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墨書 Inktalez
As the "May Day" holiday approached, a significant event occurred at Annan County Eighth High School.
Around midnight on April 28, the boys from four senior classes formed several teams and went to knock on the doors of the first and second-year boys' dormitories. "Get up! Gather at the place where the Cafeteria Staff stay. Anyone who doesn’t show up will be in trouble!"
They shone flashlights at each door, urging everyone to get dressed. "Is the food they prepare meant for people? Today, we’re going to demand an explanation from them!"
Hu Ruoyun also got up, not out of fear of these upperclassmen causing trouble, but because he was genuinely dissatisfied with the school meals. The quality was poor, and the hygiene was appalling.
The steamed buns were cheap, costing only twenty-five cents each, and they were quite large. However, when eaten, one would only encounter thick dough with hardly any filling inside. The eggs in the noodle soup were fried in a way that masked their original flavor with an overwhelming taste of batter.
Even during Teacher's Day or New Year's banquets, each bowl contained only a few slices of meat.
The most concerning issue was hygiene. Winter was somewhat tolerable; despite the monotonous food and lack of oil, it was still edible.
But summer was a different story. It was common to find flies "swimming" in the congee during hot weather. If you pointed it out to the staff serving food, they would merely scoop it out with a blank expression, as if it were nothing unusual.
During the day, one could see fat rats scurrying around the kitchen area, and it was not uncommon for buns to be found with rat droppings on them.
If you couldn’t eat or simply refused to eat? You would just have to go hungry!
In addition to the poor food quality, some cafeteria workers had extremely rude attitudes when serving students. They often resorted to harsh words, and some students who protested were even threatened.
The students had reported these issues to the school before, but nothing ever came of it.
There was an even more serious incident when the porridge made from white flour was clearly spoiled. The cooked rice had an abnormal yellow hue, and a layer of small white worms floated on top. When someone tried to take a sip, it had a strange taste!
That time, under the instigation and leadership of the Student Council and the Senior Year students, all the students at the school began a "Boycott": they refused to eat in the cafeteria, even while hungry!
After some time, similar situations began to change slightly.
The catalyst for this incident was when a Senior Year student bought two steamed buns. When he broke one open to eat, he discovered that one of the buns contained a cooked Gecko Tail!
This was absolutely unacceptable!
The hygiene issues in the Student Cafeteria had been longstanding and affected everyone. These passionate young students were stirred up by someone taking the lead, and they all crawled out of their beds to gather at the dormitory of the Cook.
One can imagine: in the middle of the night, hundreds of young students gathered together, each filled with righteous indignation, unafraid even if the King of Heaven himself showed up...
Although it was noisy outside, the Cook's dormitory was eerily quiet. More than ten staff members lived in three rooms, none of which had their lights on, and not a single employee came out to ask what was happening.
It was unclear who initiated it, but suddenly a half brick flew from the crowd in the shadows and smashed against the window of the Cook's dormitory with a loud crash, shattering the glass.
As if responding to a command, countless bricks flew from the crowd toward the three dormitories of the cooks...
The on-duty Vice Principal and several directors from the Office of Academic Affairs came out, but most ordinary teachers stayed inside.
Students had previously reported issues with food quality; although ordinary teachers sympathized, they felt powerless. Now that such an incident occurred, they were more inclined to hide than to step forward.
Only under the urging of the school broadcast did class teachers reluctantly come to the scene, but they too hid behind others instead of stepping forward to mediate.
Because it was nighttime, even the usually timid students dared to join in, raising their voices to make a show of strength. With the seniors leading the charge, the crowd surged forward, drowning out the voice of Vice Principal Li Gewei, who was on duty.
The staff dormitory of the three cafeterias remained dark, with no lights on, no responses, and no one coming out.
The situation was getting out of control. Vice Principal Li was desperately trying to persuade them, “Students, don’t act impulsively. What you’re doing is wrong…”
The students retorted in a cacophony, “Is it right for them to feed us ‘pig food’? Why isn’t anyone managing that?”
Vice Principal Li was momentarily speechless. After a while, he said, “The police will be here soon. I know it’s the seniors who are leading this…”
But this only made things worse; the students became even more agitated. Someone shouted, “Then let the police take us all away! We’re not afraid!”
A group of tall and strong athletes led the charge, and their presence stirred up more chaos among the crowd.
Before long, an instructor from Gaoqiao Town Police Station arrived with two officers. Upon seeing the scene, they were taken aback: this was not just a few people; there were hundreds gathered. If it were a smaller group, intimidation might work, but with so many together, they were not afraid at all.
The instructor exchanged opinions with Vice Principal Li and expressed his thoughts; even the principal seemed at a loss.
If it were just a few individuals, threats about withholding diplomas or notifying their parents might scare them off. But this was a collective action, and they had legitimate grievances—it was a tricky situation.
Vice Principal Hou from the Office of Academic Affairs had a relatively good temper. At this moment, he stepped forward and stood in the corridor of the kitchen staff dormitory. Under the dim light, he appeared frail and shaky.
No more students threw things in that direction.
Vice Principal Hou, with his white hair, said firmly, “Tonight’s events end here. Everyone should go back and rest… Especially Class Three seniors; you have the college entrance exams coming up—time is tight…”
"The school will hold a meeting to discuss the issues with the cafeteria right away..."
The Vice Principal snapped back to reality, "Yes, yes, yes. The school is aware of what initiated this situation today, and we will definitely take it seriously and resolve the problem. Everyone, please go back and rest!"
He then shouted towards the back of the crowd, "Class teachers, come to the front and take your students back to the dormitory..."
The class teachers stepped forward, causing the students in the front row to begin to shrink back, which prompted the entire crowd to disperse.
The next day, the Student Cafeteria had significantly improved in both food quality and hygiene. Two weeks later, the director in charge of logistics and the cafeteria manager were both replaced.
Later on, there were rumors that Vice Principal Li, who oversaw logistics, was set to succeed Principal Zheng after his retirement. It was said that he had connections "upstairs" and often disregarded Principal Zheng. This time, however, he was startled by the students' actions.
Following this incident, the cafeteria staff became less arrogant when serving food to the students.
That night, anyone who dared to show their face would likely have faced the wrath of those students.
There is a saying in rural areas: "Better to live next door to a robber than next to a student," which reflects how troublesome students can be; their mischief often surpasses that of robbers.
Through this event, Hu Ruoyun gained insight into the power of student solidarity.
However, while hygiene issues may have been related to the cafeteria staff, using inferior or spoiled ingredients might not have been their decision... It seemed that while students vented their frustrations, it remained unclear who was truly at fault.
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