Chapter 46 - 41: The Illusions of Youth

Li Qiang sought out Lu Yuhang to talk, but Yuhang was facing away from him, never even turning around. Not until Li Qiang gave Lu Yuhang a pat on the back. Yuhang then turned around curiously, because he was wearing earphones. He took them off and curiously looked at Li Qiang. Li Qiang asked, "Yuhang, Brother Hao is planning a mixer between our dorm and the girls’ dorm, are you going to go?" Lu Yuhang didn’t actually like these social mixers, but during a conversation with his parents, his mother had advised him to maintain good relationships with his classmates. "Is Yuwen going?" Lu Yuhang looked towards Zhou Yuwen. Zhou Yuwen said, "I don’t mind, why miss out on a free meal?" Upon hearing this, Li Qiang scoffed, "Of course you’re going, it’s not like you have to pay. Yuhang, let me tell you, Chang Hao only treats Zhou Yuwen, but wants us to pick up our own tabs. I’m definitely not going." Lu Yuhang glanced at Zhou Yuwen, then back at Li Qiang, and said, "I don’t mind either. If Yuwen is going, I might as well go." Li Qiang instantly got anxious upon hearing this, "No man, Chang Hao isn’t going to treat you." "No problem, I’ll pay my own way." Li Qiang wanted to say something else, but by then Chang Hao had already finished his chat with his family, had run home, and managed to secure a thousand yuan as a dating fund, as happy as could be, "Eh, what are you guys chatting about? Why so happy?" Seeing Chang Hao return, Li Qiang suddenly fell silent. Zhou Yuwen was also closing his eyes, getting ready to sleep. Seeing that no one was responding to him, Chang Hao didn’t dwell on it and continued chatting with Zheng Yanyan on his phone. Hehe, Yanyan, let me tell you, these guys here are so old-fashioned, Li Qiang doesn’t even know what Toronto is. Upon seeing Chang Hao’s message, Zheng Yanyan smirked and said, in the Capital city we never eat at Toronto, the seafood there isn’t fresh at all, just some Häagen-Dazs. "Of course, I eat at the Hilton when I’m in the Capital city, only here do I bother with Toronto." "Jinling has Hilton too." "Ah? Really? Does it?" Chang Hao instantly panicked, a meal at the Hilton costs over four hundred per person. This Zheng Yanyan wouldn’t make him treat her there, would she? Actually, Zheng Yanyan was just teasing Chang Hao. Seeing he couldn’t utter a word for a long time, amused, she said, "Why so nervous, I wouldn’t possibly make you treat our entire dorm." At this moment, he couldn’t sleep at all. He went out for a cigarette, fantasizing about how he would impress everyone at the gathering tomorrow, before returning. He found that the lights in the dormitory had been turned off when he got back, and checking the time, it was already midnight. Damn, time flies so fast. Chang Hao quickly got ready and prepared to go to bed. After smoking, his mood had calmed down significantly, and he was ready to close his eyes and sleep. But at that moment, a loud snoring sound suddenly startled him. Shit! It turned out to be Li Qiang snoring. Damn, was this even human? The snoring was so loud! Initially, Chang Hao tried to force himself to sleep through the snoring, but Li Qiang’s snores were horrendously loud. They were not at a stable frequency but started fine with steady breaths, then suddenly boomed like thunder. Chang Hao was about to sleep with his eyes closed. Then, there came a grunt from Li Qiang’s side. It startled Chang Hao just as he was about to fall asleep. So, that night, Chang Hao slept fitfully, not sure if he had slept at all. It seemed like he had slept, but he felt like he hadn’t. Until 6:30 in the morning, when the distant sky began to brighten with the light of dawn. Chang Hao was really exhausted and his eyes grew heavy. Suddenly, a harsh whistle sound erupted. "Attention all freshmen! Please put on your military training uniforms! Assemble at the field!" "Attention all freshmen! Please put on your military training uniforms! Assemble at the field!" Several camouflaged vans, mounted with loudspeakers, were continuously broadcasting back and forth in the dormitory area, leaving no chance for these new students to continue sleeping. You should know, these freshmen, driven by last night’s excitement; some even climbed over the wall to go to internet cafes and didn’t come back until four or five in the morning, had just closed their eyes only for the school to suddenly pull this move. "Damn it!" Fortunately, Zhou Yuwen and their dormitory had gone to bed relatively early, and waking up at 6:30 was reasonable. Putting on the green camouflage uniforms, they actually looked quite the part. In front of the mirror, Li Qiang, though a bit shorter and stockier, had the look of a soldier and posed for a long time. But then, when he suddenly turned around and saw Chang Hao, who looked as if his soul had been sucked out, he got a fright and directly said, "What’s up, Brother Hao? Didn’t you sleep last night?"