Monday. Overcast.
High of 17 degrees, low of 13, north wind force 3 to 4.
Xu Ye could feel the temperature had dropped again while he was brushing his teeth. After drying his face, he fired off three consecutive messages to Chen Qingqing on WeChat:
“Dress warm.”
“Dress warm.”
“Dress warm.”
She replied quickly: “You’re so annoying.”
Chen Qingqing: “Why send the same thing three times?”
Xu Ye: “Because important things need to be said three times.”
Chen Qingqing: “I’m wearing warm clothes. Class is about to start, talk later — I’m going to get called on by the teacher again otherwise.”
Xu Ye: “Got it.”
He had no first period, so there’d been no real need to get up this early — but he’d gone to bed early the night before, so naturally he was up early too.
Li Tongwen got up shortly after, and once he’d washed up he settled in below his bunk with a CET-4 prep book. [TL: 英语四级, the College English Test Band 4 — a standardized English proficiency exam most Chinese university students are expected to pass, often tied to graduation requirements] Xu Ye withdrew the balances from his Alipay and WeChat to his bank card, then transferred the money into his brokerage account to keep buying stocks.
When it was getting close to time, he finally roused Zhang Xinzhou and Yang Fei out of bed.
The four of them took two scooters to the cafeteria, ate breakfast, then headed straight to the classroom. There was a ten-minute break in the middle of the long lecture, and Xu Ye had just gotten back from the bathroom when a message came in from his counselor.
Su Tong: “Come by my office after your morning classes.”
Xu Ye: “Will do.”
The moment the morning’s lecture wrapped, Xu Ye went straight to Su Tong’s office.
The other teachers had all left; Su Tong was the only one there.
“You’re here.”
“Mm.”
“Sit.”
She pulled out the chair beside her and had him sit down, then got right to the point. “You know about the school holding a sports meet this week, right?”
“Yeah. Zhang Yiyang said he’s handling it.”
“Turnout’s usually low every year, so the school laid down a requirement this time — every first-year class has to enter three events. But nobody in our class seems very motivated. Only Jia Bing signed up, for high jump. Zhang Yiyang, probably out of options, entered himself for the sprint — and then signed up his roommate Qian Wenhua without asking him first.”
Xu Ye frowned. “Why would he do that?”
“Qian Wenhua’s from his hometown, so he probably assumed the guy would cover for him. But before class this morning, Qian Wenhua came to see me. Said a lot of things, but the gist was that he doesn’t want to compete. I called you in to ask whether you have any good way to resolve this.”
“Which event did Zhang Yiyang sign him up for?”
“The 1500-meter.”
“Is there still time to swap someone in?”
Su Tong nodded. “There’s time. I just have to go talk to the faculty leadership.”
“Then swap Qian Wenhua out for me,” Xu Ye said without hesitation. “This kind of thing should be voluntary — you can’t force someone to participate.”
Su Tong seemed to have anticipated he’d do exactly this. She smiled. “Fine. Go let Qian Wenhua know.”
“No problem.”
Su Tong asked, with genuine interest, “If you’d been the one handling this, and nobody in the class would sign up — how would you have solved it?”
Xu Ye smiled. “People don’t want to do the sports meet because it’s a thankless effort — even if you place, there’s no real reward for it. But everyone’s paid class dues, right? If it were me, I’d just tell them straight: placing at the sports meet counts as bringing honor to the class, so anyone who places gets a cash bonus straight out of the class fund. Everyone else who participates but doesn’t place still gets a bubble tea on the class. And if that still doesn’t get anyone to sign up — then the class officers and Party-membership candidates lead by example and go first.”
Su Tong’s face lit up. “Looks like I should have you handling this kind of thing going forward. Zhang Yiyang doesn’t know how to bend around a problem — he ends up rubbing people the wrong way.”
“Heh.” Xu Ye smiled. “Well, if that’s everything, I’ll go get lunch.”
“Mm, go ahead.”
…
After lunch at the cafeteria, Xu Ye went straight back to the dorm.
At this point, whether it was the fruit shop or the vending machines, revenue had basically settled into a stable range, and he’d stopped paying close attention to the daily numbers.
He changed into a pair of slippers, walked over to the neighboring dorm, and knocked.
Zhang Yiyang answered again. Seeing Xu Ye standing there, he looked puzzled. “Something up?”
Xu Ye smiled. “Is Qian Wenhua in?”
“What do you want with him?”
Qian Wenhua heard the voice and, guessing it probably had to do with the sports meet, got up quickly. “Captain, you’re looking for me?”
“Got a minute to talk?”
Qian Wenhua nodded and followed Xu Ye out.
Zhang Yiyang was completely baffled. He’d assumed Xu Ye had come for him, and instead the guy had called Qian Wenhua out. As much as he wanted to know what it was about, his pride wouldn’t let him ask — so he just shut the door.
“The counselor already talked to me. I’ve had her cancel your registration — you don’t need to worry about the sports meet.”
“But Zhang Yiyang said there have to be three people signed up?”
“I registered too.”
Xu Ye didn’t spell it out, but Qian Wenhua wasn’t stupid — he understood immediately that Xu Ye had taken his place.
“Don’t hold it against Zhang Yiyang either,” Xu Ye said. “He’s the one responsible for this, and he was just out of options when he roped you in.”
“I know.”
“Alright — nothing else, then.”
“Thanks, really~”
“Hey, it’s nothing.”
Xu Ye waved it off and returned to his own dorm. Qian Wenhua thought for a moment, then turned and headed back too.
Zhang Yiyang flipped idly through a book, putting on a show of not caring. He figured Qian Wenhua would volunteer what Xu Ye had wanted — but when Qian Wenhua got back to the dorm, he just climbed up to his bunk and went down for a nap.
Zhang Yiyang felt like there were ants biting at him.
He’d always thought of Qian Wenhua as his guy. But after Xu Ye pulled him aside just now, Zhang Yiyang had the distinct feeling that even his one loyal confidant had just been taken from him.
That evening, Xu Ye finally got the video call invite from Zhang Hong he’d been expecting.
After getting caught red-handed by his mom on Saturday night, he’d known this call was coming eventually. So he answered right away.
Zhang Hong and Old Xu were sitting bolt upright on the couch, side by side.
Xu Ye grinned at the sight. “Mom, why do you two look so serious?”
Zhang Hong cut straight to it. “That girl on Saturday night. Who was she?”
Xu Ye answered with total sincerity. “My girlfriend~”
Zhang Hong’s eyes went wide. “You’ve been dating a few months and you’re already taking her to hotels? Xu Ye, have you got any decency left in you?”
“Mom, you’re definitely misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding what? Our Xu family has never produced a scoundrel like you.”
“How is that possible? Dad’s always telling me he won you over back in the day by writing you three love letters.”
The instant the words were out, Old Xu felt a wave of killing intent radiate toward him.
Old Xu panicked immediately. “Bullshit, when did I ever tell you that — we’re talking about you, stop dragging me into this!”
Xu Ye laughed. “Mom, Saturday night she came over to hang out. Our schools are far apart, and it was raining that day, so I found her a hotel near campus. But she scares easily, so I got a separate room across the hall for myself. It’s not what you think.”
“Really?”
Xu Ye held up his fingers. “I swear.”
“Let me tell you something — if you’re going to date, date properly. A relationship that isn’t aimed at marriage is just fooling around.” [TL: 不以结婚为目的的恋爱都是耍流氓 — an extremely well-known Chinese saying, half-joking and half-serious, that a relationship pursued with no intention of marriage is essentially deceptive/frivolous; a staple of parental relationship lectures]
“I know.”
“What does the girl look like? Do you have a photo?”
“I do.”
“Send it, let me see.”
Xu Ye sent over the photo he’d set as his phone wallpaper. Zhang Hong zoomed in and studied it for a solid half a minute before saying, in astonishment, “Son. A girl this pretty — she’s willing to settle for you?“
Xu Ye burst out, “Mom! What is that supposed to mean!”
Zhang Hong: “Are there more? Send a few more.”
Xu Ye: “One or two is plenty. And don’t go forwarding it to anyone — if Qingqing found out, she’d definitely be upset.”
Zhang Hong wore the biggest doting-auntie smile. “I won’t, I won’t.”
They chatted a while longer before Xu Ye hung up. Zhang Hong looked at the photo a good while more, then saved it to her phone’s album.
“Old Xu. Starting next month, we give our son an extra five hundred a month for living expenses.”
“Why?!”
“You need money to date, don’t you.”
“Isn’t that budget a little steep?”
“It’s fine. We’ll take it out of your allowance.”
“What did you just say?!”
(End of Chapter 121)