Chapter 324: The Scent of the Earth
Chapter 324
Returning to the old district, Xiao Qi first went to the canteen.
Although many students were unwilling to go to the canteen and would go to the student street to eat after eating there for a while, since the flavors were more diverse on the student street, Xiao Qi still preferred to go to the canteen.
After all, the quality of the bosses on the student street was uneven, and the climate in the Alliance City was very hot. Some bosses were unwilling to throw away spoiled ingredients and added stuff to make dishes that ordinary people could not taste anything wrong with, which was simply a disaster for Xiao Qi with such an extremely sensitive sense of smell and taste. Eating there once would give her a psychological shadow for a long time.
Although the canteen only had one flavor all the time and the prices were not cheaper than the student street, there basically would not be things like spoiled ingredients happening.
When Xiao Qi arrived at the canteen, there was no braised pork ribs in fermented bean sauce that she liked. Of course - such delicious food would have been bought up by others. Since she came late, there definitely would not be any left.
However, since even the plates for the fermented bean sauce were not there, it should not have been made today. Xiao Qi heard from the uncle at the canteen that the ribs were specially purchased from a meat shop in town, and were not available every day.
Otherwise she could have gotten some sauce to mix with rice, which was also delicious.
She bought two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, two soups, a bowl of rice, a big steamed bun - enough for three young girls to eat. For Xiao Qi this was just right.
She had to run every day for exercise and consumed a lot of energy. Also, since she was young, her appetite was naturally big.
Coming late, there were not many people left in the canteen. Xiao Qi chose a window seat that had an excellent view of Enhua Lake and a very stylish large bridge spanning across it.
On the other side of the bridge was a stretch of green sports field. On both sides of the sports field there were rows of small red buildings - the male student dormitories.
Enhua University occupied a vast area of land and thus was very open and broad-minded in allocating space. The male and female student dormitories were separated quite far, with a whole lake in between, to prevent any undesirable incidents from happening.
Looking at the male student dormitory, Xiao Qi inevitably thought of her classmate Li Weijin.
Fortunately he did not run into her here today, but she actually felt a little empty when relaxing.
Perhaps women were all hesitant creatures like this.
Oh well, Xiao Qi ate her dishes in big bites without thinking too much.
She had directly refused the club president’s confession, so she should also have directly refused Li Weijin - that sudden dash was quite rude and embarrassing.
Although still a bit greedy for his good looks, there were too many beautiful things in the world that could not be owned all at once, so Xiao Qi decisively nipped that budding fancy in the bud along with her hearty lunch, before returning to her dorm to practice calligraphy, go running, shower, and tidy up to attend class, clean as a shiny new coin.
Going to class was also quite nice: no need for night study sessions meant no chance encounters with Li Weijin either.
The Spanish class had even fewer students than her Japanese class since it was more obscure. With almost one-on-one tutoring from the teacher, it was extremely comfortable and cost-effective. No idea how much it would cost to hire a private tutor for this language. Xiao Qi felt like she was getting a bargain every time she went to Spanish class.
The Spanish teacher was a very beautiful woman who had an English name, Aizhen. She had chestnut-colored curly hair, and was extremely slender unlike Xiao Qi’s voluptuous English teacher Betty: sure, Aizhen was really skinny and flat-chested, but she gave off a distinctly intellectual and British sense of high-class.
She looked somewhat stern and stiff when not smiling, rarely smiling, but her smile, once it appeared, was extremely beautiful.
She loved poetry; when she spoke of poems she liked, a smile would appear on her face, a gentle smile she could not suppress, as if her mood had completely brightened up.
However, her classes were very difficult: she taught Spanish in English since she did not know Chinese. So first of all, to learn Spanish, your English had to be good enough, which weeded out ninety percent of the students right there.
Xiao Qi really enjoyed university life: here, any effort would bear fruits. Good study brought good grades, good grades meant all kinds of rewards and respect from classmates and teachers.
And on campus there were so many beautiful things; you did not necessarily know what the knowledge you learned would be used for, no definitive purpose, but just having the opportunity to learn something new every day and feel like you understood more gave an immense sense of satisfaction.
Xiao Qi also particularly liked the new Spanish teacher.
Although she missed the departed Yamamoto sensei greatly, judging from the occasional pictures Yamamoto sent back, he seemed to be doing very well. The solemn and reverent ancient temples in the photos were very strict-looking, yet Yamamoto had captured a fern growing on the stone steps at the temple gate, delicate greens against the stone.
There were also flowers covering the hills behind the temple: extremely beautiful.
Yamamoto sensei should have found his place in the world.
He was probably smiling again.
The new Spanish teacher taught classes very diligently, completely absorbed in her task, or rather, she was not teaching classes, only reading, sharing her reading, unlike teaching at all: more like hosting a reading club.
So going to Spanish class, Xiao Qi was also full of spirit, and she studied Spanish diligently after class to understand the teacher’s lessons as much as possible. She felt it opened up a different, complete and lovely world that Xiao Qi had been missing in her life.
Today Xiao Qi wore a plaid shirt and khaki pants, with black slippers.
As expected, her legs looked a mile long again. The plaid shirt also made her feel more composed and steady than usual, fair skin setting off the cute schoolgirl. Earnest little schoolgirl, even.
When she entered the elective class, she saw a boy who seemed to glow from head to toe ...wide plaid shirt like hers, probably wearing black pants too.
No need to look up, Su Xiaoqi knew it was him.
His hair was very dark, looked very soft.
He had changed his cologne scent today. Grapefruit-like, with a slightly tart bitter orange note, and a pine tree scent, also faint pepper, barely-there cologne. An ordinary person might not even smell it out, but Xiao Qi not only smelled it but discerned its nuances. Overall it was very refreshing and invigorating, with an open outdoorsy feel, evoking the experience of lying on the grass, inhaling the herbal scents and gazing up at the clouds drifting by in a bright blue sky.
Seeing Xiao Qi come in, he raised his head and revealed a smile.
Xiao Qi: ......
Her footsteps even faltered slightly, her right foot nearly treading upon her left.
Finally realizing why some people seldom smiled: because that smile brought calamity and disaster, making people unable stop themselves from walking right up to pinch his cheeks admiringly. So attractive.
Such white teeth, darling dimple, eyes curving into crescents, stars glittering inside.
Just a slight smile from him, followed by a raised hand in greeting.
Xiao Qi rather awkwardly took a desk not far from his.
She was used to sitting up front, near the center, which allowed better communication with the teacher. Especially for small language classes like this: not listening attentively meant easily falling behind if you missed something.
And Li Weijin sat not far in front.
Xiao Qi took out notebook and textbook, thinking it was fine after all, same class but not sitting together, same as usual classes, or her mind would have kept wandering.
Yet when the Spanish teacher came in, Li Weijin unexpectedly stood up with his bag and casually went over to take the seat beside her.