Chapter 13

The day before the start of the school year, counselor Teacher Jin gathered the entire class in a classroom on the first floor of the science building to hold a class meeting. Teacher Jin, in his thirties, was humble, had a deep voice, wore glasses with gold rims, and exuded a scholarly demeanor.

Teacher Jin first introduced himself and shared information about Beijing University, especially the Physics Department. Then, he requested everyone to introduce themselves to become acquainted with each other.

During the meeting, the list of class committee and Youth League branch members (to be elected by students next semester) was announced. The class representatives, group leaders, and dormitory heads would be decided by the class committee and Youth League branch. The “University Student Code” and class discipline were read aloud, and it was announced that starting from the next day, all new students would undergo a four-week military training with associated guidelines.

To everyone’s surprise, Room 301 became the dormitory with the most class committee members. Ding Mo became the Youth League branch secretary, Song Haowen became the academic class committee member, Yu Guangzhong became the sports class committee member, Sun Laixi became the Youth League publicity officer, Wu Sida became the Youth League entertainment officer, and only Zhang Qiang did not become a class committee member. In the end, except for Zhang Qiang himself, all other dormitorymates unanimously recommended Zhang Qiang to be the dormitory head, bringing overall joy.

Song Haowen learned from the class meeting that the Physics Department admitted a total of 160 students this year, divided into Class A and Class B, each with 80 students. The 20 female students were placed in Class A, while Class B consisted entirely of male students, referred to as the “monk class,” and he was assigned to Class A. Both classes had separate study rooms for the first and second years, with concentrated teaching of basic knowledge. In the third and fourth years, students could choose their courses, and classes were organized accordingly.

During the first week of military training, the main focus was on drill exercises, which were the most tedious part of the training. Wearing military uniforms under the scorching sun, students stood, walked, squatted, and stood up again on the parade ground, sweating profusely and enduring unbearable hardship.

Song Haowen, who grew up in a rural area and practiced martial arts in his past life, found it a bit challenging but was able to persevere and maintain a positive attitude with precise and standard movements. This greatly impressed the military instructor, who often asked him to stand in line to demonstrate and leave an impression on his classmates. Everyone couldn’t believe that such a thin contained so much energy.

A week passed imperceptibly amid the painful ordeals of the students. On Sunday morning, like the other dormitory mates, Song Haowen was reluctant to get out of bed.

At this moment, a classmate came over to inform Song Haowen that a girl downstairs was looking for him. Initially puzzled, he hadn’t exchanged many words with the few girls in the class, and it seemed unlikely that they would be looking for him. As for girls from other classes or departments, he didn’t know any of them, making it even more unlikely that one would seek him out.

Song Haowen didn’t think too much and immediately got up. After washing up, he quickly went downstairs. When he saw Tian Yuxi downstairs, he couldn’t help but smile wryly; he had been busy for a week and had forgotten about her.

Tian Yuxi looked exceptionally stunning today: shinning floral dress, crystal sandals, a designer bag, flowing hair, and an overall exquisite appearance.

When Tian Yuxi saw Song Haowen, she cheerfully called out, drawing the attention of the nearby male students. Song Haowen’s face flushed a bit, and he awkwardly admitted, “I didn’t expect you to come. I was still lying in bed.”

Tian Yuxi smiled gently. “What? forgot about your sister?”

Song Haowen quickly denied, “No, no. I was just figuring out how to contact my sister.”

Tian Yuxi examined his face and asked with concern, “You got so dark. Is it because of the military training?”

Song Haowen nodded. “Yes, four weeks of military training. A bit of a tan is healthy, right?”

Tian Yuxi snorted, expressing disbelief. She took his hand and said, “Haven’t had breakfast yet? Come, I’ll accompany you to the cafeteria.”

Song Haowen shook his head, indicating he wasn’t hungry at the moment, and inquired where she planned to go.

Tian Yuxi sought his opinion, “How about going to the WanGuo Park behind the school?”

Song Haowen naturally had no objection.

As they chatted while strolling, they reached the entrance of WanGuo Park, found a snack shop, ate a few steamed buns, and then purchased tickets to enter the park.

During the summer vacation in his previous life in the year 2000, Song Haowen had visited this place for the first time when he came to Beijing. This time, revisiting the old place, he felt that not much had changed. It remained serene, with few attractions apart from the lake, greenery, and a nostalgic atmosphere.

However, the minds of the two were not on sightseeing; relaxation and conversation were their main goals. At each famous scenic spot, the park had professional photographers taking pictures. One roll of film plus three 5-inch black and white photos cost one yuan. If you wanted more photos, there was an additional charge, and beyond three photos, each extra one cost a dime. Visitors only needed to write down their address on the envelope, and the park would mail the photos home.

The two selected a few scenic spots and took photos for memories. However, all were individual shots; there were no group photos.

Unconsciously, they spent over an hour in the park and felt they had seen enough. As they were about to leave the park, they encountered a group of young men and women in their twenties.

“Sis, you came to play too?” A surprised voice suddenly emerged from the crowd. Song Haowen looked over and saw a very beautiful girl speaking. She had fair skin, a slender figure, an elegant temperament, and a pair of shining eyes.

“Hmm. Nana, what are you guys up to?” Tian Yuxi also noticed the others.

“We, a group of college classmates, are just wandering around out of boredom. Sis, who is this little brother? Your classmate or boyfriend?” the girl called Nana suspiciously asked.

“Pah! Don’t talk nonsense! He’s from my mom’s hometown, a student at Beijing University,” Tian Yuxi blushed for a moment, and she introduce her, “She is my second uncle’s daughter, a student at the Beijing Music Academy.”

The girl made a face at Song Haowen and said, “Hello, I’m Tian Nana. Nice to meet you.”

Song Haowen smiled, “Hello, future big star.”

Tian Nana laughed at his words, “You really know how to talk. We have over a thousand students in our university. If everyone becomes a star, then stars wouldn’t be worth much.”

A short guy with glasses among Tian Nana’s classmates said, “Nana, you’re a talented girl in our vocal music department. If you can’t become a star, what hope is there for the rest of us?”

Tian Yuxi nodded and said, “Nana, I heard from Auntie that one of your teachers is Gu, a musician from the Hua Xia Dance Troupe. She has many excellent works.”

Tian Nana’s eyes sparkled, “If only I had one of her songs.”

Song Haowen suddenly remembered that in his previous life, Teacher Gu had trained many top singers for Hua Xia, and many of her works became classics. If Tian Nana gained favor from Teacher Gu and became a big star, participating in the Spring Festival Gala in the future would be no problem.

However, he didn’t know much about Tian Nana’s talents.

Otherwise, he could choose a suitable song for her from the hundreds of popular songs in his memory, and she might become famous easily.

The group chatted and laughed and soon left the park. Tian Nana and the others were going to other places. After saying goodbye to Tian Yuxi and Song Haowen, they left.

“My little sister is really talented in the Musical arts. She joined the Little Red Flower Art Troupe when she was in kindergarten and become its leader. In junior high, she won second place in the district piano competition. In high school, she won first place in the singing competition for Beijing students and was directly admitted to the Beijing Music Academy,” Tian Yuxi said proudly.

Song Haowen said, “Listening to you, I’m confident in your sister too. However, to become famous, besides personal talent and effort, one also needs opportunities, mentors, and good works. I think I might be able to help her in the future.”

Tian Yuxi stared at Song Haowen, thinking, ‘You’re not even in the entertainment industry, and it doesn’t matter if you’re in Beijing University. Wanting to help Nana, you’re probably just bragging But I won’t expose you.’ She just smiled and said, “Sure, if you can help her, I’ll thank you on her behalf.”

Song Haowen knew Tian Yuxi didn’t believe his words, but he didn’t explain. He would say it when the time his help is needed.

At noon, Song Haowen treated Tian Yuxi to lunch on the street. Originally, he wanted to invite her to watch the movie “Xiao Hua,” but she had to go home in the afternoon, so they had to cancel the movie plan. After lunch, they went their separate ways.

In the second week of military training, in addition to drill exercises, there were also tasks related to internal affairs and long-distance marching.

Every morning, Song Haowen and his classmates carried backpacks on their backs and went for a ten-kilometer march, followed by breakfast. After breakfast, they would proceed with other training activities.

The class monitor for Song Haowen’s class was a girl from Sichuan named Zhu Hongyu, 25 years old. Not only was she beautiful with delicate features, but she was also gentle and elegant, with red lips and white teeth, making her very charming. Moreover, she was fare and kindhearted and quite capable.

One morning during the march, Zhu Hongyu called Song Haowen to accompany the female students. He usually didn’t have much interaction with the female students in the class.

Their Greetings were usually just a nod when they met. Seeing Zhu Hongyu asking him to accompany them, he guessed there was something to talk about.

Sure enough, Zhu Hongyu, while running alongside Song Haowen, smiled and asked, “Are you from Jiangnan? That’s the wealthiest region in the country.”

Song Haowen smiled bitterly and said, “It used to be very wealthy in history. Now it’s similar to the rest of the country. In our village, we still don’t have electricity or telephone” then he summarized it with a catchy saying:

‘Communication mainly relies on shouting, public safety mainly relies on dogs, transportation mainly relies on walking, and heating mainly relies on shivering.’

Zhu Hongyu shook her head and said, “Nevertheless, there’s still a considerable difference between the eastern and western parts of Hua Xia. Take the college entrance examination admission scores, for example; there’s still quite a gap between our two provinces. I heard from the counselor that you were the top scorer in the college entrance examination in Jiangnan Province, full marks in all three subjects. It’s a record for our Beijing University. Although I was the top student in our province, there’s still a big gap between us. In the future studies, you’ll have to help me a lot.”

Song Haowen felt embarrassed. He thought that being a person with experience in two worlds shouldn’t be easily embarrassed but his face suddenly felt hot. Fortunately, he was sweating profusely from the run, and his face was already red to begin with so no one could tell how embarrassed he was.

“Class monitor, don’t overestimate me. I just happened to be lucky during the college entrance examination. There was a flash of inspiration. My usual grades are just average,” he replied humbly.