Chapter 88: Cultured Wang Qi
To all Divine Province people watching, Mao Zimiao included, Wang Qi’s interest in the roof was unnatural, to say the least.
Looking at it another way, one would label it culture shock. The roofs of Divine Province were sloped at 45 degrees, making them uncomfortable for people to stand on, to normal people. While back on Earth, the sketchy style regulations were unclear for a house’s roofing, resulting in plenty of flat roofs.
For the melodramatic school romance on Earth, the roof was used as a glorified spot for booty calls. Not to forget its other reputation, a stage for philandering seniors to duke it out. Barring those exceptional locations, most school roofs in the world were banned for students.
Wang Qi fell in love with it after interrupting his studies in Copenhagen and returning home due to family matters. He embodied the phrase ‘aspirations as high as the sky, but fate as fragile as paper.’ He failed to join a renowned domestic laboratory, but he still dreamt of winning the Nobel Prize one day. Back then, he would often climb on the rooftop, enjoying the scenery with a can of beer.
Wang Qi lived in a big metropolis, not far from the business district. Calling it a ‘city that never sleeps’ wasn’t much of a stretch. There was not a moment of silence downtown, night or day. Yet the rooftop of his building was placed in a quiet area.
Wang Qi actually hated beer, but he forced himself to bring it every time because he found that drinking coke in a situation where he reaffirmed his ideals despite fate throwing a wrench in his dreams would ruin the mood. It was kinda like two Vikings swearing a blood oath and using a farmer’s sweet wine to celebrate.
On the roof, a teenager with lofty aspirations leaned alone against the wall, a can of beer in his hand, as he gazed at the noisy and tacky crowd below.
[Talk about pretentiousness. Very pretentious indeed.] He thought it twice for effect.
Even crossing over didn’t manage to cure him of this habit. He often climbed on his home’s roof before accepting this new strange world, avoiding his family he didn’t know how to face. Once his grandfather died, he got used to looking down at Albion Village from the rooftop.