for the past. This feeling was quite strange: everything he experienced in his previous life seemed less real, while the environment where he currently lived and grew was truly real. The future held...Chapter Eleven: The Strong Upperclassman

The New Year's Eve party concluded in this manner, and when it ended the rain had become quite heavy. Koi and her student council senior sister shared an umbrella as they returned to their dorm.

Su Can walked through the rain that night not because he was trying to appear profound or different but because most of the students, without umbrellas, were rushing back to their dormitories under the overhangs like a tiger squad. Most of them had been caught off guard by the sudden downpour.

Shielded somewhat from the raindrops by leaves, Su Can felt only exhilaration as the cold droplets splashed against his face.

Tang Wu's performance wasn't the most memorable part of the party, but Su Can's shameless request for a hug went straight to the hearts of all the excited university students who had been unable to find dates.

Everyone was furious because while they each imagined themselves going up on stage under some pretense and having intimate contact with her, there were even introverted individuals who had thought about slipping a small note requesting a date into their bouquet. Who knew if the girl would be moved by such an unexpected gesture

So late at night, these notes left messages for each other.

But all of this daydreaming and sexual desire was just in the hearts of those passionate but restrained individuals; on their faces they wore a collective facade of propriety.

No one dared to act upon it. They well knew the difference between life and fantasy.

In the audience, they could let their imaginations run wild, but when actually standing on stage, none would be arrogant enough to stand there with an attitude that invited a girl's embrace; after all, such a thing was unrealistic and too fantastical. The most likely outcome was to stand before her, stammering, blushing like a tomato, and grinning foolishly.

But someone had been shameless enough to do it.

Later, a psychology major from Nan Da University analyzed how he used subtle body language cues and cleverly exploited the crowd's curiosity, ultimately making the girl give in under pressure from so many people. In other words, she couldn't help but let him take advantage of her.

Essentially, she was unwilling to do it.

This indirectly proved how shameless this guy really was.

No one realized that Su Can secretly believed if not for the Welcoming Party and all these new students, he would have long ago been neck deep in a passionate embrace with Tang Xiao Wu. How could they possibly still be longing for more after just exchanging texts and flirting over the phone

He was only trying to assuage his pining.

As night fell, a heavy downpour was lashing against the windows. Beyond the curtain of rain, Nankai University's campus was dotted with twinkling lights. Those men who had nothing better to do than stand on their balconies watching the rain and staring at the opposite female dormitory couldn't help but sigh over the phrase "Ten years of night rain in Jianghu (a term used for the outside world or society, especially one that is chaotic or violent), ten lamps."

However, before a decade had passed, this city and university were already witnessing a gathering of diverse individuals akin to myriad buddhas paying homage to their lord.

In Room 602 on the sixth floor of Building 13 in the dormitory complex, one could still sense the tense atmosphere that was even more intense than the raindrops outside.

The door knocked twice before opening. A person carrying a cup entered with a憨厚的笑 (humble smile) and said, "I'm from Room 8 Hat over there. Do you have any hot water Can I borrow some"

Bookworm Xiao Xu responded impatiently, “That’s incorrect; your room is eight floors away. ‘Room next door’ indeed! How can you come all the way here just to borrow water”

Zhang Xiaqiao, who was reading a book on his bed, raised his head and glanced at him, "What's going on in our dorm building today It’s like a trend. Before you, six guys have already come asking for hot water. Is Room 602 now the school's hot water station"

In Nankai University, borrowing water and visiting other rooms was an honorable tradition. These genius students could always find reasonable excuses to justify their requests for hot water, such as brewing high-quality Tie Guanyin tea they got from relatives or using it to prepare instant noodles. Alternatively, there might be a sick roommate with a cold, fever, runny nose, or diarrhea who needs warm water.

However, the borrower often ended up occupying the computer for an hour or two after borrowing the hot water.

Lǐ Hán smiled and said, "You must have been eyeing attractive girls at the welcome party tonight and now you're parched. That’s the last bottle of water; pour a little less so I can use it later to soak my feet."

The visitor scratched his head apologetically, knowing that everyone in the dormitory knew about Lǐ Hán's kindhearted nature—always willing to help others without fussing over small details.

He then poured some hot water into his cup and sat down on a chair beside Lǐ Hán. Seeing the notebook computer that Sū Càn was working with, he smiled and said, "What are you playing"

Sū Càn replied with a smile, “A little competition; sharing files.”

Only Sū Càn and Zhang Xiaqiao had brought laptops to the dorm. Lǐ Hán and Xiāo Xù had coveted them for some time but felt it wasn't appropriate to take over their computers just yet.

The visitor leaned in, smiling, "Playing something high-tech, huh But I heard that currently only a US version of CD (Compact Disc) is available. People now prefer chatting online or surfing the web; this isn’t suitable for our country."

"There will be a time when it becomes appropriate," Sū Càn replied.

“That’s true, that's true,” everyone noticed how the visitor had unconsciously moved his chair next to Sū Càn. He observed him clicking away on the colorful interface and finally got down to business, "I’m from Room 8 Hat; my name is Bái Dàjūn. Let’s get together when you have time."

Bai Dajun, with his nature, would naturally not point his fingers and say something like "Brother, you are simply shining today. You will definitely have good relationships in the future and the door to the girls' dormitory is now open for you. Don't forget to bring your brothers who are suffering from both water and fire when you casually walk over there." Therefore, this kind of networking activity was still quite secretive.

When Bai Dajun leads others out, he doesn’t forget to wave enthusiastically at them inside, "Come on, let's go. Come back tomorrow to hang around."

The door closes behind him. Zhang Xiaqiao lies down sprawled out and complains painfully, "Annoying! No peace here. This is the nth group of people coming over. The first wave was eight people; those two guys from Physics who are called our floor's tough guys — they're the top scorers in Science for Shanxi Province and the top scorer in Humanities for Yunnan Province’s Law School, respectively. These two guys really do have a taste of being our floor's two protectors. The second wave was six people; that National First-Class Athlete from Qinghai who is Liang Chao, Sports Talent Student with特長生 here referring to students admitted into universities based on their athletic abilities rather than academic performance alone, asked you right away 'Is the girl’s chest big enough' This guy, displaying such lecherousness, still won the second place in 50-meter butterfly swimming at the Qinghai Provincial Games. He scored above the undergraduate admission line… Those guys from the neighboring dorm room are even more noteworthy, inviting us to some kind of social activity and asking Li Han why he agreed."

Zhang Xiaqiao covers his head with that book on reasoning and falls into a state of annoyance.

It seems Zhang Xiaqiao’s life is always filled with a faint sense of depression, but compared to when he first arrived at the dormitory, there have been many changes. Although he still grumbles from time to time, his enthusiasm has increased due to Su Can.

Xiao Xiu raises his head and says slowly, "This is the quality of today's college students. Just wait a few more years; it will only get worse. But that suggestion for聯誼 here meaning social gathering or club activity is interesting. However, aren't you overstepping your bounds by not seeking Big Brother’s opinion first if there are any female participants"

Li Han scratches his head and keeps apologizing, saying he got carried away.

Su Can doesn’t comment on this. Feeling somewhat weak after the evening session where he had to deal with people from all over the country, Su Can jumps onto the bed. The guys in his dorm were full of energy and could lay down a long corridor filled with saliva about their knowledge or strategies.

Their conversation ranged from Asimov, whose large number of created terms and names were included in Oxford English Dictionary as advocated by Physics’ top scorer, to Liu Cixin's works in 2000. When his dormmates' enthusiasm was exhausted, they finally left.

Su Can lying on the bed doesn’t want to move at all; he just wants to send some ambiguous messages to Tang Wu and wish each other "goodnight" before going to sleep under this university's rain curtain.

At that moment, in various dormitory discussion groups where lights had been turned off, they two have already become part of Nan Da University freshmen news events.

Tang Wu knew that Cheng Congcong didn’t really like her. This tendency became more obvious after the welcoming party.

Actually, when Cheng Congcong excitedly told her dormmates she would perform Gesang Meodu (a Tibetan folk song), at least in her mind, she thought this was an area where she could surpass Tang Wu, who seemingly didn’t have any aspect lower than her.

However, when Tang Wu appeared on stage to perform a solo piano piece, Cheng Congcong couldn't help but feel depressed.

This is because Tang Wu performed a solo piano performance. Although Cheng Congcong was also dancing on the stage, it was with three other girls; her appearance and effect were inevitably inferior to Tang Wu’s.

So when she saw that cool new freshman who starred in the welcoming party get up on stage to present flowers to Tang Wu, she felt a heavy surge of jealousy.

"Tang Wu, you need to be careful of the new student who appeared yesterday. I feel that he definitely has ulterior motives when approaching you. Look at how sly and cunning he was during the freshmen orientation meeting, and he even took liberties with you at the party afterwards. It's very likely that such a guy is boasting in his dormitory about planning to make moves on you."

"You don't often come across these things. Anyway, from what I know, those guys are among the top of our grade and quite popular with girls. There was one person who I rejected who set a record of receiving fourteen love letters in just one week. But I found him too eye-catching and somewhat flirtatious. So I didn't even give Chen Lian the chance to be my ordinary friend. Tang Wu, you need to be smart."

After Cheng Congcong finished speaking, she picked up her little handbag from the chair and prepared to leave. She seemed perpetually busy, moving around the university campus and within the gaze of those boys. As Cheng Congcong opened the door, she didn't forget to remind the girls in the dormitory.

"Don't forget about tomorrow's scheduled聯誼聚會. The other side is a big deal; it’s the vice-chairman of the student council, Fan Qiyi. His father and my father have known each other for a long time. He’s a well-known literary talent at Nanda University. Supposedly, the girls in the Chinese department write him love letters every day, and they’re most afraid to open their mailboxes daily because it's filled with letters from those overconfident leftover women."

"Their dormitory is famous for gathering renowned figures; one of them comes from a family that owns a store on Guquan Road, and apparently there’s a new Ferrari in the window display. Another is said to be an upperclassman who scored a perfect 120 on his TOEFL exam and plans to study at Stanford in America. The other one is the captain of Nanda University's baseball team and was once part of the team that didn’t lose against American Ivy League high school teams during the season."

"Wow! I've heard about these people before. When I attended a summer camp at Nanda University in my high school days, I already knew their names. But did they really invite us" Tong Tong, who was hugging and meticulously studying a book on health preservation, was genuinely startled.

Previously, she had heard that others invited them from Cheng Congcong's words, but when Cheng Congcong dropped this major news, her heart involuntarily pounded with excitement.

"Please, you need to know what my relationship is with Senior Fan Qiyi. Why wouldn't they invite me Moreover, they've heard all about my roommates from me. When Senior Fan organized a gathering and specifically told me to bring everyone in our dormitory along, how could I face those dazzling seniors alone as a weak girl"

Cheng Congcong spoke at just the right moment, making Ruan Sio slightly better off than before; she had previously felt that she was benefiting from Cheng Congcong's connections and thus wasn't very impressed.

After getting over feeling resentful, she started to be affected by what Cheng Congcong said.

Although the university guidebook warns freshmen about fire, electricity, and upperclassmen, in front of these dazzling seniors who were already famous since high school, she couldn't help but feel star-struck.

Cheng Congcong looked smugly at Tang Wu, only to find that this girl wasn't particularly excited by the news. She felt increasingly uncomfortable and thought, "What are you proud of"

Hence, she left with a sigh: "Alright everyone, remember it, get ready for tomorrow’s gathering, girls should put on some light makeup when attending banquets; we can’t let our dormitory down now. Dear ones, I'm looking forward to your outstanding performance." Then her petite figure gracefully exited the dormitory.

Having been up very late writing day after day had left me in a state of fatigue, and yesterday was particularly unproductive. To maintain quality, I decided to write today instead. Here’s my first update for today; now I’m going out for food and will make sure to catch up on the updates later.

Thank you all for your understanding of me. Thanks to those who generously gave votes, it's truly touching.

I’ll do my best to write about Su Xiaocan’s life in the most vivid way possible.cked most was time, but what they had in abundance was also time.The class was abuzz with discussions lately, some students gathering in groups to talk about Su Can and Xue Yiyang.When Li Weimei, Chen...