Chapter 26

In the morning, Huang Qi took Sha Zhouyin on a tour around the old campus and the library. By the time they finished, it was past noon, so they had lunch at the nearby cafeteria.

"The pan-fried chicken rice and pork cutlet rice here are really delicious. The stone pot bibimbap isn’t bad either, though it’s a bit pricey—I usually can’t bear to splurge on it. But today, let’s treat it as my treat! Which one do you want? Chicken or pork cutlet?"

He followed behind her, watching her gaze longingly at the chicken and pork cutlets being sliced up behind the counter. "Which one do you want?"

"Pan-fried chicken rice!"

He smiled. "Then I’ll have the pork cutlet."

"Great! Later, we can swap a bit, that way we both get to try both! I’ll go grab some drinks. The cafeteria’s own cocoa milk is really good—just one yuan a bag. Want one?"

"I’ll have whatever you’re having."

Soon, their meals were ready: marinated chicken and pork cutlets, pan-fried to a golden crisp on both sides, tender inside and topped with a perfectly balanced sweet-salty teriyaki sauce—enough to make anyone’s mouth water. Huang Qi watched as Sha Zhouyin took a bite of the pork cutlet, asking eagerly, "Well? How is it? Good?"

He nodded. "Your cafeteria food is actually really good."

"Of course! Our school’s cafeteria is famous among all the universities in the city—even students from the next school over come here for meals!"

"But yesterday you said the canteen food was even worse than our work meals, and you still kept me company with just eggplant and steamed buns?"

Huang Qi dodged, laughing, "Not every cafeteria is good. I picked the best one to treat you. Here, let’s trade—I’ll give you a piece of chicken, you give me two pieces of pork cutlet, alright?"

They were sitting by the window, and a few people were still in line. Suddenly, some boys who had just finished a basketball game ran in, sweaty and their shirts soaked through. The leader was a tall, broad-shouldered boy with a buzz cut, thick brows, and big eyes—he looked close to 1.9 meters tall. His face was already tanned from the early summer sun. He squeezed up to the counter and shouted, “Boss, one jin of rice!” Only then did he notice others were still waiting ahead of him, so he stepped back and asked the girl at the front, “Oops, sorry, are you in line for food?”

The girl was fair-skinned and petite, standing in front of the towering boy like a meat bun facing its filling—a funny sight. Both looked like freshmen, and seemed to know each other. "It's fine, we’ve already swiped our cards, just waiting for our food to be cooked. Did you just say… how much rice?"

"A jin, yeah. What’s wrong? I only had some porridge this morning, just finished playing ball, I’m starving."

"Your rice, one yuan seventy," the cook called out, handing over two heaping bowls of rice. The girl stared, wide-eyed, as the boy took a bowl in each hand and left. She mumbled under her breath, "Rice bucket…"

Huang Qi found it funny and looked back at her own bowl. Xiao Ying had already finished the rice in his pork cutlet bowl, but several pieces of pork remained. "Xiao Qi, the portions here are really generous—I finished the rice and there’s still so much meat left. Are you good for veggies? If not, eat mine."

He was used to a frugal meal—two steamed buns with a ladle of eggplant, eating very little and always wolfing it down as if pressed for time. Watching him, Huang Qi felt a pang of sympathy. She scooped some rice into his bowl. "There’s three or four taels in one serving, I can’t finish it. Help me eat some so the food won’t go to waste." She also wanted to seem dainty; usually, when eating with her roommates, Yun Lei and the others would only eat half their rice, but she always finished hers, not leaving even a drop of sauce. How embarrassing…

Sha Zhouyin looked at her meager leftover rice. "You’re only eating this much? When you were little, you always ate more than me…"

"Can you stop bringing up embarrassing childhood stories? Can’t you remember anything nice? I had to eat more when I was growing, of course!" She glanced around, and just then, the petite, doll-like freshman girl walked by with her tray. Pointing to her, Huang Qi said, "See, other girls only eat one or two taels of rice each. I’m already eating a lot!"

Huang Qi’s outburst was a bit loud, and the girl overheard, saying shyly, "Actually, I already ate two taels… I wasn’t full, so I added another tael."

Sha Zhouyin had been stifling a laugh, and only spoke once the girl had walked off, "See, even someone so small ate three taels. What you ate isn’t much. And anyway, it’s just rice. I might be poor, but I can still afford to feed you more rice."

Huang Qi swallowed back the retort, "Who asked you to feed me," keeping her head down as she continued eating. "I can’t finish too much—I need to lose weight…"

"You’re so slim, and you want to lose weight?"

Honestly, do boys not know that weight loss is just something girls say? "How am I slim? Don’t you think I’ve gained a lot since high school? I’m ten jin heavier!"

Sha Zhouyin studied her face. "You were too thin in high school. You’re just right now."

Huang Qi felt her cheeks flush under his gaze. "Look who’s talking! You barely eat anything! See that guy over there? He ate a whole jin of rice—no wonder he’s so tall and strong, healthy as can be! Boys in their twenties should eat more!"

He glanced back at the muscular, broad-shouldered boy, then looked at himself, feeling a little inferior. "Xiao Qi, so you… like that type?"

"Uh, not exactly… He’s a bit too big, and too tall. If he were thinner and a few centimeters shorter, that would be just right…" Hmm, isn’t that exactly like Xiao Ying…

"Alright then, I’ll help you with your rice." Taking what she’d given him, he quickly finished the rest of the pork cutlet.

Xiao Ying took after his father—tall, solidly built, with muscles to match. If he hadn’t started eating those laborer’s meals and doing hard physical work at sixteen, but had enjoyed a better life and proper nutrition, he’d probably have ended up just as big and strong as that boy. The same sun-darkened skin, but while the other boy’s tan spoke of athleticism, Xiao Ying’s complexion told of years of outdoor labor, the kind that marked the working class.

As they ate, he kept glancing back at that boy. "I used to think I was tall, but after going out west, and now here, I’ve realized men in the north are even taller. Guys over 1.8 meters are everywhere—it’s nothing special."

"Me too. I always sat at the back of the classroom in high school, but here I’m just average height." Huang Qi came to her own defense. "And besides, being too tall isn’t good. Look at that guy—he must be 1.9 meters. If he likes a petite girl like the one from before, when it comes to… well, standing together, wouldn’t she have to stand on two boxes to reach him? So I think we’re just right as we are. No need to envy anyone else."

He lowered his head, sipping his cocoa milk through a straw. "I thought you liked that type…"

"Who says I like that type? I was just making a point!"

He hung his head even lower. "So what type do you like…"

"I… It depends, I guess."

Honestly, isn’t it obvious what kind I like? I like you. If you’re tall, I like tall; if you’re short, I like short; if you’re thin, I like thin; if you’re plump, I like plump; if you’re fair, I like fair; if you’re dark, I like dark. Do I really have to spell it out so bluntly?

To be continued.