Ch 2

Ding Xuerun arrived late last night and reported to the school this morning that he had written a set of examination papers in the principal’s office and had just picked up a courier in the school reception room.

The express delivery is sent to him by an original stationery brand. There are many kinds of things in it, such as school bags, book covers, pencil cases, pens and handbooks… and even umbrellas.

The umbrella is printed with Muxia’s painting, and the handle of the umbrella is made of metal with a good texture. It wasn’t Ding Xuerun’s intention to use it, but it happened to be raining. He didn’t want to owe other people’s favor, so he gave his old umbrella to others.

After a day and a night on the train from his hometown to this northern city, he was a little tired. He went to the boys’ dormitory to get his luggage. He was given the key to the dormitory that had been arranged for him: “Your dormitory is on the fifth floor.”

He really didn’t have much luggage, so he went up alone carrying a suitcase and a big bag. Before entering the dormitory, Ding Xuerun knocked on the door first and then opened the door to enter.

There is a person in the dormitory who is also packing his luggage.

Seeing Ding Xuerun’s suitcase, the man was still a little surprised, and while packing up, he said: “Are you new here in 506?”

Ding Xuerun said hello to his roommate politely and then pushed the box in.

The conditions of the dormitory are much better than in his previous high school. There is a balcony, which also includes the bathroom and sink, on and off table, a total of four beds, with central air-conditioning.

He glanced, and two beds were empty.

The roommate in the dormitory said: “I am a senior in high school, and I just signed an exemption agreement to rent a house,” he pointed to a bed, “This position is my classmate, he also moved out, but there is still something left here. You can live in another one.”

Ding Xuerun nodded and looked up, he saw that his bed was next to another bunk, which should be the only person living in the dormitory now.

The roommate who was about to move out put a stack of books in the carton, and said: “Then you will use this dormitory alone in the future.”

Ding Xuerun dampened the towel and turned to the only unoccupied bed and said, “Where is this roommate? Moved out too?”

“Well, he lives outside and comes back once a week. Our dormitory control is not strict. They check on Thursday night, and we will respond occasionally.”

Ding Xuerun wrote down the event. The high school senior quickly packed up and left, and the dormitory was empty.

He went up and made the bed, washed some clothes, and dried it on the balcony.

The boys’ and girls’ dormitories are located in two places. The girls’ dormitory is closer to the cafeteria, while the boys’ dormitory is on the other side, closer to the gymnasium and teaching building.

Looking out from his balcony, he can see the playground.

He also noticed that there were a lot of books on the desk of the roommate next to him. They were all textbooks. They looked very new as if they had not been used. There were still a few socks on the desk that he didn’t know if they had been worn, and a missing school uniform. There are also a few very exquisitely crafted motorcycle models, and pictures of Lakers star players are posted on the walls.

At six o’clock, Ding Xuerun went to apply for a meal card and had a meal on the first floor of the canteen. The price of the canteen in Liu Zhong high school was more expensive than he had imagined. He ordered two vegetarian dishes for ten yuan.　　

After eating, He went to the classroom again. The classroom was already full of people. Ding Xuerun was not wearing a school uniform. He was sitting in the last row by the small balcony door. Some classmates whispered and turned to look at him with a strange look.

Probably guessing what the wound on his face was.

But perhaps his injury was so serious that no one dared to talk to him for a while, so he sat in his seat, sorting out books and new stationery.

The class representative stood on the podium to talk, asked the students to hand in their homework, then walked in front of Ding Xuerun and asked him softly: “Classmates, do you have an exercise book for <Spark English>?”

With a high ponytail, she held the exercise book she just collected: “This is it.”

Ding Xuerun said no: “I used to use <College Entrance Examination> and <Five Three>.”

“We also use these two. Everyone will buy a few different sets of exercise books. Spark’s “Peak Training” was requested by Miss Di…” the class representative said, as she couldn’t help looking at the stationery laid out on his desk, “Your book cover, pencil case, and your school bag are all in one set, it’s so pretty.”

“If you like it, I can give it to you. I still have a lot of useless book covers.” Ding Xuerun took a few brand-new book covers from his school bag and handed them directly to her.

“Really?” The class representative’s blushed a little, but she was so surprised that she didn’t dare to pick it up. She refused, “No need, this is leather, it must be very expensive…”

“It’s free.” It was really free. Those stationery stores are rushing to send him stationery. There were a lot of piles in his house.

“How can it be free? I can’t take it…”　　

“Take it, I have a few more questions to ask you,” Ding Xuerun give it to her, “Classmate, can you tell me which exercise books I have to buy? Is there a bookstore nearby? If I want to go out to buy, when can I get out?”

The English class representative accepted his gift and replied embarrassedly: “The English teacher asked to use the set of “Spark”, and the math is… I’ll write you a note later, and you can go to the bookstore opposite the school to buy it. I have the bookstore card. I can lend it to you. As for leaving school. Are you a student living in the dormitory?”　　

“Yes.”

“If you live in the dormitory, you can’t go out casually.”

“Self-study at 9:00 in the evening, and those who live in the dormitory have to stay until 10:00. But after self-study at 9:00, you can actually go out with the students, but you have to come back at 9:30, because there will be a student union to call the roll, and if they find that the number of people is not enough, they will record the name of our class and report it to the grade group.”

“There’s still noon, you can also go out, the school dormitory check is not strict during lunch break, and you don’t need to go back at noon.”

The class representative said again: “By the way, classmates, we have to take a quiz for self-study every weekend evening. Today is the physics quiz, so you should prepare for it.”

“Okay, thank you.”

The class representative thought that although his nose and face were a bit terribly blue and swollen, he didn’t seem to be what they thought he was.

She told everything she knew and didn’t go back to her seat until the bell rang.

Ding Xuerun finished writing a physics test paper, but the person in the front seat hadn’t come yet—this was the only student absent from the class.

After self-study at 9:00 in the evening, Ding Xuerun saw the headteacher Dou. He asked Teacher Dou for a leave and said that he went out to buy an exercise book. Teacher Dou was satisfied with his learning attitude and approved the leave.

Because he didn’t have a school uniform, he even wrote him a signed note and told him to show it to the guard when he returned to school: “Be careful, go back to school quickly, you know that the dormitory has an entrance guard.”

After class at night, there are a lot of private cars parked outside Liu Zhong high school, and there are many mobile vendors selling snacks. The smell is fragrant.

The bookstore was not closed yet, and there were a lot of people at this time. He went in and followed the list written to him by the English class representative. He quickly picked up the exercise book and bought some. It was just that there were too many students at the checkout that he stood in line for ten minutes.

After the payment, he received a call from his father Ding Zhaowen: “Have you reported it? Have you seen Principal Zhou?”

“Well, I”m going to study by myself next time.” Ding Xuerun tilted his head to hold the phone and stuffed a large number of auxiliary exercise books into his schoolbag, which rose like a piece of over-fermented bread. 

“How is the school? How is the teacher? Is the money enough?”

“It’s all good.” He paused. “There is enough money.”

Ding Xuerun was so far away from home for the first time, but the conversation between the father and son was very distant, and the conversation ended in less than a minute.

His relationship with his father has been relatively weak since he was a child. Because of some physical defects of Ding Xuerun’s mother, Ding Zhaowen has treated her very well since they met, and later got married and treated her even better. Ding Zhaowen taught his son from an early age to be filial to his mother.

Perhaps because he has limited energy, he spends too much time on his wife and neglects his son. By the time he realized it, his son was already old and sensible. He didn’t need to worry about anything, and his self-discipline was almost terrible.

At this time, he went to make amends, but he couldn’t reconcile with his son anyway.

After Ding Xuerun’s mother died, the relationship between father and son fell to a freezing point.

It didn’t take long for something to happen, and Ding Xuerun had to transfer to the Liu Zhong high school of D city. Principal Zhou and Ding Zhaowen are university classmates, both of them are majoring in teachers.

After going out of the bookstore, he saw the person holding an umbrella outside, and he realized that it was raining again.

Because he wanted to buy a lot of exercise books, he emptied his schoolbag and carried it out, but he didn’t expect it to rain. 

Standing at the door of the bookstore, he held the exercise book that couldn’t fit in his schoolbag in one hand and stretched out the other hand to test if it was raining hard.

This rain was much more surging than those in the afternoon. It was the so-called pouring rain, and if he rushed to the opposite side, his whole body would be soaked.

Ding Xuerun glanced at the time. Students who live in the dormitory will study at 10:00 in the evening, so he must go back at 10:00.

It’s only 9:20 now.

Ding Xuerun returned to the bookstore, sat down in the reading area, took out a pen, and casually took out an exercise book to write.

He went out frequently to watch the rain. At 9:50, the rain had lightened a little, but it was still going on. This time Ding Xuerun stepped forward without hesitation. He walked along the eaves side of the street to the entrance of the school. The sound of wipers, wheels trampling on stagnant water, and the sound of sirens intertwined in the night. He saw that the green light was on and the car that stopped in front of the sidewalk rushing into the rain curtain.

The south is humid and rainy. He didn’t know that the north, which is controlled by the mainland’s high pressure, would be the same.

Ding Xuerun ran across the sidewalk, and when he reached the opposite side, a roaring motorcycle passed his back, splashing muddy water in the low lying on the ground, and instantly splashed Ding Xuerun’s entire back.

He stopped, and the motorcycle suddenly braked not far in front. The tall rider wearing a black motorcycle helmet looked back and seemed to realize that he had caused an “accident.”

The other didn’t get off of the motorcycle and didn’t even take off his helmets, and shouted in the rain: “Hey, are you okay?”

Ding Xuerun was drenched by the rain and was wet from head to toe-luckily his schoolbag was waterproof.

But his glasses were also wet, with water drops on them, and he couldn’t see clearly. He didn’t care about the rain, so he took off his glasses and wiped the water on them.

Seeing that he was standing still without an umbrella, Lou Cheng stepped on the ground with his feet and backed the motorcycle back to the sidewalk.

He was wearing a helmet and a leather jacket, so he didn’t feel the rain. He saw that the back of this classmate was covered with mud spots, he felt a little embarrassed, so he took out an umbrella and opened it for him: “Sorry for dirtying your clothes. I will pay for your dry cleaning.”　　

“It’s okay.” Ding Xuerun’s hands were covered with water, and the glasses got wet with the wiping. He took out a tissue, turned his head, and glanced at the culprit who caused the accident.

His near-sightedness is not particularly serious, but the driver wearing a black helmet is a blurry mosaic in front of him.

Lou Cheng saw his face clearly.

He doesn’t remember the looks of others, but… the appearance of the transfer student is too memorable because the face is full of injuries, it is said that the nose is bruised and swollen, but the corners of the mouth and cheeks are a little black and blue.

Lou Cheng stopped fighting since he was in high school, but he has never lost in a fight since he was a child, so he has never been injured so badly.

But maybe because the transfer students were fighting and wearing glasses, there were no scars around the eyes. Both eyes were black and big. Like other nearsighted people, they were a little bit apathetic and had no focus.

The dark pupil glanced at him, then hung down and wiped his glasses. The long, droopy eyelashes were wet, and his hair pressed against his forehead after the rain, looking pitiful.

Through the windshield of the motorcycle helmet, Lou Cheng looked directly into his big dark eyes, and asked him in a low voice, “Really all right?”　　

His subwoofer is unforgettable. He just heard it in the afternoon, so he won’t forget it. Ding Xuerun paused, said it was okay, lowered his head, and put on his glasses.　　

Lou Cheng said, and put the umbrella into his palm: “I give it back to you.”　　

The hand in leather gloves grasped the motorcycle handle, Lou Cheng banged the accelerator and started the motorcycle.　

The sound of his motorcycle was noisy and pleasant. In the last bell of the school, Ding Xuerun stood in place, holding his old umbrella that had been used for several years, looking at the dim lights of the motorcycle turning into the high-end neighborhood next door to Liu Zhong high school.