Chapter 8: Why Are You Running?
Xue Rui was walking back to the dormitory. Many teenagers were dribbling basketballs, yelling wildly and unrestrainedly, which made many others join in the howling…
This was the most relaxed time for students, because most teachers had already left work. It was as if the campus truly belonged to these students at this moment.
“Hehe.” Qiu Mengze pursed his lips and kept winking at Xue Rui.
Xue Rui looked up and saw a couple in front, strolling hand in hand, their steps exceptionally slow.
These two were clearly a young couple who had just started dating. They didn't know what to do at night, so they simply slowed down, hoping the path back to the dormitory could be a bit longer, allowing them to spend more time together.
But their speed… if there were a turtle nearby as a reference, it would probably be faster than them.
Xue Rui looked at Qiu Mengze’s mischievous expression and instantly understood.
Qiu Mengze meant to scare the couple.
Xue Rui rubbed his chin, crouched slightly, then suddenly darted forward. When he reached the male student’s side, he suddenly clapped him on the shoulder, shouting continuously, “Holy crap! Holy crap! Run!”
“Run!” Qiu Mengze followed suit, as if some fierce beast was chasing them from behind.
The male student’s adrenaline instantly surged. His body reacted faster than his brain. He quickly let go of his girlfriend’s hand and instinctively ran out with the two, leaving his female companion bewildered in the wind.
After running a short distance, Xue Rui added with a grin, “If you don’t run, the convenience store will close!”
“Xue Rui! You jerk!” The male student finally realized he had been tricked and walked back angrily, only to see his sweetheart standing under the streetlamp, her face gloomy, her small fists clenched tightly.
“Why did you let go of my hand just now?” the girl asked coldly.
“I… uh… I thought the teacher…”
The boy thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out why he had run with Xue Rui.
Actually, this is a human instinct. When people see others fleeing, they subconsciously follow. Especially since Xue Rui had specifically patted the boy’s shoulder…
However, this naive young man naturally didn't know this principle.
Even if he did, the girl opposite him wouldn't listen to his explanation.
Love is like this: boys only need to find different ways to make girls happy, but girls have many things to consider.
…
“Hahaha, Xue Rui, you didn’t see that kid’s expression, it killed me!” Qiu Mengze gasped for breath and handed Xue Rui a roll of change. “You dropped your money just now.”
Xue Rui felt his pants pocket and indeed, it was his money.
“I don’t know which idiot designed these clothes, they don’t even have a zipper,” Xue Rui cursed.
Students could only wear school uniforms, yet they were designed so unreasonably. The wide pockets would let things slip out with even a slightly larger movement.
“I think it’s pretty stupid too,” Qiu Mengze echoed.
…
“Yo, where’s the weasel off to?”
“Rui Ge, I’m going to play some ball.”
“Dazhuang, why is your face swollen?”
“Don’t even mention it. This afternoon some idiot threw a basketball at a hornet’s nest, and I was right next to it.”
After an afternoon, Xue Rui gradually merged the familiar yet unfamiliar names with the youthful faces of his classmates. Even if he couldn’t recall their names, he could at least remember their nicknames.
Walking down the dormitory hallway, Xue Rui recalled his first day of rebirth. He hadn't seen his family yet and wondered if he should go home.
His home wasn't far from school, at most a ten-minute walk, but why hadn't he chosen to be a day student?
He tried to remember what he thought when he was young and finally came to a conclusion—school offered more freedom.
Xue Rui’s family was well-off, but his mother was very strict about his pocket money, fearing that Xue Rui might pick up bad habits.
Staying at school was different. Not only did no one urge him to sleep at night, but he could also sneak out to surf the internet, and he felt more confident asking for pocket money.
Xue Rui was reborn at sixteen. This body had very little dependence on nicotine. He neither smoked nor went online, and now he didn't need this so-called “freedom.”
He was hesitating whether to become a day student.
As he walked deeper, familiar sights constantly assailed Xue Rui’s senses.
The hallway was filled with the greasy smell of various cheap spicy strips, and steaming instant noodles, mixed with the odor of stinky socks, making Xue Rui feel a wave of nausea.
Entering dormitory 203, he saw four bunk beds, a pile of thermos bottles on the left, and no air conditioning overhead…
“An eight-person room? This is no place for humans to live!”
The terrible dormitory environment strengthened Xue Rui’s resolve to become a day student.
“Yi Bing, lend me your phone, I need to call my mom,” Xue Rui said to the large-faced boy next to him.
This was his roommate, chubby, at least two hundred pounds, with an unusually large and round face, which earned him the nickname “Yi Bing.”
At this moment, Yi Bing was holding a Coolpad phone, playing the popular game Temple Run.
“Soon, soon, I’m about to break the record,” Yi Bing stared intently at the screen.
“Stop playing, damn it.” Xue Rui unceremoniously snatched the phone and called his mother, Ren Qunfang.
“No! My score is almost higher than the next dorm!” Yi Bing angrily pounded the bed several times.
As the phone’s ringtone sounded, Xue Rui felt a bit anxious.
In his previous life, he almost never dared to call his mother actively, fearing she would pressure him into blind dates. But now he was only in his second year of high school, so he didn’t have to worry too much about that. Even so, he was still a little nervous.
“Yi Bing.”
Xue Rui was a bit confused. How did his mother know whose phone this was? She even used the nickname?
“Hu!”
“Are you crazy from poverty? Yi Bing, you even ‘Hu’?”
“My hand was one-four bing, if you hadn’t gonged a four bing…”
…
Listening to the crisp, solid clatter of mahjong tiles, Xue Rui instantly felt relieved.
“Hello? Who is it?” Ren Qunfang’s voice came from the phone.
“Mom, it’s Xiao Rui. I want to be a day student. The school dorms are really too bad,” Xue Rui said directly.
“Then how did you live last year? Why can others live there and you can’t?” Ren Qunfang sounded a bit impatient.
“Mom~ I miss you, I just want to live at home,” Xue Rui decided to play the emotional card.
“Missing me won’t help. Your sister is in her third year of junior high this year, and you coming back will affect her studies. Just stay at school. If you want to eat anything, just call Mom, and I’ll have someone deliver it to you.”
Xue Rui said exasperatedly, “How can I live in an eight-person room? There’s no air conditioning, it’s boiling hot. Are you going to send an air conditioner?”
“Dream on. The moment you call, I ‘point cannon,’ it affects my luck. Gotta go, gotta go.” Ren Qunfang hung up the phone.
Listening to the “beep beep beep” of the busy signal, Xue Rui had a look of utter despair.
Become a day student? No chance!
Xue Rui returned the phone to Yi Bing and suddenly noticed a lit cigarette in his left hand, he didn’t know where it came from.
He turned to look at Qiu Mengze, who was sitting on the bed, puffing on his cigarette and saying, “Didn’t you quit? Why did you take it when I gave it to you?”
“Damn it, who pays attention to you slipping me something while I’m on the phone?” Xue Rui said with an exasperated laugh.
It must have been Qiu Mengze, who had taken a few puffs, lit it, and then secretly slipped it into his hand.
When a person is on the phone, their brain is working at high speed, and their body seems to enter an “automated state.” No matter what is handed to them, they will subconsciously take it.
“Come on, smoke it, it’s pure and pollution-free,” Qiu Mengze didn’t want Xue Rui to quit smoking, because then no one would accompany him. He wanted to drag Xue Rui down with him.
The dormitory was filled with smoke. Just then, Xue Rui saw a male teacher standing outside the door, staring intently at him.