For a moment, Lin Zhiyu suppressed all visible signs of emotion. He calmly finished the last mouthful of rice and took a sip of his mung bean soup as though nothing had happened. Then, without a hint of urgency, he casually took out his phone, snapped a picture of the scene, and sent it to Xie Youzhou.
Meanwhile, Wu Tiantian continued her frantic apologies. Yan Po, though seething with rage inside, maintained a facade of grace and restraint. She spoke calmly, her voice edged with condescension.
“Little girl, are you alright? Why are you so careless? Getting soup all over me is a small thing, but if I had broken something, that would have been a bigger issue.”
“I’m sorry, grandma. Please, come with me to the dormitory to change. I’ll wash everything for you, and if it stains, I’ll pay for it!” Wu Tiantian pleaded, her voice shaky with embarrassment.
Yan Po’s lips curled slightly as she continued, “Do you know how much these clothes cost?”
Professor Zhang Luolin’s expression darkened as he looked between Wu Tiantian and Yan Po. His tone was sharp as he said, “These aren’t just any clothes. If you can’t compensate, this will be a bigger issue.”
“I’ll pay! No matter the price, I’ll cover it! Please tell me, and I’ll transfer the money right now!” Wu Tiantian’s face was flushed, and her voice grew more frantic.
Yan Po sighed theatrically. “It’s not just about the money. I don’t even live nearby. What do you expect me to do now?”
Despite her words, Yan Po’s eyes were scanning the cafeteria, looking for someone else entirely—Lin Zhiyu. She barely paid attention to Zhang Luolin’s complaints, fixated on the prospect of running into the professor she had heard so much about. If he truly spent most of his time at the Academy of Sciences, then he must be somewhere in one of the campus cafeterias.
The crowd around them thickened, and Wu Tiantian’s discomfort mounted. Her face burned with humiliation, and her eyes welled up with tears.
Just when Wu Tiantian felt like she wanted the ground to swallow her up, a voice, familiar and smooth, cut through the tension from nearby.
“What seems to be the issue here?”
