She hadn’t originally planned to eat dry bread at night, and the pepper pancake wasn’t particularly moist, but it made her feel very refreshed.

As she ate, she nodded like a chick pecking at rice, “It smells so good, so good!”

Shu Wenwen was the same. She thought of the crab roe soup dumplings she had eaten. She used to think they were the best dumplings, but these pepper pancakes made her realize how wrong she was.

The pepper pancake had both plenty of meat and the delicious broth of the soup dumpling, which directly beat the crab roe soup dumpling in terms of taste and texture.

The two of them focused on finishing the pepper pancakes in front of them, eating them clean one bite at a time, leaving not even a bit of the flaky crust behind. Only when there was nothing left in the wrapper did they stop, still unsatisfied.

Wei Ziwei wanted to buy another pancake, but just as she stood up, she sat down in fear. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who had discovered the wonders of the pepper pancake. Many students were immediately returning to the food window after eating, shouting, “Wow, this is so delicious, boss, give me another one!”

The line at the pepper pancake window, which had not been very busy before, has now become quite long, and the flow of people was on par with the window selling mung bean soup.

Wei Ziwei was intimidated and could only drink a sip of mung bean soup with grievance. As the mung bean soup entered her mouth, her eyes lit up. “It turns out that what the boss just said was not a lie. Pepper pancakes and mung bean soup go perfectly together.”

Shu Wenwen nodded vigorously. “Although the pepper pancakes aren’t greasy at all and don’t need any drink to remove the greasiness—I actually even want another serving right now—but our taste buds are fickle after all. After eating something salty, we crave something sweet. This pairing is simply a perfect match!”

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Things have developed better than Luo Huai’an had imagined. As long as the freshmen ate the food at the Eighth Canteen once, they would become repeat customers, and the freshman market was successfully opened up.

Many people assume that top students were only interested in studying, but in reality, they’re not solely focused on studying. Many top students enjoy both study and play, possessing a wide range of interests. This was because they knew how to balance work and rest through recreation, managing stress, maintaining mental health, and ultimately, making their lives more meaningful.

The Aero U forum had a wide user base. It was a place for students from all over the campus to exchange learning experiences and entertainment gossip, and had a high number of daily active users.

Yesterday, a spam post appeared on the front page. It was titled ‘#AeroUSenior, you’ve dug up all the bamboo shoots¹ on the mountain, and the pandas are starving.’ At the time, Big Fish was eating outside the open grounds and was mistaken for an Aero U senior, so this post appeared on the forum.

Seniors: [Which idiot did this? Well done!]

[During last year’s military training, I planned to do the same for the freshmen this year, but I was busy with experiments and didn’t have time to go. This guy has fulfilled my long-cherished wish.]

The seniors laughed and built their happiness on the pain of the newborns.

Later, they heard someone say that Big Fish was not a student, but rather a staff member of the Eighth Canteen, and they felt quite regretful. They commented on the post that they would do the same thing these next few days and even invited people to check in together, which made the freshmen very angry.

Today, another spam post appeared on the homepage. Because too many people responded, it instantly became popular.

The Original Poster said: “When I first entered school, I saw a post about the cafeterias on the homepage. At that time, the seniors dissuaded me from going to the Eighth Cafeteria, saying it was haunted. I foolishly believed it. Because I didn’t have time to go to the snack street, I could only eat dry steamed buns for several days.

Facts have proven that I was too naive, and that the seniors were too scheming! They said this to prevent us freshmen from discovering the Eighth Canteen and making it easier to deal with their competitors. Freshmen, don’t believe anything the seniors say, not even a single punctuation mark.”

There were many replies below. Freshmen who had eaten in the Eighth Cafeteria responded one after another in agreement, repeatedly condemning the behavior of the seniors.

The freshmen from the literature department wrote short essays denouncing the unscrupulousness of people with extremely flowery words. 

On the other hand, the freshmen from the art department drew simple sketches. The freshmen were warriors of justice, while the seniors were demon kings. In the end, the warriors defeated the devils and took the devil’s treasure: Suzhou-style mung bean soup and pepper pancakes.

Seniors: “???” We are so wronged!

Although they did want to trick the freshmen into eating in various cafeterias, a small number of truly kind-hearted seniors had already told the freshmen the truth, leaving them with little room to fool these new students.

Seniors: [The rest of what we said might be false, but the things about the cafeteria are true. How can you slander our innocence out of thin air?]

[My defense is broken. I really gave my heart to the wrong person.]

However, given that seniors often fooled freshmen on forums, their credibility has almost dropped to zero.

Freshmen: [You just love to deceive us. I won’t listen, you bastards are just talking nonsense.]

[The wolf is coming, the wolf is coming! However, no matter how much you shout, we won’t believe you.]

Seniors: “…” So angry!

What the hell is going on in the Eighth Canteen?!

What are Suzhou-style mung bean soup and pepper cakes??

Mythical Beast Cafeteria translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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If you’re enjoying my translations, do consider buying me ko-fi and get access to advance chapters as reward. Thank you for your support! ☺️
Chapter 15.1 — Pepper Pancakes Part II
Chapter 15.2 — Pepper Pancakes Part II
Chapter 15.3 — Pepper Pancakes Part II
Chapter 15.4 — Pepper Pancakes Part II
Chapter 15.5 — Pepper Pancakes Part II
Chapter 15.6 — Pepper Pancakes Part II

1. Dig up all the bamboo shoots is a homophonic pun for the phrase ‘oh how damaging’. It calls out bad behavior that damages other people. ↩︎