My Demon Friends-Chapter 504 - 483 Monday

"If you want dumplings, come and get them yourself!"

"Okay~~"

"Just serve yourselves the porridge; everyone gets a bowl!" Brother Nan announced, bringing out the entire pot of porridge.

"There’s still so much porridge left," Qian Qian exclaimed in surprise.

"Huai Xu will want some after he’s finished with the dumplings," Brother Nan explained casually. Noticing Tuanzi walking by her feet, she hesitated for a moment before calling out to the little thing, "You don’t need to go; I’ve got yours."

"MEOW?"

Tuanzi immediately stopped and turned back.

Brother Nan’s lips quirked; she hadn’t expected the little creature to actually be going to fetch dumplings. "You’re definitely a little odd..."

"MEOW?"

Zhou Li pursed his lips. "What Brother Nan means is, such trivial matters shouldn’t trouble Lord Dumpling personally."

"MEOW~~"

Mianmian asked, looking at Huai Xu’s large bowl of dumplings, "Is Huai Xu’s stomach a dimensional bag or something?"

"Can Lord Dumpling really understand what we’re saying?" Baozi also asked. She often felt that Tuanzi truly could understand human speech at times. Yet, whenever she was alone with Tuanzi, she became absolutely convinced that Tuanzi was just an ordinary, albeit exceptionally cute, little cat, incapable of understanding human language.

"He has two stomachs, and one’s in his head," Zhou Li said, pointing to his own head as he answered Mianmian’s question.

"She understands human speech perfectly well," Brother Nan replied calmly to Baozi. "It’s this day and age; surely no one still thinks cats and dogs can’t understand humans, right?"

"You’re talking bad about Huai Xu again!" Mianmian frowned.

"..." Baozi remained silent.

"I’m stating the truth," Zhou Li continued, responding to Mianmian. "Otherwise, you can’t explain where all the food he eats goes."

"..."

"Let’s eat quickly."

The group was seated around the table, lively and bustling.

Brother Nan also pushed a small bowl with just two dumplings in front of Tuanzi and told the others, "You’re in for a treat. This is the dumpling seasoning from Old Li’s Family, honed over several years and widely acclaimed. Even though Zhou Li’s place lacks many seasonings, it’s more or less the same. It’s just a pity that the dumplings are bought from the supermarket and not made by our family." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Brother Nan paused, then shrugged. "Actually, it’s not a pity. The ones from the supermarket are tastier than the ones our family makes."

"Uh..."

"Are you sure your dad would be happy to hear you say that?" Zhou Li asked.

"It’s the truth," Brother Nan shrugged and replied. "They’re a publicly listed company; their R&D budget is on a completely different level. In fact, the only dumplings tastier than these frozen ones are those made at home because they’re tailored to our specific tastes, and we don’t skimp on the ingredients. Small restaurants and these frozen food brands have to aim for mainstream flavors and also have to consider costs. So, our only advantage is ’not being frozen’... Besides, the dumplings our family makes really aren’t that great; we mainly make our money from noodles."

"Your family’s Sichuan wontons are delicious," Zhou Li remarked.

"That’s because the broth’s good, made with high-quality stock. Wontons themselves don’t have much flavor..." Brother Nan shook her head, then hurriedly urged, "Eat up, eat up. We’ve all skipped the first class this morning. Are you guys going to the second one?"

"We should."

"Oh my, I almost forgot!"

"I wonder if there was roll call..."

"MEOW..."

Tuanzi looked down at the two dumplings in the bowl, question marks gradually appearing above her little head.

With only two dumplings, even in a small bowl, it looked very empty—the dumplings didn’t even touch each other, with a small gap in between. The broth, barely covering a third of the dumplings, looked visibly sparse.

Tuanzi looked up at Zhou Li and asked again—

"MEOW?"

"Eat up," Zhou Li said, unable to understand her. "If that’s not enough, I’ll get you more."

"MEOW..."

Tuanzi lowered her head, her enthusiasm dampened. Although she had never been to school and couldn’t count, it didn’t mean she had no concept of quantity. At the very least, she understood one, two, three, as well as ’many’ and ’a hundred.’ And two was definitely not a hundred.

「After the meal.」

Cotton Swab diligently went to wash the dishes.

Zhou Li found his backpack and, under Huai Xu’s gaze, went to the living room and pulled open the coffee table drawer.

Baozi followed closely behind, her eyes wide with anticipation.

"That’s enough, cousin..."

"Put in more!"

"That’s enough..."

"Take it back to our dorm to eat together," Zhou Li said as he packed the bag. He remembered Brother Nan seemed to like pork jerky, spicy chicken, and Youyou’s spicy pork skin jelly. He also recalled Brother Nan liked beef jerky, so he packed a lot; these items made up almost half of it.

"..."

Baozi was both touched and embarrassed, and also felt a sense of pressure— Returning the favor in the future would be difficult.

In the end, he packed the backpack full to the brim.

Huai Xu just slumped on the edge of the sofa, motionless, only casting sidelong glances at him and the backpack in his hands.

...

「Afternoon.」

The last pottery class.

Today’s class was the final assessment, which would be based primarily on the pieces the students had made.

Last week, Teacher Zhou had collected the students’ greenware. With the help of a few interested students, she had taken it all to be fired. Brother Nan had even joined in the fun. Today was the day to pick up the finished products.

Everyone’s finished products were stored in a large cardboard box, piled together with little protection.

The students picked up their works one by one, while the teacher graded them.

Zhou Li found that the majority of the students’ works could be summarized in three categories: cups, bowls, and vases.

This was understandable.

All three types were relatively easy to make, considering everyone had only taken three months of classes, with just one session a week at that. To be honest, most students had only learned the basics of pottery making and couldn’t yet claim to have any real skill.

Besides, these three types of items weren’t just mementos; they also had practical uses. Drinking water from a cup you made yourself somehow made the water taste sweeter.

It was just that some students had drawn hearts on their cups, which was rather infuriating.

Some students managed to make even such simple items turn out terribly, mostly those who hadn’t attended class regularly. For these students, the teacher patiently explained the technical points: what mistakes they made, where the problems lay, how to correct them, and so on. Then, she would lower her head, mark a passing grade in her notebook, and call the next student.

Brother Nan was an expert at playing with clay and would occasionally come to Zhou Li’s place to practice, so her technique was quite good.

She had made a teapot with a top handle, which looked antique and classy among the many student pieces.

The teacher gave her full marks.

Zhou Li’s piece was even more impressive. He had made a figurine of a squatting cat, modeled after Tuanzi’s most common pose, and it was quite lifelike. Teacher Zhou hadn’t taught the class pottery figure techniques; he had learned it online, combining it with his woodcarving experience.

Teacher Zhou had been surprised last week, and looking at it now, she was still very surprised.

Still full marks.

Huai Xu, on the other hand, had made a three-legged round Ding vessel. Its design was very ingenious. With the lid on, it resembled a chubby toad.

It might not have looked as complex as Zhou Li’s squatting cat figurine, but while laymen only see the surface, experts can discern the true skill involved. Teacher Zhou was almost instantly captivated by this round Ding. The more she examined it, the more she appreciated its unique form and clever design.

It even possessed a certain Western Han Dynasty charm.

Teacher Zhou was amazed.

For the other students, this was undoubtedly a crushing display of skill. Huai Xu’s work wasn’t just on another level; it was many, many levels above theirs. If she hadn’t known for sure it was her student’s work, she might have suspected it was the creation of a Master.

"You are very talented. You should continue down this path," Teacher Zhou told Huai Xu. "I’m serious. You have exceptional talent, and I don’t want to see you waste it."

"Oh."

"Even though you’re not an enrolled student in my class, just auditing, I’m still giving you full marks. There’s no higher score I could give."

"Thank you, Teacher..."

Huai Xu, holding his work, returned to Zhou Li’s side and asked him in a low voice, "If I take this Ding to that old town to sell, do you think anyone would buy it for ten yuan?"

"If I inscribe an array on it, it could sell for millions," Zhou Li said. "Maybe even more."

"That’s not the same..."

"Then?"

"Here, take it!" Huai Xu stuffed the Little Ding into his hands and reminded him, "Remember to transfer the money you make to me, and then I won’t be angry anymore."

"What are you angry about?"

"It’s hidden anger."

"What hidden weapon?"

"The hidden anger about this morning’s snacks," Huai Xu patiently repeated, word by word.

"Ah, I see."

Zhou Li thought that wasn’t a bad idea.

But it turned out that the Old monster was just a trickster. When Zhou Li got home that evening, he found another version of himself. According to the Old monster, it had transformed into his likeness to use his Alipay for restocking its snack supply.