Chapter 27 — The Unattainable Goddess
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
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The cafeteria at No. 1 High was enormous, three stories tall. The ground floor was the general cafeteria, the fast-food sort of place: a ring of little stalls selling every kind of dish around the perimeter, and rows of tables and chairs in the middle.
The second floor was private rooms, meant for the wealthier students, where one could order dishes off a menu — though students whose families were not so well off also came up here for birthday parties and the like. The food on the second floor was plainly a cut above the first; they had hired proper chefs for it.
The third floor was the faculty dining room. The food was much the same as the student cafeteria below, though the setting was more refined. Students, of course, were not permitted to eat up there.
Wei Zhao followed Kang Xiaobo into the cafeteria. Kang Xiaobo pointed to an office on the right. "That's where you get a meal card."
"Oh, I'll go get one right now." Wei Zhao nodded. Gu Pengzhan and Uncle Qing had not given him a school meal card or a library card or anything of the sort, but clearly such things could be taken care of on campus at any time, so long as one showed a student ID.
"What, you think I can't afford it?" Kang Xiaobo was a little put out at Wei Zhao's move to get a card. "It's our first day knowing each other, and you're on my turf. Naturally I'm treating."
Seeing Kang Xiaobo like that, Wei Zhao dropped the notion of getting a card at once. "All right then. We'll do it after we eat."
"Fine, I'll go with you after." Kang Xiaobo said cheerfully, leading Wei Zhao through the various little windows.
The selection at the windows was really quite something — vegetarian and meat dishes alike, several kinds of staples, plus steamed buns, dumplings, stuffed pancakes and the like. Wei Zhao asked for tomato with alfalfa sprouts and some rice; Kang Xiaobo ordered a plate of shredded pork in garlic sauce and steamed buns. Altogether it came to eleven yuan — neither much nor little, a middling level of spending.
Wei Zhao and Kang Xiaobo found a seat and set the two plates together so they could swap bites.
Once seated, Wei Zhao quickly scanned the whole cafeteria. Shen Yushu and Gu Mengyao were not here; presumably they had gone up to the private rooms on the second floor.
"What are you looking at? Checking out the beauties?" Kang Xiaobo laughed. "Shen Yushu and Gu Mengyao are both upstairs. They'd never eat with the likes of us. But if you're lucky, you might run into Tang Yun."
"Is that so?" What Wei Zhao cared about was where Gu Mengyao was, not whether this Tang Yun might put in an appearance.
"Tang Yun's family doesn't seem to be doing too well, though. Most of the time she brings her own lunch." Kang Xiaobo sighed. "Really, with looks like hers, she could say one word and countless boys would fight for the chance to buy her a meal. She could eat in a second-floor private room every day if she wanted to."
"Hah. A girl with spirit doesn't care about that sort of thing." Wei Zhao said mildly.
"You're right about that. Tang Yun never cared about any of it. A girl like that is rare indeed." Kang Xiaobo said, thoroughly agreeing. "But the more she's like that, the more boys fall for her. A girl who doesn't care for money — that's exactly what we students adore."
Unfortunately, Tang Yun never appeared, not even by the end of lunch. Wei Zhao didn't mind, but Kang Xiaobo was slightly disappointed. Many students were like him, coming here every day to eat in hopes of seeing Tang Yun; it had become a kind of expectation.
Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, though, came down the stairs from the second floor arm in arm, drawing the sidelong glances of many boys. To the vast majority of those sitting there, the two were princesses high above them, visible but unattainable.
Many boys did not even dare look at them directly. Wei Zhao watched the two out of the cafeteria, then went with Kang Xiaobo to the management office by the entrance.