College students were supposed to focus on studying, but asking someone whose mental age was pushing thirty to sit in a classroom and pay attention all day was its own particular form of torture.

Theory-heavy courses like Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Financial Markets and Institutions — Xu Ye could just about get through those.

But anything that actually required him to think hard — Mathematical Analysis, Linear Algebra, Financial Mathematics, Applied Statistics — he tuned out entirely and just put his head down on the desk and slept.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday passed quickly enough.

Friday only had two lecture blocks, both in the morning, so the moment the last one ended, Xu Ye and Zhang Xinzhou headed straight for the food street.

Today was the day they’d agreed to sign the contract.

The crepe shop owner had been waiting for them. Over the past few days, he’d already moved out most of his equipment, and when he saw the two of them show up right on time, he pulled out the contract he’d had ready to go.

“Transfer agreement. Those extra terms you asked for are all in there.”

Xu Ye didn’t rush to sign. He picked it up and read it carefully all the way through, making sure there were no games being played with the language. Once he was satisfied, he put his name to it.

“And the… money?”

“I’ll transfer it right now. Send me your bank account number.”

Xu Ye opened his phone banking app and got to work. He’d already moved a hundred thousand yuan [TL: roughly $16,000 USD at the time] out of his brokerage account in advance — painful to part with, but at least Zhang Xinzhou was absorbing the other hundred thousand. The moment the owner checked his phone and saw the funds come through, the tension in his shoulders dropped visibly.

He stood up and shook Xu Ye’s hand. “Pleasure doing business. Wishing you both a booming trade.”

“Thank you.”

Xu Ye asked, “Can you clear out the rest of the shop this afternoon?”

The owner laughed. “The big stuff’s already gone. What’s left I can load in one trip. Oh — here are the keys. If you’re not comfortable with it, you can always replace the locks.”

“Got it~”

He’d clearly been ready to walk away from this place for a while. The moment the money landed and the handoff was done, he wasted no time loading everything that was left into his van and pulling away.

Zhang Xinzhou looked around the roughly fifty-five square meter space and let out a quiet, satisfied breath. “It’s ours now.”

“Tomorrow morning we head to the wholesale market together. Call the sign shop — ask them when the signboard will be ready.”

“Should be tomorrow,” Zhang Xinzhou said, smiling. “You never told me — why are we calling it Qingqing Fruit Shop?”

“My girlfriend’s name is Qingqing.”

Zhang Xinzhou gave him a thumbs-up. “Respect.”

The two of them did a quick sweep of the space. A fruit shop would need refrigerated display units, which meant one more errand — after a quick lunch, they took the subway out to the secondhand market.

The secondhand market had everything. When shops closed down, tables, counters, and equipment got picked up and resold in places like this. Xu Ye had half-expected to struggle finding the right refrigeration units, but the market had five or six sets of display chillers alone — and a proper cash register on top of that.

In the end he spent eight thousand yuan on a batch of display chillers, a showcase unit, and a cash register. The owner threw in a humidifier for free. Everything would be delivered directly to the shop tomorrow afternoon.

…

By evening, back at the dorm.

Li Tongwen was on the balcony outside the door, on a call with his family in a dialect nobody else could follow. Inside, the moment they pushed the door open, they found Yang Fei grinning like an idiot at his laptop screen.

Xu Ye and Zhang Xinzhou exchanged a look and walked over to see what was going on.

Yang Fei was deep in a chat with Wang Shiyu.

He was so absorbed he hadn’t even noticed two people were now standing right behind him.

Wang Shiyu: Don’t forget, welcome party tonight.

Yang Fei: I’ll definitely be there.

Wang Shiyu: Come early if you can, seats will fill up fast.

Yang Fei: I’m heading out right now.

Wang Shiyu: Your roommates not coming with you?

Yang Fei: Those two aren’t back yet.

Zhang Xinzhou cleared his throat.

Yang Fei jumped so hard his whole body shuddered. He turned and saw the two of them standing right there, eyes wide. “When did you guys get back?!”

“Wow. I thought maybe you were in the middle of some spicy conversation, but that’s it? A few lines like that and you’re grinning like you won the lottery? Pathetic.”

Yang Fei slapped his hand over the screen. “Stop reading over my shoulder!”

Xu Ye snorted, grabbed his clothes off the drying rack, and headed for the bathroom. Yang Fei called after him immediately. “Xu Ye, make it quick — we’re all going to the welcome party together later.”

“Didn’t say I was going.”

“What the hell, I already told Wang Shiyu!”

Xu Ye was already half-inside the bathroom, still pulling his shirt off. “Not my problem. You two are chatting, how’d I end up getting dragged into it?”

“Come on, big bro, please. I’ll buy you lunch tomorrow.”

“Yang Fei, hear me out — Wang Shiyu is not someone you can handle.”

“Bullshit. I think she’s already a little into me.”

Zhang Xinzhou laughed despite himself. “Have you even met her in person yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Then how do you know she’s into you?”

“Intuition. A man’s sixth sense.”

Zhang Xinzhou clapped a hand on Yang Fei’s shoulder. “Listen to Xu Ye. He’s saying it for your own good.”

Yang Fei resorted to threats. “Xu Ye, if you don’t come with me to this welcome party tonight, I’m climbing up into your bunk and sleeping there.”

“Get lost.”

…

Somehow the threat worked.

The moment Xu Ye emerged from the bathroom, Yang Fei grabbed him and dragged him toward the student activity center without delay. Zhang Xinzhou tagged along. Before pulling the door shut, Zhang Xinzhou noticed Li Tongwen still sitting alone in the room and tossed out a quick “Li Tongwen, coming with us?”

Li Tongwen shook his head gently.

Zhang Xinzhou nodded, didn’t push it, and jogged downstairs to catch up with the other two.

The welcome party started at seven and was scheduled to run until eight-thirty. Someone had leaked early that the campus belle Jiang Wei would be performing — a dance number, no less — so by the time Xu Ye’s group arrived, every seat in the venue was packed with wide-eyed male students.

“How are there this many people—”

“Looks like there’s nowhere to sit.”

Yang Fei pulled out his phone. “Let me tell Wang Shiyu we’re here.”

His fingers flew across the screen. A few messages in, Yang Fei’s voice jumped. “She says she’s coming out to find us!”

No sooner had he said that than Zhang Xinzhou spotted Wang Shiyu slipping out from the stage’s side door. She shaded her eyes with one hand, scanned the crowd, caught sight of the three of them, and made her way over.

“You made it?”

This time, standing in front of all three of them, Wang Shiyu didn’t have to tilt her head back to look up at Xu Ye — she’d traded her usual sneakers for heels tonight, paired with a fitted white blouse, a black mini-skirt, and her signature double ponytails. The moment she walked over, heads turned.

Yang Fei, sheepish, said, “It’s because Xu Ye insisted on showering before we left. Otherwise we wouldn’t have been this late.”

Hearing him throw him under the bus, Xu Ye turned on him immediately. “You little rat, you’re the one who physically dragged me here. I never said I was coming.”

Wang Shiyu heard the cursing and didn’t mind at all.

Boys who were too well-behaved were boring.

The slightly rough ones were so much more interesting.

(End of Chapter)