Seeing that the atmosphere was cooling down a bit, the instructor looked around and said, "Since no one is stepping up, I'll just pick someone at random."
"You there, the one who kept moving out of formation during the military posture drill earlier—come up and perform something."
Hearing this, Wang Congle felt his heart turn to ash. He walked forward step by step, looking at his classmates seated around him, feeling like he wanted to die.
Stammering, Wang Congle said, "Uh...... I don't know many things, so how about I dance for everyone?"
With that, he hopped on both feet, turned his back to the crowd, shrugged one shoulder higher than the other, and thrust his palms forward.
While the girls looked on with some curiosity, the boys had already blurted out: "Little Black, you've exposed your Kun feet!"
After Wang Congle successfully livened up the atmosphere, other students stepped forward to perform one after another.
The morning slipped away in a blur, passing quietly amid the echoing, passionate waves of song battles. When the instructor finally announced the break, the students surged in all directions like a tide.
Meanwhile, the four guys in the dormitory stared dumbfounded at the densely packed crowds outside the cafeteria entrance.
Originally ravenous, the sight of this scene instantly made them feel as though their appetite had been grabbed by a giant invisible hand and choked out, vanishing without a trace.
Jiang Chen touched his stomach and didn't feel particularly hungry, so he decisively abandoned the idea of going to the cafeteria to fight the crowd for food. Turning to the other three, he said, "You guys go ahead. I'm not that hungry; I'll just head back to the dorm and make some instant noodles." With that, he turned and headed toward the dormitory.
Seeing Jiang Chen make this decision, and then looking at the sea of heads crowding the cafeteria entrance, the other three also lost their enthusiasm.
After a brief discussion, they ultimately decided against joining the chaos at the cafeteria and instead followed Jiang Chen back to the dorm, opting to fill their stomachs with instant noodles.
Back in the room, the four of them busied themselves. One boiled water, another opened packages, and before long, the dormitory was filled with the rich aroma of instant noodles.
They sat clustered together, slurping down the steaming noodles while chatting and laughing about the amusing incidents from the morning's song battles, creating a very harmonious atmosphere.
After finishing lunch and resting briefly, the four roommates packed up their things and headed spiritedly to the playground for assembly.
The afternoon sun was still bright, but compared to the morning, the heat wasn't quite as unbearable. Perhaps the heavens were looking kindly upon these fresh university recruits, bestowing a relatively mild patch of weather upon them.
The afternoon training session still consisted of military posture and marching. However, because the weather was quite cool and pleasant, the overall training intensity wasn't particularly high.
Jiang Chen straightened his back, diligently executing every movement according to the instructor's instructions. Sweat trickled down his forehead, but he didn't utter a single word of complaint or fatigue.
After a full day of military training, Jiang Chen felt that this level of exertion was an absolute piece of cake for him, and he couldn't help but secretly congratulate himself: It turns out this first day of military training is actually a breeze!
Once military training ended, Jiang Chen returned to the dormitory to pack some basic items of clothing, planning to move these things over to his rented place first.
As for the bed and other bedding, he would move those tomorrow; for tonight, he would still sleep at the dorm.
After sending a message to the landlord and transferring the rent for the first month, Jiang Chen took a suitcase and headed to the residential complex.
Arriving at the apartment door, he knocked. On one hand, he wanted to see if anyone was inside—it wouldn't do to open the door blindly and cause a misunderstanding; on the other hand, the lock's passcode had been changed, and he didn't know it.
Just as he was about to ask the landlord for the passcode, he heard the sound of the door opening.
The door swung open, revealing a young woman wearing grey pajamas and shorts. Looking closer, Jiang Chen was inwardly shocked: "Isn't this our counselor? The counselor rents a place outside?"
Jiang Chen had always assumed that university counselors were in a well-paying profession; even if they couldn't afford to buy a house, the school ought to provide them with housing.
Xia Xiaoyue glanced at the young man standing in the doorway, feeling a slight twinge of reservation. Sharing an apartment with a guy wasn't something she wanted, but she had no choice—the apartment provided by the school was undergoing renovations, forcing her to live outside temporarily for six months.
She didn't say anything and retreated into her room. Jiang Chen only snapped out of it after Xia Xiaoyue had already walked away, thinking to himself: "It seems the counselor doesn't recognize me. I'll just stay here for now and see if I can find another place after a month."
Living in the same apartment as the counselor felt like flirting with death; he wouldn't even be able to relax and play around in the future.
He entered his room, put some clothes into the wardrobe, cleaned up his own bedroom, and conveniently tidied up the living room as well.
Taking the trash from the bin, he headed out, but paused to scribble a sticky note and paste it on the living room coffee table.
Shortly after hearing the door open and close, Xia Xiaoyue walked out and noticed that something in the living room looked different. Glancing around, she found the entire space impeccably clean.
The floor had been thoroughly mopped, the trash can had been fitted with a new liner, and at the same time, she spotted the sticky note on the coffee table.
"Hello, I won't be staying here tonight. My contact number is 137xxxxxx. Could you please send me the passcode for the door lock? As for any rules regarding shared spaces, just let me know if you have any requirements."
After reading the message on the sticky note, Xia Xiaoyue felt a small, unprompted wave of warmth, thinking that this young man was quite considerate. She had been worried that sharing an apartment between a man and a woman would inevitably lead to friction in the common areas.
Curious, she searched for the WeChat ID left on the sticky note, and when it appeared before her, Xia Xiaoyue couldn't help bursting into a giggle.
The profile picture corresponding to that WeChat ID was a cartoon sheep looking lazy and ready to fall asleep at any second, and the nickname was even funlier—Lazy King of the Green Grassland.
Meanwhile, on the other end, Jiang Chen also received a friend request notification on WeChat.
He tapped it open and saw that the sender was named Xia Qiyue, guessing that this must be the counselor's WeChat account. Without much hesitation, Jiang Chen quickly clicked the accept button.
The moment the request went through, the other party sent a long string of passwords along with a few explicit rules: "First, absolutely no bringing strangers home at will; second, always remember to knock before using the restroom; third, under no circumstances are you allowed to walk around naked in public areas."
After quickly scanning through these rules, Jiang Chen felt they were all quite reasonable and normal requests.
With that, he simply replied with an "ok" to indicate that he understood and would strictly abide by them.
The night in the dorm followed the usual routine: Jiang Chen, Ding Junfei, and Wang Congle galloped across the Canyon battlefield, while Ye Nian video-chatted with his girlfriend.
Jiang Chen had no intention of telling them that he was renting an apartment with the counselor. Even if he told him, Wang Congle wouldn't believe it; Jiang Chen didn't even have to guess—Wang Congle would definitely say, "Keep fooling your bros, just don't fool yourself."
Anyway, he planned to move out as soon as he found a suitable place; for now, he would just make do and muddle through for a short while.