Gu Shuangshuang was fuming with anger after hanging up the phone.
"What did he say to make you this angry?" An Hao was curious. It must take some skill to get Gu Shuangshuang so worked up.
"She talked about how Xiaotian is not as good as me in every way."
"Then why are you angry?" An Hao was puzzled, "Aren’t you happy being praised for your beauty?"
"She observed way too closely. Things like ’my skin is not as fair as yours’, ’my legs are not as long as yours’, do you think he could’ve said that much if he wasn’t looking so closely?"
Trying to hold back her laughter, An Hao patted Gu Shuangshuang’s shoulder, "Congratulations, girl! I’m pretty sure you’ve fallen for him now!"
"As if!" Gu Shuangshuang rolled her eyes, "How did I ever fall for such a blockhead!"
..............................................
After a pleasant weekend, on Monday morning when An Hao and Gu Shuangshuang just got back to school, Manager Zhang, who contracted the school cafeteria, sought out An Hao.
Lately, the students and staff had been complaining about the lack of variety in the meals, and the school’s leaders had talked to him about improving the food quality without raising prices.
That was quite a challenge.
Not increasing prices yet improving the quality meant making no profits or even possibly having to subsidize the costs.
If the issue wasn’t resolved, the cafeteria he had put so much effort into contracting might have its contract unilaterally terminated by the school, and his loss would be no small matter.
While the cafeteria manager was at his wits’ end, the head chef told him that he had found a way to cut costs.
So, bright and early, the cafeteria manager came looking for An Hao, wanting to check out the vegetable garden at An Hao’s home.
An Hao arranged with them to go on Tuesday, as she had no classes that Tuesday afternoon and could drive back with them to have a look.
These past few years, the cafeteria manager had made a fortune from contracting the cafeteria and had bought a car. After lunch on Tuesday, he drove An Hao and the cafeteria’s purchaser to An Hao’s village.
They arrived just in time to bump into An Ping, who was about to send a letter at the entrance of the village.
"Sis, why are you back at this time?" Upon seeing An Hao, An Ping immediately got excited, "I was just about to mail you a letter, but now that you’re back, I don’t need to go."
"Do you have something important to mail me about?" An Hao asked casually.
An Ping pulled An Hao aside and whispered, "There’s been something strange happening in our family land."
"Strange?" An Hao was curious, "What kind of strange thing?"
"The vegetables in our field are dying off inexplicably, one patch after another," An Ping sighed wearily, "Dad and I have been looking for the cause for days and can’t find it. Watching the vegetables die off for no clear reason, Dad’s been so worried he can’t sleep. He asked me to write to you to see if you could come back and help find out what’s happening."
"That is quite mysterious. Since I’m back, let’s go take a look at the fields right away," An Hao said, and pulling An Ping along, she introduced everyone to each other.
After Manager Zhang explained his intentions, An Ping was delighted and immediately took him and the others to their greenhouse field.
His family had contracted quite a few acres of land, which had yielded good results with trial planting in the greenhouse last year.
This spring, An Shuchao and An Ping had expanded the planting area by several acres, and now it was harvest time.
Leading the way to the greenhouse, upon opening the door, An Hao saw the dying vegetables inside and felt a pang of distress.