Chapter 217: Chief Steward An Jing
“Hello, is anyone there—”
Ainuo and the others were ultimately still one step too late. As they began sprinting toward the pig farm management facility, Xiang Chuan had already stepped inside.
“Hmm? Who are you?”
A Black woman standing by the door turned to look at Xiang Chuan, seemingly curious why she could see a student-dressed child near this sparsely populated pig farm vicinity.
When Xiang Chuan first started school, she still felt discomfort at occasionally seeing white and Black people in class and at school, but after these few months of interaction, she found they spoke accentless modern language just like her, without any 21st century Western foreigner temperament. Over these months, Xiang Chuan had gradually become desensitized to people of other skin colors, taking the sight of various races on the escort ship for granted. Moreover, there were quite a few people of other skin colors among the leader uncles and aunts who often came to her home for free meals.
Sometimes when Xiang Chuan saw people of various skin colors walking on the street, her mood would become somewhat complex. In the 21st century, skin color discrimination and racial discrimination were social phenomena accompanying national culture and ethnic culture, but in Tianyuan year 20000 after the Dark Virus Crisis, due to the loss of former cultures, plus intermarriages among different races over thirty thousand years and the birth of a new common language, the once proud races lost their psychological basis for discriminating against others, thereby integrating into it.
This would be completely unimaginable in the 21st century.
This was also one of the current dilemmas for Xiang Chuan: cultural products from the 21st century and earlier, especially literature regarded as world classics, inevitably contained descriptions related to skin color discrimination and racial discrimination. Even The Count of Monte Cristo, which she had casually brought out before, inevitably had similar descriptions. According to Lin Minzhi, the scenes depicted in the book had become a highly controversial discussion point at the Cultural Affairs Bureau. This made Xiang Chuan hesitant to bring out more classics now, even though the novel fans led by Class President Lu Daiqing kept pestering her; she still hadn’t given in.
——
Xiang Chuan temporarily set aside her complex thoughts. Her current focus was only one thing—pork!
She unhesitatingly spoke up:
“Hello, sister. I’d like to ask what kind of pigs this farm uses. As far as I know, in ancient times, pork was a common ingredient. There’s no reason us modern people—”
“Stop stop stop—!!!”
“Shut up quick!!”
Just as Xiang Chuan was about to passionately start talking, Ouyang Yating and Ainuo, who had rushed over at what was almost their fastest sprint speed ever, charged in. Ouyang Yating covered her mouth, while Ainuo pulled her and this Black employee apart.
All this happened in almost three seconds, leaving the Black woman dumbfounded.
Now, are today’s youth already this impressive in physical fitness? The Education Bureau on the main ship had said they planned to strengthen youth physical fitness training. Could this be the trial results of the previous draft? The Black woman began to truly feel the might of the younger generation.
Main Ship Education Bureau: No, it isn’t.
“Sorry, sister. Our club president often thinks of all sorts of random things. We didn’t watch her just now, so please don’t mind.”
While tightly covering Xiang Chuan’s mouth, Ouyang Yating skillfully flashed a formulaic smile as she apologized to the Black woman. It wasn’t that she wanted to brush it off, but she wanted to quickly take Xiang Chuan away from here to prevent her from causing trouble and getting targeted by the Information Turbulence Processing Office.
Club President?
This title made the Black woman pause.
Normally, only those who had established a company would be called club president. Was such a young student also a club president? No, this face looks familiar…
As her brain gradually recovered from the earlier shock, the Black woman’s gaze toward Xiang Chuan grew increasingly fervent.
Seeing this familiar look, alarm bells rang in Ainuo and Ouyang Yating’s minds.
No good! We have to leave now! Otherwise, we won’t be able to later!
The two exchanged a glance, understanding each other’s identical thoughts through their childhood friends’ eye contact, then simultaneously grabbed Xiang Chuan’s arms, preparing to bolt if this Black woman charged over like Manager Wu or Manager Hill.
——
However, the righteous path rises an inch, the devil rises ten.
How could their little movements escape the Black woman’s eyes? She clenched her fist, telling herself: Don’t rush, don’t rush. If you scare her off, who knows when the next meeting would be.
It was said that even on the main ship, going to the Xiang Family for free meals required drawing numbers to queue.
“You’re Classmate Xiang Chuan, right? I’ve heard rumors about you for a long time. I thought I wouldn’t see you today.” The Black woman smiled and extended her hand to grasp Xiang Chuan’s. “I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m An Jing Song, Department Manager of the Animal Husbandry Department on the Fourth Production Escort Ship.”
Huh? Department Manager?
Hearing the other’s self-introduction, Xiang Chuan and the other two were stunned, while Liang Gong, standing behind the three, looked somewhat embarrassed.
“Haha, I was originally supposed to show you around our escort ship’s Animal Husbandry Department today, but I didn’t expect Shi Li to cut in. Her temper really hasn’t changed a bit.”
Chief Steward An Jing said with a hearty laugh.
Hearing this, Liang Gong nearly dug out a three-bedroom apartment under his feet. He hadn’t expected to encounter the manager whose tour-leading rights his mother had snatched today. Now, not only did Ainuo and Ouyang Yating want to leave, Liang Gong wanted to slip away too.
“By the way, Classmate Xiang Chuan, did you just say that in ancient times, pork was a common ingredient?” Chief Steward An Jing cut straight to the point, mainly because this topic was just too interesting to her.
“Yeah yeah!” Xiang Chuan’s eyes lit up instantly upon hearing the manager mention pigs. “You know, in 21st century recipes, pork takes up a huge portion. No matter which continent’s country, there are definitely dishes using pork. And pigs aren’t just for eating—they can be rendered for oil too. Lard is so fragrant; stir-frying green vegetables with it is utterly delicious, and the cracklings left after rendering are delicious too—”
“Stop stop stop, don’t say anymore.”
Chief Steward An Jing quickly stopped Xiang Chuan’s machine-gun-style gourmet recap. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to hear it—quite the opposite; she did want to hear it. After all, more agricultural byproducts meant more sales channels for pork as an ingredient.
But right now, pork had a more pressing issue to solve.
She took a deep breath and said with a worried expression: “I’m glad to hear from you how pork was so popular among ancient people in ancient times, but I think you also know that our modern pork…”
Chief Steward An Jing didn’t finish, but all four present knew what she meant by the second half, and everyone fell silent.
Mainly because, as Xiang Xue had revealed in the live stream room while watching dramas, when Xiang Chuan first tasted pork at home, the disgusted expression on her face was no less than when she ate liquid food. Ouyang Yating and the other two knew how much Xiang Chuan resisted solid food and liquid food during school lunch breaks, so it wasn’t hard to guess how hard it was to swallow dishes made with pork.
“So… so! Classmate Xiang Chuan!” Chief Steward An Jing gripped Xiang Chuan’s hand again. “If you have any way to get pork out of its current predicament, our Fourth Production Escort Ship Animal Husbandry Production Department will follow your lead from now on!”
Captain Mark Bay: Hello?
