Chapter 198: A Half-Day Tour of the Girls' Dormitory

"Do you want to come and visit our dormitory? It's a once-a-year opportunity," Zhang Suannai invited Chen Shu very generously, "Don't miss it."

"It seems you are very confident."

"There's nothing shameful to hide!"

"Alright then, let's go."

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Zhang Suannai pulled her suitcase toward the dormitory.

They soon arrived at the entrance of their dormitory.

Zhang Suannai swiped her card first, pushed the door open, and then gestured for Chen Shu to go in.

"Feel free to look around."

The layout of the Ling'an Academy dormitory was the same as that of Yujing Academy; one could tell just from the exterior of the building, and it was likely designed and constructed uniformly, though the soft and hard furnishings inside were different from Yujing Academy, presenting a different style.

After Chen Shu walked into the dormitory, the heat outside was immediately swept away.

The room was clean and tidy, and the air was fresh.

"It's tidied up quite well."

Chen Shu nodded repeatedly, looking here and there; except for a pile of snacks on the coffee table, everything was kept very neat, and the floor was so shiny it could reflect a person's face.

At this moment, he looked exactly like a parent coming for an inspection, wandering around the house, not sparing the bathroom or the kitchen, and even opening the refrigerator to take a look.

"Do you guys usually cook?"

"Basically no, except for boiling instant noodles, snail rice noodles, and the like..." Zhang Suannai replied, "Oh! Qingqing occasionally cooks some porridge to eat!"

"The pots and bowls are still quite complete."

"They were left behind by a senior sister from before."

"I thought as much..."

Chen Shu paced in the living room, eyeing the turned-on Spiritual Air Conditioner, then turned his head to ask Qingqing: "Which room is yours?"

"Number two."

"Same as mine."

"I told you before."

"I forgot... Aren't you going to put your luggage inside?"

"If you want to look around, just say so."

"You know it and still ask? Why don't you give me the room card."

"..."

Qingqing silently handed over the room card and the suitcase: "Help me put the suitcase inside while you're at it."

"You got it!"

Chen Shu swiped the door open.

Qingqing had closed the doors and windows tight when she left, so the air in the room was slightly stuffy—though there was no moldy or dusty smell; the main scent he smelled came from the wood fragrance slowly released by the wooden furniture and the settled smell of paint. Perhaps there was also the smell of ink from books. Usually, the scent was very faint, but because the air was not circulating, it accumulated in the room and seemed more obvious than usual. In addition, there was a faint fragrance coming from the wardrobe, which seemed to be the smell of laundry detergent.

Chen Shu placed the suitcase by the bed and went to open the balcony door and windows.

Fresh air surged in.

Chen Shu continued to look around Qingqing's boudoir.

It was the same one-point-five-meter frame bed, made of solid wood; it seemed to have had more money spent on it than the ones at Yujing Academy, and the design looked more high-quality. Everything on the bed was covered with a plastic sheet—she really didn't mind the trouble; Chen Shu felt that closing the doors and windows was already enough.

A computer desk piled with quite a few books.

A Table Lamp.

A wardrobe.

Qingqing had also bought a storage rack and a meditation cushion.

Such tacit understanding...

Chen Shu went over to take a look at her desk; it was mostly covered with textbooks and notebooks. There was a bottle of blue-black ink and a small pen holder. The pen holder contained two fountain pens, one neutral pen, and one technical drawing pen. There was a water cup and some commonly used items like earphones, tissues, and concentrated orange juice tablets.

Chen Shu pulled out the two fountain pens.

One was a gift from Xiaoxiao, one of a pair of couple's pens, and the other was in his hand.

One was a bent-nib calligraphy pen.

He played with them for a while and then put them back.

He picked up the earphones to fiddle with them, opened the orange juice tablets to look and smell them, picked up the water cup to see if the bottom was clean, even picked up the tissues to see what brand they were, and flipped through the notebooks to take a look.

Really fun.

Really interesting.

Then he discovered another little gadget—

A Jiaojiao Pig.

Chen Shu happily picked up this Jiaojiao Pig, pinched it gently with two fingers, making it emit a squeaky sound.

After playing for a while, he blinked his eyes and aimed his gaze at Qingqing's wardrobe.

It didn't seem to be locked.

"Ahem."

Chen Shu cleared his throat, feigning righteousness, and walked over with a swagger to pull it open.

"Creak..."

"Eww~~"

If he went back, he might get a sty in his eye.

Just at this moment, the light in the room changed slightly; Qingqing was leaning against the balcony door, looking at him indifferently:

"Is it fun?"

Chen Shu closed the wardrobe door without changing his expression:

"It's fun."

"Is it good-looking?"

"It's good-looking."

"Are you done looking?"

"Let me look a bit more..."

"..."

Ning Qing was speechless; she turned around and continued to take several pots of flowers out of her Storage Artifact. They were the ones she had brought from the courtyard just this morning. Last semester, these pots had been kept on the two balconies of the Dormitory, but before the break, she had moved them to the courtyard to prevent them from drying out.

Chen Shu followed her to the balcony and watched her arrange the flowers.

"What kind of flowers are these again?"

"Which ones?"

"All of them."

"Green Ice, Lily, Hide and Seek, Cornflower, and Wood Daisy."

Ning Qing also installed hanging racks that could be hooked onto the balcony railing; the racks had a base, so one could simply place the flower pots directly onto them.

"Oh..."

Chen Shu leaned in to take a sniff.

A palm pushed his head away, the movement somewhat rough.

As Ning Qing placed a long, rectangular flower pot onto the rack, she said expressionlessly, "Stop blocking me."

"Be a little gentler!!"

"..."

"You violent maniac!"

"What did you say?"

"You violent maniac!"

"Who are you talking about?"

"You!"

"..." Ning Qing was silent for a few seconds, "Peeping Tom."

"What did you say?"

"Peeping Tom."

"Who are you talking about?"

"You."

"How was I peeping?"

"You looked at my wardrobe."

"I looked at it openly and aboveboard!"

"..." Ning Qing was silent for another few seconds, "Pervert."

"..."

Chen Shu decided he couldn't be bothered to deal with her; he curled his lip, patted his backside, and walked away, but he had only taken two steps before Ning Qing grabbed him by the collar.

"Ouch!"

Is this woman's personality too nasty?

"I was wrong, I was wrong..."

Zhang Suannai heard the commotion and hurried over, clinging to the edge of the door, watching with her mouth agape.

"Where were you wrong?"

"Aiya... wasn't it just a mistake to pat your backside?"

"Just a mistake?"

"I was wrong, I was wrong..."

"Will you do it again?"

"Well... that's hard to guarantee." Chen Shu smacked his lips, a pained look on his face, blaming himself for running too slowly after the pat, "That was just an accident; who told you to stand so close to me."

"Are you sure?"

"I promise you, I'll be more careful next time."

"Very good."

Zhang Suannai couldn't help but hide her body behind the door, revealing only half her head to observe in secret. At the same time, she subconsciously turned her head to look behind her—the young girl had just finished tidying her room and come out, holding a cup to get some water, and was sitting on the sofa drinking it in small sips, seemingly having heard nothing.

When she looked back, she found her roommate looking at her, her expression calm, possessing a composure as if everything were under control.

Zhang Suannai felt a bit uncomfortable for a moment.

"Zhang Suannai..."

"Ah?"

"I have something to tell you."

"No, no, no!" Chen Shu said hurriedly, "I know I was wrong, I'll never do it again!"

"What?" Zhang Suannai was completely confused.

"It's nothing."

"What is it?"

Zhang Suannai was baffled, not knowing how she had been dragged into this; unable to figure it out, she felt as uncomfortable as if a cat were clawing at her heart.

"What exactly is it?"

"Nothing, nothing." Chen Shu hurriedly said to her, then took out his Mobile Phone to check the time, "It's almost noon, let's go, let's go out to eat and celebrate Xiaoxiao successfully transforming from a Talent Academy student into a university student."

"Ah..."

Zhang Suannai scratched her ears and cheeks.

After lunch.

Chen Shu no longer looked like he had been beaten earlier; while wiping his mouth, he spoke to the young girl beside him with the air of a guardian: "Now that you've reached university, you still need to study hard, you know?"

"Okay."

The young girl promised honestly.

"You must listen to your sister's advice; although your sister has a nasty personality, she won't harm you."

"Okay."

"You also need to get along well with your classmates, you know?" Chen Shu thought for a moment, "If you encounter anyone bullying you, or wanting to date you, just call Sister Suannai to go beat them up; your Sister Suannai loves doing that kind of thing the most."

"Okay."

"That's right, that's right." Zhang Suannai nodded repeatedly, "If anyone bullies you, just tell me; I'm always worried about not finding any Joy."

"Okay."

"Let's go!"

"Okay."

Chen Shu got up to pay the bill, and after walking out of the shop door, he waved at Qingqing, then parted ways with them.

It was now afternoon, and there were still many people registering.

When Chen Shu walked past Long Lake, a young girl asked him for directions. The young girl was thin and small, and the scholarly air and naivety on her face could not be hidden; as soon as she opened her mouth, she said, "Senior, may I ask how to get to the courier station?" Fortunately, Chen Shu actually knew.

"Go up, walk until you hit a wall, turn right, and you'll be there in a few dozen meters."

"Thank you, Senior."

"You're welcome."

Chen Shu watched the young girl walk away and scratched his head.

Ah... the aging sophomore year.

Yujing Academy was equally lively.

Students coming to register, orientation volunteers, and vendors selling ice jelly and cold noodles gathered at the school gate under the scorching sun, a scene of noise and chaos.

The volunteers seemed to have trained a discerning eye for people; although Chen Shu was pulling a suitcase, no one came up to ask if he was a freshman. Chen Shu touched his own youthful, handsome face, which looked like it was eighteen, and could only blame the crew cut Qingqing had given him for looking too mature.

The air conditioner in the Dormitory was not on.

Only Jiang Lai was there alone.

Chen Shu put his luggage back in the room and opened the balcony door to let in some air, deciding to tidy up later, then walked out and asked: "Are you the only one here?"

"Yeah."

"Brother Meng hasn't come back yet?"

"No."

"I thought so, you didn't even turn on the air conditioner." Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth; if Brother Meng were here, he would definitely have turned the air conditioner to the lowest setting.

"Save some Spiritual Fee..."

"Why save that stuff..." Chen Shu said as he went to turn on the air conditioner, "Did Brother Meng say when he would be back? Have you asked?"

"I asked." Jiang Lai scratched his head, "He said he has something to take care of recently and might come back a few days after school starts."

"What thing?"

"Don't know."

"Did you ask?"

"Asked, he didn't say."

"So mysterious..."

Chen Shu found a spot near the air conditioner and sprawled out, picked up his Mobile Phone to scroll through short videos, and quickly returned to his state from last semester, as if the summer vacation had never existed.