I'm a scientist, why can't I have faith?

"Hey, Dongzi, what made you suddenly decide to call your dad?"

The first thing brothers say to each other is to confirm their generational relationship.

"Get lost."

Wang Dong responded to Li Lei's accusation of insubordination with a curt tone.

"I'm here in Xia Meng to compete, shouldn't you, as the host, offer something?"

"You've come to Xia Meng?"

Li Lei's tone visibly rose in status.

"Then I must show you around properly and do my best to be a good host."

"I have an experiment this afternoon. Tomorrow is Saturday, so I'll take you to Gulangyu Island for a good look around."

"It's settled then."

The next morning, Li Lei arrived at the agreed location as scheduled, but he never expected that Wang Dong would not come alone.

Beside him was a stunningly beautiful woman whom Li Lei had never seen before.

"What...is going on?"

Li Lei sneakily approached Wang Dong and whispered a question in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"Nothing much. This is a senior student who came to participate in the competition with me. We were just bored, so we came together."

Li Lei, being in Xiamen, would naturally not know about the celebrity couple photos on the Yenching University confession wall, and Wang Dong would not bring it up on his own initiative.

But after listening to Wang Dong's explanation, Li Lei immediately gave him a knowing look.

Wang Dong had a bad feeling.

"Um... hello senior, I'm Li Lei, Wang Dong's best friend from high school, and I'm your tour guide today."

Su Yuran didn't mind Li Lei's unintentional slip of the tongue. Instead, she found Wang Dong's best friend quite interesting and greeted him with a smile.

As expected, things took a strange turn.

Wang Dong wanted to explain further, but Li Lei didn't give him the chance and pushed the two of them to begin today's itinerary.

"Let's go, let's go, the ship is about to leave."

To get to Gulangyu Island from the mainland, you need to take a ferry. With a whistle, the ferry sets sail on time.

Today, the weather in Xiameng is a bit cloudy, but it doesn't detract from the beautiful scenery; on the contrary, it gives off a unique blue hue.

December is not peak tourist season, and the three of them did not encounter many tourists when they arrived at Gulangyu Island. Apart from shopkeepers, there were only a few couples on the streets.

Since it was in the south, even in December, the weather in Xiameng wasn't very cold. However, the strong winds by the sea were still quite biting. Fortunately, everyone was well-prepared.

"This Quanzhou Road is the most beautiful street scene on Gulangyu Island. I usually come here to relax when I don't have classes..."

"Oh, this grandma's milk tea is pretty good, you guys should try it; um... forget about the crab-flavored xiaolongbao, that shop only sells frozen ones..."

With Li Lei, a semi-local, around, Wang Dong and Su Yuran unknowingly avoided many pitfalls, greatly enhancing their experience.

"Oh, and by the way, you absolutely have to try that rice noodle roll stall on the east side, it'll definitely exceed your expectations..."

Before they could even take a couple of sips of the milk tea they had just bought from the old lady, Li Lei dragged the two of them off to the next location without stopping.

Gulangyu Island, with fewer tourists, is perfect for a city walk and offers a wonderful experience. It might even be better without some third wheels.

This is Su Yuran's true thought.

But she soon regretted jumping to conclusions so quickly.

Instead of choosing the sightseeing bus, her legs, facing this island full of uphill climbs, wanted to give this experience a five-star negative review.

Fortunately, the rice noodle roll shop wasn't far away, and there were rattan chairs nearby where you could rest.

Just as Li Lei was excitedly preparing to serve three servings of rice noodle rolls, the shop owner seemed to have encountered some trouble.

A couple who looked no different from them were communicating with the shopkeeper in English.

The shop owner was just a craftsman who knew how to make rice noodle rolls; he couldn't understand any English, so it was a complete misunderstanding.

Even after gesturing for a long time, neither of them understood what the other was trying to express.

Then the boy switched to Japanese and spoke to his companion.

"What? Don't the people of Great Xia speak English? In Tokyo, every shop owner can speak it."

Upon hearing the boy's assessment, the older girl next to him immediately began to lecture him.

"Kensuke, that's wrong. How can you judge people with prejudice?"

Since it was Japanese, Wang Dong and his friends naturally didn't understand it very well, but it was obvious to everyone that they needed help.

So Wang Dong naturally stepped forward.

"Do you two need any help?"

Wang Dong doesn't understand Japanese, but his English is perfectly fine.

Upon hearing a fluent and authentic American accent, the two Japanese tourists thought they had met an American tourist who was also visiting the area, but it turned out to be a very typical Asian face.

"Um, the owner here doesn't understand English. I'd like to know if this food contains wheat."

The girl pointed to the boy next to her.

My friend is allergic to wheat products.

Wheat allergy? That's really rare.

Wang Dong didn't even ask the shopkeeper; he gave the answer directly.

"That's a pity, but there is wheat in this. In fact, most things that can be used as a staple food in Daxia contain wheat."

Your friend is probably going to have a very difficult time.

He looked at the thin boy next to him with a pitiful expression. "It's a good thing you weren't born in Daxia, otherwise you would have suffered a lot."

Wheat might sound unfamiliar at first, and it seems like you don't encounter this food in your daily life.

In fact, he accompanied the people of Daxia every day, even at every meal.

Because flour is made from wheat!

Whether it's Chinese bread or noodles that you never get tired of eating, any noodle dish is inseparable from wheat.

If a person from Daxia were allergic to wheat, Wang Dong couldn't even imagine what his life would be like.

Does that mean we can only eat rice?

Oh, there are also whole grains to consider, but it seems like no one would want to eat those unless it's for health reasons.

Fortunately, the people of Bactria have almost no food allergies.

Upon hearing this, the girl thanked Wang Dong and then took the boy's hand and left. The rice noodle roll shop quickly returned to its usual order.

"Thank you so much, sir."

The owner skillfully made rice noodle rolls while expressing his gratitude to Wang Dong.

"Were those two Japanese soldiers just now? What were they trying to do?"

"Oh, that boy is allergic to something and wants to know if it's in this rice noodle roll."

Judging from the results, it is clear that there are allergens, but the shop owner is a little curious: could there be something in rice noodle rolls that causes allergies?

"What is he allergic to? He can't even eat rice noodle rolls?"

"Flour".

The boss was stunned for a moment, and then all his previous dissatisfaction vanished.

"I'm allergic to flour...this is such a miserable life."

When I'm in a good mood, even the rice noodle rolls I make taste better than usual.

From arriving on the island to visiting Gulangyu Island and then leaving the island to return, this journey took up most of the three people's day.

After returning to the island, Li Lei took them to visit Xiamen University.

After dinner, Wang Dong and Su Yuran returned to the hotel, while Lan Ce and Wei Linfeng checked in at the front desk shortly after getting off the plane.

Before the match officially began, the team members finally gathered together.

Wang Dong greeted the two senior students with a smile, but caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.

It was the neon-speaking couple I met in front of the rice noodle roll shop during the day.