I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Long Yuewen was already embarrassed because she had gotten Shen Kang all wet, and Shen Kang's offer to clean up made her even more embarrassed, so she kept saying no. But she couldn't persuade Shen Kang otherwise, and finally agreed, assigning him a job—to clean the windows.

"Just clean the glass in these windows inside the hallway."

After giving the instructions, Long Yuewen kept glancing at Shen Kang while she was working.

The main concern is that I'm worried Shen Kang won't do a good job. If it really doesn't work out, I'll just go and fill in the gaps myself.

But the result was quite unexpected for Long Yuewen.

"Shen Kang, you're really good at cleaning windows."

After wiping a tiled wainscoting, Long Yuewen stood up and said in surprise.

Shen Kang found it a bit strange, but he didn't pay it any mind and just continued working, saying, "Well, I run a housekeeping company, so I'm quite good at it."

After all, he had served as a trainer for a while when Anjia Housekeeping opened, so he did have some technical skills. This can be evidenced by the photographic work "General Manager Shen's Entrepreneurship" by He Qiuzhu, Anjia's in-house photographer.

Upon hearing this, Long Xingchen, who was mopping the floor, stopped what he was doing, looked over, and was somewhat surprised and skeptical—this classmate actually owns a company?

Long Yuewen chuckled again, amused by his words. "This time it was almost there, not as real as before. There were some flaws. What kind of boss does all the work himself?"

As Shen Kang wiped the glass, he chuckled, "Really? Well, is it wrong for me, the boss, to be more hands-on?"

Long Yuewen nodded, "Hmm, that's a passable excuse."

Long Xingchen then asked kindly, "Yuewen, what were you talking about just now?"

Long Yuewen then mentioned that Shen Kang had just told him he had come here to discuss a public welfare project with a dean.

Long Xingchen then understood: this classmate Shen really liked to joke.

Then Long Xingchen smiled and continued working.

Shen Kang continued talking to Long Yuewen while he worked.

Perhaps due to his professional instincts, he brought up Long Yuewen's cleaning job: "...Is the cleaning work for the entire administration building contracted out to you students who are doing work-study programs?"

Long Yuewen continued squatting and wiping the wainscoting tiles without turning her head, saying, "No. There are dedicated cleaning staff here. They handle the offices, exterior walls, and exterior windows. We work-study students only need to clean the corridors..."

After listening for a while, Shen Kang understood:

According to Long Yuewen's description, the administration building only needs professional cleaning staff; there's no need for students like Long Yuewen to do the cleaning work.

The work-study cleaning job in this administration building was created entirely out of necessity; it was essentially a work-for-relief program for impoverished students, a semi-welfare arrangement.

The work was relatively easy. With the three of them working together, they finished Long Yuewen's workload for the day in no time and then left the administration building.

Wei Shengjun's Audi was parked nearby, but Shen Kang didn't drive it. Instead, he followed Long Xingchen and Long Yuewen to the nearby cafeteria for lunch.

Shen Kang followed behind the two and saw that they did not go to the ethnic minority window, but went directly to the fast food window.

When it came time to get his food, Long Xingchen hesitated for a moment.

As usual, they would order a serving of rice and a serving of stir-fried bean sprouts with pickled cabbage. But today, it wasn't just the two of them; their new friend Shen Kang was also there.

Should I treat this new friend to a meal?

If we're going to invite Shen Kang, we definitely can't just order one serving of pickled cabbage and bean sprouts; we should at least add a dish of stir-fried pork with pickled chili peppers.

Since they've already ordered this kind of dish for Shen Kang, he and Long Yuewen certainly can't just order one serving of pickled cabbage and bean sprouts. They should also add a dish of stir-fried pork with pickled chili peppers, so it won't look bad.

But that would cost a lot of money, and they're both quite short of cash right now...

After thinking it over quickly, Long Xingchen finally chose to be "naive" and simply said to the cafeteria lady, "One serving of rice and one serving of stir-fried bean sprouts with pickled cabbage."

Long Yuewen, who grew up with him, immediately understood Long Xingchen's thoughts upon hearing this.

She actually really wanted to treat everyone and had decided to grit her teeth and spend more money, but since Long Xingchen had already made such a gesture, she had no choice but to be "inconsiderate" and order a bowl of rice and a dish of stir-fried bean sprouts with pickled cabbage.

Shen Kang was in line after the two of them.

He was like a naive college student, knowing nothing. This big boss didn't offer to treat anyone; he just took out his wallet, ordered a bowl of rice and a dish of stir-fried bean sprouts with pickled cabbage, and happily carried his plate to get the free soup with the two of them.

The place where you can get free soup is the same as at Yangko University of Science and Technology. It's a big bucket filled with cabbage soup, and it looks like watery soup with no cabbage leaves in it.

Shen Kang rushed ahead of the two, then put the plate aside, took one from a pile of small soup bowls, and with his other hand, grabbed the large soup ladle from the soup bucket.

"I'll make the soup and show you my skills."

After speaking, he moved his waist and hips as one, his muscles seemingly forming a wave, from his thighs to his waist, to his back, then to his arms, and finally to his wrists.

With another flick of the wrist, he lifted the large soup ladle, revealing it to be completely filled with cabbage leaves.

Wing Chun, Shen Kang, please advise.

Long Xingchen was quite surprised to see this.

He also knew that the cabbage leaves were all at the bottom.

Or rather, all college students know this.

However, many college students are too lazy to go through the trouble, and feel that doing so is too embarrassing, like a starving ghost reincarnated, unnecessary, and would only make them a laughing stock.

However, Long Xingchen was always willing to go to this trouble.

When he ladles soup, he deliberately pours it to the bottom. After all, they don't have money to buy more vegetables, so this is the only way they can try to increase the nutritional value as much as possible.

But he really couldn't do what Shen Kang did, being able to hit such a full number of shots in one go.

A fellow traveler! And a highly accomplished one at that! ...

From the moment he decided to act "naive," Long Xingchen had maintained a somewhat expressionless face. Now, finally relaxing, he smiled and sincerely praised, "Shen, that was impressive! How did you do that?"

He genuinely wanted to learn.

If Long Xingchen learns this trick, he won't have to scoop it up several times each time, and it won't look so bad.

As Shen Kang poured the free "stir-fried cabbage" into his small soup bowl, he explained, "In short, it's about the unity of waist and stance! This has already been explained by the martial artist Mr. Li Xiaolong."

As she spoke, she placed the small dish of "stir-fried cabbage" on the plate, and then took a small soup bowl, saying, "I'll get one for both of you too."

After Shen Kang finished hitting Long Xingchen, he hit Long Yuewen.

Long Yuewen took the bowl of "stir-fried cabbage" and smiled easily.

She had a little resentment when she had to act "naive" like Long Xingchen, but now that resentment is gone.

Long Yuewen even joked, "The company CEO who was talking to the dean about charity projects, I didn't expect him to be so good at beating soup. I've been beating soup for over two years and I'm not as good as you."

Shen Kang was quite pleased. "That's right, I've practiced it specifically."

While Shen Kang was getting his soup, some students were waiting with their trays in hand.

Seeing Shen Kang's outrageous soup-making antics, some students found it amusing, and one boy, not wanting to miss out on the fun, shouted, "Bro, awesome!"

However, some people looked disgusted.

Among them, there was a girl who was dressed fashionably and beautifully, but she looked the most disgusted and whispered to her female companion, "It's really shameful, like a starving ghost reincarnated."

She had just thought the boy was quite handsome. She ate the soup straight away.

Too much of a droopy, a droopy man.

After the soup was finished, Shen Kang and the others left to find seats.

At this time, the cafeteria was quite crowded; almost every table was occupied. Even the empty seats were usually occupied by one or two people.

Shen Kang and his two companions were three people in total, so they started wandering around, looking for a spot.

After taking only a few steps, Long Yuewen suddenly said, "Student Shen, you heard that too, didn't you?"

She has good hearing; she overheard the girl saying that Shen Kang was "a reincarnated starving ghost."

Long Xingchen turned his head and glanced at her, somewhat puzzled, wondering what Long Yuewen was talking about.

Shen Kang nodded. "I heard you."

Long Yuewen said, "But you seem unconcerned? How did you manage that?"

As soon as she said it, she realized there seemed to be something wrong with what she said, so she quickly explained, "Don't misunderstand, I just like it and want to learn."

Shen Kang thought for a moment and said, "It's very simple. Just ask yourself three questions: Can other people's words or opinions make you better? Can they help you make money? Can they bring you closer to your goal? If not, then it's meaningless and you don't need to care."

"Like that girl said, if she were an important client of mine, her opinion would be crucial to my business, and then I might care about her opinion. But since I don't even know her, her opinion of me is irrelevant. Whether she looks down on me or idolizes me, it won't affect my interests, so why bother with her?"

Long Xingchen listened, seemingly lost in thought.

Long Yuewen listened and began to ponder.

The three continued walking, looking for an empty spot.

Having finally found an empty seat, as she walked over, Long Yuewen spoke again: "It sounds reasonable. But after thinking about it... I don't think I could do it."

Shen Kang said, "You're just too focused on the outside world, too focused on those illusory things. But there's nothing we can do about it, you'll get better when you're older. Then you'll gradually realize that those illusory things aren't actually that important, and your own real life is much more important."

As he spoke, he sat down in the empty seat.

Long Yuewen and Long Xingchen also sat down, sitting opposite him.

Long Yuewen was still pondering Shen Kang's words when she suddenly laughed: "You said you'd understand when I'm older. Shen, if I remember correctly, you said you're only a freshman this year, eighteen years old, two years younger than me, and you dare to say I'm too young!"

Shen Kang chuckled, "Haven't you heard? People like me who are young just like to act mature."

As she spoke, she took a bite of the stir-fried pickled cabbage and bean sprouts and exclaimed, "Your school's chef is amazing! The same stir-fried pickled cabbage and bean sprouts tastes much better than what our school's chef makes!"

The three of them ate their meal while chatting occasionally.

Perhaps because they had come to regard Shen Kang as "one of the same kind," Long Xingchen and Long Yuewen relaxed a lot, opened up about many topics, and even talked about topics they hadn't finished discussing before.

"How much did you sell that embroidered piece for?" Long Yuewen asked Long Xingchen.

Long Xingchen shoveled a mouthful of rice down his throat, swallowed it, and said, "Two hundred and twenty."

"Two hundred and twenty?"

Long Yuewen paused, put down her chopsticks, and turned to look at Long Xingchen: "Weren't you going to sell it for 350? It's hard on the eyes, and you made it for a long time. Why did you sell it for 220?"

Long Xingchen gave a wry smile: "What can we do? Everyone thinks it's tacky. It's good enough if someone is willing to buy it. Two hundred and twenty it is."

He then went back to eating in silence.

Long Yuewen looked at him, not knowing what to say, and just ate her meal in silence.

The three of them fell silent for a moment.

Shen Kang managed to sip a mouthful of soup through the gap in the "stir-fried cabbage" dish, glancing at Long Xingchen's wrist—there were several colorful lines there.

It wasn't showing when I was working in the administration building. Now that I'm sitting here eating, it's showing with the movement of my wrist.

"Brother Long,"

Shen Kang spoke, sounding rather pleased, "Are you a Guardian of the Mark?"

Long Xingchen hummed in agreement.

Long Yuewen finally spoke again: "You know?"

Shen Kang nodded. "I've heard a little about it."

He had indeed heard a little about it, but only had a superficial understanding.

Seemingly having narrowed the distance a bit, Long Yuewen continued, "Actually, 'guardian of patterns' is the outside term; where I'm from, we call them 'embroiderers.' However, in recent years, men have also started doing this work, so a new term has been created for male embroiderers."

She uttered a word that I couldn't understand.

Judging from the sound, it's the Miao language of Qiandong.

Long Yuewen knew Shen Kang wouldn't understand, so she explained, "Translated into Chinese, it means 'a man who can embroider.' If you Han people called him that, you could just call him 'embroiderer.'"

Shen Kang nodded. "I've learned something."

The so-called "pattern guardians" or "embroiderers" are actually the inheritors of the Miao people's embroidery skills.

Shen Kang then asked kindly, "And you, Long Yuewen? Are you also an embroiderer?"

Long Yuewen was a little embarrassed, and her voice lowered, "I'm not."

Shen Kang, recalling some knowledge about the Miao ethnic group, couldn't help but ask, "Brother Long is now an embroiderer, so Long Yuewen, you wouldn't happen to have inherited the skills of a silversmith, would you?"

Generally speaking, Miao silversmithing is a craft passed down through male heirs.

Upon hearing this, Long Yuewen became even more embarrassed, "I'm not a silversmith either. I don't know anything..."

Now that the atmosphere had improved, Long Xingchen spoke up, laughing as he said, "Yuewen, how come you can't do anything? Among your peers in the village, Yuewen, you eat the most."

Shen Kang laughed heartily.

Long Yuewen had two blushes on her cheeks. She ignored the two people and lowered her head to eat her rice, as if she had a grudge against the food.

Just then, a sound came from the side.

"Moon Pattern really does eat the most."

Shen Kang looked in the direction of the sound and saw a girl carrying a tray sitting down in the last empty seat at their table, the one next to Shen Kang.

The girl was pretty and delicate. She wore a sweatshirt from Yichun and a pair of Jeanswest pants. On her plate was a dish of stir-fried pork with pickled chili peppers, a small bowl of sour fish soup, a dish of stir-fried bean sprouts with pickled cabbage, and a bowl of rice.

This fits Shen Kang's stereotype about Miao cuisine.

Seeing Shen Kang looking over, the girl smiled and asked, "Xingchen, who is this handsome guy?"

Long Xingchen's smile faded slightly as she introduced him to them, "This is Shen Kang, a student from another school, who came to visit a friend."

Before Long Xingchen could introduce the girl to Shen Kang, the girl introduced herself first: "Hello handsome, my name is Ma Xiaofeng, and I'm from the same village as Xingchen and Yuewen."

"Hello."……

After Ma Xiaofeng joined them, the three of them sitting at the same table became four, and they continued eating.

During the meal, Shen Kang noticed that Long Xingchen and Long Yuewen had the best relationship, while Ma Xiaofeng's relationship with them was only so-so. After Ma Xiaofeng joined them, the group talked less and less than when the three of them ate together before.

After the three finished eating, Long Xingchen told Ma Xiaofeng and then called Long Yuewen and Shen Kang to leave immediately.

After leaving the cafeteria

After taking only a few steps, Long Yuewen suddenly spoke up: "Xingchen, how about we borrow some from her?"

Long Xingchen hesitated for a moment, then said, "Never mind."

Long Yuewen then remained silent.

Shen Kang strolled leisurely to the side, admiring the night view of Qianmin University's campus, without saying a word, as if he hadn't heard anything.

"Alright, Yuewen, you can go back now. I'll take Shen Kang to his dorm first."

The three parted ways, and Shen Kang followed Long Xingchen to the boys' dormitory.

The campus of Chien Min University was probably built relatively early, and the accommodation conditions are not as good as those of Yang University of Science and Technology. The male dormitory is the type of building with a long corridor on each floor and dormitory rooms on both sides.

Each dormitory room houses six people in bunk beds. There is one bunk bed and a row of lockers on the left, and two bunk beds on the right. In the middle, there are six tables pushed together, three on each side.

When Shen Kang and his group went in, there were four boys inside: two playing on the computer, one reading a book, and one playing on their phone.

"We don't have any empty beds in our dorm. I'll go ask around in other dorms for you. Please wait here for a bit."

After arranging Shen Kang's seat at his desk, Long Xingchen went out to find a bed.

After greeting Long Xingchen and the others in their dormitory, Shen Kang sat down and waited.

During this time, another boy came back and noticed that Shen Kang seemed a bit strange, so others explained the situation to him.

During his observations over this period of time, Shen Kang also gleaned a considerable amount of information.

The six people in this dormitory, including Long Xingchen, are four Miao and two Han.

The Miao boys were clearly closer, and the two Han boys were also closer; they seemed to be forming two separate cliques.

Long Xingchen hadn't returned yet. After observing for a while, Shen Kang also stood up and went behind a Miao boy named Shi Yongjie.

This Shi Yongjie is playing on the computer and surfing the internet.

I'm still on the Beiming Community website, browsing posts in the plaza.