The next day.
Xie Shu rose early again.
They had classes in the morning, but only the last two periods. He planned to use the time before class to continue working on his pop-up book.
To save time, he didn't go to the cafeteria for breakfast and asked his roommates to bring something back for him instead.
He also messaged Ruan Nianxi to let her know he was busy in the morning and suggested she go to the cafeteria if she was hungry, promising to accompany her every day in the future.
Since there was no rush, his roommates left for the cafeteria around eight, taking their time.
Upon reaching the entrance, they unexpectedly saw Ruan Nianxi.
She stood outside the door, her gaze lowered to the nearby greenery, her expression clearly one of dejection.
They thought she was waiting for Xie Shu and, knowing he wouldn't come to the cafeteria that morning, they approached to inform her. To their surprise, she said Xie Shu had already told her.
He had messaged her early on to say he had things to do and wouldn't be able to join her for breakfast, advising her to eat without him.
But by then, she was already halfway to the cafeteria. Although she agreed, she now felt… quite downhearted.
A few days of his company had made even a single absence feel unbearably painful.
She didn't know what to eat and found herself wandering to the second cafeteria, closer to the male dorms. As she pondered what to have, her thoughts inevitably drifted to Xie Shu, and that's when she ran into them.
"Is Xie Shu… very busy?" Ruan Nianxi couldn't help but ask.
It seemed he had been busy since the night before last.
Even though he spent the previous day with her, taking her to meals and classes, she could sense his urgency and even noticed the fatigue on his face.
He didn't say, and she didn't ask.
He had been busy all of yesterday, and she thought he would be free today, but he didn't even have time for breakfast with her this morning.
What could he be so busy with?
His friends didn't seem as busy as he was…
Before Ruan Nianxi could dwell on it further, Xie Shu's loyal friends interrupted her wild speculations.
Zhao Lin said, "We're about to finish one of our major courses, and everyone is rushing to complete the final workload. He probably has a lot to catch up on, so he's short on time. He used to go to bed early, but these past few days, he's been sleeping later than us and waking up earlier!"
Li Da nodded vigorously, "Exactly, he got up super early today, didn't even have time for breakfast, so we had to act like his pa… Ah!"
Liu Ping elbowed Li Da and took over, "We brought breakfast for him."
Was it because of homework?
But if that was the case, he could have just told her directly, so why did he always say "something came up"?
Ruan Nianxi was naturally distrustful of most people, even Xie Shu's friends. Unless it was from Xie Shu himself, she wouldn't readily believe it.
Despite her doubts, she didn't voice them.
She simply nodded and then offered to buy breakfast for Xie Shu since she was already there.
To his friends, it was only a matter of time before Xie Shu and his childhood sweetheart got together, so no one objected.
After Ruan Nianxi bought the breakfast, they helped carry it back for her.
Back at the dorm, Xie Shu was silent upon seeing the overly generous breakfast they had brought.
Hadn't he just asked for soy milk and fried dough sticks?
Now there was tofu pudding, glutinous rice balls, eggs, and more…
Too much to say, yet each item was just one, not really a large quantity.
Too little to say, yet it was indeed more than his usual breakfast, which was always just enough to get by, the quantity never mattered to him.
"How much was it? I'll transfer the money to you," he said, putting down his craft knife and reaching for his phone.
"Why transfer? Your childhood sweetheart bought it for you."
Zhao Lin sat down with a thud, took a sip of his soy milk, and with the other hand, held a fried dough stick and several meat buns, his envy nearly crushing his teeth.
Darn it!
Why didn't they have a childhood sweetheart?
Actually, at the cafeteria, Ruan Nianxi had intended to buy for Xie Shu's friends as well, but since they were right there, it would have been awkward to accept, so they repeatedly refused.
Ruan Nianxi didn't insist and ended up buying only for Xie Shu.
Hearing this, Xie Shu raised an eyebrow but said nothing, instead picking up his phone to open the chat with Ruan Nianxi and express his gratitude.
At the same time, his desire to finish the pop-up book grew even stronger.
He really wanted to hug her.
***
For the third period in the morning, Xie Shu arrived at the classroom just in time.
Focused on completing the pop-up book, he had carefully calculated when to leave, making full use of any spare time.
He had timed his arrival perfectly.
Most of his classmates were already there, and the front seats were all taken, so he had to carry his laptop to the back of the classroom.
Unlike general courses, the classroom for major subjects was smaller, fitting just about one class's worth of students, with only a few seats to spare.
His roommates had left earlier than him, so they were sitting together, and coincidentally, there were no empty seats next to them.
Xie Shu didn't mind and took a seat by the back door.
There were two empty seats there, and he planned to catch up on his work and then continue drawing materials on the other seat, having brought everything with him.
He would set up his laptop on one side and draw on paper on the other.
His plan was solid, but Su Qianyi, who arrived even later, shattered it.
Su Qianyi was a few minutes late, the teacher had already entered the classroom, and she and An Tian hurried in with their laptops.
The teacher didn't mark them as late but still frowned and scolded them.
By then, there were no adjacent seats left in the class; they had to sit separately.
Su Qianyi scanned the classroom and eventually headed towards the back door…
Proofreader & Editor:Peter Pan