As usual, he ate slowly, taking a bite, chatting, and looking out the window. When the last guest left, a few portly men in the second-floor box, who looked like they were there on public funds to indulge, smoked away with rosy cheeks.
It's fine to eat at home, but whenever they eat out, Zhang Yan acts like this. It was only after their son was born that they changed. From then on, until the child went to kindergarten, they spent all their time playing with him while eating.
The old lady behind the counter was also very patient. She asked a young girl to bring an alcohol burner over and, after asking a few questions, poured all the dishes except the carp into the burner to heat them up. This was the advantage of a small restaurant: if the proprietress was in a good mood, the service would definitely be five-star.
As usual, although the pace was slow, the appetite was not small. It took nearly two hours, and Feng Yiping ate three bowls of rice. Zhang Yan, as the main eater, polished off all the dishes.
Seeing this scene, Feng Yiping naturally thought of the way his son patted his belly after eating his fill, and couldn't help but laugh.
Zhang Yan was a little embarrassed, 'Why is it that every time I'm with you, I always eat so much?'
'It's a blessing to be able to eat, wipe your mouth,' Feng Yiping handed her a napkin, 'if you're afraid to even eat, what's the point of living?'
'Luckily, I don't gain weight even if I eat a lot,' Zhang Yan said, crossing her arms, probably to check if there was any excess fat on her waist.
In Feng Yiping's limited sample statistics, there were really only a handful of students in their area who could still gain weight if they were boarding students below university level.
'I've already taken one class, do you want to take another one so I can take a walk to digest?' Zhang Yan's work was all set, and she was still at school, so it really was just for a diploma, and missing one or two classes didn't matter much.
'Okay,' Zhang Yan agreed without much thought.
'Where to?' Feng Yiping asked.
'Let's go to the river. It's a nice day,' Zhang Yan said.
Then instead of taking another lesson, they simply didn't go to class that afternoon.
They didn't do much either, just drove along the river, found a nice beach, sat under a willow tree, basked in the warm sunshine, felt the gentle breeze, and talked endlessly.
They talked, but it was mainly Zhang Yan talking and Feng Yiping listening, one talking for an hour or two, the other listening for an hour or two.
Zhang Yan talked about her classmates, her best friends, her younger brother, her cousins, her male cousins, dancing at the opening ceremony of the county's tea festival, some people at school, a fight with a group of secondary school students, and a girl in the next class who made three boys fight for her.
When they returned to the city, Feng Yiping realised that he really couldn't remember what Zhang Yan had said in those two hours. He just felt that the time had passed too quickly. Before he knew it, the sun was about to set. He had been quite happy just now, and was still happy now.
It felt like going to the park together after they got married, except that Feng Yiping wasn't as perfunctory as he had been back then. In fact, girls don't expect much at times like this. It doesn't matter if you listen with one ear and talk with the other. It's enough to look like you're listening.
For example, Zhang Yan has been telling him about his cousins for more than ten years, but Feng Yiping has never been able to put a face to the names. They don't usually interact, except for the occasional meal together during the Spring Festival. Why bother?
'I'll just wait here,' Zhang Yan said, in front of a Postal Savings Bank that could be seen from the normal school.
'You haven't had class all afternoon. Is everything okay with the teacher?'
'It's fine. I can handle it.'
'Okay, take care of yourself,' Feng Yiping said.
'Be careful on your way back, don't rush,'
Yang Xun would be very puzzled if he knew the details of today. Apart from eating, they had been chatting the whole afternoon, but they hadn't even said a word of "love talk" or said anything that hinted at the topic.
He vaguely saw Zhang Yan walk up to the front of the school, and it looked like he waved his hand towards them. Feng Yiping drove to the only supermarket in the county, went around, bought some things, and returned to the restaurant.
The restaurant was not yet busy at this time. A cook and a few waitresses sat at a table playing cards. The proprietress sat lazily behind the counter, as if playing a game on the computer. When she saw a Mercedes Benz pull in, she thought business was coming in, but when she saw Feng Yiping get out of the car, she was a little surprised. Although it was almost time for dinner, it had only been less than three hours since you had lunch.
'Hello, boss,' Feng Yiping greeted her with a smile, "I want to discuss something with you," and he placed two unopened thermal lunch boxes on the counter. "My sister, who studies to be a teacher, had lunch with me today. The food at school is terrible, so I want to order meals for her from you. Is that okay?'
'Sure, have a seat," the bossess greeted Feng Yiping warmly, as if there was still business to be done.
'You don't need to worry about breakfast, just lunch and dinner, one meat dish, one vegetable dish and a steamed egg. Starting tonight, you will deliver to the school gate. I will pay 500 yuan a month. What do you think?'
'500 yuan and free delivery? That's too little!' one of the waitresses interjected.
'They have at least 8 days off each month, so you will only be responsible for about 40 meals. On average, that's just over 10 yuan per meal, so it's a sure profit, don't you think so, boss?'
'600 yuan, 600 yuan is fine,' the boss said.
'I've seen that your service is quite good at lunchtime, so I haven't gone to any other restaurant. 500 yuan a month is fine, and I'll pay for half a year in advance, right now. If you're not satisfied, I'll find another restaurant. You should know that at this level, you can also buy a very good lunch box in a first-tier city,' Feng Yiping got up to leave, not wanting to be ripped off just because he saw that I drive a nice car.
'Wait a minute,' the boss's wife stopped him. 'When I was little, why didn't I have a brother who loved me as much as you do? Since you care so much about your sister, 500 it is!'
A businessman is a businessman. Even though he was obviously making a profit, he pretended that he was doing this business at a loss because he saw how deep your brother and sister's love was.
Although it was only 3,000 yuan, Feng Yiping still signed a preliminary agreement with the restaurant. Small businesses are also businesses, and small money is also money.
Zhang Yan, of course, didn't know anything about this at the time. As soon as she entered the school gate, she was pulled aside by her best friend.
'Why are you only back now?' Yang Yan grabbed Zhang Yan on the playground. 'Do you know that in the first lesson this afternoon, Lu Pengcheng complained to the class teacher. I said that you had an emergency at home, but he said that you were having dinner with someone on the street.'
'What did Teacher Yang say?' Zhang Yan was not too worried. The teacher training school was not a junior high school, and besides, she had always done well. Lu Pengcheng, on the other hand, was a thorn in the side of the teachers in the class. If it weren't for his father, he would have received countless punishments.
'Teacher Yang said that of course you have to eat during mealtimes,' Yang Xuan said with a laugh. 'She also said that sometimes eating is an urgent matter,'
Zhang Yan laughed as she listened. She could now imagine the expression on Lu Pengcheng's face at the time.
'I'll go find Teacher Yang,'
The homeroom teacher didn't really criticise her, just saying that it wouldn't happen again and that she would lose conduct points. In fact, as long as it wasn't too extreme, teachers nowadays are very understanding, after all, these students will be entering society in just over a year's time.
'Didn't she criticise you much?' Yang Xuan asked with concern as she waited outside, then lowered her voice, "What on earth did you do that kept you there all afternoon?'
'Look, some classmates have gone to the cafeteria, hurry up and get in line," Zhang Yan pushed her best friend.
'What about you?'
'I'm not very hungry, I don't want to eat,'
But when Yang Xuan finally got her food after waiting in line for more than ten minutes, and returned to the dormitory, she found Zhang Yan taking food out of a lunchbox: a piece of braised pork, some scallion tofu, and a steamed egg.
'Wow, where did this come from, it smells so good!'
Zhang Yan beamed, 'It was sent by a restaurant on the street,'