Chapter 168 - 167: A Little Jealousy (Fourth Update)
When the two of them returned to the dormitory, the door was already open—seems like someone new had arrived.
They stepped inside and saw five more girls had come.
The dormitory suddenly felt crowded.
Originally, this dormitory was just one open room, with bunk beds on both sides and a desk in the middle, taking up quite a bit of space, leaving not much room to move around.
Now it was crowded because there were also parents of the students, making it feel even more cramped.
Gu Xiaoqing and He Min’s return went unnoticed.
Gu Xiaoqing sensitively noticed a faint shoe print on the edge of her bed sheet, glancing at the middle-aged woman bustling on the upper bunk above.
Gu Xiaoqing was speechless—aren’t there stairs? Why step on her bed?
Before Gu Xiaoqing could brush off the shoe print, the middle-aged woman nimbly came down. Initially, she stepped on the iron frame due to the height, but when reaching the ground, her leather shoes unexpectedly landed directly on Gu Xiaoqing’s bed again.
Gu Xiaoqing thought initially that it was unintentional—future classmates would see each other often, so she could let it slide once or twice, but seeing how it was now, the middle-aged woman clearly hadn’t realized.
If she taught this to her daughter in the future, where would Gu Xiaoqing find fairness?
Quickly, she shouted, "Auntie, your shoes, this is my bed, the sheets are all new, please mind your steps."
On hearing this, the middle-aged woman blushed. It wasn’t that she didn’t know; she just hadn’t seen the person who occupied the bed earlier, so she assumed the person hadn’t returned yet.
Stepping on it felt convenient, and she hadn’t thought much of it. But now, seeing the young girl nearby, it felt embarrassing.
She hurriedly apologized, "Oh dear, I’m sorry, Auntie didn’t see. It was accidental. Are you in first-year, class one too?"
She patted the obvious shoe print while speaking to Gu Xiaoqing.
A fair-skinned young girl nearby wasn’t having it, storming up to Gu Xiaoqing, "Why are you talking about my mom? Who told you to choose the lower bunk? If you don’t like it, don’t stay there."
The girl’s words were somewhat unreasonable.
The mother quickly pulled her daughter aside, reprimanding her, "Guo Donghua, how can you speak like that? What’s wrong with her being on the lower bunk? If there’s a ladder, we should follow the rules. If everyone did this, who would want the lower bunk?
If you had the lower bunk, would you like it? Apologize quickly."
This was a mother who practiced fairness.
Guo Donghua was unwilling, but seeing her mother’s serious face, realized she had upset her own mother.
Unwillingly, she said to Gu Xiaoqing, "Sorry, I misspoke earlier."
Gu Xiaoqing smiled and stepped aside. Since the apology was made, she couldn’t continue demanding apologies.
Others saw the situation settle down and immediately went about their business.
Soon the parents left.
Arrangements were in place, so it was time for them to go.
There were seven people in the dormitory.
Everyone introduced themselves.
Unexpectedly, two were from first-year, class three, another from class two, and the rest from class one.
It was unknown about the one who hadn’t yet arrived.
The ones from first-year, class three were Wu Xiaomin and He Yan.
The one from class two was Han Meiyue.
From class one, besides Gu Xiaoqing and He Min, were Guo Donghua and a quiet one, Chi Xiuhua.
Everyone was accounted for.
Introductions were made, and the atmosphere became pleasant.
Everyone was discussing where to go for lunch.
Gu Xiaoqing and He Min had decided to eat outside.
Eventually, everyone agreed to go out and see, since it was the cafeteria’s first day serving meals and no one knew if they were good.
Everyone thought of checking out the area outside.
In the end, everyone wanted to join them.
Outside First City School was a small street, with just two or three scattered small shops, and one store specializing in stationery.
The two or three shops included one selling beef noodles, another dumplings, and the last one buns and pot stickers.
The seven of them didn’t know which was the tastiest, so each chose what they preferred.
Gu Xiaoqing and He Min coincidentally chose beef noodles.
Others didn’t agree.
So the two went to have noodles.
This noodle shop was run by an elderly couple, with the man making noodles.
The woman helped tidy up tables, serve the meals, and collect payments.
Gu Xiaoqing and He Min ordered two bowls of beef noodles.
Each bowl was sixty cents.
At this time, Gu Xiaoqing truly experienced how high urban costs were.
The portions were substantial, with a large bowl filled with deep red broth, pure white noodles of consistent thickness, topped with thin slices of beef, and garnished with a bit of green scallions and cilantro, smelling quite nice.
Gu Xiaoqing liked spicy food, adding two spoonfuls of chili oil, eating with a flushed face, both spicy and flavorful, sweating from the heat.
He Min couldn’t handle spicy food well, with the clear broth, but still ended up sweating from eating.
After finishing their meal, they headed straight back.
Who knew when others would finish eating?
Returning to the dormitory, they found that someone had already come back, it was Chi Xiuhua.
The others hadn’t returned yet.
Chi Xiuhua saw Gu Xiaoqing and He Min, hurriedly stuffed the bun she was holding into her lunchbox, closed the lid, her face slightly blushing.
Gu Xiaoqing understood that Chi Xiuhua’s family might not be well-off. When everyone suggested going out to eat, she didn’t want to be antisocial, but she seemed to have returned to the dormitory, quietly eating a bun after finding an excuse.
Without exposing her, as a new first-year student, one’s self-esteem is at its peak—not necessary to hurt someone’s pride.
After all, not being wealthy wasn’t anyone’s fault.
Gradually, everyone returned.
At 2 PM, everyone went to the classroom, as first-year students were receiving textbooks that afternoon.
The first-year curriculum was more heavy, piling up thick stacks of textbooks and exercises.
Teachers simply instructed everyone to return.
Classes would officially start tomorrow.
On stepping out, Gu Xiaoqing saw Fang Shaonan standing by the classroom door, clearly waiting for her.
Bai Zhongyuan was with him too.
As soon as he spotted Gu Xiaoqing, he waved.
Which made Gu Xiaoqing’s following group, including Guo Donghua, freeze in surprise.
Such a handsome guy, clearly a senior student.
Guo Donghua felt uncomfortable; Gu Xiaoqing didn’t seem special, she had heard Gu Xiaoqing was from the countryside—yet somehow she knew city kids?
This didn’t seem normal. (To be continued. If you enjoy this, feel free to vote on Qidian (qidian.com) with recommendation tickets, monthly tickets; your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com)