Chapter 58 Arrived at the Dormitory

Zhou Ziyang spent the night at the hotel with his father.

It was a rare evening for Zhou Guowei to have time to have a heart-to-heart talk with his son.

Logically speaking, Zhou Guowei was a seasoned bureaucrat and shouldn't have been unable to keep his composure.

Yet, in front of his son, Zhou Guowei ultimately lost it.

He asked Zhou Ziyang, "Do you still harbor resentment toward me in your heart?"

"Not at all," Zhou Ziyang denied.

Zhou Guowei stared at Zhou Ziyang for quite a while before finally saying, "I know you're blaming me."

"Blaming me for not caring about you for all these years."

"But I just want to say, this wasn't entirely my fault."

"Your mother's temper is just too stubborn. No matter what, you are still my son. How could I ever truly abandon you and not care?"

This sentence sounded eerily familiar, yet it was spoken in two entirely different contexts.

In his past life, Zhou Guowei had spoken from a position of superiority, sounding as though he were sighing, but in reality, he was feeling smug.

In this lifetime, Zhou Guowei's eyes carried a trace of remorse.

Zhou Ziyang said, "It's getting late, Dad. I have to register tomorrow."

With that, Zhou Ziyang turned away on his own and went to sleep, leaving Zhou Guowei behind with a sigh.

By two o'clock the following afternoon, they finally set off for the school.

Zhou Ziyang told his father that he had already completed his registration yesterday, so he could go straight to the dormitory today and wouldn't tag along with them.

Zhou Guowei had originally intended to take his son to see the counselor and ask for special attention, but it was obvious that Zhou Ziyang was refusing. Without waiting for Zhou Guowei to speak, Zhou Ziyang waved his hand and walked away from them first.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed in front of Xu Qing and Xia Wei, Zhou Guowei couldn't help muttering, "This kid is becoming more and more disobedient."

Xu Qing rather liked their dynamic and said with a smile, "He's just growing up. You never paid attention to him when he was growing up, so now that you want to manage him, he's naturally not going to be used to it."

Zhou Guowei knew this reasoning made sense.

Since Zhou Ziyang didn't need to be escorted, they had no choice but to accompany Xia Wei for her registration.

Seeing how carefree Zhou Ziyang was, Xia Wei had originally thought about saying she could go register by herself.

However, the words had barely left her mouth before Xu Qing rejected the idea.

Xu Qing said, "Oh, your uncle and I made the trip all this way, and you're just going to leave us stranded outside the main gate? Is that how I raised you?"

"I..." Xia Wei was left speechless.

She looked up to see Xu Qing squinting at her with a knowing look.

Zhou Guowei sighed and said, "Let's go."

Along both sides of the main avenue of Jinling University, the parasol trees still cast a canopy that blocked out the sky.

Today was the official start of the school term, and there were easily many more students on campus than the day before.

All sorts of freshers, some accompanied by their parents and dragging suitcases, wandered around the campus like headless flies, occasionally having to ask volunteers for directions to the specific registration points.

Others were dressed in youthful, glamorous outfits; at eighteen years of age, they had already learned how to apply makeup, styled their hair exquisitely, and pulled their suitcases alone. When senior students took the initiative to greet them and help with their luggage, they would beam with smiles and express their gratitude.

Scene after scene felt strangely familiar.

Following the pathway, Zhou Ziyang quickly located the A9 dormitory building situated in the southeastern corner of the campus.

The front hall of the dormitory was chaotic, with a group of boys standing around holding suitcases.

The dormitory management, in collaboration with the campus property office, had set up a small table in the front hall to distribute keys based on everyone's identity verification.

Zhou Ziyang joined the queue for a short while.

After cheerfully paying twenty yuan, he received his own key.

As he headed upstairs, he heard the dormitory manager calling out from behind, instructing Zhou Ziyang to keep the deposit receipt safe.

"When you graduate, bring the receipt to get your deposit back!"

This sentence sounded so familiar.

It felt as though he had heard it once before.

Yet it also felt like more than once...

The A9 dormitory was part of the older residential area, featuring a five-story western-style building design without an elevator.

The staircase was steeped in a strong sense of history.

Zhou Ziyang walked down the hallway.

Most of the newcomers were busy cleaning their rooms.

The dormitory doors stood wide open.

From within, the cheerful laughter of boys drifted out from time to time.

Leaving their hometowns for the very first time, they spoke in halting Mandarin.

They talked about everything—their hometowns, video games, and current affairs.

The two o'clock afternoon sun was just right.

The rustling shrubs growing outside the window filtered out a portion of the sunlight hitting the second floor.

The summer of 2015 witnessed so many things.

That year, Ma Di didn't think "Nanshan South" was particularly well-written, and he was still feeling anxious on the stage of The Voice.

Prior to that year, most people actually didn't know the brand Uniqlo.

Yet after August of that year, everyone had watched that video.

Zhou Ziyang walked past one open dormitory door after another, listening to them chatter about various topics.

"I'm going to be the king of the pirates!"

"Feng Timo is so cute!"

"That woman has high emotional intelligence."

"The female lead in the Uniqlo video is just mediocre."

"The prettiest AV actress is Rola Takizawa; her legs are seriously long!"

"I can go even-steven with Faker."

These snatches of idle chatter simply drifted past Zhou Ziyang's ears.

In a daze, Zhou Ziyang suddenly realized that all these events had already passed ten years ago.

And without him realizing it, he had returned to this exact year.

Finally, Zhou Ziyang arrived in front of his dormitory door.

A pale gray dormitory door.

Zhou Ziyang opened it.

Sunlight streamed in through the window.

The dormitory appeared empty.

At that moment, there were two people inside.

One looked a bit trendy, tall and built, wearing a black tank top paired with white shorts and a pair of Air Jordan sneakers.

The other was also around 1.8 meters tall, looking physically robust, though his clothes were somewhat dirtier.

The trendy boy was playing on a computer, but upon hearing someone enter, he turned his head to look at Zhou Ziyang.

They sized each other up.

"Zhou Ziyang?" the trendy boy asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, you're Qi Tao?"

The boy smiled and stood up; he was the epitome of a city boy.

"Holy shit, you're way more handsome than I pictured!" Qi Tao couldn't help giving Zhou Ziyang a light punch as he laughed.

Zhou Ziyang smiled as well and said, "You're exactly what I imagined."

Compared to Zhang Dapeng, who had been cold while packing his things, Qi Tao was noticeably more affectionate toward Zhou Ziyang, immediately throwing an arm around his shoulder.

It wasn't that Qi Tao judged people by their appearance, but rather that Zhou Ziyang simply looked cleaner than Zhang Dapeng.

Since the three of them had already been chatting online, they didn't feel awkward around each other.

While Qi Tao came across as warm, Zhang Dapeng appeared honest and diligent, continuing to pack his belongings the moment Zhou Ziyang walked in.

Once identities were confirmed, Zhang Dapeng also shuffled over with a goofy smile to greet him.

"This is some pickled vegetables I brought from home! Hehe!" Zhang Dapeng even had a gift prepared for Zhou Ziyang.

Hearing this, the corners of Qi Tao's mouth lifted imperceptibly; he wanted to see how Zhou Ziyang would react. After all, he had received a jar of pickled vegetables earlier too.

"Thank you," Zhou Ziyang accepted the gift with a smile.

"Don't mention it! We're brothers from now on, isn't this what we're supposed to do? The pickles are a bit spicy, so eat them carefully! When I was working at the factory before, there were pancakes from Xuhuai that were really delicious—wrapping them in these pickles is amazing!" Zhang Dapeng rambled on with a wide grin.

Zhou Ziyang smiled lightly, nodded, and then asked Qi Tao, "Isn't it supposed to be four people per dorm? Where's the other guy?"

"He hasn't arrived yet, no idea what kind of guy he is. I originally wanted to pull him into our group chat, but it turned out they already had their own dorms assigned," Qi Tao said, pulling out a blue pack of cigarettes.

Zhang Dapeng's eyes lit up. "Oh boy, Xuanhemen! Qi Tao, you're a rich kid!"

Qi Tao hastily waved his hand in modesty, saying no, no.

"I just smoke these for fun."

With that, he offered a cigarette to Zhou Ziyang.

Zhou Ziyang politely declined, stating that he didn't smoke.

Qi Tao then casually handed the pack to Zhang Dapeng.

Zhang Dapeng naturally accepted without hesitation.

Qi Tao and Zhang Dapeng had already chosen their beds.

With two beds remaining, Qi Tao told Zhou Ziyang to hurry and pick one.

"First come, first served."

Zhou Ziyang thought for a moment and chose the spot on the right.

Just as Zhou Ziyang made his selection, a voice echoed from outside the doorway.

"Okay, I know."

The door was pushed open.

A boy walked in wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and shorts, featuring a soaring eagle logo on the apparel, complemented by matching London Boy shorts.

He had a slender yet refined build.

He wore a pair of Gucci canvas shoes, held the latest Apple 6S in his hand, and wore Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones around his neck.

His suitcase was from Louis Vuitton.

He entered the dormitory as if no one else was around.

"This is my dad's arrangement, what else could I do?"

"Don't worry, you're the only one in my heart."

"Alright, I won't talk to you anymore, I've arrived at the dorm, hanging up first."