"Where shall we eat?"
Xu Qingfan thought it was a dinner date arranged for the five of them. When they reached the fork in the road, he tapped Xiao Ruawen's head.
"Ah? I'm easy." Xiao Ruawen slapped his hand away. With so many people around, it wouldn't be good if Xia Xiaoxiao saw them by accident.
Xu Qingfan gave her another look, "Then let's go to Cafeteria 2."
"Then I'm going to the second floor for the pork chop set meal!" Xiao Ruawen, hands on her hips, took the lead.
Xu Qingfan looked around and, not seeing the four girls, followed behind Xiao Ruawen.
Since there was a monthly exam for the senior year after the National Day holiday, there weren't many people queuing in the cafeteria today.
Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruawen didn't have to wait long before it was their turn to order.
After getting a curry chicken cutlet and a black pepper pork chop rice respectively, they carried their trays in search of a window-side seat.
As luck would have it, there were two window-side seats left on the second floor, but they were beside two other girls.
Moreover, one of them was Chen Mengmeng, whom Xiao Ruawen had recently mentioned.
Xu Qingfan looked at Xiao Ruawen as if to say, "I don't mind, you choose."
Xiao Ruawen gave him an annoyed look and headed straight for the spot without looking back.
"Hello, Meng Meng senior, is this seat taken?"
Chen Mengmeng first saw a tray appear across her table, then lifted her head to recognize the familiar face, the deskmate of her junior!
Next, her eyes lit up because her junior also appeared in her sight.
"No, it's free, you guys can sit." Chen Mengmeng, with a senior's amiability, pushed her tray aside to make room.
"Thank you, senior." Xiao Ruawen shot Xu Qingfan a glare before sitting opposite Chen Mengmeng.
After Xu Qingfan also sat down, the atmosphere sank into a prolonged silence.
The girl sitting opposite him had an average appearance. She wanted to sneak a peek at Xu Qingfan but averted her eyes immediately, feeling guilty when she saw he was looking back at her.
Xiao Ruawen quietly stretched her hand under the table and pinched Xu Qingfan's arm.
As for Chen Mengmeng, she was looking down, seemingly lost in thought.
Xu Qingfan had made up his mind to avoid contact with Chen Mengmeng, so he focused on eating and playing with his phone ever since he sat down, which pleased Xiao Ruawen.
Chen Mengmeng had a lot of things bottled up inside, wanting to say them, but Xu Qingfan didn't even glance at her.
Xiao Ruawen was also talkative but was worried that if she started talking to Brother Fan, it would give Chen Mengmeng an opportunity to chime in, hence silence was golden.
This left the atmosphere awkwardly tense.
[What a coincidence, last time I sat in this same spot with my junior.]
Chen Mengmeng still vividly remembered the incident not long before school started.
She didn't eat her favorite fried chicken leg, and besides not keeping up with nutrition, it also caused her to be hungry during the evening self-study.
[Good thing it's just one person today!]
After observing for a week and confirming that the other four weren't around, Chen Mengmeng finally relaxed, and she also felt confident about striking up a conversation with her junior.
"Hm?" Xu Qingfan kept his face as impassive as possible.
"Hehe... well, you're the vice president now, congratulations. Du Haitao is no longer president of the Magic Club." Being watched by Xu Qingfan, Chen Mengmeng's mind went blank, and she forgot all the words she had organized beforehand.
"Hmm." Xu Qingfan nodded, then turned his attention back to his phone.
Once she lost her junior's attention, she instantly regained her composure.
Chen Mengmeng was filled with regret at this moment because her conversational skill just now had been a spectacular failure, with no hooks left to engage Xu Qingfan, allowing him to dismiss the topic with a simple "Hmm."
Indeed, a good conversational rhythm requires tossing a new question to the other party while answering the previous one, so as not to let the conversation die.
Xiao Ruawen struggled to stop herself from laughing, focusing on eating her rice because she was afraid that if she looked up and saw Chen Mengmeng's face, she wouldn't be able to hold back her laughter.
[Brother Chou Fan, congrats on passing the test!]
Xiao Ruawen remembered what Xu Qingfan had said that morning: "How can I be blamed when you're the one who's so good-looking?" "Bullshit, they aren't even as pretty as you!"
Even though the canteen was noisy, Xiao Ruawen's sudden laugh still drew the attention of the three of them.
Seeing Xu Qingfan, Chen Mengmeng, and the unknown senior sister looking at her, Xiao Ruawen blinked awkwardly and pretended to ask innocently, "What's up?"
Xu Qingfan resumed eating, while Chen Mengmeng always felt that she was being laughed at, her little face growing slightly hot.
At the same time, she was quite peeved inside: [Laugh! Just wait until I'm in a relationship with the junior, then we'll see if you can still laugh!]
Chen Mengmeng, misinterpreting the laughter as mockery, had her competitive spirit flare up, no longer caring about feeling awkward.
"Hey junior, do you play League of Legends? If so, we could team up and play together when we're free!"
According to the information obtained from Wu Shichong and Lai Chenglang, Xu Qingfan was clearly a League of Legends player, and really, which boy could resist the temptation to group up and play with a beautiful girl with a sweet voice?
In any case, Chen Mengmeng felt that her move was a checkmate, especially since she truly loved the game League of Legends. Had she not been living on campus during high school, she probably would have reached 2200 points by now.
The Bronze King tier system wouldn't be updated until Season 3, and 2200 points were already equivalent to Diamond level.
[A beautiful girl who plays video games, I refuse to believe you won't bite this hook!] Chen Mengmeng was full of confidence.
"I'm sorry, senior sister, I seldom play games," said Xu Qingfan with a kind smile.
If Xu Qingfan followed the script from his past life, Chen Mengmeng could indeed build a deep friendship with him through the shortcut of the game; in fact, they really did become talkative friends because of this game in their past lives.
But now, having been reborn, he had long since grown weary of games, only feeling a few days of excitement when he initially got the five girls into gaming. As the enthusiasm faded, he found it uninteresting again.
Xu Qingfan found instructing and advising the five girls while they played the game to be more interesting than playing himself.
Xiao Ruawen had kept silent throughout, but she couldn't help laughing when she heard Xu Qingfan's response.
In the quiet trio, she was the only one quivering with silent laughter, making it difficult not to draw attention.
"I got... got choked eating... pfft, I'm going to get some water." Xiao Ruawen couldn't hold it anymore, covering her face with her hand as she turned to leave.
Xu Qingfan looked at Chen Mengmeng, whose face was as red as a monkey's butt. Since she was a friend from his past life, he still offered a word of comfort:
"Ruan Wen really loves playing League of Legends. You guys should add each other on QQ and play together sometime."
Chen Mengmeng showed a smile that looked uglier than crying: "Sure."
Soon after, Xiao Ruawen returned to her seat, wearing a cold expression. If only her body would stop twitching occasionally, it would have been perfect.
"Junior, I'm full, you guys continue," said Chen Mengmeng as she picked up her tray and looked down at the ground, a pity for the half-eaten chicken leg left behind.
After the two of them had left, Xiao Ruawen finally let herself laugh out loud.
Xu Qingfan glanced at her sideways, feeling that deep down, they were all the same kind of people. What a dog's life!