…So noisy.
The warm orange lights of the shop were bright yet gentle. Through the door, students in uniforms came and went in small groups, faces lit up with cheerful smiles. Every so often, little kids ran up and down the aisles, laughing and playing.
But the lively, bustling atmosphere had nothing to do with Zhu Shuiwen.
She sat like a grade-schooler, hands clenched into fists on her knees, body tense and instinctively leaning forward.
Those tiny prickles crawling across her skin had, the moment He Xueqi placed the number card on the table, evolved into a full-fledged version of “sitting on pins and needles.”
—She has to take her mask off to eat!
How could she have forgotten that!
He Xueqi sat down across from her and said something that sounded like a blessing from heaven: “Sorry, the boss said it’ll be about ten minutes… there are too many people.”
What had been a death sentence suddenly turned into a ten-minute reprieve. The girl finally managed to catch her breath and said hoarsely, “Okay.”
She was slowly getting used to the hoarse state caused by her “cold,” but still dared not say much—say too much, and she’d make a mistake.
However…
Uh…
…Villain, say something!
“Hahaha… come catch me!”
A child darted past the table in a flash, taunting the other kids with arms flailing.
Zhu Shuiwen: …
The kid leapt onto the empty chair at the next table, hopping and stomping: “Hey, I’m over here~”
He Xueqi: …
“I’m the captain! Keep up with me, let’s go—”
In this noisy environment, the dead silence between the two of them felt even more pronounced.
When the child ran past for the fifth time, Zhu Shuiwen couldn’t help but mutter, “I mean…”
Unexpectedly, He Xueqi happened to speak at the same time: “You…”
The girl hurriedly said, “You go first!”
The next second, she regretted it.
Because the villain said—
“You’re going to eat soon, aren’t you taking your mask off?”
He Xueqi’s hands were crossed on the table, his gaze fixed on her.
The interview-like tension made Zhu Shuiwen’s heart race.
After struggling internally for a few moments, she chose to trust the sample lines in the outline.
—What her sister would say is always better than what she could come up with herself!
She picked a line from her mental “inventory” and imitated her sister’s tone: “Isn’t the food not here yet?”
It was exactly the same sentence, but the feeling was completely different.
If Zhu Feifei were here, she’d probably say it crisply, as if it were obvious and required no explanation.
But when the girl said it—even hoarse—it carried a soft, tentative tone, a careful timidity that made anyone reluctant to press further.
Yet clearly, not even fate was on her side at this moment.
“Table 10, beef burger~”
After a crisp call, the waitress quickly carried over the tray, smiling: “Here’s something to start with, the rest will take a little longer.”
Zhu Shuiwen: …!!!
Wait, it was supposed to be ten minutes!
“This batch came out a little extra, so we’ll serve it first. Happy now, little one? Won’t have to wait that long…” The aunt sounded cheerful. “Remember, take big bites of the burger!”
A heavy hand patted the girl’s shoulder twice before the auntie happily walked away, swaying slightly as she left.
—Leaving behind a girl frozen stiff like a startled chick.
“Not eating, Classmate Zhu?”
He Xueqi’s voice was gentle, but somehow carried a strange pressure: “When I asked if you wanted food earlier, you nodded so quickly, I thought you were really hungry.”
Because… because! At that moment, all she thought about was buying time!
Following her “one step at a time, just act first” strategy, she was cornered.
Before Zhu Shuiwen could say anything, He Xueqi suddenly dropped an even scarier question—
“You seem really afraid I’ll see your face?”
For some reason, Zhu Shuiwen had a strong premonition: answer this wrong, and the consequences would be catastrophic.
Supporting this feeling, the previously still “offset value” began fluctuating, up and down.
The crimson color flickered like the beat of her racing heart.
The doubt that had long been buried in her chest surfaced again at this moment.
She’d noticed earlier—the villain’s every move had been too cooperative, as if he were intentionally “playing along” to buy time.
Could it be that he was just looking for a chance to confirm who she really was?
How strange.
She tensed up, rubbing her thumb against her fingernail to ease her anxiety slightly.
She had already “self-revealed” her identity as Zhu Feifei, her build was similar, and the school uniform from Fuhai High School made it so that from a meter away, even gender could be indistinguishable from behind—who would casually suspect that their classmate might actually be someone else in disguise?
Most importantly…
This is a novel!
Isn’t the rule of novels that as long as you wear a mask, veil, or anything covering the face, everyone instantly becomes blind and can’t recognize the person?
Besides, the Plot Patching System should cover any unnatural traces—right?
As if to reassure her, the system immediately said: [ID 1094—Plot Patching System, sincerely at your service.]
Good.
Then she really believed it!
Taking two deep breaths, Zhu Shuiwen placed her hand on the mask strap.
Seconds later, she quickly pulled it off, revealed a small portion of her cheek, then covered it back up.
It was a fleeting moment—but enough for the other to see.
Large patches of rash, blotchy and swollen along her cheek, almost horrifying in appearance.
Beside the ears, the skin still looked fair and soft; no one would guess that beneath it lay such a sight.
“I’ve got a rash… I don’t want anyone to see it.”
She tried hard to look as calm as He Xueqi, but…
She failed.
Feeling the villain’s gaze suddenly freeze on her, she just couldn’t hold it in. She clasped her hands together under the table and happily gave a little clap.
Take! That! In!
She had guessed that if she didn’t take off her mask, she might get asked about it. So before coming, she had stopped by a beauty store by the roadside and rubbed some sample hand cream on her face.
She was mildly allergic to fragrances—just a tiny bit would trigger a big, scary rash—but it would fade after a few hours.
Aside from scaring the sales clerk half to death, everything went perfectly as she had imagined.
This is what attention to detail looks like. This is what precision is!
“Please praise me right now, system.”
System: […Alright.]
Although it wasn’t equipped with that function, seeing the girl so pleased with herself made it hard not to oblige.
Feeling good, Zhu Shuiwen grew a little bolder. She pushed the burger toward him and blurted out the excuse she had prepared. “Sorry, I forgot I’ve been dieting lately. You can have it.”
The boy didn’t take it. “I bought this for you,” he said simply.
Caught off guard, her words stuck in her throat.
She looked up and saw him speaking calmly. “I chose this place to thank you… I’m sorry for assuming you’d like somewhere like this without asking what you wanted to eat first.”
He paused. “I’ve never been here before either. It’s not somewhere I usually go.”
“Why…?”
Before she could finish the question, Zhu Shuiwen already knew the answer.
—It’s expensive.
Trendy local spots in Fuhai popped up all the time, with queues moving fast. Judging by the line, this was probably one of them.
Places like this, designed for photos and social media, often charged a premium.
But coming from the countryside, she had never considered this—she just thought it was an ordinary fried chicken and burger joint.
On impulse, she blurted out, “Actually… I saw you didn’t look well and thought you needed something to eat… so I agreed. I’m not really hungry…”
“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that I thought… you need it more than I do… I didn’t know it was expensive…”
The girl hesitated. “So… can we return the food that hasn’t been served yet?”
In the middle of her jumbled words, she suddenly realized she had forgotten something very important.
…She forgot to check the ‘sample lines’ first!
Earlier, every line she spoke had been pulled from the system and painstakingly made to sound like Zhu Feifei’s “cool and aloof” style.
And now, all of that was ruined!
With a panicked look, she saw He Xueqi’s gaze shift away first.
The bright red letters on the system display had dimmed slightly.
[Offset value: 70%]
In just a few seconds, it had dropped by 20%!
Zhu Shuiwen was puzzled.
But soon, she let go of those thoughts and followed her instincts, extending her hand and pressing the box fully into his.
Her gesture sent a very clear message.
—You eat it!
After a moment, He Xueqi reluctantly picked up the burger.
It was clear he was hungry—he finished it in a few bites—but he ate politely, making no sound, which somehow felt satisfying to watch.
Just as the girl was thinking about how to explain returning the food, she heard the boy’s voice—
“I want to clear up a misunderstanding. The price isn’t really a problem for me. I said it’s not a place to come often because the wait is too long.”
He neatly folded the burger’s wrapper and placed it back in the box. “Classmate Zhu, it’s really delicious.”
…So, what now?
“I wanted to share it with you.”