They are in their final year of high school and are heavily dependent on me.

A moment later, Xu Lingxi, panting with relief, glanced at him, her words of gratitude choked by shyness.

Its cold exterior crumbles at the slightest touch.

"How much is it? I'll treat you with my meal card."

The girl, biting on the straw, glanced sideways somewhat shyly. The milk was unexpectedly delicious, probably quite expensive, but she wasn't the type to take something and not return it.

Many pretty girls would feel perfectly comfortable accepting gifts from guys, but she's the opposite. She'd care a lot and would definitely return them.

Even if life is difficult, one should not let one's mind be impoverished.

However, she always reciprocated with meal cards or similar items, since she didn't have spare money and didn't want to play the pointless social game of exchanging gifts.

"Do you still have the steamed buns you just ate?" Lin Mo asked after considering the question carefully.

The steamed buns in the school cafeteria are free, since nobody really likes them, and many people feel it's beneath them to eat free food. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable among the girls.

Being seen eating a steamed bun by a classmate is always a blow to one's self-esteem.

Based on the negative rumors combined with her actual behavior, it's not hard to deduce that Xu Lingxi's mindset is clearly one of self-imposed pressure, stemming from her family situation.

Either their family is putting a lot of pressure on them, or their family is poor.

He wanted to verify whether the system's progress in unlocking negative information was directly proportional to the impact on the girls' "symptoms".

At present, we can only confirm that Bai Limeng is like this; we don't know about the others yet.

Nine years of compulsory education taught him that a single sample is not enough to support an argument.

Then we need to understand them better.

Moreover, you can help others, get rewards yourself, and solve your future problems along the way. Why not?

"Steamed bun."

When Xu Lingxi heard him ask about steamed buns, her gaze immediately became unfocused and erratic.

She arrives at class very early every day, partly because of her deteriorating relationship with her old roommates, partly because she wants to spend more time studying, and partly because of her breakfast.

They are generally very frugal.

Firstly, she believes that eating too much in the morning makes her sleepy; secondly, it saves money.

Because her mother is very unreliable and often forgets to put money on her meal card, she has to cut back on food to avoid starving.

But this kind of frugality is shameful, especially in front of her classmates. She doesn't want to be inferior to others because of her family's financial situation.

It's better to pretend than to be looked at with strange eyes.

But at this moment, Lin Mo exposed her, and it was someone she had once looked down upon as the one who confessed his feelings.

For a moment, he couldn't find an excuse to salvage his dignity.

Xu Lingxi pursed her lips, as if resigned to her fate, and spoke in a very soft voice:

"There are free options in the cafeteria."

"Really? I rarely eat breakfast in the cafeteria, is there really such a good thing?" Lin Mo asked in surprise.

"I just saw you eating a steamed bun, and you were even being possessive of your food. Did they put ice in it? Is the cafeteria even open right now?"

Xu Lingxi was stunned. The expected disdain and embarrassment did not come. Instead, this person wanted to take the steamed bun from her.

She nodded.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Mo, just like last night, ran off with his arms outstretched in a "V" shape.

A few minutes later, he came back carrying a bag full of steamed buns, looking incredibly excited.

"Ha, I can get all my meals for free for the whole day."

"You don't need to return the milk. Your news is worth a dozen milks." Lin Mo happily grabbed a steamed bun and showed off with a bite. "Want some more?"

Xu Lingxi felt a little embarrassed. This person wasn't embarrassed at all, while she would feel awkward even when trying food samples in a supermarket.

When I went to the cafeteria to get steamed buns, I only took one at a time, and I always bought a cup of soy milk along with it to suppress my shame.

Even if that would make me very hungry.

Lin Mo's behavior at this moment was like someone in a supermarket picking up samples and eating them voraciously, then urging the cashier to order more.

And she invited him, who was practically pretending not to know Lin Mo, "Want a bite?"

"No." Xu Lingxi was about to refuse when Lin Mo placed a steamed bun in her hand.

"Taking too much is a waste if you don't eat it."

"Anyway, it's free, so why not take it? There's no need to feel guilty at all. It saves so much money on food, how great is that?" Lin Mo laughed.

"The cafeteria makes steamed buns from leftover flour every day. It's a way to reuse waste, so eating them is a way of contributing to environmental protection."

Xu Lingxi was stunned for a moment, as if there was some truth to it, especially since there was no one else around.

She simply picked up the steamed bun and started nibbling at it in small bites.

The taste of melting starch is sweet.

"Eat it with the milk, or you'll choke again," Lin Mo reminded him.

"Oh," Xu Lingxi responded almost unconsciously, looking unexpectedly adorable.

"Okay, I'll bring some from the cafeteria every day from now on. If you like it, just take some from me," Lin Mo said casually, eating a steamed bun.

"It saves us from having to make two trips."

Upon hearing this, Xu Lingxi's already refined movements almost froze, and her previously relaxed mood suddenly contracted again.

She couldn't help but recall how carefully she always took the steamed buns, afraid of being seen. If she could take them from him from now on, she wouldn't have to worry.

But Lin Mo's actions seemed to show that he had seen through her but was still saving face for her.

"Did you do this on purpose?" she asked reservedly.

"What on purpose?" Lin Mo asked, his mouth full of two steamed buns, looking at her with a silly expression.

After a moment of eye contact, Xu Lingxi couldn't help but chuckle as she pictured Lin Mo carrying a large bag of steamed buns in a "ninja run."

The laughter and the averted gaze vanished together. The girl felt a little helpless; she didn't want to meet his eyes anymore, but she was also afraid he would see through her guilty conscience.

Fine, she wouldn't consider whether Lin Mo did it on purpose or not; she'd judge by actions, not intentions.

He would probably be a really, really good deskmate.

"Your threshold for laughter is a bit too low, Bro. I've heard that girls who laugh a lot are usually lucky, because unlucky people can't laugh."

"I'm not laughing!"

[Xu Lingxi has accepted you as her deskmate; 50% of the remaining dirt on you has been cleared.]

Tsk, as expected, the progress of the scandal is related to their mental anguish.

Just as Lin Mo suppressed his thoughts, he suddenly felt a chill behind him—that familiar feeling of being watched.

He turned around abruptly and saw that Li Zhihan, contrary to the usual pattern, had also arrived at the classroom early.

The aloof young woman, her eyes fixed intently on the milk in Xu Lingxi's hand.

What the heck? Doesn't Li Zhihan skip morning self-study? Is the information fake?

The system then displays the following message:

[To get her hands on your milk as soon as possible, Li Zhihan even ignored her social anxiety and arrived early to wait. But you gave the milk to another girl. She felt wronged but didn't dare to say anything. She planned to silently watch the other girl drink the milk, enduring the pain of the milk's betrayal.]

The remaining negative information about Li Zhihan has decreased to 54%.

Lin Mo broke out in a cold sweat.

"The Incompetent Social Anxiety Girl"?

Uh... that's very pure love.

Chapter 16 The Immoral and Arrogant Miss

The moment their eyes met,

The socially awkward girl turned around stiffly, like a robot, and started walking.

To outsiders, it looks like a very standard and proper walking posture.

Wow! What a cool and stylish beauty! Ahhh, cake, you're such a sweet and soft little baby, slurp slurp!

But in his eyes, Li Zhihan was probably so nervous that she switched to "human-machine mode," similar to her state when she "sprinkled money" on him—completely dumbfounded.

However, it was indeed a bit... inappropriate for him to give milk to other girls in front of others.

After all, Lin Mo had promised her yesterday, and this morning she unusually came early for him.

It seems that Li Zhihan is not only socially awkward, but also quite submissive. While she may seem gentle, she is surprisingly assertive when it comes to avoiding communication.

She's tough, but she doesn't dare to fight for what she wants. Is it normal for a person to have the thought of "enduring the pain of betrayal"?

"You two know each other?" Xu Lingxi, sitting at the same table, asked casually while drinking her milk, probably realizing that her question was a bit ambiguous.

The girl then immediately began to explain:

"I don't care who you're friends with, I'm just a little curious because everyone in the class is afraid of her."

As she spoke, Xu Lingxi blew a breath into the milk carton, causing it to swell up. She always had these unintentional little actions when she felt guilty.

"Occasionally, I'll sell her some alkaline compounds rich in protein," Lin Mo said truthfully.

Departure, fearless.

He knew that Xu Lingxi was not like Bai Limeng, who couldn't understand Huang Che at all. On the surface, she seemed like a cold and calculating girl, but in some ways she was incredibly naive.

"milk?"

Xu Lingxi thought for a moment, then stopped drinking the milk and looked at him with a strange expression.

That would mean she stole someone else's milk and drank it right in front of them—that's incredibly immoral.

"Don't worry, just give me back the milk carton you finished drinking," Lin Mo said confidently.

What are you going to do?

"Recycling is just like the braising liquid in a braised food shop. It needs to be stored in an old jar that has been aged for decades to be good. Milk also needs to be stored in a well-worn milk carton to have the right flavor."

Xu Lingxi's eyes gradually showed disgust. How did she know she wasn't drinking milk with her hands covered in it?

"Hey! What are you saying? Of course we should give the customers the good stuff, I'll drink this secondhand stuff myself."

Lin Mo reached out to her to ask for it.

"Are you finished? I'd like a refill."

"."

They disliked it even more.

Xu Lingxi straightened her pretty face, unwilling to pay attention to her classmate who was sexually harassing her, and began to concentrate on her studies again. However, she held the Chinese textbook for a long time but couldn't absorb anything. The more she read, the redder her face became.

Who asks a girl for a used milk carton? Does this person even know what they're doing or saying?

As expected, Lin Mo still wasn't going to let her go. Even though he'd changed a lot, he still couldn't forget her. Hadn't he been ruthless enough in rejecting her back then? How was he supposed to get along with her from now on?

But this milk tastes strangely good. After drinking it, I feel refreshed and less sleepy. Will I still be able to drink soy milk in the future?

As the girl pondered, the boy next to her left his seat. Curious, she peeked over.

Lin Mo sat down opposite Li Zhihan, scribbling on a piece of paper with a pen in his hand.

Li Zhihan's usual cold demeanor seemed to have largely dissipated, perhaps due to her current posture of hunching over the table, clutching the milk and refusing to let go.

Lin Mo said something else in a low voice, but she couldn't hear it. She only saw Li Zhihan nodding her head like a chick pecking at rice.

The scene was even somewhat comical.

It was so comical that Xu Lingxi was momentarily stunned.

Everyone who comes to the class knows that the girl who sits in the back row by the window and never smiles is the most special.

Just as every village has its own deity, Li Zhihan is an unattainable figure in this class and this school, even though there are many exaggerations and rumors involved.

To be honest, the girl herself also wanted this kind of learning life: excellent grades, a proud personality, and an aura that kept strangers at bay, not caring about other people's opinions.

But now, Lin Mo has punched a hole in her stereotype.