Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Students were pre-assigned beds within their specific rooms. Their set of furniture was also labeled with their personal information. Chen Hansheng’s assigned bed was still the same one as before, by the balcony.

This position had pros and cons. The advantage was that it overlooked the entire room, thus he could clearly see what his roommates were doing. The disadvantage was that the balcony was dirty, as was expected for male dormitories, and the smell was stronger in the summer.

Even now, the balcony still had ‘treasures’ left behind by their seniors: beer bottles, cigarette boxes, old books, and a few pairs of underwear with holes in them.

Chen Hansheng put down his luggage and introduced himself with a smile. “My name is Chen Hansheng. I’m from Port City in Sudong Province. Where are you guys from?”

Since Chen Hansheng had initiated it, the others introduced themselves as well.

The oldest was Yang Shichao, a native of northern Liaoning. Next was Guo Shaoqiang, a native of Guangling in Sudong Province. Then there was Dai Zhenyou, a native of Jingbei.

Chen Hansheng was the fourth among them in terms of age. Next were Li Zhennan, a native of eastern Guangdong, and Jin Yangming, a native of Jianye.

As they slowly got to know each other, they started to mention their familiarity and fondness for each person’s hometowns. They couldn’t bring up their grades since they knew they had all been admitted in the second batch.

Yang Shichao, the oldest, took out his cigarettes and distributed them to the others. Guo Shaoqiang and Chen Hansheng both took one each. Dai Zhenyou hesitated for a while before taking one and lighting it. It was obvious from the way he did it that he was a newbie. Li Zhennan and Jin Yangming politely rejected Yang Shichao’s offer.

Yang Shichao tried to persuade the duo. “We’re already university students. What’s the big deal about smoking a cigarette?”

Guo Shaoqiang also said, “There are already four smokers in the room. If the two of you don’t want to be secondhand smokers, you might as well smoke a cigarette.”

Chen Hansheng noticed Zhennan and Yangming looking embarrassed but he remained silent.

His thirty-five-year-old self had lost touch with Jin Yangming but he was still friends with Li Zhennan. After the latter graduated, he went back to his hometown and dabbled around in the stock market before moving on to the foreign exchange market. There was no doubt that he had made a lot of money.

When Chen Hansheng went on a business trip to eastern Guangdong to look for him, he found out that this son of a b*tch was already a regular of the entertainment club, 998, so he didn’t need to worry about smoking just to be a part of the group.

However, the current Zhennan was still young. In the end, he gave in and smoked one, but he choked and coughed heavily right after the first puff. Yang Shichao and Guo Shaoqiang looked at each other and laughed. They weren’t bad people. They just wanted to have fun.

Jin Yangming said, “These cigarettes only cost a few yuan a pack so they’ll definitely choke you if you’re a newbie. You should go for Chunghua or Sequoia. They’re both mellow and more fragrant.”

Li Zhennan nodded with a red face. But Jin Yangming’s words had made Yang Shichao a little unhappy. Was Jin Yangming saying that his cigarettes were bad?

“Everyone in my hometown smokes this, and nothing else we’ve smoked could come close to it,” said Yang Shichao in a muffled voice.

Jin Yangming immediately knew that he had touched on a sensitive area. He turned away and remained silent.

The room suddenly became quiet. Only Chen Hansheng continued smoking alone. These university students were so cute, creating drama over such a small matter.

But he didn’t bother to dissuade them. Conflicts were always inevitable among roommates. Plus, in most cases, the issue will resolve by itself since the parties involved don’t actually care too much about it. Sometimes, having another person get involved would only make matters worse.

Chen Hansheng stood up and stretched his muscles. He picked up a broom and swept towards the balcony.

The balcony still smelled terrible. Even the smell of their cigarettes could barely overcome the stench there. Once, the entire room had to evacuate for a month just for the cleaning company to get rid of the smell. No one knew how the six of them had managed to endure it.

Chen Hansheng was making good progress in cleaning the balcony. His enthusiasm motivated some of the others to join in.

Li Zhennan was the first to do so. “Should we help Hansheng? It’s everyone’s room, after all. We can’t let him clean it alone.”

Before the others could say anything, Jin Yangming said, “The balcony is so small. If we help out, wouldn’t it become too many cooks spoiling the broth? How about we treat Hansheng to breakfast tomorrow instead?”

Yang Shichao thought about it and eventually supported Li Zhennan’s idea. “I think we should help out and clean together.”

The enthusiastic boys quickly went over to the balcony, opened the door, and stuck their heads out to ask, “Hansheng, do you need help?”

Chen Hansheng was washing the black solid on the balcony floor. He didn’t know if it was some bastard’s ‘legacy’, but it was too hard to wash.

“No need. I can handle it alone.” Chen Hansheng refused their offer.

“Hansheng, I’ll come help too.” Li Zhennan was very insistent. He had even started to take off his shoes.

Chen Hansheng wiped the sweat off his face and impatiently said, “I said there’s no need. Go and get the cigarettes on Shichao’s desk.”

Chen Hansheng took the cigarette they brought him and directly pushed Li Zhennan out. Then, he hummed a nonsensical song.

Jin Yangming, who was in the dormitory, smiled and said, “See, wasn’t I right? Hansheng seems to be a straightforward and honest man.”

Guo Shaoqiang also nodded. “Hansheng is so responsible. He must have been the kind of person who is used to doing housework.”

These boys had only just met each other and they had already decided to appoint Hansheng as their room leader, a suggestion mainly by Jin Yangming.

There was no real benefit to being the room leader. Jin Yangming was just hoping Hansheng would be the one in charge of cleaning.

Chen Hansheng washed the balcony for an entire hour and a half before the place became sparkly clean. It was only when he had re-entered the room that he found out that he had been designated room leader.

“Hansheng, we have unanimously voted to give you this position. We look forward to your leadership in bringing us to a better tomorrow,” said Jin Yangming proudly.

“Well, it’s not a fixed position. We can all take on the role in turns.”

It was Li Zhennan again. He was the only one who voiced his objection. But the other roommates didn’t want to do the labor work.

Chen Hansheng smiled, flicked the cigarette butt in his hand, and said, “No problem. I’ll be room leader.”

Who knew? Perhaps one day, the role may be beneficial to him.

…

Chen Hansheng was feeling hungry again. However, the cafeteria was already closed and there was no takeout nearby. He rubbed his chin and suddenly said, “It’s not even ten o’clock yet. Let’s go find a food stall and have supper.”

“What?”

A few of his roommates raised their heads one after another. Some of them were ready to go to bed.

“It’s too late, Hansheng,” said Dai Zhenyou.

“Too late for what? Supper? Hurry up and get changed,” said Chen Hansheng urgently.

Yang Shichao and Guo Shaoqiang were both tempted. They had been looking forward to university but registration day had been too unexciting. They felt as if something was missing.

Now that Chen Hansheng had suggested something fun, they immediately jumped on it.

How could they allow their university life to be the same as their high school life? They had to be wilder! Yang Shichao quickly agreed. “Hansheng is right. We can go anywhere and just get a drink.”

Guo Shaoqiang was already changing his clothes. The duo was basically ready to go as Hansheng was still trying to persuade the others.

Hansheng didn’t want to leave anyone out on their first outing together. Otherwise, it might affect the room dynamics in the future.

Dai Zhenyou was easy to deal with. As long as everyone else went, he would definitely go.

As for Jin Yangming, Hansheng had to step in before he could object. “Jianye is a city that doesn’t sleep. As a local, you shouldn’t go to bed so early, right?”

Jin Yangming thought about it and agreed. As a resident of the provincial capital city, he couldn’t be underestimated by this group of outsiders.

“Who’s sleeping? I was just thinking of asking my cousin to drive over and take us to bar 1912 for a trip.”

Jin Yangming was not the least bit embarrassed by his lie.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go.”

Then, Hansheng turned to Li Zhennan.

Li Zhennan had already changed into his pajamas. “Hansheng, I really don’t want to go. Firstly, I can’t drink. Secondly, I’m used to sleeping at this time. Wait, what are you doing?”

Before Li Zhennan could finish finding excuses, Chen Hansheng had climbed onto his bed. “Are you going or not? If not, I’ll take off my pants and hug you to sleep tonight.”

Li Zhennan would rather drink himself to death at the table than let Chen Hansheng succeed.

The others laughed but little did they know that Hansheng had his own way of persuading others without losing himself.

This was emotional intelligence.