Help, My Buff Roommate is Begging to Touch my Abs - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Bringing Meat Back

Jinbao-er’s good fortune didn’t stop there.

After arriving at the dormitory, he was equally stunned when he saw his other two roommates.

Two more tall, burly muscular men; their biceps looked like they were about to burst through their shirts, radiating masculine pheromones.

Upon asking, he learned that one was a hearty “Big Brother” from the Northeast, and the other was a blunt, honest fellow from Shandong.

The big dummy next to him was from Sichuan, while he himself was from Yunnan.

Standing among the three of them, Jinbao-er suddenly felt like a child who had accidentally wandered into a crowd of adults, looking completely out of place.

These two roommates were also very enthusiastic, constantly pulling out local specialties from their hometowns to share with Jinbao-er and Zhao Yuheng; they even helped the two of them take their bamboo sleeping mats outside to shake off the dust.

Jinbao-er felt that his future university life certainly wouldn’t be bad; after all, roommates with both great physiques and great personalities were rare.

The four of them even ranked themselves by age: the Northeast “Big Brother,” who was a year older than the rest, was Old First; the one from Shandong was Old Second; Zhao Yuheng was Old Third; and Jinbao-er could only be Old Fourth.

Whether by age or height, standing among the three of them, he looked like an underage child.

He was at least $175text{ cm}$ tall, but the average height of these three was likely over $185text{ cm}$, making him look petite and dainty by comparison.

These three were absolute chatterboxes, talking about everything from funny stories in their hometowns to family members, and even the cartoons they watched as kids.

Jinbao-er never realized that these three men could be quite childish at times.

He was a bit socially anxious and wasn’t good at talking, so he could only be a diligent listener, asking a question every now and then to let everyone know he was listening and willing to learn from them.

In the evening, the three of them proposed going out for a big meal.

Old First said the hotpot he had outside yesterday was “confusingly delicious” and insisted on taking them to eat it again.

Old Second and Zhao Yuheng immediately agreed.

“What does Old Fourth say?”

Old First suddenly turned around, looking at Jinbao-er who was still folding clothes on his bed, his eyes flashing with an enthusiasm that allowed no refusal.

Jinbao-er had been listening to them talk and had just been thinking they wouldn’t call on him; he didn’t expect to actually be named.

He pinched the meager living expenses in his pocket; that bit of money couldn’t support going out for a big feast every meal had to be meticulously calculated.

“No thanks, I have a part-time job interview scheduled, I have to go in a bit.”

Jinbao-er declined awkwardly, keeping his head down, not daring to look Old First in the eye.

“Don’t be like that! What kind of part-time job do you do right when school starts? I’m telling you, that hotpot is really fragrant, you’ll regret it if you don’t eat it.”

After speaking, Old First didn’t give up. He jumped down from the top bunk and walked over to Jinbao-er to persuade him, his hulking frame instantly looming over Jinbao-er.

Looking at such an enthusiastic Old First, Jinbao-er didn’t have the heart to refuse, but…

“Forget it, Boss. Jinbao’s part-time job is pretty good, light work, and high pay. If he misses it, it’ll be hard to find another.”

At this moment, Zhao Yuheng stood up and nonchalantly threw an arm around Old First’s shoulder, firmly pulling him a little further away to bail Jinbao-er out.

Jinbao-er immediately cast a grateful look toward him.

“Is that so? Alright then, we’ll go together next time.”

Old First was straightforward and hearty; he didn’t take it to heart and went back to laughing and chatting with the other two.

Zhao Yuheng watched Old First return to his bed, and finally let his gaze fall on Jinbao-er’s face.

He raised an eyebrow at him, a rogue-ish smirk appearing at the corner of his mouth, as if to say: Don’t worry, Big Bro’s got your back.

……

After the three went out for hotpot, Jinbao-er also packed his things to go to the interview.

The interview was for a cashier position at the campus convenience store, paying $10text{ yuan}$ an hour.

Jinbao-er checked the class schedule; he could come to work every afternoon after school for $2$ to $3$ hours, from $6$ to $9$ PM. Then he could go to the library to study. This way, he could earn $30text{ yuan}$ a day.

The boss had Jinbao-er start familiarizing himself with the workflow that same day. After all, once classes officially started tomorrow, students would come to buy things. Even now, people were trickling in, and the boss couldn’t handle it alone, so Jinbao-er began to help.

Fortunately, he only needed to use the device to scan QR codes and didn’t need to memorize product prices; he familiarized himself with the process very quickly.

He worked for three hours straight; wages were settled monthly.

By the time he locked the door of the convenience store, it was nearly $11text{ PM}$.

Jinbao-er massaged his aching shoulders, dragging his exhausted body back toward the dormitory.

The night breeze blew past, carrying a hint of chill.

Then, his phone rang abruptly. A look showed it was his aunt.

Since he had insisted two months ago that he must go to university, his aunt hadn’t called once. This was the first time.

After hesitating for several seconds, he finally picked up.

“Jinbao-er, you rotten brat!”

“It’s been so many days and you haven’t even made one call. Your wings have hardened, are you planning to fly to heaven?”

Violent scolding immediately came from the other side; even through the earpiece, one could feel that spicy aggressiveness.

Yunnan women, like Sichuan women, are famous for their tempers.

Jinbao-er listened to his aunt scold him for a long time. He waited until she was tired before speaking, his voice carrying a hint of helplessness.

“Auntie, I’ve already arrived at school. I’m doing well. The money I earn from working can support my life, you don’t need to worry.”

He looked up at the star-filled sky, feeling a strange sense of melancholy in his heart.

As his voice fell, his aunt on the other end suddenly went silent.

To say his aunt had a “knife-like mouth but a tofu heart” wasn’t entirely accurate.

She would hit him, scold him, and say his heart was higher than the sky.

She would also suppress him and favor his cousin. Yet, at the same time, if he was hungry, she would give him food; if he was sick, she would take him to see a doctor.

With an aunt like this, he couldn’t bring himself to hate her, nor could he bring himself to love her.

“Your uncle’s leg ailment has flared up again, he needs to go to the hospital; my high blood pressure medicine is gone too; your brother’s living expenses aren’t quite enough…”

His aunt’s voice suddenly dropped, carrying a bit of a sob.

Listening to his aunt’s words, Jinbao-er felt a weight in his chest that made it hard to breathe.

He knew the family relied almost entirely on his aunt doing farm work.

His uncle’s legs were no good; he couldn’t do much farm work.

With a cousin also in university, all the heavy burdens were pressed onto her, a single woman.

Jinbao-er wasn’t heartless; it was just that he really wanted to study, really wanted to leave those great mountains.

He checked his WeChat balance. The $5,500text{ yuan}$ he had originally saved for tuition and living expenses was about to be emptied.

Finally, Jinbao-er gritted his teeth and transferred $5,000$ of his remaining money over.

“Auntie, I only have $500text{ yuan}$ left for living expenses and tuition. You’ll have to figure out the rest yourself.”

After saying that, he quickly hung up, afraid his aunt would ask for even the last bit of money. If that happened, he really wouldn’t have money to eat.

Jinbao-er walked with heavy steps back to the dorm. The moment he pushed open the door, a thick smell of hotpot wafted toward him, instantly washing away the chill on his body.

“Jinbao-er, why are you just getting back? The high-mountain mutton Old Third packed for you is going to get cold!”

Old First was lying on his bed playing on his phone; seeing Jinbao-er return, he spoke with a smile.

“Exactly! I said it wouldn’t taste good once it’s cold and offered to eat it, but your Heng-ge wouldn’t have it. He insisted on waiting for you,” Old Second teased with a laugh.

Jinbao-er looked at the three large takeout boxes of mutton on the table, still steaming. He then glanced at Zhao Yuheng on the top bunk.

“These were all left for me?”

He felt a bit lost, and his eyes grew slightly warm.

When Jinbao-er was young and his grades weren’t very good, he was often kept after school by teachers. When he got home, he could only cook a bowl of noodles for himself because all the leftovers were gone.

At this moment, Zhao Yuheng only gave a simple, honest smile.

“If you haven’t eaten, eat quickly. If you have, eat a little more.”

“Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Heng-ge.”

Jinbao-er lowered his head to hide the moisture in his eyes.

The three of them didn’t pay it much mind, only thinking he was a very polite person. No one noticed Jinbao-er’s slightly reddened eyes.