When it was Erbao’s turn to queue for food in the cafeteria, he was so absorbed in his surroundings that he didn’t even notice it.

“Lin Haizhi, it’s your turn,” the class monitor behind him said, giving him a nudge.

Erbao snapped out of his daze, “Oh…”

He quickly handed his lunchboxes to the middle-aged woman at the cafeteria window. “Auntie, fill my rice to the top, and for the vegetables… I’d like one serving of green vegetables and one serving of chicken. You can mix the vegetables and chicken together.” He handed over two lunchboxes.

The food in the sports school cafeteria was quite good, with a meat dish every day, which was better than in other school cafeterias.

This was necessary because the students at the sports school engaged in more physical exercise daily, comparable to the amount of work done by villagers in rural areas.

However, those villagers, due to their poor conditions, could skip eating meat to save money.

Sports school students, on the other hand, couldn’t afford to miss out on meat as they might become athletes in the future.

Inadequate nutrition could harm their physical development and limit their performance.

Although the cafeteria provided a meat dish every day, students still had to pay for their meals themselves.

When Erbao arrived, he brought two of his own pocket money pieces and the 10 yuan for food expenses given by Ning Shu.

She was unsure of how much money a child would need for a week at school, but she gave him 10 yuan to ensure he had enough while away.

The reason for giving 10 yuan was that if Erbao didn’t come home on weekends, she would bring Yi Bao and Sanbao to visit him.

Erbao got his food and moved aside, as it was now the class monitor’s turn.

The class monitor, a tall and lean boy with bright eyes, also had two lunchboxes.

He handed one of the lunchboxes to the cafeteria woman and said, “Auntie, I’d like some extra soup with my cabbage.”

“Don’t worry, there’ll be enough soup to mix with the rice,” the cafeteria woman replied with a smile.

Although it was cabbage, it was stir-fried in lard, so it had some oil.

Many students who couldn’t afford meat would ask for extra soup, as it made the rice more flavorful.

“Thank you, Auntie.” The class monitor received the lunchbox filled with cabbage and said to Erbao, “Our Class 1 seats are over there. Let’s go.”

“Okay.” Erbao followed obediently.

They arrived at the dining area for Class 1, which had four long wooden tables, each 50 centimeters wide and two meters long.

Each table was paired with two long benches.

Erbao was not unfamiliar with this environment, as it was similar to the military cafeteria.

When they arrived, the students who had already gotten their food were eating quickly and did not say much upon seeing them.

Erbao noticed the class monitor open one of his lunchboxes, which contained a layer of rice and a layer of potatoes.

Students at the school could either get their food from the cafeteria or steam it themselves.

Since getting food from the cafeteria was more expensive, many students chose to steam their food.

Steaming food meant bringing ingredients from home, placing them in the cafeteria’s designated area, and the staff would steam them.

This method was cheaper than buying food from the cafeteria.

Students could steam rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or other filling foods.

The monitor, for instance, placed rice at the bottom of his lunchbox, then cleaned and cut potatoes into chunks to steam together.

Many students did this, as there weren’t many who ate plain white rice every day.

Opening his lunchbox, the class monitor poured the lard-fried cabbage soup into the box and mixed it.

He enjoyed eating a mix of rice, potatoes, and cabbage.

At twelve years old, Erbao knew that nobody disliked meat.

The reason someone might not buy meat, even if it was available, was usually due to poor family conditions.

Seeing the class monitor and other students eating mostly vegetables, Erbao felt a bit uncomfortable.

However, he didn’t share his chicken with the class monitor because the money for the chicken was earned by his mother, and he wasn’t willing to give it away.

Erbao’s eating habits had been influenced by his mother, becoming slower and more deliberate.

But today, his eating speed was much slower than others.

Many students finished their meals and left, including the class monitor, but he stayed patiently, comforting Erbao, “Take your time eating. We start classes at two this afternoon, so we have plenty of time.”

The monitor was 14 years old, and to him, 12-year-old Erbao felt like a younger brother.

As the eldest sibling at home, he was used to taking care of younger ones and had a lot of patience.

His selection as class monitor was due to his good nature and ability to look after others.

“Okay.” Erbao replied, although he sped up his eating, reverting to the speed he used when he was five.

At that age, he ate quickly to prevent his mother from eating his meat.

However, his fast eating only applied to the chewing speed, not the number of chews.

After finishing lunch, the monitor took Erbao to wash his lunchboxes and then said, “Later, we need to steam dinner. I’ll come find you at your dorm. Which dorm are you in?”

Erbao hadn’t brought rice or other food.

Ning Shu was also facing the issue of children living at school for the first time.

Although she had lived in a dormitory during her school years, by then, it was no longer necessary to bring rice for steaming.

They could get food directly from the cafeteria or buy from small eateries outside.

She didn’t think much about the situation when she gave money to Erbao.

Now, with the monitor asking, Erbao sheepishly said, “I didn’t bring any food. It’s my first time living at school, and I forgot.” Erbao didn’t consider asking his mother for a reminder.

He thought it was his own mistake for forgetting since he had never lived at school before.

The monitor thought for a moment, “I have enough food for this week. I’ll share some with you. You can return it to me when you go home for the weekend.”

“Okay, thank you, class monitor.” Erbao accepted the offer.

The monitor said, “You don’t need to go back to the dorm. Just come with me to our dorm. By the way, which dorm are you in?”

As the monitor, he knew that all the dorms for Class 1 were full, so Erbao couldn’t be staying in their dorm.

“I’m in dorm 206…” Erbao said, looking a bit aggrieved, “Dorm 206 smells awful. It’s full of the smell of dirty socks. Teacher Qi said that once a spot opens up in our Class 1 dorm, they’ll move me over.” He had never smelled such a bad odor before.

Even when he was five and his mother didn’t look after them, they were dirty but didn’t smell this bad.

“Haha…” The class monitor knew about dorm 206.

It was famously known as the stinky dorm during hygiene inspections.

While chatting and laughing, they arrived at dorm 204, which was the dorm for Class 1.

“The Class monitor is back.”

“Lin Haizhi is here too?”

“Class Monitor, hurry up. We need to steam dinner. Let’s go together.”

The Class monitor said, “You all go ahead. I’ll take Lin Haizhi with me and show him around.”

“Okay, we’ll go ahead then.” The boys who planned to wait for the monitor to steam dinner with them left.

The Class monitor squatted by the bed and said to Erbao, “Give me the lunchbox for steaming. I have rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Which one do you want for dinner?”

Erbao handed him the lunchbox and said, “I’ll have the same as you had for lunch.”

He saw that the monitor’s rice with potatoes looked good.

The Class monitor secretly sighed in relief.

He had not brought much rice.

As a local of the capital, he had access to resident benefits, but the allocation was limited, and he received only a few kilograms of fine grains per month.

He was worried that if Erbao wanted plain rice, there might not be enough for the week.

After Erbao and the monitor finished steaming the food, he returned to Dorm 206 in Class 2.

Most of the students in Dorm 206 were already there.

Some were lying on their beds resting, while others were chatting.

They had noticed the new student’s belongings on the long-empty bed and were curious about who had moved in.

Since they only assumed the newcomer was someone from another dorm, they didn’t know that Erbao was a new student skipping grades.

When Erbao walked into Dorm 206, he drew everyone’s attention.

Someone asked, “Who are you? Looking for someone?”

There were only a few students in the sports school; even though the new school year had started some time ago, not everyone knew all the students.

They thought Erbao might be a new student from another class.

Erbao smiled before speaking, “Hello, I’m a new student from Class 1. Since there were no available beds in our dorm, Teacher Qi from the admissions office arranged for me to stay here.”

“There are new students in Class 1? I hadn’t heard about it.”

“Classmate, if you’re here now, you must be a transfer student. Which school did you come from?”

“Why did you transfer to our sports school?”

The boys asked with curiosity.

Erbao wasn’t shy and chatted easily with them, just as he would with soldiers in the army.

Talking to these boys eased his longing for his older brother, younger brother, mother, and father.

He explained, “I was in elementary school before. My older brother said I’m fast at running and strong, so I could become an athlete. I thought studying was too hard, but running is easy, so I told my parents I wanted to be an athlete. I came here for a test yesterday and reported today.”

“You’re right. Studying is really tough, and it’s not as comfortable as physical training.”

Erbao agreed, “Yeah, exactly.”

“I heard yesterday that someone with exceptionally fast running was testing. Could that be you?”

“Wait, you were in elementary school?”

“Really? You skipped from elementary school to middle school? That sounds amazing!”

Erbao said, “I skipped grades to enter middle school, not specially recruited. But I didn’t score very well.” He awkwardly scratched his head.

Under the influence of Yi Bao and San Bao, who scored 100 in every subject, a score of 70 or 80 seemed poor to him.

Even a score of 90 didn’t seem good.

The students’ mouths gaped in surprise.

Skipping grades from elementary school?

That was quite impressive!

Skipping grades wasn’t unheard of, but it was extremely rare in daily life, especially in a sports school known for athletic performance.

Erbao’s skipping grades was indeed a rare occurrence.

“What grade were you in before? Are you sure you’re not lying to us?”

Erbao, not upset, replied kindly, “I was in the fourth grade. Why would I lie? It’s not like I’d gain anything from it.”

“How could a fourth-grader take the middle school exams?”

Erbao explained, “While I was at home, my father had already taught me fifth-grade material, so I was able to pass the exam.”

“You’re amazing.”

“Hehe, my older brothers are the real geniuses. I can never match them,” Erbao said with a silly smile, then took off his shoes and socks and went out with a wooden spoon.

When Erbao returned, his feet were wet, clearly from washing them.

He dried his feet with a cloth and climbed onto his bed.

His mother had told him to wash his feet before getting into bed after coming from outside.

However, the others didn’t pay much attention to such details, as they were all around fourteen or fifteen years old and rarely focused on minor details.

The dorm’s noise died down quickly.

The students woke up early and went to bed late, and with three hours of physical training every day, they were very tired.

So, they usually took a nap during the day. Moreover, in the winter, being able to lie in bed was very comforting.

At that moment, Erbao lay in bed, secretly enjoying a piece of White Rabbit milk candy.

He felt very happy.

But his happiness didn’t last long because the quiet dorm seemed even more unpleasant.

Without the noise to distract him, Erbao’s attention was drawn to the ever-present smell of dirty socks.

The odor now seemed stronger than when he had made the bed in the morning.

The smell was overwhelming, making it difficult for Erbao to breathe.

Erbao was troubled.

He felt he couldn’t stay there and wasn’t sure when a bed would be available in Class 1’s dorm.

What should he do?

Unable to think of a solution, Erbao decided to ask his older brother and San Bao when he saw them.

They were smart and would likely come up with a good solution.

With this thought in mind, Erbao took a piece of scrap paper, tore it into two balls, and stuffed them up his nose to block the smell.

Then he breathed through his mouth.

Erbao didn’t realize that even though he couldn’t smell the stench, his mouth was still inhaling the odor mixed with the air.

However, it didn’t matter; as long as he couldn’t smell it, it was acceptable.

The dorm gradually quieted down as the students fell asleep.

When they woke up again, it was almost time for class.

Before the afternoon classes began, Erbao got up with the others.

After getting up, he went to the wash area on the second floor with a towel to wash his face.

After washing his face, Erbao took a White Rabbit milk candy from his backpack and put it in his pocket.

Since he was on the upper bunk, covered by the blanket, no one saw his actions.

Before coming to school, his mother had taught him to avoid eating snacks in front of everyone.

If he had snacks that others didn’t, they might feel envious.

Also, if he had good friends in class or the dorm who helped him, he should share snacks with them, but he should give them one piece at a time.

Erbao understood the principle of giving snacks one piece at a time.

He was unwilling to share all his snacks at once.

Today, since the monitor had helped him get familiar with the cafeteria, queued for food, and even lent him some steamed food, Erbao planned to give him this White Rabbit milk candy as a token of thanks.