81: Chapter 81 University Town Food Street

Hu Gualing was lost in thought. When he finally came back to his senses, he realized that Zhang Zhongqing and Wu Yingying had been talking for quite a while.

The two didn't avoid him while chatting, but he hadn't paid much attention to what they were discussing. He just seemed to hear things like "New Materials" and "Production," which he guessed were related to some project they were working on, though he wasn't interested.

High-tech stuff or whatever—as long as it couldn't be used in the game, it was meaningless to him.

...

After finishing his conversation with Wu Yingying, Zhang Zhongqing pulled Hu Gualing aside to say a few words. He didn't act like the experts on TV, pointing fingers with an air of superiority. Instead, he told Hu Gualing very kindly that although the hobby of Forging was quite obscure and might not have much practical use in the current social environment, a hobby is a hobby precisely because it doesn't need to be practical—as long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters.

Additionally, if Hu Gualing wanted to discuss anything in this field or needed social resources related to it in the future, he was more than welcome to approach him.

Hu Gualing agreed, feeling flattered. Although he had already felt quite overwhelmed after understanding the Forging process of that low-alloy steel knife and didn't think he would trouble Teacher Zhang again, he couldn't help but keep this kindness in his heart, intending to repay it if an opportunity arose in the future.

After leaving the Materials Research Institute, Hu Gualing was driven by Wu Yingying to a shopping mall to buy some clothes, replacing the conspicuous team leader uniform he was wearing.

After leaving the mall, the two then arrived at the University Town's Food Street.

The long food street was filled with many small restaurants, but of course, the most numerous were the snack stalls lining both sides of the road.

The people walking on the street were all young men and women, dressed fashionably and mostly holding trendy Apple phones. They walked together, chatting about interesting things happening at school, or what new movies were out in theaters, or what new events were happening in games.

Although the street was crowded, there was no sign of anxiety on their faces. Their steps were leisurely, and from time to time, they would stop at a stall, order a snack, and wait in line in a relaxed manner.

Hu Gualing smelled the interwoven aromas of various snacks and listened to the various topics they discussed, feeling both unfamiliar and intrigued.

While Hu Gualing was slightly distracted, Wu Yingying, who was walking in front, turned around without warning and grabbed his wrist. "Keep up, don't get lost."

Hu Gualing was stunned and was pulled along in a daze for a few steps, arriving in front of a stall selling takoyaki.

"Two orders of cheese takoyaki."

Wu Yingying held up two fingers and said to the owner. After she finished, she seemed to remember something and looked at Hu Gualing, asking, "Hey, you don't have any dietary restrictions, do you?"

"N-no." Hu Gualing felt a bit self-conscious. Cheese was one of those foreign things he had only seen on the internet; it seemed to be something like cream? He didn't know if he would be used to eating it...

"That's fine then." Wu Yingying scanned the code to pay. "By the way, don't let the teacher's lively chat with you fool you; he's actually not talkative at all. If the Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters knew that the teacher talked to you so much, they would definitely be jealous of you." While waiting for the food, Wu Yingying couldn't help but laugh when talking about Zhang Zhongqing.

"Really?" Hu Gualing didn't quite believe it. Teacher Zhang was so kind and amiable to him, an outsider—could he really be cold to his own students?

"Of course it is. The teacher rarely talks. He only speaks more when guiding us in experiments. It's rare to see him chat so freely like he did today, which means he really thinks highly of you," Wu Yingying said.

From her eyes and tone, Hu Gualing sensed a hint of praise and felt a bit embarrassed. "It's not thinking highly of me; maybe it's just because we talked about hobbies that Teacher Zhang said a few extra words."

Wu Yingying nodded and confirmed, "That is also a reason. After all, whenever we see the teacher wanting to do Forging, we all avoid him for fear of getting involved. I guess it's hard for the teacher to find someone who appreciates his work."

"But then again, you know martial arts, you can read blueprints, and you even know such an obscure craft as Forging. Knowing so many things, why did you think of coming to the factory to be a security guard?"

Speaking of this, Wu Yingying suddenly stared straight at Hu Gualing, her eyes carrying a sense of scrutiny.

Hu Gualing's heart skipped a beat. Was she starting to suspect something?

The reason he became a security guard was indeed as he had told Zhang Zhongqing earlier—he couldn't find any other work to do.

But combined with the abilities he had shown, it was indeed hard not to make people suspicious.

Others were fine; like Team Leader Shen Ming, Zhang Zhongqing, and the others, they didn't know him very well, so he could bluff his way through.

But Wu Yingying was different; she had been by his side since the incident happened.

Over the past day or two, everything unusual he had displayed had been seen by her...

Hu Gualing didn't know what to do.

He didn't want to lie to Wu Yingying.

And he didn't want to reveal the Fantasy Jianghu game right now...

For a moment, his gaze began to dodge.

Seeing his flustered and guilty awkwardness, Wu Yingying tilted her head, a playful smile hanging on the corner of her mouth.

She quickly put away her smile and asked sternly, "Confess honestly, what exactly are you planning by coming here to be a security guard? Are you hiding some bad intentions?"

Hu Gualing was stunned and blurted out in return, "What bad intentions could I have?"

Wu Yingying frowned and asked unwillingly, "You really aren't plotting anything? For example... do you have your eye on some girl in the factory?"

Hu Gualing said without even thinking, "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"No, I mean, where are you hearing these rumors from? Besides, the factory is full of aunties; where would there be any young girls?"

Wu Yingying wrinkled her nose and snorted, her tone unfriendly. "From what you're saying, you're complaining that there are no young girls in the factory, right? Should I ask my dad to hire a few quickly?"

Hu Gualing couldn't understand why Wu Yingying's thoughts jumped so much, but he could hear that this was definitely not asking for his opinion, so he answered honestly, "Young Miss Yingying, please stop testing me. I haven't even thought about any girls at all."

"It's best if you haven't." Wu Yingying rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned her head to watch the owner make the takoyaki, ignoring Hu Gualing.

Leaving Hu Gualing confused and completely bewildered.

He couldn't figure out why, just a second ago, Wu Yingying looked like she was interrogating a criminal and was clearly suspicious of something, yet the next second she asked such a question.

Joining the factory as a security guard for a girl? What kind of inexplicable question is that?

What a strange train of thought.

Hu Gualing shook his head.

Although he couldn't guess Wu Yingying's thoughts, at least it meant she hadn't suspected the real point. It was just a false alarm earlier, which could be considered a good thing...

"Two orders of cheese takoyaki, all done!"

Following the owner's call, Wu Yingying took two paper boxes and handed one over. "Take it, let's go."

Hu Gualing took the paper box.

In the small box, there were six golden-yellow balls. On top of the balls, white, strip-like goo was squeezed out as if it were cream; this must be the legendary cheese.

Besides the cheese, there was a layer of thin shavings that looked like wood chips sprinkled on top. Most importantly, these things seemed like living creatures, moving constantly in the box...

Hu Gualing's eye twitched; he didn't quite dare to eat this thing and looked up at Wu Yingying.

But he saw that she had already put a whole ball into her mouth, chewing with her eyes closed, looking as if she were enjoying it very much.

Seeing this, Hu Gualing didn't want to show weakness, so he picked up a ball with a bamboo skewer and bit into it.

Soon, his serious expression relaxed.

The ball was soft and sticky. Biting it open with his teeth, he felt a rich seafood flavor, which, combined with the sweet and sour taste of the cheese, melted throughout his mouth.

As for those thin shavings that looked like wood chips, he tasted them carefully; they seemed to be some kind of dried fish flakes.

This thing... is actually quite delicious.

Hu Gualing ate one after another, keeping up with Wu Yingying's pace.

By the time he finished the takoyaki in the box, Wu Yingying had already found the next snack.

The two of them wandered and ate like this, and before they knew it, they had walked the entire snack street back and forth.

Hu Gualing had lost count of how many kinds of snacks he had eaten. Although the portion of each item wasn't much, eating all this, plus the fact that Wu Yingying would say she was full after only a couple of bites of some snacks, meant he had to help finish them so as not to waste food.

Therefore, even with his superhuman appetite, his stomach was now bulging, and he couldn't eat anything else.

On the other hand, Wu Yingying still had energy left; even now, she was holding a cup of milk tea, sipping it in small mouthfuls.

As for paying, naturally, Wu Yingying scanned the code to pay the whole way.

Hu Gualing had wanted to pay, but the only two hundred yuan in his phone had all been sent as red envelopes to group members when he was happy, so now he was truly penniless.

But it didn't matter; he still had fifty thousand yuan being kept by Wu Yingying. Once he was discharged from the hospital and got this fifty thousand yuan back, he could just pay back the money spent on clothes and food today.

Moreover, this kind of life experience where he didn't have to pay for anything himself, and could be said to have everything provided for him, seemed quite fascinating...

After finishing the snack street tour and taking Hu Gualing back to the hospital, Wu Yingying went downstairs to drive.

Sitting in the driver's seat, in the gap between igniting and starting the car, Wu Yingying suddenly thought that Hu Gualing was her nominal driver, but after this whole day, she was the one doing everything—driving, leading the way, and buying things—while Hu Gualing didn't care about anything. He had a very easy time being a driver.

Wu Yingying thought, smiled, stepped on the accelerator, and started the car.