The Pitiful Ones

After leaving Instructor Yu's courtyard, Lin Chen went straight back to the Training Ground.

Gu Fei pulled two steamed buns from his clothes and handed them to Lin Chen. "You haven't eaten, have you?"

"Mm."

Lin Chen did not stand on ceremony with Gu Fei and accepted the buns.

Though these two buns had also been deducted from the food Gu Fei's family sent over, as brothers, he did not need to draw such a clear line between them.

"Chenzi, what did you mean by that Work-Study Program?" Gu Fei asked curiously as Lin Chen gnawed on a bun.

"Instructor Yu found me a job. I'll help out in the cafeteria, and my meal fees will be waived."

Working in the cafeteria?

Gu Fei was stunned, his eyes widening in an instant.

"Chenzi, don't be stupid."

Though they had done plenty of work in the village, after coming to the Martial Hall, they still carried a faint sense of superiority deep down.

More importantly, doing dirty, exhausting work in front of the other students would probably invite ridicule. He was afraid Lin Chen would not be able to bear it.

Seeing Gu Fei's concern, Lin Chen instead comforted him. "Weren't there plenty of people mocking me during the first half year? Have you forgotten the martial legends I told you about?"

"That's different. In the stories you told about how the poor youth must not be looked down upon, that Xiao Yan and the rest might have been mocked, but they never did menial labor."

"The essence is the same. The more I'm mocked now, the better it'll feel when I succeed in martial arts and slap their faces later."

"That's true, but..."

"Enough. It took a lot for me to get Instructor Yu to agree. Even if I wanted to quit now, I couldn't."

Hearing that, Gu Fei curled his lip and finally cursed, "Your Grandfather really is a piece of work."

That morning, Yu Yongnian came to the Training Ground. After watching the students practice martial arts for a while, he left. Before leaving, however, he told Lin Chen that he could go directly to the cafeteria at noon.

Lin Chen then knew Instructor Yu had already spoken with the cafeteria's steward.

As mealtime drew near, Lin Chen greeted Gu Fei and left a quarter of an hour early.

When he reached the cafeteria, he asked to see the steward and gave his name.

"Instructor Yu did indeed leave word. How about this—you'll be in charge of serving dishes to the students, then eat with everyone afterward."

"Thank you, Steward Zhang."

"No need to thank me. This is a favor from Instructor Yu. Just remember Instructor Yu's kindness."

Steward Zhang waved his hand. There was plenty of work to do in the kitchen, and the bitterest, most exhausting task was naturally collecting and washing the students' bowls and chopsticks, but he would not assign Lin Chen such tiring work.

Though Instructor Yu had merely said to give Lin Chen an opportunity to work, leaving the exact job to him as steward, how could he really make Lin Chen do the dirtiest and hardest work?

When mealtime arrived, Lin Chen stood at the beef window with an iron ladle in hand.

"How many jin of beef would Senior Brother like?"

"Senior Brother? Aren't you that deduc—what was it?"

"Senior Brother, my surname is Lin."

"Junior Brother Lin, sorry, I forgot for a moment. Give me two jin of beef."

Lin Chen nodded and placed two ladles of beef onto the other man's tray.

"How many jin of beef would this Senior Brother like?"

Whenever a student came up, Lin Chen greeted him with a smile as Senior Brother, his gaze calm and open.

Instead, the Martial Hall students were rather surprised to see Lin Chen at the serving window, their expressions carrying a trace of shock, yet none of them mocked him.

Lin Chen had no grudges with them. Even if they truly wanted to laugh at him, they kept it in their hearts rather than showing it to his face.

"How many jin of beef would Senior Brother Zhao like?"

Zhao Jingchuan looked at Lin Chen before him in surprise. "Junior Brother Lin, why are you doing this?"

"Instructor Yu took pity on my poor family circumstances and let me help out in the cafeteria, so my meal fees could be waived." Lin Chen answered naturally.

"I see. Then please get me ten beef bones, Junior Brother Lin."

"Please wait a moment, Senior Brother."

Lin Chen turned around and fished ten beef bones from another iron basin. As expected of one of the richest students of their batch—he was truly generous. Beef bones were not sold by the jin. One cost thirty copper coins, so ten of them came to three hundred copper coins.

There was not much meat on beef bones, but the marrow within nourished qi and blood somewhat better than beef. Only a small handful of people in the Martial Hall could afford them.

Zhao Jingchuan left carrying his beef bones. After several more students passed through the line, Gu Fei appeared before Lin Chen and winked at him. "Give me two jin of beef."

Lin Chen's expression did not change, but when the two ladles went into the basin of beef, he used a little more force and packed them down tighter.

Those two ladles contained several extra liang of beef.

The two brothers exchanged a smile. Everything was understood without a word.

"Oh? Instead of practicing martial arts, you came to the cafeteria to do odd jobs?"

Zhang Tao appeared before Lin Chen once again. Lin Chen's expression remained unchanged. He also knew why Zhang Tao disliked him.

Jealousy!

Zhang Tao's family circumstances were not particularly good either. Back then, he had seen Lin Chen scoop up the cafeteria's beef soup, yet he could not bring himself to do the same. Thus, he harbored a twisted jealousy toward Lin Chen.

He had encountered plenty of people like this in his previous life.

When his former class selected poor students, there had been a classmate from a struggling family. Because his pride got in the way and he feared being laughed at by his classmates, he had not dared apply for financial aid. Once the other students received aid, however, he sneered at them in veiled barbs.

People like that would rather suffer to save face—the truly incapable ones!

"Getting meat?" Lin Chen did not respond to Zhang Tao's words and asked directly.

"Give me two jin of beef." Zhang Tao snorted. There were still students waiting behind him, so he did not dare delay for too long.

Lin Chen picked up the iron ladle and scooped a ladleful from the porcelain basin full of beef. But after scooping it, he gave his hand a shake, and several pieces of meat from the top fell back into the basin.

Zhang Tao's expression shifted from initial delight to anger.

"Two jin of meat. Next."

Lin Chen did not care about Zhang Tao. He had not given him less than his share; he had simply served him extra at first, making Zhang Tao think he had gained an advantage, then knocked that happy feeling right back down.

He understood now that being the one holding the ladle had its benefits.

When he met students he knew well, he could serve a little more. An extra liang or two would not be pursued by the cafeteria.

After all, there was no scale in the cafeteria. It was impossible to be that precise, treating one ladle as exactly one jin.

Just as Zhang Tao was about to flare up, a student behind him urged impatiently, "Are you done? If you are, move aside!"

Faced with the impatient tone of the student behind him, Zhang Tao hurriedly stepped aside, carrying his food away in frustration.

Seeing this, Lin Chen felt even more disdain.

A person who was extremely sensitive and insecure inside, relying on bullying someone poorer than himself to satisfy his vanity—a bully who feared the strong and preyed on the weak. Someone like that could never achieve anything in martial arts in his lifetime.

There were sixty students in the Martial Hall altogether. Lin Chen finished serving them all in a quarter of an hour, but he continued standing at the window for another quarter of an hour. Some students returned to their dormitories after practice to change into clean clothes before coming to the cafeteria to eat.

After the cafeteria closed, Lin Chen carried the remaining beef in the basin back to the kitchen and ate with the kitchen staff.

There were still three or four jin of beef left in the basin.

"You've started eating? I came at just the right time."

Steward Zhang appeared right on cue and strode in.

"Steward Zhang, why not join us? There's some leftover beef today," Chef Wang greeted him.

"I've already eaten, so I won't."

Steward Zhang smiled and waved his hand. He stepped forward, swept his gaze over the table, then looked at Lin Chen. "Little Lin needs to nourish his body for martial arts. Eat more beef."

"Thank you, Steward Zhang." Lin Chen looked deeply grateful.

"All right, you eat. I was just taking a look around. I'll be going first."

Steward Zhang came quickly and left quickly, but his words left varied expressions on the faces of the kitchen workers. Chef Wang thought for a moment, then directly picked up the biggest piece of meat and stuffed it into Lin Chen's bowl.

"Little Lin, eat more. If there's extra beef left in the future, just take it. Don't be polite."

After saying that, the head chef glanced at the others. "Little Lin needs meat to practice martial arts, so don't compete with him for it."

"I'm already this old. No matter how much meat I eat, it won't do me any good. Save it all for Little Lin."

"Little Lin, eat more and practice hard. If you truly make something of yourself, our kitchen will bask in the glory too."

No matter what thoughts the kitchen staff had, after Steward Zhang came by and the head chef spoke, they all kept urging Lin Chen to eat more.

Lin Chen did not stand on ceremony. He had come to work in the kitchen precisely to eat beef.

This favor had been given by Instructor Yu. If he acted overly sensible and deliberately yielded to others, that would not be being tactful—it would be stupidity.

Looking at the beef in the basin, the head chef had a clear idea of what to do. Starting tomorrow, he could buy an extra jin or two of beef.