The little cartoon wolf sticker looked completely out of place on the meal card—like a muscular gym bro using a pink water bottle.
“Pfft~!”
An Ling couldn’t help bursting into laughter when the image popped into her head.
Li Yang turned around curiously.
Following her gaze, he picked up the meal card and took a look.
“You like this sticker? I still have a few more. I can bring you a couple tomorrow if you want.”
“No… no need.”
“It’s fine, I have plenty.”
An Ling was about to say something else when a voice suddenly sounded from the side.
“Hey, Li Yang!”
A few boys walked past.
One of them called out to Li Yang.
An Ling vaguely remembered him—he seemed to be one of their classmates, probably Li Yang’s deskmate.
The boy walked over and looked the two of them up and down.
“Nice one. Already making friends with the new classmate? No wonder I couldn’t find you when you went to the bathroom earlier.”
“Get lost.” Li Yang laughed and cursed at him. “This is my childhood friend. We grew up together.”
“Childhood friend, huh~”
The boy paused for a second.
“Oh, so this is the one you mentioned before. She actually transferred into our class. What a coincidence.”
“Mhm.” Li Yang nodded.
“An Ling, this is Wang Hao, my deskmate.”
“Alright, alright, stop blocking the line.” Li Yang waved them away.
“Go queue up.”
Wang Hao teased them a bit more before returning to his group of friends.
The boys walked off laughing and joking.
“He’s a friend I made in high school. Pretty decent guy,” Li Yang explained to An Ling.
“One of the few real friends I actually hang out with. He’s just a little unreliable sometimes.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be really popular?”
An Ling couldn’t help asking.
“People are complicated. Popularity needs to be maintained. With so many different personalities around, a lot of it is just surface-level. Honestly, it gets tiring sometimes. I’d rather do nothing and just sleep. That feels way better.”
Li Yang’s tone was light, but An Ling’s sharp hearing caught every word clearly.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell other people?”
“You probably won’t. And even if you did, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Fair enough. Li Yang was right—she wouldn’t go spreading it around.
After queuing for over ten minutes, they finally got their food.
Li Yang led An Ling to a quiet corner seat and pushed the braised pork ribs toward her.
“Try it. See if it suits your taste.”
An Ling picked up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth.
The meat was tender and flavorful. It really was delicious.
“How is it?” Li Yang looked at her expectantly.
“Mhm, it’s good.”
“See?” Li Yang grinned proudly. “Told you this window was great.”
An Ling ate with her head down, occasionally glancing at Li Yang.
At least the guy was serious about eating.
Suddenly, Li Yang looked up and their eyes met.
“What are you looking at me for?”
“Nothing. Just eat.”
“Sigh. You know, I set multiple alarms every night now. It’s such a hassle.”
An Ling’s ears twitched.
“You used to wake me up all the time, remember? I got used to it. Who knew getting up by myself would be this troublesome.”
“I’ve changed my alarm tones several times. The ones on my phone just aren’t loud enough.”
It was true.
Li Yang’s ability to sleep had always been something An Ling envied.
When he fell into deep sleep, it was like he had been knocked out with anesthesia.
Maybe he stayed up too late, which was why he slept so heavily.
Li Yang smiled as he spoke.
“How about you start waking me up again? That way I won’t have to deal with setting alarms. You don’t know how much I feel like I’m going crazy every morning when those alarms go off.”
In your dreams. “Wake yourself up,” An Ling replied indifferently.
Waking Li Yang up had always been a strenuous task.
It was like trying to flip over a pig that had fallen into a deep sleep.
“Sigh, so cold-hearted.” Li Yang pretended to be heartbroken. “You weren’t like this when we were little.”
“I never liked waking you up even when we were little~” An Ling muttered under her breath.
“What?”
“Nothing. Eat your food.”
An Ling stopped talking and continued eating.
Li Yang didn’t mind.
While eating, he kept chattering away, telling her about the school—which teachers were strict, which ones were easygoing, good places to nap during lunch, and which store had the best snacks.
An Ling listened, occasionally responding with a sound, but mostly stayed silent.
Afternoon classes continued as usual.
An Ling focused on listening and taking notes while Li Yang occasionally paid attention before dozing off again.
After the second period in the afternoon, Li Yang took An Ling to get her meal card.
An Ling comforted herself with the excuse that she wasn’t familiar with the school yet, so it was normal to let Li Yang help.
During the last class of the afternoon, the teacher told them to review the last few problems they had covered.
An Ling finally had time to zone out properly. She let her mind go blank for a while before thinking about what to do next.
She figured that after spending so much time with Li Yang today, she would probably receive new memory fragments when she got home tonight.
She wondered how things would develop this time.
Right before school ended, Li Yang had already packed his bag early.
“Want to go home together later?”
The teacher was also packing up.
Li Yang seized the moment and turned around to ask An Ling.
An Ling looked at him.
“I want to head back a bit later. Why don’t you go first?”
“Huh? If you’re not going straight home, where are you going?”
“I want to walk around the neighborhood and buy some daily necessities at the supermarket. I’m still missing some everyday items.”
An Ling had only done a quick cleanup of the house yesterday and hadn’t bought daily supplies yet.
She hoped the supermarket was still in the same spot as when she was a child.
Li Yang paused.
“That makes sense. The house has probably been empty for a while, so you do need to buy some stuff. Want me to go with you? Do you even know where the supermarket is now?”
“I did live here before. It’s not a big deal.”
“Eh~” Li Yang narrowed his eyes at her.
“It’s changed. The old small supermarket closed a long time ago. They opened a big chain supermarket on the street instead. Small shops couldn’t compete. The old spot is now a café and a bubble tea shop, with a decent claw machine arcade squeezed in between.”
It seemed she really didn’t know what the area looked like now.
Maybe going with Li Yang wouldn’t be so bad?
“You… you don’t have plans after school? Going with me would be wasting your time. Or maybe…”
“It’s fine. I’ve gotten bored of everything around here after all these years. After school I’d just go home and play games anyway. It’s no trouble. Let’s go together.”
“Then… I…” An Ling’s tail swayed a few times.
“You show me the way. When we pass by the old supermarket location, I’ll treat you to a drink.”
Treating him to a drink should count as a transaction.
Yes! Once the transaction was complete, any entanglement between them would be cleared.
It wouldn’t count as friends helping each other.
“Thanks then, big-city young master~” Li Yang teased, looking even happier.
“It’s not… you!” An Ling’s face flushed red in an instant.
School was over. The bell that students looked forward to the most rang out.
The two of them walked out of the classroom together, down the corridor, and downstairs.
An Ling had wanted to pull Zhou Meng along to dilute Li Yang’s intensity, but Zhou Meng had refused—she was on cleaning duty today and still had to go home to play games afterward.
The sun had already moved far to the west.
In a little while, the sunset would be visible.