Chapter 272

In the supermarket.

Ying Chanxi walked ahead with her hands behind her back, stepping lightly between the shelves, selecting her favorite snacks.

Li Luo pushed a shopping cart slowly behind her, scanning the shelves and picking up various snacks—mostly items others liked.

With just a touch of the Memory Palace, it was instantly clear what everyone else liked to eat.

"Aren't you almost out of toothpaste?" Ying Chanxi turned to ask. "I saw yours was almost gone this morning?"

"Mm."

"Then buy two boxes."

Ying Chanxi took down two boxes of toothpaste, then glanced beside them: "What about shower gel and shampoo?"

"Not finished yet."

"Buy some tissues?"

"Get a pack."

"Senior sister really likes drinking. Should we get some too?"

"No," Li Luo shook his head quickly. "She's got her own stash in her room. We just need drinks—maybe a case of fruit wine or sparkling wine. Just to taste."

"How do you know she has a stash in her room?"

"Didn't she pull some out last time?" Li Luo rolled his eyes. "Classic repeat offender."

As they chatted idly and shopped, they spent over half an hour, then finally pushed their fully loaded cart to the checkout.

Li Luo had intended to pay.

But Ying Chanxi glanced at him, stepped close, shoved him aside, then proudly pulled an envelope from her pocket, took out cash, and handed it to the cashier.

Li Luo looked at the living fund in her hand and smiled: "You're quite conscientious."

"You said this money's under my management," Ying Chanxi said cheerfully as she paid. "So obviously I pay." They picked up several large bags and headed toward Bihai Lanting.

They were among the fastest.

After all, the supermarket was right near the Bihai Lanting compound.

After school ended at 11:30 a. m., they were back at Bihai Lanting 1502 by around 12:30.

Buying groceries clearly wouldn't be that quick.

The cake shop was in the southern part of Yinjiang District—Li Luo had reserved it last weekend during a free hour. Just the taxi ride there and back would take half an hour.

Compared to Li Luo's easygoing pace, Zhao Rongjun's situation was far less pleasant.

After hailing a taxi, he sat in the back seat.

Zhao Rongjun silently shifted to the seat near the door, pressing tightly against the window, staring out at the receding scenery, saying nothing.

Qiao Xinyan sat on the other side. At first it was fine, but after a few minutes, Zhao Rongjun still hadn't spoken a word.

This made Qiao Xinyan slightly awkward; she felt it was odd to sit in silence, so she took the initiative to start a conversation: "How did you do on your entrance exam?"

Hearing Qiao Xinyan's question, Zhao Rongjun tensed up instantly, his whole body stiffening as he barely managed: "67."

For Zhao Rongjun in Class Three, this score was solidly in the top five of his class—very good.

But it paled next to Qiao Xinyan's from Class One.

Still, Qiao Xinyan praised him a few times, trying to open up the conversation.

Unfortunately, Zhao Rongjun couldn't utter a single word more. By the time the taxi reached the cake shop, both breathed a sigh of relief.

But after picking up the cake and hailing another taxi home, they fell back into silence.

Qiao Xinyan sighed, pressing her palm to her forehead, glancing at Zhao Rongjun, who radiated tension from every pore—she couldn't help but feel both exasperated and amused.

Though she roughly knew Zhao Rongjun's personality, she hadn't expected him to be this socially anxious when alone with a girl.

They barely made it back to Bihai Lanting before one o'clock, rushing upstairs.

Once back in 1502, both exhaled in relief.

Qiao Xinyan ran over to Ying Chanxi, while Zhao Rongjun handed the cake to Li Luo.

Li Luo glanced at him and Qiao Xinyan, put the cake in the fridge, then leaned close to Zhao Rongjun's ear and grinned: "Let me guess—eight?"

"Huh?" Zhao Rongjun blinked. "What eight?"

"Number of times you spoke," Li Luo said. "I bet you only said eight words to Qiao Xinyan the whole way."

At this, Zhao Rongjun's face darkened: "You made me go with her to get the cake—was that intentional?"

"How could I? You're accusing me like this?"

Seeing Li Luo's innocent expression, Zhao Rongjun grew even more suspicious.

"Logically, getting a cake only needs one person," Zhao Rongjun said, frowning. "You and Ying Chanxi bought so much stuff—if I'd helped, you'd have had an extra pair of hands to carry it back."

"You think too much."

As Li Luo spoke, Xu Youyu and the other two returned with their groceries.

He immediately dropped the Zhao Rongjun topic and called out to everyone in the living room: "No lunch today—just snacks."

"We'll have dinner early—around four or five."

"There's a birthday cake tonight, so save your stomachs."

After speaking, Li Luo took the vegetables bought by Xu Youyu and the others and walked into the kitchen.

Ying Chanxi immediately stood up from the sofa and followed him into the kitchen, took down an apron from the wall, and prepared to help him.

But at that moment, a hand reached out and took the apron from her.

Xu Youyu tied the apron on herself, then stepped behind Ying Chanxi, pressed her shoulders gently, and guided her out of the kitchen, back to the sofa.

"The Birthday Person shouldn't be working in the kitchen," Xu Youyu said. "Today you're our star. You all stay in the living room—play cards, play chess. I'll help in the kitchen."

Ying Chanxi sat dazedly on the sofa, watching Xu Youyu return to the kitchen, unsure how to protest.

Yan Zhusheng beside her glanced toward the kitchen, slightly tempted.

But she knew her own limits; if she went in to help, Li Luo would likely kick her out within a few minutes.

However, this left Zhao Rongjun in a tough spot.

With Li Luo not nearby, he sat there alone.

To his side were Xu Yinghuan and Qiao Xinyan; opposite him sat Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng. He was now trembling with fear, daring not to utter a word, silently holding his ground as the group's designated card-playing tool.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Li Luo watched as Xu Youyu pushed Ying Chanxi out, then walked in herself, closing the door behind her. He immediately raised an eyebrow.

"Let me make one thing clear beforehand," Li Luo said. "When I'm cooking, don't... wait... be careful not to get seen!"

"Don't worry," Xu Youyu said with a grin, pressing herself against his back. "From this angle by the sofa, you can only see half the kitchen. Besides, the sliding door has a frosted pattern; once it's closed, it's hard to see clearly."

"That's still no excuse for you to get handsy," Li Luo said with a dark face. "Go wash the vegetables; don't waste time."

"Got it, Chef Li~" Xu Youyu obediently followed orders, standing before the sink to start washing the ingredients. "Today you're the head chef, and I'm the little helper. You could fire me with a single word, but I still need to earn a living, so I can only tremble in fear and obey your every command, too afraid to refuse any of your requests."

Li Luo twitched the corner of his mouth: "... Senior, you're overacting a bit."

"Just getting into character," Xu Youyu said with a grin, bumping him with her hip. "How about it? Don't like this one? Then I'll switch to another."

"You're quite dedicated."

"Of course."

Xu Youyu and the others had bought quite a lot of vegetables.

To spare Li Luo too much trouble, they also bought some ready-cooked food similar to roast duck, which just needed to be plated and heated up before eating.

Plus, they had bought a huge pile of snacks, and there would be cake to eat tonight, so Li Luo didn't plan to make too many dishes; preparing six or seven would be enough to make the point.

So, starting a little after one o'clock, they prepped the ingredients until two o'clock, with everything that needed marinating already in the process.

Once these were done, Li Luo finally let out a sigh of relief, took off his apron, and said, "Just come in and stir-fry them when the time comes; let's go out and play for now."

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"Haven't had much of a chance lately; let me recharge my energy."

"Wait..."

In the living room, Ying Chanxi, who was playing cards with the others, had been somewhat distracted.

Seeing that Li Luo and the senior had already been in the kitchen for over an hour, Ying Chanxi finally couldn't hold back any longer. After playing the card in her hand, she stood up and said, "I'm going to the restroom."

The kitchen's sliding door was made of glass, but it featured a shattered-glass pattern style.

Although one could barely make out the silhouettes of people inside through the glass door, they were essentially indistinct, seeing only a blurry blob of color.

And as Ying Chanxi walked toward the restroom, about to pass the kitchen, she glanced through the glass door and felt she saw only a single blob of color.

Logically, with two people, there should have been two separate blobs of color, right?

Holding onto this doubt, Ying Chanxi reached out her hand, wanting to pull the door open and take a look.

But the next second, the glass door was opened from the inside.

Xu Youyu, looking as if she was just about to step out, bumped into Ying Chanxi and immediately asked with a puzzled expression, "Xixi? What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Ying Chanxi shook her head. "I'm just going to the restroom; I happened to pass by and ask if you were ready."

"The ingredients are all prepped," Xu Youyu said, stepping out of the kitchen. "In a little while, once Li Luo stirs-fries them at the right time, we can eat."

"Oh, oh." Ying Chanxi didn't think much of it, assuming that Xu Youyu had been walking out just now, blocking Li Luo's figure, which was why she had only seen that one blob of color. So she turned and headed to the restroom.

Li Luo stayed in the kitchen for a few more minutes before coming out, sitting down beside Ying Chanxi, and joining the card game.

Because there were so many people.

Zhao Rongjun had long ago moved a chair to sit opposite the coffee table, keeping himself alone and far away from the group of women.

On the single sofas on either side sat Qiao Xinyan and Xu Yinghuan.

On the long sofa in the middle, with the arrival of Li Luo and Xu Youyu, four people squeezed in directly.

Li Luo and Ying Chanxi sat in the middle, with Xu Youyu and Yan Zhusheng on either side respectively.

Thus, while playing cards, Li Luo inevitably bumped against the girls beside him.

Xu Yinghuan, sitting nearby, saw it all and felt anxious in her heart.

After all, the girls sitting next to Li Luo were Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu, both of whom had squeezed Yan Zhusheng to the side.

She, a proud member of the Yan faction, had thought she held a sure victory, but since the start of the semester this year, she had been confronted head-on by that fellow Jin Yuting, who had poured into her a whole bunch of stories about Li Luo and Ying Chanxi from their time in the countryside during the New Year.

Originally, she had been enjoying the shipping just fine, only to be headbutted by Jin Yuting, a member of the Xi faction, leaving her feeling a bit off-kilter when shipping in class lately.

Now, seeing Li Luo and Ying Chanxi sitting together so intimately made Xu Yinghuan sigh inwardly.

After all, she wasn't like the others at school; she had been in the same class as Li Luo and the others since middle school, so she naturally knew that Li Luo and Ying Chanxi were childhood sweethearts, not cousins.

However, back in middle school, although the two had a very good relationship, there was really no sign of any ambiguous feelings between them.

So Xu Yinghuan couldn't really get any flavor out of shipping them.

But her Zhusheng was different.

But thinking that today was, after all, Ying Chanxi's birthday, Xu Yinghuan decided not to dwell on these matters.

Instead, Qiao Xinyan across from her watched Li Luo and Ying Chanxi sitting together with a cheerful expression, finding them a perfect match no matter how she looked at it.

She was increasingly fond of watching scenes of Li Luo and Ying Chanxi together, feeling they were full of love.

This was also the reason why, previously, when Li Luo asked her and Zhao Rongjun to get the cake while he went to the supermarket with Ying Chanxi, Qiao Xinyan had agreed without hesitation.

At this moment, as everyone played cards together, Li Luo occasionally targeted Ying Chanxi, making her shout in anger and pound her little fists against Li Luo.

Qiao Xinyan found it amusing no matter how she looked at it, even tasting sweetness in her mouth from shipping them.

But at this very moment, only Li Luo knew how much he was suffering.

In the gap between Zhao Rongjun dealing cards from across, Li Luo silently pulled his hand behind his back, grabbed a sneaky hand, and then subtly glared at Xu Youyu sitting on his other side.

Xu Youyu, with a guilty expression, whistled twice, withdrew her hand, and then, as if by accident, leaned close to Li Luo's ear, whispering, "Is it exciting?"

Li Luo had no way with her; he sighed and shook his head, begging her to show mercy. "Can you come to the kitchen later? Just play cards properly."

"Hehe, fine by me," Xu Youyu grinned mischievously. "That's what you said."

They played cards until four o'clock.

Li Luo finally got free, stood up and stretched, then said: "I'll cook. You two clean the table. Senior, come help me in the kitchen."

"Got it," Xu Youyu rose and followed Li Luo into the kitchen, pulling shut the glass door behind them.

"I'm just getting ingredients. You cook your dish."

"Watch out for outside. She almost caught us just now."

"Relax, my ears are sharp."

"Wait… hugging's fine, but don't put your hands everywhere!"

"I've been wanting to write a scene like this," Xu Youyu whispered chuckling in his ear. "You know, that kind."

"The male lead is seriously cooking, but the female lead deliberately teases him."

"Finally he can't hold back—halfway through cooking, he throws down his spatula, slams the female lead against the wall, and lifts her onto the counter…"

Li Luo took a deep breath. Xu Youyu's seductive words curled around his ear, making his grip on the spatula tremble.

"Haha~ You're reacting, aren't you?"

"Don't make things up."

"I'm not teasing you anymore. Someone's coming."

Xu Youyu promptly released Li Luo, turned to the sink beside her, and handed him the prepped ingredients.

At that moment, the kitchen's glass door was pushed open.

Ying Chanxi peered in, her expression suspicious. "Li Luo, need help?"

"Come in and carry out the dishes," Li Luo said calmly, plating the cooked dish.

"Okay!"