The mermen of the Linzhong Lake Reserve liked eating amphibians such as frogs and toads. That was hardly news to most people at Jiuyou Academy.
After all, cold, damp places did not have many tasty snacks.
So ordinarily, if anyone ate a few extra bites of frog meat, they would inevitably be teased by their classmates as a "little merman brat" or something similar. It did not sound very nice, but there was no real malice in it.
Now, however, the young government-funded student's table was piled high with frog-based dishes—including a large plate of frog-meat dumplings, a box of whole fried frogs dusted with cumin, a plate of steamed frog eyes, a row of seaweed-wrapped frog skin rolls, and even a bowl of pale yellow, viscous Frog Juice for a drink. If his stomach had not been limited in capacity, Zheng Qing had even planned to order a basin of boiled bigmouth clams or stir-fried bullfrogs.
This was obviously not the sort of meal a normal person would order.
The dining hall tables had no partitions. Many passing students saw the somewhat heavy-tasting fare before the young government-funded student, pointed at it, and wore teasing smiles.
They probably thought the boys had lost a bet and were being forced to eat all this stuff.
Although Fatty Xin complained that Zheng Qing had ordered such a one-sided meal, his hands were anything but slow. He grabbed and tugged, eating two of Zheng Qing's frog legs and four steamed frog eyes, then scooped up some Frog Juice with a spoon, claiming he wanted to test its seasoning.
"Not bad." The gourmet from Dormitory 403 smacked his lips over the Frog Juice and commented, "The school cafeteria has always favored strong flavors, and that covers up Frog Juice's freshest, most delicious qualities...