"Here you are, folks! Wontons and spicy wontons. Careful, they’re hot. Enjoy your meal~"

With a cheerful call, the owner brought the bowls to the table.

"Sir, this bowl of shrimp wontons is mine..."

"...And what about the extra cilantro I asked for with my numbingly spicy wontons?" Jiang Xia’s mouth twitched. He looked down at his own bowl. ’Why did all the cilantro get dumped on the shrimp wontons?’

Hearing this, Lin Yanwan lowered her head, sniffed her bowl, and then said, "It has garlic."

The owner froze, his expression growing awkward. "I’m so sorry, I must have gotten them mixed up in the rush. How about I make you two a new bowl?"

"It’s fine, never mind. I can eat garlic."

"Thank you, thank you..." The owner thanked them profusely.

"Sir, could we get a spoon, please?" Jiang Xia added. "She doesn’t use chopsticks for her wontons."

"Sure thing." The owner agreed readily.

Lin Yanwan was slightly taken aback. ’I’m surprised he still remembered that.’

She took a pair of chopsticks from the holder and started picking out the cilantro floating on the surface of her soup. Jiang Xia instinctively pushed his own bowl toward her. Once she had transferred all the cilantro, she passed him the chopsticks as well.

Ever since they’d started dating, he had always eaten whatever she wouldn’t. After so many years, they had both long grown accustomed to this little dining ritual. Neither of them found anything strange about this gesture, which would have seemed incredibly intimate to anyone else.

Seeing how familiar the two were with each other, the boy who had just called out to Lin Yanwan was suddenly stunned. He stood there blankly, clutching his soy milk and fried dough sticks, feeling like a complete clown.

’Who is that guy?’

’The goddess I have a crush on actually has a boyfriend?’

’How could I not have known such crucial information?’

The boy, who felt his world turn gray in an instant, no longer believed in love.

He shot a sorrowful glance at Lin Yanwan and sighed. Then, he turned his head to gaze up at the not-yet-brightened sky at a 45-degree angle. His weeping heart had already composed the QQ Space status he would post later: "mY pAsSiOn WaS gIvEn 2 ThE wRoNg PeRsOn, EvErYtHiNg I dO iS jUsT mE bEiNg StUpId."

Jiang Xia caught sight of the boy’s crestfallen exit from the noodle shop out of the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but be amused. ’Are guys these days really that fragile?’

’It’s just seeing the girl you like eating with another guy. And that’s enough to cause emotional trauma? That won’t do. How can a guy chase a girl without learning how to be a simp? Not everyone can be as handsome as me and have a goddess fall all over them.’

He mused to himself as he dunked all the cilantro into the oily broth. After letting it soak up the soup, he scooped it into his mouth along with a spicy wonton.

"So, you really don’t know who that was?"

Lin Yanwan scooped up some broth with her spoon. She pursed her delicate lips to blow on it, waiting for it to cool down a bit before taking a small sip.

Hearing Jiang Xia’s question, she thought for a moment before saying seriously, "I think he’s one of my classmates, but I’ve forgotten his name."

’So many people had crushes on her back then. Besides, it had been so long; how could she possibly remember all their names?’

Hearing this, Jiang Xia once again felt a pang of pity for the guy. In his wife’s eyes, the poor kid was just insignificant cannon fodder.

’Looked at that way, I was practically a modern-day Zhao Zilong, snatching her away from a horde of tenacious rivals. Damn, I was cool.’

"Poor kid. It looks like he doesn’t believe in love anymore." A smile touched Jiang Xia’s eyes. "You broke that boy’s heart."

Lin Yanwan paused. It suddenly dawned on her that she and Jiang Xia had indeed been a little too intimate. ’Even if we decided to just be friends, we shouldn’t be *this* close, should we?’

’Does this mean he’s getting promoted to my guy best friend or something?’

She took a shallow breath and pushed these messy thoughts to the back of her mind. The only thing to blame was the habits they had built up over the years; it wasn’t like they could be changed overnight.

With that thought, she shot Jiang Xia an annoyed glare. It seemed that whenever she was with him, things inevitably went off the rails.

"What are you glaring at me for? I didn’t do anything," Jiang Xia said, looking aggrieved. "You want me to run after him and explain that we’re not actually in the kind of relationship he’s imagining?"

’For some reason, seeing that guy leave looking so dejected felt pretty damn good. It was probably the whole, *You think you can hit on my wife? Have you looked in a mirror?* kind of feeling.’

’Even though "wife" had now become "ex-wife," that lofty sense of superiority hadn’t diminished one bit.’

"...Just shut up. You’ll only make things worse."

Lin Yanwan suddenly felt a headache coming on. She was afraid it wouldn’t be long before rumors started spreading that she was dating a boy from another class.

’But... they had already broken up amicably!’

"Mhm! An innocent person has nothing to fear," Jiang Xia said, sitting up ramrod straight in mock agreement.

"Innocent my foot! Don’t you know how vicious rumors can be?"

’This guy has no skin in the game, of course he can talk,’ Lin Yanwan thought, annoyed, and gave him a light kick under the table. In response, Jiang Xia immediately clamped her leg between both of his.

"What are you doing? Hey, we’re just talking, no need to get physical," Jiang Xia said, his gaze wary. These were all moves they’d perfected during their marriage.

’Back in the day, his next move would have been to grab her hand, pull her into his arms, lean in, and plant a kiss right on her lips.’

’Now... ahem, there are too many people around. No, wait... we’re broken up now. Kissing is off the table.’

His gaze swept guiltily over Lin Yanwan’s delicate lips.

"Let go," she said, struggling bashfully a few times to no avail.

"Nope. You tried to kick me."

Lin Yanwan was exasperated. "...Who said I was trying to kick you?!"

"If you weren’t trying to kick me, why would I have trapped your leg?" Jiang Xia reasoned.

"..."

She was suddenly at a loss for words. In a fit of pique, she used her other leg to clamp his tightly as well. ’Fine, let’s see who lets go first!’

Neither of them realized that this childish horseplay was exactly like the playful flirting they did when they first started dating.

And so, they went back to eating from their bowls, looking for all the world as if nothing was wrong. Under the table, however, a secret battle was being waged. One pushed, the other squeezed, and neither was willing to admit defeat.

As she calmed down, Lin Yanwan suddenly felt that even if rumors did start, it wouldn’t really matter. ’After all, we’re both thirty-year-old souls. Even if the entire school starts gossiping that Jiang Xia and I are in a relationship, it won’t have any real effect on us.’

’As long as the people involved know it’s not true, it’s not like the rumors can magically make it real, right?’

’Although the best solution would be to set some ground rules with Jiang Xia—like ignoring each other when other people are around to avoid unnecessary trouble—she felt it wasn’t necessary.’

’A strong soul should be able to face their past head-on. Cowering and hiding things would just prove that she hadn’t moved on from their past relationship, wouldn’t it?’

’Since he’s already moved on, I can’t be a Loser.’

’So, from now on, she’d just interact with Jiang Xia however felt natural. Two people who broke up don’t have to become strangers who never speak again. They can also be friends.’

Having sorted through her thoughts, Lin Yanwan let out a long sigh of relief. She looked up at his handsome, cheerful face and suddenly felt that she’d had pretty good taste back in the day.

’If not for everything that happened later, maybe they really could have grown old together.’

Jiang Xia slurped down a spicy wonton and looked up at her.

"What’s up, babe?"

The words had barely left his mouth when both of them froze.