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Inside the room, which had never had a population density greater than 1 person per 18 square meters, a second human appeared for the first time.
With both hands resting on her knees, the girl sitting upright at the small table bowed her head in embarrassment, her feet shaking nervously as if stepping on a sewing machine.
Although they had met before, Chen Yuan rarely had the opportunity to observe her up close due to their unfamiliarity. Today, however, as two people shared a room, he realized she really was a little beauty.
The 'little' here wasn't Chen Yuan trying to act grown-up, Mr. Boston Lobster. She was clearly his age yet had the gentle and amiable aura of the girl next door, her long, black hair cascading to her waist. Her delicate face was fair and spotless, and a pair of deep black eyes, profound like the night sky, perfectly reflected her personality.
She was the epitome of innocence at first glance.
Don't they say the higher the beauty, the fewer the worries?
Such a beautiful girl contemplating suicide, what on earth had happened to her?
"Just a moment, the lobster is still steaming."
With a block of ice in one hand, Chen Yuan turned on the gas stove and placed the processed Boston Lobster on a plate, then onto the steaming tray.
"I'll help."
"No need, I can do it alone..."
Before Chen Yuan could finish, he suddenly found the girl had appeared beside him, tying on his blue puffy apron around her waist and deftly tying back her ponytail with a rubber band, revealing her snow-white, flawless nape.
"There's not much to it, just making a sauce..."
"Mm, I can."
Still without letting him finish, the girl adeptly started mincing garlic and small chili peppers, then mixed them with a well-proportioned combination of light soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, salt, and sugar to enhance the flavor.
Oh snap, she's got skills.
Chen Yuan stopped bothering her and returned to the living area, which wasn't clearly separated, adjacent to his bed and small table area. He took out several unfinished dishes from the fridge—tomato scrambled eggs, garlic eggplant, stir-fried carrots with meat, and half a plate of dumplings—and reheated them in the microwave one by one.
Five minutes later, the small table was laid with bowls of leftover dishes, reserving the centerpiece for Mr. Boston Lobster.
Let's watch an episode of "Cang Yuan Diagram."
He took out his cellphone and began the most important pre-meal ritual of finding a show.
"The lobster's ready, please be careful, it's hot."
Just then, a pair of large oven mitts placed the Boston Lobster right in front of him.
What also entered his view was a simple and beautiful profile.
A stray strand of hair by her ear slowly fell, which the girl neatly tucked behind her ear with slender fingers.
"Um..." Seeing Chen Yuan look her way, the girl tilted her head in puzzlement, "Is there something on my face?"
You have the qualities of the ideal good wife and mother I've dreamt of.
"Nothing, you sit, I'll grab us some drinks."
Chen Yuan stood up to fetch two cans of chilled beer from the fridge and placed them on the table.
"Is... is this pineapple beer?"
"No pineapple, just pure beer."
"..." The girl was evidently astonished by Chen Yuan's casual reference to beer as a drink and couldn't help but ask timidly, "We have class tomorrow, is it alright to drink?"
"This is nothing; there are people in our class who eat hotpot during the evening self-study."
"They do that? Doesn't the head teacher care..."
"It's the head teacher who brought the pot."
"Ah?"
The girl shockingly typed a question mark.
"Just kidding, they definitely do it behind the head teacher's back."
So, the hotpot story is actually true?
"No. 11 High School is different from what I imagined..." Xia Xinyu thought that being a Provincial Focus School, No. 11 High School's school spirit wouldn't be so relaxed.
"Every school has classes that don't perform as well. The classes in the front at No. 11 are definitely not like this. But our class..." At this point, Chen Yuan sighed, "Let's just say, even among No. 11 High School students, there are disparities."
When he first entered this school, Chen Yuan wasn't too bad, but after all, the educational level of Hexiang County and Xihai City were worlds apart. Upon arriving here, he found himself unable to keep up with the pace, and with the numerous exams, it felt like he had just finished a tutorial and was suddenly expected to defeat Dream in battle (Oh my god, impossible!), so he quickly fell behind.
Later on, Chen Yuan discovered that many of his classmates had already covered the knowledge of Sophomore year of high school in Junior High.
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He wasn't particularly talented to begin with, and naturally, he was overwhelmed, step by step sending himself into the class ranked as one of the bottom three in the school.
And in the bottom-ranking class, the learning environment was even worse, the teachers, too, were inferior; he thus fell into a vicious circle, with his rank dropping from 400th to 900th.
Of course, Chen Yuan wasn't completely shifting the blame, at least he admitted one thing – his initiative was truly lacking.
"I see..."
Xia Xinyu might have sounded sympathetic, but her mind was wandering.
Eating hotpot in the back row, huh...
Hotpot wax is very convenient since you can use a pot to cook, but... what about the dipping sauces?
How do you eat hotpot without dipping sauces?
"Straight-A students from No.4 High School could never imagine that, right? After all, your school is one of the top two in the city, averaging study monsters," Chen Yuan couldn't understand. Was his school so bad that it surprised them? Even frowning about it.
Is the sense of superiority among No.4 High School's students that strong?
"Not really, every school has its lesser-performing students… Of course, I'm not talking about... about you."
There you go with the formalities.
"My name is Chen Yuan, just call me Chen Yuan."
Chen Yuan planned a playful self-introduction, so he intentionally left a 'no, that's no different' gap for the other person to criticise.
"My name is Xia Xinyu... just call me Xia Xinyu."
As if dealing with a simpleton, Xia Xinyu followed Chen Yuan's template for self-introduction quite obligingly, but couldn't hide her embarrassment.
Just spit it out! Don't act like you're playing along with me, or else I'll really look like a fool!
"Let's eat then, I'm starving... not living," he said.
Recalling that she almost succeeded in killing herself, Chen Yuan carefully avoided the word 'die', lest it bring up unpleasant memories for her.
Fortunately, her life count was still at one and hadn't decreased sharply.
But why was she staring straight at him...?
"Chen Yuan, did you burn your hand entering my room... just now?"
Xia Xinyu had noticed earlier, but she didn't want to dwell on their previous topic.
Failure to commit suicide is indeed embarrassing.
"It's nothing."
"Let me take a look."
No sooner had Chen Yuan spoken than Xia Xinyu grabbed his hand, then spread out his palm to see the light red patch: "Just wait a moment."
"...Okay."
Xia Xinyu went to the toilet for a bit, and after she came back, she squeezed a dollop of toothpaste on her fingertip and evenly smeared it over the burn on his skin, then bowed her head and gently blew on the spot.
The breath she blew out expanded the cold sensation of the toothpaste on his injury...
It was kind of mesmerizing, the pain almost damn flew away.
Then, Chen Yuan put the ice on the side and picked up his chopsticks: "Right, let's eat while it's hot."
In the middle of the plate, the Boston lobster was steamed a bright red, cut open down the middle, revealing the plump and tender white lobster meat snug within the shell. A lobster weighing over a jin, brimming with creamy golden roe, much like the rich aroma of Hairy Crab's roe.
Although Xia Xinyu was quite embarrassed at the moment, she was also filled with anticipation.
Even though she had seen Boston lobster numerous times in the supermarket, its deliciousness was only in her imagination—this was the first time she had the chance to taste it...
"Eat it while it's hot, don't space out."
Chen Yuan skillfully placed half of the lobster into her bowl with his chopsticks.
"No, I don't need this much..."
Xia Xinyu hastily waved her hands in refusal, feeling sorry, only to have a can of Pure Beer handed to her, followed by Chen Yuan opening the pull ring for her, with a light mist rising from the white froth.
Holding the Snow Beer, she gently clinked it against his, and Chen Yuan raised his canned beer, planning to properly cheers this new friend he'd made.
The [1] in front of him didn't move a muscle.