Xu Lai watched Lin Ruoruo walk into the alley until her figure disappeared from sight, and only then did he look away.
Afterward, as he walked, Xu Lai dialed a phone number.
When the call connected on the other end, a somewhat elderly voice came through:
"Xiaolai."
"Grandma, I'm back in Jiangcheng. Tonight I want to eat the food you cook." The rare youthful side of Xu Lai was fully revealed during his conversation with Grandma.
"Good, very good. Come back, and Grandma will cook you something delicious." The old woman did not ask why Xu Lai had returned to Jiangcheng because she knew his current status, and even if she asked, she probably wouldn't understand.
"Grandma, I found Ruoruo."
Xu Lai uttered these simple words calmly, but when they reached the old woman's ears, they left her in utter disbelief for a long time.
Only Xu Minghui knew how much Xu Lai had sacrificed to find Lin Ruoruo, almost at the cost of his life. After a dozen seconds, a voice came from the other end of the line again.
"Really? Xiaolai?" As she spoke, the old woman's voice choked up: "How... how is Ruoruo doing now?"
"Grandma, don't worry. Once I've found her, I won't let her suffer anymore." Xu Lai also didn't want Grandma to overthink things.
"Mhm, I believe you, Xiaolai. When the time is right, you can take Grandma to see her... and... her mother."
"Okay," Xu Lai answered softly.
After chatting for a little while, the call ended. Xu Lai understood Grandma Xu Minghui's concerns.
According to No. 1 High School principal Ma Kuishan, Lin Ruoruo had been studying in Jiangcheng since middle school, which meant she had been back in Jiangcheng for at least five or six years. Yet neither of them had ever sought out Xu Minghui, indicating that they no longer wanted too many entanglements with the past. Therefore, Xu Minghui would not come to disturb them rashly.
At the same time, Xu Lai had also learned from Ma Kuishan about Lin Ruoruo's academic performance. In middle school, her grades had been exceptionally good.
In fact, with Lin Ruoruo's scores, she could have gone directly to the High School Affiliated to Normal University. She chose No. 1 High School only because Ma Kuishan offered better material conditions, providing her with a scholarship grant.
During the high school entrance examination, Lin Ruoruo had entered No. 1 High School with scores ranking in the top ten of the entire city. However, her grades had slipped after entering No. 1 High School, and now she could only be considered of middle tier. After the division between arts and sciences, she hadn't even managed to get into the arts sprint class.
All of this seemed to be something Xu Lai had to figure out for himself.
The next day.
Xu Lai walked into the classroom of Senior Three, Class Twenty-Seven, carrying two breakfasts and looking completely relaxed.
Then he placed one of the breakfasts on Lin Ruoruo's desk. "Classmate Lin Ruoruo, you haven't eaten breakfast, have you? I bought an extra portion, please have it."
Hearing the movement, Lin Ruoruo hurriedly pulled back her hand, hiding her left hand inside her desk drawer.
Because she had been holding a rice ball in her left hand.
Then she raised her head slightly and looked at the breakfast on the desk. "I... I've already eaten."
The rice ball she held in her hand had been made from rice cooked the previous night.
Her mother gave her living expenses every month, but she couldn't bear to spend money outside on breakfast.
Therefore, she often cooked a little extra rice the night before, saving some to shape into a rice ball for breakfast the next day.
"It's fine to eat a little more in the morning. Help me eat it, otherwise it'll go to waste," Xu Lai said earnestly, as if he were truly just worried about the breakfast being wasted.
As he spoke, he reached out and opened the box, which contained a portion of small steamed buns, and then inserted a straw into the carton of milk, handing it to Lin Ruoruo.
Lin Ruoruo's eyes showed some hesitation. After thinking for a long time, she finally reached out and accepted the milk Xu Lai handed her. "Thank you, Classmate Xu Lai."
Xu Lai waved his hand, looking completely unconcerned. "Don't keep saying thank you to me. We've only known each other for a few days, and you've already said it several times."
"Oh, al... alright." Lin Ruoruo took a sip of the milk and responded softly.
She ate her rice ball while drinking the milk, not touching a single one of the small steamed buns on the desk.
As Xu Lai ate his own breakfast, he turned and saw that Lin Ruoruo still had no intention of eating the steamed buns. "Classmate Lin Ruoruo, do you not like small steamed buns?"
Lin Ruoruo gently shook her head. "You wait... wait until you finish eating, and then I'll eat."
She was afraid Xu Lai wouldn't be full from one portion of breakfast; after all, she had previously seen a classmate in her class eat two baskets of small steamed buns for a single breakfast.
Xu Lai felt a stinging sensation in his nose.
He sniffed, smiled faintly, and said, "Hurry up and eat. I can't even finish this portion myself."
"Okay, th... thank you."
"Didn't I say not to keep saying thank you?"
Lin Ruoruo felt a warmth in her heart and couldn't help wanting to cry. Aside from her mother and her maternal grandmother whom she hadn't seen for several years, it had been a very, very long time since anyone had cared about her like this.
"Cl... Classmate Xu Lai, wh... why did you suddenly transfer to Jiangcheng?" Lin Ruoruo asked timidly, keeping her head down as she ate a small steamed bun.
This was the first time Lin Ruoruo had taken the initiative to speak to Xu Lai, which somewhat surprised him. He quickly calmed his emotions and said slowly, "I'm originally from Jiangcheng, so I decided to come back to Jiangcheng to take the college entrance examination."
"Oh." Lin Ruoruo did not continue asking.
Xu Lai looked at Lin Ruoruo. This girl had actually taken the initiative to say a sentence to him today; that was progress.
"Is your home also near No. 1 High School?"
Lin Ruoruo shook her head. "N... no, my home..."
Her voice trailed off because she herself didn't know where her home was.
In Jiangcheng? The house her father had bought before had been forcibly occupied by others.
In Jinling? Aside from her grandmother and the uncle who occasionally showed her kindness in secret, that place couldn't be considered her home either.
As for the rented apartment she lived in now, she felt no sense of belonging.
"I don't have a home, only a mother." The second half of Lin Ruoruo's sentence was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.
Hearing this, Xu Lai felt as if his heart were being twisted by a knife, making him extremely uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, Classmate Lin Ruoruo, I..." Xu Lai had originally just wanted to get close to Lin Ruoruo, not expecting to make her recall painful memories.
"It's fine." Lin Ruoruo's tone was flat, as if she had already accepted fate's unfairness toward her.
Xu Lai calmed his mind. Seeing Lin Ruoruo's current appearance, he knew he couldn't be too hasty.
......
Inside the shantytown residential building.
An Oscar-worthy performance was unfolding at Lin Ruoruo's home.
In order to constantly cozy up to Liu Sufang every day, Chen Lan and her sister dragged a gas cylinder to Lin Ruoruo's house under the pretext that their own household gas stove was broken.
They started cooking meals using Lin Ruoruo's gas stove.
And the landlord was extremely cooperative.
He claimed the gas stove was broken and that he had bought a new one online, which would take a few days to arrive.
Two days later, for some unknown reason, the rental house had its water cut off. The landlord said there was a problem with the building's pipes and that professionals needed to be called to take a look.
Consequently, Chen Lan and her sister even had to go to Lin Ruoruo's house to take showers.
......
After a few days of contact, Lin Ruoruo also began to take the initiative to communicate with Xu Lai.
Xu Lai would also seize the opportunity of explaining problems to proactively explain things to Lin Ruoruo whenever she encountered questions she didn't understand.
At the same time, Xu Lai would also intentionally buy an extra breakfast every morning to bring to Lin Ruoruo, using all sorts of excuses to coax her into eating the breakfast he brought.
After school dismissed at noon, Xu Lai did not quietly follow behind Lin Ruoruo like he usually did.
Instead, he caught up to Lin Ruoruo's pace and tapped her on the shoulder: "Classmate Lin Ruoruo."
Lin Ruoruo, who had been walking with her head down, turned around in surprise and saw Xu Lai smiling all over his face. "Classmate Xu Lai, is... is something the matter?"
"I just wanted to trouble you. Could you take me here?" As he spoke, Xu Lai took a piece of paper out of his pants pocket.
Written on it were the two characters "Cai Ji".
"I heard from others that this shop's sesame paste noodles are delicious, but I just got back to Jiangcheng and I'm not very familiar with the neighborhood."
Lin Ruoruo looked at the words on the paper. She knew this place; it was right along the mandatory route she took every time she went to the supermarket to buy groceries.