Chapter 836: Enrollment

September 1st, 1992, at the entrance of the Beijing Film Academy.

A gleaming black Land Rover Range Rover pulled steadily to the side of the road.

The incoming freshmen and parents passing by all cast their gazes toward the vehicle, and whispers rose one after another.

"Damn, this car is impressive!" said a male student wearing a braid.

"Which young master is this? What kind of car is he driving?" asked a Pangzi.

"A Land Rover," said a tall, thin person.

Teacher Liu, responsible for receiving Performance Department freshmen, sat behind the registration desk. He swept a faint glance at the Land Rover from the corner of his eye, his brows subconsciously knitting together, and he shook his head lightly.

From the bottom of his heart, he looked down on these pampered rich kids, feeling that this bunch was just here to coast for a diploma and take shortcuts.

Ma Rui pushed the door open and stepped out, dressed in clean and neat athletic casual wear, without a hint of ostentation.

Everyone else assumed he was about to grab his luggage and head in to register; no one expected him to walk straight to the trunk, lift the lid, and pull out a seventy-percent-new bicycle.

The driver, Xiao Tian, hurried forward with an anxious look: "Young Master! Are you really going to ride a bicycle home? But President He specifically instructed me to follow you the whole time and act as your driver. If you send me off to Yang Jing like this, how am I supposed to answer when President He asks?"

Ma Rui lowered his voice, his tone calm: "Didn't you see? The students are all staring at me. I'm just a poor student; there's no need to put on such a big display and invite gossip. Yang Jing needs the car more; you go follow her. A bicycle is enough for me."

Xiao Tian was silent for a few seconds, then finally nodded: "Fine, Young Master, call me anytime if you need anything."

"Mm."

Ma Rui pushed the bicycle to the bike shed by the north gate of the academy, locked it carefully, put on his backpack, and then walked unhurriedly toward the registration desk.

Teacher Liu only now realized that the student who arrived in the Land Rover was actually in the Performance Department. He took the materials Ma Rui handed over and flipped through them slowly.

"Teacher, have some candy." Ma Rui was thoughtful, casually taking out a small package of exquisite chocolates and placing them on the table.

This, instead, completely triggered Teacher Liu's aversion.

In his eyes, this was the innate showing off of a rich kid, always needing to be a cut above others.

He calmly flipped to the dormitory assignment section, and while Ma Rui was looking elsewhere, he swapped Ma Rui's dormitory with that of his classmate Li Xiang, directly moving Ma Rui into the dormitory shared with the Photography Advanced Class.

Ma Rui actually saw these subtle movements from the corner of his eye, but for a moment, he didn't react to what the other party was trying to do.

After finishing the procedures, Ma Rui took the dormitory assignment sheet and went to find it. The moment he pushed the door open, a thick smell of smoke rushed toward him, making him frown subconsciously.

Two bunk beds were placed on either side of the room.

Four men were sitting around playing mahjong, shouting and hollering, noisy and chaotic.

"Pong!"

"Hu! Pay up, pay up!"

The mahjong tiles were slapped heavily onto the table, clattering incessantly; the whole room was filled with smoke and in a complete mess.

Ma Rui stood at the door and understood instantly.

Teacher Liu had intentionally swapped his dormitory.

Seeing him arrive in a luxury car, he had made a biased judgment that he was a spoiled brat and specifically threw him into this mixed-bag advanced class dormitory, clearly intending to give him a show of force.

The people sitting in the room were all senior students from the Photography Advanced Class, not his classmates from the Performance Department at all.

Ma Rui suppressed the anger in his heart, took a deep breath, stepped into the room, and politely cupped his hands:

"Greetings, brothers. I'm the new student assigned to this dormitory. May I ask which bed is empty?"

The sound of mahjong in the room continued, and no one paid him any mind.

On the bed on the left, a man with a cigarette in his mouth spoke nonchalantly while feeling for a tile: "Little brother, did you go to the wrong door? This dormitory is already full."

Ma Rui stepped back outside and checked the room number again—615, exactly the same as on the sheet.

He walked back in, his tone neither humble nor pushy:

"I didn't go to the wrong door; the assignment sheet says here."

A man with dark skin said: "Zhao Weiguo, stop teasing the kid. Little brother, the bed he's sitting on is yours."

Ma Rui looked up.

The bed Zhao Weiguo was sitting on was covered with bedding and clearly already occupied.

He wore a polite smile: "Friend, sorry to bother you, but this is my bed."

Zhao Weiguo remained seated, slapping a mahjong tile heavily on the table, "Can't you see we're playing cards? What's the rush?"

The smile on Ma Rui's face faded bit by bit, and his anger flared up, but his voice remained steady and restrained: "If you want to play cards, there are plenty of mahjong parlors outside. Why play in the dormitory?"

The moment his words fell, the noise stopped abruptly.

The whole room went silent instantly; the four men looked up in unison, their gazes fixed squarely on Ma Rui, and the atmosphere tightened to the extreme.

Zhao Weiguo casually threw his cigarette butt on the ground and stood up abruptly.

He wasn't tall, but he was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with a fierce look on his face, "Kid, I'm playing cards in the dorm, what are you going to do about it?"

Ma Rui met his gaze, not dodging or blinking: "Play cards all you want, just don't occupy my bed."

Zhao Weiguo didn't take this new student seriously at all; he raised his hand and grabbed fiercely at Ma Rui's collar, wanting to teach him a lesson first.

Others didn't know, but Ma Rui had practiced martial arts with He Yuzhu since he was a child, later entered the Shichahai Sports School, and had studied under famous masters; his skills were far beyond the average person.

In his eyes, this grab was ridiculously slow.

Ma Rui tilted his body slightly to dodge easily, backhanded and precisely locked onto Zhao Weiguo's wrist, using a standard Golden Silk Wrist Wrap, and followed through with a twist and a press.

"Bang!"

Zhao Weiguo lost his center of gravity and was pressed straight to the ground, his knees hitting the concrete floor heavily, his arm twisted behind his back, making him grimace in pain, unable to move.

"Damn you! You dare to make a move?!" Zhao Weiguo still refused to submit, his face pale from the pain.

The dark-faced man, Zhao Hu, hurriedly got up to smooth things over:

"Little brother, we'll be seeing each other every day from now on, and you'll be living here for a year or two. Let go first."

Ma Rui slowly released his hand and stepped back half a pace, his expression calm, showing neither joy nor anger.

Zhao Weiguo climbed up in a sorry state, rubbing his numb wrist, his face turning from blue to white.

He was also considered a veteran, and at a glance, he could tell that the young man before him was a genuine martial artist, not a pushover at all.

His arrogant aura instantly withered by more than half, and his tone softened: "Brother, you're not very old but your temper is quite fiery. Playing mahjong in the dormitory is the norm. It looks like your family is quite wealthy. Renting a room in Jimenli doesn't cost much, so why bother squeezing in here with us?"

Ma Rui didn't take the bait; he casually pulled out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and passed them around to everyone one by one. "Big brothers, I'm the type who responds to soft tactics but not hard ones, so please bear with me."

His attitude was sincere, and he handled the situation with perfect tact.

The few of them took the cigarettes, their expressions softened significantly, and most of their hostility vanished.

The Heilian strongman spoke up first: "My name is Zhao Hu. We'll be roommates from now on, what's your name?"

"Ma Rui."

A man nearby with gentle features and a distinct Guangdong Province accent leaned in with a smile, his tone easygoing and slick: "My name is Yu Zhiwei, and I just graduated from the Film Academy this summer. I don't have a place to stay for the moment; could I make do with your bunk for a while?"

Ma Rui understood clearly in his heart.

He had just dealt with Zhao Weiguo, and now another one had come along wanting to occupy his bed.

This 615 Dormitory was truly filled with people who were not simple.