"What are you looking at?" Standing next to him, Xu Zhuoyue followed Song Yunshen’s gaze in confusion, thinking he was looking at someone in the queue.
Song Yunshen had already snapped back to reality, but still feeling a lingering sense of shock, he didn’t immediately answer Xu Zhuoyue’s question.
Xia Yunuo said Xia Jinsu was her older sister?!
Now that he thought about it, both of them did share the surname "Xia." But he had never seen Xia Jinsu come to their class looking for Xia Yunuo. Logically, shouldn’t blood sisters be closer to each other at school?
If he hadn’t been able to hear Xia Yunuo’s inner thoughts, he would have been kept completely in the dark.
Speaking of which, didn’t he also hear Xia Yunuo’s inner voice in the cafeteria a couple of days ago? At the time, she seemed to have mentioned that her older sister loved crispy chicken cutlets the most?
Hmm... because he hadn’t been absolutely certain the voice belonged to Xia Yunuo back then, he hadn’t paid much attention to the contents of those thoughts even after confirming it later. He had just tossed the matter to the back of his mind.
So, Xia Jinsu was indeed Xia Yunuo’s older sister.
Who would have thought?
Did that mean he had almost ended up marrying Xia Yunuo’s older sister in the future? He just didn’t know who his future wife actually was. The update dates in Xia Jinsu’s Future Diary were way too random. He wondered when it would spawn another entry between the years 2032 and 2036.
"I’m talking to you. Why are you spacing out?" Seeing him still dazed, Xu Zhuoyue couldn’t help but press on.
"It’s nothing," Song Yunshen replied. Listening to Xia Jinsu’s speech on the flag-raising podium, he gazed at her figure from afar, visually confirming once again that she was the girl he had seen at the English Club the other day. "Just listening to my future girlfriend’s speech."
"What kind of daydream are you having?" Xu Zhuoyue looked at him speechlessly. "I already asked Fat Dragon. Xia Jinsu is practically the beauty of the sophomore class. Are you telling me she actually wrote you a love letter?"
"You don’t believe me?"
"Heh, show it to me if you’re telling the truth."
"How can I just show a love letter to someone else so casually?" Song Yunshen shook his head, looking profound and mysterious.
Hearing this, Xu Zhuoyue became even more unconvinced. He scoffed, completely dropping the topic, and instead asked, "Then what about Xia Yunuo?"
"Sigh... I don’t want to be a scumbag either," Song Yunshen said, putting on a troubled expression.
"Give you an inch and you take a mile. Are you seriously starting to fantasize?" Xu Zhuoyue said in annoyance.
Song Yunshen didn’t want to say much more to him, so he simply continued mulling over the matter of the two sisters, Xia Jinsu and Xia Yunuo, while briefly considering his tutoring arrangements.
After the flag-raising ceremony ended.
Instead of returning straight to her classroom, Xia Jinsu headed toward the English Club and successfully retrieved Song Yunshen’s reply. Once back in her classroom, she took advantage of the short break before the first period to open his letter and read it carefully.
"Hello, fellow student.
"I have received your reply, and I’m very glad to confirm that my previous letter was helpful to you.
"However, if you want to do well in tutoring, a good source of students is important, but the tutor’s own proficiency is equally crucial.
"So, if you don’t mind me asking, what are your current grades in your various subjects?
"If your academic performance is quite good, I might be able to offer you a part-time tutoring opportunity.
"Looking forward to your reply."
After reading the contents of the letter, Xia Jinsu confirmed that Song Yunshen indeed made no mention of the fact that he was the one looking for an English tutor. But thanks to the contents of last night’s diary entry, she had already learned this in advance.
The moment she thought about the tutoring wage of at least one hundred yuan an hour, Xia Jinsu couldn’t bring herself to refuse his goodwill. Thus, during the first period—which happened to be English—Xia Jinsu buried her head in writing a reply.
At the very end, when it came time to sign off, she hesitated repeatedly before finally putting pen to paper.
When the final morning class concluded.
In a departure from his usual behavior, Song Yunshen didn’t charge out the door the moment the bell rang. Instead, he unhurriedly tidied up his desk. He waited until Xia Yunuo stood up before getting up to leave the classroom as well.
On the way to the cafeteria, Song Yunshen walked up beside Xia Yunuo and took the initiative to say, "I’m treating you to lunch."
"Huh?" Xia Yunuo was visibly stunned. She hadn’t been paying attention earlier and had assumed Song Yunshen had already sprinted to the cafeteria with Xu Zhuoyue. Hearing his voice now, she was clearly quite surprised.
"Is it a bit too abrupt for me to do this?" Song Yunshen thought. "But there’s no other way. I’ll just give it a try first."
Because of their close proximity, Xia Yunuo could hear Song Yunshen’s inner voice even more clearly. Listening to the voice echoing in her mind, Xia Yunuo pondered to herself. She wondered if she was being hit on by a boy again.
At the end of the day, Song Yunshen was just a normal guy... She had thought that someone whose inner voice she could hear might be somehow different.
"Am I being hit on by a boy again?" she thought.
Hearing Xia Yunuo’s inner thoughts, Song Yunshen couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth, thinking that the little girl was quite narcissistic.
Alright, it couldn’t really be considered narcissistic... Glancing at the side profile of the girl next to him, Song Yunshen silently retracted his previous thought.
"I borrowed your English homework before," Song Yunshen said. "I’ve always believed in returning favors, so I want to treat you to a meal to show my thanks."
"I hope she doesn’t get the wrong idea again. I’m really not trying to pick you up, even though you are indeed very pretty," Song Yunshen thought.
"Damn! What’s with the look in this guy’s eyes next to us? Where is he staring? What a creep!
"Hmm... there’s not much of a curve here anyway, so what’s there to look at?"
She was nowhere near as good as Xia Keneng.
Many thoughts flashed through Song Yunshen’s mind.
Listening to the inner voice in her mind, Xia Yunuo turned her head to look at Song Yunshen. Noticing his gaze directed at her chest, her face instantly stiffened.
She wondered what on earth was going on in this guy’s head.
As for the stares of boys, to be honest, Xia Yunuo had been used to them since she was little. Whenever she walked down the street, at least nine out of ten men couldn’t resist taking a second look at her.
"But why does he want to treat me to lunch?" she thought. "Is it really just to thank me for lending him my English homework? It can’t be that simple, right? Doesn’t his group usually borrow Kang Ping’s homework?"
"I’ll take your silence as a yes," Song Yunshen said straightforwardly, seeing that she had plenty to say in her mind but remained completely silent vocally.
He wasn’t one to dawdle, nor did he have much psychological baggage. If he had something to say, he said it straight without beating around the bush.
Logically speaking, Xia Yunuo should have already refused. She was indeed short on money. Even at the school cafeteria, she could mostly only afford vegetables, and could only occasionally order a meat dish. But that didn’t mean she would accept charity from others for no reason.
If she wanted to, it wouldn’t be a problem for her to have a different boy treat her to meals at school every single day. But she obviously wouldn’t do such a thing.
However, by this time, the two of them had already arrived at the entrance to the cafeteria. Xia Yunuo looked at the "Steamed Egg with Meat Patty" displayed on the electronic screen and couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.
Well... she just hadn’t eaten meat in a long time. There was no other meaning behind it.
Xia Yunuo looked at Song Yunshen’s sharp side profile and replied in a low voice, "Mhm."