The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 543: The Dark Side of the Cafeteria Serving Window

When Ji You saw the figure at the food service window, her pupils shrank sharply in an instant!

This!

This!

This!

This can’t be possible!

Ji You stood there with a stupefied face, staring at the figure inside the serving window. As the line dwindled, one, two, three... finally it was Ji You’s turn.

With a tall and svelte figure, and a thin, handsome face, Liu Fufeng’s clear and beautiful eyes looked at Ji You, who seemed to have lost her soul, and he couldn’t help but speak out, "Ji You, what would you like to eat?"

"Ah?"

"Oh~"

"Ha~"

After a moment of stupefaction, Ji You scratched her head, trying to maintain a steady and normal speech rate, "Student Fufeng, can you give me a serving of braised spare ribs with rice, thank you."

Liu Fufeng’s smile was obedient, "Alright."

Having said that.

He raised his hand and began to serve the food...

Ji You watched with wide open eyes, unblinkingly staring at Liu Fufeng’s hands which were clean and delicate almost to the point of excess. She saw them trembling slightly, as though they might lose grip of the spoon any second...

Then—

Ji You’s face darkened!

What kind of bad habits had these cafeteria servers learned? Don’t they know that shaking the spoon is the most hated behavior among all students?

Or is it?

Do these bad habits not require teaching, and one automatically learns them as soon as they start working?

Unaware of how detested he was at this moment, Liu Fufeng was still earnestly and diligently shaking the spoon.

Shake once.

Shake twice.

Shake thrice.

...

After roughly 10 seconds, Liu Fufeng finally served the braised spare ribs and handed it over to Ji You with a smile, "Ji You, your braised spare ribs with rice are ready."

Ji You, with a straight face and serious eyes, hands in pockets, motionless, said with a half-smile, "Student Liu Fufeng, you’ve given me one less piece of spare ribs."

Liu Fufeng was startled, "Ah?"

"Let me count." Saying this, Liu Fufeng bowed his head and counted seriously, realizing indeed there were only nine pieces. He looked up with a slightly embarrassed smile, "Sorry, my skills are still not polished."

Ji You: "Heh heh..."

Liu Fufeng quickly said, "I’ll add one more for you."

Ji You, with a forced smile, replied, "I suspect you’re deliberately and maliciously skimping on my meat. This action has caused serious harm to my body and mind. Tell me, how are you going to compensate for this."

Upon hearing this, Liu Fufeng’s face showed a flicker of panic, clearly a little unable to control the situation. After a few seconds of thought, he looked at Ji You with a troubled expression, "But I don’t have any money."

Ji You: "..."

Liu Fufeng asked, "Do you still want this serving of braised spare ribs? The next student is already getting impatient."

Ji You: "..."

Maintaining a half-smiling, half-grimacing expression, Ji You said, "Add one more piece for me, and I’ll consider you’ve compensated me."

Hearing this, Liu Fufeng’s hand holding the serving spoon trembled a bit, "But... but that’s not allowed. The cafeteria has rules against extras; otherwise, I’ll lose this job."

As he spoke, he sneakily lifted his eyes, looking pitifully at Ji You, "I haven’t even had my meal yet."

It’s over!

This guy, using such a handsome, delicate face, is giving me a sob story...

He sounds so pitiful; if I keep insisting, I’ll look unreasonable...

Ji You: "Cough cough... then just add a spoonful of sauce for me."

Liu Fufeng still looked troubled upon hearing this, "I..."

Ji You: "Heh heh..."

Whoever has ambition will not eat the food that comes by begging!

Humph!

It’s just a spoonful of sauce, right?

I despise it now.

With a cold snort, Ji You picked up her meal tray and strode away.

Liu Fufeng watched as Ji You stormed off, feeling quite melancholic:

Ah!

I have offended a big shot.

But—

For the time being, getting this part-time job serving food at the canteen has solved my meal problem. Liu Fufeng thought about it and took a slight breath of relief.

Over here.

Ji You was holding her meal tray, squeezing into a seat with Chu Jiaojiao, Shen Changqing, and others; as soon as she set down her utensils, she started cursing: "It kills me, why the hell is Liu Fufeng working part-time at the canteen?!"

As soon as she said this, the entire table fell silent, with only the sound of teeth chewing food.

After a while.

Ji You asked: "Don’t any of you want to express your opinion?"

Silence.

A few seconds later, Yue Qiyuan said, "Don’t you think it’s pitiful for him to have to serve food at the canteen?"

Ji You’s mouth dropped open: "Huh???"

Yue Qiguang glanced at her and said, "A national Crown Prince!"

Shen Changqing added: "Former Crown Prince."

Sheng Qingyan covered her mouth: "Anyway, it’s so pitiful."

Chu Jiaojiao took a bite of rice, put down her chopsticks, and said, "It is a little pitiful."

Ji You: "..."

Ji You glared: "Why are your points of focus so weird?"

The others glared back at her, in unison: "Your point of focus is the weird one."

Ji You, with her mouth opened: "How is it weird? I wanted to work part-time at the canteen, and they wouldn’t hire me, saying I wasn’t a student in financial distress and didn’t qualify! But why on earth did Liu Fufeng get to work there without saying a word?!"

Ji You felt aggrieved.

Ji You began to complain indignantly: "There must be something shady going on behind the scenes! I have to lodge a complaint, I must complain."

Everyone: "..."

After a moment of speechlessness from everyone, in unison they said, "Leave him a way to survive!"

"Yes, I heard he can’t even afford to eat."

"He can’t even afford stir-fried bean sprouts."

"I heard he can’t afford low-level nutrition, it’s so pitiful."

"After all, he is a Prince of a nation, now self-reliant and earning his own food, don’t kick a man when he’s down and bully him."

...

Listening to her friends, one by one, reproaching her, Ji You pursed her lips. On second thought, she did seem a bit too much, huh~

What’s wrong with Liu Fufeng earning his food through work?

Even if there’s something shady about his job, it’s not like it’s outrageous or unacceptable by law or ethics.

Ji You opened her mouth and said, "Let’s eat! Eat!"

On the other side.

As time passed, the number of students coming to eat gradually diminished, and those who had eaten their fill left one after another. The canteen’s window offering natural food officially ran out of supplies. After that, synthetic food will be handled by robots, and the students working part-time serving food finally got a break to eat.

Liu Fufeng sat beside a clean, white dining table, bowing his head, quietly eating his own lunch.

Opposite.

Principal Hong, with a very serious demeanor, asked Liu Fufeng, who was eating obediently, in an extremely gentle tone, "Fufeng, are you getting used to the meals?"

Liu Fufeng raised his head, his clear and handsome face showing a clean, obedient smile: "I’m used to it. Thank you, Principal, for offering me such a great job."

Principal Hong forced a smile, saying, "Teacher Mu is quite serious, not very good at dealing with people’s feelings, you have chosen her class and you have to follow her arrangements. In this regard, even I can’t casually interfere with her decisions."

Here, the reason why Principal Hong did not reject Mu Jianling’s decision to have Liu Fufeng use points for all campus expenses was explained.

Liu Fufeng earnestly replied: "Teacher Mu is a very good teacher, and I really like her."

Hearing this, Principal Hong said with a smile, "I will always pay attention to your situation at school with the former principal. If you have any needs, you can tell me, and wherever possible, we will do our best to assist."

Liu Fufeng, somewhat embarrassed, said: "It’s me who has troubled you and the former principal, and the school, I’m very used to everything at school."

Principal Hong said, "Anyway, if there is any inconvenience, just tell me."

Liu Fufeng obediently responded: "Okay."

Principal Hong stood up and said, "Take your time eating, I’ll go handle some matters."

Liu Fufeng: "Okay."

After Principal Hong left, Liu Fufeng continued eating. With one hand holding chopsticks and the other holding a spoon, he scooped spoonful after spoonful of braised pork rib sauce into his plate, mixing it with rice, eating while reflecting endlessly:

[Mixing sauce with rice is really delicious.]