Chapter 373: 372
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In the following days, Jiang Feng reverted to his previous madness of practicing the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon relentlessly. The scents of pigeon and sea cucumber mingled on him, and even after changing clothes in the locker room, the smell hardly dissipated, earning him the kitchen crew’s nickname of “the walking sea cucumber stewed pigeon.”
Perhaps due to Jiang Feng’s slaughter of too many squabs these days, Jiang Jiankang, who was obsessed with researching fried rice, suddenly had an inspiration to develop squab marinated vegetable fried rice.
The result was, naturally, self-evident, with a lethality comparable to that of the Stargazer sect from England.
The first taste tester, Mrs. Wang Xiulian, commented, “Jiang Jiankang, have you lost your mind? Using pigeon meat for fried rice, why don’t you fry some sea cucumber rice instead?”
Then Jiang Feng noticed that Jiang Jiankang’s gaze on the sea cucumbers turned odd.
Jiang Feng believed his dad was beyond saving, doomed to be beaten to death either by Mrs. Wang Xiulian or by the two Sirs.
Everyone must eventually die, whether by a duel or a beating.
On the evening of September 5, Jiang Feng parted ways with Wu Minqi at the train station.
“Qiqi, I got up this morning and made the dough. If you want to use it for noodles or something else, you should do it tonight. Don’t leave it overnight. If you don’t want to use it, just take it to my uncle; he’ll make noodles out of it,” Jiang Feng reminded her.
“Okay, I know. Be careful on your way, and send me a message when you arrive,” Wu Minqi waved to Jiang Feng, watching him check in at the station.
Red Chef Jiang Feng, living a monotonous life back and forth between home and Taifeng Building, occasionally wanted to rebel a bit and practice the lighter art of making dough to relax and change his mood.
Now his dough-making skills were quite impressive, completely meeting Jiang Jianguo’s standard of “three shines.” Jiang Feng planned to find a time after his return to coax Jiang Jianguo into teaching him the art of noodle pulling.
By the time the game update was complete, his noodle-pulling technique would likely be perfected, and then, sauce-fried noodles would be a snap to make. Once the crab and orange season arrived, he would practice making crab-stuffed oranges, and soon, Taifeng Building’s menu would feature a brand new set meal unique to Jiang Feng.
As for why crab-stuffed oranges and sauce-fried noodles should be sold as a set meal, Jiang Feng still hadn’t come up with a reason.
Jiang Feng arrived early to the station, about 40 minutes before checking in. Not wanting to sit idly on the train and waste time, he bought a sleeper ticket on a K-series train for the evening so he could sleep and arrive refreshed.
During the tedious wait in the waiting room, Jiang Feng started to banter with Wang Hao over WeChat.
Jiang Feng: Hao, have you arrived at the dorm? Have you cleaned it?
Wang Hao: Not yet, Feng. I’m waiting for you, aren’t I? We’ll clean together when you get back tomorrow!
Jiang Feng: ???
Wang Hao: [Picture]
Jiang Feng clicked on the picture. It showed a complete mess, with broken tiles scattered all over the floor, and the remaining tiles bulging, obviously due to moisture causing the damage.
Jiang Feng: Whose dorm is that? That’s so unlucky. Cleaning that up must be a nightmare.
Wang Hao: It’s our dorm, man. I went home to stay for the night. Let’s clean it together when you come tomorrow, Feng.
Jiang Feng: ???
???
Jiang Feng put down his phone, feeling he should go buy a rolling pin before getting on the train.
You must think I can’t tell that those smashed tiles in the picture are by the door. Obviously, you, my boy, smashed them when you opened the door.
…
After a long night on the train, Jiang Feng was disoriented and exhausted. Dragging his suitcase, his hair in a mess like a chicken’s nest, he descended from the train and took the subway back to school.
He was lucky enough to find a huge shoe print on the blanket of his sleeper bunk. After spending some time fixing up the blanket ready for sleep, Jiang Feng was startled to find that the big brother sleeping next to him had a snore that could shake the heavens, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to describe it as thunderous. After struggling for an hour to get used to the snores, Jiang Feng was just about to fall asleep when he heard the sound of someone grinding teeth from the upper bunk.
Sounds full of longing and complaint, like weeping and pleading, continued to echo long after they began.
That’s how Jiang Feng stayed awake until dawn.
Back in the dorm, Jiang Feng saw a complete mess, a dusty table, and half a cup of coffee that had naturally evaporated, left by Wang Hao before his departure. Worst of all, the cup was Jiang Feng’s.
Jiang Feng dropped his luggage at the door, stood there calmly for a moment, then went to the back door to buy a rolling pin.
When Wang Hao returned to school happily after having breakfast at home, he opened the dorm door only to see his beloved and respected Feng, with dark circles under his eyes and a dazed look, hair like a bird’s nest, resembling a murderer, sitting on a chair with a rolling pin in hand, smiling thinly at him.
Wang Hao’s legs went weak on the spot.
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“Feng, listen to me, actually these…”
“Dog Thief Watch the Stick!”
Half an hour later, after wiping down the table, washing the cups, and tidying up the tiles on the floor, he was standing next to Jiang Feng, grinning even more brightly than the greeters at Taifeng Building, utterly obsequious, with Jiang Feng sitting and him standing.
“Feng, are you satisfied with my cleaning?”
Jiang Feng didn’t think Wang Hao was the kind of person to give in just because of a rolling pin, especially since the new one he had bought was much thinner than the one Wang Hao had hidden away.
“What are you trying to say?” Jiang Feng asked, suspicious.
“Do you love me?”
“No, get lost, I’m not into that!”
“Feng, you’ve changed, you’ve forgotten your bros now that you have a wife, you weren’t like this before, you’ve truly broken my heart.” Wang Hao struck a melodramatic hand-over-heart pose, feigning extreme distress.
“Why do I need brothers when I have a wife?” Jiang Feng asked, as if questioning the meaning of life.
Wang Hao, upon hearing this, felt it made sense and stopped acting. He shifted a chair and sat down, pulling several test papers from the also-not-completely-cleaned table.
“Feng, save the kid, please!”
“Impersonating a child is illegal.”
“Feng, save the fatty, please!”
“In our family, anyone under 200 pounds isn’t called fat.”
Wang Hao: …
It’s really hard for me to continue the conversation when you’re being so argumentative.
Jiang Feng felt that being argumentative is fun momentarily, but always being argumentative is forever fun.
Jiang Feng took the test papers from Wang Hao’s hand, glanced over them, and realized they were all related to “Optical Information Processing”.
“What’s this? Past year papers? Have you finished reading your book that you are already doing these?” Jiang Feng asked.
Wang Hao, with an air of mystery, looked around, then stealthily drew the curtains and shut the door as if he were a member of the underground meeting in secret: “Make-up exam papers.”
Jiang Feng was surprised. Wang Hao had such a skill—not to mention how many gifts he must’ve given out over the summer break.
“6 make-up exam papers?” Jiang Feng was skeptical.
“It’s inside information, but I think it’s absolutely reliable. It’s said that this year’s make-up exam will be drawn from these 6 papers, with 70% of the original questions. So as long as I can nail these 6 papers within 10 days, I will definitely pass my make-up exam!” Wang Hao was full of confidence.
Jiang Feng returned the papers to Wang Hao: “Then you better start writing, why give them to me? I’m not the one retaking exams.”
“About that…” Wang Hao grinned in a foxy manner, excitedly rubbing his hands together, “Feng, see, I can’t write these, so I’m gonna need you to finish them and explain the steps in detail, so I can memorize them.”
Jiang Feng: …
Seriously, big brother, why are you even in a science and engineering major instead of studying literature?
“I won’t write it.” Jiang Feng refused on the spot.
“Emperor Father, save your son!” Wang Hao grabbed Jiang Feng’s arm, his voice desperate and filled with sorrow.
Jiang Feng: …
Honestly, among all the people he knew, Jiang Feng admired Wang Hao the most. When asking favors, Wang Hao could act like a Crown Prince, and the moment he got what he wanted, he’d turn the tables and crown himself emperor.
“I’ll only write the essays.”
“Thank you, Emperor Father!”
Jiang Feng could never have imagined that the first thing he’d do upon returning to school was to help his roommate with test papers.
And to do it over a desk that hadn’t even been completely cleaned of dust.
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