Ordering at the buffet and the man who waved

The air conditioning in the private suite's lounge was set just right.

Warm yellow floor lights fell across the Persian carpet, and a faint woody scent, stirred up by the steam, filled the air.

Compared to the heat that had filled their bodies before their baths, the suite was now so comfortable it made them want to fall asleep on the spot and sleep like the dead.

Han Dong was the first to show just how good he felt, the word "bliss" written plainly across his face.

He was wrapped in a roomy white bathrobe, and his hair was still wet and dripping.

The burly man from Northeast China plopped himself down on the soft leather sofa, his whole body feeling as though it had been taken apart and put back together.

"Oh, my dear mother."

Han Dong let out a long breath and sprawled out.

"The bath scrubbers here really know their stuff."

He raised an arm and felt his shoulder, which had been scrubbed red, his face full of reverence and pleasure.

"Those moves, that pressure-after that scrub, I feel two pounds lighter."

"Judging by his accent, he wasn't one of the old hands from our Northeast, but the way he got all that dead skin off was definitely not much worse than the top bathhouse uncles back home."

Chen Ziang sat in an armchair on the other side.

He held a cup of warm black tea. Though he didn't respond, seeing Han Dong looking so thoroughly pampered and comfortable finally brought his hidden sense of home-field advantage back to the high ground.

That money was well spent.

Lu Chuan and Zhao Yifan emerged from their respective stalls shortly afterward.

Zhao Yifan quietly dried his hair with a towel and sat down in a chair nearby.

Lu Chuan went to the drinks station and poured himself a glass of room-temperature lemon water.

He leaned against the bar and drank slowly, and the rhythm of the entire suite unfolded in unhurried layers.

They had been lounging around on the sofas for only a few minutes.

Han Dong's attention immediately shifted from "that scrub felt amazing" to another serious problem.

A sound of profound emptiness came from his stomach.

Han Dong rubbed his shrunken belly and sniffed the air hard twice.

"I can't take it."

Han Dong sat bolt upright and slapped both hands on his knees, his expression solemn.

"Brothers, my stomach is completely empty now. I've entered peak eating condition."

He swallowed a mouthful of the saliva pouring into his mouth.

"I'm ten times hungrier than when we first came in."

Chen Ziang took the opportunity to stand up.

He straightened the collar of his bathrobe and assumed the commanding air of the day's host.

"Let's go."

Chen Ziang lifted his chin.

"I'll show you what a truly top-tier buffet looks like."

The four of them charged down the wooden corridor toward the seafood and wagyu buffet area.

Han Dong led the way, his mouth never stopping as he frantically worked out his eating strategy for what lay ahead.

"I've got to put away at least five or six rounds of wagyu first."

"In the seafood section, I'll pick the ones with shells and go hard on the biggest ones."

He clenched his fists, determination in his eyes.

"As for carbs like fried rice, noodles, and pastries, none of them are getting so much as an inch of high ground in my stomach today!"

However.

When the four of them actually stepped into the buffet area, Han Dong was dumbstruck.

There was none of the noisy bustle of an ordinary mall buffet, with people carrying plates and scrambling for food.

The place was exceptionally quiet.

The tables were spaced far apart, each screened off for privacy by natural greenery.

On the central display, top-grade wagyu with marbling like marble, live king crabs, and all manner of prized seafood were arranged exquisitely on crushed ice, like works of art.

A uniformed server greeted them with a smile and personally escorted them to their table.

No plates.

No serving tongs.

The server handed them four beautifully bound menus.

"Honored guests, this section operates on an order basis. Once you've selected your ingredients, the kitchen will prepare them fresh to order, and a designated server will bring them to your table."

On hearing the rules, Han Dong's first reaction was not to think how upscale it was.

It was heartache.

Extreme heartache.

"We don't get it ourselves?"

Han Dong stared in disbelief and voiced his grievance in anguish.

"If a buffet doesn't let you charge into battle with a plate in front of the food counters, then it's already lost half its soul!"

Chen Ziang rolled his eyes as he listened and was just about to tell him to shut up.

But the server maintained her perfect smile and added gently, "Please rest assured, sir, all dishes are unlimited. You may order as much as your appetite allows."

The moment she said "all dishes are unlimited,"

The half of Han Dong's soul that he had just lost came flying back, completely intact.

He flipped open the menu and entered a battle mode that recognized neither kin nor friend.

"What are we waiting for, then?"

Han Dong looked at the server with fierce resolve.

"Start with thirty portions of M9 wagyu."

"Twenty portions of French pan-seared foie gras."

"And two whole king crabs, one stir-fried with chilies and one steamed."

He closed the menu with utter confidence and swept a hand through the air.

"Bring those out first. If it's not enough, we'll order more later!"

The tip of the server's pen visibly paused as she wrote down the order.

Despite her rigorous professional training, her eye still twitched involuntarily for half a second at an order large enough to feed pigs.

Chen Ziang's eyelids twitched wildly.

He felt that sitting at the same table as this guy was an enormous test of his status as a young master.

"You ordered so much meat and seafood. At least get something to wash it down."

Chen Ziang reminded him irritably.

"They have freshly squeezed juice and imported sparkling water here."

Han Dong waved a hand and refused outright.

He turned to the other three at the table and laid out the most valuable piece of eating wisdom in this chapter.

"Boss Chen, that's where you don't get it."

Han Dong looked dead serious, every word ringing with conviction.

"The soul of eating at a buffet isn't eating the tastiest food."

"It's eating only the most expensive food!"

He pointed at the seafood and wagyu on the menu.

"Drinks are liquids that take up room in your stomach. Don't touch a drop."

"Staples are cheap carbs. Don't eat a bite."

Once he laid out this seemingly absurd yet watertight piece of twisted logic,

Chen Ziang and Zhao Yifan, who had been about to make fun of him, were unexpectedly unable to find any grounds for a rebuttal. They even felt that the rough fellow's words actually made some sense.

Lu Chuan sat to the side and couldn't help lowering his head and laughing.

The first round of dishes soon arrived at the table on a succession of food carts.

Charcoal-grilled wagyu sizzling with fat, melt-in-the-mouth foie gras, and plump king crab legs filled the entire broad table in no time.

The pace at the table immediately heated up.

Han Dong ate the most aggressively, working with both hands at once.

Yet he didn't seem crude. Instead, he showed a focused, earnest attitude, like a general carrying out a strategic mission to the letter.

"See that?"

As Han Dong chewed his wagyu, he gave a muffled, real-time review of his reasoning.

"This is how you eat. No drinks, no staples. That's the bare minimum of respect for these top-grade ingredients."

Chen Ziang picked up a piece of foie gras with his chopsticks.

Though he was still saying Han Dong was like a starving ghost reincarnated, he was actually growing more and more relaxed in the lively, carefree atmosphere.

At last, he stopped putting on airs to "show off his resources" and truly began to enjoy feasting with his roommates.

Zhao Yifan remained as restrained as ever.

He chewed slowly and carefully, revealing only a hint of quiet approval in certain details.

"This wagyu really is cooked well. They've done a good job sealing in the juices."

Zhao Yifan gave his fair assessment.

Lu Chuan's role was still that of the steady, sea-calming divine needle.

He didn't compete for a chance to speak, nor did he pretend to be an expert and pass judgment on the ingredients.

When the server brought dishes too quickly and too many piled up on the table, Lu Chuan would gently ask the server to pause so the food wouldn't get cold and lose its flavor.

When Han Dong struggled with a thick king crab leg, unable to cut it open no matter how hard he tried with his tool,

Lu Chuan naturally handed him a pair of special scissors and helped snip through the toughest joint.

"Eat the wagyu first."

Lu Chuan pushed the cut crab leg in front of Han Dong.

"The fat is most fragrant when it's hot. Once it cools, it gets greasy."

He didn't say much, but he made the rhythm of the entire meal exceptionally comfortable.

In this top-tier bathhouse, far from school, the four men of dorm 504 finally shed the tentative probing and wariness of their first meeting.

They were no longer merely people who spent money together, a surface-level relationship. They were becoming more and more like real college roommates who could fight over meat at the same table.

More than an hour later,

The mountains of seafood and wagyu on the table had been completely wiped out.

Han Dong let out an earth-shaking belch.

He was thoroughly satisfied.

He slumped against the broad back of his chair like a pile of mud, like a soldier returning in triumph after a hard-won victory.

"All right."

Han Dong rubbed his round belly and delivered his conclusion with great ceremony.

"The ordering system here may not have much soul."

"But the ingredients really are expensive, and eating them really does feel great."

Chen Ziang looked at his pathetic state, pulled out a wet wipe, and wiped his mouth.

Though he said nothing, the little concern he had over whether treating them was worth it had now completely vanished like smoke in the wind.

"If you're full, let's go."

Chen Ziang stood up, regaining some of his commanding air as the one leading the outing.

"Let's walk off the food and get ready for the next activity back in the private suite: a soak in the private bath."

The four stood and walked down the bathhouse's quiet corridor toward their suite.

The relaxation that followed a full meal spread through each of them.

Han Dong held his belly and ambled along with his feet turned outward.

Zhao Yifan's expression was calm, and his steps were unhurried.

Chen Ziang walked at the front, humming an unfamiliar tune in a good mood.

Lu Chuan walked on the outside.

His pace was unhurried, and his gaze casually swept over the route through the outer corridor and the VIP lounge.

Just as they passed a tea lounge half-screened by a wooden lattice,

Lu Chuan had only turned his head casually.

But at that very instant,

His gaze passed through the gaps in the lattice and fell on a figure in the lounge.

The person stood beside a large potted plant not far away.

He wore understated but exceptionally refined casual clothes and held a cup of tea.

More importantly,

The other person had evidently spotted Lu Chuan passing through the corridor at the very same moment.

He stood there, his gaze meeting Lu Chuan's across the space between them.

Then he raised a hand quite naturally, with an air of familiarity even.

And gave a little wave in Lu Chuan's direction.