Chapter 7: Arriving at School, Preparing to Upload

At a little past one in the afternoon, the train arrived at Huizhou Railway Station.

Cao Sheng and Tan Lei followed the crowd off the train; Cao Sheng only brought a duffel bag, while Tan Lei brought both a suitcase and a duffel bag.

She didn't stand on ceremony either; when getting off, she not only had Cao Sheng help her take the suitcase down from the luggage rack but also had him help carry it off the train.

Cao Sheng didn't mind such a small matter.

For the sake of being classmates, he helped her carry the suitcase out of the station.

After exiting the station, Cao Sheng had intended to take a bus to the school, but Tan Lei got into a taxi and kept waving at him, calling for him to get in, saying she would pay the fare.

From this, Cao Sheng drew a conclusion: her family's circumstances were likely quite good, at least better than his own.

Because in this day and age, those who were willing to take taxis when out and about generally didn't have poor family backgrounds.

"Hey! I suddenly really want to eat the beef noodles at our school gate. When you were on the train, didn't you say you wanted to treat me to a meal? Let's go eat beef noodles, shall we?"

After the taxi started moving, Tan Lei proposed this with a face full of smiles.

Cao Sheng glanced at her and nodded with a smile.

"Alright, that works."

He remembered that the beef noodles at their school gate were indeed quite delicious, but they cost five yuan a bowl, much more expensive than the food in the school cafeteria.

However, since Tan Lei had covered over ten yuan for his train fare today, her asking him to treat her to a bowl of beef noodles now was actually helping him save money.

Still, Cao Sheng didn't want to take advantage of her.

Therefore, when the taxi stopped in front of that beef noodle shop, he snatched the chance to pay the 8-yuan taxi fare.

When getting out, Tan Lei even complained to him a bit, blaming him for rushing to pay.

Entering the noodle shop, the two of them ordered two bowls of beef hand-pulled noodles.

The portion was quite generous, and there was plenty of beef.

Other than being expensive, it had no other flaws.

The taste was still the one in Cao Sheng's memory, just a bit spicy.

The dishes here in Huizhou were generally spicier than those back in his hometown.

Having only spent one semester of university here in this space-time, Cao Sheng still couldn't quite adapt.

He hadn't eaten many bites before sweat began to bead on his forehead.

Tan Lei, sitting across from him, saw this and couldn't help but chuckle; she naturally reached out to pull a piece of tissue and raised her hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

The texture of this tissue wasn't very good; it was a bit rough.

In this day and age, the tissues in such small shops were usually rough rolls of paper, not individual sheets; you tore off as much as you needed.

When wiping sweat with this kind of rough tissue, it was easy for a bit of paper dust to be left behind.

Napkins shedding paper dust was a characteristic of this era.

Sure enough, just after Tan Lei wiped Cao Sheng twice, she saw some paper dust remaining on his forehead; she paused for a moment, then suddenly burst into a giggle.

Cao Sheng didn't understand what she was laughing at.

He was just a bit surprised that she would take the initiative to wipe his sweat; the gesture was clearly a bit intimate.

"Thank you!"

He said a word of thanks.

Tan Lei held back her laughter, threw away the tissue in her hand, and used her fingertips to gently wipe the paper dust from his forehead.

That touch of skin-to-skin contact sent a ripple through Cao Sheng's heart.

At this moment, he felt a bit wavering again.

He thought about whether he should just go ahead and pursue her; after all, in this young body he had now, his physiological needs were also strong.

But his reason reminded him: don't easily make a move on a high school classmate! If it doesn't lead to marriage, he wouldn't have the face to see those old classmates back home in the future.

His high school classmates were all from his hometown.

Maybe in the future, he could run into one or two while shopping in the county town.

If he ruined an old classmate, would he still have the face to see those old classmates?

After finishing the beef noodles, at Tan Lei's request, Cao Sheng helped her drag her suitcase and delivered her to the bottom of her dormitory building before saying goodbye.

Afterward, he carried his own duffel bag back to his own dormitory.

He lived in an eight-person dormitory.

He slept on the upper bunk by the window.

When he entered the dormitory, three of his roommates were already cleaning and tidying their beds.

Seeing Cao Sheng, there was a round of greetings.

Cao Sheng also began to make his bed and wipe down his desk, wardrobe, and other items.

By the afternoon, all eight people in their dormitory had arrived.

In the evening, they agreed to go to the cafeteria together for dinner.

Walking through the familiar campus, Cao Sheng looked left and right, feeling as if he were in a dream; he never expected that in his lifetime, he would be able to return to this campus as a student again.

His roommates were also still in their youthful forms.

There were sunny and cheerful ones, silent and reticent ones, carefree ones, and those who didn't dare to make eye contact with others.

There were all kinds of personalities.

The Cao Sheng of the original space-time was considered silent and reticent.

Because he lacked self-confidence.

Aside from being a bit handsome, his academic grades and family background were nothing to brag about; if he were the type who was thick-skinned, perhaps he could have lived a carefree life, but he had had strong self-esteem since he was a child, and he could always keenly perceive the attitude others had toward him.

Consequently, the version of him in the original space-time couldn't be cheerful and was silent most of the time.

However, now?

As a transmigrator, his mindset was very relaxed.

Looking at his few roommates, he felt like he was looking at children; although he still didn't talk much, his expression was very relaxed, and a smile always lingered at the corners of his mouth, giving people an overall impression of composure.

"Hey! Third Brother, why are you always smiling today? Did you find money?"

In the cafeteria.

While queuing for food together, his roommate Guan Zhi, who was in front of Cao Sheng, turned back to look at him twice and suddenly asked this.

Before Cao Sheng could answer, another roommate behind him, Xu Fengmao, chuckled and chimed in: "Exactly! I noticed it too; Third Brother has been smiling ever since he stepped into the dorm today. I don't even know what he's smiling about; he looks just like a weasel that got into a chicken coop, smiling so slyly!"

These words made everyone else laugh.

Cao Sheng couldn't help but laugh twice as well.

"Can't I even smile? You guys are too overbearing!"

He retorted with a smile.

Another roommate teased laughingly: "Of course you can smile! But you're smiling too much today, so you must confess honestly! What exactly are you smiling about? Did you encounter some good news? Let me tell you, if you really encountered some good news, you should treat us! Don't you all agree?"

"Agreed!"

"That's right!"

"How about you treat us to dinner tonight, Third Brother!"

"Right! I second that!"

Several roommates clamored in a jumble.

Someone who didn't know better might really think Cao Sheng had encountered some good news and should treat them.

Cao Sheng naturally wouldn't be such a sucker.

His living expenses for this semester had to be partially set aside for uploading his new book online, so his food budget was already quite tight; how could he treat all his roommates to a meal just like that?

The roommates joked and laughed as they each got their food and sat together to eat and chat, but Cao Sheng noticed that their gazes were almost all focused on the girls entering and leaving the cafeteria.

None of them were any good!

After dinner, returning to the dorm, Cao Sheng quietly took his new book manuscript, along with two pens and a cup of tea, and took the initiative to go to evening self-study.

He planned to write two more chapters of the manuscript before midnight tonight.

After midnight, he would find an internet cafe to stay overnight and upload some of his stored manuscript to the internet.

The reason he decided to stay overnight was simple—it was cheap.

Currently, regular internet access cost four or five yuan per hour, but staying overnight was much cheaper.

His living expenses for this semester were not much, so of course, he would save where he could.