Midnight Snack All Night Long, What Are You Craving

A certain tea restaurant.

Yan Miaozhu looked at Lin Yu's message reply and couldn't help but shake her head with a laugh:

"I share a refined afternoon tea, and this guy shares fruit with me, rotten ones at that?"

"Did I mention I like bananas when we met?"

Yan Miaozhu couldn't even remember herself.

With each different person she meets, the things she likes also vary.

It mainly depends on who the other person is and what goal she wants to achieve.

Catering to others makes them feel respected.

Thereby increasing mutual favorability.

Someone who doesn't know how to effectively use the "catering" skill is, at best, a people-pleaser.

But for Yan Miaozhu, it was her weapon!

During her afternoon tea time, Yan Miaozhu wasn't so relaxed.

She continued holding up her phone, but she wasn't looking at WeChat.

Instead, she opened the phone's camera, sweeping the lens around her surroundings.

Every adjustment of her movement was done with extreme caution.

At least to outsiders, it didn't reveal any flaws.

They might not even know what she was doing...

Actually, what she was doing wasn't complicated.

She simply wanted to see if anyone was following her!

After the incident with Miao Haixin, Yan Miaozhu was genuinely frightened.

Luckily, this time she encountered a younger version of her, who still had some thoughts about her own student.

If it had been some other random person, something major would definitely have happened today.

As for why Miao Haixin knew about her marriage, Yan Miaozhu still couldn't figure it out.

She didn't recall any interactions between Miao Haixin and her or her husband.

At the school, only a few senior administrators could have known.

She could only suspect them now!

After scanning the area and confirming there were no issues, Yan Miaozhu felt at ease and continued sipping her coffee.

Once bitten by a snake, one fears ropes for ten years.

Probably for a long time to come, she would have to live cautiously and carefully!

...

The rainy summer season.

In the evening, a misty drizzle started falling again.

The rain wasn't heavy, barely lowering the stifling heat by a few degrees.

Around nine o'clock in the evening.

Xiang Tiange proactively sent a message to Lin Yu.

「Xiang Tiange: It's raining, huh? Any changes to the late-night snack plan for today?」

「Xiang Tiange: Little Chi should be home, I just dropped her off at the entrance of the complex, though I didn't go up to visit you, hahaha!」

Lin Yu was already prepared, just waiting for Xiang Tiange's message.

If her outing with Little Chi wasn't over, there was no way to proceed to the next step.

In the meantime, Lin Yu couldn't just send a message out of the blue.

If that clever little devil Little Chi heard it, he'd be in for it.

He originally thought the two would hang out until seven or eight at most, have dinner and then head back.

But.

They went all the way until almost ten!

People with shared interests really do have endless topics, they could chat this late.

Even though it was raining outside, Lin Yu still had no intention of canceling the late-night snack.

What's a little drizzle?

Since ancient times, rainy days are always eventful!

This was the immutable truth Lin Yu had gleaned in the few days since his transmigration!

「Lin Yu: How can we change something that was agreed upon?」

「Lin Yu: I'm fine on my end, but what about you...」

「Lin Yu: If your parents are urging you to go home, you can just say so, just don't pin it on me, okay.」

「Lin Yu: (smiling with sunglasses emoji)」

"Ding dong!"

"Ding dong!"

"..."

The messages were barely sent out for a few seconds.

Immediately, he got a series of ding-dong replies.

Said that much?

Lin Yu opened his phone to take a look.

「Xiang Tiange: Pfft! Who do you think you're looking down on?」

「Xiang Tiange: I'll wait for you at the bus stop across from your complex!」

「Xiang Tiange: Dare to come over?」

「Xiang Tiange: Come on over here!」

「Xiang Tiange: (beckoning finger)(beckoning finger)(beckoning finger)」

「Xiang Tiange: (beckoning finger)...」

「...」

Xiang Tiange's messages put Lin Yu in a pleasant mood.

A straightforward, cheerful girl—you could tell just from the text.

What bad intentions could she possibly have?

She simply wanted to grab a bite to eat and get closer.

Lin Yu tapped on his phone, replying to Xiang Tiange's messages while getting ready to head downstairs.

At this hour, the lobby on the first floor was basically empty.

Those who come back late at night, it's too early for them now.

Those with nine-to-five jobs, it's too late for them now.

The fellow residents were all in their own rooms, washing up and resting.

Not running into them was a bit of luck.

Otherwise, if they asked what Lin Yu was doing going out so late,

he'd have to come up with a reasonable-sounding excuse to get through smoothly.

Now he could skip all that and head straight for the bus stop at the complex entrance!

...

In this era, the nights in small cities aren't as bustling as one might imagine.

Plus, it's summer vacation now.

Near the schools, there aren't many shops open.

At this hour, only the "food street" they often frequented was still somewhat lively.

For a late-night snack, at the very end of the food street, there's a "small night market" that stays open very late.

Lin Yu led Xiang Tiange all the way to the small night market.

On the way there, Lin Yu, being a gentleman, suggested taking a taxi.

But.

He was met with an immediate and serious refusal from Xiang Tiange.

Refusal was one thing.

While refusing, she didn't forget to tease Lin Yu a bit:

A rich person's money is still money!

For such a short distance, can't you walk a few steps if you're not sick?

How could Lin Yu be someone who can't handle a little provocation?

Walk a few steps?

Not only would he walk, he'd walk fast.

To see if Xiang Tiange could keep up.

He kindly suggested a taxi, and he knew she kindly refused too.

Couldn't she have put it in a nicer way?

She really does say whatever comes to mind, without a moment's hesitation!

"If I'm not mistaken, you were probably hanging around this street with Little Chi earlier, right?"

Seeing how Xiang Tiange wasn't curious about anything,

Lin Yu could guess this wasn't her first time here today.

Besides,

where else would Little Chi take someone for a meal?

Food street is her favorite!

Not coming here would be a crime against nature.

Xiang Tiange didn't lie and admitted openly:

"Yeah, Little Chi took me to several stalls."

"To be honest, weren't we originally scheduled for ten or eleven?"

"At this time, trying to eat more is quite... challenging."

"My stomach really has no room left!"

It was out of respect for Lin Yu that Xiang Tiange told the truth.

Otherwise,

once they got to the stalls, forcing herself to eat when she couldn't would only make the situation more awkward.

...

(Good news: Out of the blacklist.

Bad news: While trying to maintain logic and story coherence, a lot of content was cut.

The details of some plot points won't be mentioned, too many to list.

The part that suffered the most damage is the system. Many previous system descriptions, reward descriptions, descriptions of obtaining dao companions have basically been deleted or downplayed.

To continue writing in the future, the existence of this system will have to be constantly downplayed.

Also, the parts about obtaining items previously can't be written about later on.)

If you come across similar inconsistencies later on, where the description doesn't match the earlier system setup, or if new readers have doubts about the previous parts, I hope when you reach this point, you can be understanding. I really tried my best—it's not that I didn't want to write a rigorous system, but I simply couldn't continue with it.

From here on out, I'll focus on telling the story as smoothly as possible!)