Chapter 98: Why Don

At 5 p.m., Xu Qingzhou returned to Dorm 101 and realized he was the last one back.

As soon as he pushed the door open, he saw a large suitcase placed horizontally in the center of the room, piled high with food.

“Toll!” Xu Zhengyang sat by the door, radiating an air of “hand over the goods or die.”

Xu Qingzhou pulled the rabbit head out of his bag and tossed it to Xu Zhengyang. “Call me dad.”

“Get lost, get lost, get lost!”

Kong Xianbo brought Quyang pears, Zhai Ziqiang brought some homemade cured pork and red dates from his family’s garden.

The suitcase now held even more food: spicy rabbit heads, cured pork, pears, and a box of Xu Zhengyang’s sworn-to-be-most-authentic Beijing roast duck.

Xu Zhengyang gritted his teeth: “I’ll cover breakfast for the next week!”

Drink! {

Xu Qingzhou thought for a moment and suggested, “Old Xu, how about we get some alcohol?”

Xu Qingzhou: “.”

Food without alcohol tastes bland—he truly missed the days in college when he’d sip quietly with his dorm mates.

Xu Qingzhou: “.”

Back then, gatherings were still pure; none of them bore the scars of society yet. Their talk never strayed far from girls, GPAs, and weird things that happened in clubs.

Xu Qingzhou whistled. He hadn’t realized Old Kong was such a romantic.

Xu Qingzhou smiled and said, “Don’t worry, no one’s watching. Just don’t stay up too late and wake up the neighbors.”

Xu Zhengyang joked, “What, you wanna invite the dorm supervisor to join?”

Xu Qingzhou woke up just after six a.m., head throbbing. After showering, he saw Kong Xianbo leaning against the bed frame, lost in memories of last night. He suddenly grabbed his phone, and his face turned ashen, as if he’d just lost a loved one.

Xu Qingzhou and Xu Zhengyang went to the supermarket beside campus.

“One case… isn’t enough, is it?”

“You holding up?” Xu Qingzhou felt a little light-headed too.

“Impossible!”

Hearing that, Xu Qingzhou exhaled in relief. At least he was still lucid.

“Drinking in the dorm like this—what about the dorm supervisor?” Zhai Ziqiang still looked worried.

Xu Qingzhou walked over and found Kong Xianbo sitting by the door, weeping uncontrollably: “Yunfei, I really… I really miss you…”

“Wusu.” Xu Zhengyang scanned the shelves, then stopped at a bottle with a red cap. “I read about this before—Deadly Wusu.”

Zhai Ziqiang could handle three beers, Kong Xianbo four. The rest they’d split. Though their bodies were healthy now, their drinking capacity hadn’t been trained yet—they couldn’t match their past lives.

“Old Kong, spill it. The brothers are listening.” Xu Zhengyang patted Kong Xianbo’s shoulder, then quietly turned on his phone’s camera and set it on the table.

“Old Kong, go buy more snacks—grilled skewers, cold cuts. Me and Old Xu will get the alcohol and some munchies.”

But when drunk, it’s best to keep your phone far away—you never know what stupid things you might do.

Like when Zhai Ziqiang talked about how hard his family worked to support his education.

One night of extroversion led to a lifetime of introversion.

Xu Zhengyang opened his first bottle alone.

“You want to adopt me as your godfather?”

At 11 p.m., Zhai Ziqiang went to bed. Faint snores drifted through the room. Kong Xianbo held his phone, fingers tapping rapidly.

“Where’s Old Kong?” Xu Qingzhou asked. Xu Zhengyang pointed outside. “On the phone out there.”

“Sure, why not!” Xu Zhengyang sighed. “Old Xu, honestly, I kinda admire you. You’re just… different from us. So mature. Like… yeah, like my old man and his generation.”

Xu Qingzhou bought more peanuts, sunflower seeds, and potato chips, plus a deck of cards. One carried the alcohol, the other the snacks, and they returned to the dorm.

Zhai Ziqiang hadn’t finished his third beer—he was already slumped on the table, ready to sleep.

Half an hour later, the dorm was ready: two stacked suitcases, piled high with snacks.

“Don’t buy more,” Xu Qingzhou stopped Xu Zhengyang from buying extra.

After a while, the mood finally lifted. “Huh? Drinking?” Zhai Ziqiang hesitated.

“If you want to adopt me as your godfather, I accept.” Xu Qingzhou looked troubled. This guy was the most troublesome—he kept trying to flop onto the floor, insisting on being taught how to swim, and no one could pull him up.

It was simple: Kong Xianbo had fallen for someone, they’d flirted for a while, but ultimately didn’t get together.

“Old Xu, what are you doing?”

Xu Zhengyang’s face flushed red. Suddenly, fragments from last night flashed in his mind—there really had been the words “godfather.” Damn. Had he really adopted Old Xu as his godfather last night? “Old Xu, that was just drunk talk—don’t take it seriously…”

“What the hell, how are you standing on water?!”

Xu Qingzhou nodded, watching Xu Zhengyang sip his porridge, and asked seriously: “You remember what happened later last night, right?”

Kong Xianbo seemed to recall something painful. He grew somber and kept drinking.

And alcohol—being slightly tipsy is the most comfortable. Too much harms the body.

He started talking about his family again.

Xu Qingzhou feared this guy might suddenly launch into a full-on adoption ceremony.

“What’s this?” Kong Xianbo poked the rabbit head. It looked kind of creepy.

!.

Near 10 p.m., after three rounds of drinks, Xu Qingzhou returned from the bathroom and realized only Xu Zhengyang was still drinking.

“Get lost!”

The night passed.

“My desk mate,” Kong Xianbo said, his expression desolate—clearly deeply wounded.

Like how Xu Zhengyang’s family had accumulated seven or eight apartments—his grandfather started flipping houses, his father joined in, though they’d faced crises and sold off several.

Xu Qingzhou set the food down and said, “Rabbit heads—everyone eat?”

Of course, the godfather business? Just nonsense. He didn’t remember any of it anyway.

“What’s going on?”

Xu Qingzhou smiled but said nothing.

“Who’s Yunfei?”

Xu Qingzhou listened quietly, feeling a quiet pang. No matter how much he complained, when he looked back in the future, he’d still think college days were beautiful.

“Old Xu, you collected everything last night?” Xu Zhengyang was fragmented—he remembered only the two drunkards had passed out, leaving just him and Xu Qingzhou, but after that… he couldn’t recall.

Xu Qingzhou shook his head in sigh, saw the others still in bed, and went to buy them some porridge.

“Fine,” Kong Xianbo agreed. Their dorm had hardly ever drunk together before.

Xu Qingzhou stepped out of the bathroom and saw Xu Zhengyang lying on the floor, flailing his arms, pausing every so often to sigh deeply, then continuing to flail.

“Never tried it, but I’ll give it a shot,” Kong Xianbo admitted. He’d heard of it, but never eaten it. And rabbits are cute… “We’re in for a treat tonight.” Xu Zhengyang took a photo—Xu Qingzhou vaguely saw him sending it to two girls. He wondered if this guy actually wanted to become a Wolf Warrior.

“Let’s go!”

Leaving Kong Xianbo slumped in his chair, lost in sorrow, Xu Zhengyang opened two more bottles. “Old Xu, let’s keep drinking.”

“Let’s get more food,” Xu Qingzhou glanced at the suitcase. It felt lacking.

Only Xu Qingzhou and the other two were still going.

Xu Zhengyang slapped his thigh. “You’ve woken me up, Old Xu! Perfect—right after enrollment, we should definitely have some drinks.”

It was too disruptive in the hallway. Xu Qingzhou called Xu Zhengyang, and together they dragged Kong Xianbo back to the dorm.

Seeing everyone agreed, Zhai Ziqiang nodded too.

Xu Qingzhou nodded in satisfaction. That was more like it.

Watching Xu Zhengyang’s defeated look, Zhai Ziqiang couldn’t help laughing. Kong Xianbo’s lips twitched too—but then he saw the phone beside him, and his heart sank. He felt worse than Xu Zhengyang.

“Funny, but—”

Xu Zhengyang’s face darkened. He turned his focus on Kong Xianbo, narrowed his eyes, and asked: “Old Kong, why so serious? Are you just not built to smile?”

(End of Chapter)