Chapter 97 — Unconscious Habits
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Shen Yushu took three bowls from the sterilizer, and Wei Zhao briskly ladled out three bowls of porridge. He glanced at the seats around the dining table, and in the end sat down on Shen Yushu's side. Shen Yushu might be a little odd, but Wei Zhao felt she was easier to get along with than Miss Chu—and the two of them shared a secret. It was a trumped-up bit of leverage, stumbled upon by pure accident, yet it had brought the two of them much closer.
Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu ate their porridge with quiet decorum. Wei Zhao could not be bothered with any of that. He had studied table manners systematically, true, but at home he really could not be troubled to observe them. Back when he had been fighting in the war zones of Africa, time had been precious—who had time to eat slowly and politely? Even the women on the team had wolfed their food down in two or three bites. Otherwise, who knew from which direction the enemy's rocket launcher might come flying.
"Eating that fast, aren't you afraid you'll choke to death?" Gu Mengyao watched Wei Zhao polish off two bowls in a row and then head off toward his own room, and she pursed her lips in mild displeasure.
She and Shen Yushu had not even finished one bowl between them—barely half a bowl each, by the look of it.
"Boys, they all eat fast," Shen Yushu said, unbothered. "When my brother comes home, he eats this fast too."
Gu Mengyao nodded. She knew well enough that the army had its rules—how could they let you eat that slowly? What if you were on the battlefield and the enemy came? But Wei Zhao had never been a soldier. What was he doing eating so fast?
Wei Zhao had no time to listen to two young ladies pass judgment on his eating speed. What occupied his mind now was this: when should he deliver the Chinese medicine he had brewed for Yang Huaijun?
Originally Wei Zhao had meant to take it over today, but since Shen Yushu had asked him to accompany them shopping, plainly he could not go. Never mind—he would find time later. Yang Huaijun would not die anytime soon anyway; with the pain-relief prescription Wei Zhao had written for him last time to hold him over, he would not suffer too badly.
Back in his room, Wei Zhao took out the bank card Uncle Qing had given him. He planned to buy a laptop, which would make looking things up much more convenient. Many medical and pharmaceutical texts could be downloaded online, so Wei Zhao would not have to wear himself out rummaging through bookstores.
Before setting out, Wei Zhao changed the dressing on the wound on his leg himself, applying a layer of the healing salve he had ground up the day before. That spared him another trip to the hospital for a change of dressing—yesterday's formidable matron of a nurse had been more than he could handle. Besides, his own salve worked far better than the ordinary plasters at the hospital.
He looked around and saw nothing else worth bringing. Wei Zhao stepped out of his room, and there were Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, already dressed and made up. They were wearing identical dresses, their hair styled almost the same, carrying the same handbags. Walking side by side, they looked like a pair of sisters.
Their outfits were noticeably brighter than what they wore to school. No doubt the school had too many flies buzzing around, and the two of them had deliberately kept a low profile. But now it was the weekend, and going out shopping on their own, there was no need for such restraint.
"Hey? You're wearing that?" Shen Yushu pointed at the school uniform Wei Zhao had on and gaped in astonishment. She had seen him go back to his room after eating and assumed he was going to change. She had not expected him to come out still in his everyday school uniform.
"Is something wrong with it?" Wei Zhao thought the uniform quite good. The quality was beyond reproach—worthy of the best high school in the city. Many a high-end brand's clothing could not compare.