Chapter 14 - Inevitable Crossing
Luo Ziling had always had high adaptability to his surroundings. He also liked interacting with many people. Thus, it took him only two days to get used to campus life.
The new semester started after the registration day had ended.
For some, after graduating from high school, heading into the tertiary education environment was an important step forward in life. As for Luo Ziling, it was the start of a new life entirely. He earnestly hoped to become an actual student, to have what other people had; a normal university student experience.
As such, he made great effort to adjust his mindset, in order to adapt to campus life.
The one thing he worried the most was his studies. He knew his strengths and weaknesses, and hoped that they would not cause too much trouble.
Yanjing University’s Faculty of Medicine had a large number of freshmen in Clinical Medicine. For this semester, there were a total of one hundred and fifty new students that were split into three groups, each with fifty students. All three of his roommates were allocated in the same group.
There were slightly more boys than girls in Clinical Medicine. Luo Ziling did not pay attention to how many girls there were in the class, or whether there were tall and beautiful girls there.
However, this was where Cao Jianhui and the other roommates’ interests grew. When the first all-student gathering ended and they all went back to their dormitory, the trio got into a heated discussion about how many female classmates were there, which ones were beautiful, and which one was the most beautiful.
There were indeed several female students in that class that were beautiful. Luo Ziling knew this because he did roughly glance at a few of them during the first all-student gathering. However, he could not recall which of them was the prettiest, or had the best figure. He did not even attempt to greet them, or seek a social connection.
There were some braver females that came forth proactively, greeting him and asking for his phone number.
Luo Ziling was more handsome than the average boy. Coupled with his mildly shy expression, the majority of girls were attracted to him. Naturally, they were thrilled.
Being approached by the girls made Luo Ziling blush. In the end, he caved in and gave his contact number to them.
A number of girls were quick to send a short message, giving him their phone number as well as their WeChat and QQ account IDs.
Luo Ziling was flustered. After all the IDs and contact numbers that were given to him, he did not process a single WeChat or QQ account.
He had yet to get himself familiarized with his new phone’s functionality.
…
During the first all-student gathering, a fat middle-aged man, Counselor He Yongping, announced a few matters that would start during the first semester.
One of which was the election of the student representative. However, this matter would only be done after the end of military training.
He Yongping had temporarily elected a few students to take the job as student representatives. Luo Ziling was surprised to find out that Cao Jianhui was one of the elected temporary student representatives. He was tasked to take care of all administrative work for his group during this short time period as well as the arrangement of military training that came later.
Military training was the first course all students had to take after enrolling. It was also the most important subject. Before any of the classes started, all students would be put through one month of military training, which started tomorrow.
Back in the dormitory, when the news about Cao Jianhui being elected as the temporary student representative spread, both Wu Longjiang and Li Fuming snapped. They forced him to sit on his bed and “interrogated” him into telling the truth, about whether or not he had bribed the counselor to give him the job.
“I have no idea he would choose me as the temporary representative! I only found out about it during today’s gathering!” he cried after being forced for the truth. After he freed himself from the devil’s grip that was Wu Longjiang and Li Fuming, with a face that depicted his innocence, he blared, “I was always the class monitor during middle school and high school. I was a good class monitor. That’s probably the reason why I was chosen to be the student representative. This is just a temporary setting. There will still be a public election. Who knows if I will still be the student representative then.”
“As long as you take care of us, we will make sure to support you!” Wu Longjiang cheered. He hurled out his fist and playfully punched Cao Jianhui’s chest, saying, “Now that you are a student representative, you need to treat us all to a meal. That, or we will not support you when the time comes!”
Li Fuming joined to add pressure on Cao Jianhui to treat them.
Cao Jianhui did not decline it. He waved his hand and offered everyone then a meal.
“I’m not going. I have something to take care of,” Luo Ziling passively rejected the offer.
Military training would be starting the next day and would last for a month. Everyone was going to be busy and there would not be any free time for their own activity. He had something to do then and if he was not getting any free time for a month, he had to do it now.
“What is it?” Cao Jianhui asked. He thought Luo Ziling was not giving him face and felt unhappy about it.
Luo Ziling quickly explained.
“My grandfather entrusted me to do something for him. I need to complete it today since military training will start tomorrow. By then, I won’t have time to go out. I have less than a day left and if I join you for lunch now, I don’t think I will have any time left for my affairs. Sorry, but I’ll take you up on your invitation another day.”
“Alright then,” Cao Jianhui said understandingly. He did not force Luo Ziling. He then left with Wu Longjiang and Li Fuming for a fancy lunch.
Luo Ziling changed into a set of clean clothes and brought out the gift and letter his grandfather had passed to him. He had the address his grandfather had prepared and took a taxi after he bought a few buns to fill his stomach outside the campus grounds.
The place Luo Ziling was heading to was called Xiangshan Garden and the taxi driver drove him to the entrance.
This luxury mansion housing estate was built near the famous Xiangshan in the western suburbs of Yanjing City. Traffic seemed to be scarce in this area. On the way there, the taxi driver talked about the place, mentioning how the people who lived there were rich. Seeing how small the place looked, Luo Ziling believed the taxi driver.
Incidentally, he did not expect to be halted from entering at the entrance by the intense-looking security guards.
“State your business,” the guard asked politely since Luo Ziling was dressed well.
“I am here to meet someone,” Luo Ziling declared. He took out the piece of paper on which his grandfather had written down the address and the name of the person he was supposed to meet. Awkwardly, he asked the security guard, “I’m supposed to go to No. 8, Xiangshan Garden, to meet a person named Ouyang Lingyun.”
There were two guards that were on duty then and when Luo Ziling mentioned the people of No. 8 Xiangshan Garden, both of them appeared to grow anxious.
The guard talking to Luo Ziling quickly assumed a stricter tone and asked again, “Who are you, and why are you here?”
Luo Ziling had no idea what was going on. He did not know how to answer at that moment.
He could not bring himself to tell an outsider about how he was going to call off a marriage agreement.
How could he possibly tell anyone else about such matters?
Just then, when he had no idea how to answer, a red sports car zoomed out of the housing area.
The two security guards that were being unkind to Luo Ziling stood still before they rushed to salute the driver of the red sports car.
The car drove on for a short distance and stopped. The car then reversed at full speed and stopped beside Luo Ziling.
The window was wound down revealing a young lady’s beautiful face.
Luo Ziling was dumbfounded when he saw the young lady’s face clearly.
“This can’t be… Enemies often cross paths1!”