Chapter 3: The School Beauty

  At the birthday party, I drank a lot of wine. Although I only drank beer, after every classmate who attended my birthday party had a bottle of beer with me, I still fell onto the sofa in room 1808 very cooperatively.

  When I woke up, it was already the next morning. After I passed out, Little Li once again showed off his wealth and arranged for a room to be opened on the spot, letting me sleep in the Fragrant Pavilion overnight. So when I woke up, I felt very unaccustomed - I had never stayed in such a luxurious room before. As soon as I opened my eyes in the morning, I scared myself half to death. I thought I was dreaming or sleepwalking.

  It wasn't until I called Little Li that I calmed down a bit, knowing that they had rushed to the disco bar last night and were too lazy to send me back to the dormitory, so they left me alone at Juxiang Pavilion.

  Fortunately, Little Li knew about my financial situation and had already paid the room fee when he left. Otherwise, I might have been taken away by the police for not being able to pay the room fee.

  I put on my clothes, carrying a big bag of birthday gifts I received last night out of the room, just about to take the elevator downstairs when yesterday's elevator attendant happened to come out of the elevator: "Hello."

  She greeted politely, and I replied politely: "Hello. Good morning."

  "En." She smiled, her smile somewhat mechanical, with a hint of fatigue on her face, probably from working the night shift last night.

  I didn't say anything else to her and walked towards the elevator.

  "Wait a minute." She said behind me: "Please wait a minute."

  I turned around, looking at her in confusion. She smiled again: "I just got off work, and the elevator attendant who is taking over hasn't arrived yet." As she spoke, she walked back into the elevator: "Let me take you down first before I get off work."

  I thanked her sincerely and followed her down to the large hall on the first floor.

  "Goodbye." She smiled and waved her hand, the tiredness in her smile still there, but the sudden smile made me feel a bit more intimate.

  When I returned to school, the first class in the afternoon had already begun, and the teacher was taking roll. I hastily slipped in through the back door of the classroom and found a seat.

  I couldn't calm down to listen in this class, it seemed like there was always something affecting my originally peaceful heart. What is it? I don't know. Maybe it's just because I was late, so I couldn't calm down to listen to the lesson.

  It's almost time for class to end, but the teacher suddenly called out to me: "Jin Cang, please come to my office."

  This teacher's surname is Xu, he just started teaching our major and I'm not even sure what his name is, he shouldn't know me yet, but somehow as soon as I was a little late, he wanted me to go to the office.

  "My heart is secretly bitter, but I also dare not not go: 'Teacher Xu, you're looking for me?'"

  Mr. Xu looked up from the pile of books in front of him, glanced at a chair beside him: "Sit down." Then he lowered his head again to read his book, as if it wasn't even him who had called me over.

  I sat for a while, feeling more and more uneasy in my heart, and couldn't help but ask: "Teacher, what do you want to see me about?"

  Mr. Xu let out an "ah" and lifted his head to look at me again before slowly saying, "Jin Cang, I called you here for this reason." He stroked the oversized glasses on the bridge of his nose before continuing in a slow and deliberate tone, "After discussion by the school, it has been decided that next month, at the beginning of the month, our school will be holding a poetry composition competition. Given your past experience participating in such competitions, the school requires you to participate. Moreover, you will also serve as the organizer and commentator for this event."

  I let out a sigh of relief and thought to myself: So it's not because I was late that they're criticizing me... I said aloud, "Is this competition just an internal school event?"

  Mr. Xu thought for a moment, pulled out a document from his office desk: "The document says that the participants are teachers and students of our school, wait a minute, there is another clause... also, our sister school, Yi Hua University, will send some students to participate."

  Yihua University is one of the best private universities in our country, and it's said to be a friendly exchange with our school. To put it bluntly, it's actually responding to national policies to help our school. The teacher strength and hardware facilities of Yihua University are far beyond what our school can compare to. If we were to classify them according to the previous levels, our school would at most be a third-tier university, while Yihua University is definitely one of the top universities in the first tier.

  The students enrolled in the two schools are not of the same level in terms of quality. Of course, this so-called level refers to academic performance. The poetry and essay writing competition attended by teachers and students from Huayang University, under normal circumstances, it is estimated that the top few places will not be our school's personnel.

  So I hesitated: "Teacher, this competition... seems completely unnecessary, doesn't it? For the teachers and students of Yi Hua University, we..."

  Mr. Xu smiled: "Hehe, don't worry about this, who can win the award and who cannot, we shouldn't jump to conclusions too early, after the competition is over, it will be clear naturally."

  I nodded: "Uh, and are those few classmates also participating in the organization of this competition?"

  "Du Yifei, Li Chang, Wang Huaming. Just the four of you."

  I know these three people, and they are of the same grade as me but with different majors. Du Yifei and Li Chang are still the school flowers and grasses recognized by all students in the school, famous, almost no one doesn't know them.

  Du Yifei is a good student and looks beautiful, she is the goddess in many people's hearts. However, I think her mouth is too sharp, and she is a person who doesn't forgive easily, often grabbing onto something and blowing up. She is still my fellow villager. But I'm a bit afraid of her, basically when I can avoid her, I won't appear in front of her.

  Li Chang is a typical handsome guy, many girls regard him as their Prince Charming. He has been pursuing Du Yifei all along. However, it's said that Du Yifei doesn't pay much attention to Li Chang, and he has always been the one who takes the initiative.

  As for Wang Huaming, he is already a senior and will graduate soon. However, it's said that the school has signed a contract with him, and he will be one of the students who stay in school after graduation, also considered to be a well-known figure in the school.

  "Mr. Xu continued: 'They will be here soon, and then I'll tell you more about the specific arrangements.'"

  Before Xu's words had fallen, a sweet voice came from the office door: "Teacher Xu, are you looking for me?"

  Mr. Xu looked at the speaker and immediately showed a bright smile on his face: "Come in, come in, sit down and talk, sit down and talk."

  I turned around and took a look, and I also felt a bright spot in front of me. It was Du Yifei, the school flower. Although I often see her, every time I see her, I feel a sense of stunning beauty.

  Du Yifei walked into the office and sat down in front of Teacher Xu, smiling brightly: "Teacher Xu, what's this about?" After finishing speaking, she turned her head to glance at me, and her tone became somewhat chilly: "Golden Great Talent is also here, it seems like nothing good will come out of this."

  I couldn't help but smile wryly, but I didn't dare to retort. Because I was very clear about Du Yifei's eloquence, although I could write some things, I wasn't good at speaking, and if I were to argue with her, I would absolutely not be her match.

  Teacher Xu smiled even more brightly: "Yi Fei, you sit down for a while first. Let's wait until Li Chang and Wang Hua Ming arrive, then I'll discuss the details with all of you together."

  Du Yifei nodded slightly; "Okay, Teacher Xu."

  Mr. Xu stood up: "Wait a minute, I'll be right back." He said, taking his teacup and walking out, as if to call the other two people.

  "Why didn't you answer my call?" Du Yifei said as soon as Xu Laoshi left, "Didn't we agree that I would take you out for dinner last night to celebrate your birthday? Why was your phone turned off and you couldn't be found?"

  I let out an "ah" and said: "You're talking to me?"

  Du Yifei widened her eyes: "Not talking to you, are you going to talk to a ghost? How can you not keep your promise? Hmph, a hypocrite who doesn't keep their word."

  I felt a headache coming on and couldn't help but rub my temples: "When did you agree with me to celebrate my birthday last night? We... aren't we not very close?"

  Perhaps my words were hurtful, Du Yifei stared at me absent-mindedly for a long time before saying: "Good one, Jin Dacai, you're becoming more and more arrogant! You...". She seemed to be getting angry, her already full chest heaving violently. She seemed to want to scold me like she used to, but restrained herself, speaking slowly: "Last Monday, I sent you a message and we agreed to celebrate your birthday together on that day. How could you forget?! Yesterday I had classes all day, and by the time they ended it was already 6 pm. I don't know how many times I called you, but you didn't pick up. I even went to your dormitory looking for you, but you weren't there. What's going on with you?!"

  I remember there was something like that, when I received the message at that time, Dazhang even said a few unpleasant words with envy. But after Xiaolizi saw the phone number, he just laughed and said "That stupid guy is teasing you, this is not Du Yifei's phone number at all", as a result, Dazhang and others ridiculed me for several days.

  I also thought it was impossible, although Du Yifei and I went to the same high school and were admitted to this university at the same time, but we are not familiar with each other, and at most, we can only be considered ordinary classmates. Moreover, some time ago, during an event at school, I had a disagreement with her and had some unpleasantness. How could she really celebrate my birthday? She is the proud school flower, the idol in the hearts of tens of thousands of teachers and students!

  So I just took that message as a joke from some boring person and ignored it. Who knew it would turn out like this, now I have to explain myself carefully, otherwise if the news gets out, I'm afraid I won't be able to see tomorrow's sunset.

  After listening to my explanation, Du Yifei suddenly calmed down. She looked at me quietly and smiled lightly: "You're still good at comforting people, aren't you? You just didn't want to have dinner with me, that's okay, I don't mind."

  I couldn't help but smile wryly again: "It's not like that, what I said is true. If you don't believe me, you can go ask Da Zhang and the others..."

  Du Yifei quietly looked at me and explained it again. After I finished speaking, she didn't say a word, stood up, turned around and left.

  "Ah," I stammered, taking a long time to say "Teacher Xu still has something to say."