Chapter 162 : Chapter 162
Chapter 162
Lin Changqing hadn't noticed Yu Ruolan yet, still sticking to Bai Xuechao like a piece of sticky plaster as he walked.
Yu Ruolan was originally facing away from them. Hearing footsteps, she turned to look.
Yuan Lan deliberately didn't greet Yu Ruolan, just smiled at her. Yu Ruolan wasn't one to initiate conversation, so seeing Yuan Lan remain silent, she simply smiled back at him, her long purple-black hair cascading down her back, looking extremely quiet and gentle.
Yuan Lan walked to the head of the dining table and sat down.
Bai Xuechao, who was by his side, went around him and sat on his right-hand side, the same seat he had always occupied.
Lin Changqing didn't want to be separated from Bai Xuechao, so he sat directly next to him in the seat that belonged to Mu Xinyue, even pulling his chair closer to Bai Xuechao.
At that moment, Bai Xuechao looked at Yu Ruolan sitting opposite him and said, "Did you just arrive?"
Lin Changqing's body instantly stiffened.
Who was Bai Xuechao talking to?
He followed Bai Xuechao's line of sight—
"Mm." Yu Ruolan slightly lowered her head, her violet eyes, when she looked up, were like a clear lake, limpid and watery.
"Holy shit!" Lin Changqing yelped and almost jumped out of his chair. After realizing what was happening, he awkwardly supported himself with one hand on the dining table and raised his other hand to greet Yu Ruolan, whom he had just noticed, "Hi, Little Yu, just getting here to eat?"
Yu Ruolan nodded, seeming to feel that this was too cold and impolite, she added a soft "Mm."
Yuan Lan asked Yu Ruolan in a conversational tone, "Little Yu, why are you having lunch so late today?"
It seemed he was also very familiar with Yu Ruolan's lunch time.
Unexpectedly, Yu Ruolan hesitated for a moment, then quickly glanced at Bai Xuechao and mumbled, "Because..."
"Did you go looking for Little Xuechao?" Yuan Lan said what she was too embarrassed to say, chuckling lightly, "I took Little Xuechao to the laboratory today, he's not in his room."
Yu Ruolan nodded and replied in a low voice, "Mm..."
She had sent Bai Xuechao a message today asking how he was feeling and what he wanted for lunch, but he hadn't replied by noon. She thought something had happened to him.
It was only when she went to Yuan Lan's bedroom that she found Bai Xuechao wasn't there. The reason he hadn't replied was that he hadn't taken his phone; it was left by his pillow.
At that moment, the sound of a trolley's wheels rolling on the ground came from the hallway. A man in a maid's uniform pushed a cart in, served Yu Ruolan two steamers of S City's specialty xiaolongbao, a plate of tea eggs bigger than a fist, and finally, a small bowl of green porridge.
"Thank you," Yu Ruolan said in a low voice.
The male servant bowed slightly to her, then bowed to Bai Xuechao and the others before leaving.
"Feels like ours will be a while... The juice should be ready soon, right? It should have been sent over together?" Yuan Lan suddenly stood up, seemingly on a whim, "I'll go see what the kitchen is doing~"
Lin Changqing waved his hand casually, "Bye-bye."
He seemed to be used to Yuan Lan suddenly deciding to do things, treating it as if it were a common sight.
Yuan Lan left with light steps, as if going to the kitchen was an interesting surprise inspection.
Once he was gone, only Bai Xuechao, Lin Changqing, and Yu Ruolan were left in the dining room.
Lin Changqing felt bored just sitting there, so he turned to chat with Bai Xuechao, only to find him propping his chin with one hand and staring at Yu Ruolan. His expression was nothing special, as if he was just looking at something random. After all, in a quiet moment, the only moving scenery would attract one's attention.
So, Lin Changqing also looked at Yu Ruolan.
Yu Ruolan seemed to have sensed their gazes. She kept her head down and focused on eating her xiaolongbao, not even lifting her eyelids, as if afraid of making eye contact with the two people opposite her and then having to say something.
Watching others eat was a bit interesting. Lin Changqing seemed to understand the existence of eating broadcasts a little.
He was watching Yu Ruolan suck the soup from a xiaolongbao when he heard Bai Xuechao ask, "Is it good?"
"Ah?" Yu Ruolan abruptly looked up at Bai Xuechao opposite her, looked at him in silence for a moment before saying, "It's good, do you want one...?"
Bai Xuechao didn't stand on ceremony, "Sure."
"I won't use my chopsticks to get it for you, I have my spit on them..." Yu Ruolan said in a low voice as she took the large tea egg from the plate and placed it on the table.
She handed the empty plate to Bai Xuechao, "Use this to catch the drippings, there will be soup..."
"Okay, thank you." Bai Xuechao took the plate, then used his fingers to pick up a xiaolongbao from the steamer basket, brought it to his mouth, and took a bite.
The skin of this xiaolongbao was very thin. After he took a bite, the warm soup was about to flow out from the opening he had bitten. He used the plate to catch it from underneath while simultaneously sipping the soup. The rich flavor instantly filled his mouth, full of the savory taste of mutated species meat filling.
Yu Ruolan held her chopsticks and kept staring at Bai Xuechao, as if waiting for his reaction.
"It's delicious," Bai Xuechao said.
Yu Ruolan's eyes widened, looking very happy, "This meat filling is actually made from mutated chicken."
Bai Xuechao took the opportunity to ask, "Do you like chicken?"
"Mm-hmm," Yu Ruolan nodded, "I like every part except the butt."
Bai Xuechao said, "I like chicken too."
Lin Changqing casually interjected, "I'm so-so about chicken, I prefer pork. But mutated pigs are really too lean, they get stuck in my teeth. I like it when it's a mix of fat and lean."
"If you like the kind that's a mix of fat and lean, you can go to Y City," Bai Xuechao finished the rest of the xiaolongbao and continued, "Last month in Y City, all the pigs on a farm mutated. They looked about the same as ordinary pigs, just a bit bigger, until the pig keeper discovered they were starting to grow spines, like hedgehogs."
Currently, all the mutated pig species available on the market were the very lean kind.
He knew about this mutated species because he had eaten braised pork at the hospital last month, which was a mix of fat and lean and had the taste of a mutated species. That's when he asked which pigs had mutated again. For it to appear on his dining table, it was highly likely that the Dark Organization had acquired it.
Lin Changqing asked, "And then?"
"There's no 'and then'," Bai Xuechao said plainly, "Go to Y City, make a deal with the Dark Organization, and say you want to buy pork."
Lin Changqing: "..."
He was very tempted, then refused, "Better not."
What a joke. He was beaten half to death by the Dark Organization's Duan Xingzhi a few days ago, and now Bai Xuechao was still at the Apocalypse Society. Would he dare to go to the Dark Organization's den just for a bite to eat??
He might just die the day he went, die from stupidity.
Here, Yu Ruolan started to peel the tea egg.
The shell of that egg was very brittle. Even though the shell of the tea egg had been cracked beforehand, there was still a crackling sound as she peeled it, drawing attention.
Seeing that both of them were attracted by the sound of the shell peeling and were looking at her tea egg, Yu Ruolan held the fist-sized egg with trembling hands and asked in a low voice, "Then... shall we eat it together?"
"No, I don't like eggs." Lin Changqing waved his hands repeatedly, "I'm just looking, you can eat it."
But Bai Xuechao asked, "Do you like tea eggs?"
"I do," Yu Ruolan answered in a low voice.
Bai Xuechao continued, "Do you like them boiled with black tea or green tea?"
"Eh, is there a difference?" Yu Ruolan was a bit surprised. She thought for a moment, "The most common kind?"
"That would be black tea. Usually, tea eggs are boiled with black tea," Bai Xuechao said, "I also like them boiled with black tea."
Yu Ruolan couldn't help but ask, "Then do you like to eat eggs?"
"I'm alright, I like them quite a bit," Bai Xuechao also asked, "Do you like eggs? Do you eat century eggs?"
Yu Ruolan shook her head frantically, "I like eggs, but I don't eat century eggs."
Bai Xuechao said, "I don't either."
Yu Ruolan also asked, "Do you eat durian?"
"No," Bai Xuechao said, "I think it smells too bad, it's disgusting."
Yu Ruolan nodded in agreement, "Me too."
Lin Changqing suddenly said, "Are you two on a blind date?"
Bai Xuechao: "..."
Yu Ruolan's face instantly turned bright red, her ears as red as cooked shrimp. If this scene were a manga, her head would probably be steaming.
She quickly lowered her head and fiercely ate the tea egg in her hand, as if having something to do would distract her and alleviate the awkwardness.
Bai Xuechao found it a bit funny, "How does it look like one?"
Although he had never been on a blind date.
"How does it not? You've never seen one, have you?" Lin Changqing was actually right. Then, Lin Changqing began to play two roles, the first sentence in a high-pitched voice, the next back to his own, "What do you like, what do I like. What will you eat, what will I eat. You're like this, me too."
After imitating their conversation just now, he summarized, "Planning to spend your lives together? Asking about life preferences in such detail."
Yu Ruolan choked on the tea egg and started to frantically drink her porridge.
Seeing this, Lin Changqing couldn't help but advise, "I was just joking, Little Yu, don't choke yourself to death."
As soon as he said that, Yu Ruolan choked and started coughing.
Bai Xuechao patted his shoulder, "Stop talking, you jinx."
Lin Changqing's eyes widened, unconvinced, "Wait, I'm not a jinx. Nothing like this has ever happened before, this is an accident!"
"People who encounter ghosts have very low luck." Bai Xuechao opened his mouth and spouted nonsense, leading the conversation in the direction Lin Changqing feared most, "Once your luck is low, you easily become a jinx, which is commonly known as being unlucky. You should say less of these things recently, otherwise, who knows which bad thing you say will come true."
Lin Changqing was almost fooled into stupidity. He didn't know if this saying was correct, but the thought of encountering a ghost made him afraid to question it. He could only say, "Okay, okay, okay..."
At this moment, the sound of a trolley could be heard from the hallway again, along with the footsteps of two people.
"I'm~ back~!" Yuan Lan was pushing the trolley and running wildly at the front, with the male servant chasing behind him.
After entering the dining room, he hooked the trolley with his foot and at the same time picked up the four glasses of juice on the trolley to prevent them from spilling from the sudden stop.
One of the juice glasses was incredibly huge, almost the size of a person's head, who knows how many liters it held.
Yuan Lan placed this giant glass in front of Lin Changqing.
Lin Changqing: "?"
He asked, "Why do I have so much?"
Yuan Lan said with a grin, "Drink more, to calm your nerves."