After leaving Instructor Yu's courtyard, Lin Chen went straight back to the training ground.
Gu Fei took two steamed buns out of his robe and handed them to Lin Chen. "You didn't eat, right?"
"Mm."
Lin Chen didn't stand on ceremony with Gu Fei and took the buns.
Although these two buns were also deducted from the grain sent by Gu Fei's family, as brothers, there was no need for such clear boundaries between them.
"Chen-zi, what did you mean by that work-study thing?" Gu Fei asked curiously while watching Lin Chen gnaw on the buns.
"Instructor Yu found me a job—helping out in the dining hall. In exchange, I don't have to pay for meals."
Helping out in the dining hall?
Gu Fei was shocked, his eyes widening instantly.
"Chen-zi, don't do something stupid."
Although they had done plenty of work back in the village, after coming to the Martial Hall, there was still a sense of superiority deep down.
More importantly, doing dirty, tiring work in front of other students would likely invite ridicule. He was afraid Lin Chen wouldn't be able to bear it.
Seeing Gu Fei's worry, Lin Chen instead comforted him proactively. "In the past half year, haven't there been plenty of people mocking me already? Forgot the martial arts legend stories I told you?"
"That's different. The 'don't bully the poor youth' stories you told—those Xiao Yan types—sure, they got mocked, but they didn't have to do manual labor."
"The essence is the same. The more I'm mocked now, the more satisfying it'll be to slap their faces later when I succeed in martial arts."
"That's true in theory… but…"
"Alright, I finally got Instructor Yu to agree. Even if I wanted to quit now, I couldn't."
Hearing this, Gu Fei smacked his lips and finally cursed, "Your grandfather really isn't a decent person."
...
...
In the morning, Yu Yongnian came to the training ground, watched the students practice for a while, then left. Before leaving, he told Lin Chen that he could go straight to the dining hall at noon.
Lin Chen understood that Instructor Yu had already spoken with the dining hall manager.
As mealtime approached, Lin Chen greeted Gu Fei and left a quarter hour early.
Upon arriving at the dining hall, he asked to see the manager and reported his name.
"Instructor Yu did give instructions. How about this—you'll be responsible for serving dishes to the students, then eat together with everyone."
"Thank you, Manager Zhang."
"No need to thank me. This is Instructor Yu's kindness to you. Just remember Instructor Yu."
Manager Zhang waved his hand. There were many kinds of work in the kitchen. The hardest and dirtiest was collecting and washing the students' bowls and chopsticks, but he wasn't about to assign Lin Chen the toughest tasks.
Although Instructor Yu had only said to give Lin Chen an opportunity to work, and the specific tasks were up to him as the manager, he wouldn't really make Lin Chen do the dirtiest, most exhausting work.
When mealtime arrived, Lin Chen stood at the beef window, holding an iron ladle.
"How many jin of beef would you like, Senior Brother?"
"Senior Brother? Aren't you the one who sco—what was it…?"
"Senior Brother, my surname is Lin."
"Junior Brother Lin, sorry, I forgot for a moment. Give me two jin of beef."
Lin Chen nodded and placed two ladlefuls of beef onto the other's tray.
"How many jin of beef would you like, Senior Brother?"
For every student, Lin Chen smiled and addressed them as Senior Brother, his gaze calm and open.
Instead, the Martial Hall students were somewhat surprised to see Lin Chen at the window, their expressions carrying a hint of shock, but none mocked him.
There were no grudges between them and Lin Chen. Even if someone did mock him, it would be kept in their heart, not shown to his face.
"How many jin of beef would you like, Senior Brother Zhao?"
Zhao Jingchuan looked at Lin Chen in front of him, somewhat surprised. "Junior Brother Lin, why are you doing this?"
"Instructor Yu took pity on my poor family background and let me help in the dining hall so I can be exempt from meal costs," Lin Chen replied naturally.
"I see. Then trouble Junior Brother Lin to give me ten beef bone sticks."
"Please wait a moment, Senior Brother."
Lin Chen turned around and fished ten beef bone sticks out of another iron basin. As expected of one of the wealthy students of their cohort—his spending was generous. Beef bone sticks weren't sold by weight. One cost thirty wen; ten came to three hundred wen.
There wasn't much meat on the beef bone sticks, but the marrow inside was more nourishing to qi and blood than beef. Only a few people in the Martial Hall could afford them.
Zhao Jingchuan left carrying the bones. After a few more students passed through the line, Gu Fei appeared in front of Lin Chen and winked at him. "Give me two jin of beef."
Lin Chen's expression didn't change, but when the two ladles dipped into the beef basin, he pressed them down more firmly.
Those two ladles ended up with several extra liang of beef.
The two brothers exchanged a smile. Everything was understood without words.
"Oh? Not practicing martial arts, but running to the dining hall to do odd jobs?"
Zhang Tao appeared in front of Lin Chen once again. Lin Chen's expression remained unchanged. He knew why Zhang Tao didn't like him.
Jealousy.
Zhang Tao's family situation wasn't particularly good either. Back then, he had seen Lin Chen go scoop beef soup from the dining hall, but couldn't bring himself to do the same, and so developed a twisted jealousy toward him.
Lin Chen had encountered this type plenty of times in his previous life.
Back then, when the class selected students for financial aid, there was a student from a poor family who, due to wounded pride and fear of ridicule, didn't dare apply. When other students received the aid, he mocked them in a sarcastic, sneering way.
This kind of person would rather suffer than lose face—true incompetence.
"Getting meat?" Lin Chen ignored Zhang Tao's remark and asked directly.
"Give me two jin of beef," Zhang Tao snorted lightly. With other students waiting behind him, he didn't dare waste too much time.
Lin Chen picked up the ladle and scooped a ladleful from the porcelain basin full of beef. But after scooping, he gave his wrist a slight shake, letting the top few pieces fall back into the basin.
Zhang Tao's expression went from initial delight to anger.
"Two jin of beef is done. Next."
Lin Chen didn't care about Zhang Tao. He hadn't given him less meat—he had simply served more at first, letting Zhang Tao think he was getting a bargain, then dropped his mood back down.
He now understood that wielding the ladle had its advantages.
For familiar students, he could serve a bit more—one or two extra liang—and the dining hall wouldn't pursue it.
After all, the dining hall didn't have scales. Absolute precision was impossible. One ladle counted as one jin.
"Are you done? If you're done, hurry up and move!"
Just as Zhang Tao was about to flare up, students behind him urged impatiently. Faced with their tone, Zhang Tao quickly stepped aside, leaving with his food in frustration.
Seeing this, Lin Chen felt even more disdain.
Someone extremely sensitive and insecure inside, who satisfied his vanity by bullying those poorer than himself, someone who bullied the weak and feared the strong—this kind of person would never achieve anything in martial arts.
There were sixty students in total at the Martial Hall. Lin Chen finished serving everyone in a quarter of an hour, but he still stood at the window for another quarter hour. Some students would return to the dorms to change into clean clothes before coming to eat.
...
After the dining hall closed, Lin Chen carried the remaining beef in the basin back to the kitchen and ate together with the kitchen staff.
There were still three to four jin of beef left in the basin.
"Eating already? I came at just the right time."
Manager Zhang appeared right on cue and walked in.
"Manager Zhang, want to join us? There happens to be some leftover beef today," Chef Wang greeted him.
"I've already eaten, so I won't,"
Manager Zhang said with a smile, waving his hand. He stepped forward, glanced at the table, then looked at Lin Chen. "Xiao Lin needs to nourish his body for martial arts. Eat more beef."
"Thank you, Manager Zhang," Lin Chen said with a grateful look.
"Alright, you all eat. I was just taking a look. I'll head out first."
Manager Zhang came and left quickly, but his words caused varied expressions among the kitchen staff. Chef Wang thought for a moment, then directly picked up the largest piece of meat and stuffed it into Lin Chen's bowl.
"Xiao Lin, eat more. In the future, if there's extra beef left, just take it—don't be polite."
After saying that, the head chef looked at the others. "Xiao Lin needs meat to practice martial arts. Don't compete with him."
"I'm already this old—eating more meat won't help me anyway. Leave it all for Xiao Lin."
"Xiao Lin, eat more and train well. If you really succeed, our kitchen will benefit too."
No matter what the kitchen staff's thoughts were, after Manager Zhang's visit and the head chef's words, everyone urged Lin Chen to eat more.
Lin Chen didn't hold back. He came to work in the kitchen precisely to eat beef.
This kindness was given by Instructor Yu. If he acted overly polite and deliberately yielded, that wouldn't be tact—it would be stupidity.
The head chef looked at the beef left in the basin and had a sense of it. From tomorrow on, it seemed they could buy one or two extra jin of beef.