New roommate
The two walked forward, turned past a row of old locust trees, passed the dormitory building, and then went to the school cafeteria.
The canteen was a two-story red brick building. On the tiled wall on the first floor, the words "New Student Food Coupon Exchange Office" were written. The wall had been newly painted. There were several people lined up next to it, each holding a bag of rice or flour, and some were even carrying jars of pickled vegetables.
Xu Jianing walked over and placed the bag of rice on the scale in front of the registration table.
The person in charge of registration was a middle-aged man in a blue uniform. He glanced at him and asked, "A freshman? Which class are you in?"
Xu Jianing shook her head. "It's not mine."
The middle-aged man looked behind him and saw a little girl standing half a step away, clutching a blanket. He asked, "Yours?"
Wen Sheng put down the blanket and quickly took a step forward to stand beside Xu Jianing. "It's mine."
"Class and name?"
"Wen Sheng, Class 1, Grade 1."
The middle-aged man wrote a few strokes in his notebook, pushed the rice bag aside, and took out a few red-and-white meal tickets from the drawer. He glanced at the number on the scale: "Thirty jin? Your family is planning to let you eat more meals, huh? Girls usually only bring about twenty jin."
Wen Sheng explained, "I'm afraid it won't be enough."
The man smiled, sorted the meal tickets by weight, and handed them over: "Okay, this is enough for you to eat for a month with some to spare."
She took the tickets with both hands, looked down and counted them. The meal tickets were issued by the day, with "three liang" and "four liang" written on them. Each ticket had the five red characters "Cangshui County Middle School" printed on it and was also stamped.
Wen Sheng folded the meal tickets and put them in her schoolbag. When she turned around, she found that the blanket she had just put on the ground was gone.
"I'll wait for you downstairs at the dormitory. Go to the registration office first and ask for your dormitory number," Xu Jianing said.
"Okay." Wen Sheng rushed to the reporting area at top speed.
There is a shady spot under the old locust tree downstairs in the girls' dormitory building.
Xu Jianing stood there, his shoulder slightly leaning against the tree trunk, holding a quilt in his left hand and his other hand in his pocket, his face expressionless.
Not far away, a person came running over, panting and dragging two bulging suitcases.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted. How can it be so heavy? Is it filled with bricks?" Li Changshui stopped panting at the entrance of the girls' dormitory building, covered in sweat. He looked up and was dumbfounded.
"Ah Ning, what are you doing here?"
Xu Jianing glanced at him. "Weren't you here too?"
"I'm waiting for my sister to help her with her luggage," Li Changshui said, slamming two bags down on the ground with a thud and shaking his arms. "I'm exhausted. I'm probably going to get tendonitis when I get back."
After saying that, he glanced at the blanket that Xu Jianing was carrying and asked curiously, "Whose is this? Do you have a younger sister coming to report for duty too?"
"No," Xu Jianing said calmly.
"Holy crap!" Li Changshui's eyes widened, his face practically screaming gossip. "You even helped carry the blanket? And you kept lifting it the whole time. You've got some serious arm strength, kid."
Xu Jianing found him noisy and switched hands to carry the blanket.
Li Changshui, standing beside him, found the situation increasingly intriguing: "If the two of us just stand here downstairs in the girls' dormitory, won't people start gossiping? Those guys from the next class are always lurking around picking on you."
Upon hearing this, Xu Jianing nodded thoughtfully, then silently took a large step to the side, wanting to maintain a safe distance from Li Changshui.
Li Changshui followed closely, "Why are you hiding? You're not afraid people will spread rumors about you and me, are you?"
Before the other party could reply with their sharp tongue, Li Changshui immediately exploded: "Damn it! You really think that way? Throw back the food I brought you from home!"
Xu Jianing: "Didn't your mother ask you to bring that to me?"
"What's wrong with what my mom made! Do you know how long my sister stared at those few pieces of braised pork? I had a huge fight with her over the chopsticks before I brought them to you." Li Changshui indignantly accused, "That day, I was blocking her with one hand and putting the meat into the lunchbox with the other, it was like a battle!"
"Thank you for your help, Comrade Li. You even remembered to save a piece for me."
Li Changshui, caught off guard, tried to make amends: "I left you the last piece. It was trust, friendship, and the fruit of victory I won with my blood and tears!"
Xu Jianing seemed to sense something and glanced towards the school road not far away. Li Changshui, who was about to continue complaining, followed his gaze.
In the sunlight, a figure jogged this way.
"I've checked, the dormitory is on the second floor, room 208," Wen Sheng said, bending over and panting, her hair a little messy.
Li Changshui raised an eyebrow, thinking, "Oh no, this is going to be a show."
He quickly composed himself, instantly becoming mature and steady: "Xu, aren't you going to introduce me?"
Wen Sheng politely said, "Hello, senior, my name is Wen Sheng."
"Hey junior, my name is Li—"
"Let's go upstairs," Xu Jianing suddenly said, stepping aside to let her walk ahead.
Wen Sheng turned to Li Changshui beside her and hurriedly greeted him, "Hello, senior, I'll be going now?"
Before Li Changshui could speak, he saw the girl quickly catch up with the person in front of her, adjust the backpack on her shoulder, and ask breathlessly, "Let me help you carry some of this?"
Xu Jianing looked down at her and asked, "Is your schoolbag heavy?"
Li Changshui stood there, dumbfounded, watching the two walk side by side toward the girls' dormitory. He clicked his tongue, crossed his arms, and continued to think to himself: Xu Jianing, this thousand-year-old fox, is really good at acting.
As he was shaking his head in reflection, he heard someone next to him shout with their hands on their hips, "Li Changshui! What are you slacking off for? Come and help your sister with her luggage!"
Upon hearing the voice, Li Changshui immediately exclaimed, "Mom, keep your voice down! I was just resting because I was tired!"
"What rest?!" Su Yu's temper flared up, and she pretended to pull his ear. "Your sister has been waiting for you for ages. She's a fair-skinned little girl. If she gets sunburned and her skin peels, I won't let you off the hook!"
"Mom, your favoritism is too obvious! I'm your daughter too! Besides, Qingmiao doesn't get tanned indoors."
"Stop talking nonsense and get up there."
As Li Changshui picked up his luggage bag from the ground, he muttered to himself, "It's hard to be a friend, and it's hard to be a son."
——
It had rained yesterday, and the cement stairs were a bit slippery. Wen Sheng held onto the railing and followed Xu Jianing up the stairs.
He didn't walk too fast. He stopped at the top of the stairs on the second floor, made sure she was still following behind, and pointed in a direction. "The dormitory is the second one on the right. I won't go over there."
"Thank you, senior." Wen Sheng took the blanket and thanked him.
Xu Jianing nodded, stood still, and watched her walk forward. Only after seeing her enter the house did she turn and leave.
Wen Sheng carried the quilt to the door, freeing one hand to take out the key to open it. The lock was a bit old, and it took a couple of turns to open it.
As soon as she pushed the door open, a surprised exclamation came from inside: "Oh, you're here!" Immediately afterwards, a girl in a floral dress jumped off the bed and took the blanket from her.
"You're here so early. I just made the bed." The girl put her things on the bedside and clapped her hands. "Come in, come in. You're the first one here. I was worried I'd be all alone all morning."
“My name is Li Qingmiao,” she introduced herself familiarly as she helped Wen Sheng put her things away. “This is the name my dad gave me. He said that the air was fresh on the day I was born, and since I was a little girl, it was wonderful.”
Wen Sheng was still caught up in the other person's enthusiasm. "Hello, my name is Wen Sheng, the 'Sheng' in 'shengxiao' (a type of Chinese flute)."
"What a lovely name! It suits you perfectly." Li Qingmiao blinked and praised sincerely, "Gentle and refined, with a scholarly air. As soon as I heard it, I knew you must be someone who is exceptionally good at Chinese."
Wen Sheng scratched his head awkwardly and said, "No, not really."
"Don't be modest!" Li Qingmiao patted her shoulder. "I'm very good at judging people. Can I ask you for advice in the future? What I wrote was just a stream of consciousness."
“Sure, as long as you don’t mind,” Wen Sheng said.
"I don't mind at all! The tutor my mom hired for me before was no good, and she's really upset about it now."
Wen Sheng was amused by her and was about to reply when there was a knock on the door. A male voice said, "Li Qingmiao, come out and get your luggage."
Then came a middle-aged woman's voice: "How dare you talk to your sister like that? How many times have I told you to speak softly and gently!"
"Mom—" the boy drawled, "I've already helped her carry it upstairs from the car, what more do you want from me?"
"With that mouth of yours, don't scare the girls in the dorm away!"
"Thank God her roommate is still in the room..."
The door was pulled open from the inside, and Li Qingmiao said to Wen Sheng with a smile, "Wen Sheng, my brother said he wants to thank you."
Li Changshui's lips twitched, the words stuck in his throat. When his eyes met Wen Sheng's, his brain raced: "Oh, so you really are here."
Wen Sheng was also a little surprised, but still maintained basic politeness: "Hello, senior."
"Hey, don't call me 'senior,' it puts too much pressure on me." Li Changshui moved his luggage into the room while changing the subject, "Sis, your bed is all crooked, I need to help you remake it."
Su Yu followed in and immediately beamed when she saw Wen Sheng: "Miaomiao, is this your new roommate? She's so elegant and likable."
After saying that, she glared at Li Changshui and said, "Don't pretend to be busy in the room, or you'll scare the girl."
Wen Sheng felt a little embarrassed and politely replied, "Hello, Auntie."
"Oh, you have such a sweet tongue!" Su Yu grinned from ear to ear. "What's your name?"
"Wen Sheng, Wen as in gentle, Sheng as in shengxiao (a type of Chinese flute)."
"Little Sheng Sheng, if you want to come down for a walk after you're done tidying up, come find me. Auntie brought you some fruit and cookies, and also made some white fungus soup."
Wen Sheng was surprised to encounter such a warm family as soon as she entered the door. She felt both awkward and touched. "Thank you, Auntie."
Li Changshui, listening from the side, shook his head, "Why don't I get this treatment? If I want to eat braised pork, I have to secretly eat the portion that my mother left for Xu Jianing."
"What are you whispering about over there?" Su Yu patted his back in annoyance. "Your dad's car is still parked at the door. Go get the fruit from the car and share it with your sisters."
"Okay!"
Wen Sheng stood aside, listening to the three bickering and making a lively scene. She felt a little envious.
She felt that she had it for a short time, and even just standing on the sidelines watching made her quite happy.
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