As September approached, Qing City was still so hot it made people irritable. The city's primary and middle schools had already started opening one after another.
What was worse than the end of vacation? Realizing, with only one day left before school started, that you hadn't written a single word of your summer homework.
Dong Qi tried to use his broken leg as an excuse to get out of going to school, because he was the one who hadn't done his homework.
To persuade his parents, he'd been whining about his leg hurting ever since breakfast. When his mom showed concern, he seized the chance to make his request.
He didn't want to go to school, so he wanted his mom to ask the school for a month's leave for him.
Jiang Li hesitated. Before she could agree, Dong Qi was already clutching his leg and rolling back and forth on the sofa, wailing as he did: "Grandma, Grandma, I miss you..."
For many years before Liu Mumu came to the Dong family, scenes like this had happened all the time.
Whenever it happened, the old lady would come rushing over, scold everyone in the family except her son and grandson, then agree to whatever Dong Qi asked for.
After the old lady passed away, Jiang Li still found it a little strange to see her son acting this way.
Although she doted on her son, she also found his crying and fussing annoying.
"Maybe I should go to the school and ask for a month off for Xiao Qi?" To get her son to quiet down, Jiang Li discussed it with Dong Zhenghao, who hadn't left for the office yet.
Dong Zhenghao thought it over and was just about to agree when he saw Liu Mumu standing on the second floor, looking down at them. "If you miss your grandma that much, want me to send you down to see her?"
Dong Zhenghao jolted. How had he forgotten? His eldest daughter and his mother had been more or less irreconcilable. His son was calling for Grandma at a time like this—he was just asking for trouble!
He darkened his expression and shouted at Dong Qi, "What are you howling about? You're going to school tomorrow, and don't even think about asking for leave!"
The Head of the family had brought out his full authority.
Unfortunately, Dong Qi didn't take him seriously at all. He shouted back at Dong Zhenghao, "I won't!!!"
"You're asking for a beating." Dong Zhenghao looked around for something suitable to hit him with. His younger daughter silently handed him a rolling pin.
Old Dong had only meant to get a little angry, but now he was stuck following through. Come to think of it, why was there a rolling pin here?
Since he already had the rolling pin in hand, he might as well give his son a beating.
So Dong Qi got a few smacks on the butt from his dad. Dong Zhenghao pinned him down and hit him as he demanded, "Tell me, are you going to school or not?"
"No!" Dong Qi screamed at the top of his lungs, as if they were slaughtering a pig in the house.
"If you don't go to school, I'll break your other leg too. Let's see if you'll go then." He kept hitting him.
Dong Qi's butt was red by the time he finally gave in with a sob. "I'll go to school. Stop hitting me, boohoohoo..."
The sight of her husband disciplining their son had been too brutal. Jiang Li dabbed at the tears that had dried before they could even fall, then decided it was better not to watch and went upstairs.
Dong Yue, meanwhile, kept a low profile and quietly went back to her room to pack the things she'd need for school the next day.
Liu Mumu ran downstairs especially to watch the show up close. When it was over, she even handed her dad a glass of orange juice to replenish his strength.
After beating his son, Old Dong downed the orange juice his daughter had given him and felt refreshed in body and mind.
"Is Mumu starting school soon, too?" Father and daughter ignored Dong Qi, who was biting a pillow and sobbing quietly, and headed out together.
"School starts on September first. I have to go in on the thirty-first to get settled." In other words, the day after tomorrow.
"All right. Dad will drive you to school then."
"Thanks, Dad."
Dong Zhenghao immediately felt like a truly responsible, good father. He could not only teach his unruly son a lesson but also take his daughter to school. He deserved a pat on the back.
On August 31, father and daughter each set off with a lucky "good for travel" fortune buff.
Dong Zhenghao drove Liu Mumu to register at Qing City University of Technology, an hour away from his home.
People were coming and going at the school gate. After finally finding a place to park, they'd barely gotten out of the car before the sweltering heat hit them, nearly choking them.
For a moment, Liu Mumu also wanted to roll around on the ground and say she wasn't going to school. Old Dong definitely wouldn't dare refuse her.
Sigh... But I'm a good kid who likes studying.
The upperclassman in charge of welcoming new students took the father and daughter to register first. Then he collected the dorm key and escorted them to the women's dormitory.
Liu Mumu's room was on the fourth floor: Room 413.
After helping her settle in, the upperclassman received a string of thanks from Dong Zhenghao and awkwardly took his leave.
Two of the beds in the room were already made, but their owners weren't there. They'd probably gone to buy supplies. With two beds still empty, Liu Mumu chose the one near the door. She rummaged through her suitcase for the new bedding she'd bought and planned to put it on the bed.
"Want Dad to help?" Dong Zhenghao asked from below, handing her a pillow.
Liu Mumu kept wrestling with the bedsheet in the cramped space and casually replied, "Don't make things difficult for my bed."
"Tsk." Old Dong wasn't too pleased. He tapped the railing beside the bed. "This bed's sturdy. Your dad only weighs, what, a hundred and fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty pounds..."
"Oh, got it. Two hundred pounds," Liu Mumu concluded coolly.
"How does it come to two hundred? I'm only a hundred and seventy-seven."
"Round that up and it's two hundred. Nothing wrong with that."
While Liu Mumu was picking on Dong Zhenghao, the dorm door opened again. A handsome young man, nearly six feet tall, walked in holding hands with a long-haired girl.
They were about the same age and acted intimately. They were obviously a couple.
The girl looked up, saw Liu Mumu making her bed, and waved with a friendly smile. "Hi, I'm Xue Lan."
"I'm Liu Mumu. Hi!" Liu Mumu eagerly leaned over the head of the bed and reached out her hand.
Xue Lan smiled and shook it. Her fingers were very cold, which seemed abnormal in such hot weather.
There was nothing unusual in her face. Could it be a health issue?
Xue Lan's boyfriend seemed rather aloof and didn't acknowledge Liu Mumu. He simply walked around Dong Zhenghao and went to the empty bed beside them to unpack his girlfriend's things.
Xue Lan seemed a little embarrassed. She stood by Liu Mumu's bed and said softly, "That's my boyfriend, Xu Anze. He's in the Computer Science Department."
The Computer Science Department at Qing City University of Technology was one of its flagship departments and ranked highly nationwide. But Liu Mumu had heard that studying computer science made your hair fall out, so she'd ruled it out. When her grades came in, the department had rejected her in turn.
"You got in together? That's impressive."
Xue Lan nodded shyly, her eyes full of affection as she looked at Xu Anze.
Other people had boyfriends to take them to school, while she only had a two-hundred-pound dad. What a disappointment.
Dong Zhenghao seemed to sense his daughter's dissatisfaction. He glanced at the nimble young man nearby and took the rest of the things out of her suitcase, arranging them neatly.
Once Liu Mumu had almost finished making her bed, he asked her, "Mumu, why don't you come home tonight? Dad can bring you back to school tomorrow."
"No need. We'll probably have military training once school starts, so I won't be able to come home. Remember to visit me on the weekends."
She couldn't stay at school all the time. Going home once every five days would be just right. If she couldn't make it home, then Dong Zhenghao would have to come visit her.
The father and daughter had reached an agreement on this long ago.
"All right. I'll come by on Saturday. Call me if anything happens."
"Bye-bye." Liu Mumu waved to him without the slightest reluctance.
Dong Zhenghao waved back and left with a spring in his step.
I finally got this little ancestor into school. I'm free.
After Xue Lan and her boyfriend finished making their beds, they left together. Liu Mumu stayed in the dorm until after five, when she finally saw her other two roommates.
They came back together, each carrying a big bag of supplies. They'd obviously just finished shopping.
Both of them greeted Liu Mumu warmly. The short-haired girl, who lived in the bed opposite Liu Mumu's, was named Qian Xiaomeng.
The girl in the bed diagonally across from her was Wei Xue. She had a bob haircut and a round face, and she looked a little like a doll. She was very cute.
They hadn't met Xue Lan yet, so when Liu Mumu told them she had, they asked about her.
"She seems pretty easygoing. Her boyfriend brought her here earlier."
Qian Xiaomeng gave Liu Mumu the same envious look. "Ah, how can someone manage to get through senior year without falling behind in their studies and also find a boyfriend? I'm so jealous!"
"Right, right." Liu Mumu nodded repeatedly.
She'd once had a future boyfriend appear in front of her, and she'd treasured him—but he hadn't treasured her. Just thinking about it made her mad. She'd started college without solving her single status. She was letting the school down!
Wei Xue sat to one side, watching the two of them whose wavelengths seemed perfectly matched, and fell silent. She had a feeling they might whip out a fruit knife at any moment and swear a blood oath on the spot. It was unsettling.
A little after eight that evening, as it grew dark outside, Xue Lan finally came back.
She stood in the doorway and greeted everyone in the room. "Hi, I'm Xue Lan."
"Hi, hi!" Qian Xiaomeng took the chance to step up and touch Xue Lan's hand.
So this was the hand of a woman with a boyfriend. It really was different.
Xue Lan was a little startled by her enthusiasm. At a loss, she looked up at Wei Xue, who waved to her.
All right, it seemed nobody could save her.
In the end, milk tea rescued Xue Lan from Qian Xiaomeng's enthusiasm. On her way back, she'd bought a cup for each of her roommates.
She'd originally been worried that her roommates might be hard to get along with and wanted to break the ice. Now it seemed there was no need to break the ice when they were already so close.
On their first night at college, the four girls each hugged a cup of milk tea and chatted in the dorm after lights-out. No one knew what time they finally stopped. Their voices gradually faded until they fell silent, and everyone drifted off to sleep.
A little after three in the middle of the night, Liu Mumu suddenly heard a bout of violent coughing.
She sat up in bed and realized from the sound that Xue Lan, in the bed beside hers, was coughing.
Liu Mumu switched on her flashlight and shone it toward Xue Lan. She could clearly see that Xue Lan was still asleep. She looked almost contorted, as if she were sick or having a nightmare.
She kept coughing, but even that didn't wake her.
The coughing soon woke the others in the room. Wei Xue sat up and saw the light in the dorm. In a low voice, she asked, "What's going on?"
Liu Mumu had already climbed over to Xue Lan's bed. She gently nudged Xue Lan, but she didn't respond. The coughing only weakened a little.
Hearing Wei Xue's question, she answered, "I don't know. Xue Lan keeps coughing, but she hasn't woken up."
"Is she sick?"
Qian Xiaomeng got out of bed, climbed onto a chair, and leaned toward Xue Lan. She reached out and touched her forehead, then cried out, "Her face is so cold!"
Liu Mumu reached out and touched her, too. She'd thought Xue Lan's hand felt cold earlier, but now she realized her face was just as cold.
"It doesn't feel like a fever," Qian Xiaomeng said in confusion.
Liu Mumu thought for a moment, leaned close to Xue Lan's ear, and kept calling her name. "Xue Lan, Xue Lan, wake up..."
After she'd called five or six times, the coughing finally stopped. Xue Lan, who had seemed unconscious, opened her eyes groggily.
As soon as she opened them, she saw Qian Xiaomeng leaning over the head of her bed, Liu Mumu crouched beside her, and Wei Xue on the opposite bed holding up two phones like spotlights.
Confused, she asked, "Did something happen?"
"Can't you feel it?" Qian Xiaomeng asked bluntly. "You were coughing so hard just now, like you were about to cough up a lung. You scared us to death."
"Really? I didn't feel anything at all." With Liu Mumu's help, Xue Lan sat up. When Liu Mumu touched her hand again, it seemed a little warmer.
"Do you want some water?" Wei Xue asked from across the room.
"Right, I'll pour you some hot water." Qian Xiaomeng hopped down from the chair, found a cup on Xue Lan's desk, then poured some hot water from a thermos and handed it up to her.
"Thanks. I'm feeling much better," Xue Lan said softly. She hugged the cup and took a few sips.
Once she'd finally calmed down and seemed to have stopped coughing, the others were able to relax.
As soon as they let their guard down, sleepiness swept over them again.
They checked once more that Xue Lan was really all right and didn't need to go to the hospital. Only then did they turn off their phone flashlights and return to their beds.
The night passed peacefully. Xue Lan didn't cough again during the second half of the night, but her complexion wasn't very good when she got up in the morning. It was hard to tell whether she'd been unable to fall back asleep afterward.
On the first day of school, they had to collect textbooks, uniforms, and military training clothes. All kinds of things piled up, and the day was hectic.
At noon, the four girls from their dorm agreed to check out the school cafeteria. They'd heard that every famous university had a cafeteria with an unspeakable secret: a legendary menu, the kind of food that could make you ascend to immortality.
Like watermelon stir-fried with potatoes... Just hearing about it made them eager to try it.
They'd only just walked out of the teaching building when Liu Mumu spotted a familiar face standing downstairs. It was Xu Anze, the boyfriend who'd brought Xue Lan to the dorm the day before.
They'd only met once, but a handsome young man was easy to recognize.
Xue Lan spotted Xu Anze, too, and was a little surprised because he hadn't said he'd be waiting downstairs. She stopped awkwardly and said softly to Liu Mumu and the others, "Sorry, my boyfriend came to get me. I..."
"That's fine, that's fine. We can go another day. Go with your boyfriend," Qian Xiaomeng hurried to say.
As she spoke, she also took the chance to get another good look at Xue Lan's boyfriend.
Watching Xue Lan run over to Xu Anze and link her arm through his, then walk away with him, the two of them close together, Qian Xiaomeng looked envious. "When will someone wait downstairs for me so we can go eat?"
"Aren't we people?" Wei Xue asked pointedly.
"I mean a handsome guy."
Walking on Qian Xiaomeng's other side, Liu Mumu made a noise of disapproval. "How dare you discriminate against pretty girls!"
"Hey, I'm not!" The three of them laughed and joked as they headed to their destination for the day: the First Canteen.
Unfortunately, the First Canteen didn't offer a legendary menu. It only had a sea of new students.
Luckily, the three of them had come together. Qian Xiaomeng, who had the best athletic ability, stood in the middle of the cafeteria and swept her sharp gaze across every table.
The moment she spotted a table where someone was about to finish eating, she rushed over and stared at them menacingly.
The two people she'd fixed her gaze on were probably second-year students. Under her watchful stare, they quickly finished their meal and left the table for her.
Liu Mumu and Wei Xue charged into the crowd to get their food. Eating that meal was like going into battle, and it left them exhausted.
While they ate, Qian Xiaomeng said to them, "The upperclassmen are so nice. One of them even offered me a seat."
The two girls, who had personally witnessed how she'd "terrorized" the upperclassmen with her eyes, exchanged a look and said nothing.
Whatever. They'd let her think she'd met a kind person.
Liu Mumu felt that there was a fundamental difference between her and Qian Xiaomeng being single. Her situation was fate. Qian Xiaomeng's was because of her nerves of steel.
Everyone spent the first day of school getting familiar with the campus.
Military training began the next day. The routine was always the same: marching in step and standing at attention.
Standing at attention in the sweltering heat could practically take half your life.
Under the blazing sun, sweat ran down Liu Mumu's cheeks. She heard someone behind her whisper that sunscreen was useless and that the only thing that could block the sun now was smearing cement on your face.
The people who heard it up ahead all tried to hold back their laughter. The instructor saw them anyway and added five minutes to their time standing at attention.
In the afternoon, someone fainted from heatstroke and was sent to the School Hospital by the instructor.
Everyone seemed to discover a good way to avoid training. One after another, they tried to "get heatstroke." After the instructor sent two people out, he swept his gaze over them and added, "Anyone who goes to the School Hospital has to make up today's missed training tomorrow."
The students who'd been swaying around immediately felt better. Their backs no longer ached, and their legs no longer hurt. They could stand for another half hour.
The instructor wasn't completely indifferent to their health. During the hottest part of the day, he let them dismiss for ten minutes to drink water and rest.
Everyone found a shady spot. No one cared whether the ground was dirty; they all sat down.
Liu Mumu glanced at Xue Lan, who was sitting beside her. Her lips looked pale, and her gaze seemed unfocused.
"Xue Lan, how are you feeling? If you're not well, ask the instructor for permission to sit out," Liu Mumu said quietly, moving closer.
Xue Lan shook her head. "I'm fine. I just suddenly felt really tired."
Liu Mumu touched her forehead, worried. Xue Lan's body temperature was lower than everyone else's.
Xue Lan had looked fine at noon, but her complexion had suddenly worsened in the afternoon. Could she really be suffering from heatstroke?
Just then, the instructor walked over. Liu Mumu stood up and was about to speak when Xue Lan suddenly started coughing.
It was just like that night—frighteningly intense. Her face twisted almost grotesquely, and it turned bright red as she struggled to breathe. In an instant, she drew everyone's attention.
Everyone wanted to get closer and see what was going on, but the instructor ran over and shooed them away. "Move along. What are you all crowding around for? Make way."
When the instructor arrived, Liu Mumu and Wei Xue were helping her pat her back, but it wasn't working.
"What's wrong with her?" the instructor asked.
"We don't know either. She was like this on our first night in the dorm, too," Qian Xiaomeng answered.
The instructor glanced at the three of them. "Are you all roommates?"
"Yeah." Wei Xue nodded.
"Okay, let's get her to the School Hospital first. You three come with us."
The instructor stepped forward, apparently intending to carry Xue Lan to the hospital. Xue Lan put one hand on his back, then lowered the other hand from her mouth. Everyone saw that her palm was smeared with red.
Had she coughed up blood?
Liu Mumu and the others were startled. The instructor stopped trying to carry her on his back, scooped her up, and ran toward the School Hospital.
Given the enormous difference in stamina between them and the instructor, the three of them didn't arrive until five minutes after Xue Lan had been taken to the School Hospital, panting as they ran in.
"How's Xue Lan?" When Liu Mumu and the others found her and the instructor, a doctor was examining her.
When the three of them rushed in, the doctor didn't seem displeased. He just waved for them to stand to one side and listen, then continued asking questions.
"How long has this been happening? Have you ever had an X-ray?"
Xue Lan hesitated, but answered anyway. "It happened once in high school. I had a physical then, too. My lungs were normal, and it wasn't tuberculosis. They couldn't find the cause. Later, the doctor said it might have been psychological, because I was under too much pressure studying for my senior year of high school."
"They couldn't find the cause? When was your most recent checkup?" the doctor continued.
"Half a month before I came to school. I brought all my test results with me. They're in my locker," Xue Lan replied.
"I'll go get them for her." Qian Xiaomeng quickly raised her hand.
"Okay, bring them here so I can take a look."
Xue Lan handed Qian Xiaomeng the key to her locker, and she hurried out.
About fifteen minutes later, Qian Xiaomeng returned with a bag containing X-rays and various test results.
The doctor took them out and studied them for a while, then nodded. "Everything does look normal. It's not allergic asthma, either. She seems quite healthy."
He looked at Xue Lan and frowned. "It shouldn't be this severe. A psychological issue is possible, though. Since you coughed up blood today, we can't rule out slight internal bleeding. You should still go to the hospital for an X-ray to make sure."
"Doctor, we'll go with her," Qian Xiaomeng said quickly. Then all three of them looked at the instructor.
The instructor thought it over before saying, "Leave me your names, classes, and phone numbers. I'll contact your counselor later. Come back as soon as you've seen the doctor. If it's serious, let me know first."
"Understood." The three of them obediently did as he said and exchanged phone numbers with the instructor.
Although Liu Mumu wasn't a native of Qingcheng, she knew the hospitals there quite well, so she took them straight to Qingcheng's Second Hospital.
By the time they'd registered, gotten an X-ray, and finished the examination, it was already past five in the afternoon.
The results were the same as before: she was perfectly healthy. Since the doctor had heard that Xue Lan had coughed up blood, he kept monitoring her, including checking her blood pressure. Her condition remained stable throughout the afternoon.
In the end, all the doctor could say was, "If you're really worried, you can stay in the hospital overnight and keep an eye on things."
After discussing it, Liu Mumu and the others decided that two of them would stay at the hospital with Xue Lan that night instead of going back.
Xue Lan didn't want to trouble them. She said she'd messaged her boyfriend, and he'd be there soon.
While they were waiting for Xue Lan's boyfriend, she suddenly said in a quiet voice, "Actually, I've seen a lot of doctors before, but none of them could find the cause. Then my mom found a Great Immortal."
Liu Mumu was curious. In some parts of northern China, "Great Immortal" was a term for a mystic. Their school differed somewhat from that of other mystics, and people said they were quite remarkable.
Perhaps worried that her roommates wouldn't accept it, Xue Lan cautiously studied their expressions.
But all of them were gazing at her eagerly, waiting expectantly for her to continue.
"And then?" Qian Xiaomeng asked impatiently.
"The Great Immortal said I had a hysteria, but not real hysteria. He called it False Hysteria."
"Isn't hysteria a mental disorder? Fake hysteria... isn't that still a psychological problem?" Qian Xiaomeng caught on quickly.
Liu Mumu had never heard of False Hysteria, either, and asked curiously, "Didn't the Great Immortal tell you how to treat it?"
Xue Lan shook her head. "He said that if I left it alone, it would gradually get better. I actually thought I was improving, but I don't know why it got worse again after I came to school."
Just as she finished speaking, someone suddenly pushed open the hospital room door. Xu Anze had arrived.
Before you continue