Chapter 3: Sharing a Meal

Pomelo: He really is an angel ba!

“Fall in!”

They had agreed to eat Sichuan boiled fish but when the two of them arrived to the 3rd canteen and saw that in front of the mouthwatering Sichuan boiled fish counter there was 10-20 metre S-shaped queue of military training troops, they resolutely turned around to leave, picked up a tray and honestly and sincerely left towards the buffet.

Unexpectedly, when the time came to swipe the card, the two of them unexpectedly came to a disagreement.

Ran Ningmu: “Let me swipe it ba, we agreed that I would invite senior for a meal.
”

At this time, An Youxi also remembered his tastes and plans and immediately caught the loophole in Ran Ningmu’s words.
“Obviously it was me who accidentally hit you and originally it was supposed to be my meal so it should follow that I would treat you as a way to make an apology, moreover you also helped me, how can I let you pay ne? That should definitely be me!”

The canteen aunty: “Aiya these two youngsters are too polite, it doesn’t matter who pays, don’t let the students behind you wait so anxiously ha [1]”

An Youxi: “Alright, alright, I’m sorry aunty, I’ll pay it right away.”

Ran Ningmu’s card was left in his school bag, his school bag was left on his back so as a result Ran Ningmu carried the tray with one hand, the other hand touching the bag on his back so moving was very difficult.

Still, An Youxi was a step faster: he directly took out the card from his pocket and pressed it directly onto the card reader.
He turned towards Ran Ningmu and smiled in an elegant manner.
“You don’t need to look for it, I already helped you pay—”

The canteen aunty: “Ai, this classmate, why did you take out the water card ah [2]! Here we can’t do anything about accommodating people having a bath ah!”

Ah, the honest and trustworthy canteen aunty, her voice is in good health and is loud and clear.
An Youxi, amidst the roaring laughter of his classmates, put the water card back in his pocket in a flurry. ‘Hateful!’ /////

“…… cough let me do it ba.” Ran Ningmu glanced at An Youxi’s bright red face.
He first helped An Youxi pay then let him go to get some food.

“Thank you.” An Youxi buried his head, which was buzzing like a drone, into his hands before swiftly leaving the queue.

Canteen Aunty No.2 smilingly looked at An Youxi coming over then, with a single big hand [3] wave, dug out a big shovel of rice – a hot steaming pile of shining white resembling a hill- that she had to pat down in order to give it to An Youxi while saying: “Aiya isn’t it just the meal invitation nod succeeding? Worst comes to worst, please come back next time and, at that time, remember to come to aunty’s side for some support ha!”

An Youxi felt his hands sink, the tray suddenly resembling a plate of bricks….no, this can’t be blamed on the bricks, but the canteen aunty’s full love.
He smiled with effort: “Thank you, aunty, I will regularly come back in the future.”

……

When Ran Ningmu finished paying for his own meal as well, he needed to find a place to sit down.
Right now, it was precisely the peak time to have a meal at the canteen, shoulders and heels constantly rubbed against each other [4], reason dictates that seats should be very difficult to find, An Youxi couldn’t stand to make him go through such an experience.
He locked onto the pair of boys who were eating their cooked rice the fastest then carried his tray, stood squarely behind them and locked eyes onto every bite of food going into their mouths.
Those two boys were originally laughing and talking but An Youxi’s stare was like a thorn in their backs, so the people immediately stopped chatting, causing the heavens to fall silent [5],and the speed with which they ate their rice immediately doubled.

He was waiting for the pair of boys to pick up their empty trays so that as soon as their buttocks leave their seats, An Youxi would be standing ready make use of every bit of opportunity to take Ran Ningmu in hand and push him to go down [6], as for himself he would across Ran Ningmu and sit opposite him.

“……”  The pair of boys stared dumbfounded at An Youxi’s back, seemingly not expecting this little fairy man, who was as beautiful as a flower, to behave in such a coquettish manner. 

An Youxi noticed that Ran Ningmu was staring at him, and immediately felt somewhat embarrassed.
“Actually, usually I’m not like this, it’s just that we are in the cafeteria now so….”

‘Help, usually grabbing seats is what I’m accustomed to but I forgot that Ran Ningmu is here……Will he think that I am actually a rude and unreasonable dictator who wasn’t raised properly?’

“I know,” Ran Ningmu smiled with gentle affection, “Otherwise I wouldn’t have found a seat were it not for senior I definitely would have had to eat while standing up.
Senior is really smart, not only smart but also as a person he is also very good.”  

An Youxi’s face turned red so he lowered his head and bit the tip of his chopsticks.
“Not at all, not all, there’s no need to be so polite……”

‘You’re really a person of great talent ne, look at that little sweet mouth, just like an angel……’

The two boys’ faces changed as if something fermented had washed over them with it’s sour smoky odour, they actually encountered real life gays.

Next to An Youxi sat a senior sister who was eating Stewed Chicken Leg Rice.
When she saw An Youxi and Ran Ningmu coming over, the speed with which the senior sister ate her meal very obviously slowed down and she started holding one chopstick in each hand and arduously cutting and chewing the chicken drumstick with great effort as if it were a Michelin [7] steak.

Through her modus operandi, An Youxi guessed that this little sister should be from the Institute of Biological Sciences.

‘So studious ah,’ he sighed emotionally, ‘The term has just started and she already remembers to practice dissection.’ 

At this time, Ran Ningmu noticed the weight on An Youxi’s plate and his eyes slightly widened.
“Senior……can you eat all of this?”

An Youxi was digging through his rice looking for his vegetables like he was looking for treasure when he heard these words and immediately blurted out his thoughts.
“Otherwise, you can help me share some?”

Ran Ningmu was obviously rendered absent-minded at once, causing An Youxi to immediately want to take his words back with regret.
How can somebody invite their male god to eat the rice they couldn’t finish, what the hell was he thinking? Directly grab your pig brain to add to the rice leftovers and eat up well [8]!

“I’m sorry, I was just joking, let’s continue eating—”

“Okay ah,” Ran Ningmu had no objections and directly grabbed An Youxi’s plate with two hands and lifted it up before using his chopsticks to push some of An Youxi’s rice onto his own plate and raising his head to ask An Youxi.
“Is this enough for you to eat? If not, I will return it to you.”

‘Angel, Ran Ningmu he really is an angel ba!’ 

An Youxi nearly burst into tears on the spot.
“Enough, enough, thank you, thank you.”

“……” The school sister that sat next to them stared at the two of them, the chicken drumstick nearly dropping from her mouth and into her bowl.

An Youxi, who was devoted beyond compare, picked the plate back up and felt his eyes overflowing with tears as he looked at the plate where the Black Pepper Beef Fillet had finally emerged from the pile of rice and suddenly was hit with the bright idea to give the biggest piece to Ran Ningmu: “Although we didn’t have Sichuan boiled fish today, the 3rd canteen’s buffet is also particularly delicious, especially the black pepper beef fillet that is boiled in soup which is particularly dense and flavourful, it’s important that you try its taste!”

“Thanks,” after saying this, Ran Ningmu paused before he too lifted up his own plate, took out an enormous piece of his Snowflake chicken fillet [9] and put it on top of An Youxi’s rice.
“This chicken fillet is also particularly delicious, you try it and see.”

An Youxi froze and hesitantly clasped a piece of boneless fried chicken with his chopsticks.
“This fried chicken is also particularly delicious, I give it to you to try it.”

Ran Ningmu knitted his eyebrows and, unwilling to be outdone, clasped a crispy chicken nugget with his chopsticks.
“This chicken nugget is also particularly delicious, I also give it to you to try it.”

An Youxi also knitted his eyebrows, stood up and, in a fierce and overbearing manner, clasped a piece of his Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs with his chopsticks.
“These pork ribs are also just right! Quick, you try it!”

Ran Ningmu took a deep breath and directly used his spoon to scoop up some of his Steamed Egg [10] and said: “This steamed egg is also very good! Senior, it is important that you try it and see!”

An Youxi stared at him with wide eyes as he straightforwardly picked up his plate, poured some of his curry onto Ran Ningmu’s plate and gnashed his teeth in anger as he spoke word by word: “This curry is also super delicious! Xuedi [11], it is most certainly important that you try it and see ah!”

The two people engaged in a fierce battle of ‘You come to me, I go to you’ as chopsticks and plates danced in the air as if flying.

Five minutes later, An Youxi’s gaze settled on their two plates: except for the rice, the two plates had completely interchanged all the other dishes.

Ah the desire to win is so strange.

The scene was suddenly submerged into bewildering embarrassment.

An Youxi weakly spoke: “Otherwise….we swap the plates or change the dishes back?”

Ran Ningmu fell silent for two seconds before he nodded his head and didn’t forget to take care of An Youxi by putting the excess amount of rice onto his own plate in one swift motions as the plates were exchanged. 

“…..” The drumsticks of the nearby senior sister fell into her plate, deeply wondering whether these two handsome guys had some serious illness.

……

Since the canteen aunty was too honest, the two of them, ultimately, ended up eating until they were full of food.
After their meal, the two people, whose stomachs were so full it felt like food was all they could think about, swayed and wobbled their way back to the dorms.

It was only then that An Youxi realised – Ran Ningmu actually lived so close to him, just across the hall.
Perhaps because the underclassman was out and about from dawn til dusk  and his times didn’t match up to An Youxi’s, was the reason why, despite the fact that it had been several days since the start of the term, the two of them hadn’t encountered each other even once.

An Youxi naturally felt a bit upset – if he could have gotten out of bed earlier, maybe he would have become familiar with Ran Ningmu as far back as the beginning of the term ne.
But after his upset passed, he more so felt secretly delighted.

‘One step closer to the male god, so happy [12]!’

Ran Ningmu stared at An Youxi’s face.
“Senior, if there’s nothing else, then I’ll go back?”

Although he said that, his feet stayed welded to the ground and he didn’t move, no matter how one looked at it, nothing about his appearance suggested he wanted to go back at all.

“Wait a second, there is something else,” An Youxi stopped Ran Ningmu, who didn’t actually want to go at all, and his eyes nervously darted sideways for a moment.  “You….Do you have any dinner plans?”

Ran Ningmu answered very quickly: “I do not!”

“That’s wonderful,” An Youxi breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Ran Ningmu, his beautiful peach-blossom eyes curving into crescents.
“Let me treat you to dinner tonight ba, this time you definitely can’t snatch it from me.”

Ran Ningmu was momentarily shaken, the knot in his throat rolling suspiciously [13] ,  before laughing, “Then this time senior should remember to bring his meal card oh.”

When he said this, he lowered his head slightly so that his lips were right next to An Youxi’s ear.
An Youxi even had the feeling that the slight air flowed warmly and gently entered his ear.
The end tone was coquettishly raised giving off a teasing feeling.

‘Maybe, it’s my misconception ba.
’

“I know la,” An Youxi blushed lightly and gently pushed him, “You hurry back to rest, there’s more military training in the afternoon ne.”

‘He is such a pure person, was it possible for him to deliberately tease me in such a way ne? He must just want to remind me to remember to bring my meal card, nothing more.’ 

Ran Ningmu turned his head back as he walked: “Will you come back to continue taking photos in the afternoon?”

An Youxi: “I will, I will, you hurry and go back ba, we will see each other in the afternoon.”

Ran Ningmu: “See you in the afternoon.”

An Youxi smiled lightly as he stood on the landing, quietly watching Ran Ningmu’s figure slowly disappear into the opposite hallway three steps at a time only turning his head around when Ran Ningmu couldn’t be seen anymore.
As soon as An Youxi turned around, he came face to face with five or six heads poking out of the dormitory building behind him.

Those heads met An Youxi’s eyes and, just like moles encountering a whacking hammer, shrank back with a swoosh.

An Youxi: “……”

What kind of ghost was this? [14]

An Youxi climbed up the stairs in a daze, he didn’t expect that as soon as he opened the door, his roommate would approach to point at him, overflowing with joy: “Hahahahaha, Pomelo, what the hell were you and that underclasman doing in the canteen ah? Do you actually intend to make me laugh to death to inherit my CET-6 [15] sample papers?”

An Youxi was rendered completely speechless.

“You hurry and take a look at the forum ba! The post has been on top of the homepage for half an hour!”

An Youxi hurriedly opened the forum.

Sure enough, it was as his roommate said – on top of the homepage, the names of him and Ran Ningmu shone brightly.
Over a hundred floors [16] had already been discussed, red hot [17] as if people were getting married [18], it all looked very festive.

Title: At noon, I had the honour of eating at the same table as AYX and RNM in the 3rd canteen, and I just want to ask these two school grasses when did they get together? This is not possible after only 2-3 days of school term? AYX put his hands onto him a bit too fast ba?? Can you or can you not [19] leave a chance for the rest of us brothers and sisters to eat out with somebody [20] ???

The author has something to say:

Chicken Leg lady: Thank you for your hospitality, today’s chicken leg….no, chicken food….also no, chicken legs are really delicious ^_^

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Joke of the Day: #PureRanNingmu

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T/N: This has been sitting completely tl-ed for the past couple of days orz.
Was busy with real life so I am very late UwU

哈 – normally it would be laughing but in this case she is reprimanding them. back A type of card that you use to pay for hot water or taking a bath(?) back I don’t think her hand is actually big, it just means that she was incredibly generous and giving with the meal she scooped for him. back Probably not literally, just means that it was super crowded. back

顿时话也不说了天也不聊了 – according to baidu, it is a way to say that the conversation is so dull, that it shuts up the sky and heavens so basically they fell silent very quickly and created an atmosphere where it’s not easy to speak. back I’m pretty sure this was meant to be suggestive/innuendo-ish so I did my best QAQ back Michelin stars are used to make the “quality” and “luxury” of restaurants.
The more Michelin stars, the more expensive and “luxurious” the food and eating experience. back 把自己脑花也一起吃掉好: 脑花 is a dish of pig brains but i think in this case the sentence can also be interpreted to mix his own brain with his flowery thought (of love) to eat together.
I went with the one I felt had a better feel in text. back Based on the recipe: it is seasoned chicken fried with some cornflakes.
I’ve had it before in my home country and it is very tasty with a mild flavour tho the recipe I found just now had more seasonings like white pepper, oyster sauce, egg whites and soy sauce.
It’s probably called this because from afar the cornflakes make the chicken look like it has been covered into numerous snowflakes.
Picture will be given below back Apparently in China steamed egg (or egg custard?) can be either sweet or savoury so I am not sure which one Ran Ningmu has.
Image available below. back 学弟 – previously i translated this as underclassman but it feels really weird for AYX to call RNM that to his face so I’ve left it in pinyin because I couldn’t come up with anything better.
I will continue to use “underclassman” if characters are speaking this word casually rather than to somebody’s face. back 开心 – rejoice, happy, I think in this case it is meant to be taken in the way sometimes words like that are added into manga (and manhua/manhwa) to accentuate the feelings of the character back 非常可疑地滚 – can’t tell if author means Ran Ningmu is suspicious/doubtful that An Youxi will bring his card or whether the roll of the adam’s apple is suspicious/ambiguous in the horny way back 什么鬼 – has the meaning of ‘what the hell’ but is more of an expression of curiosity/bewilderment when somebody finds an event/occurrence  inexplicable back 六级 – The College English Test examines the English proficiency of undergraduate and postgraduate students in China.
CET-4 and CET-6 are the two options with CET-6 being the higher and more desirable one (tho it is not *officially* required, employers and other officials place a lot of importance on it) back In chinese, posts are called buildings, the OP (original poster) is called a landlord (or building owner) and replies are called floors. back Basically all the posts/replies are super popular.
I’m not sure if they are actually red (like on some old school forums) or it’s just a figure of speech but in any case, their entire university is on fire with the popularity of the topic back Red is a festive colour and very typical of wedding, ancient chinese wedding robes were also red. back 还能不能 – it’s also a song that seems to be about the push-and-pull feelings between the singer and her lover who had left her for somebody else and is trying to come back to her back 机/基 会 Another translator helped with this.
机会 means like an opportunity (to meet) and 基会 means a meeting between (gays)friends.
To keep the joke i made it dirtier (1.
I wanted to keep it in line with the tone of the story and 2.
I couldn’t think of anything else) where eat out with somebody obviously means to have a meal and eating out somebody means to go down/give head/perform oral. back

Food pictures (do not look if hungry):

鸡腿饭 – Stewed Chicken Leg Rice

黑椒牛柳 – Black Pepper Beef Fillet

雪花鸡柳 – Snowflake Chicken Fillet

无骨炸鸡 – Boneless Fried Chicken

香酥鸡块 – Crispy Chicken Nuggets

糖醋排骨 – Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs

咖喱 – Curry

蛋羹 – Steamed Egg