Zhou Yibai's return piqued the curiosity of quite a few classmates.
But after learning that the guy had a perfectly legitimate excuse to stay in the classroom and show off, everyone rolled their eyes and dispersed.
Before long,
the noon bell rang.
As usual, Zhou Yibai pulled Li Xijun along, weaving around the female obstacles blocking the stairwell arm in arm, and headed toward the cafeteria on foot.
"My cousin's treating today. Eat as much as you want, Brother Li."
"Hm? Didn't they say even Elite Class students had purchase limits?" Li Xijun asked.
"That's what the school rules say, but the Nourishment Meal Sets on the second floor are expensive as hell. One meal costs several thousand per person. Not every Elite Class student comes from money, so how could they eat there every day? With my cousin's connections, borrowing an ID is easy."
As he said this, Zhou Yibai looked immensely proud.
Li Xijun said nothing more and, as always, listened to the other man brag.
By the time they reached the cafeteria stairs, Zhou Yibai was visibly excited. It was as though he had stepped onto a staircase reserved for those above everyone else; every few steps, he wanted to turn around and look at the students eating downstairs.
Even Li Xijun, who considered himself fairly composed, felt a little embarrassed standing beside him.
After slowly making their way up to the second floor, Zhou Yibai carefully surveyed the surroundings.
Li Xijun was also curious about the legendary second floor, but after one glance, he felt it was no different from the grand restaurants of his previous life.
There were simply no food service windows or lunch ladies with shaky hands. Instead, dishes were served as they would be in a restaurant.
The tables and chairs had been replaced with more upscale, antique-style wooden furnishings, spaced farther apart from one another.
What stood out were the areas by the walls with windows. They had been made into several private rooms that looked like something from an ancient costume drama. The tableware all appeared antique and luxurious as well, with Incense Burners and tea sets. There was even a stage modeled after those in old taverns, where an elderly man dressed in ancient-style clothing tuned and played a guqin.
"I heard that cultivation in the Third Realm, Artistic Conception, depends heavily on one's mental state and state of mind. Before the Great Cataclysm, things like tea ceremonies, calligraphy, and playing the qin were said to help with comprehension. At university, you can see lots of people dressing, acting, and living like ancient people. That's why so many Elite Class students start learning this stuff early whenever they have time."
Zhou Yibai gave Li Xijun an explanatory rundown of what he had heard from his uncle.
At the same time, he checked his phone, saw the room number his cousin had sent him, and walked ahead into an antique-style private room.
The private room was not large, with only one table and four chairs. Two of the chairs were already occupied.
The young man was the handsome Zhou Shenghao, dressed in a black Nano Integrated Suit.
The young woman wore a Nano Integrated Suit as well, though she had layered a white-and-cyan hanfu over it. She looked like a gentle, approachable fairy from ancient times.
When Zhou Yibai brought someone over, Zhou Shenghao immediately clapped his hands. Someone soon entered the antique-style private room, lit the incense in the Incense Burner, and the musician outside began to play. Then servers dressed in ancient clothing brought dish after dish to the table.
Once everything was arranged, Zhou Yibai, feeling that he had thoroughly shown off in front of his friend, began the introductions.
"Let me introduce you. This is my cousin, Zhou Shenghao, and this is Liu Yunmeng. Her family has been friends with mine for generations. They're both in the Elite Class."
"This is Li Xijun, a friend I often eat with and walk home with."
Since he was here to freeload on a Nourishment Meal Set, Li Xijun took the initiative to greet them.
However, Zhou Shenghao remained indifferent. He merely gave a slight nod before turning his gaze to the chat screen in Liu Yunmeng's hand.
Liu Yunmeng responded with a smile and exchanged a few polite words. She carried herself with the etiquette of a young lady from a prestigious family, though she was still a high school student, and the distance in her words and expression inevitably showed through.
"Hehe, then let's eat first."
Thinking the meeting had gone very well, Zhou Yibai took the initiative to speak to Zhou Shenghao and picked up his chopsticks.
Li Xijun, on the other hand, knew his place perfectly well. He was only here with Zhou Yibai to freeload a meal, so he simply kept quiet and focused on experiencing the effects of the nourishing food.
In truth, the food in the Nourishment Meal Set did not disappoint for its price.
Each grain of Spirit Rice was fragrant and fresh. The meat of Mythical World creatures was especially enticing, quickly melting into rich, savory juices in his mouth. It required almost no digestion before its energy was gently absorbed by his body.
This was the first time since taking the Greater Blood Essence Pill that Li Xijun had felt the satisfying fullness of being truly fed.
He could not help thinking that if, besides his daily Medicinal Bath and Greater Blood Essence Pill, he could eat nourishing meals of this caliber every day, his blood essence cultivation would definitely improve another thirty percent faster.
The Nourishment Meal Set was soon finished, and several servings of tea snacks were brought out afterward.
A notification from someone marked as important sounded from Liu Yunmeng's chat screen.
Upon seeing it, Zhou Shenghao finally showed some delight. Only then did he take out a packet of tea wrapped in three layers of packaging and placed in an elegant little box.
"This is Spirit Nourishing Tea that Little Zhou brought from home. It isn't some legendary treasure that increases mental power, but it does have the valuable effect of nourishing the mind. Even Third Realm martial artists would be willing to trade resources for it."
"I only managed to invite Nianyi over for tea with great difficulty, so he was finally willing to take it out from home."
Liu Yunmeng spoke in a way that gave Li Xijun the impression of a little girl imitating the adults in her family, but he immediately understood what she meant.
It was no big deal for a cousin who had just entered the Elite Class to bring a friend along for a meal.
But Spirit Nourishing Tea was something precious. Naturally, it was not something they would share with him.
"I happen to feel my blood essence becoming very active. I should be about to break through, so I'll head out first."
Li Xijun saw the situation clearly and stood to leave, incidentally telling the truth.
Yet none of the three people in the room cared.
Even after Li Xijun left, he could still hear Zhou Shenghao's somewhat impatient voice.
"You're an Elite Class student now too. Listen and observe more, talk less, and learn to make more friends like Ye Liuyun, people at the top of the grade. Stop wasting your time on meaningless socializing."
"Okay, okay. I get it. I'll only be in the class for one more afternoon anyway. There won't be any interaction after that."
Zhou Yibai instinctively followed his cousin's advice and casually agreed.
With senses sharpened after Orifice Opening, Li Xijun heard every word clearly, but he felt no urge to think, Do not mock a poor youth.
There was no need to force himself into a circle that was different from his own.
As he walked down the stairs, he instead wondered whether Da Sheng World, since it had Medicinal Baths and Greater Blood Essence Pills, also had things similar to Nourishment Meal Sets.
He could not afford Nourishment Meal Sets at school, but could he not afford them in Da Sheng World?
Just as he was thinking this, he saw a girl in a Deep Purple Silk Robe hanfu ascending the stairs, her long hair purple.
There was nothing strange about that hair color. After the Great Cataclysm, drastic changes in the geographical environment had caused many blond, blue-eyed people from the Federation's Western Alliance States to experience changes in eye color. Later, the consumption of many resources from the Mythical World caused many martial artists to undergo changes in hair color and the like, which were passed down through inheritance.
However, when the girl's gaze fixed upon his and their eyes met,
it was like a human meeting a tiger's gaze.
His mind instinctively entered the soul-sensing state of Bullet Time, and a starlike radiance flowed through his irises.
As time slowed, he saw a thoughtful expression appear on the girl's face.
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