The sun, even after five, was still glaring.
The two tucked the thick interview reports under their arms, carrying iced milk teas and slowly walking back.
Little Cousin chewed on a taro ball, chewed and chewed. She looked at Zhou Li beside her, then glanced at the thick interview report, a surge of worry rising in her heart—
"Cousin..."
"What's up?"
"We have to go around finding classmates to talk to!" Little Cousin lanted, taking another sip of her milk tea to soothe her worries.
"Yeah."
"I don't want to."
"I don't want to either."
"I haven't spoken to most of my classmates up until now," Little Cousin said weakly.
"It's about the sa for ."
"I can't even na most people," Little Cousin quietly smacked her lips. "When I run into them in the cafeteria, I don't even recognize them. They greet and I can only nod my head, pretending to be all cool, but actually, I don't know them."
"...Well, you're more impressive then."
"What should we do?"
"...Then why didn't you say this in the office?"
"I didn't dare."
"...I can't help you either. From your class, I only know the few people from your dorm," Zhou Li shrugged.
"And Zhong En," Little Cousin quietly corrected.
"..."
This Baozi is really getting on my nerves, Zhou Li suddenly thought.
But Baozi seed completely unaware. She sipped another taro ball, and with the milk tea, both her cheeks puffed up. The way her jaw worked as she chewed the taro ball was particularly cute. "What should we do? I have to go out and take photos for people this whole week. It's really tough. I even had postcards printed on 1688 this morning to mail out, and then I'll have to set up my stall... Zhou Qianqian said I mustn't cut corners. A good interview adds points, poor interview quality deducts points, and if anything goes wrong later, I'll be held responsible."
"That was quite a mouthful..." Zhou Li was stunned.
"What should we do?"
"She's just saying that to scare you," Zhou Li said.
"And then?"
"How much can you earn?" Zhou Li was curious.
"From setting up a stall?"
"From photography."
"A few hundred a day," Baozi said, quietly sighing in relief. She was a bit embarrassed to say how much she earned from her stall.
"That's decent."
"What should we do?"
This was already the fourth ti Baozi had asked.
She tilted her head slightly, gazing at Zhou Li with expectant eyes, hoping he would take up the responsibility of an elder brother. Of course, during this, her goldfish-like pout never left the straw.
Zhou Li thought for a mont and pulled out a form from her stack. "Your cousin will share so of the burden."
"Share more of it!" Little Cousin insisted.
"No need," Zhou Li felt that since they were relatives, there was no need for such politeness. He paused, then said, "I'll take on classmate Li Nan from your class—the one with the most complex psyche, the most erratic thoughts, who will be the toughest to interview, and is the most likely to have a ntal breakdown."
"I think *you're* the one with ntal issues."
"What?"
"I think *you're* the one with ntal issues," Baozi repeated, adding, "Serious ones."
"You too."
"Mm-hm."
Neither of them spoke anymore.
「Back in the dorm, it was only half past five.」
At ho, they usually had dinner around five or six, but since coming here, Zhou Li always felt like this ti was just mid-afternoon.
Lord Dumpling imdiately poked her head out from the bed. "Zhou Li, you're back~~ What did you bring?"
"This is sothing important. You mustn't damage it."
"W~~ Don't worry~~"
"Good girl."
"Zhou Li."
"What's up?"
"This room is too small. Lord Dumpling can't even run around properly while playing gas," Tuanzi said, surveying the dorm room. "Too small, too small..."
"Lord Dumpling can play outside the dorm, but there are many stray cats in the residential area that might attack Lord Dumpling. But there are also many friendly little girls," Zhou Li said, petting her head. "Just rember to co back."
Liu Zhengming, by the balcony, had his back to them, silently playing his ga.
At that mont, he heard the sound of a chair being moved.
Zhou Li, holding an interview report and a pen, sat down beside him.
Liu Zhengming was startled. "Wha-what's up?"
Zhou Li forced a smile.
Seeing the increasing fear on Liu Zhengming's face, Looks like this smile isn't working, he thought, and replaced it with a sincere expression. "There's a psychological interview task at school; it's very important. I have to talk with all my classmates one by one, and as my roommate, you'll be my first test... uh, interview subject."
"What-what interview?"
"It's just to see how you guys are doing with college life, whether you have any psychological issues, that sort of thing," Zhou Li said.
"I think *you're* the one with a psychological issue."
"...What issue?"
"You talk to your cat every day, and your conversations are even..." Liu Zhengming searched for the right word, "even... very logical."
"...That's how all cat owners are!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Tuanzi's soft, delicate voice imdiately piped up from the side, "You're copying how Lord Dumpling talks!"
Zhou Li whipped his head around—
"Shush!"
Liu Zhengming trembled.
Zhou Li didn't mind. Since Liu Zhengming was just a test subject, a little lack of success wasn't necessarily a bad thing. As the end-of-class bell neared, Huai Xu appeared in the dorm with a soft 'POOF', causing Chang Xiaoxiang's bed to give a slight creak, which Zhou Li also ignored.
"Let say this upfront."
"Go-go on."
"Today's interview content is absolutely confidential. I won't show it to anyone or talk about it to anyone. The reason I say this is to ensure we can keep our discussion as truthful and honest as possible."
"Umm..."
"Okay, I'll take that as a yes."
Zhou Li saw that one very important item in the interview questions was about roommate relationships. Other classmates might still vent their dissatisfaction to Zhou Li, the ntal health representative they rarely interacted with. However, as his roommate, Liu Zhengming would definitely hold back. Besides, having the class's own ntal health representative interview his classmates wasn't a very sound thod to begin with. It would have been much better if he and Baozi had swapped their interview lists.
He was used to this by now.
Ever since he was young, the decisions made by school leaders had mostly been idealistic and detached from reality.
Zhou Li started with the first question, "How did your last sester at school go? Is there anything you were dissatisfied with?"
"It was pretty good. I just wish they wouldn't cut the power and internet at night..."
"Any other suggestions?"
"Nope."
"Then I'll write: 'This student believes the school's premature shutdown of power and internet affects his ability to ga all night.'"
"Damn!"
Liu Zhengming started to think seriously. After pondering for a long ti, he said, "My family isn't very well-off, and it's hard to find part-ti jobs off-campus. I hope the school can offer more work-study positions."
"That's a good one!"
Zhou Li wrote it down, then asked, "Are you getting along well with your classmates? Is there anyone you particularly dislike?"
"The atmosphere in our class is pretty good, I'd say."
"True."
The atmosphere among male students in college is usually quite good, and relationships between different dorms are generally fine. In fact, thanks to Brother Nan's influence, the students from Class Three and Class Four of their year got along very harmoniously, almost as if they were one big class—except when the two classes competed against each other.
Influenced by Brother Nan, the girls were also quite magnanimous.
So Zhou Li wrote: "This student believes the class president of the neighboring class manages things appropriately, leading to all classmates getting along harmoniously."
I hope Zhong Xin doesn't beat up for this,
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