Chapter 35: Cafeteria
“His favorability toward me has already increased by fifteen.”
“So how much did Su Peng like me in the first place? After finishing the task, it probably won’t go over eighty, right?”
An Han sat cross-legged at the head of his bed, mumbling softly to himself.
The system didn’t explain much about how the favorability score worked. It only warned him not to let it go above eighty and definitely not over one hundred. But the problem was, An Han had no idea what those numbers actually meant.
In most games, favorability was usually described in stages like “Stranger,” “Friend,” or “Like.”
But this system had no such explanation.
“Wouldn’t it be bad if I failed to fix Long Ge’s favorability and ended up being liked by Su Peng instead?”
A chill ran down An Han’s spine. The thought of being liked by a man made his scalp tingle.
Still, when he thought back to how he acted around Su Peng yesterday, he was sure he hadn’t done anything suggestive, at least not on purpose.
So it should be fine, right?
Anyway, once the task was complete, he’d be able to check Su Peng’s favorability score. He could figure out what to do after that.
He picked up his phone and glanced at the time, it was already four in the afternoon.
Stretching lazily, he climbed out of bed, washed up quickly, and then cheerfully ran next door to knock on the door of the neighboring dorm.
“Su Peng? Su Peng! Let’s play games together!”
There were only five points of favorability left to gain. He had already tried playing games, drinking, and showing care. So now all he needed to do was spend time with Su Peng without doing anything annoying. With enough time together, the rest should go up naturally.
It was normal for people to grow closer the more they interacted.
“Su Peng!” An Han knocked on the door again, calling eagerly down the hallway. “Let’s have dinner together tonight?”
“Or maybe watch a movie? Or go shopping for a bit?”
“No one in the dorm?”
He called for a long time, but there was no reply. He tried turning the doorknob, it was locked.
Seriously? The mission’s almost complete, and now he disappears?
Right now, An Han’s only goal was to finish the mission as soon as possible. Even playing games didn’t feel fun anymore. After pacing back and forth in front of Su Peng’s dorm for a few minutes, he decided to go to the cafeteria for dinner and maybe he’d run into him there.
He had eaten meat buns and soy milk in the morning, but after sleeping nearly ten hours, his stomach was growling again.
The rain outside had stopped, and the sun was blazing hot. But the air was still humid and stuffy after the rain, making it feel even hotter. An Han was wearing a jacket, and after walking less than ten minutes, he was already drenched in sweat and miserable from the heat.
“I need to figure something out…”
This was the southern coast. In other places, it was already autumn, or even close to winter, by October, but here, it wouldn’t start to cool down until November.
Thinking about enduring another month of this heat made An Han want to cry.
As expected, there’s no such thing as an easy shortcut in life.
He had dreamed of using the system to reach the peak of life and achieve financial freedom, but instead, he’d gotten trapped in this mess with no real benefit.
He slowly made his way to the nearly empty cafeteria, ordered a plate of fried noodles, and sat directly under a fan, spacing out while waiting for his food.
“Just five more points of favorability…” he muttered.
“An Han.”
He flinched in surprise, afraid someone had overheard his mumbling. Turning his head, he saw that a man had just sat down beside him.
“Counselor?”
He froze for a moment. He never thought he would run into Ren Chi during the National Day holiday.
“Eating dinner this early?”
Wait—yesterday Su Peng said that Ren Chi was looking for him. He had thought that was just an excuse, but now it seemed to be true.
“I didn’t eat lunch, so I got hungry.”
He had just finished his answer when a thought suddenly hit him. He remembered the messy bed from the day before the holiday.
That day, Ren Chi had led an inspection of the dorms, and there was a very high chance he had lifted the blanket and seen the women’s clothes hidden underneath.
An Han’s ears and cheeks turned red. Just thinking that this counselor, who had only met him once, might know his biggest secret made his face burn hot.
“Are you having a fever again?”
“N-No,” An Han quickly lowered his head, flustered.
Ren Chi’s expression stayed calm as usual...
An Han secretly glanced at him from the corner of his eye, trying to read him.
If he really was the one who saw the women’s clothes under my blanket, wouldn’t he at least ask about it, like some kind of mental or emotional counseling for students?
Or maybe… Ren Chi doesn’t think cross-dressing is such a big deal?
Their first meeting hadn’t been pleasant, but surprisingly, Ren Chi had formed a rather good impression of An Han.
He noticed An Han’s sneaky little looks but didn’t say anything, quietly waiting for his food with him.
“So, um… you don’t get a holiday for National Day?” An Han finally broke the awkward silence between them.
“I live on campus too.”
The school did provide staff dorms for some of the younger single teachers. People said they were pretty nice, but most teachers still preferred living off-campus.
“Did Su Peng go to see you?” An Han asked hopefully. “Do you know where he went?”
“Why would he come to me? It’s the holidays,” Ren Chi said as he stood up and went to the counter to pick up his bowl of beef noodles.
“I see…”
An Han froze. That’s when it hit him, Su Peng might actually be avoiding him on purpose.
Yesterday’s typhoon left him with nowhere to hide, but now that the weather had cleared up, he must’ve left as soon as he could.
But… wasn’t his favorability supposed to be increasing?
Could it be that Su Peng’s original favorability was so low that even after gaining fifteen points, nothing really changed?
That thought finally calmed the uneasiness in An Han’s heart.
At least now he didn’t have to worry about being liked by Su Peng again.
He peeked at Ren Chi’s bowl of beef noodles, large slices of beef floated on top. Envious, he muttered quietly, “When I buy noodles from that same place, the meat is always so little.”
“I added twenty yuan worth of extra beef.”
“My bad, didn’t mean to bother you.”
Ah, financial freedom sure feels nice.
Normally, An Han would only add an egg to his noodles at most.
After all, his monthly allowance was only two thousand yuan. He wasn’t stingy, but since it was money from his family, he didn’t feel right spending too much just to indulge himself.
His stir-fried noodles were ready soon. He carried the plate back to the table and sneaked another glance at Ren Chi.
He really wanted to ask whether it was Ren Chi who lifted his blanket that day and saw the women’s clothes.
At the very least, the counselor would know who did it.
After thinking for a moment, An Han lowered his head and asked softly, “Um… before the holiday, when the dorm was inspected…”
“Were you the one who lifted my blanket?”
Ren Chi turned to look at his increasingly flushed face and calmly explained, “The school required all beds to be neatly made. Yours wasn’t.”
Originally, he had wanted to help his student fold the blanket properly to remind him about it. But the moment he lifted it, he saw a full set of women’s clothes underneath.
There were several student council members present at the time, no one could imagine how awkward that moment was for him. He could only pretend nothing had happened and quietly cover the clothes back up.
Feeling nervous, An Han avoided Ren Chi’s gaze and didn’t bring up the topic again.
“I get it… I just don’t like people touching my bed, that’s all.”