Chapter Six: University

  There aren't many ripples, nor are there too many stories. A brief encounter with a beautiful woman, some people and things in this life can only be seen from afar, but never attained, because they belong to different worlds.

  Li Sansheng finally understood that people are always realistic. When we were young, we had many dreams and fantasies about what to do and what to achieve when we grew up, but most of them were empty and couldn't be realized. As we grew older, we began to understand the world a bit more, grasped some basic rules, and made plans for our lives, slowly moving in a predetermined direction. In our youth, we finally understood some realistic things, knew what money was, and the difference between having it and not having it, but still didn't want to give up on some of the things deep down inside us, continuing to be confused. Later, when we reached middle age, we understood that people are always realistic, and began to become mediocre.

  Li Sansheng is a common man who grew up in a small town and village, without great ambitions or aspirations. He doesn't hope to climb high or go far in this life, but his grandfather said that as long as he's alive, it's enough.

  After arriving in Xi'an, Li Sansheng refused the suggestion of Er Long Hei Zi and Lao Meng to send him to school. Firstly, the school was too far away, located in a remote area known as the "University City" with Chinese characteristics. Lao Meng and Hei Zi had to rush to catch their flight to Beijing, while Li Sansheng's school was in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an's Baqiao District, and Xianyang International Airport was in the northwest of Xi'an, which were two completely different directions. Secondly, sending him to school in an Audi A6 seemed a bit too high-profile, although the Audi A6 was not considered a luxury car. Li Sansheng thought that most children nowadays were more cunning and understood society better than he did, and there were also many people with ulterior motives.

  He and Lao Meng Heizi parted ways at Xi'an Railway Station, Li Sansheng didn't say anything, just reminded Er Long to drive slowly, that's it, they said goodbye, brothers, some words are too pretentious when spoken.

  He picked up his own luggage, a woven bag with a grid pattern, commonly used by migrant workers, containing a quilt personally sewn and given to him by the old man. The quilt was filled with new cotton borrowed from the village, weighing over two kilograms, which was already considered high-quality. If bought in the market, it would cost around 300-400 yuan. Another luggage was an ordinary imitation brand suitcase worth around 50-60 yuan in the market, not very big, but relatively decent-looking, bought by Li San Sheng when he went to the small town. The boss had asked for 180 yuan, but Li San Sheng had bargained it down to 55 yuan, a feat that left the surrounding middle-aged women in awe, secretly admiring this young man's ability to live a good life, thinking whoever married him would be happy.

  The suitcase contained the old man's belongings, a few books that Li Sansheng liked to read, not professional or best-selling books on the market. Then there was Li Sansheng's diary, he had a hobby of writing diaries and essays, recording some trivial things in life every day, with his own comments, and then his random essays, which were not worth reading by anyone. There were also a few worthless items that no one would like even if they were stolen. The only valuable thing was the Shen Zhou laptop in the suitcase, which was the most luxurious thing Li Sansheng had bought over the years, costing more than 6,000 yuan at the time of purchase.

  Everyone knows that the Shenzhou computer, although not perfect in terms of workmanship and quality, has a good price-performance ratio, making it suitable for children from poor families to buy. The configuration may seem outdated now, but at the time it was still decent, with a Core 2 Duo CPU, XP operating system, and a 160G hard drive that wasn't too big. Compared to today's laptops with Core i series processors and 500G storage, it can't compare.

  With these two things in hand, Li San Sheng was like most of the children who came to school at Xi'an Railway Station at this time, looking for the first stop of university, the bus station.

  In high school, he studied at that aristocratic school under the gaze of thousands, luxurious and magnificent at the foot of Qinling Mountain, but the teaching quality and teacher level were absolutely unmatched by anyone in Qinling College. Li Sansheng, who lived there for three years, had run through the entire Xi'an. No way, in order to continue living, children from poor families will always understand some truths earlier than children from rich families, otherwise it's a sin.

  After successfully using eighteen kinds of martial arts, he finally squeezed onto the direct bus to school. This bus was not unmanned ticketing, but manned ticketing. The ticket seller was a middle-aged woman, who estimated that she had deliberately permed her hair to cover up her thinning hair, and there were more yellow-brown spots on her face than acne. Seeing Li San Sheng's big bags and small bags coming up, he obviously curled his lips, with a look of looking at a country bumpkin.

  "Put all these offerings in front, haven't seen so many people!" A middle-aged aunt with a slightly unpleasant tone shouted in Mandarin with a strong Guanzhong accent. The ordinary words were spoken by her in a particularly twisted way, especially with several Guanzhong dialects interspersed in between. Most of the people on the bus were students going to that school, including freshmen and seniors. When they heard the middle-aged aunt's words, some girls with lower laughter points giggled.

  Li Sansheng doesn't despise the auntie, after all, not everyone can be like an immortal who has never been born and is beyond the ordinary. They are all ordinary people who know that having money can buy more things and accomplish more tasks. If the auntie didn't have any power, Li Sansheng would think it's unreasonable. What Li Sansheng despises are those naive children who haven't experienced many setbacks and think the world is simply black and white. When they see Li Sansheng's rustic appearance, several well-dressed girls quickly distance themselves from him. Only a few kids of the same kind won't disdain someone like Li Sansheng. Li Sansheng doesn't bother to pay attention to these future flowers of the motherland; there will always be people who teach them what respect means.

  Li Sansheng flashed a set of big white teeth that were rarely seen in the Guanzhong area, and smiled more brightly than Xigua Tou Erlong. He nodded his head and said in standard Mandarin, "Yes, auntie."

  This comical and ridiculous scene instantly amused most people in the car, even the driver couldn't help but burst out laughing. Li Sansheng seemed as if he didn't know whether he was an 80 or 90-year-old old man or a 3 or 4-year-old kid who didn't understand what was going on, and he remained calm and unruffled.

  The middle-aged woman was also shocked by Li Sansheng's words. Although she didn't look particularly good, she wasn't at the level of being called "auntie" either. She had been pretty when she was young, and couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. However, with so many people on the bus, it wasn't a good idea to make a scene. Moreover, Xi'an was striving to become an international metropolis, and this bus was a window into the city's civilization. The middle-aged woman thought about her meager salary for that month and feared being reported by others, so she endured it. In her heart, she secretly said, "Next time, if you have the ability, don't take my bus."

  The bus to that school only has one trip from the train station, so it's crowded with people squeezing in, and there are still many people who insist on squeezing in along the way. It's really chaotic. Li Sansheng was really surprised by the load-bearing capacity of the bus and wondered which car company made this, as the quality is indeed too poor.

  On a hot summer day, everyone wore light and cool clothing, but now it has become a problem for everyone. The zero-distance contact between people made Li Sansheng know what heaven and hell were. There were all kinds of smells on the bus, including body odor, foot odor, perfume, and food brought by children. It was really miserable.

  The girl behind him, who looked pretty good, suddenly came into close contact with Li Sansheng at some point. Her not-too-big-or-too-small breasts were pressed against his back. At this age, girls are in the golden period of development, and their breasts are soft yet firm. On a hot day like today, Li Sansheng was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

  As a young man nearing twenty with a strong sense of masculinity, Li Sansheng initially had good self-control. He could remain calm and composed, watching the flowers bloom and wither in front of him, without being affected by external temptations. However, as time passed, he couldn't help but think about certain things, having watched too many Japanese adult videos. His lower body suddenly became uncooperative, slowly rising up with a strong momentum.

  The bus was moving in a stop-and-go manner, and whenever it braked, Li Sansheng felt even more miserable. He was so scared that he didn't dare to turn his head to look at the girl behind him. Although he had no idea what she looked like, Li Sansheng had already roughly guessed from the feeling of her chest against his back that she must be a very beautiful and pure girl. Who knows how the girl would react if she knew what Li Sansheng was thinking in his heart?

  Actually, if Li Sansheng turned around, he would definitely see the girl behind him who was already so shy that she couldn't help but blush bright red like a red apple, burying her head deep into Li Sansheng's back. People who didn't know them would think they were a couple.

  From the train station to Li Sansheng's school is really too far, taking a bus takes about an hour, which is good if there is no traffic jam. Nowadays, Xi'an is building subways, and several routes are under construction, so most places will be congested. Therefore, Li Sansheng, who understands the current road conditions in Xi'an, does not expect to arrive early.

  The girl might have shifted her position to free herself, but she didn't realize that this only stimulated Li San Sheng even more. He was already at his wit's end and this was like adding fuel to the fire. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and turned around, flashing a set of pearly whites as he let out an awkward laugh, not knowing what to say.

  The girl saw Li San Sheng turn his head and smile without saying a word, the atmosphere suddenly became a bit awkward. The people around them definitely didn't know the secrets in their hearts. The girl finally felt very embarrassed and mustered up the courage to say "Sorry".

  "It's nothing" Li San Sheng really didn't know what to say at this time, he could usually remain calm in the face of anything, but this matter was not something that his mother could be calm about. The girl was so embarrassed by his "it's nothing" that she didn't dare look at him. She changed into a relatively more comfortable position and finally the two people were no longer uncomfortable.

  This little episode made Li Sansheng cry and laugh, turned his head and no longer looked at the young people on the bus who thought they had experienced the world, after experiencing a bit of story began to pretend to be mature, thinking that they had seen through life, saw through society, squeezed hard hoping to see a glimpse of Xi'an from the window.

  For this city that aspires to rise with great ambition but lacks sufficient political capital, Li Sansheng may not dare to compliment its ambition, but he still likes the city very much because of its rich cultural heritage. Looking across China, there are only a few cities that can be mentioned in the same breath as Xi'an, which is also an advantage of Xi'an. Li Sansheng is deeply grateful that Xi'an has not taken the wrong development path like old Beijing and Nanjing, which would have brought eternal infamy upon itself.

  It has to be said that the recently released "Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone Plan" has given this ambitious city a bit of confidence, which is also because the Shaanxi faction in the current central high-level government has become a powerful political interest group. Especially who the leader is now is no longer a secret, even ordinary people who understand a little politics know that his strong rise will inevitably push the Shaanxi faction to a peak.

  Li Sansheng shook his head, what did these things have to do with him? Those were always unattainable things. As a small potato, even if he racked his brains, he couldn't stir up the slightest ripple.

  The environment on both sides of the bus is also changing slowly, from the high-rise buildings in the city center to the ordinary residential houses now. Li Sansheng clearly knew that he had already arrived in the suburbs, but when he walked onto the Ganjiang Bridge, he saw a giant billboard by the Ganjiang River, "World Horticultural Exposition".

  This is also considered to be the Dongjiao area of the Chanba National Wetland Park, after passing through the Chanba National Wetland Park is Lisan's school, the White Deer Plain University Town. Because of Mr. Chen Zhongshi's epic novel "White Deer Plain" being famous, thinking of Mr. Chen's "White Deer Plain" being adapted into a movie was a difficult process, Lisan felt that this was a sad scene for China's commercial film industry, not because "White Deer Plain" couldn't be made, but just because the difficulty coefficient was too high, if it wasn't for the final investment from the Xi'an Film Group and the Xi'an Municipal Government, I estimate that few businessmen would dare to invest money in it.

  The bus continued to bounce along, after turning several corners and climbing a broken road, Li San Sheng finally saw the place where he would live for several years from the window. However, no matter how hard he tried, Li San Sheng couldn't feel any sense of intimacy. He turned his head to look out the window on this side, and the entire Xi'an was in view, quite magnificent.

  When the bus finally stopped in front of the gate of this Chinese private university, Li San Sheng got off with the students who were pouring out and looked at the stone engraved with the school name with a slight contemplation.

  "It's great," Li Sansheng said calmly.