CHAPTER 309: CHAPTER 301: BLACK ROSE

"Sisi, I want to eat the sweet and sour ribs made by your aunt!" Mo Liu looked at Sisi with longing eyes, beginning to place his order.

Tian Xinhua slapped the table, "Dream on, you want sweet and sour ribs? How about I get you a bottle of sweet and vinegar water instead?"

Mo Liu looked at Sisi with tearful eyes, his red lips lightly bitten, his willow eyebrows slightly knitted; it pained Sisi’s heart to see him like that, and she immediately turned her head to eat resolutely.

She couldn’t watch anymore; if she did, she’d turn into the big bad wolf herself. With Mo Liu looking like such a vulnerable little thing, it was just tempting trouble! In the future, she’d have to warn Mo Liu not to make that face in front of men, because even straight guys could be bent in minutes!

Zhu Yunxiu snorted disdainfully at Mo Liu, still dreaming about sweet and sour ribs! Utterly clueless!

"Sisi, I’m not that demanding; I’ll eat whatever dish you bring, no need for anything extra, just two chopsticks full."

As Zhu Yunxiu spoke, she almost started drooling; following Sisi to her home and eating there a few times, she had long been captured by Granny Zhao’s culinary skills.

Realizing his mistake, Mo Liu quickly showed his determination, "Sisi, I’m not demanding either, one chopstick full is enough!"

These two clowns, Sisi found it amusing, "Alright, stop talking as if you’re so pitiful, all this one chopstick, two chopsticks, as if you’re begging for food. Since I’ve brought dishes, of course I won’t leave you two out. Don’t worry, there’s enough for you."

Zhu Yunxiu felt a bit embarrassed, speaking hesitantly: "Sisi, it doesn’t feel right always eating what you bring, how about I give you all my living money?"

"I’ll give you mine too, and if that’s not enough, I still have more," Mo Liu whispered.

"There’s no need, do you think my home is a restaurant? In the future, just bring me some specialties from your hometown, we certainly don’t need those little bits of living money!" Sisi said, rolling her eyes at them unimpressed.

"Fine, this summer break I’ll get you a whole sack of salted duck," Zhu Yunxiu declared, slapping the table generously.

Mo Liu still spoke in a low voice, "Sisi, I’ll bring you some smoked sausages, my grandma makes really tasty ones."

Since then, Sisi would bring a full lunchbox of food to school every day, sometimes braised pork, sometimes mapo tofu, or fish-fragrant shredded pork and the like, all big dishes—aromatic, shiny with oil, making Zhu Yunxiu and Mo Liu so happy they were moved to tears, exclaiming how delicious it was!

Thanks to these tasty dishes, Lei Gang and Wu Tianfang also joined their group. Of course, they didn’t just eat without contributing; sometimes they would bring dishes too. Both of them were day students, going back to their own homes after school. Although their parents weren’t at home, their grandparents were.

Also, because of Sisi’s lead, quite a few day students in the school began bringing their own meals. During lunchtime, the boarding students would look enviously at the day students taking out their flavorful stir-fried dishes from their bags and eating with relish, while they themselves could only munch on unappetizing cafeteria food.

Ah, it’s great to have a Beijing hukou! You get to eat delicious food even at school! The boarding students were indignant, then remembered they now had a Beijing hukou as well, and in the future, their own children would be like these day students, bringing home-cooked stir-fry to eat in the canteen, making those from out of town jealous!

Dreaming about that pleasant future, the students from out of town suddenly felt wonderful, to the point where even the watery boiled cabbage in their bowls seemed graceful, a true feast for the eyes.

Not many days after she started bringing her own lunch, Sisi’s group added another member, the cool beauty from the same dorm, Shangguan Feifei. This girl was colder than even Harbin, hardly interacting with others in the dorm, never speaking more than three words from morning till night.

The male classmates gave her a nickname, ’Black Rose,’ with ’White Rose’ naturally being Sisi. The two of them were known as the Roses of the Art Department, and might very well become the Qinghua Double Stars in the future.

However, at this moment, Shangguan Beauty, was not the least bit cold and glamorous; she was staring at Sisi’s lunchbox with shining eyes, making a suspicious gulping sound, indicating to Sisi that she must be swallowing her saliva.

"He Sisi, sweet and sour crispy pork?" Shangguan Beauty was still gazing hungrily at the lunchbox.

"Yeah, it’s a famous dish from the Northeast, wanna try some?"

Sisi swore that she was just casually asking based on the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, with no real expectation that the person would actually agree.

But Shangguan Beauty did agree—and very decisively at that. She plopped herself down, nudged Mo Liu aside, set her lunchbox down, and just stared at Sisi, like a kindergartner waiting for the teacher to hand out cookies.

Sisi: What’s happening? Shangguan Heimei, where’s your cool, aloof elegance? Your style? Your reserve?

Shangguan Feifei sneered: What the hell is cold beauty? Can you eat it?

As it turns out, the age-old saying "don’t judge a book by its cover" is true indeed. The way Shangguan Beauty devoured her meal could only be described as dominating. She wolfed down half of the fried pork dish in the aluminum lunchbox, including the six taels of rice she brought herself, a serving of pork with vermicelli, and a portion of potato slices.

"Er."

Shangguan Feifei let out a satisfied burp, patted her little belly, and finally uttered, "I’ll stick with you from now on!"

??????

Sisi felt like there must be a short circuit in her brain today; she just wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Why was Shangguan Feifei acting so strange today?

"Shangguan Feifei, what do you mean by ’stick with you’?"

"I’m so hungry!"

Shangguan Yunfei gave a very succinct answer. Luckily, Sisi could understand, and so could everyone else. But why couldn’t Shangguan Feifei say more than a few words at a time?

"Shangguan Feifei, don’t stick with Sisi. If you do, I won’t have any meat to eat!" Mo Liu complained with pouted lips. He had eaten only one piece of the fried pork dish earlier, and Shangguan Feifei had finished off the rest.

Shangguan Feifei ignored Mo Liu and kept gazing expectantly at Sisi, looking all cute and innocent—a truly strange twist!

It seemed that Shangguan Feifei was also a hidden foodie! Sisi’s impression of her wasn’t bad; a food lover usually wouldn’t be a terrible person!

"Sure thing, welcome to the club! But next time, don’t eat too much, okay? Leave some for others," Sisi said, smiling broadly.

The corners of Shangguan Feifei’s mouth quirked upwards; Sisi took that as a sign of happiness. But what was the deal with her taking out a stack of cash and food and meat coupons from her bag?

Shangguan Feifei handed all the coupons to Sisi, still speaking one word at a time: "Bring more!"

Sisi had to admire herself. She could actually understand what Shangguan Feifei meant even though she was talking three words at a time? She really was a talent!

Sisi smiled and pushed the coupons back to Shangguan Feifei. She had not accepted Zhu Yunxiu and Mo Liu’s money, so how could she accept Shangguan Feifei’s? It was just a bit of food, and with Space as her backup, Sisi had plenty of confidence.

"No need, I’ll bring more next time."

The corners of Shangguan Feifei’s mouth curled up again, and she unhesitatingly took back the coupons Sisi had pushed back. If Sisi didn’t roughly understand this person’s nature, she might have thought Shangguan Feifei was just being politely insincere.

But she liked this kind of personality!