"..."
This is truly... absurd enough to make Absurd open the door. Totally absurd!
Jiang Yu turned his head speechlessly to look at Hu Zhihai. No kidding, this guy really could pull off something like this!
Remember in the freshman year when the class organized a suburban outing to foster camaraderie among classmates.
Hu Zhihai was having a blast, running around and taking photos with his phone. But by the afternoon, his phone was nearly out of battery.
Whether he forgot to charge it the day before or whatever, when he wanted to charge his phone, he found his power bank utterly empty.
Turning around, he asked Jiang Yu to borrow a power bank.
Then, the unimaginable happened:
After borrowing Jiang Yu’s power bank, instead of using it directly to charge his phone, he connected it to his own power bank!
Charging a power bank with another power bank...
This genius move kept the other two roommates joking about Hu Zhihai for a whole three years!
But Hu Zhihai himself never thought there was anything wrong:
Power banks need charging when they’re out of battery, don’t they?
What’s the difference between plugging it into a socket and using another power bank for charging?
They both charge!
Perhaps he never realized that his phone was the one out of battery, and he could charge it much faster directly with a power bank!
Charging his power bank before using it to charge his phone? That’s like taking off your pants to fart—totally redundant!
Seeing Lu Shuwu even came to "report" to Jiang Yu about him, Hu Zhihai raised his head innocently, glanced at Jiang Yu, then at Lu Shuwu, and said dryly:
"Well, didn’t you stop snoring in the latter half of the night? It proves my reminder worked, right?"
"I couldn’t sleep after you woke me up. How could I snore!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Shuwu was furious.
Effective reminder? Of course, I’ve woken up! How could it not be effective?
"Alright, alright, Zhihai was a bit inconsiderate there. Waking someone up who’s sleeping well is not cool. If you’re bothered by noise, you could’ve plugged your ears with some cotton!"
Jiang Yu couldn’t say much and could only comfort Lu Shuwu,
"Brother Xiao Wu, since you didn’t sleep well last night, why not skip work this morning, go back for a nap, and come back in the afternoon when you’re refreshed?"
"No need, I can handle it, and I’m not used to napping."
Lu Shuwu yawned again and shook his head, saying,
"It’s fine, don’t worry about me. Once the drowsiness passes, I’ll be alright."
"Okay, but if you really can’t hold up, feel free to take a nap on the side."
Seeing his persistence, Jiang Yu didn’t insist further.
As young guys, missing a night of sleep isn’t really that big of a deal; they’ll get through it.
After a while, Yan Tongtong arrived. As soon as she got there, she started washing the vegetables Hu Zhihai had picked, cleaning them meticulously.
In the small shop, everyone was earnestly working, preparing for the upcoming breakfast, busy yet fulfilling, quiet yet harmonious.
"..."
"Quick, quick, quick! Get up now. If we don’t hurry, the queue will get too long, and we won’t catch up. There’s still two periods of class in the morning!"
"Ugh, it’s not even six yet. Do we have to be this early?"
"Walking there still takes several minutes. By the time we get there, it’ll be around six. Is lining up an hour early too much?"
"But I’m not fully awake yet. How about you go alone and help me bring one back?"
"Are you kidding? I still have to bring one for my girlfriend. How can I carry so much alone?"
"Holy crap! You’d help your girlfriend but not me? Surely you’re a guy who values romance over friendship!"
"No kidding, you know she’s my girlfriend. What she gives me, could you give me that?"
"!!!"
"..."
"Xiaoxue, I’ve noticed you’ve been getting close to that guy from the School of Arts lately. What’s up, planning to make it official?"
"What are you talking about? We’ve just had a couple of meals together recently. Does that mean we’re confirming anything?"
"You’re being sneaky, huh? I accidentally peeked over just now, you guys are texting so early. Isn’t that dating?"
"Really not! Look, he’s just asking what I want for breakfast..."
"Tsk tsk, see how thoughtful he is. Hearing you want soup dumplings and hot and sour soup, he went off early to line up at the cafeteria!
Aren’t you moved at all?"
"He chose to do that by himself, I didn’t ask him to queue. Plus, even if he didn’t want to, there are plenty who would..."
"So he’s just one of the little fish in your pond, huh?"
"Oh come on, what pond nonsense, it’s so crude!
As a woman, doesn’t everyone want to be a little princess adored by men? Besides, I just want soup dumplings and hot and sour soup. What’s wrong with that?"
"..."
"..."
Second Cafeteria, first-floor hall.
Just past 6:30, a long line had formed outside the "Jiang Family Soup Dumplings" shop window.
Footsteps, chatter, the creaking sound and cries of pain when someone accidentally bumped into chairs and tables... a multitude of sounds converged, turning the spacious cafeteria into a noisy marketplace.
Outside the cafeteria, more students who woke up late were converging from all directions.
The small bun shop seemed like a magnet, continuously drawing food enthusiasts from everywhere.
Seeing this bustling scene, the other stall owners in the cafeteria were envious yet helpless.
Can’t blame anyone if what they sell doesn’t attract people.
Just blame the lack of skill.
"Xiaojiang is truly impressive. His soup dumpling shop just opened for a few days, but the name is already popular among students, and business is unstoppable!"
"Haha, those soup dumplings are really a marvel. Eat them once, and you won’t forget them for days. How are you going to stop it?"
"I heard Xiaojiang is a senior in this school. Geez, who says studying is useless? He opens a bun shop that’s way better than what us laymen can do!"
"..."
None of these shop owners were actually envious.
What’s there to envy?
Jiang Yu’s soup dumpling shop draws so many students each meal, but only a small fraction can actually get soup dumplings and hot and sour soup.
Those who didn’t get any definitely won’t starve!
If they can’t be hungry, they have to spend money, of course.
They’re not likely to make another trip to another cafeteria for food.
Besides soup dumplings and hot and sour soup, when it comes to filling the stomach, is there really a difference between eating noodles and rice?
These are all the foot traffic Jiang Yu brought over!
Suddenly it was 7 o’clock, the window of the soup dumpling shop got livelier at once:
Business hours had arrived!