‘SEE YOU MORNING’ 117 Invitation to Lunch

The morning was quickly drawing to a close. Lin Yuhui was considering whether to go to the cafeteria early for lunch when he suddenly heard Cerise complaining beside him,
“Oh, they’ve all left, and I’m the only one left. I don’t want to go to the cafeteria alone. Come with me,”
He turned his head and saw Cerise standing opposite Stephanie, complaining that no one would accompany her to the cafeteria. Lin Yuhui was puzzled. Why couldn’t she go to the cafeteria to eat by herself?
“I’m not going to eat at noon. Why don’t you go with David?”
Lin Yuhui never dreamed that this would fall on his head. How could Stephanie happen to not go to the cafeteria for lunch today either? She usually went every noon. He saw that Cerise didn’t say anything and turned to look at him. He thought, is it hard for a beautiful woman to speak up herself? Then don’t wait for her to speak. So he stood up and said,
“Alright then, let’s go together.”
The distance from the office to the cafeteria was not far. As they walked together, Lin Yuhui didn’t feel any joy about having lunch with a beautiful woman. On the contrary, he felt restrained. Because there was unlikely to be any future between them, why waste time and feelings? And he was such a serious person that he didn’t know when he might really get serious and be unable to extricate himself.
Halfway there, Cerise still hadn’t said anything. Lin Yuhui said bluntly,
“To be honest, I don’t enjoy eating with beautiful women. It makes me very restrained.” Lin Yuhui’s meaning was clear: you’re so beautiful, if you’re not really going to be with me, don’t bother me.
Cerise didn’t answer or express any opinion. Lin Yuhui thought, he couldn’t let her be so awkward, could he? So he changed the subject to talk about something else,
“What are your hobbies? Can we talk about them?”
“I like making money,” Cerise replied with a smile.
Lin Yuhui was a little surprised by this answer. A young and beautiful girl with no skills or resources, she likes making money, but how? Is it okay to talk about money so nakedly, without any subtlety at all?
Perhaps Cerise saw his confusion, she added,
“I do WeChat business.”
Lin Yuhui thought to himself, the kind that sells goods on WeChat? How many customers could that have? Relying on exploiting acquaintances?
He only heard Cerise continue to explain,
“The situation is not good now. It was much easier back in 2017 and 2018.”
Although he heard her explanation, Lin Yuhui’s doubts still hadn’t been dispelled. He thought a lot, for example, money laundering…
When they arrived at the cafeteria entrance, the man naturally had to open the door for the woman. They entered and lined up. The bustling noise inside the cafeteria had already made Lin Yuhui lose any desire to talk. Cerise walked in front of him, but they had bad timing when choosing fruit. There were only a few peaches left in a basket, and a new basket hadn’t arrived yet. Lin Yuhui casually took one that looked a little unripe.
Following behind Cerise, he let her choose the seat. As expected, she chose a spot in the middle of the crowd, just like she did every day. If Lin Yuhui were eating alone, he would definitely choose a quiet corner. Not just for peace and quiet, but also for a lower risk of infection. Even if it wasn’t COVID-19, shouldn’t the flu be avoided?
They chatted while eating. Originally, Lin Yuhui didn’t talk while eating. He didn’t like or get used to it; it was tiring and affected chewing and enjoying the food. But since Cerise had asked him to accompany her today, it would be too rude to just eat in silence. He had to find some small talk topics. He couldn’t ask about hobbies again; she had already said her hobby was making money. Anyway, he had no ability to provide her with a lot of money to make, so he had to ask something more refined,
“How do you spend your free time for entertainment?”
“Nothing special,”
Seeing that she wasn’t interested in this topic, he changed to something else,
“Which family member are you closest to? I grew up with my grandparents,”
“I was closest to my grandma when I was in high school,”
Then came the key question. Lin Yuhui asked with a smile,
“Are your parents very busy? Who has the final say in your family, your mom or your dad?”
“My mom. My dad doesn’t care about anything,”
“Oh,” Lin Yuhui replied, thinking to himself whether her mother was as beautiful as she was, and whether her father had no status at home. As he was thinking, he noticed a worker eating at the next table looking over. Lin Yuhui thought, it’s all hopeless anyway, what’s there to look at?
Lin Yuhui knew very well that with Cerise’s looks at this age, almost none of the men eating in this cafeteria were worthy of her, or could catch her eye, at least not among the young people whose careers hadn’t taken off yet. As he chatted with her, the meal tasted as dry and unappetizing as dry firewood in his mouth.
Lin Yuhui actually barely ate anything during this meal. Seeing that she was almost finished, he said to her considerately,
“Take your time, no rush.”
He saw Cerise pick up her after-dinner fruit,
“Oh no, this peach is rotten,”
It was true, there was a rotten spot, but biting it off shouldn’t affect eating the rest. And this peach was only rotten in one spot because it was overripe. But seeing her hesitantly turning the peach over and over, Lin Yuhui volunteered,
“Mine isn’t that great either. Let’s swap,” he said, taking the rotten peach from her hand. After all, beautiful women deserve preferential treatment. But to Lin Yuhui’s surprise, the peaches left at the window were even worse. He picked the biggest one and came back, only to find it was worse than his own. So he gave his own peach to Cerise.
After lunch like this, the two left the cafeteria, and of course Lin Yuhui opened the door for the lady. Back in the office, she didn’t eat the peach in her hand. It really wasn’t good, very unripe,
“Here you go, it’s for David,” she said, giving the peach to Lila, the single girl sitting opposite Dylan. She didn’t mind at all, took it and took a bite. Lin Yuhui could only sigh inwardly at how good young people’s teeth are. He definitely wouldn’t be able to bite it; he would have to leave it for a couple of days until it softened.
In the afternoon, the boss was away again, and the atmosphere in the office became lively. Of course, it was still Dylan talking about love topics. Not his own love life—he was married—but he was talking about Cerise and Lila’s love lives. Cerise was talking eloquently about zodiac compatibility and what makes a suitable partner.
Lin Yuhui really couldn’t listen anymore. This kid had been brainwashed too badly. He couldn’t help but look her in the eyes and say,
“No, no, no. You can’t believe those zodiac things. Things aren’t that simple.”
“Zodiac compatibility is very accurate,” Cerise replied.
Lin Yuhui questioned her with the simplest logic,
“There are so many people in the world, and only a few zodiac signs. How can they fit everyone’s situation?”
Cerise didn’t say anything. She grinned at Lin Yuhui, showing her white teeth between her lips and her canine tooth on the side.
In an instant, a previous dream flashed through Lin Yuhui’s mind. The same white teeth—was it her? That fox spirit in his dream who looked like his college English teacher?