“Lao Zhong, when you order takeout from the Braised Chicken Rice place tonight, skip my portion, yeah?”
After finishing a gaming session with his roommates, Mo Xiangwen said this while sneakily switching to his writing software to start typing away.
Guys’ dorms had this weird but genius way of eating. First, they’d grab two chairs or some random cardboard boxes from who-knows-where to use as a table for the setup.
Then one roommate would take charge and order four portions from the same shop, but different dishes for each.
Once the delivery arrived, they’d set the food in the middle, and everyone held their own boxed rice.
Round it all off, and it felt pretty much like dining out.
Part of it was the budget—eating out every day was just too pricey.
The other part was that everyone was busy queuing up for games. A round trip to the commercial street meant missing out on a ton of matches.
Plus, in the dorm, no one had to move. Just wait for delivery.
For lazy college kids, that was huge.
Even if one unlucky guy had to go downstairs to grab the food, it was just one person. The rest stayed comfy.
“What’s up? If you want something else, we can order from somewhere different,” Zhong Taihong replied without looking back. “We’ve had their stuff enough times anyway. Time for a change.”
The reason they kept ordering from this Braised Chicken Rice spot wasn’t just the taste. The boss there actually gave extra rice boxes when asked—no questions.
Besides, it wasn’t just braised chicken. They had cumin beef, spicy chicken, and all that.
“Nah, main thing is I’ve got stuff to do later and need to head out,” Mo Xiangwen shook his head. “You three enjoy.”
Xi Shaojie suddenly snuck up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder. “What could be more important than food? Eat first, then go.”
It startled Mo Xiangwen so bad he quickly tabbed back to the game screen.
“What’s that software, Lao Mo?” Xi Shaojie asked, puzzled. “Why’d you switch so fast? I didn’t even get a good look.”
“Good stuff, don’t ask.” Mo Xiangwen chuckled and shoved the nosy head away.
“Damn, good stuff is exactly what I wanna see!” Xi Shaojie grumbled.
“Good stuff about what?” Zhong Taihong perked up like he’d caught a key word, suddenly on alert. “You hiding something good, huh?”
“2D stuff, galgame—you know what that is?” Mo Xiangwen laughed and cursed him out. “You guys don’t play this type anyway. Scram.”
“Oh, 2D? Never mind then.” Xi Shaojie shook his head and walked off.
Zhong Taihong lost all interest in a flash and dropped the questioning.
The usually quiet Qin Yongfeng suddenly spoke up. “What are you playing?”
“Not playing. Just checking out a new release.”
“No good new ones out lately,” Qin Yongfeng shook his head. “Better wait a bit.”
“Oh, alright then.”
Mo Xiangwen let out a relieved breath. Dodging their questions like that—if his roommates found out he was writing a novel, his college life might as well be over.
“So what’s this super important thing? Not going on a date with some girl, right?” Zhong Taihong tossed out casually.
“Can’t you think of anything besides girls?” Mo Xiangwen sighed. “Put that brainpower into improving your game skill. You were the worst mid laner out there earlier.”
“Damn, that’s ’cause your jungling sucked!” Zhong Taihong shot back. “Their jungler kept ganking mid. What was I supposed to do?”
“You fed their mid a 3-0 and pinged me to gank? That’d just be a double kill feed. I marked it way ahead—you were the one pretending otherwise.”
“Then why not counter-gank?”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I was bot lane. Their bot got their flash burned by Lao Qin and Lao Xi. Had to gank there.”
“Shut it, you’re a shitty jungler.”
“Heh, I’ll show you some real teamwork with others sometime.”
“So what are you even heading out for?” Qin Yongfeng sounded baffled. “Just say it. Why keep circling around with them? When’s this gonna end?”
“Yeah, yeah, you got something to hide?” Xi Shaojie chimed in.
With no way to dodge the topic anymore, Mo Xiangwen sighed inwardly and came clean. “I’m going out to eat with someone.”
“Damn, no wonder you skipped takeout with the bros.” Xi Shaojie laughed and cursed. Then he frowned. “Wait, school’s just started. You’ve been holed up in the dorm gaming with us. Haven’t seen the classmates much. Who you eating with?”
The words hung in the air, and suddenly all six eyeballs in the dorm were locked on him.
“The friend who covered my bill the other day,” Mo Xiangwen shot back, exasperated, glaring at each of them. “You guys are such gossips.”
“Oh, oh, that’s fine then.”
After wasting half the day sweet-talking them into letting him go, he didn’t forget to shut down his computer before heading out.
The moment he stepped out the dorm door, his phone buzzed with messages.
Pass One Charm: @Human-Dragon Unity, where’s Xiao Yi? You said you’d treat me and the President to Haidilao. Where are you?
Human-Dragon Unity: You guys that fast? Still half an hour left.
Don’t Play Holy Slash: Xiao Huo’s impatient, so she got here first.
Don’t Play Holy Slash: Did you book the table online? We can head in and wait.
Human-Dragon Unity: Yeah, table 8. Not sure if it’s free yet.
Don’t Play Holy Slash: It’s not that crowded. Should be open by now from half an hour ago.
Don’t Play Holy Slash: I just checked. It is.
Pass One Charm: Me and the President will grab seats and wait. Hurry up.
Human-Dragon Unity: Just order without me.
Human-Dragon Unity: I’ll cover the bill anyway.
Pass One Charm: Cool, won’t hold back then.
Human-Dragon Unity: Order whatever. I owe the President big time for that textbook she sent.
Don’t Play Holy Slash: ? Not that serious. You shipped it back, and it was in great shape.
Human-Dragon Unity: Still, gotta take good care of borrowed stuff.
Pass One Charm: Where you at?
Human-Dragon Unity: ? Just left the dorm.
Pass One Charm: Then stop chatting and move!
Human-Dragon Unity: Chill, chill.
Bai Bai: ? What’s going on?
Pass One Charm: Dinner. We planned to eat together once Xiao Yi got to H University.
Bai Bai: Jealous AF.
Pigeon: Jealous AF.
Pass One Charm: Hehe, I’d love to grab a meal with Bai Bai sometime too.
Human-Dragon Unity: For real. Would love to meet Bai Bai and Pigeon if we get the chance.
Bai Bai: Really?
Human-Dragon Unity: Really.
Bai Bai: Then I’ll keep at it!
Pass One Charm: Keep it up!
