Different
Zhang Xiaohua tidied up the bedsheets on the bed, opened his knapsack and took out his belonging before placing his knapsack into the cabinet above his bed.
Even though the bed had belonged to someone else not long ago, everything was already arranged neatly. Liu Er did not leave behind much before he left so it saved Zhang Xiaohua the time and effort of cleaning the s.p.a.ce up.
After he finished his packing, Zhang Xiaohua sat on his bed and just as he was inspecting the room carefully, his tummy growled like the sound of thunder. Zhang Xiaohua’s face turned red and he peeped at Ma Jing. Indeed, the latter was looking over and when their eyes met, Ma Jing laughed as he said, “Little brother Xiaohua, are you hungry? Don’t worry, we will have our meal in short while.”
Zhang Xiaohua nodded his head and said, “Okay.”
Ever since the lunch in front of Piaomiao sect during noon, Zhang Xiaohua has not eaten anything else, and even lifted stone weight in Lotus escort. Although he did not feel anything previously, the little water he drunk in Tian Zhongxi’s room made him realize how hungry he was.
Fortunately, Ma Jing hopped off his bed and he picked up his copper basin not too long later before motioning to Zhang Xiaohua and saying, “Come on, little brother, let’s go have our meal.”
Zhang Xiaohua became relieved and he followed behind Ma Jing to walk out of the room.
The canteen was after the inner door, Zhang Xiaohua felt slightly dizzy following Ma Jing walked through several twists and bends through the corridor. Each courtyard was like the first one with people living inside, but some had lamps that had already extinguished and were not lit up. Zhang Xiaohua did not dare to ask too many questions so he followed quietly behind, and just as he lost track of where he was, Ma Jing’s footsteps finally stopped at a large hall that was brightly lit.
The canteen was very big and larger than Zhang Xiaohua had expected, but he could not estimate its exact size, what he could tell was there were six rows of tables, each made up of around ten plus tables filled up the canteen. However, there were no people eating in the canteen at that moment, and the whole hall was empty without a soul.
When Ma Jing stepped into the hall, he continued to walk towards a corner. Zhang Xiaohua studied his surroundings before hurriedly catching up to behind Ma Jing. What a joke, there were so many tables so where should one sit? However, when Zhang Xiaohua reached the corner, he realized his mistake; all the other tables but the table in that corner was empty, only that particular row had utensils and food placed on it, so where else could he sit but there?
Ma Jing had already found a place to sit, but Zhang Xiaohua realized a problem when he got closer. There were three tables where food was placed on, and two of the three tables were fully occupied by the other azure robed men with little hats. There was no excess s.p.a.ce so Zhang Xiaohua became troubled as he wondered where his predecessor Liu Er would usually sit?
Ma Jing picked up his bowl and was about to start eating when he saw Zhang Xiaohua standing still on his spot. Surprised, he smiled and said while turning back to his food, “There is no more seats, Xiaohua, so you can sit at that unoccupied table.”
Zhang Xiaohua nodded and just as he was about to go over, an angry voice called out from nowhere, “Wanting to pick your food when you just arrive? Why don’t you look at yourself before you think of eating?”
Zhang Xiaohua was surprised and turned back to look, but he could not spot the speaker. When, Zhang Xiaohua studied the empty table and compared it again to the food Ma Jing and the rest were eating, he indeed spotted some differences. Even though Zhang Xiaohua could not recognize the food, he could see from the bowls and dishes that the servings on Ma Jing’s table as obviously larger and the variety fewer. It was not the only difference but Zhang Xiaohua was not clear about what the other differences were.
At that moment, even if Zhang Xiaohua was more stupid, he would have realized that the other table was not somewhere he should sit. Furthermore, Zhang Xiao was not stupid, he was only ignorant of the world because of his limited experience. Hence, Zhang Xiaohua paused his tracks and he grew a sliver of suspicion in his heart, what is Ma Jing’s meaning of doing this?
Just as he was preoccupied with his thoughts, more people entered the canteen and when Zhang Xiaohua turned around, he saw the four well-fitted men who walked to the empty table and began eating at their own pace. None of them bothered to look at the azure robed men with little hats, and only the man who previously patted Zhang Xiaohua’s shoulder spared the latter a glance before continuing his meal.
Just as Zhang Xiaohua was feeling anxious of what to do, a voice called out from behind, “Zhang Xiaohua? Why aren’t you sitting down to eat?”
Zhang Xiaohua turned his head and saw Tian Zhongxi walking over.
Zhang Xiaohua replied, “The tables are all full, there is no place for me to sit.”
Tian Zhongxi was surprised and he glanced at the two tables of azure robed men who continued to eat with their heads bent and not daring to meet his eyes. His brows wrinkled as he smiled towards Zhang Xiaohua and said, “Haha, there is, come follow me.”
After finishing his sentence, he walked over to Ma Jing’s side, pulled a stool from under the table, and then said to Zhang Xiaohua, “You can sit here.” Then, he patted the shoulder of Ma Jing and the other person who was sitting beside and said, “The two of you make some s.p.a.ce.”
Ma Jing smiled and replied, “Brother Xi, there is no s.p.a.ce left, where can I move?”
Tian Zhong Xi stared into the other party’s eyes and said, “Liu Er could sit here usually, and Zhang Xiaohua is even smaller than Liu Er, so why is there not enough s.p.a.ce?”
The other person did not say anything and he pulled his seat slightly further from the table. Ma Jing saw his partner’s reaction and followed without a choice. Even though there was not much s.p.a.ce, it was definitely enough for Zhang Xiaohua to sit then. Tian Zhongxi then walked to the other table where the people who were eating there immediately pulled their seats back to make s.p.a.ce for him.
When Zhang Xiaohua sat on his tool, he began to wolf down the sumptuous dinner in large bites. Not to mention how hungry he was, the food displayed on the table were enticing enough themselves to make Zhang Xiaohua gobble down with large bites. When had our pitiful Xiaohua ever seen such a sumptuous setting on the table in the village; the dish of meat that was cooked using an unknown method tasted even better than five spiced meat, and the fish had such a huge head although its body was missing. The main dish was also especially delicious, ah, it would be great if his grandmother could try some of it, but the more Zhang Xiaohua thought, the slower he ate. At that moment, he noticed that the people had sitting beside had put down their chopsticks and their gaze was on him and his bowl. Some had expressions smirks of mockery, others had good-natured smiles of pity, and someone even said softly, “I knew right away that he came from the village and has never seen this food before.”
Fortunately Zhang Xiaohua was already used to such gazes by this time, and he was in a ‘gentle breeze climbs up the mountain’ mood as he continued to eat without bothering about the attention. When they saw that Zhang Xiaohua was unbothered by them, the azure robed men with little hats no longer paid attention to the latter and continued to eat while chatting with each other. Zhang Xiaohua even overheard some of the people glanced over to the other table and clenched their teeth while saying, “We all do the same work here, yet why do they get to eat better food while we can’t?”
This was of no concern to Zhang Xiaohua who was already enjoying the food he got to eat, why would he bother about the better meal beside? Furthermore, the food there may have more varieties but they were smaller in portion than the ones on his table.
Delicious food and eat more, these were the only two thoughts in Zhang Xiaohua’s head that night.
Even when Zhang Xiaohua had eaten his fill, there were still much leftovers on the table. Zhang Xiaohua could not help but think how nice it would be if he could give these leftovers to the pig in his household.
The thought stayed in his head as he followed the group of people back to his room.
When he returned to his own room, Ma Jing and Zhang Xiaohua both drank some water and went back to their beds. The Ma Jing continued to pick on his smelly foot while Zhang Xiaohua watched on, Zhang Xiaohua could not help but wonder if this Ma Jing was planning to spread his athlete foot to someone else? He should take the opportunity now to tie his relationship closer to the other party.
The smell in the room became more and more unpleasant, and Zhang Xiaohua wondered if this Liu Er had purposely used his mother’s “funeral” as an excuse to leave, and he could not wait for Liu Er to come back so that he could move to another room, without realizing that he might have to leave when Liu Er returned.
Finally, Zhang Xiaohua could not tolerate the smell and he got off his bed to open the windows, and once the windows were opened, he peered into the scenery of the night and took long gasps of the fresh air before asking Ma Jing, “Elder brother Ma Jing, why are there two types of food during dinner? Can you explain it to me?”
Ma Jing put down his finger that was at his nose, he squinted his small eyes and said, “Xiaohua is very sensible and motivated to improve himself. Knowing to ask when in doubt would mean that you can develop further. In that case, I shall not hide anything and explain it to you clearly.”
After finishing his sentence, he turned his gaze towards the opened windows and into the vast night sky as though he was reminiscing of something that has long pa.s.sed. Ma Jing said in deep mysterious voice, “In a long, long time ago…”
Zhang Xiaohua was surprised and he asked, “How long is long, long ago?”
Ma Jing cleared his voice and answered, “Before the last New Year.”
“Dang” The sound interrupted Ma Jing’s storytelling. Ma Jing looked at Zhang Xiaohua who has fallen on the floor and thought, “His falling posture is handsome even though he is still a child, indeed birds of the same feather flock together, only he has the right to be my roommate.” Then he asked in concern, “What is wrong?”
“Oh, nothing, my thoughts stumbled through time and s.p.a.ce while listening to your story.” Zhang Xiaohua smiled as he said.
EN: Haha MC, so cute.
Ma Jing continued, “So before the New Year, the people who took care of the medicinal fields in Huanxi mountain villa, that is us, would eat from the same table. Even though life was hard, we were all happily living a peaceful and harmonious life. However, after the New Year around the eighteenth of the first month of the year, the mountain villa opened another few medicinal fields, do you know what herbs were being cultivated there?”
Zhang Xiaohua was anxious as he replied, “I do not know.”
Ma Jing pressed on, “Try to guess?”
Zhang Xiaohua was in a loss and he said, “I really do not know, I have not grown herbs before, nor even seen them. How can I guess?”
“En.” Ma Jing nodded his head as he said, “I knew that you would be unable to guess.”
“So what herb was it?” Zhang Xiaohua asked sincerely.
Ma Jing said his reply very slowly, “That is, I do not know either.”
“Dang”, Zhang Xiaohua fell off the bed and Ma Jing gasped in praise, “What a handsome posture.”