Chapter Eleven: Attending Class

The classroom was divided into left and right sections, with an aisle in the middle. On each side there was a row of six seats. At this moment, sitting closest to the aisle were two unfamiliar students from other classes, followed by Gao Jun, Su Yuan, Ji Yehao, and Yang Xiaowei.

Su Yuan hadn’t brought her textbook, so she had to piece things together by sharing with Gao Jun and Ji Yehao. Fortunately, this was the first class, and usually nothing too in-depth would be covered.

She had long heard that physics and chemistry were extremely important foundational courses, so the school’s requirements for this subject were very strict. Sure enough, the instructor was an associate professor—a female teacher in her early thirties. As soon as she arrived, she began calling roll and bluntly told everyone that anyone who skipped class more than three times would automatically fail the final exam. Her style was decisive and uncompromising.

Su Yuan felt a jolt in her heart and immediately put this course on her absolute no-skipping list.

On the podium, the female professor introduced herself briefly, then went straight to the point, giving an overview of the course before immediately starting the first lecture. The pace was dizzyingly fast.

“This Teacher Liu isn’t easy to deal with,” Su Yuan muttered with a frown from her seat.

Yang Xiaowei gave her a thumbs-up. “As expected of our Su Su—your instincts are spot on! This Teacher Liu is really hard to deal with. I heard that last year when she taught a class of thirty-six or thirty-seven students, half of them had to take make-up exams at the end of the semester, and a full third had to retake the course.”

Su Yuan froze and said incredulously, “Ten people retaking a course in one class? Isn’t that a bit too fierce?”

“Why would I lie to you? Running into her means we’re unlucky!” Yang Xiaowei spread his hands, looking utterly doomed.

University life was generally known as “strict entry, lenient exit.” It seemed that once you got into college, graduation was basically guaranteed, and in reality that was mostly true—aside from a small number who couldn’t get their diploma, the vast majority graduated smoothly. This “lenient exit” was also reflected in final exams: it was common for some students in a class to need a make-up exam, but having to retake a course was relatively rare.

“Damn, this is deadly!” A boy in the front row exclaimed loudly. He looked slovenly, wearing a leather jacket with an earring—at first glance, he looked like some street punk. Hearing Yang Xiaowei’s words, he shouted without restraint.

Su Yuan poked him with her pen. “Fang Kai, if you don’t put your heart into it, your chances of failing are actually pretty high!”

“Peh peh! Don’t jinx me!” Fang Kai reacted like a mouse whose tail had been grabbed, shaking a fist at Su Yuan. After thinking about it, a wave of desolation suddenly rose in his heart.

“Hahaha.” Su Yuan burst out laughing.

By societal standards, Fang Kai could definitely be classified as the delinquent type, but oddly enough, his relationship with Su Yuan and the others was fairly good. He could even take Su Yuan’s “curse” in stride. If it were someone else, fists would already be flying.

“Hey, Su Yuan… did you get plastic surgery?” Fang Kai asked.

His words nearly made Su Yuan choke on her own saliva.

“That boy over there—pay attention and listen carefully in class!” the teacher called out.

“Sounds like she’s talking about us!”

“Stop talking, I know already.” Su Yuan hurriedly lowered her head, trying her best not to expose her face to Teacher Liu’s gaze. Making a bad impression in the first class would spell trouble for the entire course—she didn’t want to repeat the disaster of calculus. Fortunately, Teacher Liu only glanced at her a few times, and the small incident passed.

“Ding ding ding!” The first class ended, followed by a ten-minute break. Su Yuan had held her neck at an angle for the entire class, and it was already aching badly. She collapsed onto the desk like a boneless creature and dozed off, prompting Ji Yehao and Gao Jun to exchange puzzled looks.

When class resumed, Teacher Liu continued explaining the material from the textbook. It was a dazzling torrent of words—her logic was meticulous, and even obscure concepts became simple when explained by her. However, this simplicity varied from person to person. Su Yuan glanced around and saw many students already playing with their phones. Presumably, they couldn’t understand and simply gave up, planning to catch up later.

This situation was very common. In fact, during last semester’s calculus course, Su Yuan herself had done the same thing.

After endless waiting, the bell finally rang. Perhaps because she had drunk some water earlier and then a bag of soy milk, Su Yuan had been feeling the urge to use the restroom for quite some time.

The third and fourth periods were Human Physiology, which required changing classrooms. There was a longer break in between. After confirming the classroom location, Su Yuan handed the textbook to Gao Jun and headed toward the restroom.

The hallway was filled with a steady stream of students—some carrying bags, others holding textbooks—traffic became congested for a moment. When she reached the restroom, she didn’t hesitate and ran straight into the men’s room. After all, she was a “male student” right now; going into the women’s restroom would look strange to others. Seeing an empty stall, she took it without a second thought.

Because the physiological structures of women and men are different, the state during urination is also different, and the sounds produced are noticeably distinct. Moreover, after development, certain organs can obstruct the flow of urine, so many women experience urine splashing and wetting the lower body, requiring them to carry tissues for wiping.

Su Yuan had once heard a joke saying that someone had studied women’s urination sounds and found that a “hissing” sound—like water rushing out of a broken faucet—indicated a woman who was younger, stronger, and tighter.

If the sound was more like a “zz zz,” similar to a toy water gun firing, then the woman was a bit older than the previous type, still youthful, but with much richer sexual experience. If it was a loud “splashing” sound, then she was either middle-aged or extremely experienced. As for very soft “rustling” sounds or even silence, it meant either pathological weakness, shyness, or a young virgin.

And if the sound was a thunderous “splash splash,” with the momentum of water pouring from a great height—then that was a shemale.

…

The sky was cloudless, with a blazing sun overhead.

Under the shade of a huge camphor tree, a gentle breeze brought a hint of coolness.

“Fang Kai, don’t you think what we’re doing is a bit inappropriate?” After the afternoon computer class, the occupants of dorm 330, including Su Yuan, accepted Fang Kai’s invitation and came to the shade of the camphor tree beside the rubber track.

She looked awkwardly at Fang Kai sitting across from her. From not far away, pairs of scorching gazes shot toward her, making her restless and uneasy.

Fang Kai waved his hand and said leisurely, “Life’s just like this—some suffer, some enjoy themselves. There’s no such thing as fairness from birth. We enjoy what’s ours and ignore them.”

“Tch.” Su Yuan curled her lips, unable to be as carefree and unrestrained as him.

“I think Su Yuan’s concerns make sense,” Gao Jun said. “The hatred we’re drawing does seem a bit too high.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. We’re just tempering their willpower. Opportunities like this don’t come often for them. It’ll definitely benefit them when they enter society.”

Ji Yehao and Yang Xiaowei shook their heads. Yang Xiaowei said, “Fang Kai, look—the junior girls across the way are staring at us with eyes full of hatred. This is a huge obstacle for picking up underclassmen in the future!”

Fang Kai glared. “Nonsense! Don’t you already have a girlfriend? Even I don’t care—why are you whining?” Yang Xiaowei chuckled. “I don’t care either. I’m just afraid you’ll become a notorious senior on the campus forum!”

“No problem—aren’t you guys here to keep me company?”

“You’ve really got the nerve to say that.”

“Why not?”

Under the massive camphor tree sat a small table. Su Yuan, Ji Yehao, Gao Jun, Yang Xiaowei, and Fang Kai sat on the ground together, enjoying two chilled watermelons placed on the table. Not far away, under the blazing sun, the freshman military training formation stood at attention on the rubber field, each student staring straight ahead, trying their best to ignore this group of jerks just over ten meters away.

Su Yuan felt as though she had committed an unforgivable sin, her heart filled with torment. The male students across the way were probably itching to tear them apart alive.

Fang Kai spat. “Do you know how hard it was for me to carry these two watermelons? Be grateful—you’ve got something to eat, so have a sense of gratitude. Gratitude!”

“But I still think what we’re doing is kind of immoral…” Su Yuan said. Even though she felt indebted after eating, she still spoke up.

“Then why are some people eating so happily?”

Su Yuan could only smile awkwardly.

It turned out that right after the afternoon classes ended, not long after Su Yuan and the others had returned to the dorm, they received a call from Fang Kai inviting them out to eat watermelon together. Delighted by such good news, they gladly came—but once they arrived under the camphor tree, everyone was speechless. This guy had really done something so outrageously wicked!

Simply despicable.

Yet eating chilled watermelon in front of freshmen undergoing military training, savoring the contrast between heaven and hell, gave people an irresistible thrill and a peculiar sense of enjoyment.

“We’re tempering their willpower. The juniors will definitely understand our good intentions someday—this is all for their own good!”

Hearing this, Su Yuan exchanged glances with the others. They had never seen someone so shameless. It made her feel like she was the one who had failed the test of character. Forget it—better them than me. She took a big bite of watermelon and suddenly asked, “There’s a class meeting tonight. Fang Kai, are you going?”

“A class meeting? What’s the point? I’m not going! I’d rather go to an internet café and play WoW!” Fang Kai shook his head vigorously the moment he heard about the meeting.

Su Yuan wore an expression that said she had expected as much.

“Hey, Su Yuan, this semester you should have a good chance to compete for the position of Youth League secretary, right?”

Su Yuan froze for a moment, then shook her head.

At the start of a new academic year, positions like class officers and Youth League secretary were reshuffled. Some could continue, but considering future employment prospects, and to make everyone’s résumé look better, it was customary to let more students take turns serving as class officers.