When Jiang Cheng arrived at the cafeteria, Ye Wan had already picked out some dishes in advance.
Jiang Cheng swept his gaze across the table.
There were mapo tofu, spicy diced chicken, braised lion's head, and even pickled-cabbage fish.
Apart from two vegetarian dishes, everything was spicy.
Clearly chosen to suit his taste.
Seeing her stare at him without blinking,
he sensed she was hoping to confirm whether she'd done well.
Jiang Cheng smiled and rubbed her head.
'You really know my palate.'
That casual pat instantly turned Ye Wan's cheeks crimson.
He hadn't meant to flirt.
He'd simply reached out on impulse when he saw her eyes.
Besides, Jiang Cheng wasn't one to overthink things.
Though he himself couldn't say what he felt for Ye Wan.
Attraction based purely on looks? Definitely not.
When Jiang Cheng first met her, her charm score was barely over seventy; now, thanks to the system, it had climbed to eighty.
Add a couple of nice outfits and she'd qualify as a pretty young beauty.
Still, Jiang Cheng wasn't the shallow sort.
Though Ye Wan tried to act as if nothing had happened,
the fluster in her eyes and the way she couldn't help touching the spot he'd just stroked betrayed her inner turmoil.
Far from disliking it, she felt her heart race faster than ever before.
They sat and ate in silence; Jiang Cheng didn't bring up the laptop.
Ye Wan wanted to speak but didn't know how to start.
Soon Jiang Cheng began eating in earnest.
'What are your plans this afternoon?'
'I have classes. After that I'll head to the milk tea shop.'
'School comes first. Don't let part-time work affect your studies. I'll tell Yang Fan you can go whenever you're free—no fixed hours…'
Ye Wan meant to refuse,
but meeting Jiang Cheng's gaze, the words stuck in her throat.
She worried she'd trouble him too much,
yet she loved the feeling of being taken care of so decisively.
Unable to refuse, Ye Wan nodded.
Softly she answered, 'Okay, I understand…'
Seeing the usually silent Little Mute so obedient, Jiang Cheng's lips curved in a smile.
He placed a lion's-head meatball into her bowl.
Staring at the meat, Ye Wan recalled their last meal here together.
Jiang Cheng was like a sudden beam of light piercing her dark, muddy life,
utterly changing the pain and despair she once knew.
Without him she'd still be working the lowest-paid part-time job, scrimping every yuan of a few hundred a month.
Let alone owning a laptop.
She even suspected the computer had secretly been paid for by Jiang Cheng.
'Thank you…'
Jiang Cheng knew that look and tone weren't for the meatball.
He hadn't intended her to find out,
so he pretended not to hear and focused on his phone.
Seeing no response, Ye Wan lowered her head and quietly finished eating.
Soon the meal was over; leaving the cafeteria, Jiang Cheng headed straight to Lin Qingxue's apartment for a nap.
By the time Huang Yiyi rushed in, panting, Jiang Cheng had already left.
Her eyes swept the tables, found no sign of him, and finally settled on Ye Wan sitting alone in a corner.
Spotting Ye Wan, Huang Yiyi hurried over.
She yanked out the opposite chair and dropped into it, breathless and urgent: 'Ye Wan, where's Jiang Cheng?'
Ye Wan's chopsticks paused; she lifted her gaze and softly replied, 'He finished eating and left.'
Huang Yiyi exhaled in disappointment.
Seeing Ye Wan gather her tray to leave as well,
Huang Yiyi frowned, studying her.
After a few seconds she seemed to make up her mind: 'Ye Wan, wait. There's something I've wanted to ask.'
Ye Wan stilled.
Meeting her eyes, she sat back down and gave a slight nod.
'What exactly is your relationship with Jiang Cheng?' Huang Yiyi's gaze pinned her.
At the question, Ye Wan's cheeks warmed.
Looking down at the rice Jiang Cheng had left, she was silent a moment before murmuring, 'We're classmates.'
"Classmate?" Huang Yiyi leaned forward slightly, her tone laced with a hint of barely noticeable doubt. "Then why is it that every time Jiang Cheng comes to school, he only asks you to eat with him? I'm also his classmate, but he's never asked me."
Those words dropped like a pebble into Ye Wan's heart, sending ripples across its surface.
If Huang Yiyi had said this to an ordinary girl, it would have been a perfect assist.
The question would have made them realize they were special in Jiang Cheng's eyes.
Unfortunately, she was Ye Wan.
She was a girl who had known her exact weight in the world's scales since childhood.
She still remembered that when she was little, the big sister next door had been married off for two-hundred-yuan dowry to a sixty-nine-year-old widower in their village.
The girl had been younger than eighteen.
Although Ye Wan was small, she'd heard her father mutter that two hundred yuan was more than he could earn in half a year.
Back then, a fifty-square-meter plot of land in their village cost a little over a thousand yuan.
On the wedding day the bride had wailed to the heavens, but the look her own father gave Ye Wan would haunt her for life.
It was the look of someone waiting for her to hurry up and grow old enough to be married off to support the family.
Growing up in that environment had dyed her very being with self-loathing.
She even felt that simply staying alive and leaving that trap with her own two hands was already the greatest luck misfortune could allow.
So she never dared to dream of something as beautiful and distant as love.
No matter how much she longed to be with Jiang Cheng.
Even if she could have him for one hour, one short moment.
As long as, in that space of time, Jiang Cheng belonged to her, it would be enough.
But Ye Wan knew it was impossible.
Like the lyrics of "Mercury" she'd heard in the milk tea shop these past few days.
She felt the distance between them was that of the Sun and Mercury.
"How much farther to reach your heart, how much longer to be near you, the one so close yet impossible to touch..."
The first time she heard the song it struck her straight in the chest.
No matter how infatuated she was with Jiang Cheng, no matter how specially he treated her,
They would never intersect.
Even though Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, gravity keeps it locked in orbit.
So Mercury can only circle the Sun for its entire life.
Near yet forever barred, unable to break free of that pull.
Wasn't that exactly the relationship between her and Jiang Cheng?
Caught deep inside, unable to escape, yet doomed never to bridge the gap.
Ye Wan's fingers tightened on her chopsticks until the tips turned white; stubbornly, she said nothing in reply.
Huang Yiyi wasn't the sort to bully others.
She usually went out of her way to look after girls from poor families like Ye Wan.
Seeing Ye Wan's expression, she was instantly ashamed.
She apologized at once. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. Please don't take it to heart. I was just curious; if you don't want to talk about it, forget I asked."
Of course Ye Wan didn't blame Huang Yiyi.
The girls around Jiang Cheng were either rich young ladies like Huang Yiyi or dazzling stars like Lin Qingxue, adored by countless boys.
They all shone, while she was utterly ordinary.
A family at the bottom rung, a face that drew no attention.
Lost in a crowd, no one would give her a second glance.
She couldn't even understand why Jiang Cheng would single her out, let alone like her.
So how could she answer?
In that silence lay her lack of confidence and her helplessness before this ambiguous affection.
"He just said he was going to look for senior Lin Qingxue..."
At that, the apology on Huang Yiyi's face was replaced by a flicker of jealousy.
To her, Ye Wan was timid and plain, and there was no intimacy between her and Jiang Cheng—no threat at all.
But Lin Qingxue was different.
So beautiful, so fair—even as a girl, Huang Yiyi thought Lin Qingxue was stunning.
"He's so good to Senior Lin. Jiang Cheng really is a scumbag, leaving a trail of broken hearts."
When Huang Yiyi complained about Jiang Cheng, Ye Wan immediately objected. "No, don't say that. Jiang... Jiang Cheng isn't a scumbag. He's... he's a good person."