The Tiny Girl in the Supermarket

“Young Master, you’re too aloof.”

Zhao Yu looked helplessly at Pei Du, who was seriously picking out carrot residue, not knowing what to say.

In his view, even acquaintances needed to maintain a rapport, as they might become a valuable connection in the future.

Pei Du’s outlook, however, was completely different from his.

With people he wasn’t very close to, Pei Du would only respond politely on the surface; in reality, he kept them at a great distance, not even bothering to greet them if they passed on the street.

Let alone something like celebrating each other’s birthdays.

“What’s the use of maintaining useless interpersonal relationships?” Pei Du ate his carrot-free meal contentedly, feeling the food tasted much better. “They serve no purpose and just waste your mental energy.”

“I really admire you, Young Master,” Zhao Yu wiped his fogged-up glasses, then wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth. “You completely disregard others’ opinions and insist on being yourself.”

He truly admired this about Pei Du—the ability to ignore others’ thoughts and do what he believed was right.

It was a state Zhao Yu himself aspired to but couldn’t reach.

Many people in their class, even in their grade, had tried to build a good relationship with Pei Du.

It was like a beautiful flower blooming, attracting all sorts of bees and butterflies.

Pei Du, with his outstanding grades and superior looks, was among the most eye-catching of those beautiful flowers.

Yet Pei Du could deliberately withdraw from that atmosphere of being surrounded and admired, lingering on the fringes of student society.

He neither made many inexplicable friends nor cared about others’ criticism of his aloof behavior.

“It’s not that exaggerated.”

Not caring about others’ opinions? How many people in this world could truly do that? Pei Du didn’t think he could.

He was just capable of giving up certain things—like boring social interactions.

“Young Master, want to go buy a little sweet drink?” Seeing Pei Du was almost done eating, Zhao Yu picked up his tray and put it in the nearby basket.

Wanting to stroll around the campus supermarket after a meal was a habit he had maintained for all three years of high school.

“Alright. I’ll conveniently buy a couple of red pens.”

“Ah, I wonder if they still have sugar-free cola. The sugar-free kind has much more fizz.”

“I feel there’s no difference.” Pei Du didn’t understand why so many people at school loved sugar-free cola.

Every time he accompanied Zhao Yu to buy some, it was always sold out.

Fortunately, he wasn’t particularly fond of carbonated drinks.

Even if there was none left, and they made a trip for nothing, the only one upset would be poor Zhao Yu.

“Young Master, you don’t get it. You don’t drink it anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Their conversation had no strange memes or abstract slang.

It was oddly fresh and clean, almost unlike two otaku high school students.

Walking into the campus supermarket, Pei Du couldn’t help but sigh once more at East High’s extravagance.

Compared to the tiny ten-square-meter store at his middle school, East High’s campus supermarket was truly as large as a small warehouse store.

The entrance was the cooked food section, followed by the refrigerated section, stationery section, snack section…

There were so many sections it was dizzying, not to mention the densely packed variety of products, enough to keep students and teachers browsing for several breaks without finishing.

Having lived here for nearly three years, the two were very familiar with the place.

They skillfully headed to the shelves in their respective sections to buy what they needed.

The third shelf in the stationery area was specifically dedicated to pens.

Pens of various brands, price ranges, and colors were arranged in orderly layers.

The highest layer was half a head taller than Pei Du himself; the entire shelf was about two meters high.

Pei Du intended to look for a box of the red pens he used most often on the second-to-last layer.

His selection criteria were that they were cheap, wrote well, and were very durable.

Walking into the gap between two shelves to pick out the red pens, he saw a petite girl at the very back, standing on tiptoe, reaching for pens on the top shelf.

The girl’s flexibility was quite good.

Her waist stretched out, combined with her tiptoes and extended arm, she actually managed to touch the edge of the top shelf.

Though she still seemed a few centimeters short of her target.

“Host, system detects that the first perfect life partner is encountering difficulty. Suggest the host offer assistance.”

The useless system, after lying dormant for a short while, popped up again.

“System, have you played too many GalGames?”

Pei Du felt his system had truly gone mad.

Being useless was one thing, but it kept coming out with these outrageous statements.

Would it dare to read this suggestion aloud itself?

And that ‘Estimated Gain’—wasn’t it more likely to be He Chengxi slapping him?

“Host, the system has not been exposed to such games.”

“However, the host has been exposed to them.”

“…”

He Chengxi was currently struggling with a certain shelf.

If her friend hadn’t gone to the bathroom, how could she fail to reach a mere box of pens?

She was particularly fond of this “BLINK” brand of pens.

They had a very comfortable writing feel and a nice appearance.

Unfortunately, the school’s stock was always low, and buying them online was difficult.

Now that they were finally in stock, she naturally wanted to buy a box.

Otherwise, she could have just casually picked up any box from a lower shelf and avoided all this trouble.

Watching her hand repeatedly hit the shelf’s edge but go no further, He Chengxi clenched her fist in frustration.

She began to regret not eating properly—being so short made even fetching things a chore.

She had just told her friend she didn’t need help, that she could buy what she wanted herself, and told her to go to the bathroom with peace of mind.

And now she immediately faced such a major setback.

She was so useless.

No, it was this shelf’s design that was utterly unfriendly.

Just as the girl was unsure whether she was angry with herself or hating the shelf, a hand reached over her head, effortlessly and casually retrieving the item she had been longing for.

Pei Du looked down at the girl’s expression of sulking all by herself, feeling like he was seeing a cute kitten getting angry all alone for not being able to reach a toy pompom.

He felt a slight urge to pinch her cheek.

“Is it this one?”

He handed the exquisitely packaged box to the girl.

The posture was a bit awkward; if he handed it over normally, it would end up above her head, which would be quite disrespectful.

“Thank you for the trouble, Classmate Pei.”

He Chengxi didn’t act affected. She very formally accepted the item Pei Du handed over with both hands, accompanied by a slight, graceful bow.

As she took it, she noticed Pei Du’s palm was quite large, his fingers long and slender, the veins on the back of his hand clearly visible.

His hand was not only good-looking but also radiated a sense of strength.

“You’re being too polite.”

There wasn’t much room for two people to walk side-by-side in the space between the shelves, so Pei Du proactively turned his body sideways to let He Chengxi go out first.

He quickly found the red pens he needed and followed her out.

“Classmate Pei, thank you so much for just now.”

The petite girl had, for some reason, let down her morning ponytail at noon, letting her hair hang loose.

Pei Du, following behind and significantly taller, could faintly smell a certain rich fragrance.

This brand of shampoo smells quite nice.

“Mhm, I’ll go find Zhao Yu now. He’s over in the drinks section.”

“Alright.”

After bidding farewell to He Chengxi, he walked towards the snack section, considering as he walked whether he needed to prepare anything for the afternoon classes.

Passing by the yogurt section, he stopped again and picked up two bottles of strawberry-flavored yogurt, casually swiping his student card at the self-checkout.

“Over here.”

Zhao Yu waved to him; it seemed he had been waiting for a while.

“Couldn’t buy it again today,” he said, not holding the desired sugar-free cola but instead an unfamiliar carbonated drink, seemingly a foreign product. He also had a bottle of a well-known brand’s concentrated coffee in his arms. “The school probably just didn’t restock.”

“The school restocks every day,” Pei Du walked to Zhao Yu’s side as they exited the supermarket. “Here.”

He handed over a bottle of yogurt. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a certain petite girl walking hand-in-hand with a slightly taller girl towards the teaching building.

“How much?” Zhao Yu took it and immediately opened it to drink, afraid the yogurt would taste worse if it warmed up after leaving the freezer. “And it’s my favorite strawberry flavor too.”

“It’s on me.” Pei Du also twisted open his cap and took a big gulp. It was very sweet—enough sugar to replenish a day’s, no, a week’s worth.

“Thanks for the reward, Young Master,” Zhao Yu pushed his glasses, which had slid down his nose, back up and handed the concentrated coffee to Pei Du. “Then I’ll treat you to this.”

Pei Du usually didn’t like carbonated drinks but was very fond of coffee because it kept him alert. Zhao Yu, on the other hand, couldn’t stand the taste of coffee at all.

“Thank you.”

East High had excellent landscaping; all along the path were planted various flower beds and trees.

The air was fresh, making one feel invigorated.

Only two people who knew how to keep proper boundaries with each other and felt comfortable together could become friends.

Pei Du didn’t like swearing and rarely surfed the net for trendy memes, so Zhao Yu wouldn’t use abstract slang or curse words either.

Zhao Yu liked to experience life in his leisure time, so even when Pei Du was intensely focused on studying, he would still accompany Zhao Yu in doing what he wanted, whether it was filming videos and photos or strolling around the supermarket after eating in the cafeteria.

He always bought pens by the box. The red pens he bought last time weren’t even used up yet.

This was merely an excuse to ask Zhao Yu to go for a stroll together without making him feel any psychological burden.

For people he considered good, Pei Du was willing to spend time and energy maintaining the friendship.

After all, someone who passively receives others’ love didn’t deserve to be loved.