Xia Xi frowned a little unhappily. This morning, a classmate had said he would come to feed the cats with her, but despite having waited for him for so long, he had never shown up. He had been quite handsome too, and she wondered why she had never seen him before.

Xia Yao was well aware of the novel's plot. The heroine was gentle and kind, and especially caring towards small animals. She would occasionally take food to go feed stays and would attract the attention of the violent Xu Shizhou this way.

She followed Xia Xi without a rush all the way and stopped to get herself some Coke and a bucket of fried chicken and fries.

Xia Xi was not a fool without five senses. When she turned the corner of the street, she noticed someone was following her: was it the boy from this morning?

She thought he had looked a little awkward at the convenience store; she had been waiting for him to help her but Xia Yao had grabbed the drink instead. Fortunately, when they had talked afterward about cats, she had found out that despite his irritable face, the boy had a soft heart.

He must indeed be very shy and he was following her all the way instead. Realizing this must be the case, Xia Xi's steps became much lighter.

When Xia Yao appeared, the little wild animals who were lazily lying on the stairs and on the trash cans woke up at once and moved toward her, attracted by the fragrant smell of fried chicken. Xia Yao hid in the dark and covered the food, afraid the cats would reach her and blew her cover.

Xia Xi saw them ignore her and walk to the other side and was a little confused. Could it be they had forgotten her because they hadn't seen her for a month? She opened the food and its smell floated out.

Between the chicken fragrance that had disappeared and the cat food that had been opened, the kittens stopped in their tracks and turned toward Xia Xi instead. The girl knew someone was secretly watching her and she squatted down, put the can on the ground, and said softly: "I'm sorry, I am a bit late today. Are you hungry? It's okay, eat slowly, eat slowly..."

Hiding in her corner, Xia Yao looked at her watch and waited for her time to play. She looked around but realized Ji Huai and Xu Shizhou hadn't arrived yet. It was really odd and without the heroine's licking dogs, there was no point for her to play her role.

Xia Xi was still talking with the cats: "Eat more slowly, no one will take it from you. Eat slowly..."

Xia Yao: Ah, of course no one will, who wants cat food?

Looking at her watch again, it was finally her turn to appear. She no longer covered the fried chicken with her hands and held her head high as she left her hiding spot.

Xia Xi sensed the person had finally come out and thinking it was the classmate from this morning, she was overjoyed. But when she looked up, she saw Xia Yao and her expression became stiff.

"Xia Yao, you followed me!"

"Yeah."

"???" She just admitted it like that?

"I'm not like someone else who won't confess to stalking others and hypocritically talk about caring and such."

Xia Yao looked down at the cats at her feet. Their eyes were a glowing green and they were obviously not full. Her face turned pale and she recalled what had happened yesterday afternoon.

Those stray cats were wandering around, sleeping and eating when they could, but most often living near the trash cans hoping to get some food. Most of them had coarse hair and looked very pitiful.

Xia Yao didn't find pleasure in acting cruelly against small animals. She glanced at the fried chicken in her hand and put it down reluctantly. Ah, stupid kindness!

"You heard I was going to feed the cat this morning and you followed me! You want to be like me and feed the cat, don't you?" Xia Xi asked.

That was such a dumb idea.

"I don't want to talk nonsense with you." Xia Yao frowned. She was still waiting for the two male leads to appear, so she could be dismissed.

Seeing her cold attitude and listening to her cold tone, an indescribable fire rose in Xia Xi's heart; Xia Yao must have heard that the boy from this morning would also come and that was why she had secretly followed her! She got up and deliberately knocked the fried chicken on the ground. She pretended to be very regretful and said: "Ah, everything spilled, what to do..."

Xia Yao looked at the other girl and felt annoyed; she just wanted to go home to do her homework!

She stepped on her sister's foot and said in the same panicked voice: "Ah, I accidentally stepped on you, what to do?"

Just as Xia Yao was proudly bullying the white lotus heroine, Xu Shizhou finally made his appearance. He had seen the girl sitting in front of him in class walk away after school and curiosity had made him follow her all the way here.

The temperature had just cooled down a few days ago and the autumn breeze was slightly cool, but the boy had taken off his jacket and was wearing a black T-shirt underneath. He walked out of his dark corner with his hands in his pockets and his eyes swept over Xia Yao and fell on her villainous feet—

And he snorted.

Xia Xi was so anxious she started to cry. Her white shoes had been trampled on the first day she wore them and when she saw the teenager, just as she had met her savior, she shouted: "Xu Shizhou!"

They had exchanged names this morning and her voice was soft and sweet, the one boys his age liked the best.

Xia Yao was taken aback for a split second; Xu Shizou was not someone she could afford to provoke. He would come to love the heroine in the future, she had to be somewhat careful, and she retracted her foot with a sneer.

"Do you like cats too?" The boy's voice was clear.

Xu Shizhou had a cool expression and posture but his eyes were kind of erratic and nobody knew who he was asking.

"I do!" Xia Xi smiled at him and said with a bit of complaint, "I thought you said you would come this morning. I waited a long time for you after class, I didn't think you would come anymore."

Xia Yao glanced at the cat at her feet. According to the plot, she should kick a kitten. She moved back, intending to give the stage to those who really wanted it.

The boy frowned faintly. He didn't hear the answer he wanted and his eyes looked at a pair of moving legs. Xia Yao was stunned when she noticed he was staring at her.

"Xia Yao, do you like cats?" He kicked the stone beside him that rolled to her shoe.

—I called your name, you have to answer now!

"No."

She believed that if she had a soft spot for small animals, she would have to apply for the role of the heroine too.

Xu Shizhou was surprised for a moment and glanced at the fried food on the ground.

"Sister, if you don't like such cute kittens, why are you feeding them?" Xia Xi made a panicked expression and covered her mouth, "Could it be you are trying to poison them?!"

Xia Yao couldn't even get angry and rather wanted to applaud the heroine's brain. She was wrong, only a very unusual mind could become the heroine of a sweet campus novel.

Seeing Xia Yao wasn't refuting, Xia Xi felt what she had said was very logical the more she thought about it: "I heard some people like to torture small animals for fun... Sister, you followed me there, is it because....?"

Xu Shizhou found the girl's thoughts rather absurd. He was about to speak when other people appeared. Five people wearing green vests came together and the girl with glasses looked at the three students and asked: "Who is Xia Yao?"

The other two looked at her with a dazed expression.

Xia Yao raised her hand and said: "That's me!"

"Hello, student Xia Yao. We are an animal protection organization, with the objective of protecting and safeguarding the rights of animals to live." She paused and looked at the cat at her feet, "I received your call saying there were strays here and we came."

Xia Yao nodded, she had indeed contacted them this morning. Glasses girl observed the food on the ground and added: "Some students sometimes take the initiative to throw food to the cats here, this isn't right. Over time, stray cats will get used to being fed, settle down, and eventually start reproducing, causing a vicious circle and affecting the lives of the residents. It's better to hand us the cats for proper handling, you made the right choice. We will treat those cats, deworm them and sterilize them before contacting caring families for adoption."

After the girl explained what they would do, her coworkers started to take action and Xu Shizhou also followed them to help.

Xia Yao looked at the time again and realized it was finally time for her to leave. She grabbed the bag that had fallen off her shoulders and started walking towards home.

"Xia Yao!" Xu Shizhou, who was currently helping, saw the girl walk away. He realized he wouldn't be able to stop her and he shouted, "Help me with the questions tomorrow!"

In the setting sun, the figure of the girl looked like she was not easy to be messed up with. She silently raised her hand and made an OK gesture, her back majestic. Xu Shizhou stared at her in a daze.

— It turned out she also liked kittens but was hiding it.

***

Xia Yao had completely forgotten Ji Huai was also supposed to appear and when she walked out of the gate of the abandoned residential building, she ran into him.

The heroine was currently working with Xu Shizhou and the animal protection organization's members, and only her, the supporting female character who loved to study, had sneaked away to do homework.

The boy in white clothes, messy hair, and charming looks was holding a bucket of fried chicken and fries in his hand, and the slightly salty fragrance kind of ruined the whole picture.

"Xia Yao." Ji Huai called the girl wearing headphones, who was pretending to not have seen him. He had wanted to find other opportunities to speak with her and had tried to go home together after school. She had most likely been lost in thoughts and she hadn't noticed he had followed her all the way. And when he had seen her hand her chicken with a sad face, he had turned back to buy another bucket before waiting for her here.

Xia Yao ripped off her earphones a little irritably. Was it so difficult to ignore her like they were supposed to?

"Let's go home together!" The boy said as he put the chicken in her arms and Xia Yao froze

Little theater:

Xu Shizhou: I think the original author doesn't like me, she wrote me like an idiot.

Xia Xi: The original author wrote her heroine stupid too, get in line.

Xia Yao: And there I thought only the vicious female character was retarded.