I'm in high school, is my dating system working correctly?

"Why...you haven't arrived at your stop yet...?"

For no apparent reason, Cheng Bailu's heart began to race slightly, and a surge of emotion that shouldn't have been rising within her surged forth. She subconsciously clutched the bracelet hidden in her sleeve.

"I was thinking that no one would be cooking at my house tonight, so I decided to go to the supermarket and buy some food."

Lu Yu first gestured for Cheng Bailu to go to the sidewalk before explaining.

"oh......"

It turned out to be the case.

Cheng Bailu felt her emotions gradually subside, and even felt that she had been a little pretentious.

He knew nothing at all, and he helped you out of a sense of justice. Why did you have any expectations?

"You should be quite familiar with the supermarket, right? You've been helping out there."

Lu Yu looked at the girl whose expression was gradually turning cold and spoke again.

"fine."

Cheng Bailu looked slightly bewildered, not understanding what Lu Yu meant.

"Then come shopping with me for a bit, and I'll treat you to something to eat afterwards."

After Lu Yu finished speaking, he didn't give the girl time to refuse and started walking towards the supermarket.

"what?"

Cheng Bailu made a puzzled sound, like an otter in an emoji.

Watching Lu Yu's swaggering figure, she squeezed her bracelet and followed him.

Walmart was right next to the bus stop. The two students walked into the supermarket one after the other, and Lu Yu pushed a shopping cart.

"Are you buying so much stuff?"

Cheng Bailu followed beside him, looking at the shopping cart with suspicion.

"You don't understand, this is the ritual of shopping at the supermarket. If you only go to the supermarket to buy things, then what's the difference between you and other people who go to the supermarket?"

Lu Yu answered methodically.

"?"

Cheng Bailu didn't understand.

Aren't they just people shopping at the supermarket?

"As for cooked food, the aunties at the front say the roast chicken is delicious, but you have to get it right after it comes out of the oven. The red sausage is also good. Hmm, don't buy the fried noodles, they'll all be cold by evening..."

But she still pointed ahead, faithfully serving as the guide.

Cheng Bailu explained in great detail, listing the advantages and disadvantages of each item clearly and logically.

Lu Yu listened with a touch of melancholy.

Because most of the comments she made were told to her by others.

This seventeen-year-old girl did not personally taste or experience these things that she thought were very good.

Even if her mother brought some home for her to try before they sold out, she had already missed the best time to taste them. She could only imagine how delicious they must have been at their peak.

Lu Yu took the roast chicken, the red sausage, and the other delicious and worth-to-try foods that Cheng Bailu had mentioned.

"...Can you finish all this by yourself? Some of it doesn't have a long shelf life."

Cheng Bailu looked at the somewhat crowded shopping cart and began to worry about wasting money.

"That should be about right."

Lu Yu seemed to be ready to stop and pushed the shopping cart.

"Okay, then... wait, the cashier is over there."

Cheng Bailu watched as Lu Yu pushed the shopping cart in a completely different direction.

Baking area.

Following closely behind, Cheng Bailu saw Lu Yu talking to the kind-hearted shop assistant next to the cake tasting window.

"I'd like a lemon mousse cake."

Lu Yu said this.

"By the way, sis, do you have any birthday candle sets to give as gifts?"

The instant I heard those words.

Cheng Bailu felt that all sounds were fading away.

Like the silence of the world's heavy rain falling on the world's lawns, it enveloped the girl in her school uniform.

Followed by.

Her heart was pounding so hard that it made her breathe faster and her eardrums fill with energy.

By now.

A possibility she had deliberately avoided thinking about before now occupied the girl's entire mind.

It wasn't until Lu Yu returned with a cake box and a pack of candles, paper plates, and plastic cutlery that Cheng Bailu clenched her slightly trembling fingers, speaking with anticipation and trepidation.

"You...know that today is my turn...?"

"I just had a craving. It's all your fault. You said everything looked delicious, and I ended up buying too much."

Lu Yu didn't finish what he was going to say to her.

"You have to take responsibility."

"what?"

Cheng Bailu was dumbfounded.

Was it my fault?

"You have to eat all this with me today."

Lu Yu persisted relentlessly.

"Finished eating...?"

Cheng Bailu stared blankly at the shopping cart full of items.

"As for this."

Lu Yu flicked the cake box with his finger.

"It's a birthday cake I bought for you."

The answer that had been awaited for so long was casually given by Lu Yu.

A sudden, unexpected moment.

In the girl's heart, clouds surged, rivers roared, flowers bloomed, and voices clamored. Burning stars fell to the bottom of the sea and turned into coral, and all the tigers in the world's forests melted into butter.

Cheng Bailu didn't like gifts in the past.

Because the emotions behind a gift are indescribable.

She was afraid—afraid that she wouldn't meet expectations, that she would betray affection, and that she would misunderstand kindness.

Just like those advanced math problems assigned by the principal, even if they contained some unspoken understanding, Cheng Bailu still hoped that this was a reward for her hard work, not charity.

Kindness can save her temporarily, but people's hearts are always changing. She cannot rely on the kindness of others for a lifetime. She has long understood that a person can only save himself.

She enjoys learning because it is one of the few hopes that she can truly grasp.

She also longs to receive beautiful clothes and dresses, cute and adorable dolls, sweet and delicious cakes, and vibrant blooming flowers on those memorable days.

She wanted everything a seventeen-year-old girl could want.

But these things are too far away for her.

Life taught her to be patient, sensible, and restrained at a young age; even hoping for a gift became a way of being spoiled.

Her seventeenth birthday should have been spent in the same ordinary way as her previous sixteen birthdays.

Perhaps, when she grows up, she will gradually open her heart, emerge from that quagmire of the past, and spend many happy and fulfilling birthdays surrounded by family and friends, more joyful than any she has ever had before.

In those days filled with splendor, there will be countless exquisite birthday cakes, each one more magnificent than the last.

But that will never be the birthday cake you longed for at seventeen, the one you hesitated to speak of, the one you were cautious about, the one you hoped for but dared not pursue.

And now.

Lu Yu placed the cake in front of her.

Lu Yu, who stood up for her when she was misunderstood and had no one to help her, broke into her world like a robber and gave her the first birthday cake of her life.

"Cake is one of the few foods that tastes even better on special occasions. This cake itself tastes great, so I want to try it and see how delicious it will be on my birthday."

Lu Yu pushed the shopping cart toward the checkout counter.

"Besides, I bought a cake from you last time and I even got a cashback reward. Maybe being with you really will bring me good luck."

He said that being with me would bring him good luck.

The girl, who had been plagued by misfortune since childhood, stared at him blankly. After hesitating for a long time, she ran after him.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the boy, she glanced at Lu Yu.

"If you don't mind..."

The girl gently pursed her lips, her fingers lightly tracing the beads on her wrist.

"Would you like to come over for dinner and then we can eat cake together?"

Lu Yu's movements faltered.

Damn, this seems a bit over the top.

His original plan was to find a table later, light some candles, sing some birthday songs, and then the two of them would just have a simple meal.

Should we go straight to her house now?

At Cheng Bailu's house, where both parents are present?

Well, Saudi Arabia probably doesn't have this proverb, but since we're already here...

Lu Yu sighed inwardly.

"Okay, should we buy some more groceries? Do we have enough food at home?"

Pretend to act very naturally and skillfully.

No, no need.

Cheng Bailu stopped Lu Yu, who was about to turn the shopping cart around.

"I wanted my parents to try these too."

She explained earnestly.

I'm inviting you to my house for no other reason than this, so don't overthink it.

Something like this.

The boundaries were blurred in their words, like a white, nameless fog that spread and intertwined between the two.

OKK.

Lu Yu paid the bill, which wasn't expensive; it came to less than three hundred in total.

When he took the receipt to participate in the lucky draw, the clerk in charge of reception recognized Lu Yu at a glance.

I helped with the lottery with trepidation.

I didn't win.

The shop assistant breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's okay, come again next time."

Lu Yu remained calm.

The shop assistant was getting a little flustered, secretly hoping that Lu Yu would quickly back out and not do it again.

As the two pushed the shopping cart to the supermarket entrance and prepared to bag the items, Cheng Bailu lowered her voice slightly.

"Well, there's one more thing I need to make clear to you beforehand."

"What's wrong?"

Lu Yu opened the plastic bag.

"My dad, well, although he's relatively stable now thanks to medication, he actually, well, suffers from a mental illness."

Cheng Bailu earnestly told Lu Yu her biggest secret.

*

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