"Xia Ai."
Jiang Wencheng carried the food and looked around. He saw his roommate Xia Ai. There happened to be a few empty seats at the table where he was sitting.
It had been more than ten days since the start of the school year, but they and Xia Ai were only nodding acquaintances. His personality was too cold, and sometimes when you took the initiative to find topics to talk to him, it would feel like you were performing a one-man show. Even Jiang Yilu, who was in the same major as him and had a lot of overlapping courses, had barely spoken to him.
It’s just that compared to the completely unfamiliar alumni, Xia Ai is a little more familiar.
Jiang Wencheng greeted Jiang Yilu and walked towards Xia Ai with the food.
"You got Chef Niu's minced meat and eggplant. They were all sold out when I went there." Jiang Wencheng put down the bowl of vegetarian noodles, the pile of cabbage and the pile of braised meat in his hand, and sucked his saliva enviously.
"Xiaobao, hurry up and take out the hot sauce. The noodles are almost clumping together." Jiang Wencheng didn't hesitate for too long. He picked up the chopsticks and urged Jiang Yilu. He couldn't wait to experience the charm of Grandma Miao's exclusive secret hot sauce.
This time, the brothers and sisters came to the capital to go to school. The old lady specially pickled a lot of sauces for them to bring. Each jar was as big as a wine jar. It took a lot of effort to bring a few jars. Because the jars took up space, they were usually placed in the Bai family's old house. Jiang Yiliu and his brothers and sisters each took enough to eat for a week to go to school. Whether it was with buns and noodles, or added to dishes, it was very delicious.
Jiang Wencheng ate it by chance once and was deeply fascinated by the old lady's cooking skills.
"I've never tasted such delicious hot sauce in my life, especially the bacon marinated in the hot sauce, which is fragrant, spicy and chewy. Xiaobao, why don't you ask your grandma to make more? I want to send some to my parents and grandma. I won't let your grandma make it for nothing. I have money."
Jiang Wencheng scooped a spoonful of hot sauce from the jar, mixed the noodles evenly, picked up a large chopstick, and took a big bite, with a satisfied expression on his face.
Jiang Yilu has been accustomed to the old lady's cooking since he was a child. Although he knows that his grandmother's cooking is delicious, he still doesn't have an intuitive feeling.
"You willing to pay for it?"
Jiang Yilu asked curiously, his heart slightly moved. He didn't know that a few years after he was reborn, a chili sauce called Lao Gan Ma became popular all over the country. Relying on that can of chili sauce, it dominated the chili world, went abroad, and made a fortune.
Jiang Wencheng was the first person around him who asked to buy chili sauce. Jiang Yilu felt that his thoughts after rebirth were too rigid. He was only thinking about those objects and opportunities that would appreciate in value in the future, but he forgot that there was such a big business opportunity around him.
"Of course." Jiang Wencheng said without hesitation. Although private transactions were prohibited in previous years, the Jiang family still often went to the black market to buy some fine grains or bought some game from farmers to improve their family's meals.
Jiang Yilu thought deeply for a moment. The situation was still quite tense right now, so he could try to convince his family next year... Jiang Yilu thought about his future plans, and he began to like Jiang Wencheng more.
"What's this?"
Xia Ai, who had been eating silently, suddenly spoke. His voice, like his personality, was cold and aloof.
"Ah?" Jiang Yilu didn't understand what he was asking for a moment, but when he saw his eyes fixed on the jar of hot sauce on the dining table, he suddenly understood.
"This is the chili sauce made by my grandma. You can try it too." Jiang Yilu said and pushed the jar towards Xia Ai.
Xia Ai paused, his eyes revealing a hint of hesitation. When Jiang Yilu thought he would not do it, Xia Ai finally stretched out his chopsticks, picked up a piece of bacon marinated in hot sauce and put it into his mouth.
"How is it? It tastes good, right?"
Jiang Wencheng still had a big mouthful of noodles in his mouth, and his words were a little slurred. Although Xia Ai did not answer his question, his bright and passionate eyes, completely different from the past, fully proved to everyone that he loved this chili sauce.
"Student Jiang, this is the minced meat and eggplant made by Chef Niu."
Xia Ai brought the minced meat and eggplant in front of him to the center of the table. He said this without any context. Jiang Yiliu didn't understand what he meant, but Jiang Wencheng, who was also a foodie, understood it all at once.
"I told you, food tastes better when we eat together." Jiang Wencheng pushed his own food to the middle of the table and invited everyone to eat together. As soon as he finished speaking, he aimed his chopsticks at the minced meat and eggplant that he had been craving for.
Xia Ai still did not make any move, looking at Jiang Yilu with sparkling eyes, completely different from usual.
Jiang Yilu felt a little scared when he was looked at, so he said weakly: "Then let's eat together."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Ai set his sights on the can of hot sauce with a sense of relief, forgetting about the minced meat and eggplant that he had managed to snatch.
Jiang Yilu was shocked. It turned out that what Xia Ai said just now was just to eat the hot sauce he brought openly?
Everyone in Dormitory 206 thinks Xia Ai is elusive, but who knows how hard he has to go? That's right, Xia Ai, who looks cold and difficult to get along with, is actually just a huge foodie with a mild social interaction disorder.
The soy milk at window No. 1 in the cafeteria is the thickest, the fried dough sticks at window No. 3 are the crispiest, and the steamed buns at window No. 6 are limited to ten baskets a day. If you go after 6:30, you can hardly buy any of the above breakfast items. So Xia Ai would get up at 5 o'clock every day to wash up and get to the cafeteria at 6 o'clock. This is the main reason why everyone can't find him every time they get up early.
At noon, the minced meat and eggplant at window number two, the fried meat with garlic sprouts at window number four, the egg cake at window number five, the beef noodles at window number six... these popular dishes all had to be grabbed, and the professors in the economics department were used to staying late, so almost every time the teacher announced the end of class, Xia Ai would rush to the cafeteria at the speed of a 100-meter sprint to grab the few remaining delicacies. This was also the reason why Jiang Yiliu could not see Xia Ai every time the class was over.
Therefore, during this period of time after school started, Xia Ai's relationship with his roommates was still indifferent. Besides the fact that he was not good at getting along with outsiders, the main reason was that delicious food should not be wasted.
Now, after eating the hot sauce brought by Jiang Yiliu, Xia Ai realized what he had lost these days. He stared at Jiang Yiliu with bright eyes, listening to Jiang Wencheng talking about the equally delicious food such as meat sauce, mushroom sauce, pickles, pickled radish, etc. that Jiang Yiliu did not bring today. He felt like being scratched by a kitten in his heart, but he was cold and clumsy and didn't know how to bring up the matter.
He really wanted to shout, please take me with you when you eat out next time!
If Jiang Yilu knew what Xia Ai was thinking, he would probably be very surprised. How could he understand the strong temptation that Grandma Miao's cooking skills had for foodies?
"Student Jiang, how can you be so wasteful?"
While Xia Ai was struggling with how to start the conversation and Jiang Yilu was struggling with how to face this roommate who didn't seem as cool as he seemed, only Jiang Wencheng was happily eating noodles with spicy sauce, chewing eggplant with minced meat, and bubbling with happiness, at this time, a boy's loud voice reached the ears of several people.
Jiang Yilu and a few others turned their eyes towards the direction where the voice came from. It turned out to be their class monitor Fu Yunsheng.
Fu Yunsheng is also from the capital, 23 years old this year, and not married yet. It is said that his parents are both workers and his family is well off. He is very tall, with regular and strong features, and is very popular among the girls in the class.
After all, Xia Ai was too cold and Jiang Yiliu was too young, even though they were both good-looking. Moreover, Fu Yunsheng came from a wealthy family, so he was a good marriage partner for the unmarried girls in the class.
I don’t know what happened. Jiang Yilu didn’t provoke him much, but Fu Yunsheng seemed to dislike him very much and would mock him whenever he found an opportunity.
Jiang Yilu looked at Fu Yunsheng who was looking at him with a look of regret and dissatisfaction, and his head began to hurt again.
"Student Jiang, if I remember correctly, your parents are just ordinary farmers. Your family is registered in the countryside, and you have four older sisters."
Many people have noticed the commotion here and shifted their gaze over here. Fu Yunsheng looked at everyone's attention, straightened his chest, and spoke in an increasingly high-pitched voice.
Jiang Yilu didn't understand what he meant. So what if he was born a peasant?
Fu Yunsheng looked at his expression as if he was looking at a child who refused to change despite repeated admonitions, and pointed at the food in front of him with great anguish, "It's not easy for your parents and sisters to earn money, how can you only care about enjoying yourself, eating lavish meals, you are not worthy of your parents and sisters by doing this, your fourth sister was admitted to university but couldn't study, you are so extravagant and wasteful, are you worthy of the party and the country?"
He spoke with a stern and upright look on his face, and reprimanded Jiang Yilu in righteous words.
Jiang Yilu looked at the dining table in front of him. There was a stack of minced meat and eggplant, a stack of steamed pork with rice flour, which belonged to Xia Ai, and a stack of cabbage and braised pork, which belonged to Jiang Wencheng. The only things that truly belonged to him were a plate of spicy and sour fish fillets, a stack of stir-fried spinach, and the chili sauce he brought from home.
Also, how did he know that his fourth sister was admitted to university but did not go to study?
"So he's a farmer, I can't tell. He eats and wears better than us city people. I wonder how hard it is for his father in the countryside to support him in his studies."
"That's right. He has several sisters. You don't know that girls in rural areas are worthless. He lives such a comfortable life, which must be obtained by exploiting his sisters."
"How can such a person with such corrupt character stay in Huaqing? Let's sign a petition and ask the principal to kick him out."
......
People around were pointing at Jiang Yilu and whispering. Jiang Yilu didn't understand how a few dishes could make people imagine such a big drama. Are the people who can be admitted to Huaqing so stupid? They can be used as a tool just by being provoked.
There was nothing we could do about it. Now, except for the freshmen, the students in the previous classes were all outstanding representatives recommended by various factories, units, and collectives. The vast majority of them were political activists, that is, the most active and proactive people in those years. They might not be good at studying, but they were definitely the best at writing big-character posters, denouncing and self-criticizing.
Fu Yunsheng looked at the people around him agreeing with him with a smug look. He had no intention of getting angry with Jiang Yiliu, but when he went back to his grandparents' house last week, he unexpectedly saw Jiang Yiliu in the yard where his grandparents lived. After asking his grandparents, he learned that the Jiang family had taken care of Bai Fangqiu for a while, so when the siblings came to the capital to study, they stayed in the old house of the Bai family.
Fu Yunsheng's grandparents were one of the deadbeats in the Bai family's old house. His parents were both workers. Because both of them were working, the factory allocated a fairly spacious house to the Fu family. The old couple of the Fu family could have moved to their son's house, but the Fu family was reluctant to leave the Bai family's house and refused to move. The old couple of the Fu family were already in their seventies, about the same age as Bai Fangqiu. If they refused to move, who could force them to move?
A few days ago, the Bai family's old house was haunted. The old couple in the Fu family were both timid and fearful. Once, they were frightened after hearing the screams of ghosts coming from the yard. The next day, they packed up their things and moved back to their son's house, and refused to go back no matter what.
Once they left, it was equivalent to giving up the Bai family's yard. Jiang Yilu helped the old man clean up the house and changed the locks.
Fu Yunsheng listened to his grandparents' nagging for a long time at home. Bai Fangqiu was an old widower. The Jiang family treated him so closely just for the property he had. Bai Fangqiu had more than just the haunted house. When Bai died, all those houses and money would be left to the Jiang family's group of country folk.
How could Fu Yunsheng not be jealous when he thought he was better than Jiang Yilu but didn't have his luck? Especially since Jiang Yilu was only fourteen years old this year, but his grades were better than his, and his performance in class was often better than his, and he was praised by the professor.
Fu Yunsheng, who was not broad-minded to begin with, had long regarded Jiang Yilu as his greatest enemy in life.
The people around were excited by Fu Yunsheng's words, and they didn't realize that the source of the matter was just a few dishes of food. Their minds were full of imagination, and they were led in other directions by Fu Yunsheng's words. At this moment, Jiang Yi had long been left in their hearts as a Huaqing cancer who indulged in pleasure, exploited his parents and sister, favored sons over daughters, and had corrupt morals.
Fu Yunsheng looked at Jiang Yilu who was besieged by the crowd with pride. He was just a fourteen-year-old kid who grew up in a mountain cave and had never seen the world. What was the use of knowing how to study? He wanted to show him that he was no match for him.
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