"Ah! Let's go, junior! You must have bad luck coming to our College of Geography! Do you know why we're all so tanned?"
A guy walked up beside Ye Qiuli and sighed.
Last year he was fair and tender; this year his skin was thick and rugged. Tears were all that came to mind when he thought about it!
"This... could it be because of global warming?"
Ye Qiuli pulled his suitcase, following closely behind the guy as he asked cautiously.
The guy's eyes twitched a few times before he spoke, "Uh, well, that's part of the reason too! You'll find out later!"
"Oh... I see!"
Ye Qiuli nodded.
Could it be that the senior had been sunburned dark ever since last year's military training? That didn't make sense...
The more Ye Qiuli thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. His own skin was quite fair, after all, having worn long sleeves year-round and kept away from sunlight!
The two walked one after the other without speaking.
Along the way, Ye Qiuli looked around in absolute fascination. Many of the surrounding buildings looked nothing like the schools he knew! Take the library, for instance—a single library covered an area that had to be as big as two of his high school teaching buildings put together!
"Junior, that building up ahead is your dorm. The small pouch I gave you earlier has a tag with the dorm floor and room number on it—just go ask the dorm supervisor for a key!"
The guy pointed toward the apartment building ahead and said.
"Got it! Thanks, senior!"
Ye Qiuli nodded in gratitude.
"I'll head off first! If you need anything later, just tag me in the freshman group chat—I already added you to the College of Geography freshman chat earlier!"
"Okay! Thanks! Bye, senior!"
Ye Qiuli waved goodbye to the senior.
Standing in front of Ye Qiuli's dormitory building was a large boulder inscribed with the words "Tranquility leads to profound far-reaching wisdom"! Because of this, the apartment building was named Zhiyuan Building!
After checking with the dorm supervisor, Ye Qiuli got his room key.
He was in Room 228 on the third floor!
Once he confirmed his room number, Ye Qiuli pulled his luggage over.
The dormitories at Kyoto University were four-person rooms equipped with air conditioning, a bathroom with separated wet and dry areas, a small balcony, and unified bunk beds with desks underneath!
Clearly, Ye Qiuli was the first to arrive at the dorm. After claiming his bed, Ye Qiuli set about cleaning the entire room.
The overall cleanliness of the dorm was decent, but there was still a fair amount of dust, along with some leftover odds and ends from the previous year's seniors. There was quite a lot that needed cleaning, which revealed the only downside of having a large dorm!
Although the Ye Family was wealthy and influential, Ye Qiuli had always been taught to do things for himself. His father had even specifically instructed the housekeeper not to lift a finger for Ye Qiuli, so he had learned how to clean from a very young age. This level of physical work was still a breeze for him.
Perhaps Ye Qiuli had arrived too early; by the time he finished cleaning the entire dorm, none of his roommates had shown up yet!
"I'll take a shower first. They should be here by the time I nap a bit!"
Ye Qiuli muttered to himself.
After taking a shower, Ye Qiuli lay down on his bed and closed his eyes to rest.
Not long after, he heard a knock at the door. When he opened it, he saw three guys with completely different styles—they must have been his roommates!
"Ah! A ghost! Help!"
"Crap!"
Before Ye Qiuli could get a good look at their faces, the two guys outside screamed in terror.
"Um... I'm a human, not a ghost! My condition isn't contagious, you don't need to be scared!"
Ye Qiuli explained a bit nervously.
With that, Ye Qiuli quickly stepped aside to make a clear path. Back when he didn't live on campus, he used to tell his classmates that his condition wasn't contagious, but they hadn't believed him and had still kept their distance. Now that he was going to live in a dorm, he was worried his roommates would be just like his old classmates!
"Sorry about that, bro! Your face really is a bit frightening!"
The leading guy regained his composure and hurried to apologize.
"It's fine, it's fine. Mine really isn't contagious, don't worry, I have a hospital certificate! If you want to see it, I can show you!"
Ye Qiuli waved his hands and said.
A few days earlier, amidst his work, he had made a special trip to the hospital to get a non-contagious certificate, specifically fearing that classmates wouldn't believe him and cause a panic!
"No need, I believe you! By the way, I'm Li Nuo, what's your name?"
The guy wearing gold-rimmed glasses asked.
His cultured and easygoing tone felt incredible to Ye Qiuli; practically none of his peers ever spoke to him in that kind of manner.
"Hello, hello, my name is Ye Qiuli!"
Ye Qiuli said excitedly.
"I'm Qin Huai. Sorry about earlier! Don't take it to heart, man!"
"I'm Qing Ke! From now on, we're brothers in the same dorm. Tonight, I'm treating everyone to a hearty meal out!"
The other two guys also introduced themselves.
Just like that, the four-person squad of Room 228 was assembled.
"Are you guys locals or from out of town? I'm a genuine Kyoto native!"
Qing Ke said as he pushed his luggage toward his preferred bed.
"I'm a Kyoto local too! What about you two?"
Qin Huai picked up the conversation.
"I'm from Modu. I didn't want to be too close to home and get bossed around, so I ran up here to Kyoto. I heard the roast duck here is pretty good, let's go try it out later!"
Li Nuo adjusted his glasses with his middle finger and said deliberately and calmly.
"I'm from Nan Province! This is my first time coming to the north in my life, so please take care of me from now on!"
Ye Qiuli stood up from his chair and answered softly, sitting back down only after he finished speaking.
"You don't need to be so restrained, classmate Ye Qiuli! We're good brothers from now on! Just treat us like brothers!"
Qin Huai seemed to sense Ye Qiuli's caution and said very generously.
"Mm-hmm!"
Ye Qiuli nodded, and this time he didn't stand up again!
Boys' friendships were simple and straightforward; a single word like "brother" could rapidly bridge the gap between two people or a whole group of people.
...
"Let's go, brothers, out to eat Kyoto roast duck!"
Li Nuo cheerfully called out to everyone who had finished unpacking.
"Let's go! I know a place that serves authentic Kyoto roast duck!"
Qing Ke cradled his phone, texting someone without even lifting his head as he spoke.
"Let's go, Ye Qiuli! Come with us!"
Qin Huai saw Ye Qiuli just sitting in his seat and hurriedly invited him.
"Um... actually, I don't really like eating roast duck. How about the three of you just go?"
Ye Qiuli said with a bit of embarrassment.
Although he had never eaten Kyoto roast duck, he had heard others talk about it. To eat a proper, authentic meal of Kyoto roast duck cost at least several hundred or a thousand yuan. If he went to eat that, he probably wouldn't need to eat for the rest of the month!
The three exchanged glances and quickly figured out why Ye Qiuli didn't want to go!
"You definitely cleaned this entire dorm by yourself. It doesn't feel right for the three of us to do nothing while you did all that. Consider this the three of us treating you to make it up to you, alright?"
Qing Ke stepped forward earnestly and pulled Ye Qiuli by the arm to say this.
He wasn't just making up an excuse; he genuinely felt that this classmate Ye Qiuli was someone worth being friends with—at first glance, he was the obedient student type! Another reason was his sincere gratitude for the cleaning. After all, the dorms they had passed along the way were basically full of dust and trash!
"Yeah, yeah! If you don't come eat this meal with us, we'll feel even worse about it!"
"That's right, we're treating you. You cleaned the whole place while we did nothing, so it's only right that we treat you to a meal!"
The other two chimed in eagerly.
"Well... alright then! Thank you guys! Let me just go put on a jacket!"
Seeing that he couldn't refuse, Ye Qiuli agreed with a helpless sigh!
...