In early September, students began to return to school one after another, and the campus of the Aero U became more and more lively.

Every year at the beginning of the school year at Aero U, many posts appeared on the homepage to trick freshmen into eating in the cafeteria. For example, this year’s posts included ‘The new fish stew with tomatoes and red dates in the first cafeteria is so delicious,’ ‘The fried ants in the second cafeteria is strange but crispy,” and ‘The stir-fried watermelon in the third cafeteria is absolutely amazing.’

Many freshmen who were inexperienced in the world trusted their seniors too much and were deceived to the point of being lost, leaving a lifelong shadow in their hearts.

But seniors would never be fooled. After all, those who had been at the Aero U for a long time knew the great reputation of the various bewitched cafeterias. The seniors were all seasoned foxes, and they were capable of dealing with any stories straight out of ‘Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio¹’.

During mealtimes, the cafeterias at the neighboring Jiangcheng University was busiest, while the opposite was true at Aero U. The cafeterias numbered one through seven still had some students, they weren’t particularly bustling.

The old students either go to the snack street to eat alone, or call friends to go to a large restaurant nearby. For these seniors, the word ‘cafeteria’ was never written on their plan list.

However, Xu Changle, a senior from the Computer Science Department, was not one of them.

Ever since he was invited to the Eighth Cafeteria and had the pepper pancake, he had become a loyal customer of the Eighth Cafeteria.

Two days into his senior year, he has eaten almost every meal there. If the Eighth Cafeteria had not been closed at night, he would have even wanted to have a midnight snack there.

He was very grateful to the new students who posted the messages and kept replying. [This poster, you are a compassionate and merciful living Bodhisattva.]

As a result, the freshmen posters were so angry, gnashing their teeth.

At this moment, a pop-up window suddenly appeared on WeChat. When he saw the name of the group chat, his eyes lit up and he immediately opened the window.

Luo Huai’an posted in the WeChat group: [This afternoon, the Eighth Cafeteria 8 will be selling shaved ice. Limited to 100 servings. Hurry and get yours!]

“Oh my God, the Eighth Cafeteria actually sells shaved ice! I haven’t had shaved ice for a long time. I have to go try it.” Xu Changle was excited and immediately called his roommates and prepared to go to the Eighth Cafeteria to eat shaved ice.

Suddenly, there was a noise outside the door. Senior year classes weren’t very busy, and many seniors entered school late because of summer internships. Their dorm was a four-person room, but only he and one of his roommates were there. Only today did the other two finally arrive.

After all, we once shared the same pants. Although we haven’t seen each other for a summer, there was no sense of unfamiliarity between us.

His roommate Chu Kai came from a wealthy family and was a second-generation rich guy. He was also very generous and often treated everyone to meals.

After Chu Kai exchanged pleasantries with everyone, he swung his keys and said, “It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, let’s go out for dinner. I haven’t had anything from Yinbingshi² in a while. Their shaved ice is absolutely amazing for cooling off in the summer. The chef at home can’t make it as good as theirs. I’ve been having a miserable summer. Let’s go out and have a meal.”

Yinbingshi was an ice cream shop near Aero U. They offered a variety of drinks, including milk tea, shaved ice, and fruit tea. Among these, shaved ice was their best seller.

During the sweltering summer heat, students from the nearby universities loved to walk out of campus and buy a bowl of shaved ice at Yinbingshi. Because Yinbingshi was so crowded, some tables and chairs were set up outside. The students didn’t mind the street atmosphere; instead, they enjoyed the casualness of it. After buying their shaved ice, they didn’t rush to leave but sat outside and enjoyed it.

Their shaved ice was generous in portion, the fruits were fresh, and the ingredients substantial.

Chu Kai could be considered a gourmet, yet even he loved this shaved ice, which was enough to show how delicious the shaved ice there was.

At the end of last semester, their favorite thing to do in the dorm was to play basketball and then go out for shaved ice. After a cup of shaved ice, the icy coolness would spread from the stomach to the whole body, instantly eliminating the heat from the exercise, leaving a sense of comfort throughout the body.

Chu Kai thought of the taste of the fruit shaved ice from Yinbingshi, and an infinite desire arose in his heart. He hurriedly called out to his roommates, “Hurry up, if we go too late there will be no more seats.”

Chu Kai stepped forward but found that Xu Changle and their other roommate were still sitting in their seats, motionless, with no intention of getting up.

Chu Kai asked in confusion, “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to eat shaved ice in such hot weather?”

Normally, Xu Changle would have agreed immediately, but at the moment he was thinking about the shaved ice that the cafeteria operator mentioned in the community group chat. He had no intention of leaving their dorm room for any other little fairies.

Xu Changle shook his head and said calmly, “I want to go to the Eighth Cafeteria for a meal. The boss said they’ll have shaved ice today and asked us to go buy some.”

Chu Kai was amused when he heard this and couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “Oh, really? Haven’t you had enough fun teasing  people yet?”

Xu Changle asked doubtfully, “What do you mean teasing people?”

“You’ve been teasing freshmen,” Chu Kai said. “I have to say, you’re really mean, but you did a great job. After all, we were tricked that way too.”

Mythical Beast Cafeteria translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: The title refers to the ‘continuous/unbroken’ type of shaved ice mentioned in the previous chapter.

The collection ‘Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio’ is also featured in my other translation work I Livestream Divination to the World written by the same author—fortune-telling and ghosts, instead of cooking and mythical beasts. Check it out!

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 18.2 — Silky Shaved Ice
Chapter 18.3 — Silky Shaved Ice
Chapter 18.4 — Silky Shaved Ice

FOOTNOTES:

1. Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Nearly 500 stories collected over 40 years from late 1600s to mid-1700s. Wiki says the ‘scary stories’ are not intended to be frightening, but to blur the borders between the supernatural and everyday reality. I guess it’s like Twilight Zone, except with supernatural creatures…  ↩︎
2. Yinbingshi means Ice-Drinking Parlor ↩︎