Therefore, the decision of Eric Warren and Brian Bolton to attend Shuangdun Middle School was somewhat abrupt.

With such a similar experience, Eric Warren gradually became less reserved.

After chatting for a short while, it was about to get dark.

“Want to go eat?” Brian Bolton asked.

“Sure.”

……

The cafeteria at Shuangdun Middle School didn’t yet have the later card-swiping system; everyone bought meal tickets, though paying cash directly was also acceptable. The meal tickets came in denominations of two yuan, one yuan, fifty cents, and ten cents, all in rectangular plastic slips just a bit smaller than a matchbox.

Green ones were two yuan, red ones were one yuan—a one-yuan ticket could get you a serving of meat. Yellow ones were fifty cents, which could get you a serving of vegetables. Blue ones were ten cents, which could be used for rice or hot water.

In those days, thirty cents’ worth of rice was enough to fill you up.

Brian Bolton exchanged ten yuan for meal tickets. Maybe because it was just the start of the school year, the cafeteria hadn’t started serving dishes yet; only fried rice, noodles, and vermicelli were available.

A regular serving of fried rice cost one and a half yuan. If you wanted to add an egg or a sausage, it was an extra fifty cents.

Very cheap.

Of course, Brian Bolton’s living expenses were only two hundred yuan a month from his family, which worked out to less than seven yuan a day. Two yuan for breakfast, three yuan for lunch, another two yuan for dinner, and that was basically spent. As things stood, Brian Bolton was in a growth spurt, and seven yuan a day was simply not enough to eat his fill.

Not to mention he still had to save money to go online.

Back then, his way of making money was to go home and say he needed to buy study materials, then splurge for a few days at the start of the month and eat instant noodles at the end, even borrowing some money.

“Those reckless days seem to have returned. Only now, even if I wanted to be reckless, I don’t have the energy... Last life, my health was poor because I didn’t eat well in high school and was malnourished. This time, I have to make up for it double!”

Standing in line, Brian Bolton felt a bit emotional.

Soon, it was his and Eric Warren’s turn to buy food.

“What do you want to eat? My treat.”

“No need, I’ll buy my own.”

“All right.” Brian Bolton turned around indifferently and said to the cafeteria owner behind the window, “I’ll have a serving of egg fried rice, hmm, with two extra eggs.”

“Two extra eggs, right? That’ll be three yuan.”

Chapter 007: Notebook

The fried rice in the cafeteria didn’t taste great, but Brian Bolton’s body was clearly in a growth phase—he finished off a big bowl of egg fried rice in just a few bites, not leaving a single grain.

Full and satisfied, he returned to the dormitory.

The two roommates whose beds had been empty earlier had also returned, so naturally, they got to know each other.

One was a chubby guy named Kyle Lawson, a local from Shuangdun Town, but his home was in the countryside a bit far away, so he chose to live on campus. The other was a tall, thin guy named Paul Lawson, also a local from Shuangdun Town. The surname Lu was common in Shuangdun Town, and if Brian Bolton’s memory served, there would be another roommate with the same surname, named David Lawson.

“So, Brian Bolton, you’re from Gangji? Where’s Gangji?” The question came from Kyle Lawson, who was chubby and very friendly.

Brian Bolton was quite familiar with Kyle Lawson, since he was the top student in their class, scored above the first-tier university cutoff in the college entrance exam, applied to Nanjing Agricultural University, but due to a mix-up, ended up at Jiangsu University of Science and Technology—a first-tier score, but went to a second-tier school. Shuangdun Middle School only had two or three students reach the first-tier cutoff each year, and one of them got mixed up. Back then, Brian Bolton had felt sorry for Kyle Lawson.

“For the college entrance exam later, I should advise him to apply to a slightly less competitive key university, to avoid another mix-up.”

This thought flashed by, and the next moment Brian Bolton was chatting away with Kyle Lawson, Paul Lawson, and Eric Warren about all sorts of things.

“Do you know who the homeroom teacher for Class 5, Grade 10 is?” Paul Lawson asked. Class 5, Grade 10 was the class they’d been assigned to. Brian Bolton and Paul Lawson weren’t exactly close; like Eric Warren, they both ended up in the science class after the arts and sciences split in Grade 11.

“No idea, we just got here, how would we know who the homeroom teacher is?” Kyle Lawson shook his head, and naturally Eric Warren didn’t know either.

But Brian Bolton smiled and said, “The homeroom teacher for Class 5, Grade 10 is Natalie Young.”

“Yu Na? Wow, the New Silk Road champion!” Paul Lawson perked up.