Chapter 115: Field Training Negotiation Agreement
“Hmm? Are you heading back?”
Xiang Chuan, who was squatting next to the container looking at wild vegetables and pondering life, saw a few guests walking over and felt somewhat surprised. She had originally thought they would stay for dinner… The guests’ identities had been made clear at last night’s meeting, and she had no particular thoughts about these classmates from other classes, but their hasty departure made her, the chef hosting the meal, feel a bit awkward.
Hmm… At least don’t go back empty-handed!
So she took a medium meal box laid out with apples from nearby and handed it to the girl walking at the front without any explanation, saying: “These were just picked this morning and washed clean with filtered water. Take them on the road to tide you over.”
At that moment, Xiang Chuan felt like a housewife from the 21st century forcefully stuffing festival gifts to visiting guests during holidays.
How could modern shy youngsters refuse a 21st century slick operator? In the end, they could only hug the meal box and slowly walk out toward the outskirts of Class Eight’s camp.
After lunch break ended, the Patrol Group and Stalwart Group got busy again, and the A Bite of China Club members also split into two groups to assist with the work.
Meanwhile, Xiang Chuan chose to slack off. She held a fruit milk pot, bit on a straw, and sat in front of the tent with a blank-minded look. The Class President passing by saw her like this and couldn’t help but find it amusing, so he came over to chat idly with her.
“So, is it considered settled?” Xiang Chuan asked while biting the straw, habitually adopting the questioning attitude from her previous life when working in the office as team leader, which stunned the Class President.
“It’s considered done?” The Class President lightly coughed and adjusted his mindset, or else he almost subconsciously stood at attention in military stance like facing the homeroom teacher to reply to her. Fortunately, Xiang Chuan only showed that bit of sense of oppression for a moment; as soon as she turned her head to bite the straw and look at the central area of the camp, she returned to her usual idle demeanor. If not for the lingering heart-pounding tension, the Class President would have thought that moment was an illusion.
Sure enough, everyone in our class is a case of not judging by appearances. The Class President silently evaluated in his heart.
“Class President, you’re fooling Xiang Chuan again.” Chou Manman walked over puffing with anger, holding a large meal box just washed clean. While stacking it on the container, she scolded her own Class President: “I clearly just heard the guests say they needed to go back to discuss before giving us a reply. How is that considered done?”
“Hmm… Actually, it can indeed be considered done?” Xiang Chuan mentally reviewed last night’s meeting content and the current general situation, somewhat unconfidently judging on the surface, but silently nodding in her heart.
“Ah?” Chou Manman and Liang Gong, who was helping nearby, looked at each other: How so? The guests—the class cadres from the central region who came to visit and eat—logically shouldn’t have contact info for Class 8 Members (external communication functions on terminals are restricted during the exchange competition). In this case, if the other side says they’ll consider it, it basically equates to refusal. Where does agreement come from?
“When I just went to give them fruit, I found a few of my meal boxes missing.” Xiang Chuan bit the straw and side-eyed Lu Daiqing, who had an innocent expression. “Class President, any clues?”
“Ah, come to think of it, I heard other Stalwart Group members say the number of chickens is a few less than this morning… Class President, could it be?” Chou Manman and Liang Gong also looked at him.
“You can only get true authenticity after really tasting it.” The Class President laughed with hands on hips. “And no need to worry about them sneaking eats—I watched Ainuo Classmate and Nancy give them portions enough to stuff them full, plus Classmate Xiang Chuan’s fruit. It can be guaranteed those things will reach the hands of each class’s Class President or other class cadres.”
“Most crucially, these things can prove we have no hostility toward them and don’t intend to compete for first place, ensuring we can pass the next two days safely and avoid the risk of being locked in captive tents gnawing compressed food.” Cheng Kai walked over after arranging work and joined the conversation. This plan was discussed between him and Lu Daiqing; last night Ainuo, Ouyang Yating, and Nancy added some details, but the general direction remained unchanged.
“The only uncertain factor is still our two captive tents.” The Class President sighed and looked toward the riverside. “Too bad we didn’t apply for camouflage devices when applying for supplies; otherwise, hiding some people in the tents would probably have sealed the deal on the spot.”
He looked at Xiang Chuan with great regret, as if saying that applying for supplies a bit later might have saved a lot of effort.
Xiang Chuan directly gave him a white eye: Forget it, without the seasonings and ingredients from the supplies to make ready gourmet food, the foodies in the class probably still wouldn’t be willing to move even now. Where would they find fish to catch and chickens to kill for a grand feast to entertain noble guests from other classes?
The Class President naturally understood this reasoning, so he honestly took Xiang Chuan’s white eye as if nothing happened. He bent down to pick an apple from Xiang Chuan’s afternoon tea meal box, took a bite, and the freshness of the fruit flesh made him widen his eyes involuntarily. The apple’s sweet-tartness gave his tongue, which had experienced big fish and meat these past few days, a long-missed refreshing sensation. He looked up: “Classmate Xiang Chuan, this…”
“One is enough, don’t push your luck. Entertaining the guests has used up most of our apples.” Xiang Chuan quickly hugged her meal box. “I’ve already told the Patrol Group side to find some fruit. When they return this afternoon, you’ll have some to eat.”
As long as there’s food, it’s fine. Hearing this, the Class President put on his signature smile again, munched the apple, and returned to the tent. What happened behind with Xiang Chuan, Chou Manman, and others starting to share the afternoon tea meal was none of his business.
While most of Class Eight had put the midday visitors behind them, either busy processing ingredients or enjoying afternoon tea, the four classes in the central area were far from so leisurely.
The few “guests” were escorted back to the boundary between the central region and northern area by Class Eight’s Patrol Group, then immediately taken back to their respective classes by the patrol groups from the four classes who had been glaring at each other there all morning.
The four classes eyed each other warily, clearing traces left while walking through the woods during withdrawal, only relaxing upon returning to their own class camps. Then they were surrounded by their classmates asking all sorts of questions, with most staring at the meal boxes in their hands.
—Class Eight! That Class Eight with the president of the Ancient Gourmet Club!
—What’s inside? Could it be something edible? Probably stuff from the container carried by that club president!
—I really want to taste it!
A small portion who had tasted A Bite of China Club’s big buns were even more frantic. No way around it—in this tree-filled environment, they could only honestly eat compressed food. Fragrant meat buns and veggie buns had become their biggest obsession. Now seeing meal boxes like Xiang Chuan’s luggage, it was hard not to go crazy.
Opening the meal boxes revealed fragrant roasted chicken, grilled fish, and thin-skinned, generously filled wild vegetable buns. This made even students who hadn’t eaten A Bite of China Club food drool uncontrollably, let alone those who had. If not for each class’s Class President quickly stepping in to stop them, the small meal boxes might have sparked class riots, scaring the class cadres who visited Class Eight quite a bit.
Could this be one of Class Eight’s strategies? So terrifying! The class cadres from the four classes distributed in the central area all simultaneously let out the same exclamation.
At the same time, the agreement drafted by Class Eight’s Class President was delivered to each class’s Class President. Looking at this agreement, the four Class Presidents fell silent…
I’m back—though updates will be low frequency until the exam ends; the field training part will wrap up ASAP (I didn’t expect this part to take so many chapters; originally, the field training arc was just to let the protagonist group get ginger)
