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Chapter 155: When the Girlfriend Pays the Bills
TL: Etude
“I feel like drinking the old duck soup from the sed cafeteria.”
After pleting the noon orders, Jiang Qin smacked his lips, feeling as if he could taste bndness itself. The cold and dry winter air made his lips tighten, intensifying his craving for some nourishing soup.
He took out his phone and called his wealthy girlfriend, arranging to meet her at the sed cafeteria.
Stepping out of the startup base, a harsh chill greeted him. The bare tree brarembled, ging to their few remaining old leaves, appearing someitiable in the snowy ndscape.
Reag Academy Road, Jiang Qin noticed that the m’s snow had been pacted by passersby, turning it hard and slippery, devoid of its earlier softness.
“What if someone slips and breaks their coccyx?”
Thud! As if on cue, a male student across the street fell right in front of two girls who were feeding stray cats.
The girls, kied as they were, immediately dropped their sausages to help him up, oblivious to the boy’s wish to be ig that moment.
Jiang Qin’s mouth twitched. “As a star student, it would be embarrassing to fall like that,” he thought, slowing his pace.
The walk from the startup base to the sed cafeteria was long, not as close as the girls’ dormitory. Due to his slow pace, when he arrived, his wealthy girlfriend was already sitting patiently at their usual spot.
Besides her, a girl ed up like a bear sat nearby, her face half-hidden in her colr, looking as if she had frozen on the spot.
It was colder than usual, the melting sning lower temperatures than the m’s snowfall. It was rare to see someone dressed so heavily.
Upon closer iion, Jiang Qin reized her. “Isn’t this the famous Gao Wenhui? Why are you out wearing a quilt?”
“Pah, this is a cotton-padded y grandmother made for me, stuffed with pure cotton. It’s incredibly warm,” Gao Wenhui replied with a cold smile, tugging at her coat to show the ample cotton.
Jiang Qin examihe fabrid chuckled. “If that’s not made from a quilt cover, I’ll do a handstand right here.”
“It’s normal for the elderly to be frugal. As long as it’s warm. Unlike you youngsters, who choose style over fort.”
“Let’s not talk about coats. I suddenly feel like drinking old duck soup. How about you? Shall we each have a bowl?”
Gao Wenhui gave him a mysterious smile. “No old duck soup today. We’re not anything.”
Jiang Qin found this odd. “If we’re not , why e to the cafeteria? To watch the cool teen dy’s shaky hand performance?”
“Ask your wife.”
“Wife? Where is my wife? In a wife cake?”
Hearing Gao Wenhui’s remark, Jiang Qieo searder and above the table as if he’d find his ‘wife’ underfoot. Despite his theatrics, he deliberately avoided looking at Feng Nanshu, causing the wealthy girlfriend to frown slightly.
Gao Wenhui spat at him and pulled up a rge pstic bag from beside the table.
“We’re eating this today.”
The bag was half the size of the table, bulging with various colorful items.
“?”
Upon opening it, Jiang Qin saw it was filled with puffed food and some cakes, immediately losing i.
“In this dead of wihis will dehydrate me. I came for soup, not snacks.”
Gao Wenhui poi Feng Nanshu. “Feng Nanshu bought these snacks to support your busihrough a group purchase. We still have three big bags in our dorm. This one’s for you to handle, or we’ll be eating them forever.”
Feng Nanshu looked over coolly. “Jiang Qi.”
“Puffed food is full of preservatives. It’s bad for your health. I wo it, and you shouldher.”
“Then who should eat it?” Feng Nanshu seemed lost.
Jiang Qin turned his gaze to Gao Wenhui. “Miss Gao, please do the honors. They’ll keep you eternally youthful. In a few thousand years, you’ll still look as lifelike as ever, as if just uhed.”
Gao Wenhui ughed, “No way, we three must finish this bag today at luno one is getting out of this!”
“Let’s just give it away,” Jiang Qin suggested lightly.
“That won’t do. It’s all bought with real money. It would be too much of a loss to give it away. Just because we have money doesn’t mean we waste it like that!”
Gao Wenhui genuinely regarded Feng Nanshu as a close friend and didn’t wao suffer a loss. The snacks were meant for the close friends in the dorm to appreciate Feng Nanshu’s kindness, and the only other person worthy of them was Jiang Qin, her man. But giving them away ters would be a loss, as those not close to you might not appreciate the gesture and might even gossip about you being showy with your wealth.
“In such dry winter weather, eating such a big bag of snacks will definitely cause internal heat, maybe even cause blisters around the mouth. It’s not worth it.”
“What should we do then?”
Jiang Qin thought for a moment, then fttehe bag a bit before speaking, “Let’s just leave it here for now. I’ll take it back to Room 208 ter and say it’s a welfare gift from the boss dy.”
Gao Wenhui’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, “That’s a good idea. It could earn Feng Nanshu some goodwill. Should I bring an from the dorm?”
“Let’s talk about it after eating. Why tire yourself running bad forth?”
Jiang Qin stood up to order three bowls of clear and rich old duck soup from the window and a basket of freshly fried oil cakes. Their golden, crispy surface glistened uhe light, tinuously entig one’s appetite.
Gao Wenhui watched him walk away, then leaowards Feng Nanshu, “Although Jiang Qin always verbally defines your retionship as friends, in his heart, he surely treats you like a girlfriend.”
“?”
Ihargy of the cold winter, Feng Nanshu was a bit drowsy, but this statement instantly woke her up.
“Think about it. Room 208 is his effort, but he always wants the staff there to appreciate you, to truly regard you as the boss dy. Such as are too obvious.”
Gao Wenhui’s demeanor resembled that of an old woman gossiping at the vilge gate during the New Year. Her mouth moved nonstop as if she reparing for an important exam.
“But Jiang Qin said that the oute of being lovers is most likely o see each ain.”
Gao Wenhui got irritated upon hearing this, “Don’t listen to his nonsense. Although college romances are often illusory, there are still many that end up successful.”
Feng Nanshu, propping her small hands oable and turning her face tao Wenhui, asked, “Wenhui, what exactly is ‘liking’ someone?”
“This, I… I’m not quite sure.”
Although Gao Wenhui was an expert at shipping couples, she had never actually been in a retionship. Despite appearing less clueless than Feng Nanshu, her uanding of the word ‘like’ was just as vague. She wao expin but feared giving the wrong idea, which might fuse Feng Nanshu even more.
Seeing Gao Wenhui not responding, Feng Nanshu turned her head to look at Jiang Qin, aiting for his order at the window. Her curled eyeshes trembled slightly.
Before, her world had only sisted of herself, her heart enveloped in a co that kept maernal things at bay. But then, suddenly one day, a bear-like figure unreasonably tore a hole in this thick co, letting light in, even toug her feet. Sihen, she couldn’t fet him.
Before she was eighteen, her biggest wish was to have a good friend.
During the summer of her eighteenth year, she indeed found a friend, seemingly a gift from heaven.
Naturally, she became very attached to him.
Thus, she often wondered, could it be for a lifetime, could it be for a lifetime?
She wasn’t clear about the differeween a friend and a lover, but she distinctly felt an increase in her desires.
Feng Nanshu yearo hold his hand, to be close to him, and to have him massage her feet.
She felt anxious when she couldn’t see him, yet acted foolishly when she did.
But… was this what liking someo?
While Feng Nanshu was lost in thought, Jiang Qin had already made three trips, bringing back three servings of oil cakes and old duck soup. He handed out chopsticks and passed the food around.
The sed cafeteria’s old duck soup was generously served, not just with plenty of broth but also with ample ingredients. Paired with the oil cakes, it was easy to feel full after half a bowl, satisfying Jiang Qin.
Feng Nanshu, having been fed a couple of bites by Jiang Qin, also felt tent, barely toug her own bowl.
Si was mealtime, the cafeteria was crowded, and many acquaintaopped by to greet them.
Zhuang Siyu, the president of the student cil, thanked him for sp the debate petition.
There were also Zhu Feng, the president of the Finance Department, Xu Junli, the head of the External Retioment, Yong, a part-time worker from the milk tea shop, and Tian Xiangjia, a delivery part-timer.
In addition, there were a few others whose names Jiang Qin couldn’t recall, probably part-timers under his ma.
Unknowingly, the team at 208 had expanded several times sis iion.
What started as a modest venture was now gaining a signifit structure.
However, even with the increase in numbers, Jiang Qin didn’t worry about entering issues like Ye Ziqing. This was because, apart from the core staff at 208, all part-timers were affiliated with the part-time society. Any disputes or mix-ups would be the society’s responsibility, not 208’s.
“I’m doing.”
Jiang Qin pushed his bowl forward and picked up the bag of snacks. “I have things to do this afternoon, so I’ll head off first. Business has been quite busy tely. Feng Nanshu, if you’re bored, you hang out with Gao Wenhui.”
After listening, Feng Nanshu obediently nodded and turo Gao Wenhui.
Gao Wenhui, upon hearing this, felt like biting someone in irritation but let it slide, sidering the old duck soup’s favor.
Leaving the cafeteria, Jiang Qiuro 208. He first reviewed the bad data with Su Nai, firming that the volume of orders was steadily increasing. Then he discussed the forum’s future development with Dong Wenhao.
The unch of the group-buyiure was a new beginning, not an end.
To tinue expanding, the traffi Zhihu o grow tinuously.
In essehese two projects plemented each other; her could afford to fail.
If further detailed, the milk tea shop, the campus beauty test, the forum, and group-buying were all crucial steps in the expansion pn, none of which could be disregarded before fully peing Lin.
EtudeTranstions
