The whole family burst into laughter, especially my heartless father. He was the one who gave me this kind of life, and he still had the nerve to laugh!
With a worried look on her face, she crawled out from under the table to continue feeding the baby.
Eat up, eat more! Grow up into a chubby little girl even fatter than me, and let your dad know the consequences of laughing at others!
"Yuanyuan is a big meatball, and Baobao is a little meatball. They look so good together sitting together!" My carefree dad said nonsensically at the dinner table.
My name is Yuanyuan, not Rouyuan! I'm so angry!
"Yuanyuan, your third aunt called just now and asked you to come to her house for dinner on Saturday. She bought you some clothes, so you can try them on after dinner to see if they fit." My usually taciturn mother finally said something that saved me from my awkward situation.
"Oh," I replied blankly, my mind filled with images of meatballs. After a moment, I realized what my mother had said, waved my hand, and shouted, "I can't go to Uncle's house for dinner!"
"Why?" The whole family stopped eating and looked at me.
"Uh... well," I stammered for a while before finally telling the truth, "The faculty dormitories of the college are right in front of my third uncle's house, and many teachers who know me live there. Nobody knows about my relationship with my third uncle, and if someone sees us..."
"What will happen?" everyone asked in unison.
"Yes...yes, Su Yuanyuan is really quick. It's only been a few days, and she's already dating the dean's son and having dinner at his house!" I lowered my head in embarrassment.
卟——
The whole family burst out laughing.
Alas, what a pity that all my delicious food was ruined by drool!
Soybean Stewed Pig Trotters
I've finally officially started my job.
For me, teaching a bunch of teenagers isn't the hardest thing. The hardest thing is getting out of my soft, warm bed early in the morning, riding my electric bike across three rivers, countless bridges, and running through countless traffic lights to get to work in the university town.
My home is in the northernmost part of the city. The university town is in the southernmost part of the city.
Sounds exhausting, right? So, after finally getting to school, I bought two baskets of small meat buns from the steamed bun shop near the school gate and a cup of tofu pudding from the tofu shop for breakfast. I wolfed these down, and then it was time for class.
"Classmates, hiccup—, today's color lesson, hiccup—, we'll learn, hiccup—, we'll learn, hiccup—composition and color!" Because I ate too much and too fast this morning, my uncooperative diaphragm muscle twitched terribly during class.
Fortunately, the freshmen had just graduated from high school and had a sense of awe towards their teachers. When they saw my funny hiccuping, they all held their faces in their hands and didn't dare to laugh.
Good children, your teacher will give you a high grade for your daily performance.
I drank a large glass of water, hoping the force of the water would suppress that nasty burp.
"The color thing, hiccup—" With the sound of stirring the water, the hiccup still floated to the surface from the bottom of the water.
There's no way I can attend class today. After thinking for a moment, I took out my MP4 from my bag. It had some cartoons that Su Tiantian copied for me last week, which I hadn't had a chance to watch yet. They might come in handy today.
"Teacher, hiccup—here are some color applications, hiccup—very nice animation samples, hiccup—everyone take a look!" Despite choking, the unstoppable hiccup still burst out along with the voice.
The students cheered and all craned their necks, eyes wide open, eager to watch the cartoon.
I connected the MP4 player to my computer, turned on the projector, and randomly opened a file folder: *Death Note*. The name sounded a bit creepy, but the art style and colors of the sample images were really good. I'll take this one!
Sitting behind the control panel, I rested my chin on my hand, hiccuped, and watched cartoons with my students.
A bright red apple in a gray background.
Hmm, not my favorite style.
While mentally assessing the animation's art style and colors, I focused intently on the Chinese subtitles, and slowly, I became captivated by this truly magical story.
The children were the same, mouths agape, eyes wide, completely absorbed in the viewing.
I observed two classes, and both the teacher and students seemed reluctant to leave. Seeing the students from the next classroom walking past in twos and threes on the veranda in front of the classroom, I had no choice but to end my get out of class.
"Class, that concludes today's color lesson." It's amazing, because I was so engrossed in watching the cartoon, I completely forgot about hiccups!
"Teacher! Please watch a little longer!" the students pleaded.
"Want to watch more?" I asked, blinking.
"think!"
"Then, when I hiccup like this again next time, everyone can continue."
"Oh! No!" A chorus of cries erupted from below the podium.
Haha, what a lovely bunch of kids.
I've finally realized my childhood dream! Instead of lecturing on dry, boring theories, my teacher spends her time telling stories and showing cartoons! I didn't get to enjoy this when I was a student, but now that I'm a teacher, I can let my students experience it too.
Okay, I admit that I don't really have the awareness of being a teacher yet, and I still feel like I'm in college.
I still had two classes in the afternoon, so I couldn't go home. The new office smelled strongly of renovations, and my throat hurt and I felt dizzy after being inside for more than an hour. After thinking for a moment, I grabbed my folder, slung my bag over my shoulder, and headed towards the infirmary.
I forgot to mention before, but my third aunt also works at College C as a school doctor.
Our college isn't very big in other areas, but our medical clinic is huge. It has a consultation area, an IV drip area, a physiotherapy area, and even a doctor's lounge.
I cautiously knocked on the door, but the infirmary was empty.
"Dr. Wang!" I called out softly.
"Is Dr. Wang here?"
"They're here!" The door to the doctor's lounge opened, and Auntie San, her hair neatly combed, came out.
"Huh? Yuanyuan? What brings you here?" My third aunt and uncle were clearly surprised to see me.
"Hehe, I have class this afternoon and nowhere to go at noon, so I'll just hang out here for a bit!" I chuckled as I walked up to my third aunt, took her hand, and said in a coquettish tone, "Third Aunt, did you bring anything good for lunch? I'm so tired of the food in the cafeteria!"
"I brought some braised pork trotters with soybeans, do you like them?"
"I love it! I love it!" My eyes lit up and my mouth watered. I'm so lucky to get to eat my aunt's stewed pig's trotters!
Speaking of cooking skills, my mom is the worst among the four daughters-in-law in the Su family. Luckily, we've always lived with my grandparents, and my grandma takes care of our stomachs. If my mom were to cook, I'd probably be as skin and bones as Dingding.
While my aunt heated up the food in the microwave, I took my lunchbox to the cafeteria. The third cafeteria is the closest to the infirmary, but I usually don't eat there because the hospital leaders' offices are nearby. The dean, secretary, and directors all eat there when they don't have any official dinner appointments. The peak dining hours were over, and there were hardly any people going in or out. I walked into the cafeteria with my lunchbox, and just as I was about to take out my meal card, I suddenly saw my third uncle standing by a long table with a tray, and a little girl next to him.
"Uncle, could you give me that plate of fried spring rolls?" The girl was probably a freshman in college, with a childlike innocence still in her eyes.
"Uh, well... if I give it to you, I'll just have the soup." Uncle San looked at his plate, which contained only a plate of fried spring rolls and a bowl of seaweed and egg soup. He was late too; the cafeteria had already sold out of food.
The little girl was still staring at the spring rolls on his plate and wouldn't leave. I rolled my eyes and walked over to them in a few steps, saying, "Hello, Dean Su! Haven't you eaten yet?"
The little girl and her third uncle both looked up at me in surprise.
"Ah! You're the dean!" The little girl covered her mouth and backed away.
Uncle San nodded, beckoned to her, and said, "Come here!"
The little girl blushed and walked up to him tremblingly, "Hello... Dean!"
"I'll share half with you! If I give you all of them, I won't have the energy to work this afternoon." Uncle San said, pouring half of the spring rolls from the plate into her plate.
The little girl stared wide-eyed for a long moment before saying, "Thank you, Dean!" and then ran off with the plate.
I covered my mouth and giggled to myself.
"Yuanyuan, you deliberately scared the children!" Uncle San turned around and glared at me.
"I don't have any! Dean, how can you be full from eating this little bit?" I pointed to the pitifully few spring rolls on the plate.
"Don't worry, there are some snacks your third aunt prepared for me in my drawer," my third uncle whispered in my ear.
The image that immediately popped into my mind was of my third uncle sitting at the huge dean's desk, happily eating a box of sweet snacks! Haha, he was so adorable!
"Cough, cough—" Uncle San cleared his throat and suddenly said in a serious tone, "Teacher Su, you should hurry up and get your food. There's no more food left. I can generously sponsor you a pack of pickled mustard tuber strips."
"Hehe, I don't need your sponsorship, I have enough to eat!" I chuckled and turned to leave when a clear voice suddenly came from behind us.
"Dean Su, could you kindly sponsor me a pack of pickled mustard tuber strips?"
My third uncle and I turned around, and OMG! Who is that? Isn't that the handsome guy who sat next to me at the mobilization meeting the other day??
He walked towards the light with a smile on his face, his lips slightly upturned, his face full of warm smiles, he was so approachable!
"Dean Qu? What brings you to the cafeteria today?" Uncle San greeted him with a smile.
"If I don't eat in the cafeteria, where am I supposed to eat?" Qu Ling glanced at me, her gaze shifting slightly as if she were thinking about something.
"Hehe, you can call the cafeteria and have them make a stir-fry and send it to the office. That's what the Party Secretary and the others usually do," Uncle San said.
"Then why didn't Dean Su call someone to deliver it to his office?" Qu Ling smiled slightly as she looked at the soup on her third uncle's plate.
“I don’t like that,” Uncle San said calmly.
"I don't like it either."
Uncle San laughed and pointed to his plate, saying, "Want to join us?"
"Okay, wait a moment, I'll go get a bowl of soup too."
As Qu Ling walked past me, who was being left standing there like a fool, she suddenly stopped and asked, "Are you a new teacher this year? I think I saw you at the welcome party."
“I…I am! Hello, Dean Qu!” My voice was full and loud, so loud that my third uncle spilled the soup he was holding.
*****
Carrying the rice, I jogged back to the clinic. My third aunt asked me why it took me so long to get the rice, because she had to reheat the dishes twice.
I patted my chest and said, "Third Aunt! Guess who I ran into?"
My aunt took the food, glared at me, and said, "You must have run into your uncle! He always eats at the cafeteria so late, and there's often no food. Did he just eat rice soaked in vegetable soup again?"
"Yeah! He was lucky today, he even got half a plate of spring rolls! Such a pitiful amount of food, and he still invited people to share it!"
"Oh? Who is it?"
"That new dean, Qu Ling!" My eyes lit up whenever I mentioned a handsome guy!
"Oh, it's Xiao Qu!" My third aunt picked up a piece of pig's trotter and put it in my lunchbox.
"Third Aunt! He's the dean! How can you call him Xiao Qu!" The image of the handsome dean shone brightly in my mind, and I was very dissatisfied with my third aunt's casual way of calling him Xiao Qu.
"Oh dear, I used to call him Lingling when he was little! What's the point of calling him Xiao Qu?" Third Aunt said dismissively.
"Ah—" The pig's trotter I was holding in my mouth fell out. "Third Aunt, you...you know Dean Qu?"
“How could I not know them? The Qu family and our Su family have a history.”
"What's the connection?" I stopped eating and stared at my third aunt, pressing her for an answer.