528. Making Zongzi
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Tuesday afternoons were usually a break at school. Zheng Qian smacked his forehead and decided that the “making zongzi” activity would take place from two to four o’clock, and he applied for a classroom use.
Around one in the afternoon, Lin Nan finished her lunch and returned to Zheng Qian’s dormitory with Chen Yao and Tu Junhui.
Dealing with the ingredients for zongzi wasn’t particularly complicated, but with the quantity they had, it was a different story.
A whopping fifty pounds of glutinous rice needed soaking, and even finding containers was a chore.
With Zheng Qian’s help, they made three trips to finally haul everything into the temporary classroom.
This was a regular classroom, with a flat floor rather than tiered seating. The blackboard was already decorated with a Dragon Boat Festival theme, presumably the work of Big Dog.
Lin Nan found the usual school blackboard art quite dull. This sort of thing was generally just copied from pictures. Even someone with basic drawing skills could manage it, let alone a college student majoring in design.
After glancing at the blackboard twice and confirming it wasn’t original, she lowered her head to start tidying up the scattered bits in the classroom.
“Zheng Qian, how am I supposed to soak rice without a basin?” She turned to Zheng Qian, who was standing at the classroom door. “Just hop on over to the supermarket and grab a dozen new ones!”
Zheng Qian nodded and headed off towards the supermarket.
With no basin to wash the rice, they were left with only the bowls scavenged from the dormitory to rinse the meat, peanuts, and sweet dates.
She couldn’t help but wonder if this place’s sweet zongzi used peanuts.
Lin Nan muttered to herself, feeling a bit guilty.
Even though she had been studying in this city for two years, she still hadn’t grasped its customs and traditions, let alone tasted many local specialties.
Although her hometown was less than two hours away by train, the dialects, food, and even tastes varied greatly.
She hadn’t tried the home-cooked meals here because it seemed neither the cafeteria nor takeout appealed to her much.
The flavors tended to be on the heavier side; many takeout dishes were consistently too salty, yet the reviews were all glowing. Sweet barbecue was nowhere to be found here, driving her to almost give up barbecue altogether.
Noon quickly passed, and students trickled into the classroom.
Lin Nan, Chen Yao, and Tu Junhui found a spacious spot to sit. As she glanced around, curiosity got the better of her right before the activity was about to start. “Where’s Xiong Da?”
“He slipped away after class this afternoon; he went home for the festival,” Tu Junhui replied. He picked up a piece of zongzi leaf and, with all the grace of a clumsy toddler, tried to wrap a zongzi, only to tear the leaf in half.
He left at noon?
Lin Nan had a lightbulb moment; tomorrow was the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, and they had no classes that afternoon. If they could, of course, they’d just leave at noon to go home, garnering an extra half day of vacation.
“Use two leaves like this; watch me!” Lin Nan grabbed two zongzi leaves and stacked them together, demonstrating for Tu Junhui while glancing at Zheng Qian at the podium.
Hmm, he looked ready to explode.
Zheng Qian scanned the classroom and noticed only about twenty students showed up, barely half the class. He was fuming.
This whole event had half the class sign up, but actually starting it, only a fraction bothered to show up.
Even Lin Kexin, the one who suggested making zongzi, hadn’t come! After a little discreet inquiry, it turned out she caught a bus back to downtown an hour ago.
Not a single reliable student around!
What a mess—it really angered him, but he had to keep smiling for the Dragon Boat Festival.
He forced a smile and began to host the zongzi-making activity.
As a counselor, it was only natural for him to demonstrate for those who didn’t know how to make zongzi. Fortunately, although he hadn’t done it himself, he had watched a couple of videos. He confidently picked up two leaves and folded them into a funnel shape.
And out came a little mishmash that resembled nothing in particular.
The students erupted into laughter, showing no mercy.
As Lin Nan stared at Zheng Qian’s glowering face, then at the excessively loud Tu Junhui, she suddenly felt that this chubby guy might be in for it again.
Strange premonition kept her from laughing; she lowered her head and diligently focused on wrapping zongzi, while she asked Chen Yao, “What time is your ticket back?”
“Five in the afternoon. If we don’t finish the zongzi, I can still take some to eat on the way.”
In the end, she still had to go back.
Otherwise, her grandfather would be the scary kind of angry.
So terrifying.
Lin Nan was particularly troubled by this. According to Kang De, hiding in this city could prevent the otherworldly folks from finding her, but if she left, those assassins would see her as a witch. Who knows what collateral damage might ensue?
First, Li Na thought of her as a witch, then her bestie tried to make yuri jokes with her. Now Kang De calls her “Mom” every time they meet, and a bunch of otherworldly old ladies pop up wanting to chop her into bits.
Ever since she ran into Lilith, a series of chaotic troubles just keep rolling in!
As she wrapped zongzi, Lin Nan contemplated whether she should borrow Kang De on the way; that way, if trouble showed up, at least he could help her out.
Lin Nan had pretty much mastered making zongzi.
Back in the countryside, neighbors would buy materials and gather at someone’s home to make zongzi together, and she often helped out, even if she was usually just slacking off.
Now, she could almost see the scene of wrapping zongzi with the neighbor aunties.
Seeing her classmates at the desks wrapping zongzi while chatting about games gave her an odd sense of déjà vu.
“Speaking of which, are we going to watch the dragon boat races for the Dragon Boat Festival?” Chen Yao clumsily wrapped a four-cornered zongzi.
While the shapes vary from place to place, here, zongzi usually took on a triangular form.
“Dragon boat races? I’ve never seen one.” Lin Nan’s curiosity sparked. “Are there dragon boats in that rickety old place of mine?”
She thought that dragon boat racing traditions didn’t exist back home.
“Every year! You just didn’t know. They aren’t that grand, though.”
Tu Junhui, after wrapping just two, lost patience and skipped off to play games with Big Dog.
Lin Nan, motivated by the idea that the more she made, the more she would earn without spending a cent, dove into making zongzi quickly. She figured that when she got to her grandfather’s house, the zongzi she wrapped with her own two hands would surely appease him.
What a heartfelt gift!
Even if her grandfather’s fridge was probably overflowing with zongzi already, surely he wouldn’t turn down the ones wrapped by his granddaughter, right?
With that thought, Lin Nan wrapped even faster. “Let’s make more; I’ll take some back to give to Auntie.”
With no one around, Chen Yao teased, “More like, give it to our mom.”
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Two updates today; I’ll try to squeeze in four or five tomorrow! No promises!
