, and the gesture seemed aimed directly at Lin Tiao’s head.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Lin Tiao felt like she was definitely going to be crushed here today.
They say that when a person is on the verge of death, they see the person they most want to meet in their minds. Lin Tiao closed her eyes and thought about it; the image that appeared in her mind was of the invigilating teacher from the morning, Li Kun.
“……”
Well then, what a ridiculous legend.
In just a few seconds, Jiang Yan's hand had already reached out. Before Lin Tiao could react, it pulled back again, only to stretch out once more and then retract, as if he was evaluating something.
After several back-and-forth motions, Lin Tiao seemed to realize what he was doing.
Before she could voice her question, Jiang Yan confirmed her thoughts. He looked at his hand, gestured between them, and earnestly asked, “Why are you so short? Are you even 1.6 meters tall?”
“……”
You’re not even 1.6 meters tall! Neither is your whole family!