Chapter 54: 054 The Midnight Instant Noodles Agreement
In this late night, Pei Ningle felt that Wang Heng didn’t seem like 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 simple agent, would he ask in the middle of the night if she had eaten dinner, and then run errands for her? Even if he helped, he wouldn’t do it so naturally, right?
After confirming that the refrigerator was indeed empty, Wang Heng went downstairs to buy some bucket instant noodles and juice beverages. Back inside the house, the two of them had a late-night snack of instant noodles with juice.
Taking a sip of her old altar pickled cabbage flavored instant noodles, she looked at his bucket and asked, “How’s the braised beef flavor?”
Wang Heng: “Not bad. Let me tell you, being dedicated has its limits. Three meals a day and a normal routine can’t be messed up. Got it?”
The young girl held a plastic fork and poked at the curly noodles: “But I can’t cook…”
Wang Heng: “Then eat out. There are plenty of clean and cheap noodle restaurants 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 after class to eat with me?”
Wang Heng decisively refused: “Accompanying work is fine, but accompanying meals is a bit much. Agents don’t have that business. Besides, the campus is pretty big. If I had to come out for every meal, I wouldn’t have enough time in the day.”
Whether he really didn’t have enough time or not, using this excuse at this moment was always safe.
Pei Ningle poked at the instant noodles and asked again: “You eat at the campus canteen every day, right? Can I go in and eat at your canteen?”
Wang Heng thought for a moment. Procedurally speaking, there seemed to be no obstacle. Non-school students couldn’t use meal cards, but Wang Heng could completely use his own meal card to get two portions of meal. Right, objectively there was no problem, so subjectively, could he find some excuse to decline?
He probed: “I already said, the campus is pretty big. If you run in to find me every day, time…”
Pei Ningle shook her head and interrupted: “No problem. I can create in my mind while walking. Staying cooped up at home all day isn’t helpful for songwriting either. Walking around school is good too. Anyway, I don’t think it’s a waste of time.”
Think about it, what other excuse was there?
Wang Heng dejectedly discovered that he seemed unable to find an excuse…
“So it’s decided then?” Pei Ningle probed cautiously.
Wang Heng sighed and nodded: “Alright then. But let’s settle the food costs every day. Whatever you eat, you have to reimburse me in full.”
He was still hoping to gross Pei Ningle out a bit with this, but unexpectedly, the young girl accepted the suggestion very naturally.
“Of course!”
He had slightly miscalculated. She didn’t seem to have the habit of getting angry when she couldn’t take advantage.
Wang Heng could only bury his head and eat his noodles.
Suddenly, he heard the young girl’s voice again: “Can we swap ours?”
Wang Heng looked up, stunned, and asked back: “Swap what? The noodles?”
The young girl nodded.
Wang Heng: “I’m not the type to slurp up all the noodles in one go. I bite the noodles. How much of my saliva is in here? Are you sure you want to swap?”
Pei Ningle pursed her lips. Sure enough, she was a bit disgusted. But looking at her own old altar pickled cabbage noodles again, she said: “I don’t like this flavor.”
Wang Heng: “Then just brew another bucket. Why swap with me?”
“True…” The young girl dropped the fork and picked up another bucket of instant noodles. This time, she chose the braised beef flavor.
Then Pei Ningle busied herself with opening it and brewing the instant noodles with hot water, not noticing the flash of relief in Wang Heng’s eyes.
He was really afraid this girl wouldn’t mind and directly snatch his noodles to eat—that would undoubtedly be some 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 soften, Pei Ningle went in front of the computer and opened the video she had just uploaded. To her surprise, in such a short time, there were already two comments.
Looking closely, the first comment was【Floor 1】, and the second was【Floor 2】.
Pei Ningle slapped the table: “Can’t they say something else!”
Wang Heng finished his own instant noodles, came over to look, and said calmly: “Very normal. They might not have even watched the video and just commented first.”
Pei Ningle: “But these two comments were posted ten minutes ago. It’s been ten minutes already, and they haven’t finished watching?”
Wang Heng: “Think positively. Maybe they were listening so intently that they started single-song cycle, and are on the third playthrough, so no time to comment?”
Pei Ningle pursed her lips: “Is that possible? Don’t treat me like a fool.”
After saying that, she clicked the mouse again to refresh the page. Then she found the third comment, which finally had some meaning:
【So good!!!】
Joy immediately overflowed on the young girl’s little face, and the corners of her mouth turned up.
Wang Heng beside her poured cold water: “Don’t get too happy too soon. The chance of the first video blowing up is very small. Accumulating a few fans would be good. The further along you go, the higher the chance of blowing up, so the key is accumulation. Plus, you posted a cover song video, so original singer fans might come to pick fights.”
“No problem. At least this comment is good!”
As she spoke, Pei Ningle placed her hand on the notebook keyboard, about to reply to the comment, but was suddenly stopped by Wang Heng.
“Hold on!”
Pei Ningle tilted her head to look at him: “What’s up?”
Wang Heng reminded her: “Replying to audience comments is also part of building your persona. It’s best to leave this to me first. Watch how I reply, and once you understand how to build a persona, you can reply yourself later.”
“No way?” The young girl blinked in surprise. “How complex is this persona-building you keep talking about!”
“You’ll see when you watch.”
Wang Heng had already finished his instant noodles, so he squeezed past the young girl and replied to that good review for her:
【Thanks!（//▽//）】
Pei Ningle looked at the emoticons he typed, then at his profile, and couldn’t help sighing: “Who would’ve thought, you have a young girl’s heart!”
Wang Heng shrugged: “Just commercial marketing, unrelated to my personality or preferences. If there’s no need to build a persona, and I’m communicating in my own name, I almost never send redundant info like emoticons.”
“Commercial marketing…” The young girl obviously had nothing to say.
Wang Heng: “Besides emoticons, the use of punctuation and interjections—these details are worth noting too. By the way, your instant noodles are over-brewed. Not eating?”
“Oh, my braised beef noodles!”
————
Sorry to keep everyone waiting. There are two more chapters tonight, around midnight…
