Chapter 337: Sorrow Doubled

The fragrance of flowers lingered in the courtyard, and steam rose from the stone table.

A dish of exotic sour chicken, a dish of pickled pepper chicken giblets, a dish of Sweet and Sour Chinese Cabbage, and a pot of Sour Radish Old Duck Soup—all were Ning Qing's favorite foods.

Chen Shu looked at the little girl who was watching him eagerly, smiled, and turned back to bring over a basin of rice.

This was a basin of potato-hole dry rice.

The so-called hole dry rice is rice that is cooked by pan-frying rather than steaming; it was originally called "gong," pronounced the same as "kong" (hole), but later the character "gong" was no longer read with the "kong" sound, so it became known as hole dry rice or kong dry rice. When making it, the rice is boiled until half-cooked, the side dishes are stir-fried, then the rice is poured in, a few small holes are poked into it, and it is fried over low heat until cooked through.

Chen Shu used the conventional method; the side dishes were small potatoes, diced Cured Meat, and green beans. After the rice was spread on top and fried, the grains of rice were distinct and the fragrance was mouth-watering.

"Let's eat."

Chen Shu served a bowl for each of them, gave Taozi a small spoonful as well, and said to them with a smile, "This is the taste from my memories."

Ning Qing glanced at him faintly—

There was some nostalgia in his smile.

The sky darkened quickly.

Taozi was struggling with a lump of sour radish with a whimpering sound.

Just now, while it was eating duck meat, someone—it didn't know who—was so wicked as to put a lump of sour radish in its bowl that was bigger than its mouth. The problem was that this sour radish was soft and mushy after being stewed; when it took a bite, all its little sharp teeth got embedded in it, unable to bite through, unable to pull out, and it was also piping hot.

But it couldn't be wasted.

According to its observations, apart from that human named Chen Banxia, all other humans finished everything in their bowls when eating.

This might be the dining etiquette of a higher species.

Taozi Daren was also a higher species.

It didn't know how much time had passed.

Taozi Daren finally achieved victory in its struggle with the sour radish. As it swallowed the last bite of sour radish, it raised its head like lightning, its gaze sweeping over Chen Shu on the left and Xiaoxiao on the right, its eyes sharp.

Abominable!

The enemy was more cunning than it had imagined!

To prevent another piece of sour radish from appearing in its bowl later, it let out a crisp bark to tell them it had finished, then decisively turned and got off the table, running under the eaves to turn on the lights in the courtyard.

Orange-yellow light strips were laid along the courtyard walls and eaves, passing through the stone path in the courtyard and the persimmon tree, casting light that looked like dusk.

The small lamp post beside the stone table also lit up.

Chen Shu glanced at the persimmon tree nearby: "When did you wrap light strips around the persimmon tree?"

"Xiaoxiao put them up."

"Oh..."

"Brother-in-law, isn't it very pretty?"

"Brother-in-law thinks it's very pretty."

Chen Shu said with a smile, but his gaze drifted toward Qingqing.

Ning Qing held a small bowl in both hands as if holding some precious treasure, using her palms to absorb the warmth radiating from the bowl. Her expression was so focused; she gently blew the steam away along the rim of the bowl, then lowered her head to take a small sip, making a faint sound... Looking closely, for a fleeting moment, one could see a hint of enjoyment in her eyes and brows—only those familiar enough with her could tell.

It seemed her mood had improved a lot.

Chen Shu felt happy along with her.

In fact, people's joys and sorrows are not disconnected; some people are just like this—when you see her sad, you cannot be happy yourself, and when you see her happy, you cannot help but be infected by her good mood, needing only a single glance to smile.

At this moment, the little girl's voice came from the side: "Brother-in-law, after we finish eating, let's go mountain racing. I'll ride my new bike, and you ride Sister's old bike."

"What about Sister?"

"Sister is sad." The little girl's tone was formal. "Sad people should stay at home."

"Shouldn't sad people have someone to keep them company?"

"Taozi will keep her company."

"Then we..."

"We're going mountain racing! It's so much fun!" The little girl kept a straight face, her eyes unblinking as she spoke, like a mannequin. "When I rode my little motorcycle back just now, so many people on the road were looking at me. We'll definitely look so cool mountain racing! If you want, Brother-in-law, I'll let you ride my better-looking, higher-performance new bike, and I'll ride Sister's uglier, older model."

"..."

Chen Shu couldn't help but glance at Qingqing again.

Ning Qing had already finished the bowl of soup from earlier. She stood up, holding the bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, gently pushing aside the oil droplets on the surface of the pot, and ladled a spoonful of oil-free old duck soup into her bowl. She was focused only on what she was doing, as if she hadn't heard their conversation.

One spoonful filled more than half the bowl, but since she loved drinking it, she had to add another half-spoon.

Chen Shu withdrew his gaze: "How about another day?"

"..."

The little girl thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll go by myself today. I'll go scout the route first to see where is fun, and I'll take you another day."

"Alright, be safe."

"My riding skills are great."

"Good riding skills are the foundation. Besides good skills, you also need a steady heart. Don't get into road rage or race against those 'ghost-fire' youths, and take it slow through turns; don't lean too hard." Chen Shu stopped after saying just two sentences, but after a pause, he smiled again. "Also, don't go to places with few people. If you meet people on the road trying to chat you up, or if other riders ask you to join them, it's best not to pay them any mind—they're all 'ghost-fire' youths... After all, our Xiaoxiao is still very pretty."

"What are 'ghost-fire' youths?"

"They are..."

Chen Shu didn't know how to explain it for a moment.

At this time, the little girl stared at him and blurted out: "Are they like Zhang Suannai?"

"Even worse than her."

"Got it!"

The little girl immediately became vigilant.

Then she began to look forward to today's mountain racing trip.

When she finished dinner and cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, her mood so good that she was spinning her keys on her finger, ready to head out, she saw her sister walk out the door just ahead of her, holding a large lock. After she froze for a moment and ran to the door, that large lock had already appeared on her bike wheel.

"!!"

The young girl was completely stunned.

Her sister turned around and tucked the keys away right in front of her: "You can only have the keys after I finish practicing 'Heavy Sorrow'."

"!!!"

The young girl stood where she was, the car keys dangling from her finger, but she could no longer swing them.

She looked back at her brother-in-law.

Her brother-in-law spread his hands toward her with an expression that said, "I told you so."

The young girl twisted her hands tightly together.

The number of heartbroken people became two.

The next day, morning.

Chen Shu sat in the classroom; the class had already ended, but he had not left.

Xia Yunyun and the lead teacher were explaining the specific arrangements and precautions for this internship to the students, and distributing the items they would need, including walkie-talkies, tents, and sleeping bags; in addition, the students also needed to prepare some personal items themselves.

Chen Shu was happy to sit on the side and watch the show.

They divided the whole class into several groups.

Among them, Guan Bingxiang and Song Rentou were singled out as Fourth-tier Practitioners and were not added to any group; the rest were divided according to their strength, ensuring that each group's number of people, combat power, and other aspects of ability were roughly the same.

Each group needed to capture at least three Sword Pigs; the lead teacher would give scores based on the hunting results and each person's performance during the process. This internship was also considered an important course, carried credits, and the grades would be counted toward the grade point average.

The difficulty was still quite high.

Even for the two Fourth-tier practitioners, Guan Bingxiang and Song Rentou, it was somewhat difficult—

At this time, it had only been half a year since the Hunting Festival, and the number of Sword Pigs had not yet fully recovered. Although a normal Fourth-tier Spirit Cultivator could defeat a Sword Pig, capturing one first required the ability to catch up to and subdue it, which was a bit difficult.

For other groups, it was even harder.

The highest cultivation level among them was only Third-tier Peak, and they were not yet a match for a Sword Pig in a one-on-one fight. To hunt them, they had to fully utilize their advantage in intelligence, rely on traps and everyone's cooperation, and also avoid encountering a herd of Sword Pigs.

The students had expressions of sorrow and resentment.

"Did everyone hear what I just said? Gather at the east school gate at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. There will be a bus to take everyone to Qingshan Ridge. Do not be late."

"Ah..."

A sound of sighs and groans.

Some clever students had already run over to ask Chen Shu for a strategy.

Regarding this, Chen Shu was actually a bit helpless—

Because he never had a strategy.

If asked how to catch a Sword Pig? His answer was to find the Sword Pig, and then you've caught it; just call a roommate with a Martial Body to carry it out and sell it.

Chen Shu thought for a long while before saying to them: "Sword Pigs have no natural predators in Qingshan Ridge, so if they haven't had contact with human hunters before, they are fearless in the forest. They won't run when they see people, so you can take advantage of this to set traps."

"Thank you, big boss..."

"I'm off."

Seeing that the class assistant had already left the classroom, Chen Shu smiled at the students and also got up to leave.

Suddenly, he felt a bit sentimental.

He had intended to slowly enjoy his university life, and he had been doing so all along. Except for the half a year delayed by Duqin, except for the time delayed by two Hunting Festivals and the Martial Body competition, and excluding the previous trip to the Forbidden Land, he had not skipped classes for long periods, and sometimes he even attended classes like Moral Cultivation.

But even so, before he knew it, he was already a senior.

A semester is not long to begin with, and once an internship is mixed in—which seems to be only half a month, but actually interrupts the middle like a break—it makes one feel that a semester passes much faster.

This semester is over, and after one more internship next semester, university life will basically come to an end.

There are no classes in the fifth year; everyone goes off to do internships.

"Sigh..."

Time really flies.

Chen Shu sighed.

"Buzz buzz..."

His Mobile Phone suddenly vibrated twice.

Chen Shu took out his Mobile Phone and looked—

Huran Biluli joined the group chat.

Jiang Lai joined the group chat.

Chen Shu stopped in his tracks and began to type.

Qingcai Keke: Welcome the group leader's younger brother and this classmate Jiang to the group chat. I am a senior sister.

Nainai Zongshuo: I am a senior brother.

Zhong Miao Zhimen: I am a monk.

Qingdeng Gufu: Amitabha.

Huran Biluli: Brother Chen is joking.

Jiang Lai: Huh?

Jiang Lai: Do I have to use a screen name?

Seeing this scene, Chen Shu revealed a smile.

It was as if he had returned to before, when he had just joined the group, or when Yan Keling had just joined the group.