Chapter 83: Heart-to-Heart Talk

Chapter 83 Heart-to-Heart

"Whoa!" Liu Hai clung to the parallel bars, swaying precariously in mid-air, muttering, "My hands work perfectly, so why are my feet so uncooperative?"

"You've made great progress," Xiao Jin said with a smile. "When you first started, your legs would flail all over the place just trying to get up there."

"Heh heh," Liu Hai swayed proudly. "Right? I'm still pretty amazing, aren't I?"

"Indeed, very impressive," Jiang Xun suddenly spoke from the doorway.

"Whoa! When did you get here?!" Liu Hai gasped, tumbling from the bars with a *thud*. He pointed at Jiang Xun. "Didn't we agree no peeking?"

"Did we?" Jiang Xun tilted his head deliberately. "I don't recall agreeing to that." He added with a smile, "Besides, it's almost dinner time. Don't tell me Liu Hai worked so hard today he's not even hungry?"

"Of course I'm hungry!" Liu Hai declared firmly. "How could I not be hungry? I just thought I moved around a lot today, so I got hungry faster..."

"A Yu should be bringing the food soon," Jiang Xun said, lifting a takeout box. "I brought Liu Hai some extra food in the meantime."

"What? What is it?" Liu Hai craned his neck, intrigued.

"Hmm..." Jiang Xun grinned. "Pig trotters."

A question mark seemed to appear above Liu Hai's head.

"Ah..." Xiao Jin giggled. "Boss, you're not thinking of 'like supplements like,' are you?"

"What do you mean?" Liu Hai protested sharply. "I'm not a pig!"

"How can you say that!" Xiao Jin clasped her cheeks. "Babe, you're a little sea pig!"

"Hey!" Liu Hai huffed indignantly. "I've been living with everyone for a while now. I know calling someone a pig isn't a good thing!"

"Xiao Jin, you're clearly secretly insulting me!"

"No way~" Xiao Jin said with a cheeky grin. "Then how about a puppy? A little sea pup, okay?"

"Nonsense," Jiang Xun said, deliberately glancing at Liu Hai. "Our Liu Hai... is probably more like a leopard, right? A leopard in the sea—what would that be called..."

Liu Hai guiltily averted his gaze: "N-no idea. There's no such animal, right?"

Jiang Xun chuckled, lifting the takeout box: "So, eating or not?"

"Eat!" Liu Hai declared resolutely. "Jiang Xun and Xiao Jin might laugh at me, but they'd never give me something bad to eat."

Jiang Xun stroked his head, and Liu Hai allowed it, merely narrowing his eyes slightly.

Jiang Xun lowered his gaze to observe him—for training convenience, Liu Hai was wearing loose sportswear. Without his plump tail, he couldn't wag its tip when happy, but he still swayed his head gently. Jiang Xun smiled faintly; even as a human, his personality was still so easy to read.

"I brought the food—" A Yu pushed the door open with his foot, arms laden with meal boxes, and called out, "Xiao Jin, give me a hand."

Xiao Jin ran to the table first: "Coming! I'll clear the table first, just hold on!"

"Mm," A Yu acknowledged, then noticed Liu Hai staring at him and smiled. "Ah, what's wrong? Already hungry?" He waved the meal box in front of Liu Hai, whose gaze instinctively followed it, his head swaying gently with the box.

"No, wait!" Liu Hai suddenly reacted. "That's not what I meant!"

"Then what is it?" A Yu looked at him curiously.

"A Yu, your feet are amazing," Liu Hai said seriously. "You can open doors with your feet!"

"Huh?" A Yu glanced back at the door, a wry smile on his face. "It wasn't locked. Just needed a little push—you could even hip-check it open, let alone use your leg."

"Butt?" Liu Hai, on all fours, tentatively arched his rear. "This part, right?"

"Alright," Jiang Xun said, sighing helplessly as he pressed him down. "...Don't just casually show everyone your butt."

"Oh." Liu Hai obediently complied, but then sighed with complex emotion. "I'm just realizing how shy humans are." He paused, then added, "Except for Feng Yan."

Jiang Xun: "..."

Liu Hai patted Jiang Xun's shoulder with a profound air: "You should learn a bit too, Jiang Xun. Sometimes you're just too shy."

"No," Jiang Xun refused flatly.

"Fine." Liu Hai didn't press the issue. "But that's what makes you so adorab—"

Jiang Xun covered his mouth.

"What gives?!" Liu Hai struggled, protesting indistinctly, "I can't even say that?!"

"Heh heh," Xiao Jin said, opening the meal containers with a benevolent smile. "Next time you're alone with Boss, you can tell him then!"

"...It won't make any difference," Jiang Xun said expressionlessly. "Absolutely not."

Liu Hai stared at him, his expression surprisingly showing a hint of eagerness.

"Once Liu Hai can walk freely, he can join us for meals in the cafeteria, right?" Xiao Jin sounded a little excited. "Ah, then we can all walk to the cafeteria together, hand in hand!"

"Huh?" A Yu asked, puzzled. "You like eating in the cafeteria?"

"No, no," Xiao Jin wagged a finger. "It's not the cafeteria that's important, it's going to the cafeteria *together*!" She looked up wistfully. "I was so busy in college, focused on various competitions and labs, so I never made friends I could go to the cafeteria with."

"Eh—" Liu Hai, struggling to sit in a chair, looked at Xiao Jin in shock. "I thought Xiao Jin would have tons of friends."

"Oh?" Xiao Jin cupped her cheeks, a little pleased. "Are you saying I seem likable?" She put on an exaggerated act. "Actually, I used to be a delicate, sensitive, introverted little girl..." She waited, but no one retorted, so she couldn't help but poke A Yu: "This is where you're supposed to say something like, 'I don't believe you!' Otherwise, I'm just embarrassing myself!"

"Hm?" A Yu calmly served everyone soup. "But I think you might actually be telling the truth."

Xiao Jin paused, surprised.

"People's personalities can change," A Yu said, sitting down too. "Perhaps you've simply changed compared to before."

Xiao Jin was silent for a moment, then guiltily raised her bowl to cover her face: "W-well... about that..."

"Want to talk about it?" Liu Hai adopted an attentive posture. "Mealtime is a great time for chatting."

"Well..." Xiao Jin's answer was vague, still seeming hesitant.

"Friends who go to the cafeteria together would definitely chat about all sorts of things while eating," Liu Hai said, looking at her expectantly. "Come on, come on!"

"Ah—" Xiao Jin muttered. "Honestly, don't act like you're going to use someone else's story for entertainment!"

"It's not some interesting or amazing story anyway. I don't have any tragic past or experiences of being bullied or isolated. It's just that I was pretty good at studying and knew what I wanted early. To join the boss's lab, I spent a lot of time preparing for relevant experiments, so I never really had time to make close friends with ordinary classmates."

"Ah," A Yu slapped his hand in realization. "Because everyone who joins Siren Biotech Company is more or less a genius, we usually forget—Xiao Jin is really smart too. At least during her student days, she must have been that kind of star student everyone looked up to, right?"

"Hey," Xiao Jin pointed at him with a forced smile. "You, are you taking this opportunity to subtly insult me?"

"No," A Yu immediately surrendered. "Not at all. If anything, my situation was probably similar to yours, right? I was always ranked first in my school back then."

"Ah, but in my heart, Xiao Jin has always been really smart," Liu Hai said between mouthfuls. "And definitely way smarter than me."

"Don't just talk, eat while you chat!"

"Our Liu Hai is the best—" Xiao Jin said, touched, resting her chin on her hand and taking a bite of rice. "Sigh, back then, I guess I still had a bit of an image to maintain."

"Actually, I was interested in a lot of things, like school bands and clubs... And I even managed my schedule carefully, intending to use my free time to fully experience the exciting college life I'd imagined."

"But people just... automatically excluded me."

Xiao Jin sighed. "I was pretty good at sports, but during athletic meets, they'd say I should just focus on studying. Even when they made others draw lots to participate, they never bothered to ask me."

"Same with the band—they said if my studies suffered because of it, the school and teachers would come down on them..."

"Ah..." A Yu let out a sigh of empathy.

Liu Hai asked curiously, "A Yu, did you have similar experiences?"

"Nope," A Yu took a sip of soup. "When I was in school, my family expected me to be a perfect child who excelled in every aspect. So whether it was academics, sports, or social connections, I had to participate in every activity that could get me noticed—and achieve good results."

"Same with classmates. Since I attended an expensive private school where everyone came from wealthy families, I had to network with everyone for the sake of future connections."

"Looking back now, it wasn't exactly a good memory."

"Whoa—" Xiao Jin couldn't help but show a sympathetic expression, plucking out the cucumbers from her bowl and giving them to him, saying with concern, "Here, eat more."

"Don't think I don't know you're just trying to avoid eating cucumbers by making that face," A Yu said flatly, pointing at her. "And we were supposed to be talking about *your* story."

Xiao Jin waved her hand: "Compared to yours, mine was just a minor teenage issue."

"Tiny worries are still worries!" Liu Hai said matter-of-factly. "For Xiao Jin back then, it must have been really important!"

"Even though it was a long time ago, if you want to talk about it, we're always here to listen!"

Xiao Jin stole a glance at Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun looked up: "Why are you looking at me?"

"I'm not great at comforting people, so I'll leave that to Liu Hai. But I can listen."

"I don't need the boss to comfort me!" Xiao Jin chuckled. "I was just wondering—what was school like for you?"

"See, I talked, then A Yu talked. Your turn now, boss, don't you think?"