Chapter 2
Jiang Zhong arrived at the school at 10:30 AM on the first day of the month.
Classes had already started today, and since it was during class hours and the weather was hot, there were few people walking around the campus.
Their major had no scheduled classes today, and the class monitor had informed them earlier that there would be a class meeting at 3 PM.
【I just arrived at school and will be in the dorm in five minutes.】
After replying to Deng Letian, who had been incessantly tagging him in the dorm group chat, Jiang Zhong pushed his suitcase in the direction of the dormitory building.
After registering his return to school information on the first floor, Jiang Zhong, carrying the heat of the day with him, went to the vending machine to buy water.
“Drink less cola.”
The sudden voice from behind almost startled Jiang Zhong.
Jiang Zhong reflexively turned around and saw Xi Qin, who was dressed in casual clothes, standing very close to him.
Xi Qin made eye contact with him for a moment before turning his gaze to the product selection screen and calmly added, “It lowers sperm count.”
Jiang Zhong: “…”
He wasn’t planning on buying cola, his finger had just happened to hover over it while swiping through the screen.
Jiang Zhong didn’t argue. He nodded and scrolled down to select bottled water instead.
This gesture, in Xi Qin’s eyes, made Jiang Zhong appear very docile.
After the bottled water dropped into the dispenser, Jiang Zhong bent down to grab it and immediately twisted it open to take a sip. Afterwards, he asked, “What are you doing here?”
In the past couple of days, every time Jiang Zhong logged into the game, he would see that Xi Qin was also online. If neither of them had started a game yet, Xi Qin would invite him to play.
During their games, Xi Qin mentioned that he had already been staying at his off campus apartment for several days.
“Came down to buy water,” Xi Qin didn’t catch that Jiang Zhong’s “here” referred to the campus, and after replying, he extended his arm and tapped twice on the vending machine’s screen. He then pulled out a bottle of the same water as Jiang Zhong and casually handed it to him. “Hold this for me.”
Before Jiang Zhong could react, Xi Qin had already turned and picked up Jiang Zhong’s suitcase, heading upstairs as if it were his own.
Suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed, Jiang Zhong hurriedly caught up with him.
Jiang Zhong’s home was nearby, so he didn’t bring much luggage this time. The suitcase in Xi Qin’s hand seemed weightless and didn’t slow him down from going upstairs at all.
Plus, with Xi Qin being tall and having long legs, he took two steps at a time. By the time Jiang Zhong caught up with him, they had already reached the third floor.
Holding two bottles of water, Jiang Zhong awkwardly said, “Actually, you don’t have to come down to help me. I’m not tired, just a little hot.”
Realizing his real intentions had been seen through, Xi Qin stiffly explained, “Just happened to be on the way.”
It wasn’t clear whether he was referring to buying water or helping Jiang Zhong with his suitcase.
Jiang Zhong said, “That’s such a coincidence. Every time, it’s ‘just on the way’…”
Jiang Zhong was always the last one to return to the dorm at the start of each semester. In contrast, Deng Letian was always the first, and he couldn’t stand being alone. Once he arrived, he would repeatedly ask in the dorm chat when everyone else would be arriving, down to a margin of error of no more than five minutes.
In the first semester of freshman year, before the four dorm mates had even met, Deng Letian had found their names from the move-in list provided by the department and added Jiang Zhong and the other two on WeChat, then created a dorm group chat.
After Deng Letian arrived at school, he asked the others when they’d be arriving and offered to help with their luggage.
Jiang Zhong, feeling they weren’t really acquainted at the time, didn’t feel comfortable asking for help.
A man dragged two large suitcases by himself, along with a bulging oversized backpack, from the school gate to the dormitory building. It was the middle of the day, and the scorching heat in those few minutes made him sweat so much that it soaked through his white T-shirt.
After resting for two minutes at the staircase, Jiang Zhong had just decided to carry the suitcases up one half-flight at a time when he heard a voice behind him, “Do you need help?”
At that time, Xi Qin had also just bought a bottle of water from the vending machine. After Jiang Zhong thanked him, Xi Qin handed him the water, then picked up both suitcases and headed upstairs, taking two steps at a time.
He didn’t even ask Jiang Zhong which floor he was going to.
It wasn’t until they reached the third floor that Xi Qin seemed to remember and asked which dorm Jiang Zhong was in. After Jiang Zhong answered, Xi Qin, in a surprised yet calm tone, said, “What a coincidence, we’re in the same dorm. I’m Xi Qin, and you’re Jiang Zhong, right?”
At that time, Jiang Zhong was too excited about starting college, too tired from carrying all that luggage, and too surprised that the person helping him was actually his dormmate. Because of all this, he didn’t notice anything unusual about Xi Qin or their oddly questions and answers conversation.
Just like now, Jiang Zhong felt there were too many coincidences between him and Xi Qin, but he still hadn’t realized anything strange about Xi Qin.
Perhaps this was just fate?
“Yeah, it’s quite a coincidence,” Xi Qin replied calmly.
Jiang Zhong and his roommates’ dorm number was 412. After carrying Jiang Zhong’s suitcase to the fourth floor, Xi Qin let him take it from there.
Xi Qin took back the bottle of water from Jiang Zhong, twisted it open, and gulped down almost half of it to show that he was indeed very thirsty. It’s shown that he came downstairs to buy water and just coincidentally ran into Jiang Zhong, so he helped him carry his suitcase up as a “on the way.” favor.
Deng Letian and Xiao Yuan were still lying on their beds when Jiang Zhong pushed the door open. Both of them looked over at him at the same time, “Here they come.”
“Yeah, why are you guys still not up?” Jiang Zhong felt more familiar with Deng Letian and Xiao Yuan compared to Xi Qin, so he spoke more casually with them.
Xi Qin, who had followed behind him silently, walked straight to his own bed.
“It’s not like there’s any reason to get up,” Deng Letian said indifferently. “Playing on my phone is the same wherever I am, and lying down is more comfortable than sitting.”
When thinking about it, that does make sense.
“No,” Xiao Yuan interjected, “If you get up, you can sit and play on the computer.”
“Then why don’t you get up?” Jiang Zhong asked.
“Because Letian didn’t get up. If it’s just me, I don’t feel like getting up either,” Xiao Yuan explained with a reason.
“Just you?” Jiang Zhong glanced at Xi Qin. “Hasn’t Xi Qin already gotten up?”
“He just got back from outside this morning,” Deng Letian answered.
“Oh…” Jiang Zhong nodded. Seeing Xi Qin smile at him, he returned with a small smile.
Jiang Zhong organized his luggage, hung his clothes in the closet, and shared his snacks with his three roommates.
“Are you guys going to eat?” Jiang Zhong asked after finishing his packing around 11:30.
During this time, Xiao Yuan had already gotten up and washed up. He said, “I ordered takeout.”
Deng Letian was still lazing on his bed, “I don’t want to go, it’s too hot.”
Xi Qin, who had been quietly playing on his phone, turned to Jiang Zhong and looked at him seriously, “Are you going to the cafeteria? I’ll go with you.”
“Sure, let’s go.” Jiang Zhong stroked his hair in front of the mirror in their dorm, “It’ll be too crowded after classes end… Letian, want us to bring you something?”
“No need, I’ll order takeout now,” Deng Letian said as he sat up on bed.
Their university, H University, had four cafeterias, simply named Cafeteria 1, 2, 3, and 4. Jiang Zhong and Xi Qin chose to go to Cafeteria 3 because it accepted more than just meal cards for payment.
Even though classes had not ended yet, the cafeteria was still fairly busy during the lunch time rush, though not to the point of needing to wait in line.
After some deliberation, Jiang Zhong decided to have ¹stir-fried spicy hotpot, and naturally, Xi Qin followed suit.
“The food here is pretty good. Have you tried it before?” Jiang Zhong asked.
“No, it’s my first time,” Xi Qin replied.
While they waited for their food, Jiang Zhong recommended a few other stalls that he thought had good food, and Xi Qin made note of them one by one.
Since Xi Qin lived outside campus for the most time, he rarely had the chance to eat with Jiang Zhong and the others, but Jiang Zhong remembered that Xi Qin’s tastes were pretty similar to his own.
During the few group meals they had, Xi Qin always ordered dishes that Jiang Zhong liked.
At one point, Jiang Zhong even joked with him, “If we ever lived together, we’d never fight about what to eat.”
What was Xi Qin’s reaction to that? It seemed like he didn’t react much, just gave a faint “Mm.”
When their stir-fried spicy hotpot was finally served, Jiang Zhong froze for a moment at the sight of a thick layer of cilantro on top.
After a whole vacation, he had forgotten how generous this place was with cilantro—it always piled it on as if it were free.
But Jiang Zhong couldn’t stand the taste of cilantro. In his opinion, it didn’t smell good, it smelled foul.
Jiang Zhong silently picked up the largest stalk of cilantro and was about to find a proper place to dispose of it.
“Give it to me.”
Xi Qin, who was sitting across from Jiang Zhong, pushed his bowl closer until it touched Jiang Zhong’s.
“Hm?”
“You don’t eat cilantro, right?” Xi Qin said. “Give it to me.”
“How did you know…” Jiang Zhong thought. Although he didn’t eat cilantro, he didn’t think he had shown such strong disdain for it, and he couldn’t imagine Xi Qin figuring it out from just one action.
Maybe he had mentioned it during a previous group meal? Jiang Zhong didn’t expect Xi Qin to remember that.
“Alright,” Jiang Zhong agreed.
After transferring all the cilantro from his bowl to Xi Qin’s, Xi Qin’s bowl was piled even higher with cilantro. At first glance, it looked as if he had ordered a bowl of cilantro.
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¹”spicy dry hotpot” or “stir-fried spicy hotpot.” often includes cilantro (香菜) as a garnish or flavoring, though this can vary depending on personal preference or the restaurant.