Chapter 127: Li Ye, You Fooled Me

“Our dorm isn’t full yet—let’s all have a meal together once everyone’s here!”

Li Ye had no intention of going to eat braised pork with Wu Runfu—Wen Leyu was waiting for him to have dinner!

Since last winter, Wen Leyu had grown accustomed to eating with Li Ye; unless he was away, he had no intention of breaking this “dependence” of hers.

“If they don’t come, are we not eating? Don’t be so formal with me—you look younger than me, so just call me Brother Wu from now on.”

Damn, this guy was a natural at making friends—he made Li Ye feel awkward.

If it weren’t for Wen Leyu, Li Ye would’ve definitely bonded with this guy—someone with a degree, unafraid of strangers, and good at talking was bound to do well in life.

Wasn’t that exactly why Li Ye came to Jingda? To build connections.

But unfortunately, my little Leyu’s thigh is made of gold—you’ll have to step back for now, big brother.

“Ahem, I’ve made plans with someone, little sister.”

“.”

The once confident “Brother Wu” froze instantly, only snapping out of it after Li Ye had already left the room.

He picked up the mirror from the table, studied his face closely, and muttered under his breath: “I need to buy some snow cream and rub it in.”

Li Ye left the dorm building, rode his bicycle to the spot Wen Leyu mentioned, and sat beside the stone carp statue waiting.

Students passing by in small groups would glance at Li Ye twice.

Because anyone could tell he was waiting for someone—and most likely a girl.

Soon, two students wearing red armbands walked past, then circled around and stopped.

Li Ye had heard of these people—they were called discipline inspectors, tasked with cracking down on uncivilized behavior and disciplining rule-breaking students.

Jingda might be open and relaxed, but it wouldn’t tolerate certain incidents.

Li Ye was just considering whether to wait for Wen Leyu directly under her dorm building when he saw her strolling over.

The girl barely glanced at the two classmates, pushed her bicycle forward, swung her leg over, and started pedaling in a few quick strokes.

“Hop on, let’s go!”

Li Ye leapt onto the back seat and rode off, under the watchful eyes of the two inspectors.

“Ignore them—the more you pay attention, the more they’ll pester you.”

“Oh? How do you know that?”

“An older sister heard I was coming to Jingda and visited my place recently—she told me to ignore everyone except teachers—we just ride straight through.”

You’ve got connections, that’s why you’re so bold, right?

So fake boldness is different from real boldness—one is outwardly aggressive, the other is quietly confident.

The difference is like a guy with no money but flashy clothes versus Ma Ali, who also has no money.

Wen Leyu rode Li Ye around campus, drawing countless curious stares from students along the way.

But neither Wen Leyu nor Li Ye cared at all.

Wen Leyu was oblivious to others; Li Ye? He was savoring the smug joy of showing off.

At the cafeteria, Wen Leyu acted like a seasoned upperclassman, leading Li Ye to get food.

“This cafeteria is never crowded, and the distance is just right—we’ll eat here from now on.”

Li Ye naturally agreed—Wen Leyu had planned this out; how could he ignore her thoughtfulness?

But the moment they tasted the cafeteria food, they both looked up, locking eyes.

【Is this really the famed five-star cafeteria of Jingda? Pretty average.】

Li Ye seriously doubted he’d gone to the wrong place—but then he remembered the low price, and his mind eased.

Since they’d started eating at the Second Grain Store, their palates had grown spoiled—how could big-pot dishes compare to private meals?

Wen Leyu blinked, then bent down and ate fiercely, saying between bites: “Frugal and simple—overcome hardship.”

There were red armbands in the cafeteria too—if you dared throw leftovers in the trash, just try it.

The girl might be bold, but she knew better than to waste food—it was a sin, and even her mother wouldn’t forgive it.

They finished their meal with burps—they hadn’t felt this small an appetite in half a year.

But Jingda’s Weiming Lake was truly beautiful, and there were many other sights—they strolled and walked off the meal, and the fullness faded.

Happy time always flies—the girl and Li Ye spent the entire afternoon and hadn’t even covered half the campus.

They made plans to meet again tomorrow, then returned to their dorms to prepare for the dormitory gathering.

College was collective living—on the first day, it was better not to seem antisocial.

As soon as Li Ye returned to Room 209, the socially dominant Wu Runfu shouted: “Hey Li Ye, you totally tricked me this morning—you made me look like a fool!”

Li Ye asked, puzzled: “How did I trick you? Hey, when did you learn the word ‘trick’?”

Wu Runfu pointed to the short freshman on the lower bunk: “From him—Sun Jianjin, your classmate from the same department.”

Sun Jianjin, a short, shy guy, smiled and said: “I didn’t say economics isn’t about making money—I just told him plainly, and he started yelling at me, I couldn’t reason with him.”

“Hahahaha~”

The other guys in the dorm burst out laughing together.

Li Ye laughed too.

Northeastern dialect really had a natural comedic charm.

Even shy little Sun Jianjin, after only half a day, had already started infecting the dorm with his accent—just imagine how powerful it was!

In half a day, all the other dorm mates in 209 had arrived.

One of them, Sun Jianjin, was in economics like Li Ye; the other four were all from mathematics.

At this time, the economics department admitted few students—it couldn’t compete with popular majors like math, so they’d probably just squeezed Li Ye and Sun into Room 209.

The group went out for dinner together—and ended up back at the cafeteria, making Li Ye burp again.

Wu Runfu said: “Brother, your appetite isn’t great? How’d you grow so tall?”

Li Ye sighed: “I grow just by breathing air—I get taller just from drinking water, so I can’t eat much, or I’ll grow to two meters.”

On the third day, after the final deadline for enrollment at Jingda, Li Ye and Sun Jianjin went to the class meeting together.

They were both in World Economics—there were only dozens of them, unlike Chinese Literature, which had multiple classes that couldn’t fit in one room.

Of course, at this time, the demand for Chinese Literature graduates was still high—every level of government needed young writers, with fast promotions and good pay, naturally drawing top students, including provincial and even national top scorers.

One minute early, two teachers entered the classroom—one female teacher, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, beautiful and elegant.

The male teacher was far less impressive—his face was covered in acne, and his appearance made you anxious.

“I’m your homeroom teacher, Mu Yunning; this is your counselor, Zhang Zhiqiang—you’ll be spending the next four years together.”

“Now, please come up and introduce yourselves—don’t be nervous, don’t be stiff.”

Homeroom teacher Mu Yunning delivered her gentle opening remarks, then invited students to introduce themselves.

Li Ye knew this was a standard freshman setup—some people’s fates would begin turning right here.

Mu Yunning pretended to let students introduce themselves, but she was secretly observing who had potential as class officers.

Those who shrank back, were shy or timid, would be immediately discarded; from the rest, she’d pick a few candidates for further conversation.

Li Ye had no ambition for office and didn’t want a trivial position eating up his personal time, so he naturally held back.

“My name is Li Ye, from a small county in Dongshan—I have no hobbies, please take care of me in the future.”

See? A perfectly ordinary self-introduction.

But damn, something went wrong.

“Hahahaha, take care of you? How exactly? Are you even twenty?”

“Yeah! Li Ye, are you at least eighteen?”

“I’m twenty.”

Li Ye was twenty by lunar age—but who made him look so...

He lowered his head, blushed, and stepped down—perfect actor-level performance—only to trigger another round of laughter.

Girls born in ’82, are you really this fierce?

After the class meeting, Li Ye thought he’d passed unnoticed—but Mu Yunning was the first to approach him.

“Interested in being class monitor?”

“Teacher, I’m not a League member.”

“.”

Mu Yunning fell silent.

Every student who got into Jingda was a top high school graduate—why hadn’t such a student been prioritized for League membership?

Not being a League member was a real problem—he couldn’t command respect.

So Mu Yunning asked, puzzled: “How come you’re not a League member?”

Li Ye lowered his head, staring at his toes, and said: “I like fighting—I once killed a neighbor’s dog.”

“.”

Mu Yunning dared not ask further—if she dug up more “tyrant” behavior, would she have to report it upward?

If such a handsome guy ended up being expelled, wouldn’t that be her sin?

“Go back then! If anything comes up, remember to come to me—don’t be extreme, don’t act impulsively.”

“Yes!”

Li Ye nodded and turned to leave, but after a few steps, he came back: “Teacher, I actually have something I need your help with.”

Mu Yunning immediately became serious: “Go ahead—what is it?”

Li Ye smiled and said, “I’d like to borrow your household registration.”

Mu Yunning asked curiously, “Borrow household registration? What do you need it for?”

Li Ye said, “To buy a house.”

Mu Yunning: “.”

Li Ye added, “There’s another thing I’d like to ask—do I need to transfer my driver’s license to the school under the household registration, for future annual inspections?”

Mu Yunning studied Li Ye, silent for a long while, as if trying to discern just what manner of troublemaker stood before her.

Mu Yunning was responsible; the next day, when everyone began military training, she took time to bring Li Ye to the administrative building.

In the 1980s, university students’ household registrations required registration and consolidation by the school’s security or logistics department, followed by reporting to local public security authorities for collective household registration and management.

So if Li Ye wanted to borrow household registration to link his motor vehicle driver’s license, he had to apply at the logistics office.

Mu Yunning had never handled such a case before; she could only take it one step at a time.

At the logistics office, it seemed someone was arguing inside, noisy and chaotic.

Mu Yunning asked around and learned that a forty-something Teacher Wang was in charge of this matter.

Teacher Wang was still patient; after hearing the situation, he asked Li Ye, “Why are you buying a house in Beijing?”

Li Ye said, “In our small town, eight students this year got into Beijing schools—Beijing Aviation, Beijing Institute of Technology...”

“Their families were worried, so they pooled money to buy a small house, so they’d have a place to stay when visiting their children. We all want our families to come see Beijing—they’ve never left their county in their whole lives.”

Don’t assume good kids never lie; if needed, Li Ye could lie without the slightest guilt.

“Really? Eight students all made it to Beijing? Impressive.”

Teacher Wang praised him, then shifted tone: “First, go get letters of introduction.”

“Once you’ve gathered the letters of introduction from your classmates and your home village, bring them back—I’ll process it immediately. That’s the rule.”

Li Ye was stunned. Who said 1980s teachers were simple and kind? How rigid and cautious could one be?

He’d dismissed him in two minutes, and now he wanted me to run around collecting seventeen or eighteen official seals?

Why not just say outright you’re too lazy or afraid of responsibility and refuse?

Mu Yunning said a few more words, but it did no good—this young homeroom teacher had no such clout.

Just as the two were about to leave, the people inside the room erupted in a full-blown fight.

“Whoever wants to do it, do it! Make three of us do five people’s work—are you capitalists?”

“Didn’t I tell you it’s only half a month? New drivers will be assigned in half a month—just hold on a little longer.”

We can't hold on. How about you come sit in the truck with me? Try the taste of being trapped in the sun?

Mu Yunning waved her hand, telling Li Ye to wait aside, then walked over, listened, whispered a few words to someone, and returned.

“The school is expanding; the unit’s vehicle fleet is short of drivers. How about you do half a month of voluntary labor?”

Li Ye stayed silent, nudged his chin toward Teacher Wang—clearly, no rabbit, no hawk.

In this era, driving a truck in summer was torture—everyone who’d done it knew. Though Li Ye didn’t want to trouble Wen Leyu’s sister, that was true,

but you can’t dangle a carrot right in front of my nose and let me smell it but never eat it!

Mu Yunning smiled, went over again to negotiate, then called Li Ye in to sign.

Li Ye only signed his name, and the household registration was handed over—and Teacher Wang even issued the letter of introduction.

Rule?

What rule?

Li Ye took the household registration and letter of introduction, bid Mu Yunning farewell with satisfaction, without even inviting her for a thank-you meal.

But Mu Yunning pointed a finger at Li Ye and said, “Li Ye, you tricked me. Watch yourself next time—no more tricks!”

“Teacher, you shouldn’t say things like that.”

Li Ye feigned shock—after all, he was just a shy, good kid; a crafty little schemer had nothing to do with him.

Mu Yunning stepped closer, smiling at Li Ye: “Someone like you—being class monitor is a waste of talent.”

Thank you to friend “Da Dao Tong You” for the 500 coins, thank you to friend “Shi Tefen Hu Qu Bing” for the tip, thank you to friend “Huo De Zi Zai” for the 500 coins, thank you to friend “Xiao Hao Zi Yuan Fang Lai” for the tip, thank you to all friends for their tips. Thank you, all you bigwigs!!!

(End of Chapter)