Gourmet: Midnight Vending

Chen Mo couldn't quite understand why the cat painted on the dining car was smiling.

But it didn't matter; he was already used to the quirky behaviors of dining cars.

"Let's have some noodles."

Chen Mo served himself a long noodle, thoughtfully turning his head toward the girl beside him.

"The noodles should be fine to eat, right? We had so much vegetable tofu earlier, this soup shouldn't be off-putting anymore."

Lu Yingqiu's mind was still wrestling fiercely, but upon hearing someone giving her an out, she quickly took the opportunity, "I'll... I'll try it then, thank you."

Finally, she could eat noodles!

Lu Yingqiu's little heart swayed joyfully like on a swing, yet her face still maintained a seemingly indifferent expression.

"Oh right, Brother Chen Mo." The noodles were a bit hot, so Su Shasha stirred them to cool while chatting, "Why are you eating by the roadside alone?"

"Yeah, doesn't it feel odd eating by the roadside?" Yino curiously asked, too.

Lu Yingqiu kept her head down, biting the noodles halfway into her mouth.

Oh my!

The sesame paste, which tasted strange before, suddenly tasted so good today! And this noodle was different from the ones she'd had in Yu Province, having an incredibly rich wheat fragrance!

Slurp slurp!

Lu Yingqiu unconsciously quickened her chewing, just as Brother Chen Mo had said, there was no trace of a mutton smell, instead there was a strong savory and salty flavor, really strange.

"Does it?" Chen Mo, already a bit full, leaned slightly backward, "It's okay."

"So, Brother, why are you driving such a car and eating by the roadside?" Su Shasha's eyes were filled with curiosity.

Chen Mo wanted to smoke a cigarette at that moment, but he didn't smoke, nor did he have a cigarette. He could only take a deep breath.

"Just... learning how to cook a bit, then starting an aimless journey, not knowing where to go, just being on the road any way I like. Eating and drinking, going wherever," he said.

The three girls were almost stunned at Chen Mo's words.

Who knew, this kind of spontaneous journey, where you just go and see the most beautiful views while cooking what you love?

This lifestyle was incredibly tempting for students about to graduate!

"Where's your next stop, Brother?" Su Shasha was practically dying of envy.

Unfortunately, they were facing different futures and lives as they neared graduation.

"I'm planning to go to Sichuan, there's more food there, and the scenery should be quite nice," he replied.

Sichuan?

Upon hearing this place, Su Shasha got a bit excited, clutching Lu Yingqiu's arm, "Yingqiu, you could hitch a ride back with Brother Mo! You're not in a rush to get home, and Brother Mo drives slowly, giving you time to sort things out."

Lu Yingqiu paused her noodle-slurping, holding a noodle on her lips, then biting it off, letting the sesame paste spread to her lips, which she licked clean.

She felt a bit embarrassed, her voice low, "Stop it."

Yino elbowed Su Shasha, indicating her to drop the subject too.

Shasha giggled foolishly, "I wish I could live as freely as you do!"

"Oh?" Chen Mo entwined his hands across his knees and leaned back, "How so?"

Being a few years older, Chen Mo didn't experience that sense of post-graduation anxiety.

He had joined Fenghua Investment Company right after campus recruitment and was assigned to the Jingzhou Branch, making him the most envied person in his class upon graduation.

If it weren't for the unfinished buildings, Chen Mo would've probably been on the way to matchmaking, starting a family in a few years, with his parents helping to look after the kids while he worked hard. Life seemed just like that.

The unfinished buildings changed everything! Yes, Chen Mo then became a defaulter!

So, this kind of graduation anxiety, Chen Mo was indeed quite interested in.

"It just feels great." Su Shasha imitated Chen Mo's posture, which indeed felt more comfortable, "Unlike me, my family insists on me taking civil service exams and not allowing me to find a job. After graduation, I'll probably stay home doing nothing, just reading and taking exams repeatedly!"

Su Shasha particularly liked playing games, so her dream was to work at a gaming company and create a world-shocking AAA title!

These topics were often discussed in her dormitory, and no matter how often, they never got tired of it.

The atmosphere brought some melancholy to Yino as well, "It's different for me. I haven't graduated, and my mom's already introduced three suitors. If there's no surprise, you'll receive my wedding invitation before the year ends."

This...

Chen Mo looked at Yino, unable to describe the expression or feeling on her face.

Upon careful thought, men and women seemed to marry early in Yu Province and have many children.

I wonder if there's any tradition behind it.

Yino appeared not too resistant to such arrangements, though she seemed uncomfortable, believing it ought to be so.

"So, of course, we envy your kind of life, Brother! Having a skill, selling your handmade food while traveling~" Su Shasha's eyes occasionally fell onto the dining car.

Clearly, she genuinely loved the yellow dining car.

Yino, meanwhile, played with the cat at her feet, her gaze flickering.

"What about you? You don't talk much." Chen Mo turned to look at the girl beside him.

This girl was quite different from the other two.

If Su Shasha was an immature pseudo-second dimension, and Yino was an ordinary person you'd see on the street, then the girl called "Yingqiu" had an aura aloof from worldly matters.

Neither cold nor warm, neither happy nor sad, as if everything happening around had nothing to do with her.

Except for that bowl of hotpot noodles.

When Chen Mo addressed her, Lu Yingqiu had just slurped a noodle and was biting it off, her breathing started to get rapid, and she felt a bit... nervous!

'What do I do, he's talking to me!'

'And he's asking me a question, I...'

Lu Yingqiu kept her head low, pretending to eat noodles while her forehead practically started sweating!

Fortunately.

A good friend was present.

"Brother, don't ask her... Yingqiu is very socially anxious, if a stranger talks to her, she gets really anxious," Su Shasha explained.

Yino helped her dorm mate out, "That's just how Yingqiu is, please don't take it to heart! She's truly nice, once you get to know her better, she gets a lot more comfortable with you. But she can be a bit introverted with unfamiliar people."

Ha, interesting.

Chen Mo wasn't someone with a peculiar interest; everyone just happened to meet by chance, having a meal and chatting was already the materialization of fate, anything deeper would seem forced and overly deliberate.

"Alright then, once we're full, let's head out! I'll take you to Xuchang so you can shop at Pang Donglai, and I'll continue toward Xiangyang!"

"Let's go!"

The group worked together to clean up the site neatly; Chen Mo insisted that they didn't need to wash up for now, promptly tucking all the cookware into the cabinet.

Got into the vehicle.

Yino hugged the cat on the copilot seat, and Su Shasha, being short, sat crouched with her legs split backward, a posture said only women could achieve.

Lu Yingqiu maintained a ladylike gesture, legs tilting in the same direction, and as Chen Mo buckled up, his gaze couldn't help but rest on Lu Yingqiu's feet for a moment.

Strange...

Mu Mu's short skirt and black stockings uninteresting, LuLu's bare legs in high heels unappealing.

Why did jeans and white socks look a bit nice?

[The whole jade only will...]

"Shut up!"

Chen Mo struggled to shift his gaze and focused ahead, turning on the headlights, while the multimedia played random songs.

"Once dreamt of wielding a sword to travel the world~"

Toward the front, onward!

And Chen Mo, quietly activated the auto-drive, letting his attention stray completely from driving.

But onto a seldom-glimmering side quest in his mind.

[Seeking Love (2)]