Chapter 5.2| Snacks and Traditional pastries

Lin Xipei just found out that they were middle school classmates, a direction she had never thought of before.

"Yin," Xipei set down the tray, curiously and carefully asked, "Have you been in touch with Xu Zhiyi and Xing Xiuze since graduation?"

"No," Yin poked at the tomato and egg stir-fry, "Only with Xu Zhiyi."

Xipei stared blankly at Yin, chopsticks standing upright in the noodle bowl, her heart pounding with excitement.

She was about to get closer to the true story between Zhiyi and Yin!

Yin looked at Xipei poking at the noodles without making a move, and said, "Xipei, if you don't stir the noodles, they'll clump together."

Xipei retracted her silly smile, distracted while stirring the noodles in her bowl, "It's okay, clumped noodles are tasty too."

Untangling the clumped noodles was a bit of a hassle, and without realising it, Zhiyi, Xiuze, and Hai stood one step away from their table holding trays.

"Why aren't you sitting down?" Yin asked Zhiyi, looking up as if it was the most natural question.

Xipei took the opportunity to look up, stopped stirring the noodles, who stirs noodles seriously at this time anyway. She knowingly moved the tray to Yin's side.

With a mouthful of unstirred noodles, Xipei saw the person sitting across from her and almost sprayed the noodles into their tray.

"Why are you sitting across from me?"

The person sitting across from her was Xing Xiuze.

"Is there a problem with me sitting across from you?"

"Yes." Xipei widened her eyes, trying to display a fierce demeanour but coming off as more cute, "You're not from our class, why do you get to sit across from me?"

"At least we're alumni."

"I only acknowledge classmates from my own class."

The phrase "classmates from my own class" hit Xiuze's heart. His biggest regret from childhood to now was not being in the same class as Zhiyi after elementary school.

Xiuze grimaced and exchanged seats with Hai sitting beside him.

"Is there a conflict?" Given Xiuze's pranks in JHATAC's cafeteria targeting her, it's not hard to guess. 

"Yes," 

Xipei gritted her teeth, saying, "It's a huge 'grudge'." 

Yin shifted her gaze to Zhiyi sitting across from her, who explained, "At the beginning of the first year of high school, Xipei came with twin ponytails, and Xiuze encountered her in the stairway, pretending to be a senior 'harassing' a 'junior sister,' and that's how their feud began." 

Yin sucked on her chopsticks, nodded seriously, and said, "Well, he had it coming." 

"I knew you wouldn't have anything good to say," Xiuze sneered, "Despite us being alumni." "If you bring back all those years when you made the cafeteria auntie go easy on me with tomato and egg stir-fry and braised pork with fried eggs, then we can talk about being former schoolmates."

Xiuze glanced at Yin and suddenly asked, "Meng Yin, why did you transfer to this school now?" 

Four pairs of eyes stared at her, and the air fell silent for a moment. 

"Family matters." 

"Oh." He didn't press further on personal matters.

"If you can't say anything nice, then say less," Xipei turned back to spar with Xiuze. 

Yet, Zhiyi, upon hearing Yin's response, narrowed his brows slightly.

Yin didn't have much of an appetite, finishing only the tomato and egg stir-fry and a bit of beef in his bowl, leaving most of the noodles untouched. 

"Full?" Zhiyi asked as Yin put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Yes." 

"Just over a month apart, and your appetite has decreased?" 

"Your appetite doesn't seem like the usual Meng Yin..." Xiuze, who hadn't yet realised he was in trouble, glanced at Yin's bowl, echoing Zhiyi's comment with an expression of 'You're wasting food.' 

Yin crumpled the used napkin and threw it onto Xiuze's plate, then turned to Zhiyi and said, "Xu Zhiyi, you should stop talking too." While making a threatening gesture as he spoke, it didn't faze Zhiyi. 

Zhiyi handed Yin a naked egg cake wrapped in a plastic bag. "Here, for you." 

Yin was puzzled and instinctively asked, "Why for me?"

 "Don't you like it?" 

"Oh..." Yin's voice trailed off. 

The others murmured disapprovingly.

They fell behind Xipei and Yin by more than ten meters. 

Xiuze and Hai stood side by side, looking at Zhiyi. One of them asked, "Does Meng Yin like egg cakes?" 

Another one asked, "How did the eldest brother who claims not to like desserts end up buying egg cakes?"

 "Do you guys want some too?" 

"I'm really curious now, as good brothers who grew up together, do you remember what I love to eat the most, Xu Zhiyi?" Xiuze's words carried a hint of jealousy. 

Zhiyi looked at Xiuze with an almost dumbfounded expression and replied, "Stir-fried leeks with eggs." 

This answer made Hai burst into laughter and teasingly look at Xiuze. 

"What are you looking at?" 

"Hahaha... I think I know why you studied liberal arts," Hai said while laughing. Zhiyi took a step to the side, Xiuze's arm put on Hai's shoulder, and the two twisted into a mess on the road. This scene happened several times a week, and Zhiyi was already used to it. 

"What's wrong with you?" Yin asked. Xi Pei had been twisting her sleeve all the way, smiling inexplicably. 

"Ah..." Xipei let go of her hand, touched Yin's sleeve, and said, "Nothing." I just felt a bit like a prairie dog in my heart. 

"Yin," Xipei searched for words, "I feel... Zhiyi understands you quite well." Understands your taste. 

Yin smiled slightly and explained, "When we were in the third year at JHATAC, the cafeteria sometimes sold egg cakes, and I would buy them every time." If she didn't notice sometimes, Zhiyi would make sure to get them for her. 

As soon as they entered the classroom, Yin saw a pile of snacks on her seat, all kinds of them, like a small mountain. 

"What's this?" She stood in front of the desk in a daze. 

"This is a tradition in our class," the monitor Shen Bin explained as he walked over, "whenever we have a new transfer student, we put some snacks on the new student's desk to welcome them." After all, snacks are the best way to enhance group cohesion. 

Xipei nodded, took out her portion from under the desk, and placed it on top of the pile. A pack of Wang Wang Mini Crisps. 

Yin looked around the classroom, the people weren't all there yet, but everyone's gentle and cheerful gazes were on her. She already had a smile on her lips, "Thank you, everyone." Her voice was neither loud nor soft, entering everyone's ears in the quiet classroom. 

Just one morning, Yin felt like a long time had passed. The warmth of the people here was so strong, she was really happy. 

Finding a paper bag, Yin packed everyone's kindness into it. 

Feeling the egg cake in her school uniform pocket, Yin suddenly thought: Could this be a welcome gift from Zhiyi? Regardless, she really liked it.

The afternoon sessions were focused on reviewing and assessing exam papers. Although Yin did not take the exam, she still went through the papers to estimate where she might have ranked if she had participated. 

During the break, Yin snacked on the treats her classmates had given her, filling her stomach to the point that she didn't feel hungry at dinner time. Nevertheless, she accompanied Xipei to the cafeteria. 

Yin had a bowl of tomato and egg stir-fry and savoured a piece of cake given to her by Zhiyi at lunch. Observing her eating the cake so delicately, Xipei felt tempted to take a picture as if she were protecting a treasure.

The self-study session ended at 9 p.m. Yin, one of the students who didn't reside on campus, packed her bag and picked up the paper bag on the lower shelf. As she turned, she saw Zhiyi holding two books, waiting by the classroom's back door. Yin walked over, didn't speak, but raised her eyebrows inquiringly towards Zhiyi. "I'll walk you to the school gate," he said. Knowing he had something on his mind all day, Yin just nodded.

They left the classroom one after the other, always maintaining a distance of three steps between them.Once outside the classroom building, Zhiyi pointed in a direction, "To the right." Going straight led to the main school gate while turning right led to the south gate. When Meng Yin looked to the right, momentarily stunned, Zhiyi stepped forward and asked, "Residing in your grandma's place?" 

Before Yin was born, her father's overseas project required him to be stationed abroad, with her mother accompanying him. They later started a business in Australia. From birth until the age of three, Yin's mother stayed in China to take care of her. Afterwards, her mother returned to Australia, while Yin remained in China, taken care of alternately by her grandmother and her maternal grandmother's families.

Her grandma's house was closer to the Third High School, while her maternal grandma's house was closer to the First High School. Growing up, Yin stayed at her grandma's house for half a month and then at her maternal grandma's house for the other half, and both families treated her well. Although the Third High School was not a top-tier high school, the academic workload was intense. Yin commuted from her grandma's house during the week and spent her breaks at her maternal grandma's house.

Upon hearing Zhiyi's question, Yin nodded. 

"Let's head towards the south gate," he added. 

Yin responded with an "okay" and followed Zhiyi's lead.

Under the cover of nightfall, the psychological activities of the two individuals were concealed. Zhiyi, at the opportune moment, inquired, "Is there something going on at home?" Anticipating this question from him, Yin had prepared an answer after several days of contemplation, "My parents want me to apply to foreign schools using my college entrance exam scores." 

Many Ivy League schools accept students with a certain score on the college entrance exam for direct admission. Yin stole a glance at Zhiyi, his expression seemed to indicate belief. Before she could even exhale, he immediately followed up with, "Have you decided on which school to attend?"

Meng hesitated briefly before replying, "Not yet." 

Zhiyi continued with his questioning, "Why didn't you mention this during our hotpot dinner?" 

Yin remained silent, and Zhiyi seemed to understand her answer without pressing further.

Taking a milk chocolate-flavored lollipop out of a paper bag, Yin handed it to Zhiyi in an attempt to please, "I wanted to give you a surprise, but ... it might be more of a shock." 

"No, it's not," Zhiyi denied, with a hint of amusement in his words, "It's quite nice." 

It's good that you transferred here; it's good that we can work hard together in our final year; it's good. 

Accepting the lollipop from Yin, Zhiyi jokingly tapped her head with it, prompting Yin to playfully rub her scalp and glare at him, "You're going to make me dumb!" 

"If this makes you dumb, can you still transfer to THS?" He was well aware of the conditions for transferring to THS.

Before long, the two arrived at the south gate. Zhiyi went inside to the guardhouse and returned with a paper bag for her. 

Surprised, Yin questioned, "When did you go and get this?" The packaging was all too familiar to Meng; it was from Nanchao Ji, her favourite Chinese traditional pastry shop. 

"I ordered takeout," Zhiyi explained, "Don't you love their pastries?" 

Yin beamed with a smile, hugging the bag of pastries to her chest, teasing, "Are they all for me?" 

"They're all for you." 

"Is this a welcome gift for me?" 

Under the moonlight, the sparkle in her eyes was evident to Xu Zhiyi, who simply nodded in response. "What about the cake for lunch?" Yin inquired. 

"Don't you like egg cakes?" he replied. 

Yin bit her lip, her smile growing wider. She was genuinely happy. "I'll head home now," adjusting the bag of pastries she held, "Thank you, Xu Zhiyi." 

"Send me a message when you get home." 

"Got it!" She walked away, waving to Zhiyi, a smile lingering on her lips, reluctant to fade away.