Xiao Qi was very glad that she was assigned to Huashan 606 Dormitory. Her roommates were nice people, which was really a stroke of good luck. After all, university classmates would spend the most intimate time together over four years, being each other's first roommates after leaving home for the first time.
It was the same for others. After living together for so long, everyone understood Gu Yunshu's personality - she didn't like to stand out, preferred staying in if possible, came from a well-off family, didn't have any particular goals, and went with the flow. So this matter certainly wasn't something she brought up herself - she was also a victim. Although being a rich scapegoat wasn't a good reputation, she still apologized to Xiao Qi and the others.
After joking and laughing together, they didn't take it to heart, and the matter was dropped.
The first afternoon class was Marketing, taught by a young male teacher named Shi. Compared to the slightly shy Macroeconomics teacher Shao in the morning, Teacher Shi was much livelier, and spoke very loudly without needing a microphone, making everyone's ears buzz.
Teacher Shi was very passionate when teaching, but he easily went off topic, talking about his own experiences. He was very self-amused, though some stories weren't funny at all. He wasn't as interesting and lively as Teacher Bai, but students still laughed easily, because his hometown accent was a bit strong - he would unintentionally slip into a rural accent when he got excited, which made everyone laugh out loud.
In terms of expertise, Xiao Qi felt that Teacher Shi was pretty good, with his own insights, but he was very young and students didn't seem to take him too seriously.
A common problem among university students was looking down on young teachers for not being skillful enough, while older teachers were seen as outdated. Boring teachers had dull classes, while those fond of joking cared little whether students listened seriously or not... In summary, it seemed that no teacher needed to be listened to attentively, since self-study was better. But how many people could really self-study diligently when there were so many campus activities that they could hardly participate in them all?
Xiao Qi had previewed the content, so she was quite interested in what the teacher said. Marketing itself was an intriguing subject.
And comparing it with the Macroeconomics class this morning gave her many new perspectives.
It was just that the teacher really liked going off topic.
"I received a text message saying my bank card was used for an overseas transaction of 80,000 RMB. I immediately became nervous and called the head office..."
The whole class laughed again. This teacher couldn't be an idiot right? It was clearly a scam message. Why call the head office?
"I wanted to ask the head office if there really were 80,000 RMB in my account. If so, could they send me a screenshot for me to post on Moments..."
The laughter grew even louder, with some even pounding the tables.
Even Xiao Qi couldn't help laughing.
"I went on a blind date last week. The woman asked me straight out if I had a car, an apartment, and how much savings I had. From a marketing perspective, this message came a week too late. If it had come a week earlier, I could've shown her and perhaps she would've liked me more."
Another round of laughter. But the teacher finally brought the topic back to the textbook and continued teaching. Teacher Shi had a talkative personality, and basically exposed all his secrets during class - that his home was deep in the mountains, very very deep in the mountains. The bus could only take you to another village, then you'd have to walk 10 li mountain paths to get to his home. When he was little, just to eat a lollipop, he was willing to walk 20 li back and forth in the mountains - it would take a whole day. In the end he got the candy that day but wore out his shoes, earning him a beating from his mother.
When the teacher talked about this, he had a smile on his face, but Xiao Qi thought of that scene and felt it was miserable, even worse than her hometown Guyu Village, since Guyu at least had road access.
The teacher said he yearned for lollipops day and night, and could only study hard to test out of that place, as that was the only way to get candy from outside.
"Through hard work, I've now fulfilled my wish of having candy every day, look!" He opened his mouth wide and laughed, revealing a mouth full of crooked rotten teeth... The whole class laughed again.
Xiao Qi laughed and laughed until tears streamed down her face.
She felt inexplicably sad at heart.
The class passed amidst laughter like this.
Next was the Mental Health Education course for university students. Xiao Qi suddenly felt very interested in Teacher Shi, and took the initiative to gossip with Honey, asking if she knew any info about Teacher Shi.
Honey said she'd help ask around.
The group arrived at the Datang Complex Building. The Mental Health Education class was in Lecture Hall 3. They finally found the hall and went in, only to see Rong Jiaojiao waving at them from the back: "Over here!"
She had indeed saved them seats at the very back... the last row.
Every seat had a book placed on it, along with a bag.
Probably because they were freshmen, many people had arrived. Luckily there were reserved seats, otherwise it would've been hard for the four of them to sit together.
Rong Jiaojiao didn't insist on sitting next to Gu Yunshu. She was already on good terms with Room 606, so Gu Yunshu would be considerate.
She sat next to Honey, Honey next to Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi next to Yunshu, and Yunshu's other side was Wei Cheng.
Once seated, it felt like watching a movie - there was a projector screen up front, someone adjusting a video, and occasional sounds testing the audio, which seemed to come from speakers in all four corners, very loud.
With three classes together for the first time, it was quite noisy, several hundred people total. The terraced lecture hall quickly filled up, since they'd heard the class monitor would take attendance.
Xiao Qi came fully prepared, taking out textbooks and test papers.
At this moment, she felt she should have become the qualified university student described by upperclassmen, who knew public electives could be used to slack off.
Worried it would be too boring, she brought Level 4 test papers to work on.
She also brought her Calculus textbook, as the Calculus teacher had assigned homework. She could do that Calculus homework and preview the next class.
She planned to continue consolidating her Japanese vocabulary as well, repeatedly reciting the words. After getting through this busy week, Xiao Qi intended to audit Japanese classes at the English Language Institute.
She heard they not only had Japanese classes, but also Spanish, French, and other languages, all evening electives, perfectly timed to avoid conflicting with her own courses.
Once everyone was seated, the teacher below tapped on the table for quiet and started playing the video. Sure enough, it was the old, cliched video. Xiao Qi felt only students with real psychological issues would pay close attention.
She began taking the English test papers, as those were most familiar and easy to get into the zone with.
Xiao Qi quickly finished a Level 4 test paper. Only then did Honey quietly nudge her and pass her phone over.
Honey's speed was awesome.
On her phone were the details she'd found about Teacher Shi. Teacher Shi's full name was Shi Zhaolai. It was said he was the hard-won son in the family, with three older sisters above him.
He also had a stage name, Shi DaShan, because aside from teaching Marketing, he was also a amateur painter of some renown, specializing in landscape paintings. There were many of his works, which Xiao Qi flipped through one by one. At a glance, one painting seemed to just be zigzagging lines, the entire image composed of lines. But Xiao Qi immediately recognized it as terraced fields in the countryside, a stretch of terraced fields, with a lone tree. Looking at it gave her a warm yet cold feeling, very intimate yet sorrowful.
It was quite contradictory.
Seeing this painting made Xiao Qi suddenly homesick, as if the dots in the painting weren't trees, but her father slowly walking along the ridge, hobbling along, walking a bit slowly... His figure went from tiny dots to that tall, grand tree.
