Another rainy day.
Summer had many rainy days, and the torrential downpour combined with lightning and thunder left Lin Nan, unprepared when leaving in the morning, completely soaked.
Today was the first day of school. Early in the morning, he and Chen Yao boarded the high-speed train together, heading to their school hundreds of kilometers away.
They were roommates in the same dorm. Back in their senior year of high school, they had similar grades and agreed to apply to the same school and major. They ultimately got their wish, entering not just the same school but even the same dorm room.
They boarded at eight in the morning, and it was already eleven when they arrived. The weather had been bright and clear when they got on, but it was pouring outside by the time they got off.
Running from the station exit to the bus stop in the rain, they were both drenched like drowned rats, taking shelter miserably under the bus stop's cover.
"Damn! Why is our luck so bad!" Chen Yao cursed, worriedly looking at his non-waterproof suitcase, afraid the clothes and computer inside would be soaked.
Lin Nan stood beside him, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He'd slept the entire train ride, so he was still a bit groggy.
"Lin Nan, help me watch for the bus."
"Okay, why don't we take a taxi?"
"Haven't you seen how long the taxi queue is?" Chen Yao hated taking the bus and sighed, muttering to himself, "It's still two hours by bus from here, and we might not even get seats."
Lin Nan didn't care much about the length of the journey. He continued to yawn while taking out a pack of tissues from his pocket to wipe the rainwater dripping from his hair.
Chen Yao had gradually gotten used to Lin Nan's unconscious feminine gestures, after all, the guy had looked surprisingly beautiful in women's clothes, though he suspected Lin Nan's fever might have actually damaged his brain.
Perhaps because of the rain, the train station wasn't very crowded, and the bus wasn't as packed as expected. They easily found seats, and then one played on his phone while the other continued dozing.
At 1:30 in the afternoon, the bus broke through the rain barrier and stopped at the Marine College bus stop.
This was in the suburbs, but the road didn't look shabby at all. Instead, it was a wide six-lane road. Behind the station was an urban village of low buildings, and directly opposite, next to the most eye-catching huge electric sliding gate, were the words "Marine College" in large characters.
It was the first day of school. Large numbers of returning students, carrying bags and suitcases, arrived by various means of transport, flowing into the school gates like ants returning to their nest.
Lin Nan and Chen Yao quickly became part of this flow, following the crowd leisurely toward the dormitory.
Although this university wasn't considered particularly prestigious, compared to the elementary, middle, and high schools Lin Nan had attended, it was almost impossibly huge.
A straight road led from the main gate, with a massive sports field the size of three football fields on the left and a three-story cafeteria and fenced-in dormitory complex on the right. Further ahead, rows of four to five-story teaching buildings appeared, with a garden the size of a football field in the center of the teaching buildings...
They entered the familiar dormitory complex, arrived at Building A1, greeted the dormitory manager smoking in a rocking chair at the entrance, and carried their bags upstairs.
Room 432 in Building A was Lin Nan and Chen Yao's dorm.
The school dorms were four-person rooms with bunk beds over desks and a private bathroom on the balcony. Though the entire room was a bit small, it was incomparably better than their high school eight-person rooms with double-layer iron frame beds.
There were no other roommates in the dorm yet. Lin Nan used the towel he'd left from last semester as a rag to wipe down the desk, chairs, and bamboo mats.
He'd planned to take off the bedding to wash it, but with the downpour outside, Lin Nan figured he'd have to sleep with the mothball-scented blankets tonight.
By the time Lin Nan had thoroughly cleaned his bed area, Chen Yao had already connected his computer to the internet.
"Being back in the dorm feels like being home, so comfortable!" He sat in his specially bought computer chair, opened a webpage, and watched videos on his 27-inch screen.
Lin Nan could only look on enviously. Now probably everyone in class had a laptop except him, who had to mooch off his roommates every day.
Just as he was about to watch videos with Chen Yao, the dorm door suddenly opened again, and a fat guy at least 1.8 meters tall walked in pulling a suitcase.
"Nan-nan, you've become prettier," he said seriously to Lin Nan as soon as he entered. "When are you going to Thailand? I'll crowdfund it for you."
"Get lost!"
This big guy was called Tu Junhui. In freshman year, he'd been a 200-pound fatty, but over one semester, he lost a full 30 pounds and even built some muscle from joining the fitness club. When he stood in front of Lin Nan, he was like a wall.
However, unfortunately, over the summer break, he seemed to have inflated like a balloon again.
He didn't mind Lin Nan's rudeness. He laughed as he put his suitcase in the corner and then sat down without caring about the chair's two months of dust. He crossed his legs and continued teasing: "Really, you seem much fairer and maybe a bit shorter?"
"Not at all!" Lin Nan responded coldly.
Their relationship was actually quite good. Tu Junhui was straightforward, and though he was a stereotypical straight guy who could be rough around the edges, he was clearly a good friend.
Tu Junhui liked to call Lin Nan "Nan-nan," a feminine nickname, so Lin Nan would call him "Tu-tu," a childish nickname.
Perhaps because of his long journey, he started yawning as soon as he sat down, but he still forced himself to stay awake and ask Lin Nan, "Where's Big Bear? He's not here yet."
"Ask in the group chat," Lin Nan casually replied. Then, finding Chen Yao's choice of video uninteresting, he listlessly returned to his own seat, taking out his phone to mooch off his roommate's laptop WiFi.
The last roommate who hadn't arrived was called Xiong Da, nicknamed "Big Bear" because of his name. As soon as Tu Junhui asked about him in the dorm group chat, he immediately responded, saying he wouldn't arrive until tomorrow.
As second-year students, they could rely on their class monitor for registration and their bank cards for tuition, so there wasn't any problem as long as they arrived before classes started.
Xiong Da was a tall, thin guy who liked wearing caps. Unfortunately, while he looked handsome and dashing, he had hereditary hair loss, leaving the front half of his head basically hairless. Otherwise, Lin Nan might have grudgingly considered him somewhat good-looking.
But he was balding.
Who knows if it was from the pressure of college entrance exams or staying up late every night that made him go bald like that before college, but when he took off his cap, this perfectly normal nineteen-year-old was always mistaken for a programmer outside.
Tu Junhui quickly recovered his energy and tidied his bed area, his mouth still constantly teasing Lin Nan.
"Seriously, Nan-nan, have you gotten fairer?"
"No."
"I feel like your eyes are bigger."
"No!"
"Nan-nan, when are you getting surgery to marry me?"
"Are you stupid? I've noticed you've gotten gayer since you started working out?"