“Yeah,” Ye Qingyang replied.
“Your aunt really isn’t a decent person.”
Lu Jingcheng cursed, then suddenly seemed to think of something and looked at Ye Qingyang. “She didn’t hit you, did she? No domestic violence or anything?”
Of course there was.
But with Ye Hong’s level of combat ability, Ye Qingyang did not take her seriously at all.
Not just Ye Hong—even if all five members of the Ye family came at him together, counting the child still in Wang Hui’s stomach, he still would not care.
They were all a bunch of useless weaklings, not worth mentioning.
“No, don’t worry.” Ye Qingyang smiled.
He had already realized that Lu Jingcheng was the kind of person who talked tough but had a soft heart—innocent and kind. So he did not want to drag him into the Ye family’s mess.
Anyway, it was not a big deal. He had not had enough fun with them yet, and he did not need Lu Jingcheng worrying about it.
Lu Jingcheng glanced at him, feeling both pity and a bit of heartache.
Looking at Ye Qingyang, he hesitated as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he only said, “If you run into any difficulties, you can tell me.”
Ye Qingyang felt that his life right now did not really have any difficulties.
He actually quite enjoyed this lifestyle—wasting time at school every day and going home to drive Ye Hong crazy.
“There really aren’t any problems. Trust me.”
Lu Jingcheng did not believe him at all. He understood Ye Qingyang far too well.
No money, unable to fight back, and poor grades.
Now living with his aunt and being bullied by her—he was practically a pitiful little white flower.
The kind that could shed tears just from the wind blowing.
It was too miserable!
He sighed and decided not to expose Ye Qingyang’s fake show of strength. Instead, he patted his shoulder and comforted him.
“The edge of a sword comes from sharpening; the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold.”
Ye Qingyang blinked. “Huh?”
“Without experiencing bone-chilling cold, how can the plum blossoms be so fragrant?”
“Huh?”
“Every person born has a purpose; a thousand pieces of gold spent will return again.”
“Wait, what are you trying to say?” Ye Qingyang asked, confused. “Why did you suddenly start reciting poetry?”
Lu Jingcheng looked at him with deep eyes. “When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility upon a man, it must first…”
“Um,” Ye Qingyang interrupted softly, “you skipped a line. It should be: ‘it must first trouble his mind, strengthen his bones and sinews, starve his body…’”
Lu Jingcheng: …
Ye Qingyang: …
Ye Qingyang smiled. “You have to memorize that line well. It’s one of the most common ones on exams.”
Lu Jingcheng: …
Lu Jingcheng removed the hand resting on his shoulder and turned around to walk back into the classroom.
That morning, Chen Wei discovered that his classmate Lu Jingcheng—Young Master Lu himself—was grinding his teeth while copying out the essay “Born in Adversity, Die in Comfort” from Mencius ten full times on a sheet of paper.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” Lu Jingcheng replied while writing furiously. “I love Mencius. Mencius makes me happy!”
Chen Wei: …
Chen Wei felt that Mencius probably would not like a junior like him who was so fond of fighting.
At twelve noon, the dismissal bell rang right on time.
Students who had been hungry all morning rushed out of the classroom as soon as the teacher left.
Lu Jingcheng felt a little conflicted.
He sat at his desk, wondering whether he should invite Ye Qingyang to eat with him.
If it were just the two of them, he would absolutely be willing.
But he usually ate lunch with Chen Wei and the others, which made things awkward.
If he invited Ye Qingyang, Chen Wei and the others would definitely start teasing him.
But if he did not invite him, he felt a bit uneasy.
That guy was so poor. The other day he did not even have money for food and had used Lu Jingcheng’s meal card.
Now he had a little money, but who knew whether he would mistreat himself when it came to eating.
While Lu Jingcheng was still hesitating, Ye Qingyang walked over and asked, “Brother Lu, want to grab lunch?”
Before Lu Jingcheng could answer, Chen Wei started teasing.
“Ye Qingyang, why are you so attentive to our Young Master Lu? First you bring him food, now you want to eat together too?”
Bai Le grinned. “Looks like Little Ye really wants to be friends with Jingcheng.”
Dong Yu looked at Lu Jingcheng. “So, are we eating together?”
As soon as he said that, Chen Wei and Bai Le both started laughing, watching Lu Jingcheng like they were enjoying a show.
Lu Jingcheng hated it when they acted like that.
Chen Wei even added fuel to the fire. “Come on, Jingcheng. I can tell you don’t really dislike Ye Qingyang. Let him join us. You even ate his instant noodles.”
“When you accept food from someone, you owe them,” Bai Le chimed in.
Lu Jingcheng stood up and walked out without responding to them at all.
Chen Wei and Bai Le laughed and followed after him.
Dong Yu patted Ye Qingyang on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go together.”
Ye Qingyang did not refuse and headed to the cafeteria with them.
First he went to the card recharge station to add money to his meal card. Then he carefully looked around the food stalls.
In the end, he bought a bowl of youpo noodles.
The uncle selling the noodles poured hot oil over chopped scallions and chili powder, producing a sizzling “zzzz—” sound.
Smelling the fragrance drifting from the stall, Ye Qingyang felt like he was about to drool.
How could the world have a noodle dish like youpo noodles that was both so delicious and so simple?
It was absolutely amazing.
He wanted to recommend the best noodles in the world—youpo noodles—to everyone.
Bai Le bought a serving of dumplings at the stall next to him. Seeing that Ye Qingyang was done, the two of them started looking for seats together.
They had come down earlier than usual today, which meant the cafeteria was packed.
The table Lu Jingcheng and the others usually sat at was currently occupied by several girls, so they decided to find another spot.
After a while, they found empty seats in a corner and sat down.
Someone had clearly eaten there before them. There were still a few oil stains on the table.
Chen Wei knew that Lu Jingcheng had a bit of a cleanliness obsession, so as soon as he sat down he wiped the table for him and then wiped his own area too.
Ye Qingyang sat next to Lu Jingcheng. Seeing that Chen Wei had already wiped the table, he put away his tissues and started eating.
The cafeteria’s youpo noodles were actually pretty good. Ye Qingyang was satisfied.
The only downside was that, probably to reduce costs, the cook had not added any vegetables or bean sprouts to the noodles—just plain noodles.
But Ye Qingyang was not picky when it came to food. Side dishes were nice to have, but if there were none, that was fine too.
He had just taken two bites when Bai Le asked, “Is it good? I’ve never tried the school’s youpo noodles before.”
Ye Qingyang nodded. “Pretty good.”
“Then let me try some.”
As Bai Le spoke, he reached his chopsticks toward Ye Qingyang’s bowl, planning to grab a couple strands of noodles to taste.
But just as his chopsticks reached the bowl, Lu Jingcheng smacked them aside with his own chopsticks.
Bai Le turned to him. “What was that for?”
Lu Jingcheng looked at Bai Le’s big, full bowl of dumplings, then at Ye Qingyang’s bowl that seemed to contain nothing but bare noodles.
Speechless, he said, “Don’t you have your own food? Why are you trying to eat someone else’s?”
Bai Le: ???
Bai Le stared at him in shock. “I just want to taste it!”
Lu Jingcheng argued confidently, “There’s barely any noodles in his bowl. Two bites and it’s gone. And you still want to ‘taste’ it? Do you think that’s appropriate?”
Bai Le thought it was completely appropriate!
Ye Qingyang had such a big bowl of noodles—what was wrong with taking a bite?
Bai Le snorted angrily. “You’re like the newlywed forgetting the matchmaker once the bride enters the door!”
Lu Jingcheng kicked him immediately, his ears turning red. “What nonsense are you talking about? Is that how that saying is used? The Chinese teacher would die of anger if she heard you!”
Chen Wei shook his head, looking disapprovingly at Bai Le.
“No wonder you fail Chinese every time. That phrase doesn’t fit this situation at all.”
Lu Jingcheng nodded. Exactly!
Chen Wei added, “This is clearly ‘You only hear the new lover laugh, never the old lover cry.’”
Lu Jingcheng: ????!!!
Ye Qingyang nearly choked on his noodles and coughed for quite a while.
Embarrassed and angry, Lu Jingcheng kicked Chen Wei too. “You shut up as well! You’re going to make the Chinese teacher furious too!”
Chen Wei laughed. “Did I say something wrong?”
Bai Le cheered him on. “You nailed it. Absolutely spot-on.”
Lu Jingcheng sneered. “You two are mixing things up, talking nonsense, making things up—and conspiring together!”
Ye Qingyang clapped for him. “Brother Lu is right!”
Chen Wei laughed. “Then you two are singing in harmony—husband leads, wife follows. What more could a husband ask for? Husband and wife—husband-and-wife lung slices!”
Ye Qingyang could not hold it in anymore and burst out laughing at the phrase “husband-and-wife lung slices.”
Lu Jingcheng glared at Chen Wei, unwilling to admit defeat. He searched his brain for more idioms, trying to fire back.
Dong Yu could not understand it at all. They had been eating peacefully—how had this suddenly turned into an idiom battle?
“Guys, with our bottom-of-the-class grades, do you really think you’re qualified for an idiom battle? Someone who didn’t know better would think you were the Chinese class representatives.”
Lu Jingcheng puffed up proudly. “I got 120 in Chinese!”
“You failed math,” Chen Wei shot back.
“But my Chinese is still 120!”
“You failed English,” Bai Le added.
“You’re just jealous!”
“Jealous of your failing physics?” Dong Yu stabbed in.
Lu Jingcheng kicked him in anger. Did they have no shame?!
The person he secretly liked was sitting right here!
Exposing all his weaknesses like this—did they not care about his dignity?!
Lu Jingcheng felt like he was going to explode.
What kind of friends were these? Garbage friends. They might as well be turned into spicy chicken!
He lowered his head and started eating. But just as his chopsticks touched his food, he suddenly remembered something and secretly glanced at Ye Qingyang’s bowl.
A bare bowl—without a single vegetable.
Just as he thought.
Ye Qingyang, poor and mistreated, was definitely the kind of person who would skimp on food.
Wasn’t he right?
Lu Jingcheng sighed inwardly, feeling quite proud of his own cleverness.
“Your bowl,” he said to Ye Qingyang.
Ye Qingyang did not understand, but since it sounded like he wanted the bowl, he pushed it toward him.
He even said helpfully, “Do you want to try some? It’s actually pretty good.”
Lu Jingcheng: Am I stupid? How could noodles without any toppings be good? Who was he trying to fool?
Lu Jingcheng did not believe him at all and looked at him with dissatisfaction and pity.
Still pretending in front of me?
I wouldn’t laugh at you!
Then Lu Jingcheng thought about it again. Ye Qingyang probably wanted to save face.
Who would want to show weakness in front of the person they liked? Even if they did not like something, they would pretend they did.
Sigh.
Life was hard.
Even eating a meal required putting on an act. Ye Qingyang, this poor little guy, was really pitiful.
Thinking this, Lu Jingcheng began transferring food from his own tray into Ye Qingyang’s bowl.
Celery, green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions—
He even added some shredded meat and spare ribs.
Chen Wei: …
Bai Le: …
Dong Yu: …
“And you still say you’re not favoring the new over the old!” Bai Le protested loudly. “Why aren’t you putting food in my bowl?!”