She’s a Passerby, But Can See the Protagonist’s Halo

Yan returned to the dormitory with two boxes of fried rice, where several girls from Room 320 were also having breakfast brought back by Yi Zhi.0

Upon seeing the pink lunchbox and food container, Chu Bingbing was the first to exclaim, “Wow!”0

“Yan, did Zhu Jue make this himself and send it over?”0

Seeing the curious looks on their faces, Yan felt somewhat helpless.0

“There are two portions, so let’s share. No, Zhu Jue didn’t make it. We had fried rice made by his roommate’s family restaurant yesterday at noon, and I mentioned it to him last night. He told his roommate, who specially made some this morning and brought it over for the guys’ dormitory.”0

Hearing this, everyone nodded.0

“His roommate is pretty nice, going all out for your happiness. What a great wingman,” Yi Zhi remarked.0

Yan chuckled but didn’t elaborate further, quickly opening the lunchbox and food container instead.0

“What kind of fried rice is so good that you’d crave it again after having it for lunch? I have to try it. Come on, I’ll divide it with this spoon,” Chu Bingbing said, pulling out disposable bowls from the dorm.0

Even though breakfast was almost over, they couldn’t resist trying the fried rice that had captivated Yan so much. Just one bite would do.0

The thermal lunchbox worked well, and the first bite of fried rice was still warm.0

The aroma of eggs and rice bloomed on her tongue. Yes, this was the flavor!0

The three-layer thermal container also had specially packaged side dishes, something Yan and Zhu Jue hadn’t tried yesterday at Chu Shen’s restaurant.0

Yan picked up a piece with her chopsticks and examined it. Was this… celery?0

She chewed the small piece of celery, which had been soaked in a sweet and sour marinade. The refreshing and fragrant taste filled her mouth, invigorating her senses. It was so appetizing!0

No wonder the customers at Chu’s restaurant raved about the free side dishes!0

“Is this really just fried rice? Can fried rice taste this good?” Chu Bingbing was stunned, holding her bowl.0

She had always thought fried rice was the same whether made at home, in a small restaurant, or at a street stall. She could make it herself—just leftover rice and a couple of eggs fried up the next morning.0

But now, Chu Bingbing was questioning her taste buds.0

Could the gap between people’s fried rice skills really be this big?0

It wasn’t just her. Gu Jiasui and Ding Ling, who had initially planned to only take a small bite, silently sped up their eating.0

Almost simultaneously, three hands reached out, “More!”0

“I want more too.”0

Seeing even Ding Ling, the “ghost queen,” going for a second bowl, Yan silently marveled at the chef’s skills. Even a ghost could be won over by such culinary mastery.0

The fried rice in the two containers was disappearing at a visible rate, as was the pickled celery in one of the layers.0

For the first time, the entire Room 320 ate in complete silence.0

Yan finished one bowl. After all, she had eaten it yesterday, so today’s serving was just a delightful surprise, fulfilling her midnight cravings.0

The disposable bowls were scraped clean, not a single grain of rice left. Yi Zhi volunteered to wash the dishes while the others brushed their teeth or rinsed their mouths.0

“Yan, Yan, you have to share the name of this restaurant with us,” Chu Bingbing said, prompting everyone to pull out their phones, ready to take notes.0

“Chu’s Small Restaurant, but… it’s only open on weekends,” Yan explained, searching for the restaurant on a review app and sharing it in the dorm group chat.0

“Only open on weekends? That’s fine, we’re free then anyway,” Gu Jiasui said.0

To make such ordinary ingredients taste so divine, the chef must have years of experience. In her past life, even the imperial kitchen used multiple chickens and ducks to enhance the flavor of a simple vegetable dish. Yet, true culinary excellence could be so simple—proof that less is more.0

“Why aren’t they open on weekdays? Only working two days a week? The owner must be loaded and carefree,” Yi Zhi commented.0

“Huh? It’s pretty close to my new place,” Chu Bingbing said after checking the address. It was near her new home in Bin City’s Lakeside Community, no wonder Yan and the others went there for lunch yesterday.0

“It’s run by Zhu Jue’s roommate’s family. He’s probably the one cooking now, and they only open during holidays. When we went yesterday, they only served fried rice, priced at 288 yuan per serving, and the place was packed,” Yan continued to explain.0

“Two hundred and eighty-eight yuan?” Ding Ling held up two fingers, stunned.0

Chu Bingbing hummed in agreement, “With skills like that, it’s worth the price.”0

Yi Zhi, on the other hand, remained calm. After hearing Chu Bingbing mention 200-yuan strawberries yesterday, a 300-yuan fried rice didn’t seem too outrageous, especially since it was genuinely delicious.0

This was, without a doubt, the best fried rice she had ever tasted in both her past and present lives!0

And she could confirm there were no strange additives or special essence-infused ingredients in it.0

Though, if she had to guess, the eggs, rice, and even the scallions used must have been of exceptional quality.0

“If the fried rice is this good, I wonder how the other dishes are,” Chu Bingbing mused.0

Yan shook her head. She really didn’t know, but she thought about it. With Chu Shen’s chef system, even the side dishes and simple fried rice were this amazing. If the main dishes were enhanced, would they glow like in cartoons?0

The dorm’s collective breakfast had been bought in the usual quantity. Yi Zhi stuffed the last bit of red bean bun into her mouth. She was full, but her habit from her past life—never wasting food—remained strong.0

As someone accustomed to post-apocalyptic survival, Yi Zhi found everything in this world delicious. But now, after tasting the fried rice, the usually soft and flavorful red bean bun felt almost unpalatable.0

For the first time, Yi Zhi felt a pang of regret about eating. Damn it, after having such a delicious fried rice for breakfast, how could she possibly enjoy the cafeteria’s two-meat-one-vegetable lunch?0

The same thought seemed to occur to her roommates. The realization that they still had several days of classes before the weekend made life feel bleak.0

“In just one day, I’ve had those amazing strawberry tomatoes and now this legendary fried rice. My taste buds have been spoiled. What am I supposed to do now?” Chu Bingbing suddenly felt a sense of despair.0

Since binding with the tycoon system, she had tasted everything from premium ingredients to Michelin-starred dishes, including the wagyu beef and caviar from the antique auction house’s private room two days ago. Yet, none of it compared to this simple bowl of fried rice.0

Yi Zhi, meanwhile, was lost in new thoughts. She realized that the grains and vegetables she grew in her space could fetch a high price if sold to a restaurant with such skills and high pricing.0

After savoring the delicious fried rice, Yan’s mood lightened.0

She tapped her phone, leaving a five-star review for “Chu’s Small Restaurant” on the review app: “Thank you, Boss Chu. Everyone loved it.”0

Not long after breakfast, they all headed out to their respective colleges for class.0

Yan, preoccupied with her plans to visit Zhu Jue’s roommate at the medical school during the third and fourth periods, found her mind wandering several times during the morning lecture. Luckily, she wasn’t called on to answer any questions.0

Meanwhile, Chu Shen, also in his morning class, was baffled as he asked his system in his mind:0

“System, am I seeing this right? Zhu Jue and his girlfriend’s favorability points both went up! Five points each! They’re in the positive now!”0

“And suddenly, there are eight new five-star reviews. Are these from my roommates and Zhu Jue’s girlfriend’s roommates? Generous! So generous!”0

Chu Shen felt like crying tears of joy. “Can I cash in on this special mission now?”0

All his efforts this morning—cooking, delivering food, and even nearly being mistaken for a homewrecker—had finally paid off!0

Chu Shen couldn’t wait to settle the mission. He couldn’t understand Zhu Jue and his girlfriend’s thought process. Yesterday, their favorability was at zero, and now it was finally at five. Though it was only a small increase, it was still a significant step forward.0

Chu Shen was terrified that if he couldn’t settle the mission, the favorability might only last for a short while. What if it dropped again?0

Human hearts were hard to predict, and these two were especially unpredictable!0

"Are you sure you want to settle the 'Culinary God Successor' quest at its current completion level?"0

"Special quest rewards will be distributed based on the completion status of the quest."0

Hearing this from the system, Chu Shen was stunned. Did this mean that if he settled the quest now, he would only receive the lowest-tier reward?0

After all, the quest had only appeared less than 24 hours ago, from yesterday until now. Settling it so quickly did seem a bit rushed.0

The quest reward, which displayed a series of "???", was also quite intriguing.0

For a moment, Chu Shen was caught in a whirlwind of indecision.0

What if, maybe, just possibly, the favorability level increased a bit more?0

But he had school for the next few days and genuinely didn’t have time to go home and make fried rice.0

If he went home every day after school and brought fried rice the next day, his dorm mates would surely misunderstand and think he was trying to steal someone’s girlfriend again.0

At this thought, Chu Shen couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. Difficult, extremely difficult.0

But if he settled the special quest like this, he would truly feel unsatisfied.0

At ten o'clock, the morning class ended. Yan quickly packed her things, said goodbye to Gu Jiasui, and started running.0

Yan looked at the message Jue had sent her on her phone. This was a major lecture held in a large classroom, and there were usually empty seats. She could slip in without causing any trouble.0

To make running easier, she had specifically worn pants today. She rushed into the medical school’s classroom and quickly scanned the room, immediately spotting her target.0

It was hard to miss—the golden halo with the words "Medical Saint in the World" was extremely conspicuous in the spacious classroom.0

Her eyes locked onto the figure with the halo, and she saw Jue sitting next to him.0

Zhu Jue waved, and Yan, carrying her bag, dashed over. "Excuse me, let me through, thank you."0

Yan had just sat down when the professor walked in, and the class bell rang. She caught her breath—she had just made it in time.0

She sat to Jue’s left and nodded with a smile at Xiao Qingnang. He was the only one in the entire classroom with a golden halo.0

Yan pinched Jue’s fingers as a secret signal.0

Lin Fan, Xiao Qingnang, and Chu Shen were all halo individuals.0

Out of the six-person dorm, half were already accounted for. Well, the remaining two were probably not far off.0

Xiao Qingnang lived up to his name. He had an aura that set him apart from ordinary people. After all, in such a large classroom, he was the only male student with long hair tied up in a traditional bun.0

He wore a dark blue tie-dye short-sleeve shirt, his eyes clear, his nose high-bridged, his brows slender, and his lips thin and slightly pursed. He seemed to have an excellent temperament, holding a pen and taking notes rapidly, completely absorbed in the professor’s lecture.0

Yan noticed a conspicuous thermos on the table, clearly part of the "Medical Saint in the World’s" essential gear.0

She only glanced a few times, afraid of drawing Xiao Qingnang’s attention, and quickly pretended to study by placing other textbooks on the table.0

"Medical Saint"—such a title truly signified a top-tier individual.0

But Yan couldn’t recall any records of Xiao Qingnang in high school textbooks or related materials.0

Was it because the name was different? Or was it from another world, like how Yi Zhi came from a post-apocalyptic world?0

Yan pinched her chin, lost in thought. The title "Saint" was clearly an ancient honorific for great masters. Combined with a name like Qingnang and Jue’s mention that Xiao Qingnang referred to people as "Brother X," it was highly likely that he was a time traveler from ancient times, a master of traditional medicine—herbal medicine, acupuncture, and decoctions.0

As for more specific information, that required further observation. Yan planned to look up ancient medical texts later.0

Xiao Qingnang was completely engrossed in the professor’s lecture. After the initial shock of arriving in this world hundreds of years later, he was now filled with exhilaration.0

What an incredible era this was!0

Intravenous injections, reattaching severed fingers, arm transplantation, opening the skull, removing damaged kidneys, and even strangers without blood relations transfusing blood to treat each other—even sewing kidneys, lungs, and eyes onto another person!0

Cochlear implants, artificial hearts, lens implants, bacteria, viruses, immunity—all these new terms flooded into his mind.0

This was simply an unimaginable world!0

The principle of "investigating things to extend knowledge" was evident here. Devices he couldn’t comprehend were used to restore patients’ health.0

Today’s medical students were taught to dissect and suture a preserved cadaver, a "silent teacher," and to handle human organs with their own hands.0

Xiao Qingnang felt that it wasn’t him who had gone mad—it was the world that had gone mad!0

In his time, it was believed that one’s body, hair, and skin were gifts from one’s parents. After death, the body had to remain intact for burial, and those with physical disabilities might not enter the cycle of reincarnation.0

But now, these treatment methods were unheard of, utterly bizarre and beyond imagination.0

At first, he thought he was dreaming. How could the medical practitioners of this world be so reckless? What had happened over the centuries to cause such a drastic change in medical practices?0

Traditional practitioners like him, who tasted herbs, studied pulse patterns, and carefully crafted prescriptions, were now seen by many as frauds, symbols of pseudoscience.0

For conditions like wind-cold or wind-heat, modern medicine simply prescribed a few capsules, a sip of medicine, or an injection, and the fever would subside within hours.0

The decline in the quality of herbal cultivation, the rise of quack doctors, the loss of traditional knowledge, and the changes of the times had all contributed to the dwindling number of traditional practitioners.0

But even the proud Xiao Qingnang had to admit that modern medicine was indeed more accessible to the common people.0

The ultimate goal of a healer was a world without illness.0

If the world could be free of disease, why would medicine cabinets gather dust?0

He wanted to see for himself the direction of modern medicine. If this was indeed a bizarre dream, he would immerse himself in it, learn everything, and then leave!0

The professional course was packed with information. Yan listened for a while before diving into her own books. She sat upright, not disturbing Jue’s focus.0

By the time the lecture ended, it was almost noon. As the bell rang, students streamed out, some heading back to their dorms, others rushing to the cafeteria.0

Jue’s dorm mates had agreed to meet in a private room at the cafeteria, so there was no need to wait for each other.0

Walking among the crowd, Yan looked around and soon spotted a familiar halo.0

It was the "Military King."0

Seeing him, Yan tugged at Zhu Jue. "Lin Fan is up ahead."0

Xiao Qingnang immediately quickened his pace alongside the couple, weaving through the students. As they got closer, they saw Lin Fan with a smirking male classmate who was saying something.0

Yan could visibly see Lin Fan’s expression darkening, his fists clenching tighter and tighter.0

Instinctively, Yan sensed trouble. The next moment, Lin Fan’s fist shot out, sending the boy sprawling to the ground.0

Yan, Jue, and Xiao Qingnang: !0

The three immediately rushed over. "Lin Fan, calm down!"0

Zhu Jue grabbed Lin Fan’s swinging fist—the strength was immense.0

This was serious. This man was the "Military King," capable of killing someone with his bare hands!0

Yan noticed that Lin Fan’s face was flushed, his anger boiling over.0

The boy on the ground cursed, "Lin Fan, are you insane? Hitting someone over some girl online? Do you really think Lin Lu is your wife?"0

"Are you daydreaming? Some second-hand woman, and you’re happy being her lapdog, even willing to raise someone else’s kid."0

"Lin Lu is my wife," Lin Fan said, finally regaining some composure as Zhu Jue and Xiao Qingnang held him back. But his eyes were bloodshot, glaring at the boy and grinding his teeth.0

By now, other students had helped the boy up. He was in pain and even more furious. Hearing Lin Fan’s words, he laughed as if it were the funniest joke. "You’re delusional! You see some girl online and call her your wife? Are you that desperate?"0

"If Lin Lu is your wife, then her daughter is my wife too."0

This time, Lin Fan couldn’t hold back. He broke free from Zhu Jue and Xiao Qingnang and pummeled the boy into the ground.0

Five minutes later—0

The security team from Bin University arrived, and the two sides were finally separated. Yan, Zhu Jue, and the other bystanders were also taken away.0

Zhu Jue reluctantly sent messages to his three other roommates.0

The planned lunch of stir-fried dishes at the cafeteria today was clearly not happening.0

Yan let out a long sigh in her heart, realizing she couldn’t avoid today’s incident after all.0

She had thought it would involve the other roommates she was meeting for the first time, but she never expected it would be triggered again by Lin Fan, the military king!0

In the medical school office, two counselors looked grim. Lin Fan appeared unharmed, while the other boy only had dirty clothes and no visible injuries, though he had scraped his leg when Lin Fan pushed him to the ground. Now, he was playing the victim, complaining nonstop.0

“Counselor, my head hurts. Could I have a concussion?”0

“Counselor, my upper body aches, and my bones hurt too. Could I have a fracture?”0

“Oh no, oh no, my whole body feels terrible. Did I suffer some internal injury? I need a full-body CT scan.”0

Lin Fan’s fists clenched tightly again. Now that he was indoors, he had calmed down, but he sneered at the boy’s exaggerated act.0

Keep pretending. There’s no way he fractured anything from where I hit him.0

Yan and the others, along with some bystanders, were explaining the situation to the teachers and security personnel.0

“At first, we didn’t know what was going on. We were a bit far away,” Yan said, reciting the offensive remarks the boy had made word for word.0

“I know…” another girl chimed in angrily.0

“The guy who got hit deserved it. He told Lin Fan something like, ‘Brothers are like limbs, women are like clothes. If Lin Lu is your wife, lend her and your kids to me for a couple of days.’”0

The girl didn’t know who Lin Lu was, but based on the argument, she guessed she was probably some kind of influencer or online celebrity. The boy who got hit had made inappropriate remarks, and the one who hit him was clearly a die-hard fan of Lin Lu.0

Imagine hearing someone say such things about the person your idol loves—of course, he’d lose his temper on the spot!0

Since it was right after classes ended for lunch, a lot of people had gathered on the road. The security office had interviewed several nearby students to piece together the argument.0

“I was just joking! It was just talk, no big deal. Getting into a fight over an online celebrity? Pfft. I think the school should deal with students who are emotionally unstable and prone to violence. Oh no, I can’t take it anymore. I need to go to the school clinic. Counselor, can you give me a few days of sick leave?”0

The boy, knowing he was in the wrong for his loose tongue, kept downplaying his actions and shifting blame. After a few sentences, he started wailing again.0

Yan’s fists clenched too.0

This jerk was so infuriating to watch!0

“Stop pretending,” Lin Fan said, unable to act out now that he was being watched, but his anger made his heart race.0

“Enough. The parents are on their way,” the young counselor said, frustrated that a fight had broken out just a few days into the semester. One student was clearly a troublemaker, and the other wasn’t any easier to deal with.0

Yan and Zhu Jue exchanged glances. Calling parents in college? Wait, could Lin Fan’s “parent” actually be his wife?0

Knock, knock, knock—0

The sound of knocking came from the closed office door.0

A teacher opened the door, and in walked a tall, stunningly beautiful woman with a cold demeanor. She was dressed in a cream-colored silk blouse, tailored trousers, and high heels, carrying an H-brand handbag. Her face was icy and flawless.0

Since the argument had revolved around Lin Lu, the counselors and relevant officials had already looked up her information online, including videos and photos.0

At this moment, everyone’s eyes widened in shock.0

It was really Lin Lu, the most beautiful CEO, standing right there.0

They instinctively glanced at Lin Fan. Holy crap, this was real!0

Lin Fan’s eyes lit up with joy when he saw Lin Lu, but then he shrank back like a mouse seeing a cat and whispered meekly, “Wife.”0

Lin Lu nodded at him, then scanned the room, her gaze landing on a man who was clearly in charge.0

“I was informed by my husband Lin Fan’s counselor that a student has insulted and slandered me, and even questioned our marital status.”0

“I’ve brought our marriage certificate and military marriage registration form. Please verify them.”0

“Once that’s done, I’ll proceed with filing a lawsuit for defamation and insulting a military spouse.”0

Lin Lu calmly sat down on the office sofa, pulling a sealed document from her handbag and handing it over.0

Her sharp eyes lifted slightly, and she tilted her chin up:0

“Take a look.”0

Yan: !!!0

As expected of the legendary CEO! Sister Lin Lu, you’re so cool!0