Jiang's Soup Dumpling Shop, first floor of the second cafeteria.
There's still more than an hour before the lunch service starts, so there's plenty of time. Jiang Yu and Hu Zhihai are methodically doing their tasks, looking quite leisurely, not busy at all.
"Zhihai, if you're done washing the vegetables, come over and help put the dumplings in the pot. In another half hour, it'll be about time to start steaming."
Jiang Yu neatly places the wrapped dumplings into the steamer trays and calls out over his shoulder.
"Alright, give me a moment. I'll finish washing the onions."
Hu Zhihai responds without turning his head.
He never washed vegetables at home before, but now he's doing these tasks without a hint of impatience and actually finds it interesting.
Probably, this is the difference between doing chores for someone else and doing them for oneself; the mindset is just different.
While the two are busy, Yan Tongtong enters with an irrepressible smile on her face.
"What's up, Xiaoyan?"
Hu Zhihai hears the sound and turns to glance at her, asking, "You're smiling so happily, did something good happen?"
"No, no!"
Yan Tongtong's face instantly turns red, and she quickly shakes her head, hesitating before finally opening her mouth,
"I just packed some food to go and my friend—she usually can't handle spicy food—at first, she wouldn't dare eat the hot and sour soup because it looked so red."
Later, I told her this soup was made by our boss, and everyone who's tried it raves about it. It goes even better with the soup dumplings. People who come late regret not getting the soup."
"Oh? And then what happened?"
Hu Zhihai is great at picking up on cues and subtly fulfills the young girl's need to share.
"Then she tried a small sip, and just that little sip had her jumping around, breaking out in a sweat!"
At this point, Yan Tongtong's eyebrows nearly fly off her face as she chuckles and says,
"I thought she'd surely never dare eat it again, but after a while, when her mouth wasn't so burning, she picked up the hot and sour soup again and started eating it while exclaiming, 'Oh my, it's so sour! So hot! So delicious!'"
Hu Zhihai listened and burst into hearty laughter: "Hahaha, your friend is so interesting!"
"Right, I think she's quite amusing too. She used to not be able to eat anything, but now as long as it's made by the boss, she enjoys it so much!"
Yan Tongtong said, turning to look inside, she saw Jiang Yu busy with his work and cheekily stuck out her tongue before quickly running over, whispering,
"Boss, is there anything I need to do?"
"Oh, you came so early."
Jiang Yu turned to glance at her and said with a smile,
"There's not much to do right now, why don't you take a rest in the shop for a while? When meal time comes, there'll be no time to rest."
"Oh, alright then."
Yan Tongtong went back to the front, but didn't actually rest. She grabbed a damp cloth and started wiping the window counter, filled with energy.
She's really glad now that she took the initiative to seek this opportunity before the shop started openly recruiting staff.
The food here is so delicious, and the business is incredibly thriving every day. If they advertised for staff, even without a salary, just offering three meals a day, many students would fight for the chance to work here.
A little bit of salary is nothing. Such delicious soup dumplings and hot and sour soup, you couldn't buy them even if you had money elsewhere.
Besides, the boss is so kind and easy-going; where else could you find such a good part-time opportunity?
For a moment, Yan Tongtong even considered that if she couldn't find a suitable job after graduating, she might as well just follow the boss!
It's obvious even without thinking. With culinary skills like the boss's, he won't be confined to a small shop forever. He's just earning his first bucket of gold now, and once he has enough funds, he'll definitely soar high.
And following a boss destined for greatness, what's wrong with that?
Maybe she'll become one of the founding members of a startup!
Thinking of this, Yan Tongtong wiped the counter with even more enthusiasm.
In the small shop, the three of them were occupied with their tasks, not speaking, everything seeming busy yet fulfilling.
Time flies like a white horse.
In the blink of an eye, it's almost eleven o'clock, though it's still some time before lunch. Students already start appearing in the cafeteria in groups.
These people have a clear purpose; as soon as they enter the cafeteria, they head straight for Jiang's Soup Dumpling Shop. They don't speak loudly, naturally forming a line at the counter.
Jiang Yu and the others are used to this by now, continuing their tasks independently.
After a while, Jiang Yu finished wrapping the dumplings in his hands, carefully placed them in the steamer, and stood up from his seat.
He stretched his muscles vigorously, glancing at the increasingly longer queue outside the window, and said,
"It's about time, let's start the fire!"
Today is new student orientation; hopefully not too many people have heard how good the soup dumplings are here, hopefully not too many will come.
Otherwise, today I'll be exhausted in the kitchen...
Speaking of which, hoping people don't flock to the shop, Jiang Yu is one of a kind among business owners.
...
"My dear daughter, make the best of the situation; Jiangzhou University is quite good, after all, it's a 'Double First-Class' university and a '211'. So many people want to get in but can't!"
At the Jiangzhou University new student reception, a father pulls a suitcase, following his daughter, continuously trying to persuade her,
"Moreover, it doesn't really matter which university you attend; the important thing is what you learn yourself. A capable person can accomplish great things even without attending university. But without ability, even if you attend Qingbei, you'll end up raising pigs at home after graduation!"
"Dad, stop it."
The daughter suddenly stops, turns to glare at her father, and says unhappily,
"You don't understand anything, what's the use of saying so much?
Platform, do you know what a platform means? Do you understand how much a good platform can affect someone's future?
Even if they ended up raising pigs at home, a Qingbei graduate would possess countless potential contacts and resources, making it much easier for them to succeed than others!"
Her name is Liu Sili, a freshman this year.
Early this morning, with her father's company, she came to Jiangzhou University to enroll.
Looking at the beautiful environment and picturesque scenery of the campus, and at the enthusiastic, spirited fellow students, Liu Sili was in quite a good mood originally.
However, before she could enjoy her happiness for long, Cheng Jiayi, who she doesn't get along with, suddenly contacted her.
She opened WeChat to see, and nearly cursed out loud in anger.
Cheng Jiayi had sent her a selfie taken at the entrance of Shanghai University, and with feigned politeness asked her if Jiangzhou University was pretty too, mentioning it shouldn't be worse than Shanghai University, right?
This woman is utterly despicable!
Isn't she just mocking her for going to a lesser university?
If she hadn't had an unfortunate choice mishap when filling out her application, how could she have been redirected to Jiangzhou University?
In an instant, the beauty of first impressions shattered.