After confirming that Jiang Jingya was indeed not in trouble, Yao An breathed a sigh of relief.
She said helplessly, "Why didn't you call Mom if you missed her? Why call me?"
Actually, Yao An knew the answer.
It was simply that her performance over the past two days had given Jiang Jingya a sense of security, leading Jiang Jingya to unconsciously rely on her.
Of course, this reliance seemed to be only between friends, at least that's what Yao An thought.
The low sobs on the other end of the phone paused.
Jiang Jingya seemed to be thinking, and after two seconds, she weakly responded, "It's so late, Mom must be asleep. I didn't want to disturb her."
"Then you feel fine disturbing me, huh? What if I was asleep too?"
The early autumn days were still hot, but at night there was always a touch of coolness.
The dormitory corridor was empty, and the window at the end was open. The night breeze blowing in gave Yao An goosebumps on her skin.
She was only wearing a thin nightgown, and she couldn't answer the phone in the dorm late at night without disturbing others, so she squatted by the wall, rubbing her arms to seek a little warmth.
"We've been playing together since we were little. I know you well; you definitely can't sleep either. You're probably secretly crying little pearls under your blanket from homesickness."
After Yao An's interruption, Jiang Jingya forgot to cry, though she still sniffled occasionally to show how helpless she felt.
"Oh, then where are you hiding to cry little pearls?"
"The public restroom."
After two seconds of silence, a burst of laughter came from both ends of the phone simultaneously.
Clearly, Jiang Jingya was no longer sad.
At least she would be able to sleep well when she returned to the dorm later.
"Sigh, I'm really playing both best friend and mother. Late at night, I even have to pretend to be Auntie Wang and listen to you cry."
"Ugh, you're so annoying. Next time you cry, you'd better not let me see you, or else I'll record it and play it for you every day."
"I'm recording. Keep crying."
"If you're lying to me, you're a puppy."
"I'm lying to a puppy."
After this sentence was spoken, the phone lines suddenly fell silent.
Intermittent silences are always accompanied by two reasons: one is that someone said a rather awkward topic, and the other is the end of a certain topic.
The two girls usually talked about everything, so it certainly wasn't the former situation.
"Little Fox?"
Jiang Jingya tentatively called out.
"Hmm?"
"Why didn't you choose East China Normal University? Then I could live in the same dorm as you. I want to sleep on the top bunk with you. We could do skincare together and watch movies together."
"I'd be jealous because your skin got a few shades fairer, and you'd be too sleepy to open your eyes. Then I'd draw a turtle on your face so everyone could see that the Little Fox isn't always so aloof."
Listening to her impractical fantasies, Yao An couldn't help but feel a momentary trance.
Perhaps... on some timeline, it would have been like that.
The prerequisite was that Yao Yuanping wasn't so obsessed with stocks.
One could only say that parents had a great influence on their children; both before and after her transmigration, she had applied to the University of Finance and Economics.
Yao An sighed.
"Tomorrow morning is the freshman assembly, and in the afternoon, there's military training. It's definitely going to be exhausting. The public restroom is quite dirty, so go back to sleep early. You can have anything you want in your dreams."
"Tsk, you're so boring."
"I'm hanging up, okay?"
"Aren't you going to say goodnight to me?"
"Well, you didn't say goodnight to me either."
Jiang Jingya snorted.
"Goodnight!"
"Goodnight~"
One of them was lying. One said a genuine goodnight, the other said 'wan, an'.
I love you, love you.
After hanging up the phone, Yao An tiptoed back to the top bunk.
Luckily, the bed was made of wood and didn't make a grating creaking sound, otherwise, her light-sleeping roommate would have complained irritably again.
"Sister An'an."
Han Wenjing, from the opposite bed, called out softly.
"You're still not asleep?"
"Hmm, were you just talking to your boyfriend on the phone?"
Yao An had spoken very softly, but she hadn't expected to be heard. It seemed the dorm's soundproofing wasn't very good, and she'd have to be more careful in the future.
"No, it was a very good... friend of mine."
"I really envy your relationship."
"Go to sleep quickly. We have to get up early tomorrow."
...Around eight o'clock the next day, Industrial Management Class A students gathered in the classroom, a total of 28 people.
The roommates were quite serious about meeting their classmates for the first time and had woken up early to put on light makeup.
Only Han Wenjing and Yao An from 404 appeared without makeup.
The former simply didn't know how to apply makeup, while the latter had only fallen asleep at 3 AM the previous night and woke up at 7:30 AM, only having time to wash her face and brush her teeth, not even managing her morning exercise routine.
The purpose of this gathering was to discuss military training precautions and to let everyone get to know each other's faces.
Lest they graduate without even knowing how many people were in their class.
Counselor Tao formally introduced herself and then led everyone to the freshman assembly.
Various leaders spoke, Student Union members spoke; there were no senior students performing to liven things up, so it was quite boring.
Yu Huai also went on stage to say a few words, but Yao An didn't pay any attention to him, chatting idly with Jiang Jingya by sending meaningless emojis.
At noon, she and her roommates tried the spaghetti at the Second Canteen.
It was a bit like overcooked instant noodles, and the meat sauce was pitifully sparse.
One serving cost 30, a rip-off * 2.
In the afternoon, freshmen in their bulky camouflage uniforms began military training on the sports field.
The usual three: military posture, left and right turns, and goose-stepping. Occasionally, a troublemaker would be punished with running laps.
The sun was scorching, the air was muggy, and on top of that, some inconsiderate senior students were watching the spectacle with watermelons and drinks, making many people resent them deeply.
"Who is the junior that Yu Huai is waiting for? Did you find out?"
"That kid's mouth is really tight. Yesterday I almost shoved a gun down his throat, and he still wouldn't reveal a single word."
"Holy crap, get away from me."
"What the hell are you thinking? This gun..."
The speaking boy pulled out a gun from his waist... a gun-shaped lighter.
"Yu Huai is being selfish enough as it is, not even showing us a picture. We have to find her and teach him a lesson."
The figures in the military training formation all wore hats and camouflage uniforms, making everyone look alike.
And under the sun, even if there was a true beauty, she would definitely have a drooping face now, looking as resentful as possible.
"You're so capable, you go find her yourself. I'm going back to the dorm to blast the AC and play Valorant."
...The instructor for Industrial Management Class A was a young man, appearing to be twenty-five or twenty-six, with an average appearance but a very good physique.
"I know that today's university students are relatively delicate, and military training is just a formality. So, as long as everyone remembers what I teach and doesn't make mistakes during the performance, you can relax a bit when standing in military posture; there's no need to be so tense."
That's what he said, but what he actually thought was unknown.
After all, out of the 28 students in Industrial Management Class A, 18 were girls, and their quality was quite high.
There were 3 students whose looks were on par with Ye Xuan, and this didn't even include Yao An, a statistical anomaly far exceeding the average.
Moreover, this instructor's attitude towards male and female students could be said to be completely different.
In just one hour, five female students had already sat down to rest due to "low blood sugar."