The young master’s pale lips parted slightly. When his gaze fell upon the man, it was as indifferent as stagnant pond water. “I have already made an agreement with this sister. Since she was the one who brought me here, let her be the one to teach me.”
His expression was flat, yet as it reflected in the young man’s eyes, one couldn’t tell if he was happy or angry. However, there was an invisible sense of burgeoning irritation.
“But Xiao Pei…” the young man hesitated.
“If she doesn’t do a good job, then why did management hire her in the first place?” Xie Yun said, his face still devoid of emotion.
The air seemed to freeze for a second. Then, a corner of her mouth quirked up—Pei Shuyan smiled. Having been snubbed, the young man didn’t dare contradict the eldest young master, so he sullenly made way for the two of them.
White marble tiles still dominated the room in a vast expanse of white. The kitchen counters were clean and hygienic, the surfaces practically glowing.
Pei Shuyan gathered the ingredients needed for the macarons and handed him a pair of transparent gloves. “Sorry about that, Young Master Xie. Just a small interlude. Let’s begin.”
From the way the young man had acted, it seemed Xiao Pei experienced this quite often; her face remained largely expressionless. However, as an outsider to their internal conflicts, Xie Yun didn’t feel it was right to ask too much. He simply put on the gloves and said, “Sister, just call me by my name. We aren’t in a master-servant relationship.”
Xie Yun wasn’t used to the formal address.
As his voice crisp and cold as an icicle fell, Pei Shuyan froze for a brief moment. The young master was asking her to call him by name? She didn’t dare; this was the eldest young master of the Xie family from Florentine State.
Seeing her stunned lack of reaction, Xie Yun couldn’t help but marvel at how severe the class divide was in this world. Fearing he was putting pressure on her, he gave her a smile. “My apologies. If you aren’t comfortable with it, feel free to call me whatever you like.”
His sudden smile caught Pei Shuyan off guard again. It was like a crack appearing in a sheet of thin ice; the snow melted, and a stream of soft, gentle water began to flow out. It was a very beautiful smile.
Her breath hitched.
“No, no, no, it’s not like that at all. How could I not be comfortable?” Recovering her senses, Pei Shuyan waved her hands frantically. “If Young Master doesn’t like the title—ah, no—if you don’t like it, I’ll just call you classmate. Student Xie.”
Xie Yun maintained his smile. “Let’s start, Sister.”
The two of them put on transparent protective face shields. The deep blue school uniform fit Xie Yun’s tall frame perfectly. With the shield on, his long eyelashes trembled slightly as he looked down, making him look somewhat obedient. The shield on his face looked more like an accessory, making him appear even more handsome.
Pei Shuyan guided him through sifting the flour and whisking the egg whites. She watched as the transparent gloves hugged Xie Yun’s long, bony fingers as he performed each step with strength and focus.
She couldn’t help but smile. She truly enjoyed this process; it would be wonderful if he could come to the dining hall often.
“By the way, Student Xie, I heard you don’t like sweets. Making them yourself… are they a gift for someone?” she asked.
It was a casual question, and Xie Yun didn’t mind. “Yeah, they’re for my younger brother. He has a sweet tooth.”
“Oh—” Pei Shuyan recalled the boy named Lu Yibing and let out a long “oh.” “He’s so lucky to have a brother like you, who would come here specifically to learn how to make them for him.”
Yeah.
System, you’re so wonderful.
Xie Yun smiled, though his back molars were nearly ground to dust.
Mixing, piping, drying, baking, and finally preparing the filling—at last, a batch of small, delicate pink macarons was completed. It was a success; it seemed baking wasn’t that difficult after all.
Pei Shuyan then smilingly found an exquisite box to pack them in and handed it to him. Xie Yun wanted to pay, but she refused. “You made these yourself; they weren’t a direct purchase. I won’t take your money, Student Xie.”
Xie Yun felt a bit helpless. “The materials belong to you.”
Pei Shuyan laughed. “These materials were leftovers from today. If you hadn’t come, we were going to throw them away. You actually helped us take care of them, Student Xie. I should be thanking you.”
She smiled like a flower in bloom, making Xie Yun even more embarrassed and unsure of what to say. “Thank you for your hard work today.”
Pei Shuyan smiled and watched him walk away. Once he was out of sight, she hurried to pull out her phone.
[Field Academy Forum]
[OP]: Guess who your senior sister spotted while working part-time at the dining hall today?
[2L]: Holy crap, isn’t this the fan-fiction author ‘Corn and Rib Soup’? Where’s the follow-up for the ‘All-for-Yun’ fic? Why did you stop writing?
[3L]: Yeah! The ‘All-for-Yun’ stuff is so good. Alpha and Omega both going for the Beta… it makes me want to transmigrate into the story. Author… feed us… we’re hungry…
Her long fingers paused upon seeing the comments. Pei Shuyan quickly typed out a few lines.
[OP]: The moderators have been watching closely lately, as you all know. How about this: I’ll set up a private group and invite you all. I’ll definitely update daily then.
The forum immediately exploded with private messages and people sharing their contact info.
[OP]: Anyway, back to the main topic—I met XY today! The real deal! He’s truly such a gentle and beautiful boy… he even stood up for me. Standing next to him, I felt like I forgot how to breathe.
[56L]: Ah? What! What was XY doing at the dining hall tonight?
[OP]: I managed to get it out of him. I heard he was making macarons for LYB. Damn, that kid is eating so well. A beauty personally came over to have me teach him just to make them for him. I’m so jealous my tears are leaking from the corners of my mouth.
[58L]: My god…
The forum was filled with a mix of indignation and sighs of awe.
[OP]: Alright, I’m just venting here. I’m afraid XY will see this, so I’m deleting the post. I still want to leave a good impression on him.
With that, she ignored the rising popularity of the post and hit delete immediately after sending.
The late-night wind gently brushed against Xie Yun’s bangs. The post-rain evening air felt very comfortable against his skin. His tall stature made him exceptionally eye-catching in the crowd; whenever he passed under the shade of a tree, men and women would approach him for his contact information, but he politely declined them all with a smile.
Terrifying.
Xie Yun just wanted to get back to his classroom.
Patches of tree shadows stretched across the moonlit ground like large black ink stains. The leaves rustled, and that uneasy feeling of a presence behind him rose once again.
Someone was following him again.
Xie Yun was speechless. He quickened his pace. But as his movements hurried, the other person hurried too; when he slowed down, the other person mimicked him. Finally, Xie Yun stopped abruptly and turned around, locking eyes with the stalker.
“Cui Yiyang, what are you doing following me?”
After seeing who it was, Xie Yun lifted his eyelids and stared at him coldly, his face full of impatience.
A gentle, cool breeze drifted between them. Cui Yiyang stood there with his usual casual, roguish air. He let out a scoff and immediately denied it. “Who’s following you?”
The air was silent for a second before Cui Yiyang spoke again. “This school is huge. Do you own the path I’m walking on?”
Xie Yun, who had deliberately taken a detour, raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing this.
Is that so?
His grip on the transparent bag tightened. Xie Yun didn’t care to bicker with him; he ignored the remark and turned to leave.
Cui Yiyang, once again left hanging: “?”
“Hey, I said, you transfer student—how can you be so rude? Why are you always avoiding me!”
A warm hand clamped onto the wrist of the person trying to leave, accompanied by harsh words. Xie Yun knit his brows and turned back to face the person who had rushed up to him.
At that moment, the streetlight, glowing with a white light like captured moonbeams, reflected off Xie Yun’s face. Cui Yiyang froze.
Long eyelashes fluttered gently like gossamer curtains before his eyes. There were faint, dark circles under Xie Yun’s eyes, and his eyelids were as thin as a cicada’s wing—one could even see the faint blue veins pulsing beneath his cold, white skin.
Gazing at this exquisite face from such close proximity, the observer held his breath for an instant.
The scent of cedarwood once again teased his nose. Xie Yun abruptly shook off his hand and pulled away. He wanted to leave, but the other man, having regained his senses, grabbed his arm.
“What is this thing?”
Seeing that Xie Yun wouldn’t respond to anything else, Cui Yiyang looked down at the transparent bag. Inside was a pink-and-gold decorated tin box with violet flowers embossed on it. It looked like something only used for desserts. He reached out to grab it.
With his arm pinned, Xie Yun pulled the bag inward and raised his leg to stomp on the other’s foot, speaking coldly: “Don’t touch it. It’s nothing.”
Having been kicked again in front of potential onlookers for no reason, Cui Yiyang was instantly furious. Disregarding everything, he forcibly snatched the bag from Xie Yun’s hand.
Unable to match the other’s strength, the object was in Cui Yiyang’s possession in the next instant.
His brow furrowed even tighter. Xie Yun reached out to take it back, but the other man held it high with a playful smirk, keeping it out of reach.
Xie Yun, who was exactly half a head shorter than his opponent: ……
However, his face remained as calm as water. Since reaching up didn’t work, he raised his leg to stomp on the other again, but Cui Yiyang—having learned his lesson—anticipated the move and stepped back. “What is it that even I can’t see? Today, I’m definitely going to have a look.”
What happens if I don’t finish the task? Xie Yun asked the system quietly in his head. He estimated that if he got into a real fight with Cui Yiyang here, the macarons would likely not survive the ordeal.
The system laughed: Need some outside assistance?