Chapter 29

Chapter 29

The next day was officially the first day of class. Public Administration was known as a versatile major as the students would learn a large variety of things such as Principles of Management, Western Economics, Organizational Behavior, and Applied Statistics.

During the first few days of classes, everyone paid their full attention to the lectures. Yang Shichao even bought a new notebook and carefully took notes. Everyone was attentive except Chen Hansheng.

However, once everyone started getting used to the daily class routines, they started to relax as Hansheng did at the beginning. Chen Hansheng, on the other hand, had started sleeping in class.

“Hansheng, why aren’t you paying attention?”

Li Zhennan was Hansheng’s seatmate so he saw everything.

“I’m old. I can’t remember anything I learn.” Chen Hansheng replied lazily. He had been like Yang Shichao at the beginning, where he had bought a brand new notebook and diligently scribbled neat notes into the first couple of pages. But by the time he was to fill the fifth page, the words either started looking like a doctor’s handwriting or there were doodles everywhere.

“You’re not that old. At least try to pay attention. Otherwise, you’re just going to look for me to tutor you for the exam.”

Yang Shichao started putting on his ‘oldest among the roommates’ hat as he showed off his class notes.

Chen Hansheng pursed his lips as he thought, ‘By the time the final exams come around, Shen Youchu will be my girlfriend already. So why would I need you to tutor me?’ He also couldn’t stand Yang Shichao pretending to be a scholar as the former pushed the latter’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go. We’ll catch them all in one go. CS Dust II.”

“No, no. Don’t hinder my study.” Yang Shichao firmly refused.

“I’ll treat you to a meal for lunch.” Chen Hansheng kept persuading.

“I don’t want a meal. I want to study.” Yang Shichao still refused.

“And a bottle of soda.”

“Hanhsheng, don’t be like this. Our parents sent us here to study.”

“I’ll also pay for the internet cafe bill.”

“Let’s go. If we’re late, we might not have a chance. Shaoqiang, stop pretending. The teacher is already on page five, yet you’re still dawdling on page three.”

And thus, the three internet addicts skipped class for the first time in university. They planned to leave the current ‘Introduction to Mao’ class during recess.

The good kid, Li Zhennan, didn’t want to go. Jin Yangming wasn’t doing well in his studies and wanted to play too but no one wanted him to join.

The closest person to Jin Yangming was Dai Zhenyou, and it was only because of Yangming’s cell phone.

Although Jin Yangming did not admit it, he really wanted to hang out with Chen Hansheng. He saw him as part of his ‘upper-class circle’, but he could not let go of his pride as a big city person from Jianye, so he was conflicted.

And because of his pride, he suddenly shouted out loud just as Chen Hansheng and the other two were about to leave quietly. “Teacher, I have something to report!”

Introduction to Mao was a lesson taught by a little old man, so he was almost scared by this shout. He pushed his reading glasses up his nose bridge and asked, “What’s the matter, student?”

Chen Hansheng and the other two were also shocked as they quickly got back in their seats. Introduction to Mao was a huge class as the three classes of Public Administration were taught at the same time. Thus, at that moment, more than 100 students were looking at Jin Yangming.

Jin Yangming warningly looked at the internet addicts and then said, “Teacher, you forgot to assign homework.”

Before Chen Hansheng and the others could say anything, the other students started grumbling.

‘F*cking idiot. Who would specifically remind the teacher to leave homework?’

Fortunately, the teacher also knew that these metaphysical political ideas were not very meaningful, especially not for homework assignments. “Thank you for the reminder, student. But we will just mainly focus on after-class self-study.”

“Jin Yangming, are you a snitch? You did it on purpose, right?” asked Guo Shaoqiang in a muffled voice.

Jin Yangming snorted coldly and fiddled with his phone, not saying a word.

Chen Hansheng thought that Jin Yangming was very hypocritical. In the end, he said, “Yangming, let’s go together. The more the merrier.”

Jin Yangming pretended to hesitate for a moment before reluctantly saying, “I want the sniper rifle.”

“Alright, alright, alright. We’ll do as you say.”

Thus, the party of three expanded into a party of four. It was the first time they skipped class in university, thus they were both excited and a little nervous.

At the school gate, a security guard stopped them and insisted that they signed before they were allowed to go. Chen Hansheng figured that one of the heads of the university had probably instructed the security guards to do this to discourage freshmen from skipping class.

“Just sign it. It’s useless anyway.”

Chen Hansheng left after signing the papers.

Jin Yangming was the second. However, when he saw that Chen Hansheng had signed ‘Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Public Administration Class 2, Li Zhennan’, he cursed silently, ‘B*tch.’ Then, he quickly wrote down ‘Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Public Administration Class 2, Dai Zhenyou’.

Yang Shichao and Guo Shaoqiang followed suit. In short, everyone successfully managed to get out of the campus. However, when they arrived at the internet cafe, Chen Hansheng let them play first. He had something he needed to do before that and would come back later.

“Weird.”

Although the other three found it strange, they were soon immersed in their online battles.

Chen Hansheng walked out of the internet cafe and took out the part-time job ad that he had torn from the water room. The address on it was near Tianyuan East Road, which was not far from the Yiwu Business Center. Chen Hansheng just had to walk for about ten minutes and soon arrived.

It was a row of two-story street-facing shops. However, since it was still 2002, the area was really quiet. There was no subway, and there were not many people in the residential area. The spending power of university students was also very limited. Therefore, the business of these street-facing shops was average, far inferior to Yiwu Business Center.

At present, only the Jiangling branch of Shentong Express Delivery Company was open. Many courier staffs were moving and organizing the parcels at the door.

“There is no uniform and packages are handled in a rough and unsafe manner. The current Shentong is still a grass-roots organization.”

Chen Hansheng thought for a moment and walked over to pass a cigarette to a courier staff. “Hey, mister, is your manager here?”

The cigarette was a Hongjinling, which was a level higher than the Hongtashan that the courier staff often smoked. He put the cigarette behind one of his ears and happily pointed the way. “Manager Zhong is on the second floor.”

Chen Hansheng thanked him and went straight to the second floor. On the way, he noticed how disorganized and carelessly the packages had been kept. This was representative of the current situation of the express delivery industry.

Hansheng pushed open the door to the office on the second floor and was greeted by an equally disorganized space. There were only two sets of dusty desks and a water dispenser.

A man in his forties sat on a chair with a cigarette in one hand while the other hand was filling out a delivery form. When he saw Chen Hansheng come in, he only took a glance and asked, “Who are you looking for?”

“I saw this job ad at school,” said Chen Hansheng as he took out the recruitment notice.

“Oh.”

The man took another look and casually asked, “Which school are you from?”

“The School of Finance and Economics.”

“Too late. Your school already has an agent. You can only be his offline agent.”

The middle-aged man continued to fill in the form, but he felt that the light in the room was still not as bright as before. When he looked up, he found Chen Hansheng still standing at the door.

“Didn’t I tell you to go back? Your school already has an agent,” said the middle-aged man as he flicked the ashes of his cigarette.

But Chen Hansheng still did not move. He looked at the middle-aged man and said, “I just want to ask one more question. How can I replace that general agent?”

…