Chapter 86: Chapter 84 Done, Can’t Find a Girlfriend in College Anymore
Another alert tone.
It was a message from Huai Xu.
As an old-timer who had just been introduced to online chatting tools, Huai Xu was intrigued by QQ, much like teenagers who had immersed themselves in chat rooms when they first emerged over a decade ago.
He had been sending messages to Zhou Li all of last night.
He had reportedly even added a few netizens, but it seemed no one had accepted his requests yet.
Zhou Li hadn’t paid much attention to it, but when he saw Huai Xu had sent a video with Tuanzi on the cover, he decided to open it.
Lord Dumpling was seen with a mini parcel on her back, standing at the door. She turned her head to stare at the camera, her expression slightly fierce yet adorable. Then Zhou Li witnessed her opening her mouth to let out a series of meows, crisp and pleasant to hear.
A woman’s voice followed, "You don’t understand, do you? I’m recording a video to send to Zhou Li... This is high technology."
"MEOW MEOW?"
"Of course he can see it."
"MEOW..."
"What’s the point of showing off in front of you! You’re just a cat! Really..."
"MEOW~~"
"Is this how you see me?" the woman’s voice was filled with discontent.
There was a pause.
Tuanzi looked somewhat disdainful, then she started meowing again, this time for a longer duration. The phone screen was shaky, enabling Zhou Li to imagine Huai Xu nodding and humming in agreement.
"Okay, I’ll send it to him."
"MEOW~~"
Lord Dumpling stepped over the threshold and left, her small figure quickly disappearing outside the door.
Finally, Huai Xu said, "She’s gone," and the video ended.
Zhou Li: "What did she say?"
Huai Xu: "Didn’t you hear it?"
Zhou Li: "I couldn’t hear it."
Huai Xu: "Why not?"
Zhou Li: "I don’t know. Repeat it for me."
Huai Xu: "She said we’ve been feeding her cheap stuff all the time, and if this continues, she’s going to starve to death. She’s going out to fend for herself. She also said we pocketed her money, which was supposed to be for Boiled Cabbage in Broth. But there’s no Boiled Cabbage in Broth. She wanted a cell phone, and we didn’t give it to her either. She’s very disappointed in us."
Zhou Li: "Is that it?"
Huai Xu: "In the end, she also said that the next time she comes back, she wants to eat Boiled Cabbage in Broth, or bean sprouts, or else she wants a cell phone. I told her that Boiled Cabbage in Broth is expensive, and we can’t afford it; she only brought back fifty yuan. She said she didn’t care, she’s just a simple little cat and doesn’t understand these things."
Zhou Li: "Bean sprouts?"
Huai Xu: "Stuffed with meat."
Zhou Li: "..."
Zhou Li: "I see."
He could vaguely imagine Tuanzi’s tone of voice.
Huai Xu: "You have class tomorrow, right?"
Zhou Li: "Yes."
Huai Xu: "Then you should sleep early. I still have to go out for a bit. I found some leads today. I think with further investigation, even if we can’t find any business, we can lay the foundation for the future."
Zhou Li: "Alright."
Putting down his phone, he quickly took out the class schedule to check it.
After all, it had been over three months since he last attended class, and it seemed that college classes operated differently.
First thing tomorrow morning, he had Military Theory, and before that, an early morning flag-raising ceremony on the soccer field.
Time to sleep.
Zhou Li turned off his cell phone.
「The next day, 7:00 AM.」
Pale golden sunlight slanted across, passing over the treetops and lighting up the lawn. The vast soccer field was packed to the brim with neatly dressed freshmen still retaining some of their military training posture.
After a short wait, the national flag guard arrived.
The national anthem started playing, and soon the flag-raising was complete.
Next came speeches by school leaders and freshman representatives. What surprised Zhou Li was that the freshman representative turned out to be Brother Nan. He had no clue when Brother Nan had managed to become a freshman representative, but he wasn’t particularly surprised by the matter itself.
In high school, Brother Nan often did such things. With her impressive appearance and boldness, the school frequently used her as a face for events, but that was all she was.
Asking her to give speeches or participate in debates was out of the question.
By the time they were dismissed, it was already 7:30 AM. Zhou Li and his roommates went to the cafeteria to buy breakfast, then returned to the dormitory to grab their books and ate while walking. Led by Chang Xiaoxiang, they arrived at a lecture hall.
The classroom was large, with many people scattered around.
Zhou Li stuffed the last bite of his Baozi into his mouth, threw away the wrapper, and walked into the classroom.
Chen Yang said, "Choose any seat, let’s sit at the back."
Chang Xiaoxiang agreed.
Zhou Li and Liu Zhengming had no objections, following them to the back to sit near the wall. There were three seats to a row on each side, so the four of them took up two rows, giving them a bit of extra space.
Chen Yang took out his phone, grinning at Chang Xiaoxiang.
The two started playing Honor of Kings.
Zhou Li glanced around the classroom. It was already past 7:50 AM, and Brother Nan still hadn’t arrived. A few unfamiliar guys had taken the row in front of them, probably from Class One or Two.
This course was shared by four classes.
Soon after, Baozi and her group arrived as well, but only three of them. Brother Nan was still not there.
Baozi looked around for Zhou Li, then walked towards the back. She carried a book in her hand, with a cake and a box of milk on top. Her flowing hair and serene expression lent her a very gentle air.
She paused as she passed by Zhou Li.
"Have you eaten?"
"I have." Zhou Li always felt her greetings were a bit stiff, but on reflection, he realized he wasn’t much better.
"Okay," Baozi nodded. "Brother Nan might be about ten minutes late. She went to eat hot and sour noodles and asked you to save her a seat. She said the teacher definitely won’t take attendance this class."
Zhou Li asked, "She asked me to save her a seat?"
"Yeah." Baozi then left.
Zhou Li pursed his lips and turned his head to look at Liu Zhengming. The two of them occupied three seats. Just right.
The classroom was filled with noise, but as a balding middle-aged man arrived, the sound level diminished greatly. When the bell rang, the classroom quieted down almost completely, with Chen Yang and Chang Xiaoxiang turning off their sounds.
The teacher turned on the projector, picked up the microphone, and began to introduce himself to everyone.
His last name was Xie.
He didn’t take attendance and started the lecture immediately.
This class had a textbook filled with military-related knowledge, but Teacher Xie didn’t follow it. Instead, he lectured from a PPT he had prepared, covering a very diverse array of topics.
Zhou Li listened intently for a while; it felt more like patriotic education.
It didn’t take long before no one was listening anymore.
Some were on their phones, others were sleeping, and a few even put on headphones. The teacher didn’t seem to care. Only when the noise level in the classroom started to escalate would he offer a reminder.
Twenty minutes later, Brother Nan appeared at the door.
She knocked on the door very composedly and smiled at the teacher, "I’m sorry, Teacher, I’m late."
The teacher nodded and waved her in.
Brother Nan looked around the classroom upon entering and headed straight towards Zhou Li. Zhou Li slid over one seat so that Brother Nan could sit where he had been.
"The hot and sour noodles were good."
"Really?"
"You should try them next time."
"Aren’t you worried about being late?"
"No choice. I can’t just not eat, can I? It’s all because of those school leaders," Brother Nan said, gesturing with her hand. "I’ve thought it over. Surely no one dares to skip the first class of the term. And with so many people in a non-major-specific class, the teacher definitely won’t take attendance."
"He did take attendance."
"Hmm?"
"I covered for you."
"Really?"
"The teacher seemed to see through it but didn’t say anything."
"You’re too handsome!" Brother Nan thought that although this Little Brother couldn’t conquer the world for her, she couldn’t find any other fault with him. Nodding, she said, "Anyway, I still owe you one."
"You’re welcome."
Liu Zhengming, sitting beside them, lowered his head deeply.
Brother Nan then said, "The bicycle I asked my dad to send has arrived. Go with me to pick it up at noon. My new one hasn’t arrived yet. You can start getting used to long rides these next few days; we’ll set out during the National Day holiday."
"Sure."
"From now on, if you get to class before me, no matter what class, you have to save me a seat. We’ll still be desk-mates in college, got it?"
"Got it."
"Sensible."
Brother Nan pulled out her phone and started playing games.
Zhou Li continued to pay attention to the class. He had chatted with Senior Sister Wang Dan a couple of days ago, and she said that while these classes might not be that important, they still had some credits to offer, and it was relatively easy to score high.
As long as you make a good impression and accumulate participation points, if everyone’s test scores are similar, the teacher will naturally give you a high score.
The second long lecture was "Introduction to Life Science."
This was a major-specific course.
Most students began to listen attentively, and Brother Nan stopped playing with her phone—this teacher was stricter.
She shifted to daydreaming instead.
Occasionally, she would complain to Zhou Li that she was very hungry.
Class ended at twelve-thirty, but by eleven-forty, she couldn’t bear it any longer. "I can’t take it anymore! I’m going out to eat. Just give my book to Baozi later. If the teacher asks, say I went to the restroom."
Zhou Li was speechless.
Zhou Li suddenly felt there was a vast difference between people.
Looking at his classmates, some might become addicted to skipping classes in the future, yet at this moment, everyone was still full of idealistic notions. Brother Nan, however, seemed to have foreseen her future self and had become a seasoned veteran from the very beginning.
Brother Nan took a pack of tissues, stood up calmly, and strode out of the classroom through the front door.
And she even closed the door behind her.
The teacher only glanced at her once and said nothing.
Zhou Li suspected she had attended college before.
On further reflection, Brother Nan truly was indifferent to all this. She had filled out her college application carelessly. She just wanted to experience college, thinking it might be fun; for her, even the diploma wasn’t important.
She was doing rather well already—she hadn’t even disturbed the other students!
Zhou Li stayed in his seat until class ended at noon, gave Brother Nan’s book to Baozi, then squeezed out of the classroom and through the crowded corridor with everyone else.
Two girls from his class kept sneaking glances at him, thinking they were being subtle, which made Zhou Li feel slightly awkward. He could still hear their voices even after he got outside.
"Zhou Li is really good-looking!"
"Brother Nan could beat you ten times over."
"I’m just looking..."
The other girl trailed off.
Zhou Li didn’t agree with their statement—Brother Nan could beat twenty of them.