Li Qiang tried to talk to Lu Yuhang, who had his back to him and didn’t turn around. It wasn’t until Li Qiang tapped him that Lu Yuhang removed his headphones and looked at him curiously.
"Yuhang, do you want to join our dorm etup with the girls’ dorm that Brother Hao is organizing?" Li Qiang asked.
Lu Yuhang wasn’t keen on social etups but rembered his mother’s advice to maintain good relationships with his classmates.
"Is Brother Zhou going?" he asked, glancing at Zhou Yuwen.
Zhou Yuwen replied, "I don't mind going if it's free food."
Li Qiang scoffed, "Of course you’d go since you don't have to pay. Yuhang, I'm telling you, Chang Hao is only paying for Zhou Yuwen, while we have to pay for ourselves. I'm not going."
Lu Yuhang looked between Zhou Yuwen and Li Qiang and said, "I don't mind. If Brother Zhou goes, I'll go too."
Li Qiang was frustrated. "If you go, Chang Hao won’t pay for you."
"That's okay. I'll pay for myself," Lu Yuhang replied.
Li Qiang wanted to argue further, but Chang Hao returned, having successfully asked his parents for a thousand yuan for dating expenses. He was in high spirits. "What are you guys talking about? Why so happy?"
Li Qiang fell silent as Chang Hao entered the room. Zhou Yuwen, now relaxed after handing off his work to Li Shiqi, closed his eyes to rest.
Chang Hao, seeing no one responding, shrugged and went back to ssaging Zheng Yanyan.
"Hey Yanyan, you won’t believe it. Li Qiang didn’t even know what Toronto was!"
Zheng Yanyan replied, "In Beijing, we never eat at Toronto. The seafood there isn’t fresh; we just go for the Haagen-Dazs."
"True, in Beijing, I usually eat at the Hilton. Here, Toronto is just convenient."
"Jinling has a Hilton too."
"Really? I didn’t know." Chang Hao panicked, thinking Zheng Yanyan might ask him to treat them at the Hilton, which was very expensive.
Zheng Yanyan, just teasing, noticed his hesitation and laughed. "Why so nervous? I wouldn’t make you treat us there."
Chang Hao breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "I might not be able to treat your whole dorm, but I’d love to treat just you."
"I'm not the kind of girl who takes advantage of guys."
Chang Hao began typing a long ssage praising her but didn’t get to send it before she asked, "When are we going?"
"Going where?" he asked.
"To the Hilton. You said you’d treat , rember?"
"Oh, yes, after military training!" Chang Hao's heart sank at the cost, but he agreed.
"Just kidding!"
"..."
Zheng Yanyan was playful and unpredictable, and Chang Hao was captivated by her. She was his youthful crush, her every gesture charming him. After a few more playful ssages, she said goodnight, leaving Chang Hao fantasizing about their promised date at the Hilton.
Lying in bed, Chang Hao envisioned the dorm etup. He wanted to impress Zheng Yanyan with his maturity and knowledge. After dinner, they could go singing, where he’d wow them with his rendition of "Sudden Self." Influenced by his father, he loved the song and believed he sang it as well as the original artist. He imagined the girls being impressed, particularly Zheng Yanyan, Shen Yu, and Su Qing.
Excited by these thoughts, Chang Hao couldn't sleep. He went out for a smoke, planning how to showcase his talents at the etup. When he returned, it was already midnight, and the dorm was dark. Realizing how late it was, he quickly prepared for bed.
As he settled in, a loud snore startled him. "Damn!"
It was Li Qiang, snoring loudly. Initially, Chang Hao tried to sleep through it, but the inconsistent volu and sudden loud bursts kept waking him up. By dawn, he was exhausted but finally started to doze off, only to be awakened by a loud whistle and announcent.
"Attention all freshn! Wear your military training uniforms and assemble on the field!"
Several camouflaged vans drove around the dorm area, blaring the announcent, leaving no chance for the students to continue sleeping. Many freshn, still buzzing with excitent from the night before, had barely slept, with so returning from internet cafes at dawn. The abrupt wake-up call was a harsh surprise.
"Shit!"
Fortunately, Zhou Yuwen and his roommates had gone to bed early. By 6:30 AM, they were up and dressed in their green camo uniforms, looking the part. Among them, Zhou Yuwen was the most fit, with Li Qiang being sturdy but a bit less so. As Li Qiang admired himself in the mirror, he was startled by the sight of a haggard Chang Hao.
"Brother Hao, did you not sleep?" Li Qiang asked, shocked.
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