Chapter 19
"Ahem." Zhou Liu was a little embarrassed. Zhou Ying, on the other hand, was very easygoing: "Actually, it's nothing special, just selling some snacks in the dorm. It's just that they sell better in the girls' dorm."
As he spoke, he glanced at Zhou Liu.
Zhou Liu said, feeling wronged, "It's normal that the boys' dormitory products aren't selling. I do want to open up the boys' market, but the costs of sneakers and electronic products are too high, and I can't start without the money."
Zhou Ying shrugged: "Anyway, the leftovers, the ones that are about to expire, and the ones that he can't sell, become our food."
Yoda was momentarily at a loss for what expression to make. It sounded like a story of hard work and studying, but seeing the two of them laughing and joking as they talked about it, she wanted to laugh along, but was afraid it would be impolite.
In short, the reason seemed perfectly legitimate—that he was wandering around to do business. Yoda thought Zhou Ying was overthinking it, and Zhou Liu nodded vigorously in agreement. If he could swallow the enoki mushrooms in his mouth before speaking, he would appear even more honest and sincere.
Zhou Ying was exasperated: "You still haven't explained why you're not paying attention in class and instead running around everywhere. Every time I see you and ask you, you won't say anything. How can I not be suspicious?"
Yoda immediately switched sides. Come to think of it, no wonder Zhou Liu seemed familiar from the start. Thinking back, she remembered running into him several times when she audited classes during her freshman year. However, Yoda's attention was focused on her studies at the time, and in her hazy recollection, Zhou Liu was always talking to someone, so she didn't pay much attention.
Looking back now, Yoda thinks Zhou Ying's suspicions are quite reasonable.
Two pairs of eyes stared at Zhou Liu, who felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy. He finally put down his chopsticks and raised his hands in surrender: "Please don't criticize me after I tell you."
Zhou Ying: "Speak!"
Zhou Liu took a deep breath and sighed, "I feel that this major has no future, so I'm thinking of looking at other majors to see if there are any opportunities to find a job in a different industry."
Zhou Ying didn't believe her: "Then you should study even harder and try to change your major."
Zhou Liu: "Please, by the time I realized this major was wrong, it was long past the time I could switch majors."
"What could I do? I filled in this job right after graduating from high school, thinking that as long as the school was good, I could make a living no matter what I studied. Who would have thought that it would become more and more difficult as I studied?"
Seeing Zhou Ying open her mouth, ready to criticize him with her set of positive and hard-working theories, Zhou Liu quickly said, "I haven't come away empty-handed either. At least several junior girls have seen the error of their ways under my guidance, worked hard in their freshman year, and successfully changed their majors to escape their misery."
Zhou Ying couldn't stand Zhou Liu's bitter and resentful look: "You just don't want to study properly. Sister Yoda is in the same major as you and she's doing just fine. So many people are studying it, but you think you can't learn it. Don't make excuses for your laziness."
Yoda really wanted to say that he was also confused by what he had learned, not to mention his pitiful salary, which had emptied his piggy bank.
Seeing Zhou Ying speaking so eloquently, he dared not utter a sound. He silently buried his face in his rice bowl and ate his meal.
The main reason is that if we don't eat it now, it will be gone.
The three of them were eating and chatting at the same time, but the other two ate very quickly, like a whirlwind.
Yoda watched as Zhou Ying and Zhou Liu bickered while simultaneously scooping vegetables from the pot and placing them in the three empty bowls in front of them. They would fill the first bowl, then move on to the third, so that the vegetables would cool down before they were ready to eat. It didn't waste any time.
Yoda was amazed. At first, seeing that the two of them each had three empty bowls neatly arranged in front of them, and knowing that they came from the same village, Yoda didn't dare to ask any questions and assumed it was a unique custom of their village.
I even fantasized about many possibilities: divination? Sacrifice? I never imagined it was for the purpose of eating quickly.
Seeing the dishes piled up one by one, Yoda was convinced. No wonder Zhou Liu always complained that his wages were too low; they really were too low for him. This one meal wasn't even enough to cover his entire day's earnings.
Then there's Zhou Ying. Yoda noticed that although she ate more elegantly than Zhou Liu, her eating speed was just as fast. When he ate with her, he had no idea she could eat so much.
It's definitely for her own sake; I bet her child has never had a proper meal while she's with her.
Most of the food was consumed by Zhou Ying and Zhou Liu. Just when Yoda thought they were about to leave, Zhou Ying unexpectedly took out a bag of potato noodles from her bag.
"What is this?!" Yoda was shocked, watching Zhou Ying skillfully put the noodles into the pot, while Zhou Liu was still rubbing his hands and waiting.
Zhou Ying stirred the powder with chopsticks and warmly greeted Yoda: "Add it last, it's perfect for eating as a main dish."
Zhou Liu nodded in agreement: "This hot pot restaurant hasn't officially opened yet, so we haven't prepared any staple foods. I asked Zhou Ying to buy them at the market on her way here."
Yoda was shocked: "You two have eaten so much, where did you put it? Won't you get sick from it?"
Zhou Liu: "This is nothing, there are many people who can eat more than us, and besides, we don't eat like this every day."
Yoda was completely impressed by the two of them; they had eaten so much. One of them would immediately call for help as soon as he got food, while the other would rush off to get more along the way. They were truly from the same village; their teamwork was incredible.
And the two of them ate so much, yet they still managed to chat for ages. You have to admire the power of youth—they can eat and talk so much!
"You two have such a good relationship, you've even developed a tacit understanding while eating." Yoda had barely finished speaking when the two of them looked up at the same time: "With her/him?"
If I hadn't been slurping noodles in my mouth, my head would probably have been flying off.
Zhou Ying swallowed her food and hurriedly explained, afraid that if she delayed even a second, Yoda would assume there was an ambiguous relationship between the two of them.
"This is what he owes me. When I was a kid, I went to a banquet. It's like when someone in the countryside has a wedding, they invite people to their house to cook a feast, and people from the neighborhood go to eat. The family was quite well-off in the village, so they specially made extra food so the kids could take it home. But I was unlucky enough to sit at the same table as him. He ate so fast, I didn't even have time to take out my plastic bag, and there was nothing left on the table. I was so angry I almost fainted."
Zhou Ying is still angry when she thinks about what happened back then. Seeing Zhou Liu still picking food out of the pot, she immediately reached out and said, "You've already eaten three bites of this pork belly, which is only six bites in total. The rest is mine."
Zhou Liu smacked his lips, seeing Zhou Ying's aggressive demeanor, he hesitated and put down his chopsticks, wanting to eat but not daring to touch them, looking aggrieved: "I was too hungry at the time, I didn't even notice you were waiting to pack it up. Besides, there were so many people at the table, why were you staring at me? Others were eating too."
Zhou Ying took a satisfying bite of the meat she had snatched from Zhou Liu's chopsticks: "That's because you ate more, you ate all the extra portions that the host kindly prepared."
Back then, everyone was poor, so banquets were a very important occasion for eating. The host would prepare extra food so that guests could take some home if needed, and reheating it would also add to their household meals.
Adults are too polite to take too much, but children don't have that concern. Zhou Ying had been looking forward to it for a long time, but she didn't expect to run into Zhou Liu, so she could only watch helplessly as he ate non-stop.
Although the host family saw how pitiful Zhou Ying was crying and prepared a separate portion for her to take back, the harm Zhou Liu caused her is still indelible to this day.
Zhou Liu shrugged: "Didn't I call you as soon as there was food? How many meals have we had already? Isn't that enough?"
Zhou Ying didn't even lift her eyelids: "Don't you have any idea how many meals you ate from me after that? Humph."
Yoda checked the time, realized he was full, and seeing that the two of them would be eating for a while, he left first, letting them continue eating. He was getting old; he had to retire from the battlefield of youth early.
Yoda finally got home only to find he had forgotten his keys. His whole family was away on vacation, leaving Yoda, alone at home, locked out and speechless as he looked up at the sky.
I carefully recalled the places I visited today. The residential compound, the property management office, the building materials market—any of them seemed possible. However, the most likely place was where I ate hot pot.
Yoda took out his phone to call his two friends, but neither answered. Frustrated, Yoda figured they were probably finished eating and pedaling their bikes back home. He'd just have to go back and check on them himself.
However, Yoda was somewhat reluctant because it was just too far. More importantly, it was too late tonight. He had been running around all day, and while he hadn't felt anything while eating, now that he was full, he felt waves of drowsiness washing over him.
After thinking about it, I decided to go to Shixing's studio to find him. If I can get accommodation for tonight, my parents will be back tomorrow.
Yoda knew the place; Shixing had specifically told her about it when they passed by before. It was just her first time going there. Yoda knew Shixing was still at the agency tonight; although they couldn't see each other every day, they kept each other updated on their schedules.
Yoda would rather go to Shixing than go back to the hot pot restaurant.
"Hello, do you have an appointment?" Liu Si looked at the girl in front of her, who was about the same age as her, and repeated her daily work process. If she had an appointment with a designer, she would take her to the designer's office; otherwise, she would assign an available designer according to the client's needs and the firm's priority list.
“I’m looking for Shi Xing. I’m his friend. Um, friend.” Yoda was a little shy. In the past, the two of them always used the term “boyfriend and girlfriend” to refer to each other. Now that she had woken up, she felt that after all these years, their relationship had become more intimate.
It's closer than boyfriend and girlfriend, yet there's still no explanation for this intimate relationship. After all, in reality, it seems the only way to explain this further relationship is through marriage.
Yoda doesn't have that plan for the time being. Afraid that Shi Xing wouldn't know he was coming, Yoda quickly added, "I am Yoda."
She had originally planned to call Shi Xing if it was inconvenient and tell him she would wait outside, but to her surprise, the girl on the other end of the line smiled dreamily when she heard her name.
"Wow, it's you."
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