Today is September 18th, Wednesday.
In Chunming, a young, wealthy woman came across an abandoned little orange cat. Though not a fancy breed, it was incredibly beautiful, with a pair of eyes that seemed to speak, instantly appealing to her sense of cuteness.
The wealthy woman felt that today was truly a good day.
She was extremely happy.
Zhou Li also received the first bicycle of his life.
Although it was secondhand, its frame riddled with dents suggesting frequent falls, Brother Nan insisted, "I maintained this bike really well! It’s just like new!"
"Thank you, Brother Nan."
Zhou Li was also quite happy.
Brother Nan used a screwdriver to remove the cyclocomputer from the handlebars and pocketed it. "I’ll keep this for my new bike. You don’t need it for casual riding; it’s worth several hundred yuan."
"That expensive, huh?"
"It’s GPS-enabled," Brother Nan said. "I’ll leave the screwdriver for you. Just keep it in this small bag."
It was a multipurpose folding screwdriver, similar to a Swiss Army knife, with many functions. A small bag hung on the bike frame, and Zhou Li placed the screwdriver in its side pocket.
"I’ll leave the phone holder for you too. I’ll buy a nicer-looking one for myself," Brother Nan paused for a moment, then added, "Oh, right, this bike doesn’t have a lock. If you want to ride it at school, you’ll need to buy one. Don’t get a disc brake lock; these wheels can be removed easily. Buy one of those long ones, the kind you can use in a fight if you detach it."
"Let me check again..."
Brother Nan thought it over, deeply concerned.
Finally, she was sure there were no other issues. She waved her hand. "Alright, take it. My new bike will arrive in a couple of days. It seems like the cycling club is organizing an event this weekend."
"What kind of event?"
"I don’t know, probably just cycling around the area."
Zhou Li rode off on the bike.
For him and Brother Nan, bicycles were indeed an excellent means of transportation, potentially faster than shared electric bikes. The weather in Chunming was usually pleasant, so riding wouldn’t be too hot. Shared electric bikes weren’t cheap either, and they had range limitations. If he wanted to go to the city center or enjoy the breeze by Dian Lake, shared electric bikes weren’t an option.
Back in the dormitory, he took a nap. His first class was calculus at 2 p.m., taught by a woman. The teacher was tall and heavyset, with an irritable and arrogant demeanor. She began by criticizing the textbook, declaring she wouldn’t follow it and that its authors were incompetent, respecting none of them.
After the first class, Zhou Li felt good. Brother Nan also felt pretty good, even though she had fallen asleep and been woken up by the teacher; it didn’t affect her mood at all.
Class ended at three-forty. There was no class in the second period. It wasn’t early anymore. Zhou Li drank a cup of milk tea on his way back, leisurely walking to the dormitory, and arrived by four o’clock. He figured he could sit for a while and then go to the cafeteria for dinner at five.
He opened the game he had downloaded the previous night and played a round, but felt completely disoriented and got no enjoyment from the game. He decided to close it and listen to the others chat.
As soon as Chen Yang returned, he stripped off his shirt and sat in the middle of the room, legs spread wide. "I think it’s alright," he said, "much more comfortable than the heavy courseload we had in high school. Today is Monday’s schedule, so there are more classes. The other four days have fewer."
Liu Zhengming said, "Second year has more classes."
Chang Xiaoxiang squinted his eyes into crescent moons and said, "I think the girls in our department are quite nice..."
Chen Yang ignored him, glanced at Zhou Li, and raised an eyebrow. "Stopped playing?"
"Can’t play," Zhou Li replied.
"Wait for my computer to arrive, and we’ll team up. It’s only fun when we play together," Chen Yang said, determined to redeem himself in gaming. "By the way, Class Four’s academic representative is quite handsome. You should be careful."
"Wasn’t he the temporary class monitor for Class Four before?" Chang Xiaoxiang gossiped. "He stood with us during military training."
"Yeah, he’s our class monitor’s brother," Chen Yang said.
"Oh? Fraternal twins?"
"Amazing, amazing!" Chang Xiaoxiang nodded. "Their family must have great genes then. Zhong En is indeed handsome and tall. I wonder how many girls in our department will fall for him!"
Zhou Li silently listened to their chat without joining in. He had imagined boys’ dormitories differently; in his mind, it was girls’ dormitories that were .
Then Chang Xiaoxiang began discussing his chat progress with a few girls from the School of Economics, often asking Zhou Li what he should do. Poor Zhou Li, who had spoken to fewer girls in person than Chang Xiaoxiang had added on QQ, was hardly qualified to guide him.
Chen Yang, however, seemed to be a master of theory.
As they talked, Zhou Li noticed Huai Xu had returned at some point. She was sitting on Zhou Li’s bed, not making a sound, listening attentively, as if she had been for a long time. She was in her girl form again, but not the first version Zhou Li had seen. This was the appearance she had adopted during their time with Zheng Zhilan—less exquisite than the original template, but with an added touch of realism.
Sensing Zhou Li’s gaze, Huai Xu lowered her head, a small smile playing on her lips. "Your roommates are really interesting!"
Zhou Li remained silent.
He lowered his head, meeting Chen Yang’s gaze. "What are you looking at?" Chen Yang asked.
Zhou Li casually replied, "A mosquito."
Nearby, Chang Xiaoxiang continued, "I don’t know why, but the female class monitor has been replying to me less lately, even though she used to greet me every night before... Sometimes I think, she’s so beautiful, maybe I really don’t measure up."
Huai Xu’s voice came from above. "What’s the use of just chatting? Invite her out to eat, to do something fun together!"
Zhou Li glanced up again.
Huai Xu looked down at him and said seriously, "That’s how you pursue a girl. Really, I’m sometimes a girl too."
Zhou Li found that quite persuasive.
Meanwhile, Chen Yang offered a serious analysis, "I think you need to reflect first, instead of belittling yourself. Consider why she initiated chats with you and why she’s ignoring you now. Figure out those two reasons."
"I don’t know... I’ll show you the chat history," Chang Xiaoxiang said.
Chen Yang leaned in for a look. Liu Zhengming also silently leaned in. Zhou Li thought about it and followed suit.
Indeed, there had been a time when the monitor of the female student cohort from the School of Economics frequently checked on Chang Xiaoxiang, asking if he had eaten, what he had for dinner, and the next morning, how he had slept. She also often inquired about their dorm and the cohort’s situation.
Scrolling up, Chen Yang found the source.
Chen Shishi had written: "Let me ask you something secretly. Are the monitor from your company and the monitor of your female student cohort really a couple?"
Chang Xiaoxiang had replied: "It doesn’t seem like it. I’m not very sure either."
Chen Yang thought for a moment and began scrolling down, almost to the very end.
Chang Xiaoxiang had written: "Let me tell you, we discussed it in our dorm for a long time and unanimously concluded that Zhou Li and Brother Nan are a couple!"
Chen Shishi’s reply was just: "..."
After that, she hadn’t paid much attention to him.
After his analysis, Chen Yang advised Chang Xiaoxiang, "I suggest you tell her that Zhou Li and Brother Nan are not a couple."
Zhou Li felt very awkward and quietly sat back down.
Huai Xu burst out laughing beside him.
Chang Xiaoxiang, still confused, asked him, "So, are you and Brother Nan actually a couple?"
"But she even gave you a bicycle!"
"She bought a new one... We’re just deskmates."
"Alright, I’ll tell her that!"
"Why not?" Chang Xiaoxiang still regarded Zhou Li as a Master and was keen to hear his advice.
Zhou Li held it in for a long time and finally picked up his meal card. "It’s past five. Let’s go to the cafeteria to eat."
Chang Xiaoxiang studied Zhou Li, lost in thought.
"Brother Li, use my card!"
Zhou Li spent over four yuan on his meal, using his own card. However, Chang Xiaoxiang insisted on adding a fried egg and a braised chicken leg for him, and also went to buy him a milk tea.
Zhou Li felt quite helpless.
There was an evening self-study session on ideology and morality. Zhou Li and Brother Nan sat for a while and then decisively skipped it. The Supernatural Society’s welcome meeting was scheduled for tonight, and many other clubs were holding theirs over these few evenings. Brother Nan herself had joined three.
This troubled Brother Nan. She had heard that some clubs would announce their group chat numbers at the welcome meeting, with future activities being notified there. If you didn’t attend the welcome meeting, you were mostly considered someone who only paid the registration fee.
The Supernatural Society was a small club, one that didn’t have many fee-paying members to begin with, and on top of that, suffered from severe member attrition. This year, they had recruited exceptionally few people and had only managed to secure a regular classroom. Zhou Li and Brother Nan arrived relatively late; by then, there were probably only about twenty people in the room.
The Club President was the squinty-eyed guy.
Brother Nan’s striking appearance attracted a lot of attention, and the president also recognized them and greeted them.
They sat down in a corner. Soon, the meeting began.
This year’s president was an ambitious person. He believed that the topic of the ’supernatural’ was inherently advantageous, and it was only due to the incompetence of past presidents that the Supernatural Society was in such a miserable state. Their recruitment booth was even in the most obscure corner, blocked by flowerbeds; people generally assumed they had reached the end of the club stalls when they got to the Supernatural Society and would just turn back.
Therefore, he had prepared an exquisite PowerPoint presentation, along with a few scary stories and short films.
The president first introduced the club, basically boasting—any past highlights were brought up and flaunted.
Brother Nan was messaging the presidents of her other two clubs.
Huai Xu stood beside the president, looking at the content on his PPT.
The president spoke passionately, "I believe there are many things in this world that we cannot understand. I’ve had some experiences myself, and I think these things might be right beside us, only we can’t see them!"
Huai Xu nodded profoundly in agreement.
The president suddenly became a bit timid. "But we are not about promoting superstition. Our club exists, firstly, because of our shared interest; we relieve stress and seek sensory stimulation in our own way. Secondly, it’s about exploration. This is a form of bravery—facing the unknown... it’s not right to dismiss it outright!"
Huai Xu listened very attentively, nodding from time to time, indicating her approval of what this person beside her was saying.
The scene was quite amusing.
Brother Nan had also finished sending her texts. She sat beside Zhou Li, staring at the projector screen with a dazed expression.
The president began discussing future plans. "We have a series of exploration activities, including ghost story gatherings, Immortal Pen sessions, and even explorations of nearby abandoned houses with eerie rumors. The ghost story gathering is tomorrow; everyone is welcome to come. The other activities are expected to roll out after the National Day holiday when everyone has more time. You can choose to participate based on your courage."
The president glanced at Brother Nan. He found that Brother Nan was still dazed and seemingly unafraid.
Next, the president and the club officers told a few ghost stories, all in the style of "this really happened," "when my grand-uncle was young," "when I was little in the countryside," and "during past club activities."
Admittedly, they were quite scary. They had clearly put effort into them.
Afterwards, they played a terrifying short film, turning off the lights, further escalating the horrifying atmosphere.
Brother Nan was still dazed.
Zhou Li was expressionless.
The most serious one of all was Huai Xu.
When the meeting finally dispersed, they left the classroom. The crowd gradually thinned out, the noise fading into silence. There were few people on the road. The campus was planted with many flowers and flowering trees. The autumn breeze was refreshing, carrying bursts of fragrance. Zhou Li’s and Brother Nan’s shadows merged and separated as they walked.
"Zhou Li, what do the Demons you see look like?"
"All shapes and forms."
"What about Huai Xu?"
"She is good-looking."
"But what does she really look like? Is she like Xiao Wei from ’Painted Skin’?" Brother Nan’s imagination began to wander.
"No, she looks like a human."
"I really want to see."