C6 Part2

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Chapter 6.2 – The Increase of Canteen Prices in the New Semester (2)

❥❥❥

At the beginning of the new semester, one thing caused an uproar among the students——the school cateen price increased.

The No.3 Middle School has its own canteen, which is not large in scale and is mainly used by teachers and boarding students. After the morning self-study and before evening self-study, there is also day-time students1 who borrowed the boarding students’ meal cards to buy buns, eggs, pies, etc. to satisfy their hunger.

[1] Day-time students refers to the students who don’t living in the dormitory. Usually, the students are living in a dormitory provided by the school, but you can also opt not to if your house is nearby and so on.

Nan Xiangwan didn’t like going to the canteen because it’s wasting time, only occasionally asked Jiang Daling to bring some to eat. The omelet rolls and sausages sold in the canteen have always been her favorite. Things like this are sold for at least five yuan in the company’s downstairs convenience store, and the school canteen only sells it for two yuan. Don’t be too stingy.

Moreover, in her memory, what left her the deepest impression of the price increase was not the price increase itself, but the price drop after a few days, which didn’t affect the students at all. The eggs in the canteen became a little smaller, and they laughed at them for a long time.

Of course, the students in the disciplinary class didn’t know that the price would fall back within a few days. They kept talking about it all day long.

Some people say that every time school canteen is opened, the canteen quietly increased a few cents. The meal card is still inexplicably missing 20 yuan. After asking, it was said that it was the cost of the meal card, but in the beginning, it was clearly stated that the meal card didn’t cost money.

Some people say that The No.5 Middle School canteen, which is not far from here, has an egg of five cents. We eat a piece here, could it be our eggs twice as delicious as theirs?

Some people say that it is okay to increase the price, but at least let us know.

At that time, Nan Xiangwan was listening to the physics class in her mp3. The sound quality of the recording was mediocre, and a group of people was so noisy that she couldn’t hear the recording.

She took off her earphones impatiently and waved to everyone, “Okay, what’s the use of complaining here every day? Is it possible that just curse a couple of sentences here and the canteen won’t increase the price? Why don’t you post online and report it to the relevant department? You guys just love gossiping, I’m afraid that you don’t even know which department the ‘relevant department’ is. Besides, people are not as idle as you. There are so many terrible things that can’t be managed. Who would take care of your trivial things.”

Of course, the most important thing is that the price of the food in the canteen will soon fall back. They are wasting their time arguing about it here every day.

Nan Xiangwan put on the earphones again. As a person who experienced the future, she persuaded her classmates with all her heart, “You guys can focus more on your studies and find a good job in the future to earn more money. Price increase? Let them increase, I don’t care.”

Seeing that those people stopped speaking, Nan Xiangwan let out a sigh of relief, and continued to write and draw on the draft paper with a pen, “If you can’t bear this little thing, you must be mad in the future.” She couldn’t bear to tell them that it won’t be long before the streets are filled with 31 kinds of milk tea brand and forty-one snack stall, so cherish the present day.

After listening to her, Zhang Chao in the back row seemed to have thought of something and winking at Lin Xiaoran. Several people quickly gathered on the side away from Nan Xiangwan and continued to mutter.

Nan Xiangwan shook her head helplessly, “The scumbag is the scumbag, don’t think their time is precious at all.”

Nan Xiangwan thought this incident would just pass like that. She didn’t expect that after school on Friday when she rushed to go home to do her homework, Lin Xiaoran, Zhang Chao, Li Shuai, and Jiang Daling dragged her to the fried skewers stall. They said they were going to discuss big plans with her.

She reluctantly sat down on the small bench for the sake of fried skewers. However, as soon as she heard the words ‘canteen price increase’, she shook her head repeatedly.

“Why are you still struggling with this matter?”

Zhang Chao respectfully placed the deep-fried skewers on Nan Xiangwan’s plate and held the brush for the sauce to her with both hands. As he watched her brush the sauce, he heartily sighed, “I think you make a lot of sense. We can’t just talk, we must take action.”

“Huh?” Nan Xiangwan’s face changed from gloomy to sunny, then from sunny to gloomy. She sighed heavily and put down the fried skewers in her hand. She was thankful that they listened to her, she initially persuaded them to study hard, but instead, they listened to this sentence.

Li Shuai continued, “I checked. The random price increase should be under the control of the Price Bureau. However, the Price Bureau said that the price of the dishes in the school canteen are market-priced, not government-priced, so they don’t care.”

“Heh…” Nan Xiangwan couldn’t help but sneer, she had already expected this ending. She thought this matter would end here, but Lin Xiaoran lowered his voice at this moment, “So we planned an activity to invite the principal to have breakfast.”

After Lin Xiaoran finished speaking, he looked around warily and took out a stack of paper from his schoolbag.

When Nan Xiangwan saw the three words “planning book” written in bold on the cover, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. You kids, you know what a planning book is.

“You guys are really idle!” Nan Xiangwan said ironically. She turned a page absentmindedly and was stunned by the dense text and exquisite diagrams in it.

Zhang Chao said, “Three years ago, The Municipal Education Commission issued a document requiring schools to set up a fund for stabilizing food prices in student canteen, subsidizing student cafeterias based on price increases, and curbing excessive price increases.”

Li Shuai said, “According to the memories of current students and graduates, the price of the canteen of No.3 Middle School has doubled in three years, obviously rising too fast.”

Nan Xiangwan sneered, “Who do you think is willing to raise prices? Who doesn’t know that if the prices are raised, they will definitely be scolded? It is because the raw materials and personnel wages are rising, so price increases are the last resort. Who will do business at a loss?”

Nan Xiangwan just wanted to say that this report was too rigorous, Lin Xiaoran immediately turned her a page, “According to the relevant data released by the Statistics Bureau some time ago, prices were stable from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, and there was no significant increase.”

“This…” Nan Xiangwan could no longer think of any reason to refute, she even admired the action of Lin Xiaoran and others. On the contrary, she always thought there must be a reason for the price increase, and she never thought about what the reason is and whether it is tenable.

“So, what do you want?” Nan Xiangwan frowned.

Jiang Darling turned the planning book onto page one again, “This is a sample poster. We plan to invite the principal to have breakfast in the canteen. To ensure a quiet and comfortable environment for the principal to eat, hope other students avoid going to the canteen temporarily on this day.”

“Huh…” Nan Xiangwan couldn’t help laughing. What’s inviting the principal to have breakfast, isn’t it just calling the students to boycott? Why don’t want to make it too clear?

In her sophomore year in college, the new apartment was completed and the school asked them to move in immediately. Some students felt that the paint smell in the dormitory was too strong and affected their health, and called on everyone to boycott the school’s order. What’s the result? No one paid attention to them at all. Everyone complained but in the end, they obediently move in.

The arm can’t twist the thigh2. At this time, who is not self-sufficient.

[2] The arm can’t twist the thigh (gē bo nǐng bú guodà tuǐ) means the weak can’t compete with the strong.

Nan Xiangwan said to everyone, “Don’t waste your time. With just a poster, who will listen to you?” Minors are minors after all, thinking of everything simple and beautiful. Reality should really hit them hard.

“Because we have this.” Zhang Chao took the things he had prepared out of his schoolbag, “You taste it.”

It was a beautifully packaged pineapple bun and a box of milk.

Nan Xiangwan was dumbfounded.

Zhang Chao said, “When that day comes, we will give this to the students who want to enter the canteen. It is free. No one can refuse it.”

“Cut…” Nan Xiangwan continued to pour cold water, “What if someone doesn’t like to eat bread and drink milk?”

“It’s okay.” Li Shuai said, “We still have alternatives. Xiao Nanshan’s steamed buns and soy milk, usually you need to line up to buy it.”

“But…” Nan Xiangwan flipped through the planning book in her hand irritably. This activity was so naive, whimsical, full of loopholes, and obviously impossible to succeed, but how could she not find a reason to refute?

Haha, finally she find it.

Nan Xiangwan found a pen, wrote and drew on the poster, “The slogan should be as short as possible so it’s easy to remember. The font here should be enlarged to make it clear to the people who see it. The wording here is not good. Be gentler, to show out of our sincerity. We can add picture here to increase the impact of the poster…”

“It makes sense.

“Such a change is really good.”

Everyone was talking, only Lin Xiaoran looked at Nan Xiangwan motionlessly, with a smile on his lips, “You agree to join us?”

“Ahem…” Nan Xiangwan regarded learning higher than the sky, and never bothered about things other than learning. Because the canteen prices in her memory would automatically fall back, she was not optimistic about their actions. Now she actively tinkering on the poster like this is tantamount to hitting one’s own face.

Nan Xiangwan didn’t know what was wrong. She looked at their passionate and fearless faces, as if she was also infected by their spirit. She wanted to do her best.

She pondered for a while and found herself a reason, “This is a matter for the entire school’s teachers and students. I don’t want to join in. By the way, I booked Xiao Nanshan’s bun soy milk.” Xiao Nanshan is a local specialty restaurant with a mediocre appearance but great taste. She hasn’t eaten it since she went to university outside the city. Because this restaurant does not open during the New Year holiday, she can’t eat it every time she came back to her hometown. It would be better to taste it now.

Li Shuai snapped his fingers, “No problem.”

Nan Xiangwan suddenly frowned, “But where do you get so much money to invite all the students to eat and drink?”

Zhang Chao patted his thigh, “I’m taking advantage of my dad! He spent so much money to send me to No.3 Middle School, not to let me study hard, but to make me make friends with good students. He said that No.3 Middle School students will definitely be the elites from all walks of life in the future, so it must be right to have a good relationship with them. In the future, they will be able to support me when I enter society. Hehehe.”

Hearing “elites from all walks of life”, Nan Xiangwan couldn’t help but smile and raised her chin, “I didn’t expect your dad is quite visionary.”

Zhang Chao continued, “So I said I wanted to invite my classmates to dinner. He gave me the money without saying anything. In addition to buying breakfast, I have some leftover. These deep-fried skewers are also my treat. Boss, add ten more eggplants! “

Nan Xiangwan was amused by his funny look. Soon, the smile on her face disappeared, replaced by countless unknown sorrows.

Look at you guys, maybe the canteen price will drop before you start the move.

❥❥❥

Like this:Like Loading...

Related