Auntie Liu, who cooked the noodles, brought over a freshly made bowl and looked at Xiao Wanting and Lu Bei with a smile.
It was quite obvious that she had a very gossipy streak to blurt out something like that.
Xiao Wanting's face instantly flushed crimson, and steam seemed to be rising from the top of her head.
This girl... was still far too shy when other people were around.
However, before Lu Bei could speak,
Xiao Wanting quickly recovered. She slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and spoke first.
"Not yet! Not right now!"
As she spoke, Xiao Wanting also glanced back furtively to size up Lu Bei,
seemingly terrified that he might give a negative answer at a time like this.
"Not yet, huh? Well, you will be soon enough."
With the satisfied expression of someone who had just gotten her gossip fix, Auntie Liu set down the noodles and walked away,
leaving the two of them sitting somewhat awkwardly by the dining table.
"Um... Senior."
Xiao Wanting looked at Lu Bei with some hesitation.
A great deal of her sudden action just then had been driven by a rush of heat to her head.
Speaking up in the moment had certainly felt exhilarating.
Yet... now that she thought about it, Xiao Wanting was starting to regret it.
She shouldn't have said such a thing in a setting like that.
Of course... her reason for thinking this wasn't because she felt any aversion.
Rather, it was because saying it was simply too direct.
She hadn't built up her favorability rating nearly high enough yet.
Making such a rash declaration
would surely make the senior, who had just been left with emotional scars, feel repulsed.
"Don't overthink it. We can talk about this later—let's tackle dinner first."
Lu Bei glanced at the girl in front of him.
He already had a vague guess forming in his mind.
However, rather than calling her out directly, he decided to give her some time to calm down first.
Under Xiao Wanting's somewhat anxious and uneasy gaze, Lu Bei picked up his bowl.
The noodle shop recommended by this little loli was indeed quite commendable in terms of flavor.
Taking a large mouthful of mutton soup along with the noodles, it was easy to generate a warm, cozy feeling deep inside.
This brought a sense of inner satisfaction to Lu Bei, whose appetite was already quite robust.
In no time at all, he had swallowed the majority of the noodles.
"Wipe your mouth, Senior, wipe your mouth."
Xiao Wanting stared at Lu Bei.
Seeing his somewhat rough movements didn't evoke any feeling of disgust in her.
Instead, she pulled out a tissue from the side and went to work vigorously on the stains on his face.
Looking at the newly cleaned face, she broke into a satisfied smile.
"Hehe."
"Classmate Xiaoxiao, it looks like you've calmed down. In that case... I think it's time we talked about what just happened."
Seeing that the girl had quieted down, Lu Bei felt it was time to address the topic from moments ago.
Unlike Xiao Wanting, who had been in a state of high tension,
as someone with a mental age in his thirties, a mature person who had already been hurt in matters of the heart,
Lu Bei didn't feel an overwhelming sense of joy toward a situation straight out of a romance novel.
And so... after weighing his tone a bit, he avoided using any overly harsh phrasing,
opting instead for a very casual manner of questioning.
"Senior, don't read too much into it. Eat your noodles, eat your noodles."
Xiao Wanting lowered her head, looking a bit awkward.
With her head down, she poked at her noodles while her gaze darted about uncertainly.
"And yet, no woman is ever good to another person for no reason."
"Except mothers."
Lu Bei looked at her, and after confirming that her attitude clearly betrayed her insincerity,
he cracked a small joke.
Hearing that, Xiao Wanting felt as though everything went black before her eyes.
This little loli's current state of mind could only be described as thoroughly complicated.
She neither wanted Lu Bei to see through her intentions
nor wanted him to figure it out and confess to her.
Consequently, Classmate Xiaoxiao was exceptionally eager for Lu Bei's response.
Yet what kind of reply was that?
Ugh, being treated like a mother by the boy she had a crush on—it was just too bizarre.
The blow dealt to Xiao Wanting was by no means small,
leaving her brain thoroughly scrambled for quite a while.
It wasn't until she saw the smile lingering at the corner of Lu Bei's mouth that she snapped back to her senses.
Instantly, her previously shy expression transformed into a pout.
Was the senior teasing her on purpose?
Or... perhaps he was hoping she could be more honest.
"Classmate Xiaoxiao, you couldn't have seen me getting bullied so badly that your maternal instincts kicked in, which is why you're being so nice to me, right?"
Seeing Xiao Wanting snap out of it, Lu Bei smiled slightly,
continuing to tease the young girl.
"No way!"
Panicking, Xiao Wanting turned her head away and gave a denial.
After saying that, she fell silent for a long while before offering her final judgment.
"Senior, you're a bad guy."
"That's right, I am a bad guy. Besides, having just given up on a relationship, in certain women's circles I'd probably be branded a scumbag."
Lu Bei looked at Xiao Wanting pointedly,
hoping that leaving it at that would suffice.
"That matter... I think the one in the wrong wasn't Senior at all. You have no reason to harbor any guilt over it."
"If you want to move on, perhaps you can replace those unhappy memories with some wonderful ones."
Xiao Wanting clearly disagreed with the viewpoint Lu Bei had just expressed.
Thus, she slammed the table once more, making her dissatisfaction known to him.
Yet as she reached the second half of her sentence, the corners of her mouth couldn't help curling up slightly.
Her whole demeanor was practically shouting: Choose me! Choose me!
"Are you saying I should go ahead and chase Xu Qingshuang, hoping her consent will heal my heart?"
Lu Bei wore a melancholy expression as he uttered words he would rather die than actually put into practice.
Realizing that his subtle rejection had failed,
he wanted a more definitive answer from Xiao Wanting.
"No way!"
Xiao Wanting slammed the table fiercely and sprang to her feet.
However, the overly vigorous movement quickly caused her...
"What I mean is that Senior should find a good woman to replace that mistaken relationship, instead of hanging yourself on a bad woman."
This little loli's attitude was clearly full of urgency,
yet whatever way you looked at it, what she said sounded rather bizarre.
It sounded a bit like a mother lecturing her child... telling them not to hang around with bad women.
As she delivered this educational lecture, she appeared exceptionally forceful,
yet she was clearly terrified that the child might end up hating her for it.
"Then what kind of girl is considered a good girl?"
"For instance... someone like you?"
Lu Bei looked at Xiao Wanting, tapped the table, and asked softly.
When faced with a girl who was too shy to be honest,
he chose to play it straight.