Past memories surfaced in her mind, making it difficult to fall asleep. Wu Mangmang opened WeChat to scroll through her friends’ posts. Long Xiujuan was showing off again about the charity gala she attended last night, where city bigwigs gathered and influential people from all walks of life generously donated money.
Lu Sui had bid ten million yuan for the famous modern sculptor’s new work “Strength,” someone else had bought a famous director’s painting “Sunflowers,” and so on.
The introduction was detailed enough. Long Xiujuan was now a much more popular Weibo influencer than Wu Mangmang had ever been, as she seemed to have opened a small window into the invisible upper class for common people who liked to peek.
Wu Mangmang turned off her screen, thinking that tomorrow she finally wouldn’t have to see Lu Sui. Just seeing him made her feel extremely stressed.
Early morning classes as usual. Wu Mangmang, Zeng Ruling, and their roommate Dai Tingting had just come downstairs when they saw Lu Sui standing across from the building.
Lu Sui held several manila-colored paper bags in his hands. Getting closer, they could see the logo of a famous fast-food chain printed on them—many people liked to buy breakfast from this place.
“Didn’t you promise yesterday not to bring breakfast?” Wu Mangmang looked at Lu Sui accusingly.
To be honest, when Guo Xuefeng brought breakfast, Wu Mangmang hadn’t felt there was any problem, but when it came to Lu Sui, she found it jarring no matter how she looked at it. It was the feeling of knowing a big bad wolf was pretending to be a little lamb but being unable to expose him.
“It’s not for you,” Lu Sui said, handing two paper bags to Zeng Ruling and Dai Tingting respectively.
Zeng Ruling opened hers and looked: “Wow, it’s my favorite soy milk and fried dough sticks, plus French-style sesame cakes. Thanks, brother-in-law!”
Dai Tingting was quieter and shyer, simply saying “Thank you” softly.
Having taken someone’s gift, Zeng Ruling directly dragged Dai Tingting away after getting her breakfast: “Let’s go, we won’t be third wheels.”
Wu Mangmang felt that Zeng Ruling really had no principles. Initially, for the sake of eating breakfast, she had told Wu Mangmang not to agree to Guo Xuefeng’s pursuit right away, and now for another breakfast, she was selling her out.
Wu Mangmang looked at the remaining paper bag in Lu Sui’s hands, raising her eyebrows without speaking.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t break my word. This is my breakfast,” Lu Sui said.
At this moment, not breaking his word seemed even more hateful than breaking it. Wu Mangmang felt her stomach hurt a little.
“Why did you come again? Aren’t you…” Wu Mangmang quickly stopped herself, nearly slipping up and making it seem like she was paying close attention to Lu Sui’s whereabouts.
“I came over after the gala ended yesterday,” Lu Sui smiled.
Wu Mangmang squinted at Lu Sui. People, sometimes being too smart was particularly bad.
“Then you can slowly eat your breakfast. I’m in a hurry,” Wu Mangmang took off running. There were quite a few students jogging on campus in the early morning, so Wu Mangmang didn’t stand out.
Although Wu Mangmang’s legs weren’t short, Lu Sui could always easily run alongside her, and in his sporty outfit, Lu Sui’s running form was obviously more suitable than Wu Mangmang’s in jeans.
“Haven’t you exercised in so long? You’re panting like this after just a few steps?” Lu Sui spoke without a trace of breathlessness.
Wu Mangmang got a stitch in her side from anger at Lu Sui’s words. She dejectedly stopped, wanting to scold Lu Sui, but Zeng Ruling’s words from last night involuntarily popped into her mind, making her feel less righteous when facing Lu Sui.
Although her attitude had softened, Wu Mangmang’s determination hadn’t changed at all. Some things couldn’t be solved through good communication—those were psychological issues.
Wu Mangmang took a detour to the bakery to buy a pork floss bread and a box of milk. The teaching building didn’t allow breakfast inside. Although it wasn’t strictly enforced, Wu Mangmang was a good student who always followed the rules.
So she went to sit on a bench in the garden in front of the building. When Lu Sui sat down beside Wu Mangmang, she jumped up as if bitten, walked “thump thump thump” to the bench on the right and sat down. The action was childish, but childish was fine.
This time Lu Sui didn’t follow. Wu Mangmang caught sight of him taking out a thermal lunch box and thermal bottle from his paper bag.
The garden wasn’t large, with only two or three benches. When a young couple came in with breakfast and looked at Wu Mangmang, then at Lu Sui, the bolder girl approached Wu Mangmang: “Excuse me, could you possibly sit over there?”
She even used the formal “you.” Wu Mangmang really felt embarrassed not to agree. As fellow students, helping each other was natural, especially for such a small matter. Interfering with someone’s romance was very immoral.
Wu Mangmang was about to pack up her breakfast when she heard Lu Sui say: “You two can sit on my side.” Lu Sui very naturally walked over and sat down beside Wu Mangmang.
Now Wu Mangmang could conveniently observe Lu Sui’s lunch box, which contained colorful sushi rolls. Wu Mangmang had always been obsessed with rice, was particular about Western food, and bread could never be her love. Seeing Lu Sui eating sushi and drinking her milk, the “resentment” in her heart bubbled up.
Lu Sui was doing this on purpose! He didn’t even like this style of breakfast. Back at the Lu residence, he always had coffee and maple syrup pancakes. Sushi and milk were Wu Mangmang’s style.
“Childish!” Wu Mangmang muttered under her breath at Lu Sui.
“Want some? I can share with you,” Lu Sui generously held the lunch box toward Wu Mangmang.
Wu Mangmang put on an expression of not accepting “food offered in contempt,” turning her head away to continue gnawing her bread.
“Why didn’t you ride your bicycle today?” Wu Mangmang asked.
“It got stolen,” Lu Sui said indifferently.
Wu Mangmang thought she had indeed predicted correctly: “New bicycles are easily stolen.”
Lu Sui smiled and glanced at Wu Mangmang, making her realize she had been too talkative. Why was she concerned about his bicycle?
努力快速地啃完面包，雾茫茫拍了拍手站起身，旁边那对小情侣也站了起来，那男生走过雾茫茫和路随跟前时，忍不住抱怨了一句，”既然认识坐一起就好了嘛。”
Hurriedly finishing her bread, Wu Mangmang clapped her hands and stood up. The young couple beside them also stood up. When the boy walked past Wu Mangmang and Lu Sui, he couldn’t help complaining: “Since you know each other, you might as well sit together.”
His girlfriend was more reasonable, forcefully pulling the boy toward the teaching building.
Wu Mangmang looked sideways at Lu Sui. This man was actually still smiling.
For the next week, Wu Mangmang watched Lu Sui bring breakfast to Zeng Ruling and Dai Tingting every day, making her so confused she almost thought Lu Sui was pursuing her roommates.
Wu Mangmang felt marginalized, and Zeng Ruling added fuel to the fire by saying she was being self-destructive: “When someone brings you breakfast, just eat it. You don’t eat it yourself, then turn around and feel envious and jealous of Tingting and me. Mangmang, your moral character hasn’t passed the grade.”
Wu Mangmang was so angry she could only laugh.
By the weekend, Zeng Ruling brought breakfast upstairs, and when she opened it, she exclaimed with joy. Inside were various Guangdong-style dim sum: durian puffs, chestnut puffs, foie gras puffs, yam and pine nut dumplings, thousand-layer radish puffs—just looking at them made one’s mouth water.
The thousand-layer radish puffs were Wu Mangmang’s favorite. She saw the packaging on the box—it was from City A’s most famous Guangdong-style morning tea restaurant.
“Strange, they taste so fresh, like they just came out of the oven, but Daotian Ji isn’t open now,” Zeng Ruling muttered. “Mangmang, it seems your ex-boyfriend has quite the connections.”
Wu Mangmang said nothing, then heard Zeng Ruling continue: “Eh, this porridge smells so good. It’s not Daotian Ji’s flavor. How strange, where did he buy it? It’s too delicious.”
Dai Tingting also nodded repeatedly: “I think it’s delicious too. It must have been simmered for a long time. Mangmang, do you want to try some?”
Wu Mangmang shook her head, but moments later she couldn’t resist her curiosity and picked up a spoon to taste the porridge. It was Lu Sui’s flavor.
Wu Mangmang put down the spoon, unable to describe the feeling in her heart. She seemed particularly, particularly angry that something that belonged only to her was being shared. Loss and jealousy came one after another, catching her off guard.
In that instant, Wu Mangmang even had the impulse to flip the table.
This impulse was so ugly and frightening that when Wu Mangmang heard Dai Tingting say “Let me serve you a bowl,” she forgot to react.
Moments later, Wu Mangmang picked up her bag: “You two eat. I’m going out first.”
Zeng Ruling called out to Wu Mangmang, who had already escaped to the door: “Hey, Wu Mangmang, let me tell you, keep being difficult—the more difficult you are, the faster you’ll die. Good men are scarce these days. Do you think he’ll keep waiting behind you for you to turn around? Li Tong next door has been changing clothes and going out punctually every day this week, hoping to run into your Mr. Lu. If you’re determined to refuse, say so early so I can compete fairly with Li Tong.”
Wu Mangmang paused, turned back and said: “Then you can compete fairly with Li Tong.”
“Hey, you…” Zeng Ruling was so angry she stamped her feet, complaining to Dai Tingting: “This is really ‘the emperor isn’t anxious, but the eunuch is dying of anxiety.'”
Dai Tingting laughed: “Just eat. With Li Tong’s looks, Lu Sui definitely won’t be interested.”
Wu Mangmang’s mind was in chaos when she left.
The malicious impulse she’d just felt seemed familiar—it was identical to her possessiveness toward him in high school, when she couldn’t even stand him looking at other girls, afraid that the next moment he would discover how bad she was and turn to like someone else.
Looking back now, Wu Mangmang naturally found her past self ridiculous. Whether someone would leave didn’t depend on how much you cared about them.
Wu Mangmang asked herself if she had the courage to experience that kind of feeling again.
She knew she was ungrateful. What seemed like an obvious choice to others was a hurdle she couldn’t get over in her heart. Everything was in vain.
People who had been hurt would only wrap themselves in cocoons, not daring to easily stick their heads out. Of course, there were people who remained naive after experiencing everything, but such people’s nerves had to be as thick as the sewers of Paris.
When Wu Mangmang lifted her head, she had already walked to the cafeteria entrance. People live by food—her stomach was obviously hungry.
She got a bowl of porridge and bought a cup of milk, drinking milk with porridge—this could be considered Wu family’s exclusive eating method.
The cafeteria was sparse with few people at this time. Wu Mangmang chose to sit by the window. Just as she inserted the straw into the milk cup, she saw Lu Sui sit down across from her.
This person could always bring out her darkest side. Wu Mangmang simply lowered her eyelids and pretended not to see him.
“The spoon seems to still have oil that wasn’t washed clean,” Lu Sui said.
Although Wu Mangmang really didn’t want to pay attention to Lu Sui, she couldn’t help but look at the spoon for the porridge. It did seem to have a greasy feeling, and she immediately lost her appetite.
Wu Mangmang pushed away the porridge bowl in front of her and said to Lu Sui: “Did your company go bankrupt? Are you this idle all day long?”
After saying this, Wu Mangmang put on a mocking expression: “But it doesn’t matter. You make such fragrant porridge that even if you’re unemployed, you can open a porridge shop. I guarantee many little girls will support you.”
Lu Sui raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. Wu Mangmang felt annoyed at herself for not controlling her mouth—that comment was too sour and embarrassing.
“Who am I doing all this for, young lady?” Lu Sui smiled.
“Anyway, it’s not for me,” Wu Mangmang said defiantly. She hadn’t eaten his food, so she wasn’t indebted to him.
How could Lu Sui not know Wu Mangmang’s little thoughts? He just didn’t expose them, or else the person in front of him would definitely become angry from embarrassment.
“Let’s go eat,” Lu Sui stood up. “You can oppose anything, but don’t oppose your own body. That’s too foolish.”
Wu Mangmang didn’t act pretentious anymore and stood up: “Do I still have any intelligence in your eyes?”
Lu Sui immediately laughed: “What do you think?”