Chef at the University Canteen-Chapter 459 - 269: Can’t Afford the Meal, Offers Himself Instead
"It was when you asked me to find a few anorexia patients for you. I said, after we’re done with our defense, the four of us will sit down for a meal together."
"Oh, you’re talking about that."
Jiang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Alright, let’s meet the day after tomorrow, and then we can talk to the other two and see what they think."
After a pause, he added, "I don’t have a problem with it, it’s just up to them whether they have time."
Hu Zhihai muttered under his breath, "It’s just a meal, how long could it take?"
"Alright, don’t I know you?"
Jiang Yu raised his hand and patted Hu Zhihai’s shoulder, smirking,
"A get-together is an excuse; you just want to go to the second floor to eat something nice!"
There were four people in Jiang Yu’s dormitory. Besides Jiang Yu and Hu Zhihai, the other two classmates had already moved out last summer. One was preparing for civil service exams, and the other was reviewing for graduate school exams.
In this dormitory, Jiang Yu was only close to Hu Zhihai, and his relationship with the other two was at most that of classmates. They could chat and eat together usually, without too much friction, but there wasn’t any deep friendship.
For instance, since Jiang Yu opened "Jiang’s Soup Dumpling Shop" in the Second Dining Hall last year and now operates in the Seventh Dining Hall, the other two, however busy with their studies they might be, couldn’t have missed it, yet they never once visited Jiang Yu.
Now that a year has almost passed, Jiang Yu and Hu Zhihai still don’t know whether they passed the graduate school and civil service exams.
This shows that their dormitory relationship isn’t that great either.
With this dorm relationship, Hu Zhihai is talking about a dorm-mate reunion...
If Jiang Yu believed him, it would be strange!
Unfazed by being exposed, Hu Zhihai argued confidently,
"You can’t say it like that, we’ve been roommates for four years; that’s fate!
It’s like with boyfriends and girlfriends, even if they break up, they should part on good terms. Having a ’farewell meal’ isn’t over the top, right?"
Saying this, he turned to ask Lu Shuwu,
"Xiaowu, tell us, is it too much to have a ’farewell meal’ after a breakup?"
After speaking, he didn’t forget to wink at Lu Shuwu, constantly making faces.
"..."
Lu Shuwu looked at Jiang Yu, then at Hu Zhihai, before smirking and saying,
"Why are you asking me, a single guy? What are you thinking?"
"..."
Hu Zhihai was dumbfounded, shaking his head in disbelief, sighing,
"At our age, do you still feel proud being single?
Sigh! The world is really changing for the worse, people are not what they used to be!"
Lu Shuwu: "???"
"..."
Jiang Yu couldn’t help but glance at him disdainfully, saying,
"Alright, hurry up and get back to studying in the library. Instead of wasting time chatting with us, you’d better go back and memorize a few more words!"
"Alright, alright! I’m leaving!"
Seeing this, Hu Zhihai wasted no time, slung his bag over his shoulder, and said while walking out,
"Let’s keep the reunion idea for now, I’ll ask the other two about it later."
...
In the dining area of the Second Dining Hall, the lights were bright, and various food aromas filled the air.
Although it was already dinner time, the hall wasn’t very crowded. Scattered among the dense seating arrangement, a few dozen students sat, each absorbed in their phones, eating absentmindedly.
It’s still fresh in memory when "Jiang’s Soup Dumpling" shop was open, the Second Dining Hall was always packed at meal times, bustling with jostling crowds, not unlike a market at three or four in the morning.
Back then, those were the glory days of the Second Dining Hall, even the employees at stir-fry stalls were "complaining" about how tiring it was with so many customers.
But after the opening of the Seventh Dining Hall and the withdrawal of "Jiang’s Soup Dumpling" shop, the once-crowded scene seemed like a thing of the past, or maybe a fleeting dream; in the blink of an eye, everything was laid bare.
The prosperity belonged to others, the excitement was others’ too.
Desolation was the reality of the Second Dining Hall, and all other dining halls except the Seventh.
In a corner of the dining area of the Second Dining Hall, Wang Xueyi and He Tao sat facing each other, chatting while casually picking at their food.
The two of them were Jiang Yu and Hu Zhihai’s roommates.
Back in last year’s summer, Wang Xueyi and He Tao moved out of the dormitory to live off-campus during summer.
Wang Xueyi planned to focus on reviewing to get into the philosophy department’s postgraduate program at Jingcheng University for further studies.
Philosophy degrees are rare in Huaxia, with only about seventy undergrad programs available, and Jingcheng University’s philosophy department ranks first among universities.
In comparison, Jiang University’s philosophy department ranks much lower, only hitting the median.
Wang Xueyi’s usual academic performance was decent, and he’s quite ambitious. Since he decided to pursue graduate studies, naturally he aimed for a better university.
For this reason, he moved out last summer to rent a place that offered a quiet, comfortable environment for his exam review.
However, Wang Xueyi underestimated the fierce competition for entering the Jing University philosophy department. Despite his half-year effort and passing the initial exam, he ultimately got eliminated in the retests by stronger candidates.
