“I’m fine with anything. No problem at all. I just don’t really know much about this cafeteria yet,” He Qiutang said as she glanced at the people serving food. Every cafeteria had its own unspoken rules, and she wanted to observe how things worked here.
“Come on, come on, I’ll show you around. In our cafeteria, you pick the dishes first and then the staple food. The farther down the line you go, the heavier and meatier the dishes get. How about this—today I’ll pay for the meat dishes, and you pay for the vegetable dishes. Tomorrow we’ll switch. As for the staple food, we each pay for our own. Sound good?”
“No problem. Let’s go. By the way, do you know which dishes are good?”
“Of course I do. I’ll introduce them to you later.”
The two girls happily agreed and lined up behind the crowd.
He Qiutang thought to herself that having a local friend really was useful. At the very least, when getting food, the cafeteria aunties wouldn’t skimp on portions when they recognized a familiar face. Sure enough, cafeteria workers giving tiny portions with trembling hands clearly had a long historical tradition.
“In winter, among the vegetable dishes, anything sour-and-spicy or spicy is pretty good. The head chef especially likes those flavors, and they go well with rice, so everyone loves them,” Lin Yuan chattered beside her.
When it was finally their turn to order the dishes they wanted, Lin Yuan stretched out her lunchbox ahead of time and smilingly asked the cafeteria worker to serve them. Seeing it was Lin Yuan, the woman cheerfully responded, her serving hand perfectly steady as she scooped out a huge ladleful. He Qiutang honestly felt the two of them might not even be able to finish that much food.
“Don’t be fooled by dishes like braised pork or braised ribs that look all rich and glossy. The head chef is actually terrible at making braised dishes. One time my mom brought home some braised pork, and it was so tough we had to cook it again ourselves before we could eat it.”
As Lin Yuan spoke, she sighed. But the problem was that the chef’s other meat dishes were just too delicious. The cafeteria chefs themselves knew which dishes they were good at. Basically, as long as they avoided braised dishes, everything was safe. If they made braised pork and braised ribs that awful every day, the chefs would probably have to apologize with their lives. In this era, wasting good meat like that was enough to make the pig feel it had died unjustly.
After getting their food, the two girls chatted and laughed while finding a relatively quiet place to sit down. Lin Yuan was just about to continue sharing gossip with He Qiutang when someone called out to her.
“This spot’s pretty nice. Mind if we sit next to you and eat together?”
Lin Yuan looked up and sighed inwardly. She really didn’t want to eat together with them, but she also didn’t know how to refuse.
“Sorry, but I deliberately picked this quiet spot. I don’t know you, and I don’t really want to sit and eat with strangers,” He Qiutang replied. She had initially thought the cafeteria might be full, but after looking around, it clearly wasn’t crowded yet. There were plenty of empty seats.
The girl speaking to Lin Yuan had apparently assumed she could just sit down after asking. Half her backside was already on the bench when the unfamiliar girl across from her rejected her.
“You won’t let me sit here?”
He Qiutang nodded, then shook her head.
“I don’t know you, so I have the right to refuse. For now, I just don’t want to eat with strangers. Of course, if you’re saying you reserved this spot beforehand, then I can leave immediately. There are still plenty of empty seats anyway.”
As she spoke, He Qiutang was already looking around for another suitable place.
He Qiutang considered herself especially good at refusing people. Whenever she didn’t want to do something, she never forced herself to accommodate others. Perhaps the girl hadn’t expected to be rejected so directly, because she instantly looked awkward.
“Xiaofeng, forget it. I think these two comrades are eating much better than we are. Maybe they think we’re trying to take advantage of them.”
Cui Meili’s soft, timid voice appeared again as she looked rather self-consciously at the stir-fried cabbage and corn buns in her own lunchbox.
Only then did He Qiutang notice her properly. She immediately felt relieved she had refused them, because if the two of them had sat down—especially with Cui Meili beside her, watching her eat meat—He Qiutang felt she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy her meal at all.
“So, are you two sure you want to sit here?” He Qiutang asked again. If she couldn’t afford to provoke them, she could at least avoid them.
Cui Meili looked at the lunchboxes filled with meat dishes and oily vegetable dishes and felt tempted. She nodded shyly.
“Xiaofeng and I really did want to sit here… but… but you wouldn’t allow it.”
“Fine then, you two can sit here,” He Qiutang immediately said as she stood up. Luckily, she hadn’t eaten much yet. She snapped her lunchbox shut, picked up her chopsticks, and prepared to leave.
“Huh? We’re leaving?” Lin Yuan exclaimed.
“Of course we are!” He Qiutang deliberately raised her voice. “I’m an outsider. It’s my first day here, so I don’t know the rules. I didn’t realize this was someone else’s territory. Naturally, I should just pack up and get lost. It’s just unfortunate that you got dragged into this with me today and can’t even find a place to sit.”
Her voice was loud, dripping with sarcasm.
The commotion immediately attracted the attention of many nearby diners, who happily treated the drama as entertainment while eating. Hearing He Qiutang say that only made the surrounding discussions grow louder.
Wu Xiaofeng suddenly had no idea how to respond. She felt utterly humiliated.
“Xiaofeng, I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong and upset them? You know I came from the countryside and don’t really understand these things, so… I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
Cui Meili also noticed the change in Wu Xiaofeng’s expression. She absolutely couldn’t let Wu Xiaofeng abandon her. It had been hard enough finding a girl from a good family who was also easy to manipulate.
Wu Xiaofeng didn’t want to listen to the surrounding gossip any longer, so she immediately comforted her.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s not a big deal. Hurry and sit down so we can eat. Didn’t you want some meat? I got extra today, so I can share some with you.”