Chapter 183: Packed Production Escort Ship Canteen
Two bowls of rice plus five side dishes and one bowl of soup—this was indeed a bit excessive in appetite for modern people accustomed to eating solid food and liquid food.
Keep in mind, every meal portion at Yue Xiang Restaurant is determined by professional tasters specially hired by Yue Xiang Group. By 21st Century standards, they are small portions, and only some modern people with exceptional “talents” can handle medium or large portions.
Although the youths have abundant energy and fast metabolism, their stomach capacity has its limits. Normally, they only eat one bun, but this time they stuffed down two bowls of rice calibrated to Xiang Chuan’s appetite all at once, which really threw their stomachs into a high-end challenge.
They could actually have chosen not to eat; they were already somewhat full after the first bowl of rice.
But these stir-frying dishes were so fragrant, and this first taste of rice was so delicious—one bite of vegetable and one bite of rice was extremely tasty!
……
The result was that Xiang Chuan, who was born with a 21st Century person’s appetite, and the Class Eight Grade One students whose appetites had greatly increased from usually helping Xiang Chuan and A Bite of China Club’s three members with tasting, were preparing to follow the management robot back to the residential area to pack luggage and take a nap when they saw a bunch of people holding onto the wall as they exited the canteen.
Xiang Chuan: Even the commercial street’s big eater contest marketing isn’t as exaggerated as you guys.
The lunchtime rice was overly impactful, making the afternoon practical activity feel somewhat lackluster.
Xiang Chuan originally thought the Staple Food Department’s practical activity would involve experiencing field harvesting of rice or practicing transplanting seedlings in idle fields, but it turned out to just be operating harvester machines and shelling machines, experiencing high-tech farming tools up close.
Xiang Chuan: ……Alright, this is indeed a new experience. After all, my hometown isn’t a vast plain, and my family couldn’t afford this kind of high-tech stuff; all the farm work was done mutually by family and neighbors.
According to Manager Wu, although material conversion technology now exists to turn cosmic materials into land, fertilizer, and seeds, the principle of all production escort ships in the Twelfth Fleet is to avoid wantonly wasting agricultural products and damaging crops. So letting first-year high school students who have never faced the soil and turned their backs to the sky go into the fields would really challenge Manager Wu and the captain’s hearts.
Xiang Chuan herself has been reciting poems like “Sympathy for Farmers” since kindergarten and is an upright social young woman who doesn’t waste food normally, so she very much approves of this conservation approach.
But having come to the field edge and yet not being allowed to step into the fields for close contact with the land left Xiang Chuan, a 21st Century person who spent most of her childhood time in her rural hometown, feeling a bit unsatisfied.
So for the entire afternoon, the Class Eight Grade One students saw Xiang Chuan listlessly sitting on the field edge, doing nothing, just blankly watching students from other classes eagerly trying to operate the machines.
Actually, operating these agricultural equipment is also a novel experience for modern youths. The rapid development of AI technology and automation technology means many jobs no longer require manual operation.
Equipment like these for harvesting and shelling had already achieved unmanned operation over ten thousand years ago. Not to mention modern youths—even general residents of the Third Fleet who aren’t engaged in agriculture rarely get a chance in their lifetime to actually experience operating agricultural equipment.
Xiang Chuan actually understood this feeling; after all, back in the 21st Century, everyone wanted to try operating an excavator.
Humans are born with a mysterious fascination for large machines, and that hasn’t changed 30,000 years later.
But if they like huge machines so much, why not consider building a Gundam or Macross?
Oh, right, modern people can no longer find video material related to that culture.
Perhaps because she kept sitting idly, Xiang Chuan felt the afternoon dragged on endlessly.
So half an hour before dinner time began, she headed straight to the canteen.
Not to line up for food at the canteen, but for another arrangement.
During the lunchtime nap, Ouyang Yating and others had already learned of Xiang Chuan’s arrangement and knew the evening workload wouldn’t be as taxing as noon.
But out of concern for Xiang Chuan, the three A Bite of China Club members and the Class Eight Grade One students who heard some news via the loudmouth Chou Manman all came together to the entrance of the Staple Food Department’s canteen.
“I’m going… are this many people lining up?!”
Labor Committee Member Mandy exclaimed in surprise, and the others from Class Eight were also stunned.
The dining areas of other departments that were empty at lunch were now packed, and long lines snaked in front of the serving windows of each department.
Even the elevators that Manager Wu mentioned were usually out of service due to low diner traffic were now constantly going up and down, transporting employees with their meals to the second and third floors.
“Everyone was drawn here by the lunchtime rumors.” Liang Gong explained a bit embarrassedly. “At lunch in the canteen, I ran into my mother and let her taste the dishes we made. Afterward, the Vegetable Crops Department manager who came over with her immediately contacted Manager Wu, requesting that he share the recipe with the kitchen AIs of other departments, so now other departments can also have the dishes we made at lunch.”
“Actually, the canteens on production escort ships rarely see any diners normally. Back when they were still selling solid food and liquid food, everyone thought the canteen’s offerings weren’t fresh enough, so they bought fresh ingredients to process at home. When I was little, I often followed my mother traveling between various production escort ships, but a packed house like today is a first.”
“But isn’t this too early? It’s not their off-work time yet, right?” Ainuo checked the time on the terminal. Sure enough, there were still about twenty minutes until the government agency’s stipulated off-work time.
“Either they clocked out early without permission, or they used going to the bathroom as an excuse to sneak out. Some departments aren’t very busy normally, so even if they leave early, not many people notice.” Xiang Chuan said, her mouth twitching involuntarily.
The reasons for skipping work haven’t changed much. Back when she was a corporate slave, as long as there wasn’t a need to accompany the superior to meetings, her department was quite leisurely. At such times, they would secretly pack up and slip to the coffee shops or dessert stores on the fifth and sixth floors of the same business building, order a random drink or small pastries to kill time, then clock out directly at the end of the day. If someone came looking unexpectedly, the front desk sister she was close with privately would tip them off ahead of time, and they would pretend to be returning from the bathroom or the pantry together to bluff their way through.
Hearing Xiang Chuan’s words, several employees seated at tables near the canteen entrance couldn’t help but cough lightly to cover their embarrassment.
No helping it—after hearing the Staple Food Department folks describe their eating experience at lunch, they couldn’t resist either, so they planned to find an excuse to sneak out. This method was something they racked their brains to come up with, but who knew it would be seen through at a glance by a little girl who looked like a student.
Today’s students are terrifying!
