After parking her car downstairs, Ming Mei arrived at the dormitory door and reached into her pocket.
Her expression immediately turned awkward.
She had forgotten her keys!
Hopefully, Ma Mingyue and Xu Xiaoning were still in the dormitory.
Thinking this, Ming Mei knocked on the door.
She heard a series of hurried footsteps from inside, followed by Ma Mingyue shouting, “I’m coming!” The door then swung open.
“Ming Mei! Ming Mei, you’re back!”
Ma Mingyue sounded as though she had just seen her savior.
Ming Mei hesitantly nodded. “I’m back. Is something wrong?”
Ma Mingyue immediately pulled her inside.
“Nothing, nothing! It’s great that you’re here. Our dormitory is finally complete!”
Only then did Ming Mei notice a young woman sitting on the chair to the left of the entrance.
She looked the girl over. Although she was clearly young and had naturally good skin and complexion, she was wearing heavy makeup.
There was something strangely unsuitable about the whole look.
Nevertheless, Ming Mei smiled faintly and extended her hand.
“Hello, my name is Ming Mei. We’ll be sharing a dormitory from now on. I hope we get along.”
A trace of disdain flashed through the girl’s eyes as she looked Ming Mei up and down. Her gaze lingered on the logo attached to the metallic embellishments on Ming Mei’s dress. She then glanced at Ming Mei’s shoes.
The disdain in her eyes immediately disappeared, and her smile became much more ingratiating.
She extended her hand.
“Hello, Ming Mei! My name is Li Kaina. We’re roommates from now on, so please take good care of me!”
Ming Mei withdrew her hand, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
Judging by Li Kaina’s natural voice, she probably had a rather loud, clear voice. Yet she deliberately raised the pitch and spoke in an artificially sweet, soft tone. It made Ming Mei’s ears uncomfortable.
Xu Xiaoning, who was making her bed, secretly curled her lip.
When Li Kaina had first arrived at the dormitory, she had seen that Xu Xiaoning and her cousin were wearing and carrying ordinary things. Aside from introducing herself, Li Kaina hadn’t said another word to them. She had acted as though she were above everyone else, fussing over her Louis Vuitton bag and arranging her Chanel cosmetics without even sparing them a glance.
But now that Ming Mei had returned and Li Kaina had noticed her designer clothes, she was suddenly acting as though they were the best of friends.
She looked rich, but her behavior was petty and snobbish.
Compared with Ming Mei, who hadn’t actively tried to get close to them but hadn’t ignored them either, Li Kaina’s behavior was even more glaring.
The difference between them was obvious.
Why was there such a huge difference in how people treated others, even when they weren’t necessarily rich?
Xu Xiaoning wondered in confusion.
Ming Mei returned to her seat and tidied up her desk a little, checking whether there was anything else she needed to buy.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
Xu Xiaoning’s bed was on the right side immediately after entering, and Li Kaina remained silent. Xu Xiaoning had no choice but to ask, “Who’s there?”
The knocking stopped, and a gentle, clear male voice came from outside.
“Hello, students. I’m the counselor for the incoming freshmen in the Finance Department. Has everyone in your dormitory arrived?”
Xu Xiaoning replied, “Everyone’s here, sir. Is there something you need?”
As she spoke, she glanced around the dormitory to make sure there was nothing inconvenient about letting him in, then got up to open the door.
“Could you please open the door for me?” the man outside said. “I need to give you your dormitory registration forms. You’ll have to fill them out.”
Xu Xiaoning opened the door, and Ming Mei looked toward the entrance as well.
Standing outside was a refined-looking man dressed in casual clothes.
He appeared to be around thirty years old. He was handsome, with relaxed, well-defined features, and was quite tall.
As Ming Mei turned her head, she noticed that Ma Mingyue’s expression had suddenly become unusually animated. The girl looked as though she wanted to say something but quickly forced herself to hold it back.
The man spoke.
“Hello, everyone. I’m your counselor, Yang Qing. Yang as in the Chinese parasol tree, and Qing as in the color green. Besides being your counselor, I’ll also be teaching you Ideological and Moral Cultivation and Introduction to Mao Zedong Thought.”
“Since everyone has arrived, I’d like you to fill out these dormitory registration forms. Each of you will receive two copies. Fill one out using a fountain pen and submit it to the dormitory supervisor. Fill out the other using a black ballpoint pen and hand it to me during evening study.”
“Evening study will run from seven to eight-thirty tonight. Please don’t be late.”
As he spoke, he took out another sheet of paper with a QR code on it.
“This is the class group chat. Please join it. I’ll post any important announcements there.”
Xu Xiaoning replied, “All right, sir.”
She took the dormitory registration forms from Yang Qing and pulled out her phone to scan the QR code.
After Yang Qing left, Xu Xiaoning had barely closed the door when Ma Mingyue burst into an excited, gossipy whisper.
“Everyone, everyone! Can you believe Yang Qing is our counselor?!”
Ming Mei asked with interest, “Is Yang Qing famous at the university?”
“Of course!” Ma Mingyue could barely contain her excitement. “Do you know? Yang Qing is the youngest counselor in the Finance Department, and he’s also the most handsome counselor in the whole university! He’s just as good-looking as Li Fangming, the Finance Department’s campus heartthrob!”
Li Fangming? Why did that name sound so familiar?
Ming Mei thought for a moment.
Oh, right! He was the guy who had asked for her WeChat that morning!
Ming Mei carefully compared the two men’s looks in her mind and found that Ma Mingyue wasn’t exaggerating. Li Fangming and Yang Qing were indeed equally handsome.
Xu Xiaoning distributed the dormitory registration forms to everyone in the room.
Ming Mei finished filling hers out and was about to get up to submit it to the dormitory supervisor when Li Kaina came striding over in her high heels.
“Ming Mei, are you done filling yours out? I can take it downstairs for you!”
Ming Mei thought it would save her a trip if someone else was willing to run the errand, so she handed Li Kaina her form.
Just then, Li Kaina noticed the bottle of ink on Ming Mei’s desk. She let out an exaggerated gasp.
“Oh my goodness, Ming Mei! Why are you using Ostrich ink?”
Ming Mei paused, looked at her bottle of ink, and asked in return, “Why can’t I use Ostrich ink?”
Li Kaina looked at her with undisguised disdain.
“You’re using a Picasso fountain pen that costs several thousand yuan! How can you use such cheap ink with it? It has absolutely no class!”
Ming Mei stared at Li Kaina in disbelief. She almost blurted out, Are you okay?
In the end, she forced the words back down and said, “What’s it to you?”
Li Kaina was left speechless.
She stood there stunned for a long moment. She didn’t even take the registration form from Ming Mei’s hand. Instead, she picked up her own form, turned around, and walked out in her high heels.
“Ming Mei, don’t mind her. She’s really strange,” Ma Mingyue said as she hurried over and picked up Ming Mei’s registration form. “I was going downstairs to submit Xiaoning’s form anyway. I’ll take yours too, okay? Just ignore her.”
Ming Mei nodded. “Thanks.”
The atmosphere became a little awkward.
A while later, Li Kaina and Ma Mingyue returned one after the other. Xu Xiaoning then helped everyone join the class group chat.
The dormitory remained quiet until a little after six.
Ming Mei went to get her student meal card, had dinner, and then headed to class.
Several students were already there. They introduced themselves to one another, exchanged WeChat contacts, and found seats where they could wait for class to begin.
By the time class was about to start, everyone had arrived. Ma Mingyue sat beside Ming Mei.
Yang Qing entered the classroom right on time.
He introduced himself, then assigned several tall male students to help carry the textbooks. Once the books arrived, he distributed them and selected a class monitor and a deputy class monitor.
The class monitor was a tall male student whose name Ming Mei couldn’t remember. Ma Mingyue was chosen as the deputy class monitor.
“Not bad!” Ming Mei said with a smile. “We’ve got a deputy class monitor in our dormitory now. Remember to look after me!”
Ma Mingyue waved her hand grandly.
“My dear little lady, as long as you obediently submit to me, I’ll protect you!”
As she spoke, she put on a lecherous expression and reached out to stroke Ming Mei’s cheek.
Ming Mei burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! All right, then. I’ll be counting on you to protect me!”
Yang Qing went on to explain a few things about military training, and that brought the evening study session—which also served as the class meeting—to an end.