Ji Xia shook her head: "The price of roast duck and roast goose in the South is very affordable, unlike in Beijing. Last month, my partner and I went to a restaurant and ordered a roast goose from Shenjing for 6.5 yuan. We also ordered a few dishes, and the total of four dishes and a soup was less than 10 yuan."
She pointed to the roast duck on the menu: "This duck is much more expensive than our roast goose."
"So cheap? Isn't that half the price of this?"
"It's more than half. The roast goose I ordered last time was a big goose weighing over seven pounds. After roasting, it weighed about four pounds. The roast duck here weighs at most a little over two pounds. The price is more than double."
Fearing regional attacks, she lowered her voice, but the girls around her were still amazed.
"Furthermore, our culinary specialties include dim sum. We have a wide variety of dim sum options. In the morning, we can order seven or eight baskets of dim sum, along with seafood congee, fried noodles, or stir-fried vegetables. Last time, there were four of us, including three grown men, and we were all quite full. A dim sum meal only costs around ten dollars, which is very affordable."
Rong Ruoshi reached out and put her hand on her shoulder: "No, I'm going to the South to sketch next year, and I'm sticking with you."
"Just follow me, I'll take you to eat your way through every corner of Guangzhou, and show you what a food capital is all about. Eating in Guangzhou is no exaggeration..."
The girls chatted and laughed about the food, completely forgetting about Lin Chen across from them, and their expressions were no longer so awkward.
Even Liu Yujuan felt a bit more at ease. Although she didn't have any money, hearing Ji Xia talk about how to save money to eat more and better things seemed quite down-to-earth.
However, although Ji Xia said it was cheap and affordable, Liu Yujuan kept talking about ten or eight yuan, so she silently shut her mouth.
After she was admitted to university, she only received a thirty-yuan reward from the brigade and commune. Then, her relatives contributed one yuan here and fifty cents there, and she managed to scrape together seventy or eighty yuan to go to Beijing.
She had only been registered for two days when, because of the requirement to buy all sorts of tools and stationery, she had already spent a third of her money, despite trying to save as much as possible.
She would absolutely not dare to spend a few dollars to eat a duck.
Ji Xia can eat like this, so her family must be well-off, right?
Before long, roast duck, flatbread, various side dishes and sauces were served, and the table was almost full.
Taking the opportunity, Lin Chen fawned over him: "The roast duck is here. It looks fresh out of the oven. Come and try it. I'll wrap it for you."
"No need, no need, we'll do it ourselves. We'll be self-sufficient!"
As Ji Xia spoke, she naturally took the pastry and slowly tore off pieces, distributing one piece to each person at the table.
She turned back and smiled slightly at Liu Yujuan, then used her chopsticks to pick up cucumber shreds, scallion shreds, cilantro, and roasted, crispy duck meat, dipped it in sauce, and then wrapped it into a small ball.
Liu Yujuan stared at her movements, smiled shyly, and wrapped a piece herself, mimicking her actions.
Rong Ruoshi couldn't help but nod to herself. She knew that Ji Xia was kind-hearted and very willing to take care of people.
Once she had her mind on it, she ate to her heart's content. Although she was from the capital, a roast duck cost twelve yuan, and most families could only afford it once or twice a year.
Rong Ruoshi's family was only moderately well-off; they had enough money but not much. This roast duck was a treat from Ji Xia and Chen Jing during the summer vacation, as a way of thanking her for taking care of Ji Xia.
As Ji Xia said, the Peking ducks in Beijing are not large. The duck bones are removed and used to make soup, and there is not much sliced duck meat or skin.
The five of us ordered a few portions and they were all gone. Luckily, the second roast duck and other dishes were served soon after.
By the end of lunch, everyone was stuffed.
As Ji Xia left Quanjude, she rubbed her belly, feeling that her waist seemed to have grown quite a bit during the summer vacation. It was time to stay at school and live a quiet life to lose weight.
On the other side, Jiang Qingci waved lazily at Lin Chen: "Cousin, thank you so much for today."
"No need to be polite. Where else would you like to go? I'll take you there," Lin Chen said, glancing at Ji Xia discreetly.
Ji Xia was completely oblivious to his gaze; she was chatting with Liu Yujuan right there!
Rong Ruoshi shook her head and refused: "No need, school starts tomorrow, we need to go back to school to prepare."
Most importantly, Ji Xia needs to go to the bookstore to buy supplies. I already told them to come with her.
Jiang Qingci still had the mindset of a young girl, thinking about delicious food. Upon hearing this, she simply waved her hand and said, "Cousin, we're going back to school. We'll come find you next time."
"Okay, I'll come to see you at school next time. By the way, which dorm do you live in?"
Lin Chen subtly extracted the information he wanted from his cousin, and calmly escorted the four girls back to their dormitory.
Back at school, the group, carrying several bags of goods, waved gratefully to Lin Chen and entered the school with giggles.
Back at school, Jiang Qingci leaned close to Rong Ruoshi and teased in a low voice, "How is it? My cousin is quite handsome, isn't he?"
Rong Ruoshi rolled her eyes at her, then subconsciously glanced at Ji Xia: "She is good-looking, but why are they asking me instead of asking her?"
Jiang Qingci smiled matter-of-factly and said, "Ji Xia has a boyfriend. I saw it with my own eyes. What else is there to ask?"
"Yujuan is timid. She didn't even dare to pick up any food today. I doubt she even had the courage to talk to my cousin. Why ask her?"
Rong Ruoshi twitched the corner of her mouth. Was she the only one who noticed that Mr. Lin's gaze kept falling on Ji Xia today?
It's a pity. She's a great match for Ji Xia, but she already has a fiancé!
Rong Ruoshi suspected that the two of them, who spent every day together, had long since moved beyond the dating stage; they had even rented an apartment together and lived together before.
Ji Xia whispered from the other side, "Today I noticed you only dared to eat the dishes in front of you, you didn't touch any of the others? What's wrong? Don't you like them?"
"No, I've never eaten it before, and I don't know how to eat it?"
Liu Yujuan glanced at her shyly, her voice tinged with a hint of resentment: "How can I compare to you? You come from a wealthy family, you can go out to eat delicious food every day, and you have a lot of experience."
Ji Xia smiled faintly: "I used to be frugal, but ever since I designed clothes for the factory last year and earned royalties, I've become more generous with my money."
Liu Yujuan was taken aback: "Earn money from writing? You spend money that you earn yourself?"
"Yes, I applied to the art academy because Ms. Rong saw my clothing design. She thought I had some talent and encouraged me to go to Beijing to apply to the art academy..."
She generously shared her experiences of designing clothes for the factory and making dresses for the daughters of county leaders, which shocked Liu Yujuan.
So you can make money by drawing? She's currently applying for fashion design; could I do the same?
"You haven't even studied design yet, and you can already make money? How much can you earn in a month?"
"So what if I haven't read it? People like the clothes I design. As for the money, it's calculated per design. At first, it was ten yuan per design, and later it rose to twenty or thirty. Anyway, I can earn at least one hundred or eighty yuan a month."
Liu Yujuan's heart pounded with excitement. She could make clothes too! Could she give it a try?
Let alone earning 100 or 80 a month, even earning 20 a month would make her overjoyed.
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