Yan Keke and the group of five all lived in the school dormitory, but Mei Mengzhen and her two friends each had their own houses off-campus. Since they had to pass their own buildings on the way to school, it didn’t make sense for them to walk the extra distance. Once they had arrived at their buildings, they said goodbye without looking back, "We’re heading home first, BYE."
Left behind, Yan Keke felt a slight annoyance, "These people, hmm, I should also have my dad buy me a place in this community." She wanted to say BYEBYE as well.
Having said that in irritation, Yan Keke started walking towards the school, with the rest hurriedly following. Lai Xixi, curious, asked, "This is the first time I knew Zhenzhen had a house here."
Lai Xixi and Tian Sha both met Mei Mengzhen last year, but they weren’t so familiar with her private affairs.
Yan Keke explained, "They bought the house at the start of the term. Her family and her cousin’s family bought places together, probably to make it convenient to look after each other. He Yiran purely bought here because the closet at school was too small to fit all his clothes, so he also got himself a set in this community."
Having finished speaking, Yan Keke couldn’t help but sigh, "Ah, students these days are really rich."
Upon hearing this, Lai Xixi quickly rolled her eyes, "Hey, do you feel okay saying that in front of us truly poor students? You can afford to buy but don’t, while we simply can’t buy at all."
"That’s not it, I can’t afford it on my own either; I’d need my dad to afford it. But Zhenzhen and Yiran bought theirs with their own money, which is different," Yan Keke asserted, and that was why she hadn’t asked her dad to buy her a house here. She wanted to rely on her own ability to see if she could afford one before graduation.
The five who temporarily couldn’t afford a house didn’t know why the topic kept coming back to housing. Tian Sha really didn’t want to discuss this topic anymore and forcibly changed the subject, "I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s dinner, Keke, do you often go to Xiyuan to eat?"
When it came to Xiyuan, Yan Keke had quite a bit to share, "It’s alright, most of the dishes there need to be ordered in advance and they don’t serve walk-in customers. You can’t eat without a reservation. I went there once for the grand opening, then another time when my parents came to visit. After that, I’d only go occasionally. Sometimes Zhenzhen would bring me some food from Xiyuan."
Upon mentioning this, Yan Keke couldn’t help but praise, "Every dish at Xiyuan is delicious. Even picky eaters would stop being fussy there."
After thinking for a moment, Yan Keke added, "The food reserved in advance is delicious, but because it’s too exquisite, it’s actually not as good as the staff meals. Xiyuan’s staff meals offer a wide variety of dishes, balanced between meat and vegetables, nutritious and tasty, just like the late-night snack we had today."
The four had already experienced the charm of the staff meals and were nodding vigorously. Lai Xixi even said, "Great, we can have another meal tomorrow."
At this point, Lai Xixi had a question, "With such delicious food, why is it just for staff meals? Why not sell it separately? They could make money that way too."
"It’s probably hard to set a price. They call it a staff meal, but with such tasty food, it’s bound to be pricey. Yet in the end, it’s just ordinary food. If everyone eats the staff meals and finds them delicious, what if they stop ordering regular meals?" Yan Keke thought.
Yan Keke believed it wouldn’t be cost-effective and there weren’t that many staff members at Xiyuan to eat such meals anyway, "Not sure if you’ve been to Nianxiang Garden, but it’s quite empty there. Even if they were to sell staff meals, there wouldn’t be many people to eat them."
Yong Yan said, "I know; there are few workers and visitors there. Few people go to eat even when it’s open to the public, so reservations are quite suitable."
Lai Xixi, being a local, had never actually visited Nianxiang Garden, "Then tomorrow I’ll have to take a good look around."
Tian Sha suddenly remembered something, "Isn’t there a haunted house there? It’s quite famous. I wanted to go before but never had the time, and when I finally decided to go, it had ended."
"It’s really fun, you missed out," said Yan Keke, who had experienced it herself. It was truly enjoyable but also truly frightening, "I heard they might be hosting something else there; if it’s not closed, we could go have a look."
But the closing time there was quite early, especially for art exhibitions or photography exhibits, which usually close by 5:30, so if they were too late, they’d hardly have time to see anything.
"We’ll see when we go there tomorrow."
...
When Yan Keke returned to the dormitory, it was still empty. Checking the time, it was still early; Luo Yingying and Liu Pei wouldn’t return until the door curfew.
Sure enough, just as she was about to go to bed after washing up, Luo Yingying came back.
She had a big smile on her face, clearly in a good mood.
Without any other plans, it was obvious that business had gone well for her that night.
If He Yiran and Mei Mengzhen had been there, there would probably have been a brief chat, but Yan Keke and Luo Yingying really couldn’t get along. Maintaining a superficial peace was already good enough; others just glanced at each other and then turned away without even a greeting, each minding their own business.
Of course, neither cared; it wasn’t anything new and had been going on since last year.
However, Luo Yingying was truly in a good mood today. The moment she saw the stern face Yan Keke gave her, her good spirits instantly dissipated.
Feeling dissatisfied with Yan Keke, and even more so when she thought she saw Yan Keke roll her eyes as she turned away, Luo Yingying couldn���t hold back and asked, "Keke, I didn’t offend you, did I?"
Luo Yingying’s question wasn’t without thought; she had considered it carefully. She really hadn’t done anything to offend Yan Keke; their poor relationship stemmed from the issues with Mei Mengzhen and Jiang Cheng, so there was no real personal conflict between them.
However, Luo Yingying’s abrupt question stunned Yan Keke, who didn’t respond and climbed into bed after pulling back the covers, completely ignoring Luo Yingying’s inquiry.
After all, even if they had no personal issues and it was due to Mei Mengzhen, they just didn’t get along.
Being ignored like this angered Luo Yingying further, "Keke, how did I offend you? I just got back, haven’t done anything, and you’re rolling your eyes at me. If it’s because of Zhenzhen, I don’t think we need to be like this."
It was a misunderstanding; Yan Keke hadn’t rolled her eyes. Regardless of whether it was because of Mei Mengzhen, she didn’t like Luo Yingying. She glanced at Luo Yingying and dryly said, "I didn’t roll my eyes."
After that, she no longer paid any attention to Luo Yingying.