Within a few days, Du Song's new school was arranged—a private university that had a partnership with the Huo family's hotel. The Huo hotel provided scholarships to the school, and in return, the school sent graduates to the hotel each year. University transfer procedures were already complicated, and Du Song's repeated transfers in such a short time clearly marked him as a problematic student. But with this connection in place, the transfer was approved without a hitch.
On enrollment day, Mr. Huo was away on business. Mrs. Huo had the time, but she was too disappointed in Du Song to waste any more of it on him. She only said to Huo Shize, "I'll have my secretary take him to school tomorrow. Tell him to pack his clothes and luggage and be ready."
Du Song didn't want to go to school at all and was deeply troubled by it. He pestered Huo Shize to accompany him instead, saying, "That female secretary looks at me like I'm garbage. I don't want to be alone with her."
Mrs. Huo's personal secretary was exceptionally capable, handling everything with utmost precision. She managed the Huo family's diplomatic affairs, served as an assistant for Mrs. Huo's cooking classes, and was an avid reader of Buddhist scriptures. She was a quiet person who spoke slowly—what people these days might describe as having a "barely alive" vibe. But her gaze was piercing. When she looked at Du Song, he felt utterly worthless and uncomfortable in every way, so he refused to go to school alone with her.
So on enrollment day, Huo Shize, the female secretary, and Du Song with his luggage all went to the school together.
The school was also in the city, not particularly far—about a half-hour drive. Since they had given prior notice, a counselor was already waiting at the gate. She immediately led Du Song to the dormitory to drop off his luggage and complete the enrollment procedures. Meanwhile, Huo Shize and the female secretary were invited to the president's office for tea. The school leaders had only expected Mrs. Huo's secretary to come today, but to their surprise, the young master of the Huo family had also appeared. They all came over to exchange pleasantries and business cards, mentioning that there would be a ceremony for the new school gate in a while, and they hoped he would honor them by attending the ribbon-cutting, and so on.
After the pleasantries and tea, to strengthen their ties and deepen the partnership, the school invited Huo Shize to tour the two elite classes funded by the Huo hotel. On the way, passing by an office, through a half-open window, he happened to glimpse a teacher and a student in conversation. The teacher seemed to be scolding the student, scratching his face and head as he spoke—the kind of frustrated expression of someone who was angry but couldn't bear to seriously reprimand. The female student listened quietly, though her stance was relaxed and casual. Hearing the commotion of footsteps outside the window, she turned her head and glanced out.
In that brief glance, Huo Shize was taken aback. He felt he had seen this girl somewhere before—a sense of déjà vu. But he wasn't entirely sure. They were similar in height, and their hair color looked about the same, but this one was dressed in plain athletic wear with her hair tied back in a neat ponytail—energetic, lively, and cute. She looked nothing like that gloomy, alternative-style girl he had encountered in the elevator a while back.
The group arrived at the elite classes, where the principal enthusiastically introduced Huo Shize to the students and joked, "Mr. Huo will soon take over his family's hotel—the Joyful Premier in Lujiazui. After you graduate, if you pass the hotel's assessment, you'll be working under this young general manager."
Huo Shize was dressed in a slightly formal suit today, standing tall and clean-cut, with a diamond earring on his left ear—perfectly showcasing the image of a spirited, unrestrained young talent. The female students in the class stared without blinking, blushes spreading across their faces, stars in their eyes, utterly dazed.
After touring the two elite classes, they shook hands with the school leaders and said their goodbyes. The female secretary rode back in Huo Shize's car. They hadn't gone far when she received a call from Du Song, saying he had left a charging cable in the car and asking if they could find it and bring it back. Huo Shize clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned the car around.
Ten minutes later, the car pulled back into the university. Du Song was already waiting at the main gate, accompanied by several classmates. Du Song's appearance was highly deceptive—sweet-tongued and smooth-talking, he had already made several friends within just half a day of enrollment, before even attending a single class. There was a volunteer student who had shown him around campus, plus friends that classmate had called over.
Huo Shize parked the car, and as the female secretary walked over with the charging cable, Du Song was deep in conversation with a tall girl with a ponytail. Just then, the female student complimented the black five-flower bracelet he was wearing: "Your bracelet is really nice."
The girl was a sophomore senior—also the volunteer who had shown him around campus—and stunningly beautiful. Du Song was nervous in front of her, not daring to meet her eyes directly. That was why he had barely spoken during the campus tour. Hearing her compliment him, he felt flattered and quickly said, "Really? Is that so? My mom gave it to me. We picked it out together."
The female classmate nodded: "You have good taste; it suits you well." She then noticed a pair of sunglasses peeking out of his pocket, pulled them out, put them on herself, looked left and right, and said, "These sunglasses are really cool too. You've got great sense."
"Really? I swiped these sunglasses from my brother." Du Song had originally arrived at the school with a resistant mindset. On the way there, he was so depressed he almost cried. But after walking around the campus once, he felt the new school wasn't bad—small in size and with old facilities, but the atmosphere was much more relaxed than his previous international school. Plus, there was such a nice, pretty female classmate, so he figured this school was passable and he could manage.
Du Song felt delighted inside and asked, "Senior, what's your major?"
"Me? Art and design."
"Senior, where do you usually hang out? Are there any fun places nearby?"
The female classmate lifted her chin and vaguely pointed in a direction: "Over there, there's a food street. It's lively at night—bars, internet cafes, and billiard rooms, everything you need."
"Oh, okay. I'll check it out sometime. By the way, senior, how old are you?"
Before the female classmate could answer, Du Song spotted the female secretary walking over with a charging cable. He quickly said sorry to the female classmate and ran over.
Zhu Ling kept her hands in the pockets of her sweatpants, wearing Du Song's sunglasses, gazing at the distant scenery while chewing on a soft candy and humming a folk song: "Jumping up and down the floor, my head is an animal…"
Just as she was trying on the junior's sunglasses, a familiar scent suddenly drifted by. The next second, someone flicked the back of her head. The sunglasses were too big for her, so she used one finger to push them back up as they slid down, then turned to look. Caught off guard, she found herself face to face with a young man. One of his eyebrows was slightly tilted, the corner of his mouth lifted, and he had a roguish handsomeness about him.
She had face blindness and didn't recognize the man, but she vaguely remembered his cologne. A while back, one night, she had gotten lost and wandered into an office building. In the elevator, she had caught the same scent from a young man wearing a motorcycle jacket.
The man leaned toward her, and the scent of a sunny island beach filled her nose again. She heard him whisper by her ear: "Do you still like my jacket?"