"Hey, classmate, are you selling this spot?"
"Wha- What?"
"My sister hasn't been feeling well lately and hasn't been eating much. She just wants a few soup dumplings, but it's a bit too late to queue now. I'm worried she'll go hungry, so I wanted to make a deal with you. Can you let me have this spot? I'll give you 100 yuan!"
"Ah? This... isn't it kind of wrong?"
"It's fine, it's fine! You must have worked hard to come and queue so early, so consider this money as compensation for your effort!"
"I..."
"Just take it, thanks, buddy!"
"..."
In just a few minutes, Lu Shuwu successfully "exchanged" spots with a student for 100 yuan.
The students in line behind watched from start to finish but didn't say a word.
After all, to the people queuing up behind, the original person in line voluntarily stepped out and let someone else take the spot. Their position in line didn't change, and there wasn't an extra person in front of them.
Moreover, he even spent money on it!
Some were secretly envious, wondering why this person didn't want to swap places with them.
A spot for 100 yuan; you could eat soup dumplings for days with that.
Lu Shuwu, of course, didn't know what others were thinking; he was full of pride while standing in the long line.
There were only seven or eight people ahead of him. It wouldn't be long before it was his turn.
To get this forward spot, he only spent 100 yuan; what a bargain!
Standing at a distance, Lu Shuyao was in a daze; she never expected her second brother to merely have a chat with a student, and that student voluntarily stepped out and gave the spot to her second brother.
She was too far to hear what they were talking about, but she clearly saw the hundred-yuan bill her second brother took from his pocket...
Smart as she was, she could guess the rough process without much thought.
Her unreliable second brother had done something unreliable again.
He actually brought social tactics into the school cafeteria.
A little thought, and Lu Shuyao could imagine that maybe soon there would be "scalpers" even in the school cafeteria for buying buns...
...
"Sour and spicy soup is a widely spread dish in the South, because of the hot and humid summers there, people often lose their appetite.
And the sour and spicy soup, with its appetizing sour and spicy flavor, is nutritious, can remove moisture and stimulate appetite, and deservedly becomes a beloved dish."
In a corner of the cafeteria hall, Lu Shuwu was talking eagerly to Lu Shuyao while eating soup dumplings.
Though he wasn't very good at cooking, he came from a family famous for Xiang cuisine. Having been exposed to it since he was a child, he had some understanding of the special dishes from each cuisine.
Furthermore, as someone who aspired to taste the world's delicacies, he needed to know the dishes to appreciate their wonderful flavors.
"Nowadays, most places in the country make sour and spicy soup, and the methods are different, the ingredients aren't fixed. But a well-made sour and spicy soup must be sour, spicy, salty, fresh, and fragrant; all essential and indispensable."
Although sometimes Lu Shuyao felt her second brother was unreliable, when he got serious, she found him quite handsome.
At that moment, she sat quietly opposite her second brother, listening intently to him talking.
"Since I started university, I've traveled a lot and tasted many sour and spicy soups. However, those that are fully sour, spicy, salty, fresh, and fragrant, with each flavor perfectly matched, I've only encountered twice."
"Was Grandpa's one of them?"
Lu Shuyao blinked her big eyes, curiously asking, "Who made the other one?"
Lu Shuwu frowned, sighed with a troubled face:
"Having a beautiful and smart sister is such a miserable experience, you leave me nothing to say?"
"Hurry up and say it, hurry up and say it!"
"You're right. The sour and spicy soup Grandpa personally cooked is, of course, a worldly delicacy."
Lu Shuwu stopped teasing her, smiling as he said, "As for the other time, someone as smart as you should have guessed even if I didn't say."
Lu Shuyao thought for a moment and tentatively asked, "Are you talking about Grandpa Zhang in Sichuan?"
"Besides Sichuan's 'Shuxiang Building' Zhang Bingkun, Mr. Zhang, I guess there aren't many who can measure up to our Grandpa."
Lu Shuwu laughed, picked up his bowl to drink the remaining sour and spicy soup in one gulp, smacked his lips, and said with a little nostalgia,
"That time, there was a gathering of the old folks. Grandpa Zhang, feeling inspired, wanted to see if his culinary skills had declined over the years by comparing them to Grandpa's. Though Sichuan and Xiang cuisines are quite different, sour and spicy soup is practically similar, so they both made a pot of it using the same ingredients.
Once they finished cooking, the whole kitchen was filled with a fragrant and tempting aroma of sour and spicy. Everyone present was like soldiers in battle, yelling and scrambling to get the soup.
I was quick enough to get half a bowl of soup from each of the two. The taste was something I'd never forget for a lifetime!"
"Really? It's such a pity I wasn't there," Lu Shuyao said with a face full of regret.
Lu Shuwu chuckled, "What's there to pity? You're enjoying that same kind of deliciousness now, aren't you?"
Lu Shuyao looked at the empty soup bowl in front of her, then up at Lu Shuwu, her face filled with surprise and a bit of disbelief, her mouth slightly open:
"You mean..."
"I wasn't lying to you. When I took the first sip, I almost thought I was back home, drinking the soup Grandpa personally made."
With a hint of vagueness on his face, Lu Shuwu quickly brushed it off, took a deep breath, and continued,
"This sour and spicy soup is noticeably inferior to the ingredients Grandpa used.
The ingredients here are lean pork, dried shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, dried black fungus, silken tofu, and tomatoes, whereas Grandpa used top-quality ham, boletus, matsutake, fresh black fungus, spring bamboo shoots, and lactone tofu.
Even so, this sour and spicy soup still achieves the balance of sour, spicy, salty, fresh, and fragrant; its deliciousness doesn't fall short of the soup Grandpa made."
Lu Shuyao suddenly asked, "Why?"
"What?"
"I mean, he didn't use as good ingredients as Grandpa did, so how could he make sour and spicy soup that's as delicious as Grandpa's?"
"Why indeed?"
Lu Shuwu was taken aback by the question, then turned to look behind him.
The front of the bun shop was still bustling, filled with people and noise, bustling with excitement.
Looking at the scene, a hint of confusion appeared in his eyes as he murmured,
"I want to know why too!"