248: Chapter 248 Taking a Seat

But just a moment ago, when Song Xiaoqin heard Ye Chen's girlfriend, Cai Miner, mention the manure water, he suddenly understood what was going on.

It turned out that Cai Miner thought the vegetables from his field were grown using manure water, making them unclean, dirty, and something that would offend others if given as a gift.

Song Xiaoqin could no longer hold it in. Farming was his family's business—perhaps "business" wasn't the right word for those few plots of land, but regardless, his family had managed to scrape their way into a moderately well-off life through diligent and conscientious farming. It was what allowed him and his brother to get an education. Just like his parents, he held a sense of gratitude toward farming and never cut corners. In an era where everyone generally used chemical fertilizers, the fact that his family insisted on using manure water to irrigate their vegetable fields was one of the proofs that they never cut corners. After all, who didn't know that chemical fertilizers were convenient? As long as you were careful with the ratios to avoid burning the seedlings, you could greatly increase crop yields. But his family not only refused to use chemical fertilizers unless absolutely necessary, they even built a manure treatment station specifically to process waste collected from nearby villages to use as fertilizer for their own fields. Even though many mocked them for not knowing how to keep up with the times, and some even called them stupid, his family persisted in this thankless task. Wasn't it all because of their professional integrity and their desire to grow authentic, green, natural vegetables?

But now, this professional integrity and persistence were being dismissed as dirty and unclean. Song Xiaoqin could no longer hold it in. Even though the other party was a girl, and Ye Chen's girlfriend at that, he didn't care about such things and unhesitatingly retorted.

"What's wrong with manure water? So what if the vegetables from my field are grown with manure water? Aren't vegetables grown with manure water better than these malnourished, stunted seedlings?" Song Xiaoqin stared straight at Cai Miner, pointing his finger at the small vegetables growing in the private room. In his view, these vegetables couldn't even compare to those grown in his own fields, let alone those grown by others using chemical fertilizers. He hadn't said it directly earlier only out of respect for Ye Chen's Face. However, precisely because he saw Ye Chen praising such low-grade vegetables, he felt that Ye Chen must have never eaten real green vegetables, so he couldn't help but want him to taste some. Who knew that his good intentions would result in being scolded by Ye Chen's girlfriend, Cai Miner, who even called the vegetables grown by his family dirty things? It really infuriated him!

Under Song Xiaoqin's direct, unblinking stare, Cai Miner felt a trace of inexplicable guilt.

Song Xiaoqin was of medium height, with a simple, honest appearance and a slightly tanned complexion. Even if one didn't know his family were farmers, his appearance would easily lead people to that conclusion. So, when Song Xiaoqin frowned with his thick, dark eyebrows and retorted, Cai Miner felt a bit in the wrong. However, the next second, she felt a slight sense of shame for her reaction. 'He's just a farmer, how could I possibly be afraid of him?'

Cai Miner thought this, and the disdainful look resurfaced in her slightly constricted pupils. Glancing sideways at Song Xiaoqin, she parted her red lips and spoke disdainfully: "You don't need to be so worked up. I'm not targeting you, and I have no interest in targeting you. I'm just speaking the truth. Manure water is inherently dirty. Vegetables grown with it might be edible, but I, for one, would never eat them." Speaking of this, Cai Miner shook her head, then raised a finger to point at the vegetables growing in their private room. "If it were just that, it would be fine; I can't control what you choose to eat. But you actually had the audacity to compare the vegetables grown in your field with those here at the Huanghe Hotel. Do you know what this place is? This is the most expensive hotel in all of Jiangnan. My Brother Chen spent five figures just to book this private room! I really don't know where you get the courage to compare the vegetables grown with manure water from your field to the green vegetables in this Huanghe Hotel!"

"Damn, five figures!?"

"Let me count: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands. The room fee is over ten thousand?"

"Is that for real? Just booking one private room costs that much money?"

"No wonder the waiter was so polite to Brother Chen just now. He must get quite a commission just from the room fee!"

"..."

The classmates present were keeping quiet, watching the drama between Cai Miner and Song Xiaoqin, but the price of the room revealed in her words shocked them greatly. Some couldn't help but exclaim, while others counted on their fingers, unable to believe that a private room could cost ten thousand. Even those from well-off families couldn't believe that a room rental fee alone would cost ten thousand—that was enough for a month's rent on a large 300-400 square meter apartment. Yet they were only eating here for a few hours, and apart from some vegetables, they couldn't take anything with them. In other words, they hadn't even started eating, and ten thousand yuan was already gone. No matter how you looked at it, it was unimaginably extravagant.

Although everyone knew Ye Chen was treating them today and that his family was wealthy, seeing the consumption level required just to book a dining room still exceeded their expectations. They couldn't help but look at Ye Chen with astonishment and envy, and at the same time, they truly realized why the Huanghe Hotel was a landmark in the most prosperous area of Jiangnan. This extended to their re-evaluation of the value of the vegetables planted in the room.

Since they grew in such an awesome place, regardless of whether they were delicious or truly organic, they couldn't simply be viewed as vegetables based on their status. In that sense, what Ye Chen's girlfriend said made some sense. Given Ye Chen's status, he could give the vegetables grown at the Huanghe Hotel as a gift, but it wouldn't be appropriate to give vegetables grown in Song Xiaoqin's field.

However, while that might be the conclusion, the remarks made by Ye Chen's girlfriend, Cai Miner, were inappropriate. Even if she didn't like the vegetables grown by Song Xiaoqin's family, she could have politely declined; there was no need to belittle others to the point of worthlessness, even using words like "dirty." Anyone would find that hurtful. Still, out of respect for Ye Chen, everyone found it difficult to say anything about Cai Miner's behavior, only shaking their heads silently with complex expressions when their eyes met hers while looking at Ye Chen.

Ye Chen felt the astonishment and envy in the classmates' eyes and couldn't help but feel a secret sense of satisfaction. However, now was not the time to show off. He reached out, put his arm around Cai Miner, and whispered a few words into her ear. Everyone couldn't hear clearly what was said, but it appeared to be Ye Chen telling Cai Miner to let it go and stop arguing. From Cai Miner's expression, she was clearly still very unconvinced, but she just turned her head away with an impatient look, unwilling to listen further, though she didn't continue speaking. It seemed Ye Chen's persuasion had been very effective.

After persuading Cai Miner, Ye Chen patted her shoulder gently and turned to Song Xiaoqin. "Xiaoqin, I really don't look down on your family's vegetables. I saw the photos just now, and I think your family's vegetables are quite good, but... you see how it is. So, I appreciate your good intentions, but let's just drop the vegetable matter. Let's just consider today's incident settled. I owe you a favor. If you have anything you need in the future, just call me, okay?" Having been made very awkward by his girlfriend earlier, Ye Chen said this apologetically to him.

Song Xiaoqin had been quite unconvinced. Even if what Cai Miner said was true—that the Huanghe Hotel was awesome and expensive—that didn't mean the vegetables grown here were good. Judging from his experience helping his family farm since childhood, the vegetables grown in the private room were from specially cultivated seeds. They didn't grow very large, but were small, exquisite, and looked good. But that was the extent of it. These seeds were cultivated to lean towards ornamental crops. Plus, the layer of soil in the room was very limited, providing little fertility, so most were grown using chemical fertilizers. These vegetables couldn't possibly taste very good. Comparing this stuff to the vegetables his family painstakingly grew with manure water made Song Xiaoqin feel like his family's vegetables were being insulted. Just as he was about to argue properly with Cai Miner, he heard Ye Chen say those sincere words. His anger dissipated significantly, and he said to Ye Chen quite moved: "Brother Chen, don't be so polite. Among classmates, why talk about favors? Besides, I just wanted you to taste the vegetables I grew at home, not for money or anything else. It was purely a gesture of goodwill. Don't overthink it."

"Yes, yes, yes, good classmate."

The small interlude came to an end, but Cai Miner's Face had turned cold. It seemed it would be very difficult for her to smile during the meal today.

Just then, there was movement at the door. After three knocks, waiters walked in carrying colorful dishes.

"The food is here. Everyone, please take your seats," Wang Chao called out.

"Alright, alright!" It was already past twelve, and everyone was a bit hungry. Moreover, the Huanghe Hotel was indeed not living up to its reputation in name only; there was a reason it was so expensive. Every dish the waiters brought in was colorful and incredibly bright, steaming hot. The fresh, savory scent directly tickled everyone's appetites. Some people's stomachs had even started growling. Hearing this sound, everyone looked at each other with some curiosity, but since they were all crowded together, they couldn't find out which guy was hungry to that extent. Finding nothing, everyone didn't take it too seriously, just finding it funny. Only Chen Mo touched his stomach calmly.

'It seems the barbecue I ate before leaving wasn't enough to keep me full at all...'

Chen Mo followed everyone to the dining area and found that there were two tables there. The two tables were identical, both exceptionally large, easily seating over twenty people.

Seeing that the classmates were choosing to sit with those they were close to, Chen Mo didn't know who he should sit with. After all, in class, he hadn't offended anyone nor actively befriended anyone, and his relationship with everyone was about the same. He simply stood at the back, thinking he would wait until everyone was seated and then find an empty seat.

And there was one other person standing still, just like Chen Mo: Song Xiaoqin.

He had just had a conflict with Ye Chen's girlfriend, Cai Miner. Even though Ye Chen had stepped in to temporarily resolve the conflict, Song Xiaoqin still felt some resentment in his heart. So he followed Chen Mo's example and stood at the back, wanting to see which table Ye Chen and his girlfriend Cai Miner would sit at, and then he would go sit at the other table.

Ye Chen, as the class monitor and the initiator of this gathering, looked around with a good sense of the big picture to see if anyone was missing. Upon looking, he saw Chen Mo and Song Xiaoqin standing at the back and hurried over. "Brother Mo, come over and sit quickly. You don't like to interact with us in class, but today, since we have the chance, we must sit together and have a good drink!" As Ye Chen spoke, he pulled Chen Mo to sit at his table. Chen Mo, a social phobe, rarely experienced gatherings of this scale, and even if he attended banquets, he acted as an obscure eating machine. He had never been treated so enthusiastically, so with no experience in such interpersonal interactions, he didn't know how to respond and let Ye Chen arrange for him to sit by his side.

As soon as Ye Chen arranged for Chen Mo, he hurriedly pulled Song Xiaoqin over with his other hand, saying: "Xiaoqin, don't just stand there, come over and sit quickly, time to eat." He did this because his girlfriend, Cai Miner, and Song Xiaoqin had just had a conflict. He was afraid that if Song Xiaoqin sat at the other table, the other classmates would really think there was a rift between them. So he pulled Song Xiaoqin over as well, pushed him into a seat, and then looked around. Seeing that everyone was seated, Ye Chen sat down himself.