After finishing morning self-study, Xiao Jiu was immediately surrounded by her roommates. "As we walked, I said, 'My lunchbox is still in the dorm.'"
"Oh dear, look at my memory. Here, I brought it all for you. Let's go straight to the cafeteria, or the food will get cold."
The dorm's eldest sister quickly took Xiao Jiu's lunchbox out of her desk drawer, asking questions as she did so.
"That thing you took out this morning was cooked perfectly, and it even had a soft center. Did your relative make it?"
Xiao Jiu took the lunchbox and winked at them, "Would you believe me if I said I made it?"
"Of course I believe you. Why wouldn't I believe you? But that just means your daughter is a master at boiling eggs, and this kind tastes better."
"Of course, I grew up eating my grandma's soft-boiled eggs when I was little,"
When Xiao Jiu mentioned her grandmother, she felt a pang of sadness for a moment, but quickly recovered.
"Let's go, I'm starving, I wonder what's for dinner today,"
Although they ate two eggs in the morning, they had already burned off most of their energy. At their age, they were probably still growing and got hungry easily. Not only her, but all her roommates felt hungry.
When they arrived at the cafeteria, the line was already incredibly long. Tall Zhou Shengnan immediately spotted what was in front of her and pointed to the shorter line for Xiao Jiu.
"That team had cornbread, garlic cabbage, and millet porridge."
Pang Weiwei immediately pulled Xiao Jiu over, while the rest of the people continued to wait in the long queue.
This team serves almost the same thing every day: dried vegetable and grain dumplings, watery corn soup, and salty pickled vegetable shreds. Of course, there are also fresh spicy radish shreds and garlic cabbage. These cost three cents a serving, but many people would rather eat pickled mustard greens shreds for one cent a serving.
This queuing pattern has been going on almost every day since the start of the semester. The only people who can eat with Xiao Jiu are Pang Weiwei and her.
The original plan was to sponsor Zhu Hongqi, thinking she would eat at least six liang (300 grams) of food a day, which would cost three mao (0.3 yuan). However, in reality, she ate four liang (200 grams) of food, which cost less than two mao (0.2 yuan).
Xiao Jiu felt sorry for her being so frugal, but Hong Qi was very content.
"This is already very good. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't even be able to eat a meal every day, let alone have vegetables too. Xiao Jiu, thank you. I will pay you back for this money and tickets in the future."
The school provides free cornmeal soup every morning and evening. Although it is extremely thin, it is still a benefit provided by the school.
Originally, the pickled vegetable shreds were free, but later the teacher found that the mustard green shreds were being snatched up, so in the end they could only charge one cent, and there was a designated person in charge of serving them, no longer the case as before where you could take as much as you wanted.
Millet porridge isn't made by cooking rice oil. There's actually not much millet, but it seems like some sweet potato starch is added to thicken the broth so it doesn't become watery.
It wasn't particularly delicious, nor was it sticky or fragrant, but at two cents a bowl, it was quite acceptable.
Three cornbreads for one cent, two ounces of grain coupons, and soup was free; I figured they'd be included in the bill.
She and Pang Weiwei each ordered a serving of garlic cabbage and a serving of spicy shredded radish, so they could share the food.
In this way, breakfast would cost 15 cents and 2 ounces of grain coupons.
Xiao Jiu was full after eating one cornbread, and the remaining two, which seemed to be put in his pocket, were actually stuffed into his space.
That's how it is when I eat now. I might feel full at the time, but because there's not much oil or fat, I get hungry again soon. So, like Weiwei, even though I bought three, I only eat the other two whenever I'm hungry during the day to relieve my stomach discomfort.
Three cornbreads cost one cent, while six vegetable buns cost five cents. Because they used less grain, six buns for five cents only required one ounce of grain coupons. Many boys with big appetites would buy six at a time, as did my roommates. They would put the leftovers in their pockets to gnaw on when they were hungry.
Compared to cornbread, vegetable buns are much larger, each about the size of a palm. They are mixed with various dried vegetables, dried grass, and bran, with very little sorghum flour and sweet potato flour.
It tastes hard and bitter, and you have to drink the soup to swallow it. Some of the stems are too long to be ground into powder, and they can't be chewed properly. You have to wash them down with the soup. After you finish eating them, all that's left in your mouth is bitterness.
Every time I see my classmates eating this nutritious stuff, I feel terrible. This kind of steamed bun is the worst food in the cafeteria. The slightly better steamed buns have more coarse grains and bran. This kind of steamed bun costs five cents for three, and the taste is much better. At least it's not bitter. The only downside is that it hurts your throat.
Unexpectedly, there were no steamed buns available today, which made Xiaojiu and Weiwei feel inexplicably guilty sitting in front of them.
Even if they were offered a meal, they wouldn't eat it. Their family's circumstances were what they were; how could they expect to eat well every day?
They're well-off because their parents are capable; why are you eyeing their little things?
Xiaojiu's values align with her criteria for making friends; they are not greedy or opportunistic, and they even try to make up for the losses she makes for them. She feels very lucky about this.
Just as school let out at noon, the gatekeeper's loudspeaker blared.
"Tao Tao, a student from Class 1, Grade 11, please go to the gatehouse to collect your package. Tao Tao, a student from Class 1, Grade 11, your package is here. Please go to the gatehouse to collect it."
Xiao Jiu was carrying a lunchbox, preparing to go to the cafeteria with her roommate, when she heard the announcement. She was surprised and ran over to check. The package was small, but it was quite heavy, weighing about four or five pounds. Her roommate had already gone to save her a seat and get her food. They ate the same few dishes every day, so they were all familiar with each other's tastes.
She carried the package back to her dorm, glanced at it and saw that it was sent from Harbin. She knew it wasn't one of those guys, but another. As for who it was, she'd open it when she got back. She just locked it in her closet.
When I got to the canteen, sure enough, there was a mixed grain rice of sorghum, millet and rice, stewed cabbage and vermicelli with tofu, hot and sour shredded potatoes, stir-fried shredded radish, and a mixed vegetable salad with cabbage, spinach, shredded carrots, vermicelli and cilantro.
A serving of mixed grain rice costs five cents and requires two ounces of grain coupons. It's packed very tightly and is definitely enough to fill you up.
A serving of stewed cabbage and tofu costs five cents, shredded potatoes cost three cents, mixed vegetables cost three cents, and boiled cabbage and radish cost one cent per serving.
Pang Weiwei ordered two servings of stewed tofu and ate mixed grain rice.
The other roommates all ate mixed rice with boiled vegetables, which looked bland and tasteless. But they poured it on top of the rice, mixed it with their own pickled vegetables or sauces, and ate it with great relish.
Aside from the eggs this morning, this stewed tofu is the best dish I've had these past few days. Xiao Jiu even brought some spicy mushroom sauce from the dorm, and everyone scooped a spoonful and mixed it with today's rice, instantly elevating the flavor of the food.
"Wow, Peach, the sauce you brought is the best! What kind of sauce is this? It's all little grains, like meat!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com