Xu Jie felt a pang of jealousy. Not only had the student she looked down on the most gotten into a good university, but in just a few days, he had also opened a snack shop.
Looking at the shop's environment, she secretly did some calculations in her mind. She could earn at least ten yuan a day, while her monthly salary was only a little over fifty yuan. The difference was too big.
She felt a pang of sadness, and even the honey water she was drinking didn't taste sweet. She didn't respond to anyone who spoke to her, and her face grew increasingly gloomy.
Qiao Xiaoni first served them ten fried dough sticks, a bowl of hot tofu pudding for each person, and a plate of each of the side dishes that the shop had on hand.
The table was almost overflowing, so Yu Lili waved her hand and said, "This is enough, don't bring any more."
Qiao Xiaoni thought the braised meat in the kitchen should be cooked by now, and smiled at them again, saying:
"I'll go cut another plate of meat so you can have a taste."
Yu Lili had heard from others that the braised meat here was delicious, but she didn't say anything.
Xu Jiexin wanted to find fault. She tasted the fried dough sticks and found them delicious, the tofu pudding was even better, and the side dishes were exceptionally tasty. She couldn't find any fault with them, but she only ate a few bites before stopping.
Teacher Zhao finished her bowl of tofu pudding, smacked her lips, and knowing there would be braised pork later, decided not to drink any more tofu pudding—she wanted to save room for the meat! She noticed that Xu Jiexin had only taken one sip of her tofu pudding and hadn't touched it again.
"You don't like it?"
Xu Jiexin smiled awkwardly. It wasn't that she didn't like to eat; she was just too angry to eat. Who told her to be so petty?
A large plate of braised meat was placed on the table, and Qiao Xiaoni turned around and took the dry seasonings handed to her by her sister-in-law.
"The meat itself is salty, so you can adjust the seasoning to your liking. I won't help you with that."
Yu Lili ate to her heart's content. This student was really good. She wondered to herself how she had never noticed before.
Xu Jiexin finally found a breakthrough when she saw the meat.
"This meat looks so fatty! I don't like fatty meat, you guys eat it!"
Qiao Xiaoni took a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick holder, removed the fatty meat from the top, and exposed the lean meat underneath.
"The lean meat is all at the bottom. Customers here usually like to eat fatty meat, so I cut more fatty meat."
Yu Lili: "You're such a troublemaker. I've never heard of you disliking fatty meat. I remember last year during Chinese New Year, when meat was being distributed, you grabbed two big pieces of fatty meat and almost got into a fight with Teacher Lin. If I remember correctly, that's true."
Having her secret exposed, Xu Jiexin looked extremely embarrassed. Years ago, she had been so afraid of hunger that her family loved to eat fatty meat. So, when the meat was distributed during the New Year, she grabbed the fatty meat, and the principal remembered it.
Teacher Zhao picked up several slices of fatty meat and put them in his bowl, then rolled up his sleeves.
"If you're not going to eat it, I won't be polite. The fatty meat is fragrant but not greasy; I feel like I could eat half a bowl more!"
"The chubby Teacher Zhao is so cute," Qiao Xiaoni quickly remarked.
"There's plenty of meat today, eat as much as you want, don't be shy with me. A teacher for a day is a father for life. You are all my teachers and my elders."
These words resonated with them, putting their minds at ease, and making their food taste even better.
Seeing how ravenously they were eating, Xu Jiexin knew the meat was delicious. Too lazy to argue with them, she picked up her chopsticks, took a piece of meat, and only realized what she had missed the moment she put it in her mouth.
Seeing that they liked to eat meat, Qiao Xiaoni turned around and went back to the kitchen to cut another plate and brought it over.
Yu Lili: "This is so delicious! Xiao Ni, how did you cook this meat? I've never had such delicious braised meat before. It's fatty but not greasy, and the saltiness is just right."
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