Overall, she looked less like a university student and more like a girl who had yet to start high school, radiating an unpolished innocence.
Gu Qing gave her high marks in his mind:
Sure enough.
Good-looking people could turn heads even without makeup and in simple clothes.
With that thought,
he strode over to Xia Shuran and asked with a smile,
"Been waiting long?"
"No, I only just got here too."
Xia Shuran raised a hand to brush back the long hair beside her ear, her smile especially innocent.
She was used to wearing a high ponytail. Suddenly wearing her hair down over her ears felt uncomfortable, and she kept raising a hand to smooth it back.
"Let's go, then. Let your senior mooch off your half-price coupon and feast on some all-you-can-eat barbecue."
"Mooch all you want, Senior. I know all the tricks to getting coupons. Whenever you want to eat somewhere, just ask me for one."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. But I have one condition."
"What condition?"
"Whenever you go out to eat, Senior, please take me along if it's convenient. I love good food."
"Deal!"
The two chatted as they walked.
Before long, they left through the campus gates.
They arrived at the all-you-can-eat barbecue restaurant across from the university.
As soon as they entered, they heard a commotion from one corner.
They looked toward the noise.
An overweight streamer was livestreaming on his phone, plates of meat piled like a small mountain before him. He kept shoveling food into his mouth, wolfing it down in an exaggerated display.
Xia Shuran rose slightly onto her tiptoes and leaned toward Gu Qing's ear, whispering, "Senior, that guy's so over the top. How can he fit all that meat in?"
Gu Qing gave him a casual glance. "He'll make himself throw up after the stream. He's just doing it for views."
Xia Shuran nodded as though she only half understood.
In fact, she understood perfectly well. She just wanted to lean close to Gu Qing to talk and get a little closer to him.
After paying,
they chose their seats.
Then they headed to the food stations together.
Gu Qing carried two plates.
He swept through everything in his path.
Fatty beef slices, pork belly, mantis shrimp, oysters, fruit, desserts...
He filled plate after plate.
He stacked them on their table.
The piles looked even taller than those of the overweight streamer who called himself the Big Eater.
Following behind him, Xia Shuran was stunned. "Senior, you've taken so much. We won't be able to finish it..."
Even a passing server couldn't help coming over to remind him, "Sir, we don't refund your deposit if you leave food uneaten."
Gu Qing didn't even look up. "I know."
The overweight streamer nearby happened to witness the scene.
He quietly turned his camera toward the mountains of meat on Gu Qing's table and lowered his voice to complain to his viewers:
"Guys, look at this. I've run into a real piece of work today. He's even better at showing off than I am."
His viewers began posting mocking comments when they saw it:
"Obviously his first time at a buffet. He's gone crazy trying to get his money's worth."
"If he can't finish all that and they keep his deposit, I bet fifty cents this asshole will throw a tantrum right there in the restaurant. I've seen plenty like him."
"Turn the camera on that guy! I want to watch the show!"
Quite a few people nearby were watching the spectacle.
But Gu Qing completely ignored their stares.
Once he felt he had taken enough food, he returned to his seat and immediately started wolfing it down.
With the boost from his [Devouring] attribute,
Gu Qing ate at an inhuman speed.
The food melted in his mouth.
His stomach and intestines digested and absorbed it furiously, like a bottomless pit.
One slice, two slices, one plate, two plates...
Gu Qing ate quickly and steadily, the empty plates before him piling higher and higher.
His eating speed looked even more outrageous than that of the professional overweight streamer.
Xia Shuran was dumbfounded.
The other diners around them were stunned.
The servers stared in disbelief too.
Even the overweight streamer who called himself Haicheng's number one Big Eater was so shocked that he momentarily forgot to speak.
He simply kept the camera aimed straight at Gu Qing.
The livestream chat exploded.
"Holy shit! Is this dude a reincarnated taotie? How can he eat that much?"
"Now that's a real Big Eater! And you're only eating that little? Are you on a diet? If you can't eat any more, get the hell out of the way! Stop embarrassing yourself!"
"Who said he wouldn't finish earlier? Come out here and take a hit from me!"
Seeing Gu Qing about to crush his Big Eater persona into dust, the overweight streamer's face alternated between green and pale, and he silently turned the camera back toward himself.
No matter how much abuse his viewers hurled at him, he firmly refused to give Gu Qing another second on camera.
After eating and drinking their fill,
Gu Qing and Xia Shuran left the buffet restaurant.
Their deposit was refunded without a cent missing.
When the two returned to campus,
Xia Shuran wanted to take a walk around the sports field, but Gu Qing declined.
It wasn't that he didn't want to spend more time with his junior.
He had an early class at eight the next morning.
He needed to go to bed early to make sure his mind was clear enough in the morning.
That way, he could work through intensive practice questions with the female classmate preparing for postgraduate entrance exams and farm attributes from her [Academic ace] tag.
"Come on. I'll walk you back to your dorm."
"Okay."
They strolled along, chatting and laughing.
Just as they neared the women's dormitory,
several large rats suddenly darted out of the landscaped strip beside them, running at top speed.
Startled, Xia Shuran instinctively moved closer to Gu Qing.
After a moment, she calmed down and said with a slight frown,
"Senior, there've been so many rats on campus lately. One even got into my room last night. My roommates and I struggled for ages before we finally killed it and threw it out."
"Girls from the sports faculty really are different. You even kill rats yourselves when you see them."
Gu Qing smiled. "If it were the girls in our foreign languages faculty, they'd probably all clutch their pillows and scream all night, making enough noise to kill the rat."
"Heeheehee... Senior, you're so funny."
Xia Shuran was easily amused. At Gu Qing's words, she burst into laughter, covering her little mouth with one hand as she laughed nonstop.
Just before they parted,
Gu Qing looked at Xia Shuran and asked, "If you're free tomorrow afternoon, want to practice with the Red-Tassel Spear at the sports field again?"
"I guarantee I'll be free."
Wearing a sunny smile, Xia Shuran waved at Gu Qing with a slightly playful gesture. "Senior, see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
After smiling and saying goodbye to Xia Shuran, Gu Qing turned and headed for his own dorm.
He walked for nearly ten minutes
before finally reaching his dormitory building.
Just as he was about to head upstairs,
Gu Qing suddenly spotted an unusually fat rat in a nearby corner, fighting a tabby cat over some cat food. The two were locked in a fierce scuffle.
Wait, what?
What was wrong with this rat?
Why was it so vicious?
Gu Qing was stunned too. He quickly took out his phone, recorded a video, and sent it to the three honorary sons in his group chat to broaden their horizons.
[Gu Qing: Video.]
[Gu Qing: Check out this genuine southern giant rat. It even dares to take on a stray tabby cat. Tell me that isn't badass!]
[Qian Duole: Holy shit, that's fucking badass. It's basically the rat version of me!]
[Chen Zijie: Fuck, don't just stand there filming! Help the poor cat and kill that disgusting fat rat! I fucking put that cat food out for it!]
[Qian Duole: Rats are so cute! Why would you kill one? Species discrimination alert!]
[Gao Fei: To be fair, your southern rats really are huge. No wonder One-Ear went south to ask his uncle for help after getting his ass kicked in Black Cat Detective.]
PS: Holding out my bowl, begging for monthly votes and recommendation votes!
19, Precision strike
"Fuck you, you goddamn rat!"
As a cat lover, Chen Zijie came charging downstairs from the dorm himself.
He was clutching the dorm supervisor's signature weapon, a bamboo broom used specifically for sweeping fallen leaves, and jabbed repeatedly at the big rat stealing the cat food.
Gao Fei, who had followed him down to join the fun, quickly called out when he saw this:
"Zi Jie, stop, stop, stop! Don't kill that rat yet! I've never seen a rat fight a cat in my life. Let me watch a little longer!"
"Watch my ass! That fat fucking rat looks almost bigger than the cat. If we keep watching, I'm worried it'll kill this little tabby!"
Chen Zijie kept jabbing as he spoke.
Before you continue