"Mind if we do! Mind if we do! Come, come, come! Sit, sit, sit! Have some water, have some water!" Yao Na'er acted as servilely as a restaurant waiter.
"Thanks." The two gracefully took their seats.
Xiao Ye and Huang Li looked at the water across the table that rightfully belonged to them, then exchanged a taciturn, expressionless gaze as they stared at Yao Na'er, who was grinning like a flatterer.
"What's wrong?" Yao Na'er asked, slightly bewildered by their stares.
"Where's our water?" Huang Li asked with a "kind" reminder.
"Oh!" Yao Na'er snapped back to reality. "I'm on it right now!" She spun around and hurried away.
For a moment, the four people at the table fell into an enigmatic silence.
Xiao Ye silently placed the menu back on the table and pushed it gently to the middle.
Noticing her action, He Yi reached out to take the single-sheet menu and nodded in gratitude: "Thank you."
Xiao Ye nodded without a word.
After taking the menu, He Yi glanced over it casually and handed it to Su Jue.
Su Jue took the menu, pondered for a moment, and asked, "What dishes did you order? If you don't mind, let's eat together! That way we can have a few more dishes." Though he asked Xiao Ye and the others, his eyes were fixed on He Yi.
Huang Li glanced at Xiao Ye, and seeing no sign of objection from her, replied, "Stir-fried pork with chili, shredded spinach, and mushroom soup." As for Yao Na'er, she would undoubtedly jump at the chance.
"Great! Do any of you have dietary restrictions?"
"Nope."
By the time Yao Na'er returned, they had already ordered their dishes: two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes.
Yao Na'er placed the water in front of Xiao Ye and Huang Li, waving her hands to shoo them over: "Slide over! Slide over!"
Once seated, Yao Na'er looked across the table at the two of them with a starry-eyed expression.
Huang Li watched her behavior and gave an inward, stealthy eye-roll: Such a disappointment!
Meanwhile, Xiao Ye turned her head to face the snow-white wall, adopting a look of "I don't know her," as if trying to hypnotize others or herself. Seeing her expression, the smile at the corner of He Yi's mouth grew even more pronounced.
While the three girls here wore varied expressions, the two guys over there had already struck up a conversation.
"Oh, right! Senior duo, we haven't introduced ourselves yet."
"I'm Yao Na'er from Class 1157, this is Huang Li, and the one over there is Xiao Ye. We're all in the same class."
Hearing their names, the two young men nodded politely across the table.
"Nice to meet you! I am—"
Before Su Jue could finish, Yao Na'er eagerly jumped in: "Senior Su Jue! Senior He Yi! I know you both!"
Hearing his name called, He Yi gave a polite nod.
Seeing his words hijacked, Su Jue scratched the back of his head and said with a touch of embarrassment, "I didn't expect we were quite that famous."
Realizing her behavior was somewhat improper, Yao Na'er apologized, "So sorry! I was just too excited!"
"No worries at all!"
As they spoke, the dishes began to arrive one after another.
Huang Li nudged Yao Na'er and said, "Let's go! Time to dish out the rice."
Just as the words left her mouth, He Yi stood up. "We'll go get it, you guys stay seated." With that, he took Su Jue with him to dish out the rice.
Watching their departing figures, Yao Na'er rested her chin in her hands and said infatuatedly, "My male god is just unbelievably gentle!"
Huang Li said speechlessly, "You certainly didn't call Qianzi gentle when he dished out rice for you!"
"Can he compare to my male god?"
"Why ever not? Isn't our Qianzi great?" Xiao Ye chimed in.
Huang Li: "Exactly, isn't our Qianzi sweet, clever, and adorable?"
Yao Na'er: "He's not as good-looking as my male god!"
Xiao Ye: "Tsk tsk tsk! Such a shallow woman!"
Yao Na'er: "How am I shallow?"
Huang Li: "How are you *not* shallow?"
Xiao Ye: "Put your right hand over your left chest and honestly ask yourself that."
Yao Na'er: "..."
"Ask what?" a gentle, clear voice drifted over.
He Yi was walking over carrying three bowls of rice, yet even so, it did nothing to diminish his handsome bearing.
"Nothing! Nothing! Please sit down, Senior He Yi!"
"Um... actually, you don't have to call me 'male god'." He Yi politely tried to refuse the title.
"Hehehe! I'll change it for sure! Definitely!" Oh, this mouth of mine! Yao Na'er inwardly scolded herself.
That's what you get for getting carried away! Xiao Ye and Huang Li shared a tacit, minor eye-roll.