Because of the morning's incident, Zhou Mianmian hadn't spoken to Xie Xiao again.
She felt somewhat panicked at this moment, but still believed that Xie Xiao was angry because of her rejection and her acceptance of Yan Shi's attentions.
So she didn't interact with any other guys, only showing a look of being wronged and stifled.
She initially wanted to post on her social media, but then remembered that Xie Xiao had already deleted her.
Still, Zhou Mianmian went ahead and posted on her social media, garnering quite a bit of sympathy from others, but Xie Xiao was noticeably absent.
Suddenly, she felt it was all meaningless and started to overthink uncontrollably.
What if Xie Xiao really didn't care about her anymore?
She felt a sense of panic at being abandoned, and was distracted all morning.
Their school was semi-closed, meaning the students couldn't go out at noon and had to eat in the cafeteria.
As soon as the bell rang, the boys would rush out crazily because if you were late, there would be no good food left.
Xie Xiao also rushed out with Lin Yu.
Lin Yu shouted after him twice, "What's the rush!"
"I want to eat the sweet and sour ribs in the cafeteria of building one! They only have it on Mondays!" Xie Xiao pulled him along as he ran, his voice urgent.
Lin Yu cursed under his breath, "I'm used to you slowly taking people up to the third floor."
Previously, Xie Xiao used to take Zhou Mianmian to the third floor for a stir-fry every day, which was tasty but expensive, so it wasn't crowded.
Xie Xiao said Zhou Mianmian liked it and went there every day, making Lin Yu look at him as if he were a big spender.
Now it seemed his brother had really wised up.
Zhou Mianmian watched the backs of the two men recede, her face turning pale. Turning to her deskmate, she asked, "Can I join you for lunch today?"
Liu Xiuping, seeing her pitiful state, sighed, "Sure, but what actually happened between you and Xie Xiao?"
At that question, her eyes began to redden again.
Liu Xiuping quickly waved her hands, "It's okay, it's okay, if you don't want to talk about it, forget it..."
In fact, most people in the class already took it for granted that Xie Xiao and Zhou Mianmian were a couple, it was just a matter of breaking through this final barrier.
They looked fine during the gathering two days ago, so why did things turn out this way today?
It was too strange.
Zhou Mianmian wiped her tears and said, "Let's go to the cafeteria in building one too?"
In the end, a few girls headed to the cafeteria together.
As they were lining up, Lin Yu noticed Xie Xiao looking around as if searching for someone.
Unable to contain his curiosity, he asked, "Are you looking for someone?"
Xie Xiao sighed. He didn't really like sweet and sour ribs, but he knew Luo Yanran liked them, and in the past, she had mentioned several times that she wanted to come back to their school to eat them.
She must have really liked them.
Sure enough, he saw Luo Yanran hurriedly pulling a girl into the door.
But by now the line was already very long, and it was uncertain if there would still be food left when they reached the end.
Liu Ou sighed and looked at Luo Yanran, who was trying to maintain a stoic face but disappointment was evident, "I'm sorry, Yanran, it's my fault."
If it hadn't been for her sudden need for a sanitary pad, which had caused Yanran to bring it to her, they wouldn't have been delayed.
"It's not your fault, if we can't get it, we'll try next time." Luo Yanran glanced at her friend, her tone was cool but without blame.
Even though she knew it was unlikely they would get served, Luo Yanran still lined up at the end of the queue, undeterred.
Behind them, two people away, were Zhou Mianmian and her group.
Liu Xiuyi saw Luo Yanran talking to another female classmate, "Luo is so pretty~"
Zhou Mianmian glanced at Luo Yanran in front of her, who attracted everyone's attention just by standing there.
"Luo is indeed the school's beauty, but to speak of which, Mianmian is also a school beauty," another female classmate said with a smile, "It's rare to have two school beauties in one year."
Although she said that, when people mentioned school beauties, they only thought of Luo Yanran.
Zhou Mianmian gave them a pale smile.
Only she knew how much fraud there was in her own school beauty vote.
The group of girls laughed briefly but didn't say much more.
Xie Xiao, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Luo Yanran and another girl standing at the back of the line.
When it was his turn, he quickly ordered three servings of sweet and sour ribs, two of which were to go.
"Are you that fond of it? You're even taking it home to eat in the evening?" Lin Yu was dumbfounded.
Xie Xiao glanced at him, "Mind your own business."
Lin Yu: ...Has this kid's temperament changed so drastically from a heartbreak, why is everything he says so prickly?
When he saw Xie Xiao carrying rice in one hand and holding the takeout sweet and sour ribs as he walked towards the end of the line, Lin Yu's face turned green. Was this kid packing food for Zhou Mianmian?
Luo Yanran had not noticed Zhou Mianmian and their group behind her until she heard some excited voices from the girls, "Mianmian! Look, it's Xie Xiao, he's coming over, he must have packed that for you!"
Luo Yanran was extremely sensitive to Xie Xiao's name, she looked up and indeed saw him holding two portions of packed sweet and sour ribs.
"He's being too much today, I don't want to deal with him..." Zhou Mianmian's voice sounded both aggrieved and somewhat proud.
She pretended to glance casually at Luo Yanran in front, who was indeed staring intently at Xie Xiao.
And Xie Xiao was clearly heading in her direction.
Zhou Mianmian felt a bit more at ease, Xie Xiao would indeed not ignore her.
He must have felt sorry to see her so upset this morning, that's why he hurried to get in line, afraid she wouldn't get to eat sweet and sour ribs.
Zhou Mianmian curled up the corner of her mouth, touched her hair, and somehow felt a bit nervous, but she decided to forgive Xie Xiao anyway.
Mainly because his recent behavior had been unpredictable, and Zhou Mianmian feared he might embarrass her with some unexpected move.
Initially, Xie Xiao had not noticed Zhou Mianmian and her group.
Mainly because Luo Yanran was so dazzling, she was tall, and even though she was just a high school student, her well-defined figure, big eyes, and fair skin, due to her quarter Russian heritage, made her stand out.
Thus, Luo Yanran had always been the school beauty, a true princess.
In comparison, Zhou Mianmian's "pure school beauty" seemed much dimmer.
Xie Xiao thought to himself that he really must have been blind in his past life, preferring a little green tea over a gorgeous beauty...
"Are you really a dog..." Xie Xiao, unable to restrain himself, glared at Lin Yu cursing.
"You've been cursing for so long, enough already..." Xie Xiao was speechless and was just about to ask him what he was cursing now.
But he was already in front of Luo Yanran, he planned to first give her the packed sweet and sour ribs, then sort things out with Lin Yu later.
He had yet to speak when he stood in front of Luo Yanran.
Then he heard Zhou Mianmian's voice, "Xie Xiao!"
The bag in his hand was suddenly grabbed by a delicate white hand, "Thank you for packing the sweet and sour ribs..."
Xie Xiao forcefully pulled the bag back and then turned to a flabbergasted Zhou Mianmian, "No, how bold of you! I didn't pack this for you."