Chapter 179: Canteen Meal Line Uproar
Unknowingly, the morning visit time for Nongda Affiliated High School students had already ended, and lunchtime had begun.
At this time, other employees also began entering the canteen one after another, heading to the serving areas designated for each department to prepare to swipe their cards for meals.
People from the Staple Food Department discovered that a bunch of students wearing school uniforms had gathered in front of their serving window.
“Are these Nongda Affiliated High School students who came to visit?”
“Seems like it. Why did they come to the canteen? Didn’t the Manager say to host them at the restaurant outside?”
“Why are they all gathered there?”
The employees whispered among themselves in the back, at a loss as they watched from the periphery, pondering whether to ask these students to leave, when a female voice shouted from the direction of the kitchen:
“The rice is ready! Everyone prepare to swipe your cards for meals! Each person can get at most two bowls! No more than that!”
As soon as the words fell, the employees of the Staple Food Department were surprised to find these students quickly forming four neat lines at a speed comparable to troop members, standing orderly in front of the serving window.
What surprised them even more was that their own department manager actually walked out from the kitchen, holding a meal box in his left hand and a sealed insulated small bowl in his right hand.
Manager Wu naturally saw his own employees, and what made them even more surprised was that the usually affable manager now looked at them like a mouse seeing a cat, quickly walking away.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment: What happened to the Manager?
At this time, the student at the front of the line also walked over holding the same meal box and small bowl, looking around for seats.
What attracted everyone’s attention the most was the meal box in his hand.
In the meal box evenly divided into six compartments, four of the compartments were filled with food they had never seen before, the corner compartments held a few pieces of cut fruit, and the most mysterious was the white granular substance tightly packed in the bottom compartment.
If they could barely recognize the original form of the other foods, they had really never seen this white object before!
A bold employee decided not to torment their curiosity any longer and stepped forward to greet:
“Hello, classmate, excuse me…”
Unexpectedly, this student saw the badges on their chests and showed a panicked expression on his face, then quickly left just like Manager Wu, as if dodging some terrifying person.
Staple Food Department employees: ??? Are they some kind of flood beasts?
The students coming out from the serving window afterward had the same reaction, each guarding their meal boxes and small bowls, as if afraid they would come rob them.
The students wouldn’t have aroused curiosity this way, but by doing so, the employees’ curiosity was piqued instead, and some bold ones directly ran over to ask the students in line.
The students in line saw the badges on the employees and also stammered without saying anything, eventually just grinning foolishly to muddle through.
As a result, even when half the line had cleared, the Staple Food Department employees still didn’t know what had happened at their own serving window and kitchen.
At that moment, a few adults walked over chatting and laughing, all wearing visitor badges and Nongda school badges.
The employees’ eyes lit up: All affiliated schools of Nongda use the same school badge as Nongda, so these must be the teachers from Nongda Affiliated High School!
Since they were teachers, they probably wouldn’t just grin foolishly to brush them off, right?
With such expectations, the Staple Food Department employees stepped forward to inquire about the cause and effect of the matter.
Hearing someone ask about the origin of the incident, the teachers all turned their gazes toward Teacher Zhu Bingwen, who was tiptoeing to look at the serving window ahead.
Teacher Zhu Bingwen naturally noticed the doubt on the employees’ faces, but since Manager Wu was unwilling to reveal the situation, he couldn’t speak up either, and as the homeroom teacher of Class Eight Grade One, he wouldn’t betray his lovely students.
However, considering they were using the Staple Food Department’s kitchen and serving window, Teacher Zhu Bingwen still took the lead and ran over for these employees.
In the kitchen, Class Eight Grade One students were carrying out finishing work under Xiang Chuan’s command.
After the rice came out of the pot, Xiang Chuan was entangled over how to distribute the dishes, when Class President Lu Daiqing had a flash of inspiration and asked Manager Wu to fetch empty meal boxes from the canteen warehouse, packing the dishes into them like Japanese station bento boxes.
The meal boxes weren’t heavy but took up space, with compartment allocations similar to Japanese bento, each compartment nearly as deep as a finger.
If Manager Wu hadn’t called over idle kitchen AIs from other departments’ kitchens to help continue cooking rice and dishes, what Xiang Chuan and the Class Eight Grade One group had just busied themselves with probably wouldn’t be enough for two classes.
The first batch of freshly made dishes was naturally for the 35 students from Class Eight Grade One who had been bustling around in the kitchen, but before that, they needed to do body cleaning and sterilization before leaving the kitchen, so by the time other classes’ students had generally gotten their meals outside the kitchen, they were still busy in the sterilization room.
It was when Xiang Chuan walked out of the kitchen holding her own dishes and soup bowl that she saw Teacher Zhu Bingwen hurrying over.
“Teacher Zhu, if you want to eat, remember to line up. I had the little chef here prepare portions for all the teachers.”
Xiang Chuan said proudly.
“Really? Thank you so much, Classmate Xiang Chuan. You’ve been so busy, really hard work.” Teacher Zhu Bingwen smiled and praised her.
This wasn’t flattery; how hard Class Eight Grade One students had worked processing ingredients in the kitchen was clearly seen by these teachers from the back of the line. This made Teacher Zhu Bingwen feel gratified and proud of his class students’ action ability, while also feeling a bit heartbroken for their hard work.
Teacher Zhu Bingwen calculated that upon returning to school, he must get the principal to issue some subsidies and benefits for the students, or at least have the Student Union allocate more expenses to the class, and go to Yue Xiang for a good meal together next month.
But the most pressing issue at hand was still the problem of the Staple Food Department employees.
After the praise, he briefly explained the situation to Xiang Chuan.
Xiang Chuan was stunned; she had forgotten that this was, after all, the employees’ canteen. If she hadn’t suddenly lost her reason over the piles of rice, they might have been able to eat on time in the canteen right now?
“How about… preparing a portion for them too? I’ll have the little chef make a few more, so the uncles and aunts can taste it too.”
Xiang Chuan hesitated.
Teacher Zhu Bingwen thought about it and felt this was a good idea. Rather than letting these employees wait in line hungry and then watch the teachers and students eat these unseen gourmet food with their superior, it was better for everyone to taste together. So he relayed the exact words to the Staple Food Department employees.
They looked at each other, all with eager expressions on their faces. As staff of the production escort ship, they had a thicker interest in food than ordinary people. Originally, hearing the teachers say these were prepared for students and teachers, everyone felt a bit regretful, even pondering whether to buy a portion from some student to taste together.
Now they could actually get their own portions—how could this not make them feel delighted!
