Chapter 163: Advanced Ancient Brick Stove Oven
“Nancy Classmate, why?” Sasha looked at Nancy, eyes full of sadness and confusion, “We weren’t close in junior high, but at least we were classmates, why did you…”
Why treat me like this? Sasha’s silent accusation stirred waves of sympathy in the hearts of Class 1-3 of Caida Affiliated High School, and their gazes toward Nancy carried more indignation.
“Classmates… heh.” Nancy sneered, “It’s just that Yating doesn’t nitpick and this guy in front of you has no emotional intelligence, which gave you that illusion, right, classmate? If we weren’t all from noble families, your so-called ‘good classmates’ would be bullying the weak and fearing the strong in ancient terms, otherwise our three years of junior high probably would have been ruined by you and your ‘good classmates’.”
“You didn’t think your secret crush on this guy was well hidden, did you? Oh, your current class doesn’t seem to know about it yet, sure, it’s just the start of school, and we’re at different schools anyway. In junior high, we weren’t so lucky; you’d run over for every big or small matter to ask this guy, practically wearing ‘I like you’ on your face for him to see.”
“Unfortunately, this guy isn’t some shallow type easily swayed by appearances; he didn’t fall for your flattery, and since he got along well with us, it pissed off that group of ‘good classmates’ who followed you blindly. What did they say behind my back? Something like improper behavior, seducing men since childhood? And some other stuff, but the impression is fuzzy, I’ve forgotten.”
“Your ‘good classmates’ were quite united, leaving no material evidence, completely isolating me and Yating for the whole three years. By senior year, when they saw this guy wasn’t moved by you at all, they thought he was ungrateful, so they isolated him too.”
“Unfortunately, your petty tactics had no real effect on me and this guy, but it wasn’t the same for Yating. She values maintaining relationships a lot, so even though she didn’t say anything on the surface, having her three years ruined by your ‘good classmates’ really hurt her. So I’m grateful to that A Bite of China Club club president classmate; her acceptance let Yating step into real high school life as a ‘high school student’ again.”
“Therefore, I can’t keep watching you and your ‘good classmates’ repeat junior high on Xiang Chuan and Yating, so that’s why I brought this guy in front of you to settle it once and for all, and to make your ‘good classmates’ clearly understand one thing, which is—”
“—So from beginning to end, you never liked that female classmate?”
The afternoon after the award ceremony.
With the results already posted, Class Eight Grade One students had no more reservations and ran to the A Bite of China Club’s small restaurant to eat and drink for free while reading novels; a few gossip lovers gathered at the seats where the A Bite of China Club members were, chatting about the morning’s events.
“I’m not close to her at all; how could I talk about liking her?” Ainuo gave his own club president an eye roll, “My relationships with classmates in junior high were all pretty bad overall. That female classmate always came over with strange or simple questions; when I was in a good mood, I’d casually answer a couple, who knew what she was really thinking?”
This guy really doesn’t hold back when he speaks. Xiang Chuan’s eye twitched twice.
The surrounding Class Eight Grade One students were chatting freely about Sasha’s situation; some thought Sasha was quite innocent, harmed by her friends’ self-righteous kindness, losing even the chance to be ordinary junior high classmates with her crush; others thought Sasha bore some responsibility too.
“If not for her indulgence, how could her ‘good classmates’ all mobilize like that?” Nancy sipped her priceless iced soy milk to moisten her throat—this cup was on Xiang Chuan, “What she loves most is talking about moral theories, using what she thinks are good rules to constrain others; her ‘good classmates’ totally ate that up. If she weren’t also involved in this rumor herself, it wouldn’t be her little sister running to the classroom every day to argue with our class president, but her personally.”
“But why were her junior high classmates so obsessed with pairing her with Ainuo Classmate?” Class President Lu Daiqing’s question prompted nods from those around.
Xiang Chuan tilted her head and thought: “I think I know the reason.”
Simply put, it was the common 21st Century phenomenon—CP fans.
In the modern era lacking appealing creations, people still had enthusiasm for shipping CPs, just not on those AI-generated template novels, but on people around them.
Sasha’s appearance was beyond doubt; before learning about the childhood friends trio and her past, Xiang Chuan had quite admired Sasha’s beautiful face and light golden hair complementing each other, letting her, who in her previous life could only see various European and American beauties through screens, feast her eyes up close. And Ainuo goes without saying: brown hair, green eyes, sharp Asian facial features, paired with a tall figure that sports club members couldn’t help trying to poach, plus inherent noble temperament and perfect etiquette that hid zero emotional intelligence unless you got close.
Put together, they were literally a handsome man and beautiful woman.
So it wasn’t strange that it triggered their junior high classmates’ CP radars. But since they rarely shipped CPs usually, and everyone was just recent elementary grads in junior high, they couldn’t grasp the right degree.
When they realized the CP they shipped was a one-sided crush where the wife had feelings but the husband didn’t, they naturally sympathized with the arrowhead Sasha, their internal scales tipping toward her, growing dissatisfied with Ainuo, and by extension hating Ouyang Yating and Nancy, whom they saw as “obstructing their shipping.”
Shipping CPs is most important when you have some fondness for both sides; being overly biased means better to let go early, break the CP and be a quiet solo stan for safety. Xiang Chuan, shipping expert who had seen 21st Century films, dramas, and animations, evaluated inwardly.
“So in your junior high classmates’ minds, you were the culprits bullying that Sasha classmate; they thought their actions were right, and you were the ones who deserved punishment.” Xiang Chuan summarized.
“…Their brains are all sick, right?” Ainuo’s sentiment earned likes from the crowd.
This matter gave some Class Eight Grade One students new perspectives on the character psychological analyses in books like The Count of Monte Cristo.
Sasha’s issue was quickly put behind by the A Bite of China Club and even Class Eight Grade One.
The A Bite of China Club members were extremely busy lately: first, because the first batch of soy sauce was nearing completion, everyone occasionally climbed to the roof to check on those large fiberglass setups; second, building a brick stove was more troublesome than imagined.
Xiang Chuan thought the brick stove application would be approved instantly, but the approval email only arrived late on the third evening in her inbox; without time to dwell, she hurriedly dragged everyone to the student union and principal’s office to submit a new land use application.
A brick stove, being a high-heat big thing, had no usage experience among modern people, so safety hazards and such were unknowns, naturally couldn’t be built indoors, thus requiring new land application. Fortunately, even at its largest, the brick stove didn’t exceed ten square meters; after obediently paying, Xiang Chuan immediately pulled three people to formally start considering brick firing.
Truth be told, Xiang Chuan felt a slight unease upon learning modern people hadn’t fired bricks, but based on the modern black tech products she’d contacted over two months, she believed firing bricks was a small matter that wouldn’t stump modern people’s wild imaginations.
Until she tried picking up this brick freshly fired not long ago.
“I get the theory, but why can’t I lift this brick with both hands?” Xiang Chuan looked at the unremarkable gray bricks in the cargo box, then at her hands red from trying to break one, resentfully eyeing Ainuo.
“Since it’s handmade equipment, the material has to be top-notch; these bricks use the market’s latest heat-resistant synthetic material. The only downside is high mass and density, so average arm strength can’t lift it, but the heat resistance is genuinely excellent—even in our fleet mothership’s energy furnace, it could hold for a day or two.” Ainuo patted her shoulder proudly, “As for construction, don’t worry; engineering robots will handle it, guaranteed to match the blueprint exactly.”
“What about thermal conductivity?” Xiang Chuan frowned, “Besides heat resistance, I require thermal conductivity from the bricks; if density is too high, won’t it be hard to conduct heat?”
“The processing plant tested it; heating to five or six hundred degrees with normal open flame is no problem at least. You’ve nagged me about it these days till my ears are callused; of course I didn’t forget.” Ainuo pursed his lips, opened his terminal, and sent a file to Xiang Chuan.
Xiang Chuan skimmed the key data at ten lines a glance, nodding inwardly; sure enough, for modern people who could play fancy with metal materials, firing bricks was no big deal—not only testing physical properties like high temperature resistance, impact resistance, corrosion resistance, water solubility, but also estimating service life; just…
“Can this production budget really not go lower?” Xiang Chuan winced at the final cost estimate and factory wholesale price, thinking of her wallet—like chugging a secret potion to refill HP only for a dragon to instant-half it with a dragon car; the budget for one brick stove nearly matched building the club building.
Painful, way too painful. —By Xiang Chuan’s little piggy bank
“Because there’s no mass production demand for bricks now, as pioneers in brick stove tech, we can only go custom route.” Ouyang Yating saw her club president’s pained expression and couldn’t help smiling, “Actually, club president, you can apply for subsidy expenses from the cultural affairs bureau once the brick stove application succeeds.”
That still won’t break even. Xiang Chuan ached looking at the estimated bill; the only consolation was their promise of free brick stove construction for her bulk order, saving her extra money.
If 21st Century people heard she spent over a million on a brick stove, they’d probably roast her on hot search in minutes. Xiang Chuan thought to herself.
