The next morning, the kitchen rang with clattering noises.
When Su Xiaoyu finished washing up and went downstairs, she saw Su Nuonuo in the kitchen, busy preparing toast, ham, and fried eggs on the cutting board. She was carefully squeezing salad dressing, as if she were measuring it with a scale.
“Nuonuo, what’s gotten into you?”
Su Xiaoyu leaned against the doorframe with a puzzled expression. “Normally you don’t even bother to come downstairs for breakfast, and today you’re actually cooking yourself?”
Without turning around, Su Nuonuo’s ears quietly turned red, and her movements became even more meticulous: “I previously told Lu Zhiye that I was going to pursue him, but I haven’t actually done anything concrete. How does that make any sense?”
She placed the golden-fried egg onto the toast, carefully arranged slices of ham and lettuce, then covered it with another layer of toast. Finally, she wrapped it in packaging paper printed with small floral patterns and cut it into neat triangles.
“Starting today, I’m bringing him breakfast every day.”
Su Nuonuo sealed the package. When she turned around, her eyes sparkled brightly, her tone firm and certain: “I don’t believe I can’t melt that block of stone.”
When Su Nuonuo arrived at the classroom, she instinctively looked toward Lu Zhiye’s seat—it was empty. As expected, Lu Zhiye had not arrived yet.
After putting down her bag, she noticed Su Xiaoyu acting like a little mouse that had just stolen rice. She turned around and leaned toward Chen Che’s desk, even using her elbow to block the surrounding view.
She carefully took out a sandwich from inside her school uniform jacket and handed it over, lowering her voice with a hint of triumphant pride: “Here, Nuonuo made it. It’s super delicious! I secretly saved one for you.”
Hearing this, Su Nuonuo rested her chin on her hand, turned to look at her, raised her eyebrows, and said teasingly: “You were so obvious when you hid it, it’d be hard not to notice.”
Su Nuonuo glanced at Su Xiaoyu’s guilty expression and didn’t tease her further. She turned around and took out a neatly packaged sandwich from her own bag.
Standing in front of Lu Zhiye’s desk, sunlight slanted across the desktop, so clean that not even dust could be seen.
It didn’t take much thought to know that Lu Zhiye’s lackeys had already come early every day to wipe it clean for him.
Su Nuonuo placed the sandwich down very gently. The moment her hand touched the edge of the desk, the noisy classroom behind her suddenly fell silent, as if someone had pressed a mute button.
A few boys who had been napping secretly lifted their eyelids, their gazes sticking straight to the sandwich as if they had discovered something extraordinary.
“Holy… did I see that right?”
“Su Nuonuo is bringing food for Brother Ye? Brave!”
“Keep your voice down! Are you looking for trouble? Don’t you know no one is allowed to touch Brother Ye’s seat?”
Whispers buzzed like mosquitoes.
Several girls in the front rows couldn’t help but turn around as well, their eyes filled with surprise and curiosity.
Some even secretly took out their phones, wanting to take a photo but not daring to.
Su Xiaoyu was also stunned. She grabbed Nuonuo’s sleeve and lowered her voice: “You… you just put it directly on his desk? What if he doesn’t like it…”
Su Nuonuo didn’t respond. Just as she returned to her seat, she heard a commotion at the classroom entrance.
It was accompanied by several greetings of “Hello, Brother Ye.”
She looked up and met a pair of dark eyes that had just stepped in from the morning light.
The back door of the classroom was kicked open with a loud bang. Lu Zhiye walked in carrying his bag, his gaze sweeping across the class, instantly silencing the room.
After taking his seat, he immediately noticed a triangular object at the corner of his desk. His brows furrowed at once.
He had been given things by girls before; this kind of item clearly belonged to that category.
Without thinking, he picked it up and threw it straight into the trash bin at the door, his movements crisp and decisive with no hesitation.
“Damn!”
The entire class gasped in unison, eyes widening as they collectively drew in sharp breaths, the sound of breathing suddenly lightening.
Lu Zhiye was momentarily stunned by the reaction. His brows lifted higher as he turned to his desk mate and snapped in a low voice, “What are you yelling about? Who put this here?”
The desk mate trembled in fear, his finger shaking as he pointed toward Su Nuonuo’s direction: “B-Brother Ye… it was Su Nuonuo… we all saw her put it there.”
Lu Zhiye’s movement froze abruptly. Following the direction indicated, he looked over.
Su Nuonuo was sitting in her seat, her face completely pale, her eyes reddened as if soaked in water.
At that moment, she was staring fixedly at the sandwich wrapped in floral paper inside the trash bin, her fingertips clenched so tightly they had turned white.
She turned to look at Lu Zhiye. The moment their eyes met, something in Lu Zhiye’s chest felt lightly stung, as if pricked by something, leaving a dull, uncomfortable sensation.
His Adam’s apple rolled. He seemed about to say something, but in the end, he only pressed his lips together and remained silent.
The entire class fell into complete silence. Even the air felt awkward.
When the bell signaling the end of morning reading rang, the people in the back row rushed out like wild horses breaking free, and the corridor instantly became noisy.
Lu Zhiye slowly packed up the books on his desk.
Only when everyone around him had completely left did he bend down and quickly retrieve the sandwich he had casually thrown into the trash bin.
The trash bin had been cleaned the previous night, so it was now empty and spotless.
The floral wrapping paper was completely unwrinkled, clean and intact, with the sandwich inside not exposed at all.
He held the edge of the packaging, his movements so gentle it was as if he were afraid of damaging something precious.
Just as he stuffed the sandwich into the inner pocket of his school uniform jacket, a soft cough came from behind him.
Lu Zhiye suddenly turned around and saw Chen Che leaning against the doorframe of the back door, looking at him with a half-smile, his eyes full of teasing.
Unable to contain his excitement at his “great discovery,” Chen Che ran over to Su Nuonuo’s desk.
Resting his elbow on her desk, he lowered his voice and smiled mysteriously: “Hey, I saw something interesting. That sandwich you gave Lu Zhiye—he picked it back up again.”
The pen in Su Nuonuo’s hand dropped onto the desk with a soft “clack.”
She suddenly looked up, her eyes wide with disbelief: “Really?”
Her voice even rose a bit, causing the students in the front row to glance back.
She quickly covered her mouth and leaned toward Chen Che, her fingertips slightly trembling: “He… didn’t he throw it into the trash?”
Chen Che raised his eyebrows and teased her on purpose: “Who knows? Maybe he regretted it after throwing it away and secretly picked it up when no one was around. He looked like he was afraid of getting caught.”
Su Nuonuo froze. A faint blush slowly crept onto her cheeks, her heart beating rapidly like a little rabbit trapped inside.
She bit her lip and secretly glanced toward Lu Zhiye’s seat, the corners of her mouth unconsciously curving into a small smile.
Clutching the hem of her clothes, Su Nuonuo hesitated before walking to Lu Zhiye’s desk. He was lying down, catching up on sleep, the swirl of hair at the back of his head looking soft and fluffy.
“Lu Zhiye,” she said softly, afraid of waking him.
Lu Zhiye stirred and slowly lifted his head.
His eyes carried the grogginess of just waking up. Unlike usual, he didn’t frown at her; his voice was slightly hoarse: “What is it?”
Su Nuonuo fiddled with the edge of his desk and asked quietly, “That sandwich… did you not like it? Is that why you threw it away?”
Lu Zhiye paused. His ears faintly turned red.
He looked away, his tone stiff but without any anger: “No. I thought someone careless had put it there.”
Hearing this, Su Nuonuo’s eyes lit up. She quickly followed up: “Then what do you like for breakfast? I’ll bring it for you tomorrow.”
Lu Zhiye suddenly turned back toward her, his gaze a bit evasive. His Adam’s apple rolled as he tossed out a sentence: “No need.”
After saying that, he grabbed the water cup from his desk and practically fled the classroom.
Only after he had run far away did Su Nuonuo react. Covering her mouth, she secretly laughed.
This guy… was shy again.