“Hahahahaha.”
“Hahahahaha.”
Before even stepping inside, Kong Ning could hear the laughter echoing from inside the dorm room.
What on earth were those guys laughing at now?
How infuriating!
Indeed, Kong Ning, who was currently anything but happy, could not stand seeing anyone else enjoying themselves.
She had been mocked by Wei Mu the entire way back. Even though Wei Mu had said goodbye at the dorm entrance with, “Kong Ning, I was really happy today,” what did Wei Mu’s happiness have to do with her? What a weirdo.
Lost in her thoughts, Kong Ning tripped and fell flat on her face.
“Holy crap, talk about bad luck,” Kong Ning groaned, rubbing her waist in silent annoyance.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!” Behind her, a Peking University stray dog began barking fiercely at her.
“Bad dog! Bad dog!” Kong Ning glared back at the dog, stubbornly picking a childish argument with it.
Suddenly, the dog charged straight at her.
“Ahhhh! You’re a good dog! You’re a good dog!”
Kong Ning bolted in complete panic.
After running frantically for over ten minutes, she finally burst out through the back gate of the Peking University campus. Only then did the dog give up the chase, allowing Kong Ning to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
She turned her head to look back at the gate, which prominently displayed the school’s name.
“Peking University.”
Kong Ning pondered. She was convinced she was cursed when it came to Peking University. Not only were the people inside weird, but even their stray dogs barked at her.
She patted her smart little head as her thoughts took a sudden left turn.
Hmph. Just a school I rejected anyway.
How unlucky. I’m never coming back here again.
Hmph, and I won’t see anyone from inside either.
Yet, deep down, she was still somewhat traumatized. Kong Ning vowed that she would never, for the rest of her life, set foot in Peking University at night again.
“Oh, look who’s back!”
Hearing the door open and close, the casual chatter and loud laughter inside abruptly stopped. Out on the dorm balcony, Le Xiu set down her clothes-hanging pole. She draped a row of clothes on hangers over her arm and walked leisurely up to Kong Ning.
“If it isn’t our Wei Mu’s arch-nemesis!” Yu Lingbo, deeply immersed in her TV drama, chimed in with practiced skill.
“The little childhood sweetheart~ Ah, the little childhood sweetheart~” Shen Nanxi hummed a tune while typing away on her device.
“I told you, Wei Mu is just an ordinary friend, no, wait, not even a friend, just someone I know,” Kong Ning emphasized, flopping heavily onto her chair.
Ah, so comfortable.
The corner of Le Xiu’s mouth twitched into a smirk as she teased, “Little Kong, that skateboard necklace you wore today really made your mouth slide around, didn’t it? You’re even tricking yourself now.”
“Huh?”
Kong Ning picked up the necklace around her neck and examined it carefully.
Could those two things even be conflated?
What had she lied about?
Kong Ning’s brain suddenly slowed to a crawl, completely unable to grasp what Le Xiu meant.
Over on the other side, Yu Lingbo shook her head. She finally paused her show and said to Le Xiu, “Stop teasing her. Her situation is going to take time to resolve.
If Kong Ning knows what’s going on, she’s like a woodpecker doing a backflip, just stubborn and talkative.
If she truly doesn’t know, she’s like thousand-year-old hardwood, set in her ways and unchangeable.
Don’t you expect her to get enlightened so easily. Let’s just wait and see.”
After today’s meal, everyone in Dorm 203 except Kong Ning could see just how much Wei Mu cared about her. That possessive look in her eyes was no joke.
Anyone could tell that Kong Ning was just “hard-mouthed soft-hearted,” while her actual actions were undeniably devoted.
In fact, while Kong Ning was in the restroom, the rest of them had even added Wei Mu on messaging apps. Of course, that was just a coincidence; Wei Mu had mentioned it right after Kong Ning stepped away.
“That’s true,” Shen Nanxi replied with a smile. People as stubborn as Kong Ning were rare to come by these days.
“Wait, what kind of riddles are you guys speaking in?! Who’s a woodpecker? Who’s hardwood? What enlightenment am I supposed to get?!” Kong Ning felt like she had fallen behind the times and couldn’t keep up with the trend in Dorm 203.
“You!” everyone shouted in unison.
“Me?”
“Yes, you wooden block! Hurry up and take a shower. Lights out in half an hour,” Le Xiu said, shaking her head.
Kong Ning had returned an hour later than the rest of them, so everyone else was already showered and resting.
She had no idea why Kong Ning walked so slowly; walking someone to the back gate of Peking University shouldn’t have taken even ten minutes.
After taking a shower, Kong Ning fell into a deep sleep.
Just like that, two or three days passed, bringing the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, which meant it was time for Kong Ning to catch up on her sleep.
Kong Ning planned to go home during National Day, so there wasn’t much point in traveling back for Mid-Autumn.
The two holidays were only a few days apart, and flying back and forth would be a hassle, leaving her spending her entire vacation on the road.
At 11:00 AM, in Dorm 203 at Huada University:
“Ahhhhh, forgive me, roomies! I want to sleep until the end of time!” Kong Ning stretched lazily.
Living in a dorm meant everyone had to accommodate one another. Since Kong Ning woke up late on holidays, the others naturally had to be extra quiet during their morning activities, which made her feel a bit guilty.
Thinking of this, she felt that renting an apartment needed to be put on her agenda.
Wei Mu was right: even if she couldn’t live there on weekdays, going there on weekends to catch up on sleep would be great.
Besides, she would have to rent an apartment in her sophomore year anyway, so renting early saved future hassle.
If she weren’t planning on leaving the capital in the future, she would definitely buy a place near the university. If there was a good property, buying it wouldn’t be out of the question either, Kong Ning thought to herself.
“They’re all gone,” Shen Nanxi replied from her chair beneath her loft bed.
“Little Shen, you’re the only one left in the dorm?” Kong Ning poked her head out to ask.
“Isn’t there still you?” Shen Nanxi replied again.
“Where did they go?” Kong Ning had already stepped down onto the stairs.
“I think they went to participate in club activities. A lot of clubs are hosting Mid-Autumn events today. One went to the Go Club, and the other went to the Skateboard Club. Are you going? Le Xiu specifically asked me to tell you that their club’s ‘Chess King Championship’ is really fun.”
At that moment, Kong Ning felt relieved once again that she had only joined one club, and even more relieved that her club wouldn’t host any stupid Mid-Autumn events during holidays.
“You’re not going?”
“Boring. I don’t want to go.” Shen Nanxi wasn’t very interested in things like Go. Right now, she had to rush her updates; she had finally started writing her novel recently.
Suddenly, Kong Ning heard faint typing sounds coming from Shen Nanxi’s area.
Turning around after stepping down, Kong Ning leaned over to ask, “What are you writing, Little Shen?”
“A novel.” As she spoke, Shen Nanxi swiftly pulled her bed curtain shut to prevent Kong Ning from seeing the content.
“…” Kong Ning paused for a few seconds in front of the curtain.
“That’s so awesome!” Kong Ning’s eyes lit up immediately after.
Such a cool thing, she wanted to try it out when she had time, too.
“Not really awesome, I just started writing,” Shen Nanxi’s faint voice came from behind the curtain.
“Can I take a look?” Kong Ning tried to break through the barricade.
“No.”
“Alright then.” Kong Ning felt a little deflated.
“Wait a second, so you really are going to be the only one left in the dorm soon,” Kong Ning mumbled while brushing her teeth.
“Where are you going?” Shen Nanxi was a little surprised. Kong Ning had been very well-behaved lately, being a total homebody who stayed in the dorm all day like a mushroom growing mold.
“To look at apartments.” While tearing open a piece of bread to eat her brunch, Kong Ning explained her reasons for wanting to rent a place to Shen Nanxi.
“That sounds pretty good, very convenient,” Shen Nanxi nodded in agreement, then paused her typing. “I’ll go with you.”
“No, no, no! Don’t let me disrupt your writing, your readers will curse at me.” Kong Ning raised both hands in refusal.
“Alright then.” Shen Nanxi resumed typing.
After Kong Ning left, Shen Nanxi thought about it for a moment.
This should count as an “unusual activity.” So, she sent a message to Wei Mu:
Kong Ning went out to rent an apartment. She probably won’t get into trouble.
On the other end, Wei Mu received the message and was instantly surprised.
She replied:
Thank you. Thank you so much.
She really hadn’t expected Shen Nanxi to be so “true to her word,” but she genuinely needed to thank her. She truly wanted to know every aspect of Kong Ning’s affairs.
Last time after adding each other as friends, when the roommates asked Wei Mu why she cared so much about Kong Ning, Wei Mu had claimed that Kong Ning’s mother asked her to keep an eye on her. The roommates had all responded with, “Oh, oh, oh, we understand.”
Wei Mu thought they purely understood it at face value, so she had took the opportunity to “casually” ask Le Xiu, Yu Lingbo, and Shen Nanxi to let her know if Kong Ning did anything unusual, so she could keep her from getting into trouble.
Everyone had agreed, but except for Shen Nanxi, everyone else’s understanding of that statement was completely “normal.”
Shen Nanxi:
No problem.
Then she went back to typing.
She was currently a heartless typing robot.
While Wei Mu was wondering where Kong Ning would end up renting a place, her roommates, who had spent hours putting on makeup, were finally fully prepared to head out.
“Miss Wei, let’s go out to eat! I’m so hungry!” Ning Qing dragged Wei Mu along as they all walked out of the dorm door.
Today’s schedule was packed; Ning Qing had planned it out meticulously several days ago.
Meanwhile, Kong Ning spent the entire afternoon following a real estate agent to look at several apartments, none of which she found satisfying.
Finally, at the last unit, she nodded. The apartment wasn’t huge compared to her home, only about 150 square meters, but it was more than enough for one person.
Most importantly, the renovation was quite new, and it was located right near the back gate, very close to both Huada University and Peking University. She planned to live there for a while, and if she felt comfortable, she would contact the landlord to buy it outright.
After finalizing the details with the agent and walking out the door, Kong Ning told the agent to leave first while she stayed by the doorway to admire her new home for a moment. Just then, she saw the door to the neighboring unit open.
Out walked two prominent figures from Huada University.
“Senior Xu! Senior Xia?” Seeing Huada University’s two recognized campus beauties, Xu Qingfeng and Xia Yiqiu, walking out hand in hand, and even catching them secretly stealing a kiss the second they stepped out, Kong Ning blurted out in shock.
They live together?!
Kong Ning felt like she had uncovered something huge.
Since Xu Qingfeng was a junior in the Chinese Literature department, Kong Ning occasionally saw her around and was somewhat familiar with her. She had heard that Xu Qingfeng was close with Senior Xia from the Physics department.
Furthermore, Shen Nanxi had mentioned that she went to the same high school as both senior students and had plenty of interactions with them back then; to put it simply, they had a very good relationship.
But this “good relationship” seemed a little different from normal! She had definitely just heard Senior Xia call Senior Xu “you dummy~.”
Ew, Kong Ning, a single dog, thought back on it, feeling like the two of them were a bit too overly sweet.
“Are you… Junior Kong Ning?” Xu Qingfeng asked tentatively.
“Senior, you know me?” Kong Ning was a little surprised. They didn’t really have any prior interaction. Did Shen Nanxi mention me to her? They’re both in the Readers’ Association, so they probably interact a lot, Kong Ning thought.
“Of course I know you! Junior, as the most popular person at Huada University this semester, you’re second to none,” Xia Yiqiu said with a smile, unabashedly clinging to Xu Qingfeng’s arm.
“Haha…” Kong Ning gave an awkward chuckle.
“Seniors, are you two…?” Kong Ning asked, genuinely curious.
Were the seniors really together?
She had heard that they lived off-campus, but she hadn’t expected them to live together.
Holy crap, if this is real, it’s a bit too thrilling.
“It’s just as you think,” Xia Yiqiu said with a beaming smile, glancing at her dummy Xu Qingfeng before speaking to Kong Ning.
“Junior, could you please help us keep this secret?” Xu Qingfeng spoke up gently.
Back in high school, almost the entire student body had been obsessed with shipping them as a couple. After graduating, they discovered that a massive fan club dedicated to them actually existed.
The two of them had reflected deeply on themselves and felt it was probably because they had been too high-profile.
To avoid being monitored every single moment, they had decided never to publicly announce their relationship during college.
“Of course I can!” Kong Ning agreed readily.
“Seniors, I’ll be living next door to you from now on. Please take good care of me,” Kong Ning greeted them.
“No problem! If you need anything, definitely come find us!” Xia Yiqiu replied, then paused. “But doesn’t Huada University only allow students to move out in their sophomore year?”
“Hehe, I just rented it so I can sleep in on weekends,” Kong Ning said sheepishly.
That reason… except for Wei Mu, almost anyone would laugh upon hearing it.
After greeting her new neighbors, the sky had already turned dark.
Kong Ning wandered through the night market near the back gate and gradually strayed further away. Under the neon lights, the city displayed a different kind of bustle.
Kong Ning’s mind began to spin, she felt like it was time to seek out a bit of excitement.
Things had been far too boring lately.
However, before this excitement could even begin, she was instantly brought to justice.
“Kong Ning, stop right there.”
She heard that familiar voice call out from not far away. It pierced through space and time, reaching straight to her ears, utterly cold and merciless.
Kong Ning’s entire body shuddered. The foot she had just stepped into the bar entrance with was silently pulled back, a sudden wave of guilty panic washing over her.
She… she hadn’t done anything bad, right?
Not far off, Wei Mu, who had been chatting happily with her roommates, had kept her eyes locked on a certain figure the moment she spotted it.
When she saw that person about to step into a bar, the smile on her face froze instantly. The corners of her mouth sank bit by bit, and the warmth in her eyes vanished in a flash, as if drenched in ice water.
So this is what someone who went out to rent an apartment does!