Chapter 33: It takes time to get used to each other The person in charge of selling meal tickets is an old lady who is very busy at the moment. Like a conductor on a bus, she had a waist bag slung around her waist, which was bulging with various coins. On the small table in front of me were two different colored receipts, the pink one was for lunch, and the cyan one was for dinner. Xu Cailing was in front and she bought first. "How many do you want?" "Five lunch tickets!" "Twelve dollars and a half." "it is good." Xu Cailing took out the twelve dollars and fifty cents that she had prepared in advance from her pocket and handed it to her. The ticket seller quickly handed her five small pink receipts. Generally speaking, if students are sure to stay in school for lunch, few will buy tickets one by one. Most of them will just buy tickets for a week, that is, from Monday to Friday, so they don't have to queue up to buy tickets every day.
After getting the tickets, Xu Cailing stood aside and waited for the three of them. After her came Liu Zhiyi. Unlike Xu Cailing who was used to putting the change directly in her pocket, Liu Zhiyi had a very delicate little wallet. She unzipped her wallet and took out a ten-dollar bill and a five-dollar bill from the change inside. "Five, for noon." "Take it." The ticket seller quickly selected five pink tickets and handed them to her in change of two dollars and fifty cents. In the end, Fang Wei and A Sheng did the same thing and bought five lunch tickets at a time. But it has been a long time since I used meal tickets to buy meals. Fang Wei felt a little nostalgic when he held the meal ticket in his hand. The paper ticket is not much different from the bus ticket. In the middle are three big words "Lunch Ticket", and the validity date of each ticket is printed below. It cannot be used in advance or after the expiration date. It can only be used on the date. Of course, if you are busy on a certain day and don’t need the ticket, and someone else happens to need it, you can transfer the ticket to other students at any time. After getting the meal ticket, you can go to the cafeteria to buy meals. The cafeteria is not big. The front is where you get your meals, and the back is filled with rows of simple dining tables. There is no window for getting food, just four large stainless steel basins, and there are two aunties serving food, one for rice and the other for dishes. The dishes are fixed and there is no choice, but the canteen changes the menu for the day from Monday to Friday. Fang Wei and three other students all brought lunch boxes with them, not because they liked to use their own lunch boxes, but because the cafeteria did not have public tableware. All students who came to the cafeteria to eat had to bring their own tableware and were responsible for cleaning up after eating. Therefore, students who are more particular will specially buy a stainless steel lunch box outside, while students who are not so particular can just buy a large stainless steel dining bowl. The four-member team from Pineapple Island arrived late. After entering the cafeteria, they waited in line for a while before it was finally their turn to get their meals. I looked into the four large stainless steel bowls with great interest: the bowl on the far left contained white rice, and the other three were vegetable bowls, containing three dishes, namely braised fish fillets, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and shredded potatoes with vinegar. This is the cafeteria's menu today. In later times, if you can have a meal like this for $, it would definitely be a huge profit, but with prices generally not high now, these dishes can only be said to be average. But compared to outside, they are still slightly more affordable. If you buy it outside, fast food would probably cost around $.
"Girl, give me the lunch box and meal ticket first, I'll make you some food first." Seeing Xu Cailing handing the lunch box to the auntie who was serving the food, the auntie reminded her. "oh oh!" "Is it enough?" The auntie who served the food took her meal ticket and put it in a paper box beside her. Then she took her lunch box and gave her a spoonful of white rice. "Um, can you have a little more?" "Sure, as long as you can eat it." "I can eat that!" Maybe because she exercises a lot, Xu Cailing eats more than many girls, but her body metabolism is faster. Many times she feels full, but she is hungry again soon. She never gains weight and always has thin arms and legs. The auntie who served her the meal was not stingy and added another half spoonful. After serving her the meal, she handed her lunch box to the auntie who was in charge of serving the dishes next to her. The auntie who served the food was quite young, but unfortunately she had a problem with shaking hands. With one spoonful of the braised fish pieces, she shook it down to only half a spoonful. This brought out the expression from joy to sorrow on Xu Cailing's face to the extreme. There were no compartments in the lunch box, and the dishes were placed on top of the white rice. After finishing the three dishes, the white rice mixed with the soup from the dishes was quite satisfying to hold in my hands. When it came to Liu Zhiyi, she couldn't eat so much white rice. The spoonful of rice given by the auntie was just enough for her, and there might be one or two mouthfuls left. The girl from the big city was not too picky about the three dishes. They were all normal home-cooked dishes. Even when she lived in the city, her mother probably cooked these dishes. Naturally, there was nothing to complain about. Fang Wei, A Sheng and Cai Ling have similar appetites, all of them eat about one and a half spoonfuls of white rice. If they use the bowls at home, they would probably eat about two bowls. "Fang Wei, should we eat in the classroom or in the cafeteria?" Xu Cailing asked after everyone had finished their meal. "See if there's any seat in the cafeteria. If not, go upstairs and eat." There were still seats available. Fang Wei took a quick glance and saw an empty table in the corner. The four of them then took their lunch boxes and went over to eat. Fang Wei and A Sheng sat on one side, Xu Cailing and Liu Zhiyi sat on the other. Fang Wei, Cailing and A Sheng have known each other since childhood, so there is naturally no restraint when eating together. On the contrary, they feel more comfortable and relaxed eating with their friends than eating with their parents. Liu Zhiyi seemed much more reserved. She sat upright and did not eat first. Only when she saw the other three start eating did she start to pick up her chopsticks. "The Ultimate Unbeatable Bibimbap!!" Ah Sheng said something in a childish tone, and then used chopsticks to mix the dishes and rice in the lunch box together. He loved eating rice this way since he was a child. The rice absorbed enough soup and the taste was even richer. But soon, the silly boy suffered a bitter experience, because the dish contained braised fish cubes. In the end, not only did he not enjoy the meal, but he also had to pick out the fish bones mixed in the rice bit by bit... "Ah Sheng, are you a pig? Can you eat more politely?" "Look at what you said. My dad said that if you are not active in eating, there is something wrong with your thinking!" "Look, he's very considerate, he's very polite when eating, don't you understand elegance?" "Xu Cailing, you have no right to say that to me!"
"what?" Liu Zhiyi obviously didn't pay attention to their conversation. She just seemed to have heard her own name. The tip of her chopsticks was still against her lips, and she blinked in confusion. "It's okay, Zhiyi, are you used to the food here?" Xu Cailing asked. "Yeah, it's delicious." Liu Zhiyi nodded, like a ruthless eating machine. When no one talked to her, she ate without saying a word. Although she ate very slowly, she kept moving her little mouth while eating like a little hamster. "So what kind of food do you usually eat in the city?" Xu Cailing asked curiously, she was never quiet while eating, as if the meal would be wasted if she didn't talk. She also had a special talent, she could even chat while eating fish, and then her flexible little tongue stirred in her mouth, accurately spitting out the bones in the fish. “That’s all the dishes.” “Is all seafood sold inland very expensive?” "Well, other meats are cheaper." "Sure enough, it's the opposite of where we are!" "Ah." "So what's your favorite dish?" "Braised pork." Braised pork made by my father. "I like it too! But I rarely eat it." Although Xu Cailing looked careless and chattering, she was actually very thoughtful. For some reason, she felt that after Liu Zhiyi finished talking about the braised pork dish, the expression on his face seemed to dim a little, and his eyes were a little absent-minded. For a moment, she was a little unsure of what was wrong with Liu Zhiyi... Oh no... Could it be that my mention of the braised pork made Zhiyi think of her parents? Damn it! Seeing Xu Cailing suddenly fall silent, Liu Zhiyi looked at her in surprise. He didn't know what happened to her suddenly and why she looked even sadder than himself... ? No matter what, Cai Ling is currently the person closest to her in the class. Even though their personalities are completely different, their feelings can be sensed. Liu Zhiyi, who was never good at speaking, didn't know what to do, so he took the initiative to start a conversation with her for the first time: "Cai Ling, can you cook?" Seeing that the silent Liu Zhiyi finally spoke, Xu Cailing was shocked and said hurriedly: "I can do it! How about you?" "You are so amazing. I, I just can't do that..." "Haha, it's nothing, I just know how to..." "You only know how to cook white rice!" Ah Sheng finally found an opportunity to hit his best friend hard, and he felt very happy. Xu Cailing glared at him unhappily, "That's better than knowing nothing at all!" "What are you talking about? Why can he do everything? Not only can he cook, he can also make dishes!" "What does Fang Wei have to do with you?" "We are cousins. If he knows, then I can do it." "Just go ahead!" …… The slightly uncomfortable atmosphere finally returned to its original relaxed state.
Fang Wei also breathed a sigh of relief. He had seen the reactions of Xu Cailing and Liu Zhiyi just now. When he saw that the atmosphere was not right, he was ready to change the topic to resolve it, but he did not expect that the two girls would resolve the awkwardness naturally by themselves. I can't help but sigh, you two are such a perfect match! As the most mature elder brother in the team, Fang Wei would not actively interfere with their interactions with each other in most cases. After all, friendship is something that is developed through gradual adjustment between each other. People who are suitable to be friends will become friends sooner or later, while people who are not suitable to be friends will drift apart sooner or later if they just barely maintain this atmosphere. The most important thing is that everyone's three views are consistent. At the dinner table, the topic gradually shifted from food to other topics, and everyone talked about the class leader election in the afternoon class meeting. "Zhiyi, did your school also select class leaders in this way before?" Xu Cailing asked curiously. "Well, sometimes the teacher appoints them, and sometimes you can run for election yourself." "Have you ever been a class leader before?" "No." "Do you want to participate in the election this afternoon? We will all vote for you!" Xu Cailing urged eagerly. "No." Liu Zhiyi shook her head without any thought. She knew that with her personality, she was definitely not suitable to be a class leader. As for things like class leaders, regardless of their grades, at least they have to be good at communicating with teachers and students... When it comes to communication, she gets a headache. Seeing that Liu Zhiyi refused straightforwardly, Xu Cailing stopped encouraging her and raised her head to ask Fang Wei: "Fang Wei, what do you think?" "Hmm? What do I think?" Fang Wei spoke the least during the meal. Most of the time he was listening and leisurely enjoying his lunch. "It's about electing class leaders. Do you want to participate in the election?" "Why, you're so interested? Do you want to run for election?" Fang Wei didn't answer her, but just asked her back with a smile. Xu Cailing couldn't hide things in her heart, and most of the time, her thoughts were clearly written on her face. "hey-hey." It was a rare moment for Xu Cailing to smile shyly. "Tell me, what kind of class leader do you want to be?" "It's nothing." "Well, we will all vote for you." "Then remember to vote for me! Otherwise, if no one votes for me, I will be so embarrassed..." Xu Cailing hurriedly asked her three friends to give her a guarantee. Fang Weizhiyi, Asheng and the other two quickly took sides and said that they would definitely vote for her. "That's good." Xu Cailing finally felt relieved and said boldly: "It's nothing, I just want to be the sports committee member!" Excuse! Sports Committee?
A girl serving as sports commissioner? This is so fresh! (End of this chapter)