Chapter 95

In the next few days, Jiao Ba kept inquiring about the outside shop premises and business situation, something he hadn't noticed before, so now he had to ask more.

Jiao Wei's father and Jiao Ba had a good relationship when they were young, and their elders also lived together; usually they were neighbors looking out for each other, feelings were good, otherwise the Jiao family patriarch wouldn't have personally called to ask Jiao Ba for help.

Actually, besides that, Jiao Ba had another consideration. Next year he needs to go abroad; if someone from Jiao Wei's family is around, there would be someone to help look after things here.

Before he goes abroad, Jiao Yuan is about to start junior high, and Jiao Ma is also at that junior high; although it's not far from Chu Hua Da Xue, roads are being dug up everywhere outside, so Jiao Ba doesn't want them to bike back and forth every day; he'll have them eat at school at noon, then return home together for dinner in the afternoon; anyway, the school allows first- and second-year students to skip evening self-study on a voluntary basis, and several parents in the compound have agreed, so they'll just go home in the evening.

As for this side, Jiao Ba and Xiao Youzi can go eat at the cafeteria at noon; it's not their first time anyway. Jiao Ba's office has a folding bed for noon rest, Xiao Youzi can nap there. As for Zheng Tan, let him eat at the cafeteria together.

After a few days of investigation, Jiao Ba took a liking to a shop; however, that place hadn't been in the food business before, and now the shop wanted to transfer, having just put up the transfer sign, Jiao Ba went to see them.

He had Jiao Wei and his father go talk; although the place isn't very close to the school gate, there was nothing to be done, as shops nearby are doing well now, and those wanting to transfer have already been taken over.

However, Jiao Wei and his father were fairly satisfied with the shop, and they weren't the type to drag things out; after agreeing on the price they would sign the agreement. To be safe, Jiao Ba invited a young professor from the law school in the compound to help; Qu Xiangyang next door, hearing that an acquaintance of the Jiao family wanted to open a restaurant, also came over in his flip-flops to lend a hand, and even enthusiastically asked whether the restaurant would offer takeout in the future.

The shop owner looked at the professor, the associate professor, and a very talkative young man standing before him, his face twitching several times. He had thought they were just a country bumpkin who cooked vegetables, but now this lineup was truly damn weird—having professionals present, using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken!

With several scholars helping out, Jiao Wei and his father also relaxed, fearing being cheated when away from home. Renovating the shop would cost a lot of money; they felt uneasy. But now they felt reassured, and wanted to invite a few people for a meal; however, the young professor and Qu Xiangyang both declined, saying they'd come after the shop opened, and for now it wouldn't be a bother.

Qu Xiangyang even volunteered to draw up a design plan; Jiao Wei and his father were quite grateful, and Qu Xiangyang waved his hand, saying, 'If your family's food suits my taste, I'll rely on you to feed me from now on!'

I wonder what Qu Xiangyang's parents would think upon hearing that.

After signing the contract, they still needed to buy some equipment, especially tables and chairs. Before they could go look for a place to buy them, Wei Leng came to pick up Zheng Tan to go play, learned of this, directly called Ye Hao, and obtained some discarded tables and chairs and miscellaneous items from him; although they didn't look very suitable for such a small eatery, a little modification would do, the advantage being their good quality.

These items were originally not meant to be paid for; Ye Hao and Wei Leng didn't lack that money, but Jiao Wei and his father insisted, forcing a thousand yuan onto Wei Leng, who took out two hundred-yuan bills from it and put the rest back on the table.

The reason Wei Leng is so enthusiastic is mainly that each time he comes over, he feels embarrassed to directly mooch a meal at the Jiao family's, eating out alone isn't very enjoyable, and eating alone is boring. Now that he knows an acquaintance of the Jiao family is opening a small eatery, when he comes over he can still mooch a bite, chat, and if he stays out late he can even bring some late-night snacks for his comrades at the company; those guys don't like overly refined dishes, so the hometown style of Jiao Wei's family should be quite good.

After Jiao Wei's mother came over, the couple didn't let Jiao Wei suffer anymore; they just focused on renovating the shop, and there wasn't much to buy, and even if they needed something, various stores around Chu Hua Da Xue had it, plus there were a few large supermarkets near Zhong Xin Guang Chang, so they didn't need to worry too much.

The couple had Jiao Wei get more familiar with the school; Jiao Ba originally wanted Jiao Yuan to take him around campus, but Jiao Wei refused, saying it was too hot outside to have a kid tag along, and besides he already had a campus map in hand, so he wouldn't get lost.

Jiao Ba thought for a moment, then shouted at Zheng Tan, who was gnawing grapes in Xiao Youzi's room: 'Hei Tan, help me out by taking Weiwei to get familiar with the school!'

Jiao Wei: '……'

Back in his hometown, many people kept cats; rural folks kept cats just to catch mice, there was no notion of pet cats. After moving to the town for school, some families with better conditions kept pet dogs and cats, and Jiao Wei always thought it was purely a waste of money, perhaps due to his own circumstances, he couldn't really understand those people.

After arriving here, Jiao Wei saw that the family of the capable Uncle Ming Sheng, whom his parents spoke of, actually also kept a cat, and they doted on it quite a bit. Although Jiao Wei didn't show anything on his face, he actually had some thoughts. Not only Uncle Ming Sheng's family, but also Qu Xiangyang next door, who helped them draw the design plans, and Wei Leng, who helped with the tables and chairs equipment, were all quite good to that black cat; Jiao Wei had always thought it was out of respect for Uncle Ming Sheng, but there was still something odd about it.

Could it really be that one person attains the Dao and even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven?

But they had always thought that university teachers high up, as well as those associate professors and professors, when mentioned by people here, didn't inspire much awe; at most it was like how they talked about college students back home—some envy, but not an unattainable existence.

Jiao Wei recalled what his homeroom teacher had told him before coming here: in a big city like Chu Hua Shi, college students might not be worth much, even graduate students and PhDs would likely become oversupplied and lose value in the coming years; the cruelty behind the prosperity is something no one can explain clearly, one has to rely on oneself to observe and adapt; those who can't adapt might not even be worth as much as a cat.

As Jiao Wei's thoughts began to wander again, Zheng Tan slowly ambled out, chewing the grapes in his mouth, glanced at the person sitting on the sofa holding the campus map in a daze, jumped up and slapped his head.

Jiao Wei came to from his reverie. He had thought it was Uncle Ming Sheng tapping him, but when he looked up he saw a black shadow flash.

Before him there was only a black cat; Uncle Ming Sheng, Associate Professor Jiao, was speaking in Jiao Yuan's room, and Xiao Youzi hadn't come out, so it was obvious who had slapped him.

After Jiao Ba, who had said a couple of things to Jiao Yuan, left the room, he told Jiao Wei: 'Our cat usually likes to run around outside and is quite familiar with the school; if you want to find a building but don't know where it is, just tell it, it understands; it's best to speak Mandarin to it, as dialect might be hard for it to understand.'

'Mm. Good.'

Jiao Wei actually didn't really believe what Jiao Ba said, but out of politeness he still agreed.

Watching the person and cat go downstairs, Jiao Ba took today's newspaper, unfolded it, sat on the sofa and began to read. Young people's minds are generally more open, easily accepting new and strange things, and since they'll be spending a lot of time together later, letting Jiao Wei first get in touch with his own cat is also a good thing, to avoid being too startled later.

Meanwhile, Jiao Wei followed the cat downstairs, only then realizing there was no access card; he was about to go ask when he saw the black cat jump up and rub against the card reader, with a 'click', the door opened.

Jiao Wei: '……'

Zheng Tan ignored Jiao Wei's surprise and walked straight outside.

It was now about three in the afternoon, the sun was still strong, but trees lined the school roads; walking in the shade made it relatively cool.

The huge sycamore trees blocked the sunlight shining onto the carriageway, leaving only scattered specks of light filtering through.

Gusts of wind blew past, and the light specks on the road flickered as the branches swayed.

Jiao Wei looked ahead at the road, not knowing how much farther it went, took a deep breath; just this road alone, he had no idea how many times longer it was than their school.

How high one can fly can only be known by actually flying up and seeing.

Indeed it was so.

Zheng Tan didn't have the mind to observe what the person behind him was thinking; he was currently pondering which route to take so as not to get baked, having heard that black absorbs heat!

On the sidewalk, the cat walked ahead, the person followed behind, neither having decided on a destination.

Zheng Tan just walked toward whichever road had shade, and when he reached a stretch without shade, he suddenly realized he had arrived at the student dormitories.

The student dormitories are divided into several zones, with undergraduates and graduates separated. A new zone has also been built at the back, presumably for freshmen, located near the secluded small grove; the dorms are already completed and look like they'll be used in September.

And the place where Zheng Tan currently is happens to be the graduate dormitory area; he twitched his ears and suddenly heard a familiar sound. Ignoring Jiao Wei, Zheng Tan climbed up a nearby large sycamore tree to locate the dormitory from which the sound came.

When he climbed up to near the third floor, Zheng Tan found the source of the sound: it was a dormitory at the side of the third floor, with windows open in summer; due to its orientation, no sunlight was entering at the moment.

Within Chu Hua Da Xue, aside from the international student dormitories, other student dormitories have no air conditioning installed; it's said that by the end of this year they'll equip the PhD dorms with AC, but as to when it'll be the turn of the master's and undergrad dorms, that's unknown.

The worst part is that there's still a power restriction; high-wattage appliances can't be used, in winter you can't use a 'little sun', in summer you can't privately rent air conditioning; after student protests, it's estimated that within two years the electricity restriction on master's dorms will be lifted, while for the undergrad dorms, heh, just keep enduring.

The weather in Chu Hua Shi, once it gets hot, makes you wish you could just die of heat; during the day, staying in the dorms, relying only on electric fans doesn't solve much.

Unlike the undergrad dorms at this school, which are divided into many types like four-, six-, eight-person rooms, the master's dorms are all four-person rooms with private bathrooms, with desks and cabinets below and beds above. At this moment, Zheng Tan saw inside that dormitory four male students, having moved the wardrobes aside to clear space, each occupying an inflatable bathtub filled with water.

Between the four inflatable bathtubs lay a small stool, on which a chessboard was placed, and the four were playing a game of aeroplane chess.

In the noticeably larger inflatable bathtub, the big guy Su Qu was lounging inside, with a towel draped over his head, one hand holding a chunk of watermelon, the other throwing dice.

'Haha! My last plane finally made it to the finish! Losers, hurry up and bring the watermelon over! Not a single piece may be missing; if it's gone, rush to cut more!' While saying this, Su Qu also picked up the little yellow rubber duck floating in the inflatable tub, squeezed it twice, making a 'dit-dit' sound, laughing like an idiot.

Zheng Tan: '……'

Really damn embarrassing! (To be continued...)