Blood Neon

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Have You Eaten

“It’s nothing, I just happened to be passing by, and I was bored, so I came over.”

The girl blinked and then asked another question.

“By the way, have you eaten?”

“Uh, no.”

After hearing Lin Ying’s words, Zhang Qiming didn’t react for a moment.

So you’re just here to drop by for a visit, huh? But what does that have to do with whether I’ve eaten or not?

Although this question was indeed one of the top three standard Chinese greetings, was there supposed to be some deeper meaning to it? In any case, it was a little ambiguous.

“I’ve been playing games this whole time, just finished a match, haven’t had a chance to eat yet.”

He didn’t overthink it and simply answered honestly. After all, it’s not like she came to eat him…

…right?

“I thought you’d be going back to school today.”

Lin Ying glanced at the boy’s head, which had already had the bandages removed, and asked somewhat unexpectedly. After all, just yesterday morning he still looked like a good kid reluctant to take a sick day.

Zhang Qiming scratched his face. In truth, he simply didn’t want to go through the hassle of getting his parents or teachers involved to explain the absence. After all, he wasn’t one of those top students in class — who actually enjoyed going to school?

“Who wouldn’t want to slack off? I just didn’t want the hassle...”

Lin Ying nodded, mentally filling in the gaps a little. It actually made sense. Back in the days when kids were a bit more thin-skinned, there really were cases like this — not wanting to draw attention from the teacher, or not daring to ask to go to the bathroom during class and such...

But to her, those emotions were far too distant to resonate with anymore. After all, when she was in high school, if she wanted to take a day off, she’d just send a message herself and that would be it.

And if she didn’t feel like going to night classes sometimes, she’d just go straight to the office and ask the teacher — no fear whatsoever.

Still, she didn’t press further on the topic and instead brought the conversation back around.

“So basically, you haven’t eaten yet, right?”

“Yeah, haven’t had the chance.”

Lin Ying nodded.

“Then what are you planning to eat?”

“...Probably just instant noodles?”

Zhang Qiming spread his hands. He had actually planned to eat his last pack of pickled beef noodles for lunch.

The girl frowned slightly.

“Yesterday you already ate instant noodles all day, and now you’re eating them again today?”

“Uh, well, it’s just more convenient this way.”

He didn’t really want to admit outright that he was just plain lazy.

“That’s way too lacking in nutrition.”

“It’s fine, I add eggs and sausages when I cook them, so it’s still pretty nutritious.”

Zhang Qiming pointed toward the fridge.

This left Lin Ying speechless.

She had just wanted to naturally steer the conversation toward the topic of sharing a meal — why was it this difficult?

It wasn’t that she genuinely believed instant noodles were unhealthy like some middle-aged or elderly parents. After all, due to the way they were made, instant noodles were actually quite easily digestible. At most, they were mostly carbohydrates and lacked enough vitamins and dietary fiber. As for being “harmful,” that was just a widespread myth.

Eating too many instant noodles was indeed not great, but only because of the limited nutritional content — not because the seasoning was toxic.

And if you made them at home and added your own ingredients, it pretty much solved the issue of them being nutritionally lacking right out of the package. It was no different from cooking dried noodles from scratch.

But nutrition had nothing to do with it — she hadn’t come over just to share instant noodles.

Looking at the boy in front of her, she could only sigh inwardly. Kid, why are you so dense? Hurry up and get what I’m hinting at!

No, this wouldn’t do. If she didn’t shut this suggestion down right now, they’d end up having instant noodles in a bit. Lin Ying would be the first to veto that.

So no. Absolutely not. That fantasy had to be shattered here and now.

The girl shook her head.

“No, let’s eat something else.”

“?”

Staring at Lin Ying, who had naturally joined the discussion about lunch, Zhang Qiming started thinking.

It couldn’t be that she was worried about me…? No, no, that kind of thinking was way too self-centered.

He considered himself a slightly more mature-than-average teen — the kind who looked down on peers that treated themselves like the center of the universe. The kind with a bit of a chuunibyou complex.

There was no reason for her to be concerned about him. So what did she really mean…?

Wait — could it be that she wanted to eat together?

He felt like he’d found the key point.

So that’s what this was all about — she said she was bored and came over, but actually she was just looking for a meal.

Ahh, makes sense now.

But why not just say so directly? Why drop hints for so long?

Well, in this situation, it should be totally fine to just let her decide, right?

“Then what do you want to eat?”

He asked.

Lin Ying looked up. Faced with this all-too-familiar question, she thought for a few seconds, then decided to playfully mess around.

“Anything’s fine.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she couldn’t help but chuckle at herself.

“Sorry, sorry, just suddenly felt like making a meme.”

The girl smiled sheepishly and waved her hand, signaling not to mind it.

Looks like he got what she meant? That made things easier.

After regaining control of her expression—

“What do you still have at home?”

“Uh, I’m not really sure.”

Couldn’t be helped. Usually, when his mom was home, she was the one in charge of cooking and meals. As for him, aside from occasionally sweeping, mopping, and tidying up, he didn’t really have any other responsibilities. He was just a high school student, after all — aside from snacks and drinks, he rarely paid attention to whatever food supplies were left at home.

“Why don’t you go take a look yourself?” Zhang Qiming pointed toward the fridge.

So Lin Ying walked over, brought her knees together and squatted down, opening the somewhat old refrigerator.

It was a typical layout — fridge section below, freezer on top.

The girl opened the fridge door and gave it a quick scan.

Half-peeled garlic, half a bottle of jam, several packs of small square yogurt boxes still connected together, even a box of chocolates, and some sauces. The butter they had used last time was still sitting in the door compartment, mixed with that distinct fridge smell.

After a general inspection, it was clear there weren’t many actual ingredients left.

Well, that made sense. You couldn’t expect a high school boy, living alone at home by chance, to go out and buy vegetables to cook for himself.

This household seemed well-stocked with instant noodles, frozen dumplings, milk and such. Most likely, his parents figured that as long as Zhang Qiming could feed himself with these when he was alone, that was good enough. Once they were used up, he could just go out and buy more.

However, after another glance inside, Lin Ying unexpectedly found a box of curry in one of the door shelves.

She reached in and took out the unopened curry, checked the production date — not expired.

She flipped it over and, seeing the familiar yellow packaging on the front, Lin Ying suddenly felt a bit emotional.

“Curry, huh...” the girl murmured to herself.

It was the sweet kind — not spicy — but that didn’t really matter.

Lin Ying held up the box of curry and waved at the boy behind her.

“So, want to have curry?”

“Curry?”