CH 3.2

In a blink of an eye, the class period passed. 

This time, Xu Youyou was awakened by Qiao Mu. Earlier’s chemistry class was the last period of the morning and after class was lunch. Qiao Mu was afraid that if he didn’t wake Xu Youyou then she would sleep through the lunch period. 

“What?” Xu Youyou had slept even better in this period compared to the last, her body was nice and warm. The color had begun returning to her face, her cheeks becoming rosy. Because she had just been woken up, her empty eyes had a faint bit of glistening water. 

“It’s time to eat.” Qiao Mu awkwardly avoided the girl’s gaze. 

When she heard the word “eat,” Xu Youyou’s mind cleared immediately: “Where do we go to eat?”

“The cafeteria” 

Hongluo No.7 Secondary School was a combination of high school and middle school, which the middle school fed directly into the high school. It had four cafeterias, the middle school and high school both had two each. However, between the middle school and high school was an iron gate that separated them making it impossible to intercommunicate between the two. Qiao Mu to Xu Youyou to the second cafeteria further away from the classroom. They had left late, if they went to the first one there would have been no seats. 

The cafeteria required a special meal card. And since it was Xu Youyou’s first day, of course she wouldn’t have one so Qiao Mu treated her. 

“They only handle meal card transactions on Monday. Today is Thursday, next Monday you can go to the first cafeteria to get it,” The entire time Qiao Mu was talking his face remained emotionless. He spoke in a dull tone, without even a thread of cordiality,  Xu Youyou was really unaccustomed to it. 

How did the current Qiao Mu become the talkative, knowledgeable one from her memory?

“Why are you looking at me?” After getting her food and sitting down, Xu Youyou kept staring at him, making Qiao Mu uncomfortable. 

“I was seeing what you were eating,” as she said, Xu Youyou specifically looked towards Qiao Mu’s tray of food and was shocked. Qiao Mu had gotten two big bowls of rice. “This, you can finish it all?”

Qiao Mu nodded. 

“I finally know where all the fat on your body came from” It would be weird if one didn’t have fat after eating so much carbohydrates. 

Qiao Mu gripped his chopsticks tightly, lowering his head to continue eating. 

After eating lunch, Xu Youyou wanted to buy an insulated water bottle so Qiao Mu brought her to the school’s only store. Xu Youyou randomly picked one to use temporarily as there wasn’t much selection in the store and planned to go buy another during the weekend. 

After paying the bill and leaving, Xu Youyou walked up to Qiao Mu’s side. Her arm encompassed in her jacket’s furry sleeve held out a carton of milk to Qiao Mu: “This is for you, thank you for taking care of me today.”

Qiao Mu, shocked, did not immediately reach out to receive the gift. 

“Hurry and take it, it is freezing,” Xu Youyou urged. 

Remembering that the girl’s hands were as cold as ice, Qiao Mu hurried to take the cold milk: “Thank you.”

“In the past month, I haven’t even gotten close to a refrigerator. For you, I sacrificed a lot,” Xu Youyou said shivering and shoved her hands into her pocket. 

Qiao Mu’s heart warmed a bit. The girl was so afraid of the cold going to the refrigerator to get this milk really showed her care. 

“Drink up,” Xu Youyou pressed.  

“Thanks, I’ll drink it in a bit,” Qiao Mu was lactose intolerant, drinking milk would cause diarrhea. Cold milk was even worse. “But, why did you choose milk?”

In these situations,  typically doesn’t one buy coke or something similar? 

“Drinking milk helps you grow taller,” Xu Youyou subconsciously replied. 

Qiao Mu silently looked at Xu Youyou. 

“I…I didn’t mean that. I was just thinking that you are still in your growth period, drinking milk will help you grow taller. Aiya, I didn’t mean you were short. I just think in the future you’ll be taller,” The more Xu Youyou talked, the more her heartache. At the end she almost cried. 

Qiao Mu silently listened to her finish, then raised his arms up to put the cold milk on the store’s window ledge. Afterwards, he turned and left. His actions expressed his discontent. 

“He’s angry? If you don’t have the ability, then don’t grow taller.” Xu Youyou mumbled and threw the milk in the trash before running to catch up. 

She didn’t know if she felt wrong but when she was closer to Qiao Mu, the chill would lessen. 

After the milk incident, Xu Youyou understood something. To boys, saying “short” this word was forbidden. Because the rest of the afternoon, Qiao Mu ignored her. 

Xu Youyou also never had experience coaxing someone. After being at a loss for a while, she figured it was better just to sleep. Honestly, it was so easy to fall asleep by Qiao Mu’s side. 

Maybe because the homeroom teacher had talked to the other teachers, but Xu Youyou slept the entire afternoon and none of the teachers came to yell at her. Thus, the first day of her classes, Xu Youyou gained a resounding nickname. 

The Sleeping God. 

In the afternoon when school let out, Xu Youyou was again woken up by Qiao Mu. He had originally not wanted to wake her up but Xu Youyou’s phone kept ringing. So he couldn’t help but reach over to push her awake. 

“Your phone,” Qiao Mu coldly said. 

Xu Youyou muddle-headed, answered the phone, “What? School’s out?”

The call was from Li Leyao. She called after school to remind Xu Youyou to come home. Xu Youyou then realized half the class had already left and the rest were packing their bags. 

“Oh, Okay. I’ll head back now. Yes, I know. I know the route. Don’t worry, if I get lost I’ll call the police and have them send me home, okay?” Xu Youyou helplessly ended the call. 

Just as she was putting away her phone and getting ready to leave, Xu Youyou looked around and then sat back down. It was like she had forgotten about their conflict during lunch, and casually asked: “Qiao Mu, I see that everyone carries a lot of books back. Do I have to as well?”

“You only need the assigned homework books.” She had already asked, if he didn’t answer he would look petty. 

Qiao Mu was going to finish the good deed and tell Xu Youyou which classes assigned homework when he heard the girl happily say: “Then I don’t need to carry them then, I didn’t listen anyway.” 

“……”

“Forget it, I should bring one book back. If my mom asks, I can pretend for a bit,” Xu Youyou lowered her head and flipped through her desk. She finally pulled out a language book. 

“……” The language teacher did not assign any homework. 

“What is this?” Xu Youyou’s eyes swept the ground, by the chair leg was an open homework booklet. On the page were a lot of points, circles, and numbers. It looked particularly complex, but it seemed to also have a pattern. 

“It’s mine,” Qiao Mu grabbed the homework booklet and hid it away. 

Xu Youyou was startled. 

“I’ll be leaving first,” Qiao Mu roughly shoved the book into his book bag and picked it up, turning to leave. His figure revealed his panic. 

“It’s not a diary. Why is he so panicked?” Xu Youyou muttered the two sentences. Afraid that Dear Mother Madam Li would worry, she carried her bag that only had a single language book and left the classroom.