Evelyn ordered sweet potato porridge and lotus seed chicken porridge for Alexander, plus two side dishes.
"This place doesn't deliver. You have to come here yourself. Sometimes when we get up early, we come here for breakfast," Evelyn said to Alexander while stirring her sweet potato porridge.
"Getting some exercise too," Alexander replied with a smile.
"Exactly!" Evelyn nodded. "But there aren't many chances."
"Can't get up?"
"Yeah. I swear I'll get up at a certain time the night before. The next morning, the alarm goes off, and I always want to stay in bed a little longer. Then it's too late."
"It's not like it's raining or shining. Isn't it hard to get what you want to eat?"
"Haha, you understand the art of eating. So sometimes, when we really crave it, we jog all the way to buy porridge, then jog all the way to the teaching building for class!"
"So you still get to eat it?"
"We eat it after class!"
"With all the students watching you eat?"
"Pretty much. But once in a while, it's forgivable!" Evelyn said with a laugh.
Talking about college life always made her want to chat.
"Your life is so happy!"
"I think so too!" Evelyn nodded with a smile, then added, "But I'm graduating soon. I need to find a job and adapt to a new environment. I hope everything goes smoothly."
"It doesn't matter if you can't find a job. You have an advantage over others."
"What advantage?" Evelyn looked at Alexander, puzzled.
"You're married. You have a husband. He can support you," Alexander said.
"..." Evelyn was speechless.
Was that an advantage?
What if her husband didn't want to support her one day? Wouldn't she starve to death?
They chatted while eating their porridge. They were in a good mood. The porridge seemed more delicious than usual.
In the blink of an eye, school was about to start.
There were no courses this semester, but there was a lot to do. First, the graduation thesis needed to be written. Then there were internships and reports, plus some graduation tasks to complete.
Both Emily and Stella reported to school two days early.
Evelyn went to the train station to pick them up. But she waited until her face turned red and still didn't see them.
Later, she found out she had gone to the wrong station. She went to South Station, but they arrived at North Station.
Emily and Stella took the bus back to school.
Evelyn had to go directly from South Station to the school.
Back in the dormitory, Emily and Stella were busy cleaning.
"Evelyn, you said you were going to pick us up at the station. Where did you go?"
"Didn't you get off at South Station last time? Why North Station this time?" Evelyn asked, confused.
"Don't you know that many lines now stop at North Station?"
"I didn't know. You didn't tell me!"
"We all thought you knew!"
"I've never taken a train. How would I know?" Evelyn replied, exasperated.
"Hmph, showing off your local advantage again!" Emily complained.
"That's right!" Stella agreed.
Evelyn didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Don't just stand there like a statue. Come help with the cleaning!"
"I know!" Evelyn answered and went to get a rag and bucket to help.
Even though she was a day student this semester, she could still come to school and rest sometimes.
Even if she didn't live there, it didn't matter. She could still help Emily and Stella clean up.
When they were all finished, all three were hungry.
They went downstairs and headed straight outside the school to find food.
There was nothing to eat in the school cafeteria at this hour.
"What do you want to eat?" Stella asked.
"I'm so hungry I could eat a pig. Anything will do!" Emily replied directly.
"Let's eat casserole noodles!" Evelyn suggested.
"No casserole. You have to wait, and it's too hot. Let's find something we can eat right away without waiting!"
"Then just eat a meat sandwich!" Evelyn said with a smile.
"Okay, or we could buy a meat sandwich first to fill our stomachs, then eat casserole noodles?" Stella suggested.
"Good idea. But I don't want a meat sandwich. I want a pickled vegetable pancake!"
"You buy your pancake, we'll eat our meat sandwiches. You'll starve to death, and you're still being picky!"
"Alas, hunger can't lower my living standards!"
Even though she complained, in the end, Emily followed Stella and Evelyn to eat meat sandwiches and casserole noodles.
After all, the meat sandwich stall was right outside the casserole shop.
"Emily, how was your blind date?" Evelyn asked, gnawing on her meat sandwich, staring at the casserole noodles and smiling at Emily.
"Emily, you went on a blind date!" Stella asked, looking at Emily in surprise.
"Yeah. I went home for over a month and went on five of them!"
"No, you told me three last time!" Evelyn looked at Emily in surprise.
"It was the Spring Festival. I couldn't help it!" Emily said angrily.
Evelyn couldn't help but laugh. In the end, she couldn't hold it in anymore.
Well, she really wanted to sympathize with Emily, but she was just too happy.
She couldn't help it!
"Go ahead and laugh. Be careful you choke!"
"I can swallow the meat sandwich and laugh again!" Evelyn replied with a smile.
"Tell us about it. What's the situation?" Stella asked.
"Nothing. We're graduating soon. My parents think I should start looking. So when I went back, as soon as they found out I didn't have a boyfriend, they started asking relatives and friends to introduce me. Can you believe it? They used to say I couldn't date in school, that I should focus on my studies, that puppy love was wrong. Now I haven't even graduated yet, and they've changed their tune. They say I'm 23, and if I don't start looking, I'll be a leftover woman. The whole winter break, I was busy with blind dates!"
"Did any of them work out?" Evelyn asked with a smile.
"If they had, would I have come back to school early?" Emily rolled her eyes.
"I came back early too, but I couldn't get a ticket, so I had to come ahead of time," Stella said with a hint of gloating.
"When you went back, didn't your parents ask about your marriage?" Emily looked at Stella.
"They asked. I said not yet. They said don't look for anyone at school, it's not reliable. That was it. They didn't make me go on any blind dates," Stella replied.
"You're so lucky! My parents are like they've been injected with chicken blood. They want to sell me off right away!" Emily said, propping up her chin.
"Actually, you can start looking now. We're graduating soon anyway. If you don't find someone, you'll have to get married right away. At least you need to date for a while!" Stella said.
Evelyn hardly dared to express any opinion on this topic.
She gnawed on her meat sandwich with her head down, not saying a word.
"Evelyn, you agree, right?" Stella turned to ask Evelyn.
"Yes!" Evelyn nodded.
"Strange. How come Evelyn looks more ladylike today?" Emily looked at Evelyn and muttered.
"I am a lady!" Evelyn said with a smile.
"No wonder. Every time we talk about this topic, you're so quiet. There's something fishy!" Emily stared at Evelyn.
"What's fishy?" Evelyn asked hesitantly.
"Are you already seeing someone?"
For a moment, both pairs of eyes were fixed on Evelyn.
"No, no!" Evelyn was embarrassed for a long time.
She wasn't seeing someone. She was married.