Chapter 6: The Six Freaks of Jiangnan

  A group of parents walked by with their daughter, who was starting school for the first time. She was excited and happy in her new environment, looking around eagerly. Her mother quickly caught up to her and whispered: "Xiao Qi, Daddy and Mommy allow you to have a romance at school, but whatever you do, don't fall for that kind of country bumpkin like the one standing by the road just now. Their family has too many siblings, they're too poor, and look at how tacky their clothes are - they look like African refugees."

  The little girl called Xia Qi, hugging her mother's arm and acting coquettishly, said "Aye, mom, I know that girls from Jiangdu don't marry out, right?"

  Jiangdu, also known as Jianghai City, is generally referred to by locals as Jiangdu. They consider Beijing to be the administrative capital of Huaxia Country, while Jianghai City is considered the economic capital of Huaxia Country.

  "Look, look, this Ice City is so dirty everywhere, our Jiangdu is much better. You insist on running so far to study, making Daddy and Mommy worried, silly child."

  His mother's voice was very loud and sharp, Liu Meng stood listening clearly, thinking in his heart that it was laughable, yet true, that he had encountered a Jiangdu person so quickly. People from Jiangdu thought that everywhere else in the country except Jiangdu was rural.

  "Auntie, I'm from Jiangdu Ning." Liu Meng shouted out loud, just like Xiaoxi's mother had done earlier. She had spoken in the local dialect, thinking that this country bumpkin of a boy definitely wouldn't understand.

  When Liu Meng shouted in the Jiangdu dialect, he suddenly felt embarrassed. He turned his head and glanced back, and a family of three quickly left, still walking with elegance.

  Liu Meng thought to himself with a smile, he was someone who had crossed over from Jiangdu, having stayed there for 6 years. Although he didn't speak much of the Jiangdu dialect, he could still understand it.

  "Xiao Meng, Xiao Meng."

  Someone was calling him, Liu Meng turned around and saw his senior from the neighboring village, Meng Haohao. He was slightly chubby, about the same height as Liu Meng. All he wore was a pair of slippers, a large underpants, loose short sleeves on his body, and a messy head of hair.

  Liu Meng greeted him, and the two chatted for a few sentences. Meng Hao suggested going to the cafeteria to eat first, considering Liu Meng's meal card had not been issued yet, Meng Hao offered to treat him.

  Arrived at the convenient canteen at the school gate, this canteen is better than other canteens and operates for 18 hours a day. Liu Meng often ate here when he missed lunch while working in the main building's machine room. His favorite dish was beef stuffed pancake, which tasted great.

  They ordered a few dishes, Liu Meng ordered two beef pies, and Meng Hao ordered a bottle of beer. In this distant northern foreign land, the two old friends chatted and laughed as they ate and drank, feeling like they were back home.

  This feeling is really familiar, looking around the canteen, it's been many years, a place in memories, thinking of this place, reminds me of the carefree days of writing in my freshman year, without a computer, I could only write in the machine room on the main building.

  After dinner, Meng Hao took Liu Meng to handle the registration formalities for admission. At the scene, some classmates were registering one after another, and instructor Li Xin was writing something quickly.

  Only saw Li Xin's hair was combed very smoothly and neatly, all the long hair was combed up, probably because the hairline was relatively high, which could cover it up a bit.

  Liu Meng had no good impression of Li Xinben, it was because when Liu Meng entered school to apply for a student loan, he was unwilling to do it and even made a few sarcastic remarks. At that time, there were classmates around, which made Liu Meng feel somewhat embarrassed. The young man's heart was still a bit fragile at the time.

  But now Liu Meng's standing height is different, and he can naturally face this scene.

  He sat down and said calmly: "Counselor, I want to apply for a student loan."

  "Ah," he replied casually, "Is your family really poor or just pretending to be?" Li Xin was also very annoyed. In his first year as a counselor, there were too many students applying for financial aid loans. However, the total loan amount for this school was fixed and was about to exceed it. He had to carefully distinguish between them and let some of those who weren't extremely struggling figure things out on their own.

  "Really poor."

  "What is your annual household income?"

  "Owe several thousand."

  Li Xing had been looking at the materials all along, and now he raised his eyes in surprise. This was probably the most difficult student he had encountered. The poorest family's annual income was still 3,000 yuan earlier. "How can you still be in debt? What's going on?"

  Liu Meng said with some pain: "Leader, you don't know, my dad's body is not good, can't do heavy work, the farm work at home can't be done, and every year we have to spend several thousand yuan on medical treatment, isn't that a loss of several thousand?"

  "Really?" Li Xin stared at the young man in front of him, who looked quite rustic. His clothes seemed to confirm it, even his luggage was old, apparently he was really struggling.

  Before Liu Meng could answer, Li Xin nodded and said: "Okay, just handle it with the highest quota of 6,000 yuan."

  It's easily settled, haha, after all, having a thick skin makes a big difference in getting things done. Liu Meng secretly let out a sigh of relief, now he can save 6,000 yuan on tuition fees, and with some extra living expenses, he can buy a cheaper laptop, and his writing plans can be put on the agenda.

  The registration formalities were completed soon, and the textbook fees and accommodation fees were paid, which was about 1,200 yuan. Meng Hao saw that it was not early, so he sent Liu Meng to the apartment building and went back first.

  Meng Hao is already a junior. The new campus of Ice City Industrial University only has freshmen, and they will move to the old campus in the city when they become sophomores.

  Liu Meng carried two small suitcases, step by step up to the third floor. Soon he would enter the apartment and see those brothers again. A warm current surged in his heart. These brothers had accompanied him through the 4 years of his most carefree youth.

  They often appear in his dreams, after graduating from university and going to Jianghai City, he never saw any of them again.

  He walked to the door, 307 room, he was a little nervous, his hand holding the key to open the door even slightly trembled.

  Took a deep breath, muttered in his heart, brothers, I'm back, we meet again.

  Creaking, the door opened.

  There are three people living in one room, but the two adjacent rooms share a bathroom, which can be used to shuttle back and forth.

  He and Liu Meng lived in a dormitory with two others.

  Lao Da Deng Jinyue, a Ningcheng native, has a sharp and astute personality, but he is also very righteous. From elementary school to high school, he held the position of class monitor, with an extremely strong presence.

  Later, everyone who fell in love and was short of money didn't hesitate to borrow from him. He had a very pleasant personality, combining the shrewdness of southerners with the openness and generosity of northerners, and had a strong leader aura, so he became the common leader of two adjacent dormitories.

  Lao Er is Dongdong, a typical Shandong man from Weicheng, the hometown of kites. He's a good student and a well-behaved kid who listens to his mom.

  There was a girl from my hometown who had grown up with me since childhood. This girl was very outgoing, and not long after the start of the second semester of senior year, she traveled alone from Daming Lake to Ice City to find Dongdong, and it wasn't until then that they confirmed their romantic relationship.

  The little girl later became very familiar with us, and the two of them were together, with the girl taking the initiative. This led to the contradictions between the two people afterwards. The girl always felt that Dongdong was not gentle enough, even though they finally ended up in Kyoto after being apart for 9 years, but still broke up in the end, which is a pity.

  All these are bygones, thinking and thinking, Liu Meng felt a sense of melancholy in his heart. Since he had returned to 2004 ten years ago, he must live a different life. These brothers' misfortunes could be helped as much as possible.

  Pushing open the door of room 307, Dongdong and his mother were inside the dormitory as usual. Eldest Deng Jinyu was lying on the bed sending text messages.

  Liu Meng dragged his luggage in, Dongdong immediately went forward to greet him, and Deng Jinyu also came down from the upper bunk, enthusiastically helping Liu Meng sort out his luggage, saying: "Our dormitory just waited for you to arrive last, we were just talking about when you would arrive."

  Dongdong's mother also warmly took out the washed fruit for Liu Meng to eat. People from Lu Di are always more enthusiastic, saying: "Seeing you kids, I'm so happy in my heart. How old are you? Our family's Dongdong was born in October 1986, and Deng Jinyu was born in June 1985."

  "Uh... I was born in '87."

  Dongdong's mom exclaimed, "Oh my, you're so young! That means you're the third child. I thought Dongdong was the youngest."

  "That's a long story."

  "Have you skipped a grade?" Dongdong's mom continued to ask.

  "It's nothing, it's just that we started reading books relatively early where I'm from, and there are even younger ones than me."

  Just then, ding dong, the door rang, Deng Jinyu knocked on the door and walked in a slightly fat and dark-skinned man wearing gold-rimmed glasses with his head held high. Liu Meng naturally knew who it was.

  The temporary class leader of the 3rd class of the Electrical Department, Guo Yu, his father is the president of a certain bank's prefecture-level branch, and his grandfather is a high-ranking official in a certain military region. His family has some background. After reporting for duty, he directly invited instructor Li Xin to have a big meal together and obtained the position of temporary class leader.

  The class tyrant, the thing he likes to do most is: after each semester's exam results come out, go to each dormitory and sigh, "Oh my god, I thought I could get 100 points, but I only got 98 points. Tell me, isn't it depressing?"

  "Reminder: On August 30th at 2 pm, there will be an English placement test for freshmen. Military training will officially start on September 1st. For the next few days, prepare yourselves as it will determine whether you can get into the fast-track or elite English classes."

  Guo Yu finished speaking and also noticed Liu Meng, who had just arrived. He looked at Liu Meng's clothes and thought to himself that this was another student from a poor place, seemingly a poverty-stricken student. Earlier, Li Xin had called him and said that there were several poverty-stricken students in the class, so they should be taken care of more, and later arranged for them to work part-time jobs or something like that.

  "On the surface, he was smiling and said to Liu Meng: 'You are Liu Meng, right? You've had a tough journey, take a good rest.'"

  Just then, the bathroom door in the room opened and a dark-skinned boy wearing slippers and sweatpants walked in, brushing his teeth with a toothbrush while making "gurgling" sounds.

  Room 307 and Room 305 share a bathroom. People in both rooms can access the adjacent room through the shared bathroom.

  Liu Meng almost shouted out loud, "Isn't this Cheng Cheng?" In his impression, this guy brushed his teeth countless times a day and always liked to brush his teeth while wandering around.

  He's a typical emotional animal, never seen a man who loves to cry so much, his body is softer than a woman's, easy to be impulsive, a bit narcissistic, crazy for love. The most impressive move was that after taking the 28-hour train from his hometown to school for registration, he rushed back home immediately because of a quarrel with his girlfriend. In four years of college, he contributed a lot to the railway industry.

  However, this passionate campus love story didn't end well. But after changing to another woman, he was still passionate and romantic, what a ladies' man.

  "What the heck is this exam for?" Cheng Cheng said as he walked in, with a toothbrush still in his mouth.

  Guo Yu slightly furrowed his brow, but very subtly, and then chatted with everyone for a few more sentences before leaving.

  Dongdong's mom was the first to get up, pulling Dongdong and saying: "Son, let's hurry up and buy materials to prepare for the exam. Ol' Big, Liu Meng, whoever, are you going? Let's go together."

  Cheng Cheng rolled his eyes and smiled as he walked forward, saying: "Auntie, I'm Cheng Cheng from the neighboring dorm room."

  Dongdong's mom didn't like Cheng Cheng from the very beginning. This guy doesn't look quite reliable, she thought to herself. When they go out later, I must remind my son a few times not to get too close to this person, and instead stick with Lao Da and Liu Meng, learn from each other.

  Finally, Lao Da, Dong Dong and his mom went out to buy study materials together. Cheng Cheng's teeth were not brushed well, and Bai Pao Pao spat and spat, but didn't spit on the ground. He sat on the bed, hugged Liu Meng's shoulder, and said: "Brother, why don't you go buy materials to review?"

  "Why don't you go?" Liu Meng retorted.

  "I have a fellow townsman in this school, telling me that every year is the same tradition. After the college entrance examination, I started to pay attention, otherwise I wouldn't be so calm, did you know it earlier?"

  "It's been ten years since I knew it, but it's useless anyway." Liu Meng said helplessly with a shrug.

  English is Liu Meng's weakness. No matter how hard he studied before, his grades were always just barely passing.

  In the college entrance examination, Chinese 130 points, composition full score; mathematics 142 points; science comprehensive 275 points, but English only 91 points, resulting in a total score of only 638 points. If it weren't for the weakness in English, Liu Meng would have had the opportunity to be admitted to Shuimu University.

  When I took the English 6-level exam later, I couldn't pass it no matter what, and the more I studied hard and answered carefully, the lower my score was, just short of a dozen or so points (out of a total of 710) to pass.

  In the end, I was lucky and gave up on the listening part, randomly chose all abcd, and carefully did the rest of the questions to pass.

  So, what's the point of reviewing this stuff, the more I review, the fewer points I get.

  Thinking about it is depressing.

  After chatting with Cheng for a while, Liu Meng decided to go out and take a walk. This familiar campus, I've been wanting to come back and see it again for a long time.