080. Early Morning
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Lin Nan felt like the so-called pet of the dormitory.
Maybe it’s because he’s a year younger than his roommates, or maybe he just has an overly amiable face, but from the very first semester of freshman year, Lin Nan felt like his roommates were always going out of their way to take care of him.
Let’s not even talk about Chen Yao, who he’d known since middle school; they’d been each other’s support since their parents were often absent. As for Xiong Da and Tu Junhui, one was a softy beneath a cold exterior while the other talked a mile a minute, and even though they’d only known each other for a year, Lin Nan felt like they went easy on him too.
Back in elementary school, Lin Nan lived with his grandparents in the countryside. Maybe it was their old-fashioned ideas, but instead of sending him to kindergarten, they threw him into elementary school a year early. As a result, no matter which class he attended, he was always the little brother everyone picked on.
Luckily, he met Chen Yao.
Every time he thought back on it, Lin Nan felt that Chen Yao was his lucky star. He suspected he must have done something incredibly good in his past life to meet Chen Yao, who had pulled him out of the abyss of school bullying.
And now, it was a new week.
All four roommates seemed utterly lifeless, sprawled in bed like salted fish.
“Time to wake up, time to wake up,” Lin Nan said as he returned to the dorm after washing up, giving each of their beds a friendly little pat.
However, Tu Junhui was nursing a hangover from partying hard for his birthday with Chen Yao, and Xiong Da was still in the hazy depths of gaming-induced sleep, groggily cracking one eye open to look at Lin Nan before flopping his head back down, grumbling in a hoarse voice, “I’m skipping, I’m skipping! Help me mark the roll.”
“Come on, you can’t have all three of you skip class!” Lin Nan’s face turned dark. “Skipping is fine, just don’t make me mark your attendance! How on earth am I supposed to mark four people?”
“Just call out ‘present’ four times,” Tu Junhui suddenly chimed in.
“Wake up already and get out of bed.”
Lin Nan shot him a glare, but Tu Junhui had already cocooned himself in his blanket, covering his head like an ostrich, refusing stubbornly, “Headache, overdid it, can’t get up.”
“What about Chen Yao?”
Without turning around, Lin Nan knew Chen Yao was awake too.
“Eh, don’t nag like a mom…” Chen Yao sighed, “I can’t get up either.”
Lin Nan couldn’t fathom how someone could be awake and still say they couldn’t rise. If it were winter, being sealed under the covers might be understandable, but it was a coastal summer with temperatures soaring over thirty-five degrees!
Even in October, it wouldn’t really cool down until November or December here.
With no one to go to class with, Lin Nan threw on his white sun-protection jacket, grabbed his books, and headed out on his own.
As he reached the bottom of the dorm building, he spotted a crowd of students in military training uniforms filling the basketball court.
“What? Military training? This year’s is so late!” Lin Nan muttered to himself. Back when he just started school, he had to endure training under the blazing sun, but this year’s students were lucky, getting theirs pushed back to October!
As he lingered at the dorm entrance, a familiar voice rose behind him, “Lin Nan? Just you?”
Lin Yuan strolled past him slowly, followed by three of his roommates.
“Big shot! You look even cooler today than yesterday!” Big Dog bounced over eagerly.
“Big Dog, don’t you guys usually arrive just on time for class?” Lin Nan racked his brain, but could only remember his nickname and not his real name.
Big Dog couldn’t care less about his nickname, flashing a cheerful grin. He threw an arm around Lin Nan’s shoulder and asked, “You have a match next week, right? I’ll come to the field waving a banner for you!”
“Maybe skipping the banner is a good idea?”
Lin Nan awkwardly tried to extricate himself from Big Dog’s grip. Ever since his body took on a more feminine appearance, he had been avoiding physical contact with guys—not just because he was worried someone might notice, but also because of Lilith’s influence, which made him feel a little out of control around them.
Still, being shoulder-to-shoulder with Big Dog felt oddly comforting, like a trip down memory lane.
No escape…
With a dark expression, he could only continue walking toward the classroom, held captive by Big Dog, who was just like another Tu Junhui, chattering non-stop. Those who disliked him would find him noisy, but those who did enjoy him could chat about anything for hours.
Even though Lin Nan often borrowed the computer from Big Dog in the past, he really only knew Big Dog and Lin Yuan well; the other two seemed quieter and rarely spoke up in class or on the way.
Lin Yuan looked aloof, but after getting to know him, Lin Nan found that he actually talked quite a bit.
“How’s Cola doing?” Lin Yuan would check on Cola maybe once a week. “Did you deworm him and get his vaccinations yet?”
“Bit tight on cash…” Lin Nan felt a pang of guilt as he recalled. “I dewormed him inside and out, but for the vaccines, I still need more money.”
“No rush, Cola looks only about two or three months old. The vaccinations aren’t urgent,” Lin Yuan said as he strolled ahead, then added, “In a couple of days, I’ll bring some toys and snacks for Cola. I even bought him a cotton bed—definitely better than a cardboard box and clothes.”
Lin Nan felt that Lin Yuan must really want to adopt Cola, though the others in the dorm weren’t too keen on it.
Having wasted time trying to wake his roommates, Lin Nan had no time for breakfast today and followed Lin Yuan and the gang straight to class, where they sat in the same row and promptly began to doze off.
Tomorrow, he was heading to the home of the traffic control uncle.
Lin Nan needed to think about how to deal with the uncle’s nerdy son in advance.
Honestly, it could be simple if he was more straightforward—call two big guys to carry the nerd out and toss him out the door—but that was way too unrealistic. Then there’s psychological guidance… but the communication between the uncle and his son was basically nonexistent; Lin Nan hadn’t garnered any useful info and was at a total loss.
If only he knew what the kid liked…
Lin Nan rested his face on the cool tabletop, mulling over this tricky problem.
And going to someone else’s house alone… would it be a bit unsafe?
It finally struck him that safety was a concern.
In the past eighteen years, he hadn’t encountered any major troublemakers; not even a car accident—he once fell for a “deaf-mute” scam at the bus station as a freshman and ended up buying a red string for ten bucks.
The key was that he used to be male, so safety wasn’t really a pressing concern. And in the other three hundred years of memories, it was always Lilith causing trouble for others, rarely was she the victim…
Surely, nothing would go wrong? A nerd, even if he had bad intentions, probably wouldn’t have the guts to do anything.
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Off to deliver my roommate’s medical card and do a little check-up. If I’m back early, I’ll crank out some extra updates.
