Chapter 15
On the last day of their vacation, the four roommates in Ren Qiao'an's dorm decided to end their wonderful vacation with a hot pot meal. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, as they stumbled upon a dorm-wide gadget they'd enthusiastically purchased in a group buy during their freshman year—a small electric rice cooker that could cook both vegetables and noodles. It hadn't been used in ages, save for the occasional instant noodle. As for cooking, they'd overthink it. Since they had a pot in their dorm, how could they maximize its value if they didn't use it for hot pot?
At around four o'clock in the afternoon, the four of them arrived at the largest supermarket near the school.
"Let's take a look at the snack area first." Yan Yiyi suggested.
Ren Qiaoan thought they were here to buy food, "Let's go downstairs and look at the fresh fruits and vegetables."
"Then we will split up and come find you later. Baoer, let's go." After that, Yan Yiyi took Qian Baoer to visit other areas. Fortunately, Ren Qiao'an did not pin his hopes on Yan Yiyi to buy groceries properly. He just hoped that the two of them would not buy too many other things.
Fortunately, she had the reliable Wu Nianzhi to accompany her to pick out ingredients.
"Nianzhi, do you want some potatoes?" Ren Qiao'an picked up a large, round, yellow object with a bumpy surface and weighed it in his hand.
"Yes." How can you cook hot pot without potatoes?
"Well, which one should I choose?" Ren Qiao'an was hesitating. Each one looked the same. How should he choose?
Wu Nianzhi also picked up one and weighed it in her hand. "This one." It was very round and looked good. Wu Nianzhi took the shopping bag and put it in. "Is one too little?"
"Then add a small one." Ren Qiao'an threw in another one. "Do you want yam?"
"Buy it, Yan Yiyi likes it."
"Baby cabbage?"
"Can."
After a while, Wu Nianzhi had four or five shopping bags in her hands. "I'll take them to be weighed first, you choose here."
"Okay." Ren Qiao'an pushed the cart and continued shopping. A lot of vegetables were on sale this afternoon, and Ren Qiao'an wanted to buy almost everything he saw. Bean sprouts were so cheap! Buy! The radishes were strong and white! Buy! The mushroom platter had a lot of variety and was substantial! Buy! The cucumbers could be peeled and eaten as a snack! Buy! Shouldn't I also have some fruit after dinner? Buy, buy, buy!
After Wu Nianzhi finished weighing the dishes she had ordered, she found Ren Qiao'an and saw that the shopping cart was already half full. "What did you buy?"
"Bean sprouts, radishes, mushrooms, cucumbers, strawberries and grapes." Ren Qiao'an flipped through his shopping cart and listed them one by one.
"Isn't that too much?" Wu Nianzhi had potatoes, yams, baby cabbage, enoki mushrooms and tofu in her hands, which were all different kinds of vegetables.
"It's a bit much, so what don't you want?"
"Hmm..." Wu Nianzhi looked at them one by one. It seemed that they were all the four people's favorite dishes. It would be a shame to miss any of them. "How about this, buy a little of each, so that we can buy more."
"Good idea." This way the two of them wouldn't have to give up any dish, and they could continue shopping.
When the two of them walked to the fresh food area, Yan Yiyi and Qian Baoer joined them pushing shopping carts.
"What did you buy?"
"I bought oatmeal and sesame paste for breakfast."
"It makes you look like you can get up and eat." Wu Nianzhi punctured Yan Yiyi's beautiful vision.
Yan Yiyi retorted: "Hmph, it can be used as a midnight snack. I can eat it anyway." When she said this, Yan Yiyi completely forgot that the cereal she bought last semester was still in the cupboard.
"We also bought Lao Gan Ma and sesame paste."
"Well done, Bao'er." Wu Nianzhi gave a thumbs up to Qian Bao'er. Lao Gan Ma is a must-have condiment for cooking in the dormitory!
"An'an, what are you doing?" Yan Yiyi walked towards Ren Qiao'an who was looking thoughtful in the freezer.
"I'm thinking..." Ren Qiao'an was considering the brand, price, and portion size, and which one would be more cost-effective. "Mutton roll or beef roll? Large or small portion?"
Yan Yiyi didn't care about Ren Qiaoan's thoughts. She opened the refrigerator and took out something. "Give me a pack of this and this, and this."
"Hey, isn't that too much?" Ren Qiaoyuan quickly stopped him.
"How can I think that there is too much meat? I think you bought too many vegetables." Yan Yiyi is a meat lover.
It seemed to make some sense. Whenever the four of us in the dormitory went out to eat hotpot, there was never any meat left over. What was left over was always noodles and vermicelli. Thinking about Ren Qiao'an relaxing and letting Yan Yiyi clean up the mess, after all, cooking by ourselves is much more economical than eating in a restaurant, so we shouldn't treat ourselves badly.
"Give me some meatballs too. How can we cook hotpot without peeing meatballs?" Yan Yiyi stretched out her claws towards the various meatballs and crystal buns.
A few minutes later, Yan Yiyi asked the full shopping cart: "What else should I buy?" She always felt like something was missing.
"Baoer, where did Nianzhi and the others go?" Ren Qiao'an discovered that suddenly only she and Yan Yiyi were left.
Yan Yiyi also discovered it and said, "Go look for it."
The two pushed the cart around and finally saw the two people who had disappeared in the aquatic area. They saw Wu Nianzhi and Qian Baoer staring intently at rows of water tanks. One seemed to be looking at crabs, and the other was looking at some unknown species of fish.
"You don't want to buy crabs, do you?" Ren Qiao'an felt that this was not possible.
"Look how cute they are." Qian Baoer has been observing them for a while. See, they can even play with the bubbles in their mouths. "I want to eat some."
Ren Qiaoan ruthlessly pointed out: "Don't think about it, Baoer, we won't do it."
"This fish is really ugly." Wu Nianzhi on the other side sighed sincerely.
"As long as it's edible, why do you care if it's ugly?" Yan Yiyi choked. "Let's just finish looking at it and think about what else we need to buy."
Wu Nianzhi glanced at the overflowing shopping cart and said, "Still buying? Are you a pig?"
"You're the pig." Yan Yiyi rolled her eyes at him. "When the time comes, don't fight with me for the meat if you have the guts."
Qian Baoer propped up her chin and thought for a moment, "Drink? Yogurt?"
The four of them looked at each other and thought, well, how can you eat hot pot without carbonated drinks? In case you eat too much, you have to buy yogurt too.
After successfully buying Coke, Sprite, and yogurt, Yan Yiyi still felt like something was missing. "What else?"
Qian Baoer thought, "Hot pot base!"
The four of them suddenly realized, yes, the most important thing has not been bought yet.
Finally, the four of them returned with two large bags full of things. While climbing the stairs, they met Tang Mu. "Hi, you're back from the supermarket." Tang Mu greeted Yan Yiyi and Ren Qiao'an.
"Yes, we're going to eat hot pot." After spending time together on the mountain, Yan Yiyi now has a good impression of Tang Mu and even made an invitation, "Do you want to come to our dormitory to eat together?"
"Thank you, but no thanks." Tang Mu politely declined, "Xixi and I have an appointment to go out for dinner later."
"Huh? We bought a lot of food. You two can come together."
"This... isn't good." Tang Mu was a little surprised that Yan Yiyi even wanted to invite Jinxi. After spending the past two days together, Tang Mu could see that Yan Yiyi didn't like Jinxi.
The other three also expressed their opinions, "It's okay, we bought a lot, and it's more than the four of us can finish."
"Then... I'll go back and ask Jin Xi." Tang Mu couldn't refuse anymore.
After returning to the dormitory and closing the door, Wu Nianzhi was the first to express her doubts about Yan Yiyi's behavior. "Tsk tsk, someone actually invited Jinxi? Don't you always dislike them?"
Yan Yiyi said something, "We went hiking together a few days ago. I'm not blind, I can see that she is not as the rumors say. What do you think, An'an?" Now Jin Xi has been promoted to a "strange" good person in Yan Yiyi's heart.
"Well, Jinxi is a nice person." Ren Qiao'an said it without any disobedience. Jinxi had given her water and helped her get down the mountain. She could be considered helpful.
"Tsk, women's mouths are deceiving." Wu Nianzhi didn't care much about Yan Yiyi's sudden change of opinion of Jin Xi.
Qian Baoer sat down and began to apply hand cream. Her hands felt rough from carrying things for a while. "Do you think they will come?"
"I don't know, maybe they're afraid of embarrassment." Anyway, Wu Nianzhi felt it was quite awkward to have two outsiders, especially that guy.
"Hurry up and peel the vegetables, wash them and scrub the pot." Ren Qiao'an looked at everyone and saw why they sat down as soon as they came back. He wondered if they still wanted to eat hotpot.
At Ren Qiao'an's urging, the group slowly began to move, and preparations began to fall into place. Yan Yiyi peeled the vegetables that needed peeling and handed them to Ren Qiao'an at the sink. Ren Qiao'an washed the vegetables that needed washing and handed the vegetables that needed cutting to Wu Nianzhi. Qian Bao'er was in charge of setting the table and carrying out the dishes one by one.
When there are more people, things get done faster. Soon the preparations were almost completed, but Tang Mu and Jin Xi did not show up as promised.
"Do you want to go across the street and ask?" Wu Nianzhi was about to prepare the base ingredients.
Yan Yiyi answered this question, "Tang Mu said they won't come, thank you for our kindness."
"Tsk, I told you so." Wu Nianzhi thought it was better not to come, so as to save everyone from embarrassment. She really didn't want to see that guy.
"..." Yan Yiyi felt that Tang Mu was probably willing to come. It must be because of Jin Xi, this strange person. He was indeed an annoying guy.
Wu Nianzhi didn't think too much of it. It was just a dorm dinner, so why make it so complicated? She plugged in her small electric rice cooker, let the surface dry out, then poured in the hot pot base. Even if it was pre-made, after the base had completely melted, she'd add a few slices of ginger and a pinch of minced garlic, stir-fry until the aroma wafted, then add hot water. This was the ritual of dorm hot pot.
"Has it started yet?" Ren Qiao'an appeared, carrying the last plate of washed vegetables. She looked around, but didn't see Tang Mu and Jin Xi. She felt a little disappointed for some reason, "Aren't the people on the other side coming?"
Qian Baoer has already started to pick out Lao Gan Ma to eat, "I'm not coming anymore."
"Come on, come on, you're the only one missing. White or black?" Yan Yiyi proudly picked up the Sprite or Coke and let you choose.
"White." Ren Qiao'an smiled and sat down.
"Let's clink glasses before we start!" Yan Yiyi raised her glass first. This was their usual practice at dormitory gatherings.
Everyone raised their glasses, "Cheers!"
An hour later.
Ren Qiaoan saw that the meal was almost over, and there was indeed a lot left. The noodles and vermicelli were almost not put into the pot. How about making another pot with some vegetables tomorrow? To avoid waste, "It's time to clean up."
Yan Yiyi said: "I don't want to move."
Wu Nianzhi agreed: "Wait a moment."
Qian Baoer seconded: "I don't want to move either."
She knew it when Ren Qiao'an was upset.
Ren Qiao'an couldn't surrender at this point; she had to be the first to move. Otherwise, relying on them to move on their own accord would be impossible! Sure enough, as soon as Ren Qiao'an started cleaning up, the uneasy Wu Nianzhi and Qian Baoer would gradually join in, and finally Yan Yiyi would be defeated by Wu Nianzhi's supreme moral condemnation. Then everyone would move. Perfect!
After finally cleaning up, the four people sadly discovered that some things could not be dispersed for a long time.
“Such a strong hot pot smell!!!”
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