Cafeteria

Staring wide-eyed at the instructors, a collective cry echoed in their hearts: "Oh, heavens! My breakfast! It's all gone to waste! Why must you treat us like this?" Despite the thousands of screams in their minds, they finally fell silent.

Seeing that the crowd had finally quieted down, the chief instructor stared coldly at them for a moment before slowly speaking. "Why the silence? Weren't you all so noisy just a moment ago? Keep going! Why stop?"

The surroundings were deathly silent, so quiet that the sound of the wind could almost be heard. Everyone kept their heads bowed in silence, all thinking the same thing: *I’m practically starving to death here, who has the energy to make a scene? It looks like we’re really going to starve to death this time!*

Gazing wordlessly up at the sky, they looked at the chief instructor with large, watery, innocent eyes, looking utterly pitiful. Their eyes were as expressive as words, trying to project their inner thoughts directly into the chief instructor’s mind.

Seeing that he had achieved his desired effect, the chief instructor turned to signal the other instructors to take the students to breakfast. He then feigned a professional tone, saying, "Attention, everyone! Gather toward the center! Proceed to the dining hall in an orderly fashion!"

Without waiting for the others to move, he grabbed his own mess kit and headed toward the cafeteria first. Watching this scene, everyone was furious but dared not speak out, forming a long, miserable queue toward the dining hall.

Meanwhile, the students from Class F and Class B looked at Shangguan Xiao with eyes full of envy. They had all seen it—Shangguan Xiao had already eaten some bread this morning! They were just too foolish! They had actually expected the military training zone to provide food. Now, they could only watch others eat while standing on the sidelines, swallowing hard. They wondered if they should swallow their pride over the next few days and beg Shangguan Xiao for a morsel to eat.

But as they thought about it, they retreated. After all, their relationship with Shangguan Xiao was hardly good; why would she ever share her food with them? Ugh! It was enough to drive them mad! They were truly starving to the point of insanity. Having grown up never knowing the feeling of hunger, experiencing it so thoroughly now was nothing short of torture.

Li Yaorao’s eyes burned with jealousy. This Shangguan Xiao was always going against her. Gritting her teeth, she vowed that once they returned, she would make Shangguan Xiao pay. As they entered the narrow corridor, the air grew stiflingly crowded. The young masters and misses frowned yet again. It had been perfectly spacious when they walked through yesterday—why was it so cramped today?

Ouyang Xianyu stood by the entrance with his hands in his pockets, eyeing the doorway that was a full head shorter than him. Honestly, he was hesitating whether to go in at all. If he walked through like this, he was bound to hit his head! From a distance, Shangguan Xiao saw Ouyang Xianyu standing motionless at the door and found it amusing. She knew without looking that the height difference between the entrance and his stature would make for an awkward entry. The line moved quickly, and soon she was right beside him.

Xiao reached out and tugged at Ouyang Xianyu. As he looked over, she teased, "What’s wrong? Only just now regretting that you’re too tall? I’m going ahead; you can stay here and play guardian statue if you like!"

With that, she followed the crowd inside. Ouyang Xianyu watched her retreating back and sighed helplessly. He bent his waist and lowered his head to duck inside. The moment he entered, the others stood frozen in their tracks, mesmerized. A handsome man truly is different! Everything he does is so charming. The girls stared at him with hearts in their eyes, while the boys behind him felt a mix of jealousy and reluctant admiration—a truly contradictory feeling.

The culprit who had caused this entire bottleneck stood to the side, looking entirely unconcerned. Shangguan Xiao looked at the sea of heads and found the feeling of being squeezed truly unpleasant. But there was no help for it; she had been born naturally shorter than the others. At only 1.59 meters tall, she hadn't grown an inch since, a fact that had always been a source of great vexation for her.