Shanhai High School 18

Ji XingLing, let me treat you to an expensive meal!

There was only one landline had been installed in the entire Qingqiu’s old mansion, and it was in the living room. After receiving the call, the housekeeper went to the study room to look for it. When he got there, he saw seventeen to eighteen little cubs were frolicking and rolling on the ground, surrounded by fragments of test papers like snow, that spread and filled in a thick layer.

A group of elders shifted the blame onto one another, and finally, the fox (maternal) grandma tottered to pick up the telephone receiver, “Well, Xiao Xing ah…”

At eight o’clock in the evening, the car was parked steadily at Jiang’An ShuYuan.

Hu MeiMei patted her son on the shoulder, “How about this, your mother goes to Xiao Jing to testify that you are really done and finished it this time.”

“He’s not a teacher, so what can I say specifically.” Young Master Ji “snorted” and got out of the car exhaustedly. “I’m sleepy. Go back to take a bath and sleep.”

Of course, Hu MeiMei knew her son’s habit very well. When he was upset, depressed, emotionally down, in a bad mood, unwilling to talk anymore, or aggrieved, it was all referred to as sleepy.

The room in 1301 was huge, and the bathroom was bigger than most.

Ji XingLing had thrown himself into the bathtub while boringly counting bubbles. Recently, Hu MeiMei had indulged in aromatherapy essential oils, and the male siblings in the family had to succumb to the fragrance of roses in this full bathtub, so as to soothe their nerves. The more he soaked, the more sleepy he was.

An hour later, Hu MeiMei finally couldn’t help but knock ‘tock tock’ on the door, “Ji XingLing, did you fall asleep in the bathroom? Xiao Jing has been waiting for you for a long time!”

Ji XingLing instantly sat upright, “Where is he waiting for me?”

Lin Jing stood next to Hu MeiMei, “…Otherwise, you wash a little longer. I’m not in a hurry.”

There was a crisp ‘crash’ sound from the bathroom, and who knew which hapless bottle was killed by the non-slip floor.

Hu MeiMei was not surprised, and went to the kitchen to continue tinkering with desserts. Ji XingLing wiped his hair dry quickly, then unscrewed the door with one hand, and found Lin Jing was sitting behind the desk.

The young master protested, “Can you tell me in advance, the next time you come here. What if, by any chance, I’m too lazy to put on clothes after the bath then?”

“I thought you might be tired, and you need to have a relaxing soak for a while.” Lin Jing rolled the pen around with his fingertips, “Okay ba. I’ll do better next time.”

Ji XingLing sat on the edge of the bed, “Is there something you want to talk to me about?”

“Aunty asked me to come over.” Lin Jing replied, “She said that your test paper was taken by your cousin to cushion the kennel, and you were depressed and needed comfort.”

Brother Xing was silent after hearing this.

This excuse that my mother came up with was simply superb.

“Then do you have any questions you don’t understand and want to ask me?” Lin Jing brought the computer with him when he came over.

“…Just a question in mathematics ba, about the quadrant.” Ji XingLing rubbed his nose, “Everything else is fine.”

“Only this one?” Lin Jing zoomed in on the screen while casually said, “Then, after all, you are very—”

Half of the words ceased abruptly. Ji XingLing waited for a long time and still didn’t hear the finished sentence, so he took the initiative to ask, “I am, after all, very what?”

Lin Jing reminded him, “You don’t let me praise you.”

“No, you can appropriately praise this.” Ji XingLing dragged a chair to sit next to him, “What I said was that I wouldn’t let that kind of embarrassingly blowout praise. Do you understand the awkward overblown praise?”

“I don’t understand.” Lin Jing helped him by writing the problem-solving steps on the paper, “Ji XingLing, I found that you have quite a lot of requests.”

“This is obviously a reasonable request!” Ji XingLing held his shoulder with one hand and urged, “Hurry up, praise me!”

“No praise.”

“Lin Jing, why are you like this!”

“So you’re going to complain to the Education Bureau again, aren’t you?”

“…”

“Have you remembered the format of the report letter?”

“You better shut up ba.”

After a while, Hu MeiMei brought in a tin of freshly baked biscuits. Lin Jing propped his head with one hand, and watched Ji XingLing copy his homework while eating, “This is C. You copied it wrong.”

“It’s an international practice to copy two wrong answers randomly. Don’t you know that?” Brother Xing had a rich experience in this regard, “Otherwise, it is very lacking in morality.”

Lin Jing did not know whether to laugh or cry. Ji XingLing, you still had quite an ethical consciousness.

The freshly baked soufflé had a strong fragrance. Ji XingLing, who didn’t eat much on the plane, had his stomach hooked by the smell and started grumbling. When he also reached out to touch the biscuits, the hands of the two met in the cookie jar, Lin Jing didn’t take it seriously, but Ji XingLing stared at him with a great interest for a long time.

“What are you looking at?”

“Aren’t you a cleanliness addict? I just copied my homework and didn’t wash my hands.”

Lin Jing paused and put the cookies back expressionlessly.

Ji XingLing, “?”

“who would have thought that you really dislike me?!”

“Mhm.”

“Mhm, my ass, I’ve even finished taking a bath!”

“But your pencil case is dirty.”

“No, you must eat it!”

“I’m stuffed.”

“Open your mouth!”

“Do you still want to copy homework!”

“…”

In the kitchen, the oven sounded ‘ding’, and a freshly baked snack came out.

The whole 1301 room was filled with the smell of sweet milk.

Later, Lin Jing remembered another thing, “Are you free tomorrow? I want to treat you to a meal. Thank you for the musical’s ticket.”

“Okay, it just happens that Old Xu said that the shoes are here today.” Ji XingLing was not polite, “still want to go to that bullfrog shop?”

“Actually, let’s have the bullfrog for the next time. I’ll treat you to eat something else.” The average price for dry pot¹ was only a little over 80, but the ticket for “Fairy Mountain Village” had already been speculated to be 1300. Lin Jing didn’t want to take advantage of the other party too much, “Do you prefer Japanese food or Western food, or there is also this restaurant for Chinese food.” He handed over his smartphone, all of which contained a list of newly-collected restaurants in the past few days, and the per capita could barely make up for the ticket fare.

“All of them are fine, then what about this whatever ‘River’ restaurant ba, it’s the closest one.” Ji XingLing randomly pointed at any restaurant, “I made an appointment with Yu YiZhou to play basketball in the afternoon. Do you want to join us?”
“Uncle Liu will treat me to a meal at noon tomorrow. So I don’t think I can make it.” Lin Jing closed his pen cap, “Well, Let’s meet at the dinner place at half-past five.”
…
‘The River’ was located on the 20th floor of JinCheng Hotel. It was regarded as the most famous of old and well-established western restaurants here, which could conspicuously show Little Teacher Lin’s sincerity. It just so happened that the shop where Liu DaQi invited him to eat at noon was also nearby, and there was a local library next to it, so killing time was a breeze.

Ji XingLing was five minutes late, and there were frequent traffic jams in the city center. He asked the driver to go home first and take the subway by himself. Young people always capitalize on not being afraid of the cold wave. He only wore a short-sleeved T-shirt in the thick and fast drizzle, with the jacket that was casually put on the shoulder. His short hair was also moistened with a bit of clear water mist, and the whole person looked coldly, which was pretty cool.

“Ji XingLing.”

“What’s up?”

“You will catch a cold if you dress up to strike a model pose.”

“…I’m not feeling cold!”

The two were arguing in jest all the way, and the elevator lady was also affected by this exuberant happiness, “Excuse me, are you going to go to the swimming pool on the eighth floor?”

“The River, we have already made a reservation.” Lin Jing said, “Thank you.”

The elevator lady pressed the floor’s button and asked with a smile, “Have the parents of the two arrived?”
Ji XingLing, “?”

Lin Jing didn’t really understand much either, “Do we have to be accompanied by parents?”

“…Of course not.” The elevator lady was obviously taken aback, but she soon resumed her professional smile. “The twentieth floor is here. I wish the two of you a pleasant meal.”

There was also a long corridor outside the elevator, paved with thick carpets, which looked solemnly as well as grand. The welcoming guests who were greeting them at the door had obviously never seen such a combination of two high school students coming to dinner. The usher slightly hesitated when escorting the guests to their tables, and still did not arrange them to the tables that were seated on a reserved couple deck, but placed them by a relatively bright window side.

Ji XingLing, “Why is everyone looking at us?”

Lin Jing, “I don’t know.”

Ji XingLing, “I think this is a couple’s restaurant.”

Lin Jing, “Mhm.”

“Did you not find out?”

“…” I found out, as soon as I walked in the door, so would you just shut up?

But before coming, Little Teacher Lin had already ordered some dishes by phone and had also paid the lobster deposit.

It was costly and must be eaten.

Ji XingLing was wearing a napkin, puzzled, “Why is this restaurant on your shortlist?”

Lin Jing swallowed back the words on the tip of his tongue.

“What are you going to say?”

“I intended to quibble and pass the buck to you.”

“Wocao, what does this have to do with me?!”

“Right, so now I’m going to confess and be more lenient. I didn’t meticulously read the introduction at all when I chose it.” It was all based on the price and the star-rated charts images.

“…”

“But there are some who are not lovers.” Lin Jing looked around as he consoled himself, “You just treat it as a business dinner.”

Ji XingLing, who had exercised for a whole day, had long been famished, and he didn’t have the strength to be picky or choosy. He took pre-dinner bread as a meal. In fact, if you don’t talk about the environment, the foods in ‘The River’ were quite good. After all, the old and well-established restaurant foods were delicious; whether it was the fresh shrimp salad or the pan-fried scallops with butter, the slightly charred cod, the pastry-wrapped cream soup was also delicious. Lin Jing had ordered steak and lobster in advance. Out of consideration for Little Teacher Lin’s wallet, Ji XingLing only added a portion of traditional pasta. In theory, it should be pretty much enough for two people, but as it was said before, this restaurant was exclusively for couples dating. The chef may think that no customers would come to dine with the purpose of filling their stomachs, so the amount of dishes that were served was simply outrageous. The pasta was a small roll, and the after-meal dessert was only half a piece of nougat plus a scoop of ice cream, which was served on a plate with a diameter of 20 cm. Here, the visual effects were excellent, and you feel hungrier even after eating.
Lin Jing felt very sorry for the invited guest, but if he had to treat all-you-can-eat buffet of M9 Wagyu beef²in this restaurant, he might have to live in the cold and go hungry for a long time in the future, so he had to come up with a compromise and offered, “Otherwise, I will treat you to have another meal. Dry pot bullfrog?”

“The road from the city centre to Wanhe is blocked dead at this hour.” Ji XingLing grabbed his coat, “Let’s go ba. There is a Haidilao across the street. Save your bullfrog until next time.”At the entrance of the restaurant, a waiter was distributing red roses, which was supposed to make every guest have a good memory of the meal. Lin Jing, thunderstruck (like a bolt from the blue came to him), had quickly refused, grabbing Ji XingLing with one hand, and like a thief entering the elevator.

And until they left the JinCheng Hotel and breathed in the lively and slightly cold air on the street, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

Ji XingLing originally thought that the meal experience was difficult to describe, but seeing Lin Jing look dumbfounded, and thought it was funny, he leaned over, “Are you feeling particularly embarrassed now?”

“Why should I be embarrassed?”

“Because you took me to a couple’s restaurant to have dinner.”

“I obviously found five restaurants, and you chose this whichever ‘River’ yourself.”

“Hey, you man, you just said you wouldn’t pass the buck to me.”

“I’ve changed my mind, can’t I?”

“Of course not!”

“Let’s go.” Lin Jing pulled the man into Haidilao.

Compared with ‘The River’, the hustle and bustle of the hot pot restaurant was obviously more suitable for high school students. The odd embarrassment caused by the couple’s restaurant was finally diluted. The two ate and drank enough, and no one wanted to move on the sofa.

“Ji XingLing, my stomach is about to burst.”

“Me too.”

“Let’s take a cab later after walking a bit ba.”

“Okay.”

Outside, the rain had stopped at the beginning of the night.

The orange-red street lights reflected wet shadows on the ground; though it couldn’t turn the city upside down, it could also give people the illusion of momentary scenery and space-time.

Lin Jing put his hands in his pockets as he strolled along the edge of the raised flower bed.

There was an old tree on the side of the road. It was so old that it almost forgot what kind of monster it was, so it often bloomed vaguely regardless of the season. Fortunately, it was growing very high and tall, so it would not be easily discovered by humankind.

And that night, another flower, which was light silver, bloomed. Being blown by the wind, fleetingly fluttered in the breeze and just happened to land on Lin Jing’s shoulder.

Obviously, there shouldn’t be this species in human plants. In order to avoid trouble, Ji XingLing caught up with him in two steps, came in contact with Lin Jing’s shoulder in a shameless manner, and kept his fingers together while remaining calm and collected, “You wait for me.”

The petals scattered into a fine powder between Ji XingLing’s fingers, and then flickered and floated away in the air.

Lin Jing turned to look at him, “What did you say?”

Those tiny shimmers were as light as dust, and instantly covered his eyelashes in a split second, “Huh?”

“I said close your eyes.” Ji XingLing pulled him to stand in the dark shadows, “It’s shiny, and I don’t know where the decoration floated from. Don’t move. I’ll clean it for you.”

Lin Jing was very cooperative, “Oh.”

The slightly hot and dry fingertips, move carefully.

A moment later.

“Ji XingLing.”

“Don’t move. It will be done in a minute.”

“That’s not what I’m going to say.”

“Then what are you going to say?”

“It seems like you really have a fever.”

“…”

Previous || TOC || Next

1. Dry pot (干锅 gān guō) – “Dry pot” is just as it sounds: dry and served without broth. It is a cooking method that comes from the very popular hot-pot meals where everyone selects their own ingredients to cook in a spicy communal broth. But make no mistake, serving the pot without the liquid broth detracts not an ounce of flavor. When the pot is served dry, everything inside has already been cooked and sizzled to spicy perfection. It’s a more modern dish, created in southern China in the 1970s to introduce a quicker way to dine.
2. M9 wagyu beef (M9和牛 M9 hé niú) – The grading system is based on the quality of the meat, with marbling as the definitive factor. Marbling is what adds flavor to the meat, and in most cases, the more marbling = the better the quality. Here, the grading system it uses is Australian. In Japan, not only is the meat quality rated (from A1 to A5, with A5 being the most premium), but the marbling receives its own grading scale (from 1 to 12, with 12 being the crème de la crème). The Australian grading system ranges from M1 to M9.
   Wagyu, which means ‘Japanese cow’ in that same language, refers to several different breeds of cattle that are highly prized and desired owing to their superior level of marbling. As such, Wagyu is known for its high quality and is accordingly priced.