Chapter 2: Muddling Through and Freeloading

  How can one who is not a fish know the joy of being a fish?

  You're not stupid, how would you know what's called foolish happiness?

  Lei Dapeng is the kind of person who lives with a strong sense of self and is very content, but to others, he often appears to be laughing foolishly for no reason. Just then, as he turned back towards his dormitory, he started laughing again, standing there like an upside-down pumpkin, but with a face full of smiles, looking even more radiant than the winter jasmine flowers that bloom in the school's courtyard.

  What's with this so pure and innocent smile?

  Oh, I see, so the rice bowl will come automatically then.

  A short and thin figure, wearing a school uniform and sporting a flat-top haircut, with several acne scars on his face, rushed out of the dormitory door. At first glance, he seemed to be from a poor family background that was even worse than the social environment. Unlike Lei Dapeng, this person had no distinctive features. He held two rice bowls in one hand and walked while looking at Lei Dapeng with discontent, shouting: "Can't you take care of yourself? You can't just read online novels and forget to bring your own bowl for meals! What's there to read about? The writing is illogical, the plot is nonexistent, and what's even more annoying are the numerous typos. You're a Chinese major, aren't you afraid of being laughed at?"

  "You're always talking about literary theory, but you still get ridiculed as a pretentious youth, what's the difference?"

  Lei Dapeng happily followed the short guy who came with him, his classmate and dorm mate, whose surname was Si and first name Muxian. Just hearing this name is enough to make one feel artistic. In reality, the person is even more artistic than the name. He often holds a stack of Tang poems and Song lyrics, sighing and lamenting about being talented but not recognized. Occasionally, he would write some sour poems in the school publication under the pen name "Muxian Sheng Han", which doesn't mean "unbearable coldness on high places". Privately, Si Muxian said that this pen name means to surpass Han Han, and because of this, Lei Dapeng couldn't help but mock this artistic brother as a second-rate poser.

  However, sometimes water and fire can coexist, and ice and charcoal can be in the same furnace. The two people who are recognized by everyone as the representatives of the "er bai" youth and the literary youth have become inseparable partners. Look, the two of them walked shoulder to shoulder towards the grand dining hall, Lei Dapeng ignoring Ci Muxian's sarcasm, Ci Muxian already familiar with Lei Dapeng's "thunder language", the two of them are like a perfect match of literary and "er bai" youth, just like Bo Ya meeting Ziqi.

  Look at Lei Dapeng's silly energy, Simu Xian became concerned: "Dapeng, internship is about to start soon and graduation thesis needs to be prepared, don't just fool around all day. Have you started working on it?"

  "Come on, little brother, it's not that hard, just find an internship unit to stamp it, and my dad will take care of it. You can just get the paper done, what's the rush?" Lei Dapeng gave a sour reply.

  Xie Mu Xian has gotten used to it and warned, "Don't just think about eating ready-made ones, I've decided that this time I won't indulge you again, that's harming you."

  Lei Dapeng said indifferently: "Forget it, I'll go ask Lao Da, Lao Da says to buy one on Taobao."

  "Plagiarism is shameful. You're too lazy to even plagiarize, that's pitiful." Si Mu Xian said with a heavy heart. Lei Da Peng glanced at Si Mu Xian, this kind of artistic tone had already made his ears numb, and he sneered: "Spare me the drama, you said last week that living in this era is pitiful, why am I the only one who's pitiful today?"

  Si Mu Xian nodded his head and said: "Forget it... what the boss said is right, you're from a different realm, there's no point in arguing with you."

  Lei Dapeng smiled, feeling proud of his intelligence and eloquence, although they often quarreled until their faces turned red, but it didn't stop them from eating together. As they walked to the restaurant, they suddenly stopped in front of each other, looking stunned.

  The smile faded, the conversation stopped, and the two of them exchanged a glance, their eyes wide with surprise. It seemed that today they wouldn't be able to get what they wanted easily.

  A crowd of people were gathered in front of the cafeteria, staring at something. A group of boys were blocking the glass doors, chatting with girls who had come to get lunch. The scene was chaotic and noisy, with people packed tightly from the entrance of the cafeteria all the way out onto the path outside. Many girls looked frustrated as they walked back and forth, holding their lunch trays and whispering to each other in hushed tones.

  Something's happened! It must have happened. The boring university life was worried that nothing would happen, and when Lei Dapeng saw the excitement, he threw down Simu Xian, who was stupid and numb, and rushed into the group of girls, with his ears perked up from behind, which made him look even more lecherous.

  "It's over... who started it?" a girl whispered.

  "Who knows, but anyway, the master chef in the restaurant is really bad. He discriminates when serving food, if he thinks a girl is pretty, he'll give her more without charging extra, serves her right." Another girl said, obviously not good-looking enough to get free food.

  The girls chattered in a low voice, and another one came over, pointing to the big-character poster on the dining hall wall, giggling: "Have you seen it? The university newspaper said that the food quality is not good, people who eat noodles are haggard. Bean paste buns make people's hearts broken, this is endless... ... Signed by a hungry girl, too talented. Hehe..."

  Some people like the excitement, Lei Dapeng absolutely belongs to this type of person. The more he eavesdropped, the more interesting it became. Suddenly, a girl turned her head and almost bumped into Lei Dapeng who was eavesdropping. She was startled by his ugly face with raised eyebrows and shouted: "Ah! What are you doing?"

  At the sight of a freckled girl with a poor quality, she still pretended to be a startled little deer protecting her chest. Lei Dapeng rolled his eyes and said, "What are you shouting? Who would believe that someone is being indecent?"

  She was suddenly infuriated, biting her lower lip and rolling her eyes, with extreme resentment on her face, she gave Lei Dapeng two words: "Go... die!"

  He let out a breath, pulled his companion and left. Lei Dapeng snorted in disdain, not bothering to argue with this unimpressive girl. He didn't care. However, when he turned back, he couldn't find Si Mu Xian anywhere. He looked around, and it seemed that this literature-loving brother still had the same old habits. He was standing at the entrance of the cafeteria, staring at a big-character poster in front of him, lost in thought. Just as they were pushing forward, another commotion broke out. Someone with a hoarse voice was stirring up trouble in the crowd:

  "Fellow students, we must unite and bravely stand together for our milk and bread, against price hikes, against filth and disorder, against inhumane treatment."

  "...Fellow students, it's time for us to wake up. We must bravely resist food with added MSG..."

  "Yes, we are spending our parents' hard-earned money, why should we be exploited by them."

  "The price has been raised three times in a month, this is exploitation, it's simply robbery. We will go on strike, and we won't back down."

  There were both men and women, several provocative voices rose and fell in the crowd, but the last sentence was a pretty good-looking girl waving her fist and shouting. Lei Dapeng didn't know if he was following the crowd's indignation or saw the girl, his beastly blood boiling, loudly shouting: "Good, well said... Oppose exploitation, support the strike."

  With a wave of his fist, the respondent's unreasonable response came from nowhere. The people in charge of the cafeteria looked up at the entrance hall, and more boys raised their fists and shouted: "Unite, support the strike."

  After a few sounds, someone took the lead in knocking on the rice bowl, beating out a rhythmic "ding-dong" sound, and shouting in unison:

  "Strike... strike."

  "Strike... strike."

  Ten people, dozens of people, hundreds of people, knocking and beating, shouting, the sound waves one after another, such a lively scene is rarely seen in recent years. Lei Dapeng watched with great enthusiasm, but unfortunately, all the rice bowls were in Simu Xian's hands, and he had nothing to knock on. He felt like scratching his heart, and he wanted to find a big drum to knock on to relieve his urge. He quickly squeezed to the entrance of the dining hall, and approached Simu Xian to ask for a rice bowl. Simu Xian was reading a big-character poster, and when his rice bowl was snatched away, he glared at him and scolded: "What are you doing?"

  "Everyone is beating the basin, give me a basin to beat." Lei Dapeng said with glee, wanting to grab a basin. Simu Xian dodged and didn't give it to him, pushing him away and saying: "Don't make trouble, don't think you're so happy now, be careful when the student list is pulled in the future, when Lao Da is not around, you have to listen to me."

  It seems that the name "Lao Da" has some power, and after saying this, Lei Dapeng calmed down a bit. Ci Muxian pointed to a distant place, and Lei Dapeng took a glance, his hot blood cooling down significantly. From afar, several people from the Security Department, Political Education Office, and Student Affairs Office were standing there, looking quite serious. Following Ci Muxian's gaze, they looked at the big-character poster, which was actually quite interesting. The poster read:

  “……Fellow students, are you hungry? Have you had a decent meal this semester? Every day, what we eat is basically torture. The bean sprouts in the sandwich are raw, the noodles are moldy, and the radish and cabbage are covered in mud...and yet we often get food poisoning from eating such low-quality food...and they still have the nerve to raise prices! Fellow students, how much longer can you endure this? ...For our health, for our poor stomachs, and for the hard-earned money of our parents, let us unite...”

  The handwriting is ugly, and it's comparable to Lei Dapeng's appearance. The writing is also mediocre. It's so explicit and radical that Simu Xian shakes his head after reading it. After glancing at it a few times, he sees that they are all posters criticizing the cafeteria, with several big-character posters pasted up. Lei Dapeng turns around to look at Simu Xian, who seems to be enjoying himself, and says disdainfully, "What's there to see? Come on, let's follow everyone and shout slogans. It's not often that someone dares to stand out, so we have to support them... no, not just support, but also voice our solidarity."

  "Don't join the crowd, I'm watching to see who's organizing this." Si Mu Xian had a calm and composed demeanor, as if he was thinking deeply about something. Lei Da Peng suddenly thought of someone and nervously whispered into Wen Qing Xian's ear: "Brother Xian, it can't be that Eldest is organizing this, right?"

  "It's not him." Simu Xian said with certainty, pointing to the big-character poster and commenting: "The handwriting is too poor, our boss is a perfectionist and would never tolerate such sloppy writing. Also, the language is mediocre, those few poems don't even rhyme, it's not someone from our Chinese department."

  "Right, definitely not. If it were up to us, we'd be too embarrassed to say anything and would rather die than try to flatter them." said Lei Dapeng.

  "Haha... you're right." Si Mu Xian smiled and said: "I thought about it, but it's not the English department. The English department has too many petty bourgeoisie girls who are best at intriguing and flattering foreigners, they can't do this... It's not the biology department either, those people have been formulaic for a long time, they wouldn't think of such a passionate approach. Nor should it be the history department, those people are dull and ununited themselves. The math department doesn't seem like it either, they can't even finish their own calculations... And it's not the art department, all the girls in that department are busy making sacrifices for the sake of money..."

  Simu Xian repeatedly denied several possibilities, and Lei Dapeng listened intently, his eyes rolling around as he bit his finger in thought. However, it was clear that he couldn't think of a result, so he curiously asked: "Then who do you think it is?"

  "Of course." Simu Xian nodded and turned to leave, saying in a low voice: "It should be those idiots from the sports department. The handwriting looks like a messy scrawl, they don't think things through before acting, and the signature is signed with some hungry chick's name... Look at that handwriting, it's like a willow tree blown down by the wind. Does it look like a girl wrote it? Even if it's a female, it must be that shrew from the sports department."

  A few sentences of evaluation, looking at those messy characters again, Lei Dapeng couldn't help but laugh with his eyes narrowed into a line. It seems that heroes have the same views. After walking a few steps, he looked around and saw several tall boys, Lei Dapeng felt that the analysis was unnecessary, and it turned out that some of the sports department's hooligans were indeed scattered among the crowd, stirring up trouble.

  Squeezed out of the crowd, a dozen or so people from the administration office, student affairs office and security department had gathered early on, shouting at the periphery that everyone should disperse, and the school would properly resolve the issue. The less explanation, the better; the more explanation, the more people came to join in, and some even took advantage of the chaos to shout that there were dark secrets behind the outsourcing of the cafeteria, while the surrounding female students chattered incessantly, asking each other questions, making this group of people who couldn't take care of themselves stand awkwardly on the spot, at a loss for what to do.

  The commotion in the university is rarely seen, usually at most you can see a couple hugging and kissing in a corner, or two girls fighting over a guy on the lawn. But this time it's such a big commotion that it's almost like a cultural festival. When they squeezed out of the crowd, there were people packed tightly inside and outside, all with their heads bobbing up and down, it was even more lively than usual meal times. Si Mu Xian pulled Lei Da Peng who was reluctant to leave the excitement, and walked until they were outside the crowd. Lei Da Peng still grumbled discontentedly: "Don't pull me, don't pull me... I want to watch a bit longer."

  "You'd better not come, don't be silly and go on stage to give a speech, it's typical." Si Mu Xian pulled hard, actually he was a bit worried that Lei Ge would rush onto the stage. In the past, whether it was welcoming new students or sending off old students, or students fighting and causing trouble, Lei Da Peng always came to join in the fun. Actually, Lei Da Peng did have this impulse, but at this time it was clear that the timing had passed, and the principal's Audi had also stopped, a large group of party secretaries and department heads from each department had arrived, and the commotion wouldn't last much longer. He said with a sigh: "Forget it, let's not participate, I'm hungry."

  "Let's go eat outside." Si Mu Xian said.

  "Wait a minute..." Lei Dapeng stopped, scratched his head, and asked inquiringly: "No one is going to the big stove for food today, shall we go?"

  "Aren't you looking for excitement?" Si Mu Xian glanced at the restaurant door, which was crowded with people staring at them, and it was clear that they wouldn't be able to get in. But unexpectedly, Lei Da Peng chuckled and whispered: "That's not necessarily true, the boss said, what others can't think of, we can eat... I'm telling you, today is a good opportunity to eat for free..."

  He whispered a few words, and Simu Xian listened, looking at Lei Dapeng in surprise. It's said that smart people often do stupid things, while stupid people occasionally do something smart. Lei Dapeng sometimes lacks insight, but he's not stupid to the point of no return. For example, this method might just work.

  Si Mu Xian was still in doubt, Lei Da Peng had already pulled him to the back door of the cafeteria. When they arrived at the entrance, he let Si Mu Xian stand there and took a tray to lift the curtain and enter. Just then, he met a group of chefs wearing white aprons and hats, their faces as bitter as cucumbers, all looking alike.

  They looked like they were discussing a countermeasure. As soon as Lei Dapeng entered, the director asked vaguely: "What's going on?"

  "I'm hungry, let's go get some food. There are too many people in front and we can't get in." Lei Dapeng said bluntly, with an expression that was both honest and silly. The cafeteria staff slightly moved their eyes, but one person couldn't change the situation after all, especially someone who seemed to have a bit of a mental problem. No one paid attention to him, and the dean was probably worried about how to explain things to the school and students.

  Sometimes, the most annoying thing is to tell the truth. Lei Dapeng sincerely said: "Don't be like that, although what you've made doesn't taste good, do you have to be so grief-stricken? By the way, since all your dishes are going to be thrown away today, it's better to throw them into my stomach!"

  There's one good thing about stupid people, normal people won't argue with them. Once they see what kind of person they are, they'll just wave their hand and say "You go ahead and do it yourself." They won't bother to deal with this kind of foolish person anymore.

  Lei Dapeng happily exclaimed and rushed to the large stainless steel bucket, scooped up two bowls of rice with a ladle, and saw that the masters were so worried that they didn't even bother to ask him for money. He smiled and ran out of the cafeteria with the bowls. As soon as he left the door, he handed one bowl to Sui Xian Di and smiled: "Look, all meat dishes, free food, they're so worried that they didn't even ask me for money... Hehe... Let's go back to the dormitory to eat, tonight Lao Da will take us fishing and catching turtles. Staying in school is suffocating me..."

  Lei Dapeng's mouth was crooked with laughter, Si Moxian smiled and shook his head, holding the basin and feeling that something was funny.

  While walking and eating, not far away, the strike was still going on. After a few steps, Lei Dapeng stuffed food into his mouth, and when he got excited, he didn't forget to raise his fist and shout: "Unity is strength... Support the strike..."

  After shouting a few times, the voice was as loud as a horse's neigh, and it was a bit too special to be among the students. It probably caught the attention of the student office. Si Mu Xian saw someone looking over here, so he quickly pulled Lei Da Peng, who was blindly following suit, and the two of them held their rice bowls and rushed back to the dormitory in a flash...