Shepherd's Purse Wonton
Jiang Yichun walked through the square covered with promotional posters and campus activity stalls, and stepped into the gate of the second canteen.
That somewhat familiar figure instantly came into her view.
He Yinxin stood straight against the pillar, one hand still operating her phone.
"Senior He!" Jiang Yichun forced a smile and strode forward to greet him.
He Yinxin raised her head, met her gaze, and nodded slightly: "Jiang Yichun."
Jiang Yichun's smile froze: "Senior, what would you like to eat?"
His gaze swept across the various cafeteria windows before he slowly uttered two words: "Whatever."
Jiang Yichun looked at his expressionless face and chuckled: "An answer I expected."
She cleared her throat: "Then, should I choose the senior?"
"Mmm," he replied softly.
Jiang Yichun glanced around briefly and pointed to the dumpling and wonton window: "Let's eat this! The shepherd's purse wontons at this window are delicious, and the dipping sauce and pickled vegetables they come with are also very fragrant."
"Besides, the weather is still quite cold now, so eating hot soups and broths like this will make you feel very comfortable."
"Wonton? Small wonton?" He Yinxin looked up at the wonton sign.
Jiang Yichun grinned: "We have both small and large sizes, it's up to you to choose."
She had already started to wonder: Isn't it written on the sign?
She strode to the window, swiped her card, and bought a bowl of shepherd's purse wontons.
He Yinxin followed behind her, and a calm voice came from beside her ear: "Master, I'll have a bowl too."
The auntie selling wontons frowned: "What kind of bowl? The same one as the little girl in front of you?"
He nodded.
The aunt quickly brought out two bowls of shepherd's purse wontons from the kitchen, peeking around curiously.
Jiang Yichun, who was standing outside the window, saw the steaming wontons and raised his hand to hold the bowl in his hands.
She took vinegar and soy sauce from the side and poured them in, then added chopped green onions and cilantro, and also put some pickled vegetables in a small dish.
Standing beside her, He Yinxin simply picked up her bowl and gazed at her.
He gently gripped the spoon, frowning as he stared at the slightly oily broth.
Jiang Yichun turned around and looked at him: "Senior, would you like to add something?"
He Yinxin gripped the vinegar bottle, his fingertips trembling slightly as he mimicked her gesture, lightly dipping the vinegar into the wonton soup.
Jiang Yichun watched him add the ingredients and thought to himself with a sneer: Does he even add the same ingredients to his food? Is this a human-machine imitation of a human?
She still had a smile on her face: "Let's go, senior."
He Yinxin gave a soft "hmm" and followed behind her, the two sitting down facing each other.
Jiang Yichun didn't have time to glance at the large wontons in the bowl again before getting straight to the point: "Senior He, what are your conditions?"
He Yinxin touched her chin, her gaze shifting to the wontons in the bowl, then she looked up at her again:
"Let's eat first."
Jiang Yichun frowned and looked down at the wontons in his bowl.
Several large wontons with thin skins and generous fillings, each about half the size of a fist, floated on the wonton soup with some lard added.
The boiling water cooked the wontons until they became translucent, revealing a hint of the green of the shepherd's purse.
She scooped up a wonton with a spoon, took a small bite, and stuffed the wonton skin into her mouth, revealing the meat filling inside and a few drops of meat juice.
A subtle wheat aroma mingled with the fresh scent of shepherd's purse blossomed on her tongue.
Jiang Yichun couldn't wait to take a big bite of the wonton and swallow it whole.
The aroma of meat followed by a sweet aftertaste.
The hot soup poured directly into her body, dispelling the chill of early spring.
Jiang Yichun opened his eyes and met He Yinxin's gaze.
He Yinxin still held the spoon in his hand, his gaze fixed on her empty spoon.
His lips twitched, transforming into a scanner: "Wonton, medium in calories, contains carbohydrates..."
"Senior, aren't you going to eat?" Jiang Yichun blinked, interrupting his self-analysis, "Stop analyzing, let's eat first!"
"Okay, sure." He Yinxin looked away, lowered her head, took a sip of soup, then scooped up a wonton floating on the side and took a bite.
A ripple appeared in his calm eyes as he took another bite of the wonton.
Jiang Yichun watched as he slowly stuffed the whole wonton into his mouth, bite by bite.
This human-machine eating scene looks like an experiment.
"Uh, are you... finished eating?"
He Yinxin looked at her, her lips trembled slightly, and her brows relaxed: "Mmm. It's quite delicious."
He raised an eyebrow and took another sip of soup: "Do you find it strange that I finished a wonton?"
"No, it's not strange, haha. I just..." Jiang Yichun silently buried his head in the bowl and swallowed the whole wonton.
"I just feel that my senior doesn't seem to be interested in food. No, it's not that he's not interested."
"The food... seems to be one of your experimental subjects?"
He Yinxin didn't answer her, and slowly finished her second large wonton.
His eyelashes trembled slightly, and his tone of voice swayed with the movement: "You're absolutely right."
"Food is just a tool for maintaining vital signs in my eyes."
"What?"
His brief sentence exploded in Jiang Yichun's mind like a thunderbolt.
Is this person at the very bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
His favorite food was just a...tool in his eyes?
Tools for maintaining vital signs?
Jiang Yichun's lips trembled: "That senior is really something else."
Her eyes darted around, and her hand holding the spoon trembled slightly.
"You're right."
He Yinxin pushed up her glasses.
A thin layer of fog formed on his glasses from the hot soup, obscuring his vision.
"When I see food, I analyze it in my mind and then control the calories and nutrients to around the daily calorie intake required."
"So food isn't food to me, it's data."
"This has also caused my mood and state of mind to be affected for a long time."
Jiang Yichun heard him sigh almost imperceptibly.
Adhering to the principle of not letting any words fall flat, she braced herself and continued, "I see, senior... then eating must be very difficult for you, right?"
"After all, delicious food is like a KPI that you have to achieve."
"If anyone told me that I must eat certain foods every day to achieve 100% health, let alone you, even I, a big foodie, would instantly hate those foods."
She didn't know if it was because of the hot soup or his robotic words, but a surge of heat rushed from her thighs to the top of her head.
She lifted her chin and met his gaze.
He Yinxin avoided her gaze and took a sip of hot soup: "Thank you for understanding."
He stared at the ripples in the soup in his bowl: "I really... don't really like eating."
Jiang Yichun waved his hand: "Hey, don't be polite. After all, I need your help, so I have to..."
Say something flattering.
"We have to be considerate of each other. You understand that I'm under a lot of pressure to get into graduate school and you promised to help me. I understand that you treat food as data and I know you don't like to eat."
While she was giving her long-winded speech, He Yinxin had already eaten his third large wonton. His fingertips trembled, and a few drops of hot water spilled onto his sleeve.
"Oh right, I came here to talk to you about applying for graduate school."
Jiang Yichun patted the table lightly with both hands: "Yes, yes, we've gone a bit off track."
"So, senior, what exactly is your condition?"
"Are these really... legitimate conditions?"
He Yinxin cleared her throat and looked up at her.
A slight smile played on his lips: "Seriously."
He spoke each word carefully, and the soup in the bowl rippled with his voice:
"I want you to have dinner with me."
"We'll split the cost, or I'll pay."
The second clap of thunder struck Jiang Yichun's brain with a whoosh.
Accompanying someone to dinner? And you said you wouldn't charge for it?
What kind of conditions are these? Are they treating me like a mukbang streamer?
Why choose an ordinary person like me when there are so many live streams on Xiaohongshu?
Her mind went completely blank, and she could only bury her head in her food.
The remaining wontons turned into glutinous rice paper, bland and tasteless.
I heard his soft sigh.
“Analyzing food causes me pain.”
"This pain has seriously affected my daily studies. In order to maintain high efficiency, I must stop this reaction as soon as possible."
"I've tried medication and psychological counseling, but they haven't been very effective."
"But having dinner with you helps to alleviate most of this reaction."
"I discovered this today. With you, I was able to finish the milk tea that I don't usually like."
His originally calm voice became slightly stammering, and his emotions surged as he spoke: "I can tutor you for a few days first. If you feel it's okay, you can continue. I won't exchange any conditions during the trial period."
"You can leave at any time if you feel it's not working out."
"I……"
Jiang Yichun raised his hand, signaling him to shut up for now: "Senior, let me think about it."
"You should eat first too."
Thank you for your consideration.
He agreed and continued eating his wontons, but every now and then he would look up and scrutinize the girl in front of him, like a child waiting for his parents to allow him to go out and play.
Jiang Yichun chewed the wontons one bite at a time, swallowing them with the hot soup.
Her mind was still in turmoil, not yet recovered from the aftershocks of being struck by lightning twice.
Although this guy is an oddball, he's also surprisingly sincere?
Moreover, after observing him for the past few days, it seems that he does do some inexplicable things when he encounters food...
Jiang Yichun looked at him; his fingertips were gently rubbing the edge of the spoon, but his head was lowered as he sipped soup into his mouth.
She noticed that the wontons that had been crammed together in his bowl were now reduced to only two or three.
He did finish the milk tea I gave him this morning.
What he said seems to be true?
"Senior He, I want to ask you a question."
He Yinxin finally raised her head and casually took off her fogged-up glasses: "Please ask."
Jiang Yichun noticed his almond-shaped eyes hidden behind thick glasses and immediately spoke:
"What's the difference between eating with me and eating alone or with other people? Why did you choose me in particular?"
He Yinxin pinched her nose and took out a tissue from her pocket: "There is a difference. When I eat out or have meals with friends, the food is still quantified."
"But when I had milk tea with you this morning, I noticed that the calories in the milk tea disappeared. They're not numbers, they're just the milk tea itself."
"Of course, the same goes for wontons nowadays."
"I don't know why. If I had to find a reason, it might be that eating makes my brain release some kind of substance."
"Because of this substance, my fear of food and the resulting anxiety have been greatly relieved."
"Plus, you also need to apply for postgraduate studies."
"In essence, it is an exchange of benefits, where each party gets what they need, in order to achieve Pareto optimality."
His hands were busy, gently wiping the lenses with a tissue, making a soft rubbing sound.
Jiang Yichun was finally able to see his eyes clearly; his pupils were a deep color, as calm as a lake.
She touched her chin.
I'm definitely not the kind of rich woman who throws money around.
For those seeking admission to graduate school through the recommendation system, University A is as unattainable as the moon in the sky. Even if you have built your own rocket, you still need to add fuel to the tank.
The highly efficient fuel was sitting in front of her, wiping its glasses, indicating that it was not only efficient but also energy-saving.
She was just worried that if she didn't control the fuel properly, it would eventually burn her old sores.
Jiang Yichun swallowed the last bite of wonton.
Her desire to secure a place in a graduate program had been nagging at her.
She didn't want to go home and get married; she wanted to prove to those people that her worth wasn't just about marriage.
Yang Fei's teasing words echoed in his ears: "No girl talks to him, so he's still single."
Anyway, it was just having dinner with the "human-machine senior," how could his energy-saving fuel cross the line?
He recovered from his anorexia, I got accepted into graduate school and didn't go bankrupt, we both have a bright future.
She raised her head and looked into his eyes again:
"Okay, senior, let's give it a try."
"After all, I really don't want to see others like me, trapped in anxiety for some reason."
"I've been worried about the postgraduate recommendation process for a long time too."
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