As the beautiful butterfly took flight, almost everyone felt a sudden emptiness, especially the girls in the bloom of their youth.
Extreme beauty can be a powerful weapon.
Very few people can resist this type of natural, pure beauty.
When the butterfly vanished from sight, the small study room fell silent for a moment before erupting in uproar.
At this point, few people could concentrate on studying. Xu Xiaoyan checked her digital watch, began packing up her belongings and suggested to her companions, "Nobody wants to study anyways, let’s head back to our dorms. The dining hall will be serving dinner soon."
Upon leaving the study room, the group of girls continued discussing the butterfly. One girl, who had a particular fondness for fish, turned to Xu Xiaoyan and said, "Xiao Xingxing, I’ve already invited the guests, don’t you forget. When your boyfriend comes, you can’t be sneaky and eat alone!"
Xu Xiaoyan responded helplessly, "Don’t worry! I promised you, and I won’t go back on my word. But if he doesn’t bring any fish, that’s not my problem. Then you can eat..."
Mid-sentence, she and the others turned a corner and her eyes suddenly lit up. She left her companions and rushed towards a different path.
One of the girls tried to call her back but stopped as her gaze followed Xu Xiaoyan. She couldn’t help but break into a smile.
The person wearing a white shirt, green trousers, black leather shoes, carrying a thermos, and sporting large framed glasses was none other than Yan Fei.
He only had one additional item today; he wore an old-looking, single-shouldered, grass-green canvas bag. Seeing him carry it made it look as though history moved backwards by twenty years.
"Yan Xiaofei, where were you yesterday? I called out people to look for you since you were supposed to come to the Provincial City. Now you finally show up!" Having waited for two days, Miss Xu Xiaoyan was finally able to see him and began her reproach.
"I had some things to take care of. I’m planning on growing greenhouse vegetables. I went to see how others construct their greenhouses, and I snuck in to check what vegetables they are growing. Let’s go to the Agricultural University later to find some books on this," Yan Fei responded.
"Really? You’re talking about greenhouses where you can eat watermelons even in winter? Yan Xiaofei, you’re really amazing! No one in our town has ever done that!" Xu Xiaoyan was immediately distracted and stopped pursuing Yan Fei’s ’disappearance.’
"Whether or not it will be successful will only be known after trying. It’s still too early now. Guess what else I did on the way here?" Yan Fei asked teasingly.
"What else? Stop keeping secrets, tell me quickly! If you behave well, I’ll reward you!" Xu Xiaoyan offered a hint and responded flirtatiously, which immediately made Yan Fei surrender.
"Do you think this looks nice? I fished it out from a large reservoir, and after a long time, I could only gather so much. I also accidentally shattered one while stringing them together..."
"Wow, it’s really beautiful..." Xu Xiaoyan exclaimed in surprise when she saw the items Yan Fei handed to her. She couldn’t stop turning them over and over to get a better look.
"Try it on and see. I initially wanted to string it into a necklace, but couldn’t find enough large ones. So, I only made it into a small bracelet," Yan Fei sounded slightly disappointed.
"Which reservoir still has these things? I’ve never heard of it. It’s already great to have so many. Oh, and it smells a bit fishy too!" Xu Xiaoyan remarked, bringing the strand close to Yan Fei’s nose.
"Classmate Xu Xing, your delicious food in the thermos will get cold soon!" Just when the two were deep in conversation, the girls from Xu Xiaoyan’s dorm room, who could wait no longer, yelled out. A few soft giggles reverberated through the air.
Xu Xiaoyan’s face flushed slightly, and she muttered, "These crazy girls!"
Then she spoke somewhat awkwardly, "You see, Yan Xiaofei, in our dorm, if one of us has a boyfriend, that person has to treat the rest of us to a meal. A girl with a boyfriend did the same for us a couple days ago. It’s your fault really for the big piece of fish you brought last time, her boyfriend saw it, and now they all want larger fish too!"
"But I didn’t bring fish today, did I? I brought Old Turtle’s soup," Yan Fei said, slightly embarrassed. "How about next time?"
"That works too, as long as it’s a dish with meat, it’s all good. Last time, that girl’s boyfriend made a big dish of Fish-flavored Shredded Pork for all of us in the dormitory to eat."
"This is considered treating to a meal?" Yan Fei was puzzled. This hospitality was so cheap; eight girls being treated to a dish of Fish-flavored Shredded Pork was enough.
"Don’t laugh. We’re all students and can’t earn money. Anything with meat would suffice. Done talking now? Did you fill that soup? That’s enough, a small serving for each of us with those little soup bowls from our cafeteria, eight bowls won’t use up this whole bucket!" Xu Xiaoyan said, pulling Yan Fei towards her.
"The soup may not be enough..." Yan Fei murmured as he was being pulled along.
They arrived in the lively cafeteria, where all the girls had their rice ready. Each of them had also taken one of those small soup bowls provided by the cafeteria. After settling down amidst laughter, they waited for Xu Xiaoyan to serve the soup.
Soft-shelled turtle soup! These girls understood how precious this is. No matter what, it must be better than fish meat, right?
"Yan Xiaofei, where’s the old turtle you mentioned?" In front of the girls from Xu Xiaoyan’s dorm, Yan Fei tactfully passed the task of serving the soup to this young lady. But as soon as she opened the thermos, she froze.
The thermos was full to the brim, filled with chunks of meat.
Just as Yan Fei had muttered before, the soup might not be enough for eight people. It was a bit insufficient, fully occupied by diced meat. But it was not the old turtle with shells that the girls had imagined!
When Xu Xiaoyan asked, the two girls beside her leaned over to have a look, wondering what was going on.
"That’s it! It’s inconvenient to fit it in the thermos, so I only brought over some bits." Yan Fei was not surprised that they couldn’t recognize it. They usually ate whole soft-shelled turtles; this was diced up, so it’s normal they didn’t recognize it.
"Oh!" Upon hearing his explanation, without any doubt, the lady began inviting everyone. "Come, come, one by one. One bowl per person..."
As she spoke, she started serving from the thermos with a small spoon.
Only the two girls who had stretched their necks earlier looked baffled.
As Xu Xiaoyan continued to serve, each girl receiving their bowl also started to display puzzled faces.
Two of them, not knowing why everyone looked so baffled, couldn’t help but ask a girl next to them. After a whisper from the latter, they also started looking strange.
When it was Yan Fei’s turn, he didn’t need Xu Xiaoyan to serve for him anymore: "I’ll pass, this bucket isn’t even empty yet. I didn’t waste the leftovers either, all have been eaten up. I’m still not particularly hungry now!"
Xu Xiaoyan didn’t mind him and cheerfully urged everyone, "Everyone hurry up and eat, there’s still more after this."
"Excuse me, is it Yan Fei? May I ask how many soft-shelled turtles it took to make all of this?", a girl, after hearing that such a large thermos hadn’t even contained all the soft-shelled turtle meat, finally couldn’t help but ask.