Chapter 2.2- Entering the Campus

I immediately followed with : “My eyes brim with tears. We are fellow neighbors, old neighbors meeting each other. It’s not a senior brother that has a relationship to me directly, but rather, a relative to the direct descendant!”

Senior brother warmly laughed, and turned his head to say to me: “To tell you the truth, just call me Xiao Xi.”

Fang Yu Ke flattened his lip: “You only came out for a little while and your eyes are already brimming with tears for meeting an old neighbor.”

I pretended I didn’t hear him, and laughed to senior brother: “Xiao Xi, I’m called Zhou Lin Lin, I’m learning German, what are you learning?”

Senior brother hadn’t said anything yet before Fang Yu Ke said: “I told you he was even my senior classmate. I’m studying economics, so he’s also studying economics. Idiot.”

Senior brother laughed, and his dimples got deeper: “I am higher than both of you.”

I immediately followed with: “Well economics is good, economics is good. Our country’s great economic development completely relies on you. How is it like the capitalist stuff we read. I initially wanted to study economics, but I didn’t test well this time, only missing by that many points, so I switched to this profession.”

Fang Yu Ke turned his head to me and glanced at me, his expression obviously saying “You’re all right, right?”.

I automatically filtered out his surprised face, and continued to exchange feelings with Xiao Xi: “Xiao Xi, in the future, you must help me more with my math problems, math is my weakness.”

Xiao Xi laughed again: “Your German Department exempted mathematics, relax.”

Fang Yu Ke who was by the side couldn’t help it, and laughed haha, putting me to one side, watching me as if I was a joke.

Since the strict rules didn’t allow us to get the keys for the dormitory because the registration day hadn’t arrived yet, we could only find nearby hotels. Xiao Xi brought our suitcases to his dormitory and began to contact nearby hotels. I didn’t think that so many people would come to school early, and all the big and small hotels nearby were full. Only one large room was left in a guesthouse located inside the school was available. I looked plaintively at Xiao Xi.

Xiao Xi said, conflicted: “If only Yu Ke had called me earlier, I could book it in advance. Now it’s a little late. You guys live there for two days, or improvise, improvise. I can vouch for Fang Yu Ke’s character. You–”

I immediately cut Xiao Xi off: “What about Fang Yu Ke goes to live with you, and I live in the guestroom.”

Xiao Xi thought about it: “We usually don’t return home for summer break, there are a lot of guys and girls living in the dormitory together. The Dorm Manager doesn’t care. The beds are a little more tight than the ones in the guesthouse. But, it is indeed very inconvenient for a girl like you. Then what about this, Yu Ke, you come with me and share a bed with me.”

Fang Yu Ke said: “I have no complaints.”

I looked at the meter wide bed (in Xiao Xi’s dormitory) and immediately felt embarrassed. In the great summer, the dormitory didn’t have space, and I was making two big guys squeeze together here. This was indeed not okay. Plus, they had knew each other earlier, and I had been someone dragged along from the beginning. I fussily let the others make do, while I chose. Otherwise, being alone lying on three beds was a little bit of a waste……

I plucked up my courage: “Then what about this, Xiao Xi, all three of us can live in the guesthouse. Anyways, there’s the air conditioning part.”

Fang Yu Ke gave a crooked expression and lightly said: “You use your abacus [1] so well, how can you not be good at math?”

I turned back to lightly curse back at him: “None of your business.”

Xiao Xi laughed: “If you are worried about our Fang Yu Ke, I can go. Really, our Fang Yu Ke is really upright.”

Fang Yu Ke cupped one fist inside of the other (as a sign of respect, especially in ancient times), and passionately hit Xiao Xi’s shoulder.

Xiao Xi gave the final word: “All right, then we’ll arrange it like this.”

Just before arriving, Xiao Xi received a phone call, and went to help a classmate fiddle with his computer. Fang Yu Ke and I just entered the guestroom and hadn’t sat down before my mom called me. I walked towards the bathroom while answering her call.

“Lin Lin, are you used to where you’re living?”

[1] abacus: 算盘 (suen pan); also means scheme or strategy. Thus, Fang Yu Ke’s sentence could have had two meanings at the same time. He could have also been saying: “You scheme so well…” while saying “You use your abacus so well…”