Chapter 3: Let Me See How Pretty This Zheng Yanyan Is

The young man before Zhou Yuwen was dressed in a trendy sports outfit. Before he even arrived, he had already lit a cigarette.

"Let me introduce myself, I’m Chang Hao from Beijing. You must be Zhou Yuwen?" he said, smiling and extending a cigarette to Zhou Yuwen.

Recognizing the familiar face and the distinctive brand of the cigarette, Zhou Yuwen smiled. "Nice to meet you. I’m Zhou Yuwen."

"Looks like our dorm is complete then," Chang Hao declared.

Everything was unfolding exactly as it had in his previous life. There were four of them in the dorm: Chang Hao, the open and outgoing guy from Beijing, who immediately took on the role of the dorm’s spokesperson. He loudly complained about how he was supposed to study abroad but ended up here due to some mix-up, calling the place a dump where even the toilets didn't have seats and the showers were in communal bathrooms.

"This place isn’t fit for humans!" Chang Hao ranted.

The pale boy on the bed was Lu Yuhang from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area, a quiet student who seldom joined in dorm activities and eventually left for overseas studies in their sophomore year. Initially, everyone thought Chang Hao, from Beijing, was a rich kid, but they later discovered that the truly wealthy, understated one was Lu Yuhang. Yet Lu Yuhang never seemed to care about such things and remained the most overlooked member of the dorm.

In response to Chang Hao’s complaints, Lu Yuhang explained that their dorm was a converted guesthouse used by the school due to enrollment expansions, hence the subpar conditions compared to newer dorms.

"Rats? I’ve seen plenty back home. This big," Li Qiang, the last roommate, from the north, chimed in. He was tall and rugged, dressed plainly and unimpressed by Chang Hao’s apparent flaunting of wealth.

Zhou Yuwen had spent four years with these roommates. Li Qiang had often complained to Zhou Yuwen about Chang Hao, questioning his sense of superiority, noting that it was his family’s wealth, not his.

"He skips classes and plays games all day. Who would hire him after graduation?" Li Qiang, who believed in hard work, would often say. Years later, when Li Qiang was still commuting on the subway to a job with an 8,000 yuan salary, Chang Hao effortlessly returned to Beijing to find a job with great benefits.

During college, Chang Hao had a blatant crush on Zheng Yanyan, who was also from Beijing. He would do anything for her, including playing guitar under the dorm windows. Zheng Yanyan, however, never gave him a definitive response, always smiling but never committing.

Chang Hao pursued Zheng Yanyan for four years, often drinking to drown his unrequited love. Eventually, he married a fellow factory owner’s daughter from Beijing, taking over his father-in-law’s leather factory. On his wedding day, though he had invited Zheng Yanyan, she didn't show up. Instead, she sent a red envelope to Su Qing, wishing him happiness.

Chang Hao's college days were filled with wild antics, from fights to public embarrassments, yet he saw them as badges of honor, much to Li Qiang’s amusement. Li Qiang didn’t attend Chang Hao’s wedding, seeing no point in maintaining the connection.

Reflecting on these past events, Zhou Yuwen felt a mix of nostalgia and irony, realizing that while these events had already occurred, they were now happening again.

Chang Hao offered a cigarette to Li Qiang, who brightened up at the sight of the good brand.

"It’s just an okay smoke," Chang Hao dismissed casually. Despite their mutual disdain, Chang Hao and Li Qiang often acted like close brothers.

Chang Hao excitedly shared that he had arranged to meet two girls for cards, showing Li Qiang a photo of one, calling her stunning.

"But there’s only one here. What about the other?" Li Qiang asked.

"The other one is from Xuzhou, and she’s Zheng Yanyan’s roommate," Chang Hao said, then turned to Zhou Yuwen. "Hey, Zhou Yuwen, you’re from Xuzhou, right? Want to join us?"

This was the beginning of everything—the card game where Zhou Yuwen met Su Qing, his ex-wife.

They chatted, discovering they had once taken a test together in the same classroom. They quickly became friends and, later, a couple. Four years later, they married, witnessed by their families.

In college, dating Su Qing, the campus belle, brought Zhou Yuwen a lot of envy. Su Qing was not only beautiful but also academically excellent, winning many design awards even before graduation.

Chang Hao, who never succeeded in his pursuit of Zheng Yanyan, envied Zhou Yuwen, who got together with Su Qing in just three months.

College romance was indeed sweet, but this time, Zhou Yuwen had no interest in repeating that relationship.

"Hey, Zhou Yuwen, are you coming? It’s a great chance to meet some girls!" Chang Hao urged.

Snapping out of his reverie, Zhou Yuwen smiled, "No, you guys go ahead. I have other plans."

"Really? Why not? Got something else to do?" Chang Hao looked disappointed.

Since the beginning of the term, Li Qiang had hoped to become close friends with Chang Hao, but Chang Hao’s slight arrogance made it difficult. Meanwhile, Zhou Yuwen, though not wealthy, kept himself neat and clean, making him more appealing to Li Qiang. However, Zhou Yuwen always maintained a polite but distant attitude toward his roommates, never getting too close or too cold. Su Qing once said it was as if no one could truly enter Zhou Yuwen’s heart.

This trait of Zhou Yuwen’s had drawn Su Qing to him. It also made Chang Hao, despite multiple drunken confessions of brotherhood, yearn for his companionship.

Chang Hao really wanted Zhou Yuwen to join them for cards, especially to meet Zheng Yanyan.

"Look, here’s her photo," Chang Hao insisted, showing the picture again.

"No thanks, I have other things to do. Take Li Qiang with you," Zhou Yuwen said while unpacking.

"Come on, Hao. If Zhou Yuwen doesn’t want to go, let him be. I’ll go with you. I want to see how pretty this Zheng Yanyan is," Li Qiang said.