The Villain Saves The Male Lead

Ren, who was taken aback by the question, looked at Fang helplessly instead of answering Chef Jules's question. 

To be honest, the set meal in the canteen they had today wasn't bad at all. Of course, it couldn't be compared to the gourmet feast prepared by Chef Jules (or Ren himself – in fact, especially Ren himself, for that matter) – but Ren remembered the conversation he had had with Fang even before they went to medical school, and Fang had specifically said that he wanted to eat at the canteen there. Today, after socialising with the other students and having a good conversation during lunch, Ren had to agree that Fang's decision was indeed correct. Ren, who had always been a special prodigy in his previous life (and had never really interacted much with his peers from the point of view of networking especially, in college, not to mention that he had been a little kid when he went to college and naturally introverted, so he had been rather socially awkward at the time). But, in this life, Ren was a businessman (well, he had been somewhat of one in his previous life as well) – but he'd always had support, be it in his previous life or in this one, but even then, he was able to figure out what Fang was trying to do here – as an exceptionally smart person, how could he fail to notice the rationale behind Fang's decision in this regard? He knew now exactly why Fang had insisted on eating in the canteen at SIMS.

And Ren, while feeling extremely proud of Fang for thinking things through to this extent, was also a bit worried about the food in the canteen – what if Fang got bored with the same food every day – well, actually, more than Fang, it would be Ren who would be in danger of getting bored with the repetitive food rather than Fang, actually. But then Ren didn't want Fang to think that he was behaving like a spoilt brat…

Hence the helpless look at his young fiancé and the decision being left in Fang's hands for good. At worst, if Ren got bored with the food in the canteen, he would figure out something else. Everyone already knew that Ren's appetite was small (this was an impression that Ren had created for himself because he was a picky eater and everyone would notice that he didn't eat much during business lunches and dinners and similar events), and missing a meal or two wouldn't make much of a difference. And then he could come back home and whip up a delicious feast for Fang and himself and the babies – or, well, he could get their great Chef Jules to do so if he himself was too tired, like today.

Fang frowned. "Did you not like the food at the canteen today?" he asked Ren.

Ren blinked. "It was pretty good," he said. "But it's going to be the same every day, isn't it?" he asked. At least, that was what Ren remembered from his previous life when he had been in medical school – most of his classmates were permanently complaining about how horrid and boring and repetitive the food in the canteen was! Ren, of course, being a pre-teen in medical school – and the pampered young master of a rich family – had always had the privileged of home cooked lunch boxes that were brought to him for lunch every single day by a servant. So he had never actually suffered through the bad canteen food.

Today's food, though – Ren thought that it was quite all right, actually. The quality of food at university canteens was probably much better in this world – that was Ren's thought. He didn't know that Fang and Pax had taken great efforts behind Ren's back to actually make sure that their precious and pampered brat wouldn't have to face the hardships of real life canteen food!

Well, ignorance is bliss, as they say.

Fang, on the other hand, was a tad worried – if Ren didn't like the food, he knew that Ren wouldn't throw a tantrum and he'd try his best to go along with Fang's wishes, but the portions Ren ate would become smaller and smaller and he would, more often than not, find perfectly legitimate excuses to miss lunch.

And that would be the last thing Fang would ever want! No amount of networking or establishing rapport or getting to be friends with their classmates would ever be worth sacrificing Ren's health for – this was very, very clear to Fang. If Ren was unable to eat the canteen food or got bored with it, then Fang would rather they carried lunch from home regardless of any snobbery that they may be accused of by their peers!

Fang thought back to their lunch break and measured the amounts Ren had eaten at lunch vis-à-vis what he regularly ate for lunch in general and concluded that it was fairly decent, actually. And Ren did say that it was pretty good right now – so, it should be fine for them to continue eating at the canteen for a while, right? And if Fang saw that Ren was starting to eat lesser than usual, he would immediately switch to home made lunches – that was easy enough to do, and Chef Jules would be quite delighted to do it for them. In fact, from the exquisite and gourmet cuisine being fed to the four babies these days – Fang could see that Chef Jules was itching to cook more!

"Then – how about this – let's try the canteen food for a few weeks first, and if you don't like it, we can start carrying packed lunches made by our Chef Jules?" Fang suggested.

"Sure," Ren said immediately.

Chef Jules could only pout and swallow his complaints. He decided that if nothing else, when baby Sylvia (in her human form, since Chef Jules didn't know that the snake and the human baby were the same person) started going to school, he would be making super delicious lunches for her!

So, the next day, when Ren and Fang turned up in the canteen, the canteen lady gave them a big grin and advised them to try out a new set – Ren was a bit apprehensive, but then Fang pointed at the list on the wall which had the details of which set contained what, and Ren was immediately satisfied.

So, the two of them picked up their respective trays and went to find Ash.

The previous night, Fang had subtly enquired if Ren was interested in Ash (not in direct terms, of course) and Ren, who hadn't even imagined that his young fiancé would be feeling jealous over something like this – immediately explained about Thalassemia and how the cure for the illness had already been discovered in his previous world.

Fang was quite relieved, naturally. Also, Fang had texted Pax separately to get the details on Ash, since she seemed to be a full scholarship student and these were all personally approved by Pax himself. Pax was a little taken aback by Fang's sudden enquiry, but then Fang had reluctantly told him what had happened in class.

Pax called Fang immediately, and Fang stepped out to take the call – it would be too embarrassing if Ren overheard the contents of this particular conversation!

"You're worrying too much," Pax said immediately as soon as Fang picked up the phone. "Ren is blind to everyone except you. I could hire a dozen beautiful gigolos to dance seductively and throw themselves at him and I can guarantee that he will not even lay a finger on any of them."

Fang huffed. "It's a girl," he said.

"Doesn't matter," Pax said. "I could hire a dozen beautiful women instead, and the result will be exactly the same. You are the only one Ren fancies and has eyes for."

Fang couldn't help the smile blooming on his face. Pax had given Fang a basic overview of Ash's situation – it turned out that her father was a well respected doctor, but unfortunately he had met with an accident and passed away a few years ago. And then her mother, who had never worked before, had somehow managed to support Ash and her little brother with the savings for a few months – since Ash's little brother required regular expensive treatment – and then she had remarried. The stepfather and the stepfather's children were not very nice to Ash and her sickly little brother, and her mother had fallen pregnant again – so Ash had taken her little brother and moved back to her father's house. She had worked through high school to provide for herself and her little brother along with the savings of her father (which her mother had transferred to her) and a bit of support from her paternal grandparents, who lived in a small village in the countryside.

Fang had been quite touched with the girl's story, and he immediately decided that he would help Ren with this project. So, then, the two of them sat down and prepared notes on the illness – Ren wrote down whatever he remembered, and Fang pulled out the currently available data on the subject and helped him with research.. Between the two of them, they managed to put together a fairly decent research proposal, and they decided to give it to Ash the next day.