Chapter 42: Chapter 42: The Hungry Wolves of the Imperial College

This time, it was Ming Lingyi’s turn to be speechless.

Ming Lingyi glanced helplessly at the chubby girl beside her. "Xiao Chun, you’re so loud, Granny Wang can hear you."

Xiao Chun gasped, her eyes widening.

She had forgotten.

"We’re running a business. What’s so strange about Granny Wang coming to eat?" Ming Lingyi added.

As she spoke, she prepared another portion of sesame paste sauce, then lifted the cooked noodles from the pot and gestured for Xiao Chun to serve them.

"Be polite," she said.

Xiao Chun muttered an "Oh" and carried the noodles out.

Xiao Chun was about to feel embarrassed, well aware of how loud her voice was, but before she could, a commotion faintly drifted in from outside.

Before Xiao Chun could react, the noise swelled from a distant clamor to a roar right outside. The next second, a crowd of people swarmed into their restaurant—

"Miss Ming! I want a milk tea!"

"Miss Ming! Ten Jade Plum Shocking Snow Cakes!"

"Miss Xiao Chun, I’ll have two cups of milk tea and five Jade Plum Shocking Snow Cakes! Huh? What’s that smell? It’s amazing!"

"I want milk tea, milk tea, milk tea! I want milk tea!"

Xiao Chun felt like eight hundred ducks were quacking in her ears. Seeing that Ming’s Restaurant was about to be overrun by a group of uniformly dressed students from the Imperial College, Xiao Chun took a deep breath and bellowed, her voice easily overpowering the quacking of those eight hundred ducks—

"Quiet! Wait a minute!"

"The milk tea is a morning special, and the Jade Plum Shocking Snow Cakes are a breakfast item! They’re all gone for today!"

At Xiao Chun’s announcement, the group of Imperial College students looked at each other in dismay. None of them had expected this.

A moment later, they all started chattering at once again.

"Why aren’t you selling them anymore? Delicious food and drinks should be available all day!"

Xiao Chun put her hands on her hips and declared righteously, "Our restaurant has plenty of delicious things! If you ate the same two items for all three meals, you’d get sick of them in no time!"

What arrogance!

But... it kind of made sense.

"Ma’am, what’s that in your bowl?" Zhang Zhidong, who was of course among the students, had failed to protect his Jade Plum Shocking Snow Cakes from the "bandits" around him that morning; they had been completely devoured.

After eating breakfast at Miss Ming’s shop, lunch at the Imperial College cafeteria had felt like eating pig slop to Zhang Zhidong.

His stomach was already rumbling now.

When he saw the distinct, firm-looking noodles in Granny Wang’s bowl, each strand coated in a rich sauce, Zhang Zhidong couldn’t help but lick his lips.

’This looks absolutely delicious!’

Granny Wang looked up and shot Zhang Zhidong a glance. "The shop has a sign hanging right there. It’s written on it."

Du Xuan hadn’t left yet. He had finished a bowl of the sesame paste noodles and was full, but he found the aroma of braised meat from Mrs. Ming’s shop simply too tempting.

There was the old saying "quench thirst by gazing at plums," and now, he felt he might as well "stave off cravings by smelling the aroma."

So, Du Xuan decided to sit for a while longer. It wouldn’t be too late to leave after he’d had his fill of the enticing fragrance.

Hearing Zhang Zhidong’s question, Du Xuan eagerly jumped in to explain, "This is Boss Ming’s evening special, called Golden Jiji Qiong Ban. It’s a type of mixed noodle, and it’s absolutely delicious! The flavor is top-notch! You can’t get it anywhere else!"

The aroma had already gone to Zhang Zhidong’s head. Hearing Du Xuan’s words, he immediately sat down nearby and looked at Xiao Chun. "Miss Xiao Chun, I’ll have a bowl of that Golden Jiji Qiong Ban. And, do you also have braised meat? The smell is incredible! I’ll take a pound of braised meat, too!"

He was starving.

As soon as Zhang Zhidong spoke, Liu Lingxing, who was next to him, immediately sat down as well. "Miss Xiao Chun, I’ll have the exact same thing as Zhang Zhidong!"

’There’s no going wrong when you follow Zhang Zhidong’s lead on food.’

Xiao Chun smiled. "Please wait a moment."

"Miss Xiao Chun, what’s this ’Crispy Fat Congealed Honey Light’? It sounds wonderful. I’ll have one of those."

Xiao Chun replied, "That’s crispy pork belly, but it’s on our restaurant’s lunch menu, so..."

The student who asked let out a disappointed "Ah." "What bad timing. Alright then, I won’t have it."

By now, many of the Imperial College students had ordered the Golden Jiji Qiong Ban. Others, however, couldn’t understand why a bowl of noodles cost thirty-five wen, especially since the Golden Jiji Qiong Ban was a plain, meatless noodle dish. Feeling it wasn’t worth the price, they didn’t order anything, planning instead to wait until Xiao Chun was free to ask when the shop would open tomorrow morning so they could come buy milk tea.

Making noodles was much faster than cooking other dishes. Besides, the most important ingredient for the sesame paste noodles, the "two-eight sauce," had already been prepared by Ming Lingyi and Xiao Chun and was ready to use.

Before long, the sesame paste noodles for Zhang Zhidong and the others were served.

The students from Class A, like Liu Lingxing, who had great faith in Zhang Zhidong’s palate, had mostly all taken seats in Ming’s Restaurant. They held their bowls and took a bite.

The moment Zhang Zhidong took his first bite of the sesame paste noodles, his eyes lit up.

’What is this flavor?’

The fragrance of sesame and peanuts, the taste of flash-fried scallions and garlic, and a hint of aged vinegar... yet when he ate it, it wasn’t sour at all, just a mouthful of savory aroma.

It was a flavor profile he had never experienced before.

Immediately, Zhang Zhidong lifted his bowl, forgetting all about elegant table manners. He began slurping furiously, inhaling the noodles like a tornado sweeping through the clouds.

The students from B, C, and D Dormitories, who originally thought the Class A students were being ripped off, saw Zhang Zhidong’s reaction and teased with a smile—

"If it’s not good, Zhang Zhidong, you don’t have to hide it. We won’t laugh at you even if you got it wrong this time."

Zhang Zhidong turned a deaf ear.

’Who got it wrong?’ he thought. ’Miss Ming’s cooking is simply unparalleled! My judgment wasn’t off in the slightest!’

’But right now, my mouth has a more important job to do—eating! How could I spare my tongue to argue with these irrelevant people?!’

And so, amidst the quacking chorus of "No need to pretend, we get it," Zhang Zhidong ordered a second bowl of sesame paste noodles.

Liu Lingxing couldn’t eat as much as Zhang Zhidong. By the time his friend finished, he was only halfway through his own bowl. He even found a moment to look up and bicker with the students from C Hall. "Who’s putting on a show for you? Did you pay for it? Don’t think so highly of yourselves! Have you never tried the Jade Plum Shocking Snow Cakes Boss Ming made before? Weren’t you amazed? Not eating this Golden Jiji Qiong Ban today is your loss!"

Having said his piece, Liu Lingxing buried his head in his bowl and went back to eating with gusto.

The Class A students were eating with such relish that a chubby student from B Hall couldn’t help but swallow hard. He looked at his companion and asked, "Do you think... it’s really that good?"