"Kid, your food! Two large portions, no extra charge!"
CLANG! CLANG! Two trays were placed in front of Mu Chen. Master Ling leaned in and whispered secretively, "I added something special to the tray on the left. Guaranteed good stuff. You owe me for this one, kid."
With that, Master Ling gave a sly chuckle and disappeared back into the kitchen, leaving Mu Chen utterly baffled. Shaking his head, he picked up both trays and, with a furrowed brow, walked toward Chu Aoqing.
He didn't ask what Master Ling had put in the left tray. 'Since he added something special, it must be good,' Mu Chen reasoned. He placed that tray in front of Chu Aoqing, then sat down beside her—with a deliberate one-person gap between them, of course.
He wasn't sitting this way to get closer to Chu Aoqing. Rather, it was the only solution he could devise after the unsettling experience of being stared at nonstop when they sat face-to-face during lunch.
