“Will this gooey stuff really taste good?” Clo propped her head on her hand, looking at the rice rolls on Li Yue’s plate. They seemed stuffed with all sorts of ingredients—the cooked shrimp were a healthy pink, nestled among vibrant green vegetables. It looked like the kind of food that was both healthy and delicious.
“The taste is mediocre. I only eat this to stay alive.” Li Yue looked up at Clo. Although light makeup hid her slight dark circles, the exhaustion in her eyes couldn't be concealed, and Clo caught it immediately.
“Let me try.” Clo picked up a piece. It tasted of the fresh fragrance of vegetables and grains; only after chewing for a while did the natural sweetness of the ingredients emerge. It was quite good, though it felt like it was missing something.
“Eating is so boring...” Li Yue swallowed her food and yawned. She seemed to have lost the reserve she maintained around others when she was with Clo; perhaps she really was just that exhausted.
“But it doesn't seem cheap.” Clo glanced at the bill and raised an eyebrow. She had only ordered a bowl of ramen. To be honest, the food here was much better than she had expected; the academy she previously attended only served frozen or pre-heated meals.
Correspondingly, however, the price gap was quite significant.
“I thought you’d take me outside the school to eat. Academy food is always just this stuff.” Li Yue poked at her food listlessly, her tone playful. In reality, eating these things was simply too tedious for her.
“Outside... how do we get out?” Clo was stunned. Her movement of blowing on her ramen slowed, and she accidentally brought the hot food to her lips, burning herself slightly.
“We just walk out. No one ever asks me what I’m doing when I leave anyway.” Li Yue shrugged. “I’m always busy with various... trivial matters. My way of doing things doesn't really fit a student.”
“Isn't that a violation of school rules...?” Clo pursed her lips. She looked at the indifferent Li Yue with a hint of surprise. While she could occasionally glimpse the mischievous streak beneath Li Yue’s perfect girl persona, such a blatant lack of concern still shocked her.
The food under Li Yue’s fork had been mashed into something that no longer resembled a meal. The various ingredients were mixed together in a jumble. She looked slightly irritable, as if she had lost her appetite entirely. A sense of disappointment, combined with the nightmares from that morning, caused her emotions to fray.
Clo swallowed, sensing that Li Yue was on the verge of snapping. After a moment's thought, she took a small bowl from the sterilizer, served some ramen from her own bowl, and carefully topped it with some sliced beef, dried bamboo shoots, and straw mushrooms.
“Want to try some?”
“Alright, but I can't eat too much.” Li Yue sighed softly. On second thought, no matter where she went, it was always the same few types of food. If she could, she would much rather be a staunch supporter of junk food.
“I have a blood draw in a few days, along with a physical exam. It won’t be good if they find out I’ve eaten too much.”
Clo noticed Li Yue quietly swallow her saliva. She didn't know what Li Yue usually ate, but given her nearly perfect physique, her diet was likely strictly controlled.
“Is it some kind of illness? Having to do extra blood draws.”
“No... it's not.”
“Selling blood?” Clo’s mind blanked for a second. She recalled people from her past for whom selling blood for pocket money was common, so the thought slipped out instinctively.
“No, I’ve never been to a place like that,” Li Yue said casually. “Though my father’s conglomerate does have companies involved in the production and sale of blood products. Most of the blood stations in this region are under our name.”
“I have Rhnull blood. It’s a condition—simply put, my red blood cells lack all Rh antigens. If I were to rashly receive someone else's blood, it could trigger a fatal hemolytic reaction.” Li Yue gave a nonchalant smile. “So I have to store my own blood regularly. Otherwise, if I ever face an illness that requires a major transfusion, I’ll just have to wait for death.”
Her eyes turned slightly dark, as if she were recalling a bad memory.
“But... that’s fine too.” Li Yue laughed self-deprecatingly. “If I die, I die. Living doesn't have much meaning anyway.”
“But God says that those who commit suicide can’t go to heaven...” A look of confusion suddenly appeared in Li Yue’s eyes. “If I can’t go to heaven... then I won’t see...”
Li Yue paused, seemingly realizing she had almost said too much. She quickly changed the subject.
“Do you know your blood type?”
Clo shook her head.
“It’s better to find out when you have the chance.” Li Yue took a small sip of the noodles, seemingly savoring the flavor. “Maybe you’re type AB. If so, you’d be very lucky.”
“This is delicious, and the flavors are so rich, even if it looks a bit messy,” Li Yue commented softly. “It’s completely different from that refined food made with painstaking effort just to live a few days longer.”
“Still, living a few more days isn't bad. I always feel like with my irregular schedule, these bad habits will catch up to me one day.” Clo smiled.
“For you, things should be quite good.” Li Yue reminisced. “Your parents are very gentle people. I shook hands with them that night. Their palms were soft and very warm...”
“Is that so...?” Clo curled one side of her lip, her expression self-mocking. “They are indeed good people.”
“A boring meal.” Li Yue wiped her mouth. She took out her vanity mirror to touch up the makeup around her eyes. There was still plenty of time left in the lunch break, and she planned to take a short nap. “Next time we’ll go off-campus. My treat.”
“During school hours...?”
“Of course.”
“Breaking school rules with the young miss? How youthful—” Clo made a goofy face.
“Hmph.” Li Yue wiped her hands. Clo glanced at the area where there had been scars before. For some reason, in just a few days, the parts where those scars were seemed to have healed significantly. Her gaze lingered for a split second before she quickly looked away.
Li Yue wasn't as aloof and flawless as Clo had thought; instead, she had a mischievous, heavily suppressed personality.
And Clo wasn't as happy as Li Yue had imagined. In this world, no one had it easy.
Rate on N.U.
