"The 330ml can is refined, but even at the same volume, the slim can is still fifty cents more expensive than the regular one, costing three yuan. Adding a little more to this six yuan would already buy a 2L plus family-sized version, or just a normal 500ml one. Either way, this isn't a good choice."

Thinking that the three yuan wasted could have bought a sweet cone for both him and Xia Xinyu, Chen Yuan felt a pang of heartache for Zhou Fu's extravagance.

He hadn't been so conscious of saving money before, but having recently acquired a neighbor, he was no longer alone and had to learn to manage his household.

That night, the young man matured.

"Then you can offer a can to a classmate," Zhou Fu suggested softly.

"Alright, I'll offer it to you." Chen Yuan handed the can of soda directly to Zhou Fu.

Zhou Fu was stunned in place. "..."

I treated Chen Yuan to two bottles of soda, and he offered one of them back to me, so I still owe him a favor, and I'll have to treat him again next time...

Stop thinking, your brain is going to overheat.

Why don't you just transfer three yuan to me, and the favor is settled?

Silly girl.

"Pop." Seeing Zhou Fu standing there dumbfounded, Chen Yuan simply opened the tab for her.

The faint, cold white vapor wafted into her face before Zhou Fu finally reacted and said hesitantly, "But I don't drink cola."

"Who doesn't drink cola?" Chen Yuan immediately retorted with a questioning tone.

Does such a person exist in this world?

Could it be that you're the type of young lady who has a piano at home, isn't allowed to eat barbecue, and never drinks carbonated beverages?

But which young lady has such a big pair of... Sorry, I'm being stereotypical.

[Who doesn't drink cola? She must not be able to drink it...]

[One sip of this, and I'll gain weight again, right?]

[It would be okay if it were sugar-free, but I'm already...]

"I'm going back to the classroom."

Just as he was about to hear about her weight, Chen Yuan quickly interrupted her thoughts and suggested leaving.

After all, a lady's weight is such a private matter; even eavesdropping on it made him uneasy.

"Oh... okay."

[I can't drink it, I'm already an E, if I gain more weight, I'll be ugly.]

Hiss, so it's not weight?

Just a cup size; it made me so nervous.

"Then I'll go up first."

As the bell rang to signal the end of class, Chen Yuan also prepared to return to his classroom.

The reason he didn't naturally return to the classroom with her wasn't because he was afraid of gossip. It was because Zhou Fu was currently in the vortex of the "he only likes to hang out with boys" rumor.

"Yeah, I'm going to the restroom; you go on up." Holding the can of cola, Zhou Fu nodded, understanding Chen Yuan.

However, returning alone and seeing those girls again, especially her deskmate Li Youyou... just thinking about it gave her a headache.

When girls experience something like this, they can't continue to be deskmates; this is the true—the wound of betrayal never heals.

According to Li Youyou's personality, after experiencing such an awkward situation, she would ask the teacher to change seats, and most likely she and her friend would sit together, with Tang Jian sitting back next to her.

This arrangement was naturally fine; Tang Jian was indeed a bit long-winded, chattering nonstop during class, but he shouldn't have any bad intentions.

Although logically speaking, the person who leaves after a conflict is the one running away, in Zhou Fu's eyes, it was a kind of abandonment.

Or rather, disgust.

"Bye."

Zhou Fu had a lot on her mind, and eavesdropping further would be intrusive, so Chen Yuan nodded slightly to acknowledge her and turned around, casually tossing the cola can, which he had gulped down in a few mouthfuls, into the trash can.

And Zhou Fu, after watching him walk away, went upstairs via a different route, the central staircase of the long teaching building.

If this were a manga, the male protagonist wouldn't so easily abandon the wronged female protagonist.

Therefore, this could only mean one thing—she wasn't the female lead.

Of course, I'm not the female lead; what does a *danmei* (boy's love) novel need a female lead for...

The hand holding the cola tightened slightly; Zhou Fu, afraid of gaining more weight but still having drunk the cola, had her thick glasses reflect a white light.

After arriving at the classroom, Li Youyou was already in her seat.

Without hesitation, and without looking at the girls who were gossiping about her only liking to hang out with boys, she calmly returned to her seat.

The two of them were silent, their gazes not shifting an inch towards each other; when they needed to turn their heads, they both turned in opposite directions, and both seemed to be deliberately acting as if they didn't care, chatting and laughing with others.

This was the war between her and Li Youyou.

And the sign of the end of the cold war would be the dissolution of their deskmate relationship.

During the break of the third class in the afternoon, Li Youyou went to find Huang Ying, the girl with the slanted eyes who was Tang Jian's deskmate, and dragged her outside once, but she returned not long after.

When she came back, the expression on her face was somewhat displeased, apparently because the homeroom teacher hadn't agreed to the seat change.

After the last class in the afternoon, there was a long break, which was only for high school seniors and juniors who had to attend evening self-study. Boarding students would go to the cafeteria at this time to eat dinner, then return for evening self-study, and then late evening self-study.

Chen Yuan and Zhou Fu, as day students, only needed to attend one hour of evening self-study at school and would officially be dismissed at six-thirty.

However, Tuesdays and Fridays were different; after school were club activity days, and they could leave a little earlier, returning home at five-fifty.

As usual, Zhou Yu and He Sijiao, the boarding students, left as soon as class ended to rush to the cafeteria for food.

There were only five day students in the class, and the remaining three also went to the supermarket to buy something to fill their stomachs, so only Chen Yuan, Zhou Fu, and Li Youyou were left in the classroom.

And Li Youyou, who should have gone to eat, was sitting in her seat, sulking.

Huang Ying is so cheap; she said she agreed to go to the teacher to change seats, but she didn't say anything after going to the office, making me get scolded by the teacher.

Then Mr. Mo immediately saw that Zhou Fu and I were having a conflict and told me to overcome it and be friendly to new classmates...

I didn't say anything, I just didn't want to be sarcastically criticized by those people, and in the end, I'm the one playing the bad guy.

Zhou Fu's gaze towards me is also wrong now.

You should hate those who like to sow discord; what did I do wrong?

Besides, we weren't that close to begin with...

[Maybe... forget it, Li Youyou isn't wrong either.]

[She's just afraid of being isolated, that's why she acted that way.]

"Aren't you going to eat something?" Suddenly, Zhou Fu opened her mouth with a squeezed smile.

Huh?

Li Youyou was stunned for a moment, raised her head, and shifted her gaze to the left.

"Planning to eat at home, what's up, do you have something to eat?" Chen Yuan turned his head, facing Zhou Fu.

Oh, so his name is Chen Yuan...

Almost foolishly agreed, that would have been so embarrassing.

"...Yeah, I do." After Chen Yuan picked up the conversation, Zhou Fu's conflicted heart suddenly brightened, and she quickly took out a long loaf of bread from her small leather bag and handed it to him.

Actually, after opening her mouth to talk to Li Youyou, she regretted it; taking the initiative to break the ice was somewhat awkward, with a hint of flattery.

But Chen Yuan's interjection allowed her to 'withdraw' this voice message, so she felt relieved.

"Sit in He Sijiao's seat; I'll break off half the bread for you; I'm afraid of crumbs falling." Chen Yuan said.

"Yeah, okay."

Hearing this, Zhou Fu willingly got up and took out a box of milk from her bag.

Her mother forced her to drink milk every day, saying it was healthy; she was so annoyed, her cup size was already big. Before transferring schools, she always gave her milk to her deskmate; now that she had just arrived at Eleventh High, she wasn't very familiar with her classmates, so she could only drink it herself every day.

Might as well give it to Chen Yuan.

Anyway, he doesn't seem to be polite at all.

You don't know what's good for you...

"I'll give it to you to drink; I have cola."

"Okay."

Although he was considered a brazen person, Chen Yuan still accepted the milk, then folded the bread in half, giving Zhou Fu the half with the plastic bag, and the two of them sat together to eat 'dinner'.

Slamming her book shut, Li Youyou got up from her seat and quickly walked out of the classroom.

Now, there were only two people left in the class.

"Chen..." Still eating her bread in small bites, Zhou Fu turned her head, and was about to strike up a conversation with Chen Yuan when she discovered that he had casually finished the bread in a few bites and started drinking the milk.

Thankfully... that's what you call heroic for a boy.

And Chen Yuan didn't stop because of her hesitation but continued to hold his pen and write English questions.

"This is wrong; choose C."

Holding the bread, Zhou Fu pointed to Chen Yuan's question with her other hand.

"Hiss, a *xueba* (study god)?" Chen Yuan said in surprise.

"I'm just okay at English." Zhou Fu said modestly.

"How many points do you get?" Chen Yuan asked.

"Around 130, not too far off."

"With such good grades, how were you exiled to Class 18?"

With these grades, she has the potential to become an inner disciple (Class 2, Class 3).

"Class Two and Three didn't have spots... and my science is extremely bad."

"How much?" Chen Yuan thought of a mutually beneficial method.

He'd teach her science, and she'd teach him English.

"220."

"..."

Damn, 220 is extremely bad?

Are you wiping out all the students in Class 18 with one swipe?

Chen Yuan withdrew a suggestion of 'mutual help'.

"She should have gone to the homeroom teacher to change seats and failed?" Zhou Fu suddenly opened the topic in a low voice.

"Looks like it." Chen Yuan asked, "What do you think?"

"Actually, Li Youyou and I are pretty good friends. I don't know why she said that... maybe it's because those girls were sowing discord, so it's okay not to change seats."

"Yeah."

Chen Yuan thought it was all okay; after all, it was their business.

"You interrupted me just now; were you trying to remind me of something?" Zhou Fu felt that Chen Yuan suddenly turning his head obviously meant he had an idea, so she asked curiously.

"Ah? Didn't you ask me just now?" Chen Yuan feigned surprise.

"No, no, I gave you the bread sincerely... no, what I mean is..."

Zhou Fu completely messed herself up; it seemed strange no matter how she said it.

"It's not wrong for you to compromise, but I still think it's better not to compromise."

Since the other party had already noticed that he was 'interfering' just now, Chen Yuan didn't hide it.

In fact, after hearing the psychological activities of the two people, whose postures were completely unequal, he felt sorry for Zhou Fu.

Friendships should be based on sincerity in exchange for sincerity.

"Chen Yuan, is the milk good?"

Just as Chen Yuan, like a great philosopher, finished speaking this sentence of enigmatic wisdom and was acting aloof, Zhou Fu, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly asked.

"What? Is it charged?"

Zhou Fu shook her head, then looked at Chen Yuan, the boy who often made her blush and was the epitome of a *danmei* male lead, and tentatively asked, "Then, do you want to drink it every day?"