Chapter 21 Takeout
"Can I have a taste?"
After seeing Zhou Chengyu's cooking, Xia Yun suddenly felt that the food in her hand was no longer appetizing.
Zhou Chengyu didn't hoard the food and generously shared a few pieces of meat with him.
After tasting the food prepared by the academy, Xia Yun found it even harder to eat. He shamelessly tried to get close to Zhou Chengyu and took the opportunity to eat some of his food.
"Xia Yun, you are at least the young master of the Xia family. Is it really necessary for you to fawn over a peasant for a mere stutterer?"
"Exactly! It's just a few pieces of meat! Can't you have some backbone?"
The others looked grim when they saw how easily Zhou Chengyu had won him over.
"How could it not be? If I could eat his food every day, he would be my half-brother!"
Xia Yun patted his chest and assured Zhou Chengyu that he was annoyed by his excessive talking while eating. As soon as Zhou Chengyu moved his seat away, Xia Yun moved his own food over there, determined to keep his promise even if it meant paying out of his own pocket.
The students in the school were speechless at his behavior, but they were also curious about the food that Zhou Chengyu's family had brought. Unfortunately, they didn't have Xia Yun's shamelessness.
"Zhou Chengyu! Don't go yet! I have a good idea. Isn't your family poor? Do you want to take advantage of this opportunity to make money?" Xia Yun rushed to Zhou Chengyu's side as soon as school was over.
"Could you ask your mom to prepare lunch for me tomorrow? I'll order for a month, how about that?"
"Not good at all!" Zhou Chengyu thought, seeing how much trouble this chubby boy was causing, he just wanted to avoid him now.
"I'll pay ten taels a month!" Xia Yun didn't expect him to refuse so quickly and tried to persuade his deskmate with money.
"Are you sure it's ten taels a month?" Zhou Chengyu asked hesitantly.
“I’m sure. Your Dongpo pork is so delicious. Remember to ask your mother to bring me some more.” Seeing that there was hope, Xia Yun seized the opportunity and made a request, while also readily taking out ten taels of silver.
“Okay, I’ll bring it to you tomorrow,” Zhou Chengyu agreed after taking the money, not wanting to turn down the money.
Song Yushu didn't expect that sending his son to the academy would bring him a business deal, which was a pleasant surprise. Since he had to prepare food for Zhou Chengyu anyway, he might as well prepare a larger portion, which wouldn't be too much trouble.
The next day at noon, she went back early to prepare the meal, leaving Wei's mother and Zhou Chengzhu to take care of the rest of the guests. There weren't many people around at noon anyway, so the two of them would be enough.
Since the dishes were to be sold at the academy, the menu couldn't be too casual. Song Yushu simply made sweet and sour pork ribs and pan-fried tofu, and finally added a dish of stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat. With two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, plus a bucket of sour plum juice, the quantity far exceeded the number of people Zhou Chengyu had reported.
Because of the large quantity, Song Yushu specially ordered an oxcart to transport it to the entrance of the academy.
When the gatekeeper saw her coming, he went to call Zhou Chengyu, but a classmate from Qisitang also came out with her.
In front of them, Song Yushu opened the wooden basin containing the food, took out the plates that had been prepared in advance for opening the restaurant, scooped a large spoonful of each dish for Zhou Chengyu, and also served him a bowl of plum juice.
"Auntie's cooking smells so good!" Xia Yun couldn't wait to come over and get his food, and even tried to get close to Song Yushu with sweet words.
Song Yushu knew that they were the big clients Zhou Chengyu had mentioned, so he warmly served them food and even added an extra piece of Dongpo pork as requested.
Xia Yun, carrying her tray, smiled brightly and even showed it off to her classmates before leaving.
Song Yushu specially reserved a meal for the gatekeeper, asking him to deliver it to the teachers at the academy.
When the students of the academy saw that even the teacher had ordered her dishes, they immediately surrounded Song Yushu without hesitation.
"I'll have one too!"
"Why isn't there the kind of meat Xia Yun ordered?"
“Dongpo pork? That was specially reserved for me. There aren’t enough at the stall, so you have to order it in advance if you want to eat it,” Song Yushu explained as he served them their food.
As a result, in addition to the number of students ordering meals doubling, the number of people ordering Dongpo pork also increased.
Song Yushu hadn't expected the food he brought to be so popular, and thought to himself that the food in the academy's canteen was indeed not very good.
However, this did give her an extra source of income.
"Brother Zhou! Have you heard? All the students in Qisi Hall of our academy have made reservations for meals with your stepmother. That explains why there was so much food left over when we went to eat today. Turns out they already had some good food!"
“That person is still your stepmother, didn’t she prepare anything for you? I heard that the teachers at the academy have ordered her meals.”
“She has already divorced my father and has no connection with the Zhou family anymore. There’s no need to mention her again.”
Zhou Chengli was annoyed that someone would be talking about his stepmother while he was having a meal.
"Separation? Then Brother Zhou can be considered free from suffering. He should be happy," Kong Yan said, but he was also puzzled. Zhou Chengli didn't seem happy at all.
“She took my twin brother and sister away, and now we siblings can’t even see each other. How can we be happy?” Zhou Chengli made up a pretext to cover up his grievances.
"Your younger brother Zhou Chengyu is also in the academy, but I haven't seen you take the initiative to go to him. What are you talking about, brotherly affection? Are you just trying to fool people again?" Sun Qi felt that he had already seen through this good student who was so excellent in both character and academics, and now that he saw him putting on an act again, he couldn't help but speak up and tease him.
“Sun Qi! How can you talk like that? Brother Zhou is buried in his studies every day, where would he find the time to visit his brother?” Another person who was with Zhou Chengli immediately retorted on his behalf.
"Hmph! It's only a few steps away from Qisi Hall, it's not like you don't have enough time. It's just that you guys are so naive, believing whatever people say. You won't even know when you'll be sold out!" After saying that, Sun Qi ignored Zhou Chengli's expression and walked towards Qisi Hall.
"Who wants to order food for tomorrow? My cousin works at Qisitang, can he help me bring some tomorrow?"
"I!"
"I'm going too! Brother Sun, wait a minute!"
"We've been eating the same food at this academy for so many years, it's always the same few dishes! We're so tired of it!"
Apart from those who were originally too embarrassed to order food from Song Yushu in order to stand up for Zhou Chengli, everyone else joined Sun Qi's team.
Zhou Chengli's face was beyond ugly; if he weren't still at the academy, he would have already smashed things in frustration.
Zhou Chengli didn't expect that this was just the beginning.
Half a month has passed since Zhao the Cripple was imprisoned in the gambling den, and Zhou Chengli still hasn't figured out what to do. Every time he returns to the Zhou family, Zhao Yuzhi asks him when he can raise enough money to ransom him.
The people at the Zhou family's old house now keep the gate tightly shut as soon as he returns, refusing to let him in to see Old Mrs. Zhou.
His father, Zhou Lao Er, worked hard for half a month, taking on many private jobs, but only managed to save less than two taels of silver.
Only then did Zhou Chengli truly realize how difficult it was to earn fifty taels of silver. Ordinary people might not be able to save up that much in two or three years. How could he possibly earn such a large sum of money in just one month?
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