On this day, Qiao Chu's class was having a physical education class.

Physical education classes in high schools are not taken seriously. The physical education teacher has everyone stretch to warm up their lower bodies, run a few laps around the playground, and then announces the end of the class, allowing everyone to move freely. The boys swarm together to play basketball, while the girls gather in groups of three or four to chat.

"Xiao Qiao, accompany me to the bathroom."

Qiao Chu and Jia Xianxian went back to the teaching building to use the restroom together. It was class time and there was no one in the corridor. The sounds of classes could be heard from the classroom, and the two of them unconsciously slowed down their footsteps.

"Why are you so arrogant? It's great to be a good student, isn't it?"

The women's restroom on the first floor was on the westernmost side of the teaching building. When the two were still a few meters away from the restroom, they heard a burst of cursing coming from inside.

"You nerd! You're ugly! Who do you think you are? You stink. Did you just come from the toilet? You're using chicken feathers as swords. You think you can control everything? I didn't do my homework, so what? How dare you tell the teacher!"

A steady stream of female voices, cursing increasingly harshly, came through the door.

"I heard that your family sells stinky tofu? No wonder your whole body stinks, can't you smell it yourself? It stinks worse than the toilet!"

Qiao Chu and the others wanted to push the door open, but found that they couldn't push it open because the door was locked from the inside.

"Open the door! Open the door!"

Jia Xianxian knocked on the door directly, "What are you doing inside? Open the door, we need to go to the toilet!"

After knocking for a long time, the door finally opened from the inside, and two girls with fierce looks came out. The leading girl glared at Jia Xianxian and Qiao Chu fiercely, then turned and left.

As soon as the two entered the bathroom, they saw a girl standing in front of the sink crying.

“Shen Ling!”

Jia Xianxian recognized the girl at a glance. It was Shen Ling whom they had met in the food street before. She hurried over and asked, "Are you okay?"

Shen Ling raised her head, recognized the two people, and whispered: “…It’s okay.”

Thinking of the scolding she just heard, Jia Xianxian was filled with righteous indignation, "Who are those two girls? Why did they bully you?"

Shen Ling sobbed softly and answered intermittently: "It's from our class... In the morning... I collected homework... They didn't do it, and the teacher... criticized them..."

"What does it have to do with you if they didn't do their homework? Why blame you?" Jia Xianxian couldn't believe it, "Come on, I'll take you to the teacher to complain." After that, she took Shen Ling's hand and walked out.

Shen Ling grabbed the sink with her other hand and backed away with all her strength, “I’m not going… no need…”

Jia Xianxian pulled a few times but failed to move it. Seeing her cowardly appearance, she felt really disappointed. "The more you tolerate them, the more they will bully you!"

"...No need...I just want to study hard...Just ignore them..."

Jia Xianxian was suddenly speechless, and the two of them just stood there in a stalemate for a while.

"Okay Xianxian, listen to Shen Ling, don't force it."

Finally, Qiao Chu stepped forward to break the deadlock, "Chen Ling, if they bully you again, you must tell the teacher. It's not a solution to always go on like this."

Looking at the obvious slap mark on Shen Ling's face, Qiao Chu warned.

"Well, okay...thank you..."

Shen Ling finally stopped crying, wiped her tears, and agreed.

"Xiao Qiao, how can someone be so mean? It would be fine if he didn't study hard, wouldn't it be better if he just quietly became a poor student like me? Why does he have to bully others?"

On the way back from the bathroom, Jia Xianxian still couldn't accept what had just happened.

She comes from a wealthy family and is the only daughter in the family. She has been spoiled since she was young and has been given everything she wants. The elders have never let her suffer any grievances, let alone the bullying today. This is the first time she has even seen it.

What made her even more confused was Shen Ling's behavior. She actually endured it silently. In her opinion, this was simply - stupid!

"As the saying goes, 'Cracking melon seeds and finding a stink bug - there are all kinds of people!'" Qiao Chu made a proverb, "Everyone has a different personality, so naturally they have different ways of dealing with things."

The campus is also a small society. Although it is much simpler than the real society, the law of survival of the fittest has already begun to emerge here.

Qiao Chu could understand Shen Ling's idea. Her family sold stinky tofu and had no power. Even if she complained to the teacher, if the other party's parents had some power, the matter would at most be apologized and then nothing would happen...

However, Shen Ling's life will not be easy in the future. Those two girls will definitely bully her more and more. In the end, it is not certain whether she can stay in school...

Looking at Jia Xianxian's indignant expression, she sighed helplessly - her good friend is still too naive!

However, it is also a kind of happiness to keep this simplicity forever.

Maybe she felt that Shen Ling was too pitiful, which aroused Jia Xianxian's sense of justice. From that day on, she often ran to the next class whenever she had time. Today she went to borrow English books from Shen Ling, and tomorrow she went to borrow class notes from Shen Ling. Seeing that Shen Ling always kept to herself and had no friends, when she went to the cafeteria to eat at noon, she specially called Shen Ling to join her.

Soon, the three of them became familiar with each other and became friends.

“Chen Ling, did those two people bully you again later?”

Jia Xianxian asked with concern while stuffing ribs into her mouth.

"No more." After getting familiar with each other, Shen Ling felt much more comfortable in front of the two people, unlike when she first met them, "They don't bully me every day, just occasionally."

"If they bully you again, come and tell me, and I'll help you deal with them!"

"Okay, thank you, Xianxian." Facing Jia Xianxian's concern and kindness, Shen Ling smiled shyly, "They were scolded by the teacher that day, maybe they were in a bad mood, and my family sells stinky tofu, so they may have been stained with the smell and smoked them."

"What's wrong with selling stinky tofu? Stinky tofu is so fragrant, how can anyone not like stinky tofu!"

When it comes to eating, Jia Xianxian's eyes light up, "Don't listen to them, they are just jealous of your academic performance, you don't smell like anything at all!"

"Yeah, it doesn't taste good at all." Qiao Chu agreed, "Besides, selling stinky tofu doesn't involve stealing or robbing. You can earn a living based on your own abilities. There's no need to look at their faces."

After hearing what the two said, Shen Ling was so moved that she almost cried. She felt that she was so lucky to meet two friends, Jia Xianxian and Qiao Chu. Not only did they not despise her, but they were willing to play with her, and they also cared about her and enlightened her... They were really two good people...

"Okay, stop talking and eat." Seeing that Shen Ling was about to cry, Jia Xianxian quickly changed the subject and put a piece of pork ribs on her plate, "Eat more meat. You look thin, even thinner than Xiao Qiao. Can you be full with a vegetarian dish? It's not nutritious at all! We study so hard every day, we must keep up with nutrition..."

She was most afraid of others crying in front of her...

It was the weekend again, and Qiao Chu went out early in the morning. Her father was coming home today, so she wanted to go to the market near her home to buy some fresh vegetables and cook some delicious dishes for her father. Since her mother left, the father and daughter had never sat together to have a good home-cooked meal.

"Xiao Qiao, have you had breakfast? If not, come here and I'll make you something to eat."

Wang Xiufen was cleaning the table. When she saw Qiao Chu coming over, she asked hurriedly.

"No, thank you, Auntie. My dad is coming home today. I'll go to the market to buy some vegetables and we'll eat together when he comes back."

Qiao Chu said happily.

"Well, then you better be careful!" Wang Xiufen warned.

"What a sensible and good child!"

The vegetable market was not far away, and Qiao Chu arrived there quickly. It was still very early, and there were already quite a few people there. Most of them were elderly people who didn’t sleep much. Those who lived far away even took the bus here. The vegetables in the morning were fresh and cheap, so everyone was willing to come and buy them.

Qiao Chu went to the pork stall and asked for two pounds of fresh ribs, then went to the vegetable area and bought some greens. Finally, he went to the seafood stall and bought two pounds of shrimps and a sea bass, then went home with his hands full of bags.

After putting the things he bought in the kitchen, he looked at the watch. It was just past eight o'clock and it was too early to cook, so Qiao Chu decided to read a book first.

It was not until ten o'clock in the morning that Qiao Chu came out of the system and went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

She planned to make four dishes and one soup - braised spareribs, steamed sea bass, salted prawns, mushrooms and Chinese cabbage, and tomato egg drop soup. It would include both vegetarian and meat dishes, seafood, and would be nutritious and healthy, enough for two people.

She rinsed the ribs in clean water, then boiled water in a pot and blanched the ribs in the pot. After a while, the dirt and fat inside the ribs floated up with the boiling water.

Take out the ribs, put oil in the pot and heat it until 80% cooked, add the ribs and stir-fry, then add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, star anise, chicken powder and other seasonings, continue to stir-fry until colored, add boiling water, cover the pot and simmer.

While the ribs were still hot, she cleaned the sea bass, placed it on a clean plate, sprinkled it with scallions, ginger, cooking wine and light soy sauce, then put the fish into the steamer and started steaming it.

At this time, she opened the pot of stewed pork ribs to check. A burst of aroma wafted to her face. The ribs in the pot were shiny in color and had been stewed until soft. She took out the ribs, walked out of the kitchen, and put them on the dining table.

The rest of the dishes are relatively simple and effortless. Just put the salted shrimps in boiling water and cook them. But be careful not to cook them for too long. Take them out when the shrimp skin changes color, otherwise the meat will become tough.

Qiao Chu was very skillful and finished several dishes in less than an hour.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, Dad Qiao Weimin arrived home. He pushed the door open and saw several dishes on the dining table. They looked delicious and very tempting...

He was in a trance, as if he had returned to his youth, when he had a virtuous wife at home who was gentle and considerate. Every time he came home from get off work, he would have hot meals as soon as he entered the door.

However, it is gone now... that kind of scene will never happen again...