Returning to Campus

In September, the sun blazed fiercely, so much so that water buffaloes panted at the sight of the moon.

Summer's heat hung over Higher Education Park in Binhe City. Half the water remained in the shallow ponds, their surfaces glittering in the sunlight. Amid the lush green lotus leaves, flowers on the verge of turning red stood tall and graceful, with several dragonflies perched atop them. It was the height of a sweltering summer.

Higher Education Park lay on the outskirts of Binhe City. Tucked away in a corner, it was spared the dreaded urban heat-island effect. Combined with its abundant greenery, this made the surroundings quiet and pleasant.

It was that time of year again when the new students arrived, and the whole campus was bustling once more. Waves of freshmen came from every direction, some on their own and others accompanied by their parents. Though it was already evening, private cars still packed the once-spacious, two-lane asphalt road bumper to bumper.

The trees lining the road cast longer and longer shadows as the sun sank, until they soon covered the entire stretch of asphalt. Bus 762 crawled along through the traffic like a faithful old ox. Whenever the car in front slammed on its brakes, the bus was forced to a standstill.

Impatience simmered. A cacophony of horns blared one after another, giving full vent to the drivers' frustration.

Another brake—

"Driver, I want to get off!" At last, a gentle but determined voice rang out from the bus's rear door. The speaker was a rather handsome young man with slightly long hair and delicate features. An impatient expression showed on his face.

"The stop's still a few hundred meters away. Just wait a bit." The traffic jam did nothing to dampen the driver's mood. He glanced at the monitor and couldn't help admiring the young man's good looks, but that didn't earn him any special treatment.

Su Yuan looked out at the motionless scene and grew irritated. "I'm getting off here!" he said curtly.

The bus fell silent, and the passengers turned their eyes toward him. The driver said nothing, and just when Su Yuan thought he wouldn't open the door, there was a CLACK! It swung open, and a wave of heat rolled in. The sweltering air outside invaded the bus.

"Watch out for the cars behind you when you get off."

The driver shook his head. As the man offered his well-meaning warning, Su Yuan dragged his suitcase off the bus and mentally tagged him as a "tsundere middle-aged guy."

Su Yuan was a sophomore at Binhe University of Science and Technology. His hometown was in a neighboring city not far from Binhe City. After a year of college, he was already an old hand, no longer green like a freshman. When faced with something that went against his principles or that he couldn't tolerate, he had the nerve to argue his case.

"Thanks for that, man!"

He turned around to find four students who had gotten off with him, both boys and girls. One of the young men was smiling at him. Su Yuan quickly understood what had happened. He hadn't expected to do a good deed along the way. "No problem," he said with a faint smile, then dragged his suitcase through the traffic, leaving them behind.

After entering the campus gates, he looked up at the rows of quiet dormitories. The balconies were empty, without a soul in sight.

The dormitories were divided into northern and southern sections, separated by a wide road. Shops lined both sides, like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl: though they were close by, they never seemed to have a chance to meet.

The northern section was mostly men's dormitories, with a few women's dorms scattered among them. But even those were separated by a river and green belts along its banks, making this a veritable bachelors' quarter. The southern section was an entirely different world, filled with the chatter and laughter of girls; every dormitory there housed women. The faculty residences were there, too.

Sometimes Su Yuan couldn't help wondering if the school had arranged things that way to look after young teachers who weren't married yet. Of course, it was only a thought. Teaching was such a noble profession, devoted to nurturing the flowers of the motherland. The teachers hardly had time for such dirty ideas, and even the hint of one would leave them feeling guilty for days. Only someone as quietly lecherous as Su Yuan would judge a gentleman by his own petty standards.

Su Yuan lived in a dormitory that resembled an apartment building with a shared lobby. Two buildings shared the same lobby, where several dorm supervisors kept watch at the center. On either side, staircases wound upward, each leading to one of the buildings.

I wonder if those guys from my dorm are back yet?

He was still thinking about it when a burly young man, bare-chested and wearing a pair of loose shorts, spotted him. "Su Yuan, you're back early!"

"Yeah." Su Yuan smiled at him. This was Wang Ping, a staff member of the school's Sports Department. With his stocky build, he looked like a big gorilla, and he had plenty of brute strength. Su Yuan had crossed paths with him often, and they got along well enough.

"Catch." Wang Ping tossed him an apple. Su Yuan caught it and said without hesitation, "Thanks!"

"I heard you're getting promoted this semester," Wang Ping asked casually.

"How did you know?" Su Yuan was surprised. He'd heard rumors about the promotion too. After a year as a secretary in the Student Union's secretariat, he was about to take a step up. It was a rare opportunity.

"Word got around our department at the end of last semester. So, tell me, what position is it? Any chance you'll come to our Sports Department? If you do, don't forget to put in a good word for me."

Shaking his head, Su Yuan replied with a smile, "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. There's no way I'm joining the Sports Department."

"Then you're—"

"Probably going to be deputy head of the External Relations Department."

"Oh, not bad! You're already deputy head." Though Wang Ping was disappointed that Su Yuan wasn't joining the Sports Department, he still looked genuinely happy for him.

"It's only a nomination; nothing's settled yet. And even if it is, so what? You know what the External Relations Department does: schmoozing and chasing sponsorships. It's all hard work for little thanks! If I had a choice, I'd rather be a deputy head in your Sports Department!"

Wang Ping nodded. "Yeah, you've got a point."

"Anyway, I'm going to put my stuff away." With that, he waved goodbye to Wang Ping.

Building 17, Room 330. Su Yuan removed the seal, inserted the key, and pushed the door open. A musty, decaying smell greeted him. The room had been empty for months, and stepping inside felt like entering a decades-old house. He waved his right hand in front of his nose to clear away the stale air.

A thick layer of dust covered the table. He ran a finger over it, and the tip came away coated in gray!

"Looks like I've got my work cut out for me." He shook his head, set his suitcase in the middle of the room, then hurried to open the windows and air it out. He filled a plastic bucket with clean water from the bathroom and got to work.

Four people lived in Dormitory 330. It had a bathroom, a main room, and a balcony. Four beds stood inside, each with a desk underneath fitted with a computer, alongside bookshelves and wardrobes. A stack of books sat on the shelf, but it was covered in dust, too.

Scraps of paper and bottles lay scattered across the room. Su Yuan tossed them all into the recycling bin, then wet a rag and crouched to wipe the desks.

There were four beds in the dorm. The first was his, which by the rules made him the dorm head. The second belonged to Ji Yehao, a tall, handsome young man with a good personality. In the year they'd lived together, Su Yuan had never seen him get angry. He couldn't find much fault with him, except that he was a bit of a neat freak.

Believing that having no flaws was the biggest flaw of all, Su Yuan saw through him at a glance and knew he wasn't entirely trustworthy.

The third bed was usually empty. If it weren't for Yang Xiaowei, a classmate who often came back to assert his claim to it, one could easily have thought only three people lived in the dorm.

The fourth bed belonged to a chubby guy named Gao Jun. He wasn't actually fat; he weighed only 140 pounds. But compared to Su Yuan and Ji Yehao, that counted as "fat." He spent all day tinkering with electrical components. Apparently, he'd sworn long ago to become an outstanding tech geek, but he hadn't expected to select "accept any assigned major" on his college entrance exam application. As a result, he'd ended up in the same bioengineering program as Su Yuan, taking him further and further away from his dream.

"That fatso didn't even bother to clean before he left. And here I was, thinking so highly of him!" Su Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead as he grumbled. Looking at the now spotless dorm, he was very satisfied with his handiwork. Now this was a place fit for people to live in.

How could one sweep the world without first sweeping one's room? A great man should set the world to rights, but he should also keep his home clean for guests. One should start with the little things; it made for a more comfortable sight.

The dorm was clean now, with a floor gleaming like a mirror and the desks neatly arranged. It no longer looked like a precious jade covered in dust. Su Yuan left Gao Jun's desk alone because the things on it were too jumbled.

Soldering irons, copper coils, voltage regulators, digital megohmmeters, digital multimeters, power-frequency signal generators, and a whole pile of instrument parts he couldn't even identify. Just looking at them gave Su Yuan a headache. Who knew why a bioengineering student had so much unrelated equipment?

He was worried that wiping them with a damp cloth might break something. By the time he'd finished everything else and made his bed, dusk had fallen.

The ceiling fan rotated lazily in a full circle, like a nodding pump in an oil field, turning at a steady pace.

"Grrr..." His stomach complained, so Su Yuan decided to grab something to eat.