This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 50 Little Cicada, do you know our class monitor?
The meals at Cafeteria No. 1 are a bit more expensive than those at Cafeteria No. 2, and the cafeteria specializes in noodles.

Many students come specifically to eat at Cafeteria No. 1 because of its noodles.

"Taoist priest, what kind of noodles would you like to eat?"

What kind of noodles are delicious?

"I think they're all pretty good! The sour soup noodles, the oil-splashed noodles, and their signature BiangBiang noodles are all delicious!"

The locals of Yunqi, including Chen Shi'an, usually eat rice, but occasionally having noodles to change things up is nice.

The dietary habits of each place do not arise out of thin air, but are the result of long-term accumulation of local history, geography, customs and climate. It can be said that food culture is the most direct 'living fossil' of regional culture.

Chen Shi'an loves to eat and is quite good at it; he's even a decent cook. Having lived deep in the mountains for a long time, although he's explored the art of eating to the fullest, his knowledge has always been limited by the geographical constraints and the availability of ingredients.

Now that he's traveling down the mountain, he'll definitely try all the local delicacies whenever he has the chance.

There were only four noodle stalls, and the queues at each stall were very long. Chen Shi'an and Wen Zhixia were sandwiched in the middle of the queues, slowly moving forward with them.

However, the wait wasn't too bad, as you could enjoy watching the three chefs making handmade noodles from afar.

The chef bent down and kneaded the dough, his broad hands pressing it so hard it made a rustling sound. When the dough became pliable, he rolled it out with a rolling pin, and the fist-sized dough was stretched into a thin pancake with wavy edges. The knife blade made a clattering sound as it went up and down. The chef's skillful hands pinched the two ends of the noodles, stretched them thinner, and finally slapped them to shape them. It was a lively and energetic culinary art.

Wen Zhixia turned sideways and peered into the window. She loved watching the food being prepared, as if it enhanced the flavor of the ingredients.

"Taoist priest, can you cook?" Wen Zhixia turned to ask Chen Shi'an.

"Yes."

"real or fake!"

"Why would I lie to you? If I can't cook, what am I supposed to eat in the mountains?"

"So what do you do?"

"I can cook common dishes, and I can cook uncommon dishes after seeing them once."

"Was it delicious?"

"I think it should be considered delicious."

"You make it sound so impressive, I'll try it sometime and see if you're just bragging!"

"Okay."

Seeing that the girl had been queuing for a long time and seemed a bit hot, Chen Shi'an casually patted her with a cool hand.

"And you, can you cook?"

"I...I can boil water! I can cook rice!"

"Ah."

Chen Shi'an chuckled, while Wen Zhixia seemed a little embarrassed and argued, "I'll learn it later. If you, a boy, can do it, then I'll definitely learn it easily too. It's just that I haven't had the chance to cook for myself yet~"

"Can your friends cook?"

"Ha, some of them don't even know how to cook rice."

Thinking about it this way, Wen Zhixia felt proud. At least she knew how to cook rice, so she was a cut above the rest.

Chen Shi'an blinked. Could this be considered a form of indirect confirmation of happiness? After all, in the rural environment where he grew up, it was indeed quite rare to see teenagers or young women in their late teens or early twenties who couldn't cook.

Finally, it was the turn of two people in line.

Wen Zhixia ordered a bowl of noodles with minced meat sauce, and specially added an extra layer of chili sauce on top, which left Chen Shi'an dumbfounded. Little Zhixia can really handle spicy food.

Chen Shi'an also ordered a bowl of noodles with minced meat sauce and an extra roujiamo (Chinese hamburger). The noodles cost 15 yuan and the roujiamo cost 5 yuan, for a total of 20 yuan. This was considered affordable for outside prices, but for Chen Shi'an, the lunch expenses for today were excessive.

Fortunately, Uncle Lin's meal card provides an 800 yuan monthly meal allowance, which is enough to cover the occasional overspending.

The two food buddies found an empty seat at the back of the cafeteria and sat down facing each other. They were both very hungry, so they didn't stand on ceremony and started eating right away.

Wen Zhixia eats slowly, including noodles. The little girl is quite particular about it. First, she picks up a small handful of noodles and puts them into her spoon. Then, she uses her chopsticks to add some minced meat, daylily, tofu strips, wood ear mushrooms, and other ingredients to make a small, complete spoonful of "minced meat noodles." Only then does she gulp it down in one bite.

"Hmm, not bad, it's quite appetizing to have it once in a while."

"It's not spicy."

"Thank goodness~"

Perhaps because she was in good spirits today, Wen Zhixia had a particularly good appetite. She had been massaged by Chen Shi'an in the morning, and she still felt very energetic.

"How about we go back to Cafeteria No. 2 for dinner? We can take turns eating there," Wen Zhixia said as she ate.

"This afternoon... you might have to eat by yourself."

"What? Are you going to vandalize public property again?"

"...It's my turn to clean today, so I have to do the cleaning after school this afternoon."

"Okay, then I won't wait for you for dinner~"

"You eat in the cafeteria by yourself?" Chen Shi'an asked curiously.

"No, I usually pack my food and eat it in the classroom. I can read a book while I eat, so I can eat slowly."

"Is he playing on his phone?"

"...No way!" Although she could handle spicy food, when it got really spicy, a little sweat would appear on the tip of her nose, and she found it very enjoyable.

Wen Zhixia took out a tissue from her pocket, tore off a piece, broke it in half, and handed it to Chen Shi'an. She then wiped the sweat from her mouth as she ate.

How's your English learning going?

"It's alright. I've already finished the first semester of seventh grade, and I'll be finishing the second semester soon too."

"……what?"

Wen Zhixia was stunned for a moment, then raised her little head to look at him.

"What do you mean by 'finishing the course'..."

"I've memorized them all. Your grammar materials are very useful. I now have a general understanding of the rules for word formation and sentence construction."

"..."

Wen Zhixia remained silent for a while, convinced that Chen Shi'an wasn't joking with her, but in just over a day, starting from scratch, he... had almost memorized all the seventh-grade English content?!

"...So, how many words have you memorized?"

"Five hundred and thirty-eight, I guess."

"More than five hundred!!"

The girl was completely overwhelmed. Let alone someone like Chen Shi'an with zero foundation, even she would be dizzy trying to learn more than 500 words a day!
"How...how did you do that! Did you eat the memory bread?!"

"Memory bread? What's that?"

"...Don't make people explain the jokes and lame jokes, okay?"

Wen Zhixia's younger cousin is a junior high school student. She usually teaches her younger cousin English and knows her learning progress very well. Her younger cousin's grades are not bad, but if you ask her to memorize two hundred words a day, she will die on the spot. At most, she can only memorize one hundred a day, and she will be dizzy after memorizing them.

The speed at which words are memorized is directly proportional to the amount of vocabulary mastered. In any case, Chen Shi'an's ability to memorize more than 500 words a day is enough to shock Wen Zhixia.

"...Did you only memorize vocabulary words?"

"I also memorized the text."

"..."

Wen Zhixia ate her noodles in silence, not wanting to talk to him!
They even said they finally had a chance to let the little Taoist priest experience the hardship of learning, but in the end, it only made her suffer more!

No wonder he dared to transfer directly to the second year of high school. With such an amazing learning speed, it's really worth looking forward to seeing what he'll be like in two years!
"So, how are you doing with your other subjects? Are you only studying English now?"

"Let's focus on the core subjects first. I should be doing okay with Chinese, and I'm also learning math."

"..."

You stinky Taoist priest! You stinky Taoist priest! Don't keep shattering her understanding! Can't you just say everything at once? I thought you only studied English. You're studying other subjects while memorizing over 500 English words a day?

It's a shame she was so dedicated to teaching him how to memorize words quickly during dinner yesterday. Isn't this just showing off her skills in front of an expert?
Chen Shi'an blinked.

"But I still owe you a lot. With the memory techniques and grammar materials you taught me, learning English isn't so difficult anymore."

"~~~"

You have a conscience, I guess.
Wen Zhixia gently swung her legs under the table.

"Well, it's okay to study the core subjects first, since they account for a higher percentage of the total score. Once you have a solid foundation in the core subjects, it'll be easier to improve your scores in the elective subjects later. So, how are you going to study Chinese and math?"

"I mainly listen to lectures for Chinese, and I'm still taking extra math lessons from seventh grade. My deskmate can teach me a bit."

"That's great. You're in the top science class, so you must be ace math in middle school. Who's your deskmate?" Wen Zhixia asked curiously.

After all, there was a floor between the two classes, and the girl didn't just wander around the other class. The only time she heard that a Taoist priest had enrolled, she did sneak over to take a look, but unfortunately Chen Shi'an wasn't there that night, and she didn't even know where he was sitting.

"Our class monitor."

"Your class monitor?"

"Yes, Lin Mengqiu."

"Oh... her."

Hearing that Wen Zhixia's tone seemed to have a subtle undertone, Chen Shi'an looked up at her.

The girl's expression was as subtle as her tone. Even long after she finished speaking, she kept nodding slightly, as if she was repeating the words "Oh... her" in her mind.

"Little Zhi, do you know our class monitor?"

"Yes, of course I know him. He's the top science student in our grade, everyone knows that."

Wen Zhixia nodded, blew on the noodles in the spoon with her little mouth, and ate the noodles in small, lukewarm bites.

"Judging from your tone, it seems like you have more than just that kind of understanding, don't you?"

"..."

Wen Zhixia took another bite of noodles before nodding and saying:

"She and I used to be deskmates."

(End of this chapter)