There was a moment of silence.
Lin Xichi couldn’t get the courses she wanted and wasn’t in the mood to quarrel with him. She asked, “What are you doing?”
Xu Fang replied, “Selecting courses.”
Lin Xichi asked, “You also got a C in English, right?”
Xu Fang confirmed, “Yeah.”
Lin Xichi was surprised, “If you got a C, then the only option left is that nightmare teacher.”
“What nightmare?” Xu Fang yawned lazily, not paying much attention. “Just pick any.”
Lin Xichi didn’t want to face reality and struggled reluctantly, “But I heard that teacher is very strict.”
Xu Fang didn’t bother with her, saying, “Oh.”
“Did you choose it?”
“Yeah.”
“And have you sorted out your general education courses in arts and sciences?”
“Yeah.”
Lin Xichi sighed, feeling resigned, and marked that class on her schedule.
Lin Xichi followed her timetable’s free slots and added courses wherever there was availability. She continued, “What about physical education? Did you choose the same as me?”
“No physical education.”
“What?”
“National defense students don’t have physical education.”
…
…
After hanging up the phone, Lin Xichi sighed and looked at her schedule with a sense of melancholy. However, she didn’t dwell on it for too long. Soon, she decided to cheer up and find a movie to watch. Just as she was about to do that, Xin Zidan called her.
“Xichi.”
Lin Xichi turned around and asked, “Yes?”
“I couldn’t enroll in any other English class, so I chose the one with Yan Zhibin. It should be the same, right? Thursday at 2 PM,” Xin Zidan said, licking her lips with a hopeful expression. “Shall we go together?”
Lin Xichi gave her a sympathetic look and said, “Sure.”
After the movie ended, Lin Xichi checked the time on the computer’s clock, and it was already 11 PM.
Lin Xichi rubbed her stomach and took out her meal card. She thought there might still be around twenty or thirty yuan left on it, plus the twenty yuan in cash in her dorm. With that, she could survive for another day or two without asking Xu Fang for money.
Lin Xichi went to the cafeteria with three other roommates.
They arrived at Cafeteria B, the closest one to their dormitory. Lin Xichi surveyed the various food windows for a moment, hesitated, and then went to one of them.
Since it was hot weather, she decided to get a bowl of eight-treasure porridge for herself. Lin Xichi consoled herself, holding the bowl and looking around.
The cafeteria didn’t have air conditioning, so she found a seat directly in front of a fan. She stood there, not sitting down, to make sure Nie Yue and the others could find her easily.
Her spot was next to one of the cafeteria doors.
Lin Xichi stared at Chen Han, who was waiting in line at the window next to the door, wanting to catch her attention as soon as she got her food. When Chen Han turned back, Lin Xichi immediately raised her hand.
“Hey! Over here!”
Just at that moment, a group of seven or eight tall guys entered, chatting and laughing as they walked. They all looked strong and sturdy.
Their appearance was refreshing, and even a casual glance from them was exceptionally captivating.
Lin Xichi’s gaze paused for a moment, and she immediately noticed Xu Fang, who was at the forefront of the group.
Three or four guys surrounded him, casually resting their arms on his shoulders, chatting with him. Xu Fang’s face showed no particular expression; he seemed absent-minded. When he heard Lin Xichi’s voice, he looked over.
Their eyes met.
Lin Xichi didn’t avert her gaze and her mind went blank again. She began to ponder a question: why did Xu Fang, with his bad temper, have such good popularity?
Every time, Lin Xichi worried that Xu Fang would be isolated in a new environment due to his personality. But every time, he managed to thrive.
Indeed, heaven wouldn’t mistreat anyone. Xu Fang’s personality had flaws, but heaven compensated for that with his social skills.
As she contemplated this for about ten seconds, Xu Fang turned to the guy next to him and said something before walking in her direction.
…
How did he come over here?
Does Xu Fang think I called him?
Xu Fang walked over and stood next to her, asking casually, “Did you call me?”
Just as expected.
But who called you? Hurry up and leave.
The next moment, Lin Xichi blinked and smiled, “Yes.”
At this moment, the other three roommates had finished getting their food and sat down near Lin Xichi.
It was a quiet table.
Xu Fang seemed particularly oblivious to the awkward atmosphere he had caused. He frowned slightly, looking at the bowl of eight-treasure porridge in front of Lin Xichi, and asked, “You’re having this for lunch?”
Lin Xichi would never admit that she was trying to save money. She said with a straight face, “It’s hot…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Xu Fang made a disdainful sound, picked up her bowl, and walked away.
Lin Xichi was dumbfounded.
Didn’t he just snatch her bowl of porridge and scold her?
Lin Xichi stood there with a puzzled look, watching him walk to another table. She was about to follow him when she suddenly noticed a meal card on the table.
The position where it was placed was just blocked by the bowl of eight-treasure porridge she had bought.
Lin Xichi picked it up and looked at it.
It was Xu Fang’s meal card.
The photo on it was from his first year, the time when he still had a bit of youthful innocence. His facial features were still somewhat immature, but his expression was sharp and cold. Even though he was looking straight at the camera, it gave off a sense of condescension, making him seem difficult to approach.
Lin Xichi pursed her lips and glanced at Xu Fang’s seat.
His group of friends had already finished getting their food. One of them even helped him get a meal and left an empty seat for him in the middle. Lin Xichi’s bowl of eight-treasure porridge was pitifully placed next to his plate.
Lin Xichi retracted her gaze and told her roommates that she was going to get her food. Feeling in a good mood, she went to get her meal.
On the other side.
Xu Fang sat back in his seat, and the seven guys around him made suggestive comments in hushed voices, but they kept it low-key and didn’t cause a commotion.
One of the guys sitting next to Xu Fang teased, “Isn’t that the pretty girl we talked about the other day? Xu Fang, you’re moving fast.”
Xu Fang looked at him without lifting his eyelids and calmly continued eating.
“Is she really your girlfriend?” another guy sitting in the corner asked, half-jokingly. “I really like how she looks. If she’s not your girlfriend, I…”
He didn’t finish his sentence.
Xu Fang looked at him, his brows slightly furrowing. His face, with its relaxed and slightly arrogant expression, had a cold edge. After a few seconds, he chuckled softly.
“What do you think?”
In the next two days of orientation, the content of each teacher’s speeches varied greatly. But one common theme was the mention of a senior who had skipped an entire exam for the sake of gaming.
Each teacher expressed deep regret, as if they had lost hundreds of millions of dollars. “One of your senior students…”
In just a few days, Lin Xichi heard about this senior more times than she had eaten meals. She wondered who had found out his name, and for a long time, freshmen mentioned him in their conversations.
After being inundated with so much information, Lin Xichi spent a minute digesting it all. She had initially wanted to share all this with Xu Fang, but when she thought about the financial issue…
She decided to educate him about it a month later.
On Friday afternoon at 3 PM, Lin Xichi and Nie Yue went for their interviews.
They were both interviewing in different rooms at the East Building.
After going upstairs and turning left, Lin Xichi reached the corner of the stairs. Looking ahead, she saw dozens of people standing in the corridor. It seemed lively, but it was actually very quiet. Everyone patiently waited for the interviews.
Lin Xichi noticed that everyone had a sheet of A4 paper in their hands. She found her registration form on a desk near the back door and joined the end of the line.
As Lin Xichi looked at the handwriting on her registration form, she thought, “It’s quite nice.”
Suddenly, she felt someone’s gaze from the front.
Lin Xichi raised her head.
A tall guy stood in front of her, looking at her without any hesitation, a slight hint of a smile on his lips.
Peach-blossom eyes, golden-rimmed glasses.
He looked somewhat familiar.
Lin Xichi was puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
The guy raised an eyebrow and withdrew his gaze without saying anything.
Lin Xichi didn’t pay much attention to it and continued standing quietly. However, she couldn’t help but glance at the registration form in the guy’s hand, and the handwriting on it was similar to hers. Moreover, the student number started with 10, which meant he was a sophomore.
A sophomore?
Lin Xichi looked up and discreetly stole a glance at him.
Fair complexion, soft and well-defined facial features, and golden-rimmed glasses.
Now she remembered.
Wasn’t he the senior who helped her fill out the registration form at the booth that day?
Lin Xichi was suddenly curious.
Why was this senior, who had been recruiting new members, here for an interview?
But because she didn’t know him and didn’t want to appear nosy, she didn’t ask and simply stood to the side, waiting. She sent Xu Fang a screenshot of a mosquito net’s price.
Lin Xichi: [Fang Bigshot, I want to buy a mosquito net. There are too many mosquitoes in the dorm.]
Lin Xichi: [I think Bigshot would be generous enough to give me 40 yuan to buy a mosquito net.]
After a moment’s thought, Lin Xichi added: [Do I need to kneel?]
Lin Xichi: [??.] (Editor’s Note: The characters “??” are a representation of laughter.)
Lin Xichi: [orz] (Editor’s Note: “orz” is an emoticon representing someone bowing down in defeat or frustration.)
When Xu Fang saw these messages, he muttered under his breath, then opened Alipay. He entered an amount, 1000 yuan, then paused, silently deleting the amount and replacing it with a different number.
Although Xu Fang often seemed idle and responded to messages slowly, he was quick when it came to transferring money.
Not long after, Lin Xichi checked her Alipay.
As expected.
Xu Fang had already transferred money to her.
But it wasn’t the 40 yuan she had imagined.
The transferred amount was exactly 39.9 yuan.
“…”
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