Of course, no one dares to reveal the small gifts they carry with them yet, fearing it might frighten Shi Li.
While Duan Yaojing was preparing the hot pot on the table, someone had already hidden the small gift that Shi Li brought to the corner of the balcony, concealing it even from the hidden camera.
The living room could barely accommodate a class of students.
"You guys can start your homework. I ordered some drinks, they will be here soon."
The chili-filled red pot was plugged in, and the pungent and fresh aroma started to circulate in the room.
Everyone came to enjoy the spectacle, not really caring about Duan Yaojing's hot pot, after all, they weren’t there to freeload a meal.
No one had high expectations for tonight's meal either.
The key points of a good hot pot are the soup base and the freshness of the ingredients, with the most important aspect being the soup base, even preceding the ingredients themselves.
When the delicious aroma from the hot pot hit their noses, they knew they were in for a treat today.
The hot pot alone was well worth the trip.
Just by smelling the savory aroma in the living room was enough to stimulate their salivary glands.
"It smells heavenly,” a student voiced out everyone’s thoughts at the moment.
"Let's not wait for the milk tea, forget about the homework, with this aroma, I can't focus on writing it."
Duan Yaojing said hesitantly, "Shall we eat first?"
They were all waiting for this. As soon as she finished speaking, everyone crowded around the dinner table like starving tigers.
Since everyone was in good terms, nobody bothered about sitting next to their best friends; all were mates here.
Choosing seats was mainly based on proximity to their favorite hotpot ingredients.
Shi Li picked a seat near her beloved potatoes.
Gu Yuqing had already settled in her seat. Seeing that two spots were still vacant next to Shi Li, she got up and attempted to switch her seat to join Shi Li.
However, Xue Xuejia beat her to it by taking a seat on Shi Li's left. "No worries, you can sit on Shi Li's right," Gu comforted herself.
Just as she was about to move, Shi Li's right spot was also taken.
Sun Yiling, one step ahead of her, pushed Fu Huixing onto that seat.
Sun Yiling, a girl, is the biggest shipper of Shi Li and Fu Huixing.
How cunning Xue Xuejia was!
How meddlesome Sun Yiling was!
Fu Huixing had planned to find a seat after everyone was settled.
A mysterious force propelled him to sit first, and since he had already sat down, it was not acceptable to stand up again.
Having achieved her purpose, Sun Yiling giggled like a mouse that just stole some oil, positioning herself opposite Shi Li.
With a poker-face, Sun Yiling took out her phone and casually opened the camera app.
A common sins of urban folks, the phone eats before the person.
Her camera, while seemingly pointing at the hot pot, was secretly snapping away at her favorite ship.
Gu Yuqing, who was eying the same seat, observed all this.
Though Fu Huixing merely found himself in that spot due to external forces, Gu Yuqing found him irksome.
All this went unnoticed by Shi Li, whose full attention was on the delicious hot pot.
Incredible aromatic and utterly delicious.
Everyone was busily eating with an unbroken focus, the only sounds in the room being the gurgling from the bottom of the pot and the not-so-loud chatter from everyone.
The generally quiet atmosphere was abruptly disrupted by the clamor from outside the building.
The soundproofing in the old building was poor, and the noisy quarrel between a man and a woman in the corridor could be faintly heard inside.
Duan Yaojing had a somewhat awkward expression on her face as she explained, "It's just some family drama from our neighbors. It's quite loud, isn't it? I'll connect a Bluetooth speaker, and if we play some music, we won't be able to hear it."
She got up, intending to go to her bedroom to get the Bluetooth speaker.
Clearly, she was used to such incidents occurring frequently.
Picking up her Bluetooth speaker in her room, the successful pairing sound was heard almost immediately.
Just as she was about to play some music, the person closest to her quickly pressed her hand.
"No rush, all sounds are just sounds, there's no hierarchy," he said. "Tell us why they're arguing first."
Duan Yaojing: In my opinion, disregarding the hierarchy of sounds is a lie - your real interest is in the gossip.
Everyone's attitude towards different sounds varied. Construction noises, for instance, were classified as noise pollution. As for the noise from outside, though it wasn't very clear, everyone could guess that a fierce argument was taking place from the snippets they could hear.
Faced with a roomful of curiously sparkling eyes, Duan Yaojing did not immediately explain the reason for the quarrel.
Instead, she peered through the peephole for about half a minute before returning to her seat to explain.
"It's the children of the previous partner of our neighbour, Mrs. Sun, who have come to see her.”
The crowd: Wow, that's quite a complicated relationship.
“What I know may not be entirely accurate, but it’s what my grandmother told me.”
"Mrs. Sun was initially a housekeeper at the old man's house, taking care of him and his wife, who could not take care of herself. After his wife passed away, Mrs. Sun started a relationship with the old man."
"Though they didn't get married officially, Sun used a lot of the old man's money."
"Not long after, the old man became paralyzed, and Mrs. Sun, refusing to take care of him, abandoned him and went home."
Faced with the wide-eyed astonishment of her classmates, Duan Yaojing laughed, "She didn't marry the old man, so legally she's not obligated to provide for him."
"But the old man’s children couldn't accept this. Their father's money had been spent by another woman, and now they were left to take care of a paralyzed father."
"The daughters, feeling unjust, frequently create a ruckus at Mrs. Sun's house."
"I've heard the daughter say, 'Either return the money you swindled from our father, or take care of him yourself'."
This group of young people, inexperienced in life, was dumbstruck by this shocking incident.
Living in an old tube-style building with her grandparents, Duan Yaojing was used to such events. Besides normal people, eccentric personalities were more common, and strange incidents occurred frequently.
In conclusion, she said, "It's just the usual household grievances, nothing worth the fuss. What song would you like to hear?"
However, Duan Yaojing's classmates responded that they didn't want to listen to any music, only Mrs. Sun's singing.
Shi Li was quite close to the security door. She tiptoed towards it, then ever so gently and slowly, unlike anything she'd done in her life before, she nudged the door open.
That simple act created a small gap in the security door, allowing the outside sound to seep into the room more clearly. The noise carried itself to everyone in the room, tickling their ears.
As Shi Li reclaimed her seat at the table, all eyes turned to her, filled with respect and gratitude. It was as if Shi Li had opened more than a mere door; she had unlocked the gateway to their lives.
Duan Yaojing simply closed her eyes, baffled at the behavior of her classmates.
Well, she thought, it was quite expected of them.
What else could she possibly expect?
