The dishes were served soon enough.
The enormous sashimi platter was a visual feast.
Fresh sea urchin was neatly arranged beside caviar, looking incredibly appetizing.
As for the expensive conch, it had been sliced and cooked using the tableside blanching method.
The chef wheeled a pot into the private room and brought the stock to a boil, slicing the conch for the customers on the spot before swishing it in the broth for a few seconds. Cooked just right, it retained the greatest possible amount of its fresh sweetness.
They even kept the emptied conch shell. It was as big as a basketball, set on the plate over dry ice to create a mist-shrouded visual effect.
Zhou Jialu kept taking pictures.
Scenes like this were rare for her.
Su Bai could not be bothered with photos. He simply drank his matsutake mushroom soup from an exquisite little teapot. A squeeze of lemon made it taste fantastic—refreshing and perfect for cutting through the richness.
When eating an all-you-can-eat Japanese meal, something to cleanse the palate was essential. After all, what interested Su Bai about this restaurant was its various seafood sashimi and high-quality grilled beef and lamb...
For Zhou Jialu, though, the ingredients themselves were not the most important thing. She was more focused on editing the photos and posting them on Moments.
"Senior, are all your Moments posts always this polished?"
"Of course I prefer things to look polished. Who doesn't like showing off their glamorous side on social media?" Zhou Jialu sighed. "After all, most people only get to experience something worth bragging about once in a long while, while for you, Junior, it's just everyday life."
"That's not really true. If I ate this extravagantly every day, my cholesterol would probably explode."
"It's fine, we're still young. As long as we exercise more, there's nothing to worry about. Want me to find a way to help you exercise and burn off those extra nutrients?"
Zhou Jialu blinked.
Su Bai said helplessly, "Senior, I've noticed you don't seem to learn your lesson. Weren't your feet itchy enough after what happened in the car earlier?"
He made as if to grab Zhou Jialu's leg.
She hurriedly begged for mercy. "No, no, no, we're eating. You can't fool around while eating—it'll affect digestion."
After fooling around for quite a while, Zhou Jialu finally finished preparing the photos she needed for her Moments post.
It was the standard nine-photo grid. Not long after she posted it, quite a few comments appeared.
Wow, that conch is huge. It must be expensive, right?
That background... is that the Japanese restaurant at IKC Plaza? I'm so jealous. You're eating this well for lunch on a weekday.
Wuwuwu, I'm in the cafeteria chewing steamed buns, with useless tears flowing from the corner of my mouth.
Why order the most expensive set? It totally doesn't seem worth it.
Entertaining clients again? Senior, you really are different after getting into sales. Living it up every day, huh?
Zhou Jialu replied to them one by one.
As for the ones clearly trying to stir up trouble, she could not be bothered to respond, or she would send a smiling emoji back with a sarcastic undertone.
Zhou Jialu had long grown accustomed to the nasty gossip and verbal attacks against her. It had been like that ever since high school.
After all, she had already been very well-endowed back then.
Rather than shrinking back because of rumors, she dressed herself up even more beautifully.
Let them spread whatever rumors they wanted. No matter how they slandered me, there would still be loads of men who admired me.
Just then, her roommate Liu Yuanyuan commented on Zhou Jialu's Moments post.
Sis Lu, you're living it up today. Did you land a huge deal?
Zhou Jialu smiled slightly. Instead of continuing the exchange on Moments, she chose to message Liu Yuanyuan privately.
The two freshman beauties had only joined their dorm a month ago.
Before that, Zhou Jialu had shared the room with Liu Yuanyuan.
Even after they became a mixed dorm, Zhou Jialu and Liu Yuanyuan remained relatively closer. Whenever they had something to complain about in daily life, they usually chatted privately rather than in the dorm's small group chat.
It was not that there was anything wrong with the other two girls. They were both nice people; they simply needed time to get familiar with one another.
AAA University District Mercedes-Benz Miss Zhou: I picked up an especially handsome younger guy, and he's treating me to a Japanese all-you-can-eat meal that costs over a thousand~
Yuanyuan: Huh??
Yuanyuan: He's treating you? Don't you usually split the bill with clients?
AAA University District Mercedes-Benz Miss Zhou: This one's different. He's incredibly, incredibly rich!
AAA University District Mercedes-Benz Miss Zhou: Honestly, I'm tempted.
Yuanyuan: Aaaaaah! Sis Lu is finally going all in? I'm so excited! A man is actually going to get a taste of Sis Lu's sweetness! Who's lucky enough to be that guy?
AAA University District Mercedes-Benz Miss Zhou: ...It's not that serious. Ah, it's still hard to say. Who knows whether he's even interested in me?
Honestly.
Zhou Jialu was sure that she liked Su Bai a lot.
Whether it was the physical kind of attraction or a rational consideration of his financial means.
A truly wise woman should keep herself pure, then strike decisively when she met her destined man.
The key was that she seemed to be at a lower level than Su Bai...
Just having him squeeze her calf had made her whole body go limp, and she had even needed to go to the restroom to clean herself up...
Zhou Jialu had never known she was so sensitive.
Meanwhile, Su Bai had not seemed moved by her flirting at all, from the moment they met until now.
Sigh, take it slowly. Everything should be viewed positively. Maybe Su Bai was only acting reserved because they had just met.
Perhaps he would fall for her once they got more familiar!
There was plenty of time ahead...
Meanwhile, in Jiangcheng University's cafeteria.
Liu Yuanyuan looked at the messages her roommate had sent, feeling a complicated swirl of emotions.
She knew Zhou Jialu's requirements for a boyfriend.
She liked them younger.
And they had to be rich.
Preferably handsome, too.
Honestly, that was indeed hard to find. After all, anyone who could meet all those conditions was in high demand and could not possibly lack women around him.
Yet Zhou Jialu had actually found one.
Liu Yuanyuan was thirty percent happy for her, thirty percent faintly jealous, and forty percent filled with an indescribable sense of melancholy.
She wanted to eat Japanese food that cost over a thousand too, but Xue Tao was only willing to take her to places that cost three hundred.
He spent all day bragging about how impressive local people like him were, but only after dating him did she realize that he was not actually that well-off.
Forget it, forget it. At least Xue Tao's conditions were pretty good within their circle, and he was willing to spend money on her. These days, those stingy, average-looking yet overconfident men acted like they were dying if they had to buy even one cup of milk tea.
No matter what, after Liu Yuanyuan started dating Xue Tao, she had achieved milk tea freedom.
And Xue Tao would keep spending money on her. As long as she kept him on the hook, she could continuously reap benefits from him.
Meanwhile, who knew whether Zhou Jialu's so-called rich younger guy only wanted to have some fun with her?
At that moment, at a cafeteria table.
Xue Tao sat beside Liu Yuanyuan, animatedly explaining little facts about cars.
Most of it revolved around his Magotan.
After all, "a young achiever drives a Magotan" was one of Xue Tao's main personal-brand labels.
He opened with "German engineering quality," then followed it up with "domestic cars nowadays all cut corners."
Liu Yuanyuan's head buzzed from listening to him.
Irritably, she cut him off. "Xue Tao, let's go out this weekend. I want to eat Japanese food."
"Japanese food? It's flashy but impractical, all style and no substance. How about Lao Xiang Ji instead..."
Xue Tao's smile was a little forced. His budget had been tight lately, and Japanese food could easily cost several hundred yuan. It was simply too much for him to bear.
"My roommate ate it today. Look at this, it looks really good."
"Ah..."
Xue Tao glanced at the photo and broke into a sweat.
Fuck, this whole spread would cost at least a thousand per person.
Come on, girl, can you be a little realistic?
What kind of goddess-level looks did your three roommates have? You wanted to compete with them? Give it a rest!
But Liu Yuanyuan would not let it go.
Xue Tao could only rack his brains for something to say to brush her off.
This cafeteria lunch, just like yesterday's, was another chance encounter between the two dorms.
Wang Haoran was still like an NPC, silently grinding his gacha game and shutting himself off from the world.
Hehehe, Brother Bai's fully built 6+5 main DPS was so awesome. You could clear the Abyss without even using your hands.
Chu Mingzhe was caught in an internal struggle.
Chen Yusheng sat alone in a corner. Her otherwise expressionless face carried a faint trace of resentment.
Why wasn't Su Bai replying to my messages?
Before you continue