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Jin Shiya was about to grab her chopsticks when Noland stopped her.
"?"
"Wait a moment."
He stood up from the seat and walked over to a vending machine by the roadside. He bought two cans of carbonated drinks and two bottles of mineral water, then returned to the table. After splitting the drinks, he said, "Go ahead and eat."
Jin Shiya was a bit puzzled but went ahead and took a bite.
"Mm."
She covered her mouth, unable to speak for a moment.
— It actually tastes pretty good.
It was just a bit too spicy.
After a few more bites, the sour and spicy flavors kicked in, and Jin Shiya sniffled before unscrewing the bottle of mineral water and gulping it down several times. It wasn’t until she saw the lipstick on the bottle's opening that she realized what she had done.
Meanwhile, Noland across from her was leisurely eating. Jin Shiya really believed that he wasn’t a newcomer to such street food.
Sniffling and breathing loudly, Jin Shiya might not have looked too graceful, but Noland couldn’t help but find her behavior oddly amusing.
He had indeed been to this street stall before, but that was in his past life.
At that time, Jin Shiya already knew about Bai Yongyan and Jiang Shiyu. She mustered up the courage to pursue Bai Yongyan, asking her roommates for advice on how to get close to a wealthy CEO. Her roommates thought she was daydreaming. After all, her own family was rich—why would she need to chase after someone wealthier?
But under Jin Shiya's persistent pleading, one of her roommates finally gave in and offered advice: "You come from a rich family, right? Then you should make him see something different about you. Bring him to the food street behind our school, let him see that you can eat street food too!"
Who knew where her roommate had read such ridiculous advice from? But Jin Shiya foolishly followed it through. Unfortunately, when she invited Bai Yongyan there, he saw the environment and immediately turned away without a word. That was her first time at the food street, but there was no beginning, no end.
What truly hurt her was the second time. After she returned, she heard from others that Bai Yongyan had gone to the food street with Jiang Shiyu. The two of them were so affectionate, and despite the environment, Bai Yongyan happily ate and spent the afternoon with her.
It turned out that the setting didn’t matter—what mattered was who you were with.
She visited the food street alone the next time, on a weekday afternoon, ordering the same beef ball and fishball spicy sour noodles. She sat at the table she had once scoffed at, eating the noodles with tears in her eyes.
The spicy sour noodles tasted great—sour and spicy—but they were too sour and too spicy. As she cried and sniffled, her makeup smeared and her hair got messy. Fortunately, no one recognized her, or it would have been utterly embarrassing.
To this day, Jin Shiya would remember how, when she was crying and feeling miserable, the noodle shop owner had handed her a bottle of mineral water.
"Little girl, there’s no difficulty in life that can’t be overcome. From the looks of it, you're probably crying over a man. Well, there’s no shortage of men in this world."
"But he’s special."
In this life, Noland sat across from Jin Shiya, watching the woman in front of him who was sniffling so badly from the spice, hurriedly drinking water but still continuing to slurp down noodles.
Let’s hope that this time, the "foolish and clumsy" me won’t keep treating him like a treasure.
