BSS - Chapter 73
Chapter 73
The bus continued on its way, stopping at a station near P University.
Deng Chuan got off and walked toward the east gate of the university.
Night had just fallen, and the entrance was still bustling with people coming and going. Streetlights cast the shadows of pedestrians onto the tree-lined road. In the air, the residual warmth of the sunset felt like the embers of a rocket's flame, making the weather muggy and hot. After walking for just a short while, Deng Chuan could feel sweat seeping through her shirt on her back.
At the east gate, a steady stream of tourists was still taking photos to commemorate their visit. Deng Chuan steered clear of their camera angles to avoid being in the shot. She swiped her card at the entrance gate and walked inside just as a campus shuttle arrived.
She stepped onto the shuttle. The young students getting on nearby were carrying bags of all sizes; most of them were returning to school after the holiday.
Suitcases were piled at their feet. The shuttle was full. The person next to Deng Chuan had a backpack on and was holding half a watermelon on their lap. The refreshing scent of the sliced watermelon wafted through the air, a signal of the summer night and evening breeze.
In Beijing, summer seemed to be lingering.
As Deng Chuan’s senses took in these signals, the emptiness that had filled her heart throughout the journey began to warm. Sitting in her seat, she couldn't help but turn to glance at the bright red half-watermelon beside her.
The campus shuttle moved quickly along the school roads, passing the bright, scattered lights of the campus before stopping at the student dormitory area. Deng Chuan took the elevator upstairs and returned to her dorm. The door was wide open. Inside, her three roommates had set up a table in the middle of the hallway and were eating snail rice noodles.
The moment Deng Chuan entered, the smell was so strong it made her take a step back. Li Mingtang looked up, saw her, and called out, “Deng Chuan, you’re back! We were just asking in the group chat when you’d arrive.”
Deng Chuan resisted the urge to cover her nose and explained, “I wasn’t looking at my phone.”
Zhou Zhi was crunching on a long piece of pickled bamboo shoot. Seeing Deng Chuan walk in, she gestured with her chopsticks. “Want some? There’s still more in the pot.”
Deng Chuan walked over to the table, turned her back to put down her bag, and answered with firm resolve, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
The aroma was too intense to ignore. After a pause, Deng Chuan couldn’t help but ask, “How many times did you guys eat this in the dorm over the eight-day National Day holiday?”
Xie Yao said, “I bought these online before, and they happened to arrive yesterday.”
Li Mingtang praised them loudly, “They’re so good! We’ve eaten them for two days in a row. So delicious!”
As if remembering something, she turned to Xie Yao. “Yaoyao, you still haven’t sent me the purchase link-”
“Sending it right now, right now!”
Zhou Zhi also said, “Send it to me, too.”
“Okay, I’ll post it in the group chat. You guys can look for it there.”
“Alrighty.”
Their words, mixed with the smell, gave Deng Chuan a headache. She finished unpacking and went out to the balcony to take a shower.
Classes would start tomorrow. By the time Deng Chuan came back, drying her hair, numerous notifications had already been posted in her competition and class group chats. She scrolled through them one by one; they were mostly announcements about club activities and competition dates.
She put down her phone and glanced at the table, where a pot with leftover snail rice noodles sat. The red oil floating on top actually made it look quite appetizing.
Her three roommates enthusiastically invited her over. “Deng Chuan- come help us, we can’t finish it all!”
That night, Xu Wei received two messages from her Little Friend:
-I really want to eat watermelon.
-Snail rice noodles are actually really delicious.
A few days later, the list of groups that had passed the preliminary round of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was released.
Deng Chuan’s group made the cut. Next came preparations for the semi-final defense.
After the National Day holiday, the pace of her major courses also quickened. P University packed the schedules of its first-year students, making the coursework demanding, yet there were also numerous extracurricular activities. Everyone around her seemed to have boundless energy. Amidst the intense hustle, Deng Chuan found herself staying up late more and more frequently. Every night, she would casually wish Xu Wei goodnight, then keep her desk lamp on until the middle of the night, methodically tackling every problem she faced.
Buried in her work, Deng Chuan had no time to discern whether hiding this from Xu Wei was right or wrong. Only occasionally, during a study break in a classroom or the library, would she gaze out the window at the gray-blue sky.
Beijing's stubborn autumn tiger gradually receded with each passing busy day. The leaves on the roadside trees slowly turned yellow, and the air grew dry and cool. One evening, while video-chatting with Xu Wei, Deng Chuan happened to scroll through her Moments and saw a whole set of photos of Beijing’s famous Ginkgo Avenue posted by Liang Xue. Only then did she realize that autumn had truly arrived.
In the photos, Ginkgo Avenue was picturesque in its autumn colors. Deng Chuan really wanted to go see it with Xu Wei, but Xu Wei never had the time to visit her.
In the end, Deng Chuan went with her roommates.
Although Pei Qingyu was also in Beijing, they were both busy, and when they finally had free time, their schedules rarely aligned. The commute time in Beijing was also too long. After a few failed attempts to meet up, Pei Qingyu went with her own classmates instead.
In Beijing, autumn manifested itself in distinct forms. Bright red persimmons hanging from branches became dried persimmon cakes sold in roadside shops. Yellow leaves brushed past green tiles and red walls, reflecting in the yellow-green pupils of a cat on the eaves.
The stray cats in the north were mostly long-haired. Once autumn arrived, their thick, plush winter coats began to grow in, making them look stout and fluffy.
Deng Chuan still maintained her high school habit of carrying canned cat food in her backpack. The stray cats at P University had been cataloged by students, who even had a dedicated public account to document their lives and movements. Deng Chuan often ran into a long-haired white cat named “Milk Candy” downstairs, who had a particular fondness for pure tuna-flavored cans.
As for the semi-final defense for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, Deng Chuan was once again the main speaker. She wore a suit for the first time, and the sight made her teammates stare. The group’s advisor was a young teacher who usually got along well with them. He couldn't help but joke with Deng Chuan, “With a look like that, shouldn’t our group get an extra five points?” The group all laughed, and the tension in Deng Chuan’s heart eased a little.
The semi-final defense went very smoothly.
In its report on the competition, the university’s press corps included a candid photo of Deng Chuan during her defense. That issue received a high number of views, and someone in the comments marveled, “The way this junior sister looks giving her presentation in a suit, she’s like a beautiful falcon.”
Someone else asked in the comments, “Is it too late to invest in this junior sister’s project?”
The comment received a lot of teasing replies and likes.
Gu Ninglu saw it almost immediately.
She sent Liang Xue a string of exclamation points. Then she sent a message to Deng Chuan, asking if she had considered a holiday internship.
Deng Chuan was probably at a celebratory dinner with her team members, as she only replied a few hours later. Her wording was very polite: Hello, Senior Sister. I haven't considered it for the time being.
Gu Ninglu’s heart stirred at the words “Senior Sister.”
Deng Chuan was indeed at a team dinner. The group was eating copper pot mutton hotpot, paired with cold noodles they had bought from outside, a truly satisfying meal.
Seeing that Gu Ninglu hadn’t replied, she put her phone back in her pocket and held out her plate to accept a helping of cooked mutton from her teacher.
Just as she finished eating the meat dipped in sesame sauce, her phone vibrated in her pocket again.
Chewing on the meat, Deng Chuan pulled her phone out to look-
Gu Ninglu had sent her a long message, listing the importance of internship experience and employers for students in finance and economics. She also mentioned graduate school recommendations and P University’s 2+2 program, advising Deng Chuan that if she had any such plans, she absolutely had to consider internships early on.
Her words were earnest and sincere. Deng Chuan couldn't help but read them carefully. Gu Ninglu had a very good point. Before this, Deng Chuan had never considered graduate school recommendations or study abroad exchange programs. She studied diligently, accomplishing what was within her abilities. The furthest she had planned for her future was to return to her hometown after graduation and be with Xu Wei forever and ever.
But today, Deng Chuan suddenly realized that there were so many other paths her future could take. Perhaps not every path would be lined with flowers, but the end of each one shimmered with a mysterious light, leading to infinite possibilities.
Possibility. This was something more alluring than money, career, or any desired gain.
Deng Chuan’s young heart couldn't help but tremble at these possibilities. When faced with the unknown, people inevitably have both good and bad imaginings, and it was precisely these imaginings that were the most tantalizing.
For the first time, Deng Chuan asked herself in her heart: What do I want to do in the future? My major, my studies, my personal abilities- what is it that I truly want to pursue?
The most important thing in life is to find something you want to do and strive for it. But this was not easy. Everyone is swept along by life, and choices are rarely one's own.
But now, the power of choice was entirely in Deng Chuan’s hands.
Deng Chuan was an exceptionally smart person. She immediately realized that the crux of the problem was whether she could balance family, her lover, and the realization of her own self-worth.
And right now, Deng Chuan couldn't find the answer.
She could only reply politely to Gu Ninglu: Thank you for the information, Senior Sister. I will definitely think carefully about my future plans.
Gu Ninglu’s message quickly popped up again: Okay. If you need an internship, you can let me know. I know some people who might be able to help with your choice of employer.
Deng Chuan was stunned.
Gu Ninglu’s words revealed a great deal. Deng Chuan understood perfectly that to make such a promise, the “channels” Gu Ninglu spoke of were surely not ordinary ones. And Gu Ninglu herself, in making this promise, naturally did not have ordinary feelings for Deng Chuan.
Deng Chuan almost immediately drew a line between herself and Gu Ninglu in her mind.
She replied, “Thank you, Senior Sister.” She didn’t even add a polite closing like “I’ll let you know if I need anything” before deleting the chat window with Gu Ninglu.
The frozen tofu bubbled in the copper pot. In the time Deng Chuan had spent messaging Gu Ninglu, her plate had been piled high with cooked vegetables and meat by her teammates and teacher.
Seeing Deng Chuan put her phone away, the young advisor smiled at her and teased, “Stop chatting, they’re going to eat all the meat. Good thing I saved some for you- hurry up and eat.”
The others at the table, a bit drunk from the cold beer, heard this and eagerly chimed in, shouting, “Teacher- Deng Chuan isn’t full yet, shouldn’t we order a few more plates of mutton?”
The advisor waved his hand grandly. “Order! Order whatever else you want, it’s on me!”
Laughter and chatter filled the air. The pale gold beer sloshed in glass mugs, clinking together with a crisp sound that made Deng Chuan feel a little tipsy herself.
Steam rose, and empty beer bottles piled up in a corner of the table. By the end, almost everyone was drunk. On the taxi ride back, they all managed to fit into one car. The back seat was crowded. Deng Chuan leaned against the window, listening to her tipsy teammates softly humming:
“Give me a second I,
I need to get my story straight……”
Gradually, others joined in-
“Tonight-
We Are Young.
So let's set the world on fire,
We can burn brighter Than the sun-”
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