Men's dorms 3 and 4 are on the same road; turn left for dorm 3, turn right for dorm 4, with their doors facing each other.
Downstairs, there's a bulletin board with various pieces of information posted on it.
"Yang Guang of Public Relations Management Class 3, Grade 2004, involved in a group brawl, with serious impact..."
"My wallet was lost in Dining Hall No. 2, containing one student ID card, one bank card, and 150 RMB. If found, please contact Dorm 5, Room 201, phone XXXXXX. A reward will be offered (100 RMB)."
"Li, I love you!"
"Chaoyue Internet Cafe, 100-megabit fiber optic, extreme speed experience."
"Mobile phone SIM card campus agents wanted."
"Distributing flyers on Zhujiang Road, 50 yuan a day including lunch."
Chen Pingjiang chuckled; in his previous life, he had distributed flyers once for a certain exhibition.
That day, he was lightly dressed and it rained, making him freeze like a dog.
He never did it again afterward.
After searching for a long time, he couldn't find the information he was looking for.
Military training was in a couple of days, and he wouldn't have time to go out then, so he had to sort it out in these two days.
Dorm 603.
When Chen Pingjiang arrived, everyone else in the dorm had finished cleaning.
Some were playing on their phones, others were reading novels, quickly settling into university life.
The dorms at the university of finance and economics were uniformly six-person rooms, with beds on top and desks below.
Chen Pingjiang was in the middle on the right, a rather poor position; no matter which way he slept, he would inevitably smell others' stinky feet at night.
Of course, the worst position was the bed by the door; over four years of university, he'd be responsible for closing the door and turning off the lights countless times, and the dorm phone was also at this bed.
Seeing Chen Pingjiang walk in with his suitcase, everyone's gaze turned towards him.
"Dude, you're only arriving now, that's impressive."
"I arrived this morning and walked around Dongjiang for a bit,"
Chen Pingjiang said, chuckling.
While the others were sizing up Chen Pingjiang, Chen Pingjiang was also observing them.
Everyone introduced themselves, a very awkward process.
The person from Haidong, sleeping in the bed by the balcony on the right, was named Dong Tinghui, and was the oldest.
Wang Lei, from Xijiang, was tall and thin, wore glasses, was not good with words, and had pockmarks and acne scars on his cheeks.
He Siyu, from Anliu, was fair-skinned, not tall, looked naive, and had a shy smile on his face.
Zhao Shaoyang, from a well-off family, was dressed in designer clothes, wore a string of Buddhist beads on his left wrist, and was a local.
The last one, Guo Dewen, had a middle part, and his skin was as dark as Zhou Guanghan's; he was from Xiguang.
It was the first time these young men had come so far away for school, and their first time staying in a dorm, so they were all a bit reserved.
Zhao Shaoyang, priding himself on being a local, exuded a subtle sense of superiority in his words and actions, while the others were somewhat shy.
However, thanks to Chen Pingjiang's social skills, the group quickly opened up.
He passed around cigarettes; except for the local Zhao Shaoyang and Dong Tinghui who took them immediately, the others were hesitant, not wanting to take them but fearing they'd seem unharmonious, yet unable to convince themselves to abandon their principles on the very first day of university and act like 'bad kids'.
Chen Pingjiang didn't force them; encouraging others to smoke was truly bad.
"Not smoking is great; I just can't quit."
Zhao Shaoyang twirled the cigarette filter, then looked up and asked Chen Pingjiang,
"Where's this cigarette from? I haven't smoked it before."
Chen Pingjiang exhaled two plumes of smoke from his nose.
"You haven't smoked Furongwang? Only smoke Furongwang, and a young man is bound to be brilliant."
Zhao Shaoyang's subtle sense of superiority immediately surfaced.
"I usually only smoke Suyuan or Zhonghua; I haven't smoked this tier of cigarette before."
Chen Pingjiang smiled wryly, not getting angry, thinking,
'They're just students after all, speaking without thinking.'
"Later, get me a couple of packs to try; I haven't smoked such good cigarettes before."
"No problem,"
Zhao Shaoyang patted his chest.
"Later I'll 'borrow' some from my old man…"
Mid-sentence, he saw Chen Pingjiang pull out a newly bought Nokia N73 from his pocket.
The rest of his words immediately got swallowed back.
Of course, he recognized the new phone that had just been launched this summer; its price was not cheap.
With such means, how could he not afford a pack of Zhonghua?
His face involuntarily flushed.
Zhao Shaoyang couldn't help but think highly of Chen Pingjiang; he completely lacked the naivete of a student, and his way of speaking and acting made people feel very comfortable.
Dong Tinghui was also a shrewd person and quickly changed the subject.
"People from Xiangnan usually smoke this; it's quite good and not too strong."
The three veteran smokers puffed away, while the other three suffered from secondhand smoke.
Many students in the early 2000s smoked; some didn't in their freshman year but picked it up in their sophomore or junior years.
Of course, some dorms had no one who smoked.
At six o'clock, Chen Pingjiang felt a bit hungry and called out,
"It's our first day meeting; let's all go out for a meal to get to know each other better."
The outgoing, the reserved-but-flirtatious, and the shy roommates all agreed.
On the first day, probably six out of ten dorms were having a group meal.
This was the university life it should be: leaving parents for the first time and enjoying ample freedom.
Everyone changed clothes and went downstairs.
By the time they reached the campus gate, it was already dark.
Along the way, the eyes of the young men were fixated.
Even with previous experience, Chen Pingjiang found it quite striking.
Under the dim night sky, sisters and young women in various styles and colors of attractive clothing walked in small groups.
Just their figures were enough to make these young men's blood rush; it was this kind of hazy beauty that was desired.
Quite a few sedans worth 200,000 yuan or more were parked by the roadside, with drinks and mineral water on their roofs.
Once naive, he would always see many such cars at the school gate around 4-5 PM or on weekends, watching girls get into them and leave.
Back then, he simply thought parents were picking up their children, only to realize the true meaning years later.
At first, he was unwilling to believe it, thinking students from his alma mater wouldn't do such things.
It wasn't until he saw and heard more that he realized 'university students, good in bed' was not a joke.
Opposite Xianlin University students was a street of food stalls where students usually gathered for meals and entertainment, along with internet cafes, billiard rooms, restaurants, and numerous small inns.
What business thrives best around universities?
It has to be hotels, especially those small inns offering excellent value for money.
In those years, a plate of fried rice cost three yuan, and minced pork with eggplant over rice was only five yuan, while a small inn cost forty to fifty yuan a night.
Many were local residents' homes partitioned and converted, with very poor sound insulation.
At night, sounds rose and fell, one after another, yet strangely, no one felt embarrassed.
Don't despise it, this is the environment.
If you don't come early on evenings or weekends, you won't even be able to get a spot.
University students' money was easy to earn.
In those years, Xianlin was still a desolate place, and the only slightly larger street of food stalls for the nearby universities was here.
Seven PM was prime time, and every establishment was packed, with a popularity that was simply unimaginable.
At that time, Dongjiang only had Line 1; the southern extension hadn't been built yet.
Going north past Maigao Bridge, south past Andemen, or west to Maqun, all were remote.
As for Pukou, even dogs wouldn't go there; a round trip would take an entire day.
At that time, the university town was more like a utopia.
(End of Chapter)
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