Just as he was about to open the door, he discovered a talisman pasted on the dormitory door.
"Brother Xiao Yuan, what is this..."
"It ca by."
"Ah?"
Tan Wenbin imdiately went into alert mode, left hand holding the basin and right hand clutching the towel.
"It ran away."
"Oh." Tan Wenbin relaxed, "Bro, what was it?"
"Ran too fast, didn’t get a good look."
"Bro, from now on I’ll try not to go out at night, to protect you."
"I’m going to sleep."
"Okay." Tan Wenbin opened the dormitory door, the sound of his flip-flops echoed "smack smack" crisply in the corridor, "Screw night running, better to stick with Xiao Yuan. Tsk, our Brother Xiao Yuan is way more freaky."
The next morning, Li Zhiyuan woke up.
Out of habit, he turned his head and saw Tan Wenbin still sound asleep.
The disparity was quite significant.
Li Zhiyuan got out of bed, picked up the basin, and went to the sink to wash up. While he was doing so, soone ca in humming a tune.
"Hey, little dude, are you here for college too? Hahaha."
"Yeah."
"Eh..." The other person hesitated before asking again, "Really here for college?"
"Yeah."
"No way, for real?"
Li Zhiyuan finished washing up, tidied his things into the basin, and walked out.
The other man, brushing his teeth, craned his neck out to see Li Zhiyuan enter the furthest dorm room before retreating.
The boy set down his basin and had just sat at the desk when Tan Wenbin woke up. Bending down to pick up the blanket kicked off the bed, he muttered:
"Sleeping in a coffin would be better, no worries about kicking off the blanket."
Getting out of bed, Tan Wenbin stretched and said, "Brother Xiao Yuan, after I wash up, I’ll go out and get you breakfast."
"No need, let’s et up with Brother Runsheng later. We’ll go out and have fun these next few days. Once classes start, they’ll be busy with the store."
"Fair enough."
Tan Wenbin took his basin and left. A while later, he ca back, laughing as he entered:
"Just t a sophomore at the sink, kept asking if you’re really a student. Nice guy, his na is Lu Yi, from Harbin. Even gave a sausage."
Saying so, Tan Wenbin took a bite himself: "Mmm, tastes authentic."
"You’ve had sausage before?"
"Never, but the taste from the first ti I tried it, for that’s the real deal."
"He’s not going ho?"
"No, he’s staying at school to tutor part-ti. He said it’s a hassle to tutor back in his hotown since it’s rural."
Li Zhiyuan and Tan Wenbin arrived at the affordable store. The goods were already taken stock of last night, and business wasn’t busy now, so they left Aunt Sun to mind the store while the four of them stepped out of the school gate and boarded a bus.
Tan Wenbin noticed Runsheng carrying a big bag and asked, "Runsheng, why the huge water supply?"
Bringing your own water to sightseeing spots or buying it outside the attractions is a common behavior among Chinese tourists.
The reason being that water inside the scenic areas is more expensive. As for food... well, no one in their right mind would splurge on snacks sold within the sights.
"I found a bunch of nearly expired and just expired snacks last night, so I brought them all. I eat a lot, and dining out is expensive, perfect chance to polish off these snacks."
"Runsheng, you’re the vice boss now, you should stop being so miserly and live a little."
Runsheng slapped his bag, "These are all good stuff. Hard to co by in my childhood, never dread I’d one day be able to freely enjoy snacks."
After disembarking, the four entered a duck blood vermicelli soup shop for breakfast.
Then they continued to visit several attractions that day, all narrated by Li Zhiyuan. By dusk, even Li Zhiyuan felt his throat going hoarse.
No help for it, natural landscapes are sothing everyone can appreciate with their eyes, but cultural sites without detailed explanations are nothing more than a quick glance, and visitors leave saying there’s nothing interesting.
The four took the last bus back to school and then went to "Old Sichuan" for dinner, splitting up into pairs after entering the school gates.
Runsheng walked into the store, not seeing Aunt Sun there, his hands still holding a pack of brown sugar mochi specially brought back for her.
"She must be downstairs." Yin ng clasped her hair with a hair tie, then grabbed a broom to start sweeping.
Runsheng headed towards the basent, knocked on Aunt Sun’s door, and got no response; the light was off, she was probably not there.
He returned to his own room only to find the dog cage empty.
After searching around, he eventually found the shaking black dog curled up underneath the bed.
The black dog was not its usual lazy self, instead, its eyes were watery and its body was trembling.
Runsheng stood up silently, walked over to his luggage, and took out the Yellow River Shovel.
Yin ng, sweeping the floor, heard the sound of a stool scraping on the floor above. School had not started, and there shouldn’t be any rehearsal activities, so theoretically, there shouldn’t be anyone upstairs.
Approaching the staircase, Yin ng shouted upwards, "Aunt Sun, are you up there, Aunt Sun?"
No response, but the scraping sound of the chair was getting clearer.
Yin ng climbed the stairs and reached the second floor, where the light switch was right at the stairwell. The lights were off, but by the moonlight seeping through the windows, she could faintly make out a dancing shadow.
The figure danced with abandon, occasionally knocking the surrounding chairs off track.
The light switch was at the stairwell entrance. Yin ng reached over for it.
"Click!"
The light ca on; the shadow vanished.
Inside the spacious wooden-floor dance studio, it looked empty.
Footsteps sounded behind her. Yin ng turned around and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Runsheng.
Runsheng, holding the Yellow River Shovel, walked up, and as he passed Yin ng, he remarked, "Xiao Hei was scared by sothing he saw."
Yin ng, hearing this, got frightened too.
Runsheng, gripping the shovel, walked into the center of the dance studio and looked all around.
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