Ch22.1 - Becoming Popular (Part One)

Because of the popularity of his reply showing his balcony, more and more users on the Small Farmers’ Q & A began noticing Cui QiChao, and many more replies appeared underneath his post that said he was giving out free seeds. Some immediately asked for some seeds without any questions and left their contact information, while others first asked Cui QiChao about the specific circumstances of the chili pepper seeds.

And so, Cui QiChao saw a sudden surge of attention to his post. He didn’t treat the respondents as coldly as he had treated the producers of those food shows. Instead, he wrote a detailed reply, saying that this was a chili pepper cultivated and bred in Nanhai province and that at present, the experimental results showed that compared with a certain kind of chili pepper on the market, the yield was significantly higher, the chances of the plant falling sick was lower, and so on.

He also explained that he was a private breeder, so he needed the netizens’ help with regional testing.

In general, it was the various institutions in the agricultural industry such as the universities specializing in agricultural science, the research stations and agricultural universities, and the experts in the field that bred new plant varieties. However, there were always exceptions. The common people also had their own breeding methods, some of which were able to achieve some gratifying results. 

Cui QiChao first demonstrated his farming skills through his balcony crops, as well as the speed and accuracy of his answers in the Q & A forum. Regardless of whether there was a group of people behind him or not, since he claimed that the yield was a lot higher than a certain variety, there naturally wouldn’t be a lack of people wanting to test it for themselves.

Now, Cui QiChao wasn’t just a nameless netizen but a new popular user of the Small Farmers’ Q & A.

Not only would many people be willing to request and test his seeds, but they also wouldn’t simply skim through the answers he provided in the Small Farmers’ Q & A anymore. Instead, they would now refer to them with a serious attitude. Although this great god didn’t have any qualifications or certifications on his profile, the accuracy rate of his past answers had proved his strength.

Cui QiChao read through the replies of the users who were willing to try planting his seeds, selected some of them based on their locations, and contacted them to establish further communication.

There was also a certifiedcertification expert on Small Farmers’ Q & A requesting to test his seeds. He had sent Cui QiChao a short message to confirm whether he was privately breeding the chili peppers or not. He also asked what his job was and what he was currently working on.

Cui QiChao responded, “I’m with CU in Nanhai province.”

It took the other party some time before they sent a reply. They had obviously gone to look up CU. But after doing so, they only grew more confused. “Why is it that when I looked up CU, some results say that the full name of the university is CX University, while others say that it’s CX Agricultural University. Which one is your school, and what relationship does it have with Nanhai Agricultural University? And are you a teacher at that school?”

The mention of CX Agricultural University also stunned Cui QiChao. “You got it wrong. CU is CU, and Nanhai Agricultural University is Nanhai Agricultural University. CX Agricultural University shouldn’t exist. Also, I’m not a teacher. I just plant crops here and there.” 

The other party thought that Cui QiChao was deliberately prevaricating. There was clearly a connection between CU and CX Agricultural University. And what did he mean by growing crops at the school?

Experts didn’t always pay attention to what was trending on the internet. They merely speculated that behind the veil shrouding this account could lie a young scholar from a university. Today’s young’uns liked to be mysterious, and judging from the contemporary aesthetic of his balcony setup, he should be a young man.

Speaking of contemporary aesthetics, Cui QiChao’s snapshot of his balcony had spread to other social networking sites as a god-level example of a balcony.

[This is the talent of Chinese people. The skill points in gardening are maxed out! To tell you the truth, the greenhouse at my home isn’t as beautiful as this balcony!] 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

[Have you noticed the signature of the respondent? Hahaha, the descendant of the Divine Farmer.]

[LMAO, I’d rather die than trust this farce.]

[Does anyone recognize which neighborhood this is? I’m going to steal the vegetables there.]

[My mother-in-law also tends to her vegetables on her balcony every day. But looking at our own balcony and comparing it to someone else’s, they aren’t of the same tier!] 

[??? Am I seeing things? Is that pumpkin real? It’s really that big??]

[It’s just a balcony decorated with a Chinese aesthetic. I’ve never seen some of the vegetables in this picture before, but for some reason, I feel an inexplicable urge to set up my balcony too!]

[Don’t bother, everyone. Go skedaddle. You’d need skills to set something like this up.]

“…” 

In fact, Small Farmers’ Q & A was just a non-popular agricultural website with average web traffic. However, this wave of activity had brought them a bunch of new users, who basically made an account on the website solely because of the balcony picture.

Cr rbbc jr atbrf cfk erfgr remmfrroeiis gfulrafgfv, atfs wfcalbcfv Jel HlJtjb’r erfgcjwf jcv jrxfv tlw defralbcr.

[Great god, this is the eggplant from our family’s balcony. How can it grow as big as your eggplants?]

[Divine Farmer’s descendant, can the potatoes that were planted on our classroom’s window sill be saved?] 

[Can you help me plan out how I should arrange the plants so that my balcony can be as beautiful as yours?]

All kinds of questions appeared on Small Farmers’ Q & A. The unusually high traffic attracted the website administrators’ attention.

Helaf j ofk bo atfrf cfk erfgr kfgf jaagjmafv ys atf qlmaegf bg atf lvfj bo qijcalcu nfufajyifr bc atflg yjimbclfr. Kter, lc jvvlalbc ab qjslcu tbwjuf ab Jel HlJtjb, atfs jirb nlrlafv atf batfg qjgar bo atf kfyrlaf ab jrx batfg defralbcr.

Although the way they communicated was quite different from the older users, everyone actually interacted quite harmoniously. Some old users, either professionals growing vegetables in a greenhouse or amateurs growing plants on their balcony, would answer their questions. All was well. 

This wasn’t a bad thing for the website. Although Cui QiChao couldn’t be certified as an expert without the necessary qualifications or certifications, in light of his special contributions, the website decided to upgrade Cui QiChao’s user interface.

The main reason for this was that ordinary users didn’t have the same user interface as the experts. For ordinary users, it wasn’t convenient to view previous questions, and the number of friends they could have was limited. After they helped optimize it, Cui QiChao really experienced a better user experience, so he calmly expressed his thanks.

In addition, Cui QiChao answered all the new questions about balcony planting in his spare time. He even patiently looked for the first picture of his balcony to show the people who were asking him for it.

For Cui QiChao, this became his journal, where he recorded his planting process. He also took pictures of the school’s vegetable fields. 

As for the majority of the netizens, witnessing the way he built, planted, and grew crops gave them the urge to do the same thing themselves.

At the very beginning, only a pot of artificial flowers could be seen on his bare balcony. Thereafter, the artificial flowers were replaced with chili peppers, placed onto the shelves. Then more and more flowerpots and vertical racks were set up to allow the plants to sprout, grow, and bloom.

In more than ten pictures, the balcony had undergone earth-shaking changes. The balcony was now filled with greenery, covering the whole space. Within the vibrant greens bloomed shades of red, white, yellow, purple, and other colors.

There were also more easter eggs hidden within the pictures. 

[This is a freshly picked pumpkin. There are also some chili peppers, garlic, eggplants, and leafy greens that I’m using at home to make dinner.]

Eggplant with minced meat and some chili pepper. The eggplant was extremely plump, and after oil was added, one could imagine its texture and taste. Next to it was a plate of fresh leafy greens to relieve the greasiness.

The rest of the meat and also some pumpkin were used to make a cat’s meal. Cui QiChao didn’t appear in the picture, but XiaoBai was photographed eating its cat meal.

This reply post had been sent together with his planting process, so many people went to take a look at it. 

These pictures showing his planting process revealed his real and grounded experience as a farmer. This was especially evident since the vegetables at the back had been picked and stir-fried into a dish, forming a complete cycle.

[Not only does the respondent have so many vegetables, but he also has a cat!!]

[My family also has a balcony. Now it’s only short of a cat and some seeds.]

[I think the Chinese talent in my genes is about to awaken. Okay, I’m going to buy flower pots!] 

In addition, some people had requested for Cui QiChao to open a Weibo to record his farming process and the like. But Cui QiChao refused. He thought that it was good enough for him to answer questions in Small Farmers’ Q & A. During his free time, he could answer some questions and give some seeds.

.

Since the beginning of summer vacation, President Cui had been urging Cui QiChao to go home to see his parents. He said, “It’s already the holidays. Aren’t you going back?”

As soon as President Cui mentioned this, Cui QiChao’s face became melancholic. He didn’t respond. 

With a sigh, President Cui felt that he might have relapsed again. Maybe his parents had put too much pressure on him. He couldn’t say anything in response to that, so he changed the topic. “Well… You’ve done a good job. We’re hosting an open house soon, and many students and parents have called to ask whether they could eat in the first canteen during their visit.”

Students who wished to study at CU in the future and their parents would come visit during the open house, and during this activity, some summer camp activities would be held as well. CU would welcome them all throughout the holidays. They specially set aside this period of time for the open house because after all, there were fewer people in school during summer vacation.

Many people expressed their interest in visiting this year, so President Cui was a little suspicious. Disregarding the surge in enrollees, would people come here just to eat a meal in the canteen? After all, his nephew had always insisted on not opening the canteen to the public. This would be a great opportunity for them to come to the canteen for a meal.

Cui QiChao maintained his expression. “There shouldn’t be any problem supplying food for all the visitors, but you need to inform me in advance. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be easy for me to estimate the amount of food that the staff has to cook.” 

President Cui felt slightly emotional. Speaking of which, CU had been trending recently because of the canteen. Nowadays, whenever he went out and saw other people, especially those from the younger generation who love to surf the Internet, they would be discussing CU. Aside from CU being a national key university, they would be discussing that meme about “taking CU’s university entrance examination for the sake of CU’s canteen”.

His nephew had done a good job. President Cui couldn’t help but feel a little proud that he was his nephew. After all, he managed to accomplish the goal of the admissions office by running a canteen.

A few days later, it was time for the open house to begin. Many students and parents went in and out of CU.

And President Cui was right. A considerable percentage of the people who had signed up for this year’s visit came to the first canteen, which had been trending this year. Were they kidding? This was the canteen that didn’t even want to participate in food shows. Of course they should seize such a good opportunity! 

Those who had this idea in mind were afraid that the haughty first canteen would set up restrictions if they were aware of the main motivation behind their visit. For example, they would say that visitors couldn’t eat in the canteen. That was why they didn’t tell other people about their plan. Otherwise, more people would come.

Compared with those who mainly came to have a meal, the students and parents who truly came to explore the school had a simple purpose. But even if they had a simple purpose, they would still be attracted by the campus’ unique scenery.

The students found the school to be very interesting. This was the school where even the holy dating land was destroyed and leveled by the canteen just to grow vegetables. As expected, fruits and vegetables could be seen everywhere. Even in the pond, ducks could be seen playing around.

Meanwhile, the parents’ praises were even higher. “My son can’t even recognize cabbages. This is good. He can even learn to recognize vegetables when he visits the school. In my opinion, CU is really good. They put theory into practice. My kid should indeed try to get into CU.” 

“No, it’s not practice. These crops aren’t for students to tend to,” some students said.

“Then we should go and suggest that the fields be opened to students as an opportunity for work and study.”

“…”

Some parents would also grow their own vegetables, and there were even some who were quite knowledgeable about it. “This vegetable is growing really well. Look at this fruit hanging here. It’s very ripe. And the Chinese cabbage here is very watery.” 

It wasn’t enough for them to just look around CU’s campus. There was also a need for them to take a group photo to post on their WeChat moments. [I visited the well-known CU that uses vegetables as their greening initiative today. They’re very creative!]

Ch22.2 - Becoming Popular (Part Two)

At noon, everyone was looking forward to lunch.

Those who weren’t students had to first make an appointment then wait to be issued meal tickets by the staff in order to receive lunch from the canteen.

There were dishes of braised fish, moo shu pork, stir-fried amaranth, stir-fried green vegetables with mushrooms, spareribs, meat and vegetable soup, and kelp soup. Their prices were all set by the staff, and for just ten yuan, one could eat a very lavish meal, along with the famous chili pepper oil provided for free.

No matter what purpose they had when originally visiting the school, the meal was very satisfying. 

First off, the chili oil was absolutely worthy of its reputation. There were many people who had eaten at restaurants like The Forest of Taste, along with other Sichuan and Hunan places, but the first canteen’s chili oil still held its own. It was prominent, smelled fragrant, and tasted spicy yet refreshing—crunching the white sesame seeds between their teeth made a spicy hot taste gush into their mouth.

The vegetable dishes were fresh, so they all tasted outstandingly crispy and sweet. It was said that they were harvested straight from the hill in the back right before cooking it. With only a distance of several hundred meters, it would be washed then sent to everyone’s dishes right away. Wouldn’t this be considered fresh beyond comparison?

Their boss was even said to have strict requirements when it came to watering and fertilizing the crops. With all that care, how could the vegetables not taste amazing?

It was only when everyone had their fill of the food that they started to be unscrupulous. They opened up their socials and showed off their meal tickets, along with pictures of their dishes:

[Everyone said that to eat at CU’s canteen, they would have to pay a heavy price… Fortunately, even though I’ve passed the age to retake a university entrance exam, I have a nephew who plans on coming here—P.S: the chili oil really lives up to its reputation, it was so delicious that I ended up scooping three spoonfuls!]

CU’s canteen was still high on trending, so underneath the posts were comments full of envy, jealousy, and hatred. Plus, there were netizens who managed to read carefully and realized—shit, there’s actually such a way into the canteen!

The phones at CU’s office were about to explode from how much they were ringing. Within a night, there were countless people calling to ask if they could sign up for an open house visit to tour the school.

At first, the school didn’t understand the sudden traffic. With all these calls, the staff felt like it wasn’t this common for so many people to ask to visit CU, but they finally realized after receiving one of the callers who said: “To have a meal at your school… oh, I mean, what are the requirements for someone to visit your school?” 

After that, who wouldn’t understand the truth? All these people came for the canteen!

The office quickly reported this to their higher ups, and registration for the open house was temporarily halted. However, even with this restriction in place now, the school had already agreed on an appointment with groups of people.

One day, the staff of the canteen even saw a young teenage girl coming in with a selfie stick, live-broadcasting herself eating. After she was finished, she was heard bemoaning that she didn’t have enough to eat, but also didn’t have enough coupons to get more food.

It was hard for the staff to refuse these people. When the auntie handed over the plate to them, she glanced at the girl’s phone screen and was almost frightened to death by the amount of gifts she was being given. The auntie didn’t know much about live streaming, so she didn’t understand why eating a meal in the canteen would cause someone to start trending. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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And as the saying goes, what one could not obtain would always be considered the best. Under the many waves of people who passed through CU’s door to eat a meal, this year’s most popular university, that was due to its canteen, left a profound impression on the passers-by: delicious.

. 

When President Cui was urging his nephew, Cui QiChao was deliberately acting as if he was upset in front of his uncle. It was because he thought he might have accidentally triggered a romance storyline, not to mention how he was at the right age to find a partner. Perhaps his parents would try to introduce him to a girl.

After President Cui left, Cui QiChao spoke out. “I don’t want a girlfriend.”

There was only XiaoBai in the room with him, and the cat looked stunned.

What did it just hear? 

In fact, Cui QiChao was saying this sentence to the people of LJJ Company. He knew the program had to be in production and broadcasted by now, though he didn’t know how many people would be watching. Someone opening a canteen wouldn’t be very high in popularity.

He made use of this loophole to satisfy his selfish desires. Don’t let the audience hold onto meaningless hope—by now, the small number of viewers, along with the production company, should know there would be no love story in any of the episodes.

A campus love story would not exist.

After Cui QiChao turned down President Cui, an unexpected guest came to his apartment: his mother of this virtual plane. 

Mother Cui came to his house with big and small bags. As soon as she saw Cui QiChao, tears almost rolled down her face. “Your uncle said you didn’t want to come back, so I came to see you instead. I didn’t let your father come, so you didn’t have to worry. In fact, your father also cares about you. He shouldn’t have pressured you all this time.”

Cui QiChao was stunned for a moment before he hesitantly said: “…Mom.”

This ‘Mother Cui’ and Cui QiChao’s real mother looked different. Cui QiChao’s biological parents died early due to an accident. However, the concern shown by the ‘Mother Cui’ in front of him made Cui QiChao feel a similar vibe as his biological mother. Their love for their children was very similar.

Previously, Cui QiChao already thought of it when he turned down President Cui—these were not his real parents. However, the current Cui QiChao hesitated to act on his conviction. 

Cui QiChao decided to quietly go to the balcony to pick some fruits and vegetables and make a meal for Mother Cui.

Mother Cui saw that her son knew how to cook now and kept a cat—in her mind, her son must’ve been very lonely and depressed for him to own a cat. The thought of her son’s hardships made her very upset.

As Cui QiChao cooked, she nagged at him for a very long time. Both implicitly and explicitly, she told Cui QiChao to take better care of his physical and mental health.

Mother Cui kept talking until it was time to eat. It wasn’t until she put the first piece of vegetable into her mouth that her words stopped, “Your health is the most important—Hm? Hm…this dish—” 

The sweetness spread throughout her mouth. Mother Cui nom-ed the vegetables down in surprise as she looked at Cui QiChao who continued to stir-fry the vegetables and eggplant. His movements were elegant and quick. After eating a bowl of rice, Mother Cui put down the chopsticks and said: “I support you, son. It’s fine if you don’t want to inherit the company. You can plant as many vegetables as you like.”

“…” Cui QiChao finally couldn’t help laughing.

“Pack me some food for me to bring back.” Mother Cui’s heart filled with joy as she watched him smile. With a hint of her true feelings, she stated, “I really mean it. Mother hopes to see you happy.”

Cui QiChao thought to himself, if his parents were still alive, they would be like the Mother Cui in front of him. 

Mother Cui ended up staying the entire day. Before she left, Cui QiChao made sure to load her up with plenty of vegetables, helping her place them in the car. “Mom, I’ll hire someone to send vegetables to you and dad regularly. I hope both of you will like it.”

“Of course we’ll like it.” Mother Cui gave Cui QiChao a warm hug.

After seeing Mother Cui off, Cui QiChao picked Xiaobai up and scratched its chin with his fingers. “How nice would it be if all of you were real…”

As soon as it was hugged, it relaxed and licked Cui QiChao’s hand, “Meow…” 

.

After nearly two months of summer vacation, the semester finally started and CU students returned to school one after another.

As soon as they went in, they saw that trees were being transplanted everywhere. All the trees that used to be there purely for decoration were now replaced by fruit trees.

CU students: “…” 

Why was it that no one felt even the slightest bit of surprise?

Everyone could tell with just a glance that it was the work of Boss Cui.

Look at the vegetables all over the campus, and the honeysuckles blooming everywhere. They hadn’t seen the vines for only two months and they grew at a terrifying rate, now stretching to the sky and all over the place. The vines planted this year were all blooming with yellow and white flowers.

When one went to the canteen, they could drink honeysuckle tea to cool off and detoxify. The honeysuckle was known to bloom in May and June, but if the temperature was right, it can bloom all year round. 

And, as expected, under the guidance of Cui QiChao, the honeysuckles were well-preserved. The light yellow tea had the unique fragrance of the plants, and through the drying process, tasted sweet with a slight bitterness to it—truly a rather great flavor.

To add to it all, it was provided free of charge. Girls drank it to get rid of the heat and lose weight, and it was very popular among the students from the south, who felt like they were suffering from internal heat everyday.

Another thing to add to their happiness was the corn that finally ripened, while the isatis root was still waiting to be harvested next year.

The first canteen agreed to prioritize the dependents of the school’s staff when they started selling corn since it was planted in the dependents’ area. However, even if the majority of the teaching staff decided to be merciful and share, and no one bought a large basket, only a small batch was left in the end. 

This small batch was brought to the first canteen for everyone to consume, and it was in great demand. A stalk of corn only cost two yuan each even though it was big, plump, and weighed eight liang on average.

If one wanted to get some corn to eat, one had to snatch it quickly.

For those who didn’t have the luck of eating the watermelon during summer vacation, they had the right to taste the corn, right?

While it wasn’t as if CU was lacking in students who came from a good family background and had eaten luxurious meals before, the first canteen’s self-grown vegetables were really unique, with a flavor that couldn’t be tasted anywhere else. 

The corn they sold was naturally sweet and fragrant, unlike other corn that had flavoring added to it, and it was richer and more attractive than the corn anyone had eaten before. It was as if they absorbed all the best sunshine, air, and rain during the summer, and transformed it into the corn’s sweetness.

With every bite taken, when every kernel of the plump corn was pushed down with their teeth, the sweet and tender skin of the corn ripped apart, and the mellow corn juice squeezed out. This made everyone who ate the corn cob chew the remnants of the corn cob clean, bit by bit.

In the first canteen’s trash can, every corn cob was absolutely wiped out of kernels, and not even half a kernel remained.

In the new media communication major class, such a situation was happening. 

It wasn’t known if the professor, who had secured the right to be in priority when purchasing the corn, knew that the corn was in short supply and high demand. He took out a bag of corn grown by the first canteen and announced that whichever team took first place for the group assignment would win the bag of corn as a prize. It wasn’t that big of a loss for him, he had too few family members and they were unable to finish all the corn.

The CU students’ WeChat moments almost exploded from the views.

[Fuck, this professor really knows how to wrangle his students. This time I really need to show him my true prowess!]

[I LMAO-ed, hahaha, even the professor could do this?] 

[See, who asked you guys to queue for the corn? Now that the professor became aware of it…]

[No, where’s my professor’s corn? They didn’t have my share of watermelon, and they didn’t have my share of corn. I’m going to cry.]

Ch22.3 - Becoming Popular (Part Three)

With the advancement of information communication, both new and old students of CU were aware of the numerous university canteen issues, although there were exceptions.

Hans, a D country native, was one of the CU undergraduate students who had recently matriculated in this term. Hans had traveled to China several times before opting to study abroad and had a good impression of the country. He had a positive view of Chinese cuisine as well.

He easily adjusted to life as a Chinese university student and eagerly went to snare the corn with his Chinese roommate.

Hans, in fact, had no qualms about going to the canteen for the first time. He was even a little embarrassed because the canteen was overcrowded. During mealtimes, no matter which canteen they went to, the canteen was always packed. He wanted to go out to eat because it was so crowded. 

Fortunately, his roommate stopped Hans. Thus, Hans wouldn’t have to regret his decision.

Hans walked to the window for his first lunch in the canteen, with the help of his roommate. On his roommate’s recommendation, he ordered braised lion’s head, garlic-flavored ribs, and stir-fried cabbage. “I ate that when I was traveling,” Hans, who was about to complete the dinner, said, pointing to one of the dishes. “It’s delicious. I’d like it.”

The auntie responsible for scooping dishes turned her head left and right, “Which one?”

Hans thought for a while, but he couldn’t remember how to say it in Mandarin, “That…it’s that rough egg.”

At a glance, the auntie responsible for scooping the dishes spotted it. Oh, it’s the tiger skin egg. Thankfully, because she was an auntie working at a national key university, she could speak English. She spokein English with a Nanhai accent, “This is a deep-fried boiled egg, it is called tai-ger sku-un erg-g.”

Luckily, Hans’s roommate understood what she was saying. (Sweats) Ah, it was the tiger skin egg.

“Yes, tiger skin eggs.” Hans could only comprehend the Mandarin words, “I want two of them.”

The auntie fished for two tiger skin eggs for him. 

The tiger skin egg had a few cuts on it and was fried until it turned into a golden yellow. The skin was soft and smeared with soy sauce, and the entire egg had a golden hue to it. It was garnished with a few scallions.

“This egg is enormous.” In one mouthful, Hans swallowed nearly half of a tiger skin egg. The egg’s skin was torn apart by his teeth. Half of the egg was bouncy and soft, as it was comprised of egg white. The yolk was delicious and had a consistent texture. Soy sauce was used sparingly. The soy sauce was only used to give the meal some color. Instead, the black bean sauce was dripped into the dish, and the black bean sauce could be tasted just by sucking on the egg.

This tiger skin egg was at least ten times better than the egg Hans had previously eaten. The flavor of the egg and soy sauce, as well as the fried scallions, crisp skin, and soft inner core inside left him with a lasting and positive impression of the meal. He was disappointed that he had eaten half of it. Now he only had one and a half of an egg left.

Hans’s roommate had also realized that something wasn’t quite right at this point. “Shit, this tiger skin egg is big,” he said as he twisted his head. “Don’t tell me there were duck eggs in the dish?” 

His classmate nodded, “It’s as you thought. It’s a duck egg.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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“…All right, give me half.” His roommate’s mouth was drooling with greed as he chewed half of the tiger skin duck egg. He could only say that the eggs laid by XiaoBai’s ducks were so delicious. 

However, it’s too late for them to return to the window to grab more of it now. The ducks had only laid a limited number of eggs. Half of them were made into tiger skin eggs, while the other half was made into salted duck eggs.

His roommate saw that someone had gotten some salted duck eggs. When the guy dismantled them, he saw that the yolk was brilliant, red, and oily. The odor wafted to the furthest corners of the room, making his mouth moist. He felt terrible about not being well-informed. He would have grabbed the tiger skin egg and the salted duck egg right now if he had known about it.

Fortunately, the ducks were laying eggs more frequently now, and there were more eggs available in comparison to the limited supply of corn.

Hans had finished the remaining tiger skin egg and continued to taste other dishes. The stir-fried cabbage surprised him again. It was not greasy—in fact, none of the dishes were greasy. 

Even though he liked Chinese food, Hans had to admit that the cooking methods of Chinese food were different from the cooking methods at his home, as the bulk of Chinese food was stir-fried. Most of the fried dishes were too oily for many foreigners. However, these stir-fried dishes were very refreshing, with just the right amount of oil. Hans believed that this was the most accurate method of cooking Chinese food.

“Bro, I’ve been to several cities, and I’ve eaten Cantonese cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine…” Hans couldn’t help asking his roommate, “But what kind of food are we eating today?” He could only identify tiger skin eggs but was not sure about other dishes.

He could identify tiger skin eggs, but he was not sure about other dishes.

After listening to this, his roommate thought about it and said, “Hey, this is the canteen cuisine.” 

“Is it possible to have canteen cuisine? Why haven’t I heard of it before? Do you have this food among the eight Chinese regional cuisines? Or was this another way of referring to one of the cuisines?” Hans believed that his understanding of Chinese culture was still insufficient. He was well aware that there are several ways to convey anything in Chinese, including dialects.

“No, no,” his roommate seriously muttered, “this is the ninth regional Chinese cuisine, and you can only taste it at canteens.”

“I see!” Hans nodded. It seemed that he had missed out on learning this. There was a ninth regional Chinese cuisine.

After two days, the roommate saw Hans return to the dormitory with an expression showing that he would rather die, “Oh, Ol’ Hans, what’s the matter with you? Why did it look like you had to drag your car for half a day? Didn’t you head out for dinner? Why, was it because there were too many people in the canteen?” 

“…” Hans glared at him bitterly.

The roommate couldn’t figure out what was troubling him, “What’s the matter? From your expression, it was as if I had stepped on your foot.”

Hans lamented that he had tried all of the canteen’s meals these days, but he didn’t have enough of them. When he remembered the dishes mentioned by his roommate, he was ecstatic.

—— Didn’t they live in University City? There were many school canteens around them. Wasn’t there more delicious food waiting for him? 

So, Hans went to other school canteens and went to grab some of the dishes cooked in a big pot there.

However, Hans went to the Nanhai Institute of Technology.

To put it another way, the canteen of Nanhai Institute of Technology was the only one in University City with a similar legacy to CU’s canteen. Furthermore, the students learned that the original boss of the first canteen traveled to Nanhai Institute of Technology after failing to bid for the first canteen since the canteens there had comparable culinary techniques.

Hans: “You liar.” 

The roommate was stunned for five seconds before he burst out laughing, “Motherfucker, hahaha!”

It’s been a long time since the first canteen was reformed and became one of the most popular searches. For CU students, being able to taste black cuisine had become a rare experience!

He laughed so hard that his stomach hurt when he realized the foreigner had proceeded to the other canteens of the Nanjing Institute of Technology in high spirits and with great hopes, and that he could even be glad that there were not as many people in the queue there.

Hans stood on the other side: “…” 

While laughing, his roommate took a picture of Hans’s expression and sent it to his friends:

[My simple roommate heard that the food sold in the canteen belongs to the canteen cuisine, so he went to the canteens of Nanjing Institute of Technology to try the other dishes of the canteen cuisine. This is the look on his face now.]

There was also a group photo taken of Hans and his roommate when he first arrived in the dormitory. They were smiling so brightly, which was a stark contrast to the current situation.

Not surprisingly, his roommate received a lot of “hahaha” remarks, and Hans quickly became well-known across the campus, if not the entire University City. Everyone was aware of a terrible case involving a foreign graduate student who went out looking for food. 

Even the neighboring students from the Nanjing Institute of Technology heard about it, and they almost died laughing. They didn’t even get the chance to envy CU students before this incident happened. What bad luck the foreigner had! It’s fine to run around to eat food from the canteen cuisine. But there were so many canteens in the University City…Yet he had to come to their Nanjing Institute of Technology?

This matter had been rated as the top three idiotic incidents of this month in CU because it was simply too hilarious.

Boss Cui worked so hard. Yet, as a CU student, you actually didn’t eat a good meal!

. 

LJJ company

Lin Lin’s subordinate team couldn’t come to an agreement on how to edit the newest episode of Cui QiChao’s university life show.

Cui QiChao’s “I don’t want a girlfriend” was the central paradox. The production crew had a heart attack when they saw this line. They were in a dilemma whether or not they should cut this sentence out?

If they put it in, this would only cause the audience to be upset. 

Lin Lin determined, “Put it in, don’t cut this sentence!” when she noticed everyone was arguing.

In fact, Lin Lin was also a little jittery. When she heard this sentence, she wanted to vomit blood.

—— Cui QiChao in the virtual world had no idea that Lin Lin had set up a quiz on the broadcasting website to pique the audience’s curiosity. The content said, “When would Cui QiChao fall in love?”

On the current commentary barrage, there were a variety of topics discussed, including when he would fall in love. 

However, after careful consideration, Lin Lin decided to put this sentence into the program, holding thoughts that she should kill the courageous and starve the cowardly. She decided that she would stuff this line into the episode. The scene was a close-up shot of Cui QiChao faintly saying “I don’t want a girlfriend”. Following that, a shot of the dumbfounded cat alongside him was shown after he spoke that phrase.

After the episode was broadcasted, the commentary barrage exploded.

[…You really don’t want to fall in love. Ah, I should have known that long ago!!]

[Oh, it’s been a long time since I knew it. He would surely act this way.] 

[I don’t want to listen, I don’t want to listen, I don’t want to listen! I don’t want to listen to it. Quickly retract your words!]

[Cui QiChao, you! Aren’t! Human!]

[My face looked the same as XiaoBai’s face now. I already took off my pants and you told me you won’t fall in love?]

[Take off your pants?? I can only roll up my sleeves to have a meal now…] 

[I cried so badly. If there is completely no chance of him falling in love, the program’s tagging of the campus genre…would completely lose its purpose!]

Therefore, the audience continuously rolled their eyes. And in an instant, they recommended the program to more friends. After all, it would be hard to be close friends with someone if you didn’t share the same happiness.