054 The Midnight Instant Noodle Agreement
In the dead of night, Pei Ningle felt as if Wang Heng wasn’t her peer, but rather like a responsible yet inarticulate father, wrapping his concern in a layer of seemingly impatient emotion.
If he were just a manager, would he ask her in the middle of the night if she had eaten dinner, and then run errands for her? Even if he did help, would he do it so naturally?
After confirming that the refrigerator was indeed empty, Wang Heng went downstairs to buy some cup noodles and fruit juice. Back in the apartment, the two of them had a late-night snack of instant noodles and juice.
Taking a slurp of her Old Altar Pickled Cabbage flavored instant noodles, she looked at Wang Heng’s cup and asked, “How’s the braised beef flavor?”
Wang Heng: “It’s alright. Let me tell you, there’s a limit to being dedicated. You can’t mess up your three meals a day and your normal routine, understand?”
The girl poked the curly noodles with her plastic fork. “But I can’t cook…”
Wang Heng: “Then eat out. There are plenty of clean and cheap noodle shops and restaurants on the street.”
“But eating alone is a bit lonely and boring,” Pei Ningle looked at him with a hint of expectation. “How about you come out and eat with me after your classes?”
Wang Heng decisively refused. “Accompanying you for work is fine, but accompanying you for meals is a bit much. That’s not part of a manager’s duties. Besides, our campus is quite large. If I have to come out for every meal, I won’t have enough time in a day.”
Whether he really didn’t have enough time or not, it was always right to use this excuse at this time.
Pei Ningle poked her instant noodles again and asked, “You eat in the campus cafeteria every day, right? Can I go in and eat in your cafeteria?”
Wang Heng thought for a moment. Procedurally, there seemed to be no obstacle. Non-students couldn’t use a meal card, but Wang Heng could totally use his own meal card to get two meals. Yes, objectively there was no problem. So, subjectively, could he find some excuse to refuse?
He tested the waters, “I already said, the campus is quite large. If you come looking for me every day, the time…”
Pei Ningle shook her head, interrupting him. “It’s okay. I can compose in my head while I’m walking. Hiding at home all day doesn’t help with songwriting either. It’s good to take a walk on campus. Anyway, I don’t think it’s a waste of time.”
Let’s see, are there any other excuses?
Wang Heng discovered with frustration that he couldn’t seem to find any excuses…
“So it’s decided then?” Pei Ningle asked cautiously.
Wang Heng sighed and nodded. “Alright then. But let’s make it clear in advance. We’ll settle the food expenses every day. You have to pay me back for however much you eat.”
He had hoped to use this move to slightly disgust Pei Ningle, but unexpectedly, the girl accepted this proposal very naturally.
“Of course!”
A small miscalculation. It seemed she didn’t have the habit of getting angry when she couldn’t take advantage of someone.
Wang Heng could only bury his head and eat his noodles.
Suddenly, he heard the girl’s voice again. “Can we switch?”
Wang Heng looked up and asked in astonishment, “Switch what? The noodles?”
The girl nodded.
Wang Heng: “I don’t slurp my noodles in one go. I bite them off. There’s a lot of my saliva in here. Are you sure you want to switch?”
Pei Ningle pouted, clearly a little disgusted. But then she looked at her own Old Altar Pickled Cabbage noodles and said, “I don’t like this flavor.”
Wang Heng: “Then make a new cup. Why switch with me?”
“Oh, right…” The girl put down her fork and picked up another cup of instant noodles. This time, she chose the braised beef flavor.
Then Pei Ningle was busy opening the package and pouring hot water into the instant noodles, not noticing the fleeting look of fear in Wang Heng’s eyes.
He was really afraid that this girl wouldn’t be disgusted and would just grab his noodles to eat. That would undoubtedly be an ominous sign, symbolizing that in her mind, their relationship had already become close to a certain degree.
After pouring the hot water, while waiting for the instant noodles to cook, Pei Ningle went to the computer and opened the video she had just uploaded. To her surprise, there were already two comments in such a short time.
Looking closely, the first comment was “First floor,” and the second was “Second floor.”
Pei Ningle slammed the table. “Can’t they say something else!”
Wang Heng, who had finished his own instant noodles, came over to take a look and said calmly, “It’s normal. They probably haven’t even watched the video and just posted a comment first.”
Pei Ningle: “But these two comments were posted ten minutes ago. It’s been ten minutes. Haven’t they finished watching yet?”
Wang Heng: “Look on the bright side. Maybe they were so engrossed in listening that they put it on single-song loop and are listening to it for the third time, so they don’t have time to post a comment.”
Pei Ningle pouted. “Is that possible? Don’t treat me like a fool.”
With that, she clicked the mouse again and refreshed the page. Then she found a third comment, and this time it was finally meaningful:
【Sounds so good!!!】
The girl’s small face was instantly filled with joy, and the corners of her mouth also curved up.
But Wang Heng, who was beside her, poured cold water on her. “Don’t get too happy too soon. The probability of the first video taking off is very small. It’ll be good if you can accumulate a few fans. The further you go, the greater the probability of taking off, so what’s important is accumulation. And you’re posting a cover video, so it’s very likely that fans of the original singer will come looking for trouble.”
“It’s okay. At least this comment is good!”
With that, Pei Ningle’s hand was on the laptop keyboard, about to reply to the comment, but she was suddenly stopped by Wang Heng.
“Wait!”
Pei Ningle tilted her head and looked at him. “What’s wrong?”
Wang Heng reminded her, “Replying to audience comments is also part of the process of establishing your persona. It’s best if you leave this to me first. You can watch how I reply, and after you understand how to establish a persona in the future, you can reply yourself.”
“No way?” The girl blinked in surprise. “How complicated is this ‘establishing a persona’ you’re talking about!”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Wang Heng had already finished his own instant noodles, so he squeezed the girl aside and replied to that positive comment in her place:
【Thank you! (//▽//)】
Pei Ningle looked at the emoticon he had typed, then at his side profile, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “I really can’t tell. You have the heart of a young girl!”
Wang Heng shrugged. “It’s just commercial marketing. It has nothing to do with my personality or preferences. If I didn’t need to establish a persona and was communicating with others under my own name, I would almost never send redundant information like emoticons.”
“Commercial marketing…” The girl was clearly at a loss for words.
Wang Heng: “Besides emoticons, there’s also the use of punctuation and tone particles. These details are also worth noting. By the way, your instant noodles are already overcooked. Aren’t you going to eat them?”
“Oh, my braised beef noodles!”
