Jiang Yu couldn’t be bothered to care how much he ate; after all, trying to stop him was futile. After exiting the private room, he planned to pass through the dining area to head to the second floor for a shower.
It was alti, and the dining area was packed, noisy, and even the aisles were crowded, people shoulder to shoulder. Getting through required so effort.
Jiang Yu followed behind the crowd, inching forward step by step, with the occasional snippets of students’ conversations reaching his ears:
"Hey, I heard that the cafeteria was opened by Jiang Yu from our year in the Philosophy Departnt. That guy sounds familiar—a tall, slender, and pretty good-looking dude. I never thought he had such skills!"
"Maybe he was just low-key before? Besides, look at his cafeteria now—it’s so popular, but he doesn’t flaunt it. Right? If it were soone else, they’d be bragging all over campus, wanting everyone to know!"
"I used to tutor with Jiang Yu. Hey, I never imagined this guy could cook so well!"
"I regret it every ti I eat here. Had I known there was such a tasty cafeteria on campus, I wouldn’t have worked outside for a year! I would’ve stayed, prepped for grad school exams, and enjoyed delicious als every day!"
"..."
Listening to the chatter around him, Jiang Yu quickly deduced that they were students from the sa year. There might even be a few he knew.
Jiang Yu couldn’t help but smile. He felt no disturbance in his heart and waited for the crowd to move slowly forward. At the stairs, he stepped up, "thump thump thump," quickly reaching the second floor.
Once upstairs, his ears were suddenly quiet. He couldn’t help but exhale deeply and walked straight ahead.
It was Saturday, and the Seventh Dining Hall had a break day on the second floor as well. The place was empty, cold, and deserted, with not a soul in sight.
Most of the upstairs staff chose to rest today and work tomorrow. As for Du Guangning, Pei Guofu, and others, due to the increased dining flow lately, they voluntarily ca to help.
Jiang Yu went to the kitchen’s back resting area, pulled a clean set of clothes from the room’s cabinet, and quickly took a shower in the bathroom.
After changing clothes, he hesitated briefly and finally took out a pair of shoes he hadn’t worn in a long ti. He picked up a rag, dabbed it with so water, and wiped the dust off the shoes before putting them on.
This pair of shoes was bought by his grandma with money she saved from collecting scraps after Jiang Yu passed the college entrance exam. He only wore them once on the first day of enrollnt and has kept them in the shoebox ever since.
Now that he was about to graduate, he thought he’d wear them one more ti.
It seed fitting to finish as he started.
Changing into his clothes, he pondered for a mont, then retrieved a printed copy of his graduation thesis from the drawer before heading downstairs.
It wasn’t yet eight o’clock when Jiang Yu returned to the private room, only to find Hu Zhihai still eating, making him almost laugh in disbelief:
"You must be the reincarnation of Zhu Bajie! I’ve gone upstairs, showered, and co back down, and you’re still eating!"
"I eat slowly; is that a problem?"
Hu Zhihai pouted and muttered, "Sitting here with nothing to do, it’s boring just waiting around, right?"
Saying this, he picked up a duck paw and blissfully gnawed on it.
"The way you eat, I’m guessing you’ll hit three hundred pounds soon."
Jiang Yu sat down on the opposite sofa, shook his head, and said,
"I hope your parents don’t bla for fattening you up."
"Don’t worry; after my grad exams, I’ll work out at the gym, and all this fat will be gone."
Hu Zhihai hesitated mid-sentence, suddenly rembering sothing, and quickly changed the topic,
"Lao Jiang, I forgot to tell you. Last night I ran into Lao Wang and Lao He on my way back from evening self-study."
Jiang Yu looked up at him and asked, "And then?"
"I chatted with them casually, but for so reason, they seed a bit strange."
Hu Zhihai paused his chewing, frowned for a mont, and shook his head,
"Originally, I wanted to ntion our dorm reunion to them, but seeing how they were, I held back."
"I thought you had so amazing discovery."
Jiang Yu leaned back on the sofa, pouted, and said,
"Hurry up and eat. It’s almost eight, and if you’re late for the defense, you’ll be crying."
"Alright, alright, I’m done eating."
Hu Zhihai picked up the century egg and lean at porridge from the coffee table, gulped it down, and took the last duck paw, stood up, and with an excited expression, said to Jiang Yu,
"Let’s go, let’s go! Ti to attend the graduation thesis defense. I can’t wait any longer!"
Jiang Yu glanced at him, noticing the thesis in his left hand and a braised duck paw in his right. Feeling at a loss, he shook his head helplessly, didn’t say much, opened the private room door, and quickly walked out.
Better stay far away from this chubby guy, can’t afford to lose face!
The distance from the Seventh Dining Hall to the School of Humanities was not insignificant, and the glaring sun overhead made them a bit dizzy. As a result, they didn’t speak much and hurried silently, reaching the School of Humanities in less than ten minutes.
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