Oh no! I've only been a freshman and I've already been targeted by a mean upperclassman.

As the sun rose higher, more and more tourists began to arrive.

Shops on both sides of the street opened one after another, and various hawking calls rose and fell.

Yan Xi's gaze was drawn to a sugar painting stall.

The owner was a middle-aged man in his forties. With a flick of his wrist, golden syrup outlined a dragon on the white marble slab.

Yan Xi stopped and watched for a while.

"Want some?"

"In no mood."

"Then what are you looking at?"

"Look at his technique." Yan Xi's tone became serious. "He controls the angle of his spoon and the speed at which he pours the sugar very precisely. He's practiced this technique for at least twenty years."

Li Chen glanced at the boss, then at Yan Xi.

Occupational hazards of architecture students.

They can analyze the structure and process of anything they see.

"Boss, one, please." Li Chen took out his phone to scan the QR code and pay.

What pattern do you want?

"Phoenix".

Yan Xi looked up at him.

The boss didn't stop working.

Two minutes later, a sugar-painted phoenix with outstretched wings was picked up with a bamboo skewer and handed to Li Chen.

Li Chen handed it to Yan Xi.

"Matching the headband on you."

Yan Xi took the sugar painting and held it up to her eyes to examine it closely.

"The technique is indeed excellent; the transition of the wing's curve is very natural."

"...Could you give me a compliment in a normal way?"

"for example?"

For example, "Wow, it's so beautiful, thank you, honey."

Yan Xi bit off a piece of phoenix wing.

"You're overthinking it."

The sugar painting crunched in her mouth, and tasted sweet after it melted.

Li Chen watched as her cheeks puffed out slightly.

When this scene is superimposed on her usual behavior of approving documents and reprimanding subordinates in the student union, there is a strange sense of incongruity.

But he liked this incongruity.

Because only he can see this side of himself.

The two continued shopping.

Passing by a handmade tie-dye fabric shop, Yan Xi went in, browsed around, and chose two indigo scarves.

"One song for Leng Qingge," she said.

"What about the other one?"

"you guess."

Li Chen glanced at the price tag.

"For your mom?"

Yan Xi raised her hand and flicked his forehead.

"For your mom."

Li Chen rubbed his forehead, taking two seconds to react.

Give it to his mother.

damn it.

It's not the swear word "fucking motherfucker".

It's for his mother.

"You...buy something for my mom?"

"Um."

Yan Xi handed the scarf to the shop assistant to pack, her tone as indifferent as if she were just saying that the weather was nice today.

"She is an elder, and this is the first time I've given a gift, so I can't be too casual."

"This pattern is made using traditional techniques, which is suitable for her age group."

Li Chen stood there, watching Yan Xi's profile as she took out her phone to pay.

Something is swelling in my chest cavity.

I can't quite explain it, but it's swollen and a little painful.

"What's wrong?" Yan Xi turned around, carrying the paper bag.

"It's nothing."

Li Chen took the paper bag from her hand and also took the half-finished sugar painting from her other hand.

"Let's go, what do you want to eat for lunch?"

"You decide."

"I'll decide?"

"Mm." Yan Xi raised her chin. "You decide today's itinerary."

Li Chen tightened his grip on the paper bag and the sugar painting sticks.

He lowered his head, bit off half of the phoenix tail, chewed it twice, and swallowed it.

Sweet.

It was sweet from the mouth all the way to the heart.

He took out his phone, opened the nearly 100-page guide PDF, and flipped to the food recommendation page.

"Come on, I'll take you to eat fish."

On the phone screen, messages from the 302 dormitory group kept popping up.

Wang Qiang posted his seventeenth photo of the cafeteria food, with the caption, "The cafeteria food is even worse on the second day without Li Shen."

Chen Mo replied: "I suggest you stop judging objective things with your subjective emotions. The food in the cafeteria hasn't changed; what has changed is your mindset."

Zhao Zixuan sent a voice message, which, when opened, revealed a sigh that lasted for five seconds.

Li Chen put his phone back in his pocket and took Yan Xi's hand with his other hand.

Sorry, brothers.

For the past three days, she has been my only world.

……

The fish restaurant is hidden in a deeper alley at the western end of the ancient town.

There was no signboard, only an old banner hanging on the door frame with the word "fresh" written on it.

Yan Xi stood at the door, looking around at this place that couldn't even be found on Dianping (a Chinese review platform).

"How did you find it?"

"Data from local forums scraped by a web crawler." Li Chen pushed open the wooden door. "The one with the highest rating isn't necessarily the best, but the one that's repeatedly mentioned by locals is definitely not bad."

There were only four tables inside.

Two tables were already occupied. The diners were all elderly locals, with white porcelain bowls and wine pots in front of them.

The owner was a woman in her fifties, wearing a faded apron. When she saw them come in, she only said one sentence.

"Sit down. We only have one dish today: steamed mandarin fish. Would you like some?"

"Eat." Li Chen pulled out a chair and let Yan Xi sit down first.

"Add a serving of rice, a serving of vegetables, and a pot of hot tea."

"We only have green tea that we roast ourselves."

"Can."

The boss turned and went into the kitchen without saying a word.

Yan Xi's gaze swept around the room.

The house is made of wood, with several old New Year paintings hanging on the walls, and a water tank in the corner with two fish swimming inside.

Simple, but clean.

"You can't find this kind of shop normally," she said.

"I'm not an ordinary person."

Yan Xi looked up at him.

Li Chen's expression was calm, and he showed no awareness of putting on airs when he said this.

"Your confidence has inflated a lot lately," Yan Xi commented.

"Raised by you."

Yan Xi picked up her teacup, took a sip, and didn't reply.

The tea is coarse, with a fresh, wild mountain aroma. It doesn't have the refined taste of teahouse teas, but its strength lies in its authenticity.

The fish were served very quickly.

A mandarin fish weighing about 1.5 pounds is steamed, topped with shredded ginger and chopped green onions, and drizzled with a thin layer of steamed fish soy sauce.

The fish had clear, bright eyes and snow-white flesh; it looked like it had just been scooped out of the tank.

Li Chen first used chopsticks to pick out the tenderest piece of meat from the back of the fish, carefully removed the fine bones, and put it into Yan Xi's bowl.

"Try it first."

Yan Xi picked it up and put it in her mouth.

The fish is tender and smooth, and its fresh flavor spreads on the tip of your tongue.

Her eyes lit up.

"How is it?" Li Chen asked.

"My skills are just as good as yours."

Li Chen raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a compliment to me or to the fish?"

"Praising the fish."

"All right."

Li Chen began to eat. His chopsticks rarely touched the fish; he spent most of his time picking out fish meat and removing fish bones for Yan Xi.

Every piece of fish served in her bowl was pure white and had no bones.

The elderly man at the next table glanced at it and muttered a phrase in dialect to his wife at the same table.

Yan Xi couldn't understand, but she could roughly guess what it meant from the smile lines at the corners of the old man's mouth and the way he looked at her.

She lowered her head and ate the fish in the bowl piece by piece.

My phone vibrated twice in my pocket.