Serving Food in the Cafeteria

The red sun dipped below the mountains, casting its lingering glow across the land.

Sacred Orchid Academy, the academy's cafeteria.

Xian Wu, wearing a white lab coat and cap, stood at the Meal C service counter. He held a ladle in his right hand, his left tucked inside his sleeve.

While he was being enchanted by Hu Yan Lan Ruo, Vice Dean Ye Sheng had already sent word to the cafeteria manager.

Having caused such a huge mess and not being expelled, the manager couldn't help but wonder about the relationship between Xian Wu and Vice Dean Ye Sheng.

Perhaps Xian Wu was the Vice Dean's illegitimate son, it was possible.

Xian Wu wished that were the case, but Ye Sheng didn't want him.

"Little Wu, why are you eating yourself? That's for the students," the uncle serving food said, astonished.

Xian Wu tore off a leg from a roasted chicken and began to devour it greedily.

Even though it was leftovers from the previous meal, it tasted quite good after being reheated.

Xian Wu said with a thick face, "Not at all, not at all. I'm not eating, I'm tasting. Besides, I'm a student too. Why can't I eat?"

Tasting? One chicken leg is tasting, are two chicken legs also tasting? The uncle serving food grumbled internally.

The aunt next to him tugged at his sleeve and whispered to the uncle, "Old Li, just let Little Wu eat. Don't meddle. Vice Dean Ye Sheng arranged for him to be here. He's probably a relative of his. We can't afford to offend him."

Most of the cafeteria staff were relatives of some mentor or other, so they were used to this sort of thing.

After finishing two delicious chicken legs, Xian Wu ate a few more meatballs.

He picked up the clear soup and downed it in two gulps, letting out a satisfied burp.

Working in the cafeteria was great. He always got to eat first, and he could eat whatever he wanted. Eating chicken was simply wonderful.

A little while later, the new students began to trickle into the cafeteria. Xian Wu, among the group of uncles and aunties, stood out like a sore thumb.

He used tongs to pick up pancakes, a ladle to scoop soup, and a spatula to serve dishes, diligently going about his work.

"Can you hurry up? They've already gotten three servings over there, and you haven't even finished one. Is your left hand disabled!"

"Exactly. I've waited so long my flowers are about to wilt. Can you hurry up?"

"Can you do it or not? If not, get someone else!"

The queuing new students grew impatient and started to complain noisily.

Xian Wu glared at the few who were leading the commotion. "If you think it's slow, go eat Meal A. It's faster there, and they even offer one-on-one service!"

The new students were stunned into silence by his retort. Their pockets were emptier than their faces; they couldn't afford Meal A.

"If you can't afford it, don't spout nonsense. If you're willing to wait, wait. If not, get lost," Xian Wu dropped the spatula and shouted, "Next!"

"Wait, you haven't served me the leftovers yet," the new student getting food said, staring longingly at the meat dishes in the large basin.

Xian Wu shrugged. "No choice. The people behind are rushing me, and my left hand isn't working well, so I had to give up on serving leftovers."

"But... but I didn't complain about you being slow." The new student was on the verge of tears.

"Oh, really?" Xian Wu grabbed a legless roasted chicken with one hand and put it on the student's plate.

"Thank you, thank you!" The new student beamed as he held the roasted chicken.

"Next!" Xian Wu shouted, serving a pancake and a bowl of clear soup as usual.

"I..." The new student was about to speak when Xian Wu interrupted him.

"What is it? You were the one making the most noise just now! Hurry up, don't hold up the students behind you."

"How can you do this? I'm going to report you!" The new student said, his face full of anger, holding his food tray.

Xian Wu didn't care. "Report me if you want. I don't care. Now you can... get lost."

Dare to mess with the person serving food in the cafeteria? Watch me handle you in minutes.

After that, except for a few troublemaking new students, Xian Wu served leftovers to everyone else.

As more and more students came to eat, Xian Wu, who had been serving based on who he liked, became too busy to even find his bearings.

"Huh? Xian Wu? Why are you working in the cafeteria?"

Xian Wu had been mechanically serving food when he suddenly heard someone call his name. He quickly looked up.

"You are..." Xian Wu felt that the student serving him looked familiar.

"It's Wei Nan. We met at noon today. You even stood up for us back then."

Xian Wu recalled. Wei Nan seemed to be a friend of Zhang Ming and Zhu Jun Xiang.

"Oh, hello." Xian Wu chuckled and quickly served him two generous scoops of leftovers.

Everyone else only got one scoop.

"Next!" Before Wei Nan could say anything else, Xian Wu shouted.

Dong dong dong!

The melodious chime of the bell echoed throughout the City of Brilliance. The senior students were also finishing their classes.

As the older students flooded in like a tide, the cafeteria began to become incredibly crowded.

"Damn it, no leftovers again. Those brats sure can eat!" the senior student serving food grumbled.

Brat? Xian Wu didn't like the sound of that.

"Watch your mouth. Believe it or not, I'll make sure you don't even get leftover flatbread!" Xian Wu pointed at the man with his ladle.

"You dare?" the senior student fumed. "You can refuse leftovers, but you can't refuse the flatbread. I paid for it!"

Xian Wu scoffed, "Meal C is free. Where did you pay?"

"Those more than three thousand Demon Spirit Coins every semester aren't money, they're crap!" the senior student retorted.

Xian Wu sneered, "Aren't those more than three thousand Demon Spirit Coins tuition? What does that have to do with free Meal C?"

"Do you think there's such a thing as a free lunch?" the senior student rolled his eyes. "It's all 'the sheep pays for the wool'!"

"Are we done yet? Hurry up and serve the food, hurry up and get lost. I'm starving," a student in the back of the line yelled.

Xian Wu quickly served the "know-it-all" in front of him some flatbread and soup, then sent him on his way.

As he served food, Xian Wu pondered.

Sacred Orchid Academy charges three thousand Demon Spirit Coins per person per semester, which lasts two months. That's fifty Demon Spirit Coins per person per day.

With nearly a thousand students of all ages, Sacred Orchid Academy's daily income is fifty thousand Demon Spirit Coins.

Each flatbread costs 0.2 Demon Spirit Coins. Over a thousand students eat about 600 Demon Spirit Coins worth of flatbread a day.

So where did the remaining forty-nine thousand-plus Demon Spirit Coins go?

"Schools really make a killing," Xian Wu sighed.

His own monthly salary of 100 Demon Spirit Coins was like the tip of a single hair on a bull for the academy.

From this, it seemed Sacred Orchid Academy's foundation was no less impressive than that of the great aristocratic families.

Night fell, and the lights came on.

After the last student left, the cafeteria began to be cleaned.

Considering Xian Wu's "relationship" with the Vice Dean and his "crippled" Left Hand, the cafeteria manager didn't have him participate.

"How can I impose?" Xian Wu said as he walked out of the cafeteria.

He's getting a free pass and acting all modest, the cafeteria manager thought.

"It's fine, cleaning doesn't require that many people. You can go ahead," the cafeteria manager said with a smile, waving him off.

Stumbling back to the dorm in the dark, Xian Wu found Zhu Jun Xiang waiting for him.

"Let's go take a bath!" Zhu Jun Xiang said, holding a washbasin.

Zhang Ming reminded him, "What time is it? Is there still hot water? When I took my bath, there wasn't much left."