Chapter 1: That water bottle was accidentally squeezed; do you understand?
Late summer, the beginning of the school year.
The area near the university was filled with parked cars, crowded and bustling. The sound of suitcases being dragged along the ground echoed everywhere.
Graduates from various places gathered here.
Senior students from the student union were handing out stacks of school maps to passing freshmen.
“Go straight ahead for Nanyang University—the freshman registration area is at the front entrance.”
Some people were carrying cameras, conducting interviews with new students everywhere: “Excuse me, can we have two or three minutes of your time? We’d like to do a brief interview—”
The chirping of cicadas mingled in the gaps between these sounds, gradually becoming background noise.
Shady greenery lined the main road, with railings enclosing both sides of the road.
A person leaned against the railing, placed their suitcase aside, and stood against the flow of people, not continuing forward.
The person was tall with long legs and wearing a white T-shirt. The railing barely reached his waist.
He lowered his head, his face unclear, but one could vaguely glimpse the contours of his nose and chin. At the moment, he was typing on his phone with one hand, presumably waiting for someone.
“Over there,” someone couldn’t help but pat the person with the camera and directed, “Take a shot of that guy over there.”
The person with the camera was busy and asked, “Which way?”
The other person said, “Over by the railing, can’t you see that strikingly handsome guy? Although his face isn’t very clear from this distance, I guarantee it from experience. If he’s not good-looking, I’ll wash my hair standing on my head.”
The person with the camera: “…”
“After interviewing him, let’s go over there,” the person continued, “then we’ll easily meet the school’s video playback target metrics in no time.”
[I’ll give you another three minutes.]
[Took more than three minutes.]
[And go in and report yourself.]
Yun Ci held his phone, ignoring a bunch of messages from “Dad,” and finished typing the last sentence in the chat box with the person named “Li Yan.” Just as he raised his head, he saw a high-definition camera appear out of nowhere; its lens pointed directly at him without any courtesy, shooting a segment from bottom to top, and then stood still in front of him.
His first reaction was, where did it come from?
What do you want to do?
Don’t you think the way this HD camera appeared is very presumptuous?
“Hello, we’re from the Nanyang University Student Union,” the person with the camera said, answering his inner doubts.
“Hello,” Yun Ci pressed the screen of his phone with his backhand, and with what little politeness he had left, he asked, “Is there something you need?”
“Well, we’re shooting a freshman orientation video, and we’d like to interview you.”
As soon as the words fell, the person with the camera adjusted the angle and pointed the lens at Yun Ci’s face.
Looking through the lens, the person responsible for filming couldn’t help but curse inwardly.
No wonder it could make someone swear such an outrageous oath of washing his hair while standing upside down.
This person indeed had a face that was hard to ignore, exceptionally cold, yet unexpectedly soft in the lines of the eyebrows and eyes, exuding a warmth that was starkly different from the coldness, the collision of the two feelings making him appear like a piece of cold jade.
The youth stood in the light and shadow, looking down at him with lowered eyes, but the words that came out of his mouth were, “Oh, but I’m not a freshman.”
When he spoke, his tone would involuntarily draw out a bit, making it difficult to discern the truth: “Actually, I’ve already graduated.”
“…?”
Not a freshman?
The person in charge of the interview hesitated, “But you don’t look very old, and you’re dragging a suitcase…”
Yun Ci stuffed his phone into his pocket and raised his eyelids, “You’ll have to ask my dad about that; it’s in the genes.” Saying this, he caught sight of a familiar figure approaching him hastily with a suitcase and a large bag not far away.
“See that non-mainstream guy over there?” Yun Ci raised his hand and pointed to the figure, “I’m here to escort him to enrollment.”
“I’m his…”
Yun Ci pondered for a moment, “Uncle.”
After receiving the message and rushing all the way here, afraid of exceeding three minutes, Li Yan just happened to hear this sentence: “……?”
Wha-what kind of…Uncle?
Uncle?
Li Yan sported very eye-catching yellow hair, wore slippers, and exuded a bit of a vagrant vibe. He stared, his mind not yet catching up, noticing that the camera had moved away from Yun Ci’s devastatingly handsome face and onto his own.
Sometimes, he was truly speechless.
Anyway, whoever they were interviewing, the school reporter immediately threw out a new question: “Your uncle is really nice to you, especially coming to see you off for enrollment.”
“Seeing you with so much luggage, is this your first time leaving home for a distant place? Do you have any expectations for the upcoming new life? Can you share with everyone?”
Li Yan stood in front of the camera, holding his bag, and blurted out, “Holy sh*t.”
“Holy sh*t… my uncle.”
Li Yan’s expression was as if he had eaten sh*t, and he numbly blurted out, “That’s right. My uncle treats me very well. He takes care of me usually. With the farewell and blessings from my uncle, I am about to enter Nanyang University, starting college life. I hope I can study hard and become a useful person to society.”
After Li Yan finished speaking, he even heard applause.
He turned around and found his “uncle” leaning against the railing bonelessly, applauding for him.
He and Yun Ci attended the same high school, were in the same class for three years, and coincidentally got into the same university, agreeing to enroll together today.
But if God had given him another chance to choose.
If he had known earlier what would happen on this enrollment day, he would never have let Yun Ci wait for him here.
“I’m just a few minutes late,” after the student union interviewers left, Li Yan said, shuffling in his flip-flops, “and you’re retaliating against me.”
Yun Ci stood up straight, his hand resting on the suitcase, “I’m not retaliating against you; am I that kind of person?”
Li Yan looked at him and said, “You are.”
“…”
“I really didn’t retaliate against you,” Yun Ci said, “It was mainly because I didn’t want to be interviewed.”
Li Yan: “Well said, as if I wanted to be.”
Yun Ci, as if nothing had happened, naturally skipped over the topic and took the bag from him before pushing the suitcase, “Let’s go; your uncle will help you carry the luggage. Seeing how much stuff you have, let’s go to your dormitory first.”
“…”
Li Yan wanted to scoff, “Thank you.”
Yun Ci’s tone remained calm, “You’re welcome; it’s what uncle do.”
***
According to the process of freshmen enrollment, you first pay the fees, receive some materials, and then you can go to the dormitory for registration.
Li Yan brought a lot of things, even carrying a thick winter quilt on his shoulders.
Yun Ci left his suitcase downstairs and helped him carry the quilt upstairs.
“Uncle has a question.”
Yun Ci said as he carried the quilt upstairs, “Why are you bringing a winter quilt in the middle of summer?”
“…”
Li Yan: “My mom told me to bring it; she said it’s being well prepared.”
Alright.
Well prepared, indeed.
“Which building are you in?” Li Yan asked.
Yun Ci recalled the piece of paper he had just received, which stated that his dormitory was in Building 5, Room 608.
Yun Ci: “Building 5.”
Li Yan: “I’m in Building 3; we’re separated by one building; I can’t just slip over to find you like before.”
Back in his senior year of high school, Yun Ci lived in the school dormitory for a year to squeeze out more time for revision. During that time, they lived on the same floor, very close to each other. However, every time Li Yan shamelessly came to his dorm room, he would be kicked out shortly thereafter.
The main reason was that Yun Ci couldn’t stand having another person in the room while studying.
So, the fact that there was still one building between them didn’t bother Yun Ci much.
Li Yan’s dorm was on the fifth floor. As they pushed open the door and entered, they found that almost everyone else in the dormitory had arrived.
Yun Ci counted the heads, six beds, and four people already there. Including Li Yan, that made five. The beds were bunk beds, and there were two large tables in the center of the dormitory, surrounded by scattered wooden chairs. There was nothing surprising, just the standard configuration for a university dormitory.
The people in the dormitory were chatting, but the conversation stopped as soon as someone pushed open the door.
The next second, one of them exclaimed excitedly, “Yan-ge? Ci-ge?”
“What a coincidence!” The person wearing glasses exclaimed excitedly, “Are all our high school classmates assigned to the same dormitory? I was wondering if I’d meet any alumni before I came—”
Yun Ci glanced at him, feeling a bit familiar.
He searched his memory for a moment, couldn’t even recall the last name, and had to skip the greetings: “It’s quite a coincidence; nice glasses you have there.”
The person asked, “Both of you live in this room?”
Yun Ci put down what he was holding and pointed at Li Yan, “He lives here; I just brought him over.”
After speaking, Yun Ci found Li Yan’s bed, threw the quilt onto it, and sat directly in the corner of the lower bunk, legs crossed, back against the wall. He started to focus on his phone, waiting to be called if Li Yan needed help with anything.
The guy with glasses pulled Li Yan aside and said, “Your hair is too cool. That’s right, after graduation, you have to set yourself free.”
“This must be your attitude when entering university.”
“…”
Li Yan didn’t bother to tidy up either. He casually threw his things around and went to sit next to Yun Ci. “What attitude… the attitude of not graduating?”
Yun Ci suddenly spoke, “It turns out you have clear self-awareness.”
Li Yan explained, “…I used a dye of a different color! It was a very trendy gray! It washed out after a couple of washes.”
Yun Ci expressed indifference.
After all, being trendy and non-mainstream were always just a thin line apart.
The guy with glasses was named Zhou Wenyu. He couldn’t hide his excitement at meeting alumni and took the initiative to ask about their majors: “What are your majors? I’m in English. Li Yan, what about you?”
“Speaking of which, many of our high school classmates seem to have been admitted.”
“I think it’s mainly because we’re close, all in the same city, just a two-hour drive away. So, it’s easy to come and go. That’s why so many people applied.”
“And Nanyang University has good majors; the score requirements for top majors are not lower than other key universities.”
“Who else? Let me think; I know about seven or eight.”
Zhou Wenyu listed a bunch of names: “There’s someone from Class 3, and that guy from Class 4…”
As he spoke, Zhou Wenyu reached under his own bed for a bottle of mineral water, finding only one left. He handed the bottle to Yun Ci and said, “Ci-ge, you’ve been on the road; take some water.”
The others in the dorm looked at Yun Ci secretly, thinking that not only did this guy have outstanding looks, but he also seemed like someone who was not to be messed with in school.
However, Yun Ci’s next move made them wonder if they had misjudged him. Because he didn’t seem like someone difficult to deal with at all. He accepted the bottle of water, thanked Zhou Wenyu politely, then considerately opened the bottle and tilted it slightly towards Li Yan, gesturing, “My great nephew, are you thirsty? Come and have some water.”
Li Yan: “…”
Li Yan wanted to say that he should keep the water for himself.
After handing over the water, Zhou Wenyu sat back down and continued the previous topic, counting names on his fingers. He was very engaged in counting, quickly reaching the last name: “There’s also another person from our school, Yu…”
As soon as the word “Yu” was uttered, Li Yan almost jumped up, muttering a curse under his breath.
Zhou Wenyu himself seemed to snap out of a trance, freezing in place, immediately swallowing the rest of the word back.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Then, there was a muffled friction sound in the dormitory.
It was the sound of the mineral water bottle being gripped tightly.
Yun Ci, who had been considerate and humble just moments ago, was now holding the water bottle. He was still sitting in the corner, legs crossed, his expression unreadable, and his head bowed so that only half of his jaw was visible. His Adam’s apple moved slightly, as if he were trying to suppress his emotions.
“Yu1(虞, surname)… Yu2(雨, means rain),” Zhou Wenyu said nervously. “I meant to say, I heard the weather forecast on my way here; it seems it’s going to rain tomorrow. I absolutely didn’t mean to mention Yu Xun.”
This time, Li Yan really jumped up and said, “You dare mention him again!”
Zhou Wenyu: “…T-T”
Li Yan tried to defuse the situation, “Uncle, I’m thirsty; I want to drink water.”
Yun Ci finally raised his head.
He chuckled, “Drink fart; just die of thirst.”
“…………”
If there were signs before the end of the world, then the current state in the dormitory at this moment might be it. Although the others in the dormitory didn’t know the cause and effect, they still sensed a strong sense of oppression.
Luckily, the person creating this invisible pressure didn’t intend to stay in their dormitory for long.
Yun Ci put the bottle cap back on, then placed the slightly deformed mineral water bottle on the long table in front of him.
His fingers were actually slender, making it hard to associate the recent brutal scene with this hand.
“I’m leaving,” he said, opening the door and walking out.
Li Yan immediately followed, “Uncle, I’ll see you off.”
Outside the door, he noticed that Yun Ci’s expression still wasn’t very good.
The corners of the young man’s eyes were drooping, his eyelashes casting a shadow under his eyes, creating a dark hue.
Li Yan thought to himself, “Ahem, it’s just Yu… Yu Xun, right? Even though he also got into Nanyang University, the school is so big, with several campuses. It’s not like high school, where you can easily run into each other all the time. In such a huge university, the two of you definitely won’t cross paths.”
Yun Ci was originally walking ahead of him.
Upon hearing this, he slowed his pace.
He pursed his lips, hands in his pockets, his expression calm, “My hand just… slipped.”
Li Yan thought, what’s the big deal? What’s with this appearance of “I didn’t lose control because of Yu Xun”?
Yun Ci continued, “That bottle of water was accidentally squeezed; do you understand?”
“…”
As the two of them walked out, they didn’t close the dormitory door properly.
With the acoustics of the hallway amplifying their voices, their conversation was transmitted word for word into Zhou Wenyu’s dormitory.
It was only after the two had gone down the stairs around the corner that Li Yan’s voice gradually faded away.
Inside the dormitory.
Zhou Wenyu patted his chest, “That scared me.”
He thought he was going to lose his life right then and there.
The other people in the dormitory were all ears, unable to resist asking, “What’s going on with them? Did they… break up from a high school romance?”
“More terrifying than that.”
“?”
Zhou Wenyu thought for a moment, then said with lingering fear, “You know what they say about lifelong enemies? It’s like two tigers on one mountain; it’s either him or me.”
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