To Get Married - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Lu Yudong never expected that Manzhu’s seemingly absurd comment was actually serious.

Manzhu used spiritual qi to protect the two tiny tissue-folded military blankets, then placed them on the second shelf of the bookshelf attached to the desk.

On the surface, the two small blankets were folded from tissues, but if you touched them, you would find they were so hard they were practically indistinguishable from figurines.

Her little blankets were truly preserved by Manzhu. It looked a bit comical, but it made her whole heart feel warm.

After dinner, Manzhu helped Lu Yudong carry her school bag, and the two walked hand-in-hand toward the subway station.

Before entering the school gate, Manzhu gave Lu Yudong five hundred yuan, instructing her to buy whatever she wanted and eat whatever she felt like, and not to be as frugal as she was in junior high, unwilling to spend money on anything.

It wasn’t three years ago. The essential items for the home had been purchased, and they lacked nothing throughout the seasons. Every year, besides utilities, food, and funding Lu Yudong’s schooling, and occasionally buying new clothes, that was about it.

The extra money was partly saved for Lu Yudong’s future university education, and the rest could completely be used to improve their quality of life.

Manzhu hoped Lu Yudong would understand that even though she wasn’t wealthy, she never wanted to raise the child in poverty.

After all, the TV said that children raised in poverty were inexperienced and could be easily deceived by even a tiny bit of gain.

She could not allow that to happen, which is why she had been spending more and more money on Lu Yudong these past two years.

Lu Yudong was a good child in every way, except that she was too sensible.

Many times, the more Manzhu tried to be good to her without expecting anything in return, the more she tried to reciprocate in various ways.

She was still young, and her eyes were full of childish innocence, yet in many ways, she lived like an adult, cautiously, which was heartbreaking to see.

Lu Yudong naturally didn’t understand what Manzhu was thinking. She only knew that Manzhu’s red flip phone hadn’t been replaced even after three years, yet Manzhu was willing to buy her everything good. She also wanted to be obedient and sensible, spending less money and easing Manzhu’s burden.

She tucked the five hundred yuan Manzhu gave her into the small inner pocket of her school bag that lay tightly against her back, thinking that saving the money would last a long time. Maybe in the winter, she could buy another thermos, so she’d have enough hot water and wouldn’t have to be so stingy with it.

But if she bought another thermos, she wouldn’t be able to fetch hot water for Zhang Ziyun anymore. She wondered if Zhang Ziyun would be upset…

Lost in thought, Lu Yudong absentmindedly returned to the dorm.

Someone was inside; the door wasn’t locked and opened with a push.

Lu Yudong gently closed the door behind her and met Wang Yan’s gaze as she looked up.

Wang Yan’s bunk was the upper one behind the door. Before Lu Yudong entered, she was sitting on her bed reading a novel.

She was a full-time boarding student from the county and only went home once a month during the long break. She usually stayed in the dorm on weekends, so it was completely normal for her to be there at this time.

The moment the dorm door was pushed open, Wang Yan looked up and greeted her friendly: “You’re back.”

Lu Yudong nodded: “Just you?”

“Zhao Wen came back earlier, dropped her stuff, and went to the classroom,” Wang Yan said. “It’s boring to go to the classroom now, and I’d have to hide my novel.”

“Then watch the time. Don’t be late. They’re doing roll call and distributing books tonight,” Lu Yudong said, taking out the items from her school bag one by one and stuffing them into her small locker. She locked it, picked up the empty school bag, and looked up at Wang Yan: “I’m heading off.”

The freshman evening study session started at 6:30 p.m. She only came back to the dorm to put away the clothes she brought from home for changing and the jar of honey walnut kernels she wanted to share with Zhang Ziyun.

“Bye-bye,” Wang Yan said without lifting her head.

Lu Yudong was about to leave when she saw Zhang Ziyun, carrying a bulging backpack and two bags of snacks, pushing the dorm door open with her elbow.

Zhang Ziyun instantly rushed into the dorm, threw the two bags of snacks onto the bed, looked up at Lu Yudong who was standing by the door in a daze, and urged: “Lu Yudong! Are you going to the classroom? Wait for me!”

Lu Yudong stopped, her hand resting on the half-open door, and waited patiently.

Zhang Ziyun took everything out of her backpack and threw it on the bed, including the underwear and clothes she needed to change for the coming week. She casually picked a few things and tossed them into her locker. Fearing that Lu Yudong would get impatient, she left the messy bed and stood up: “Forget it, I’ll clean up later. Let’s go to the classroom first.”

“Zhang Ziyun, you’re so rich, buying so many things. Is it okay to just leave them on the bed?” Wang Yan asked, looking up.

“What’s the big deal? Is someone going to steal them?” Zhang Ziyun said. She put on her backpack and motioned for Lu Yudong to follow her to the classroom.

As soon as they left the dorm building, Lu Yudong tugged at Zhang Ziyun and whispered: “Why do I feel like you’re ignoring Wang Yan?”

“She talks in a passive-aggressive way and is especially sour. I don’t like her,” Zhang Ziyun said, rolling her eyes.

“Is she?” Lu Yudong thought back over the past week. It seemed that Wang Yan’s speech did subconsciously carry a hint of sourness.

Wang Yan was tall and thin, with long, narrow eyes and a small mouth. Her features were fine individually, but together they looked a bit mean.

Zhang Ziyun’s first impression of Wang Yan wasn’t good, and after being “soured” by her two or three times before, she didn’t want to say another word to her now.

“I’m telling you, you should stay away from people like that. It keeps your mood good.”

Lu Yudong nodded, half-understanding, and didn’t say anything more.

After the evening study session began, the temporary class cadres chosen before the military training helped the homeroom teacher move the stacks of textbooks to the classroom.

After all the students received their books for every subject, the homeroom teacher organized a re-vote for the class cadres, directly filtering out those who performed poorly during the military training.

On the first night before the official start of school, there was truly nothing much to do during the evening study session. After the homeroom teacher collected the weekly journals, she dismissed everyone early.

After taking a photo of the class schedule posted on the door by the homeroom teacher, Lu Yudong and Zhang Ziyun carried all the textbooks they wouldn’t need tomorrow back to the dorm.

The textbooks were heavy, and Zhang Ziyun was so tired and out of breath that she refused to go downstairs to fetch water.

“I’ll just take a cold shower today,” Zhang Ziyun lay on the bed, which was mostly occupied by snacks and textbooks, like a paralyzed salted fish.

Lu Yudong was silent for a moment, then picked up the two thermoses and went downstairs amidst Zhang Ziyun’s “Ah ah ah, Yudong I love you” cheers.

When Lu Yudong brought the hot water back to the dorm, it was only a little past eight in the evening, so early that they didn’t know what to do.

Because of this, the other three roommates, after bringing back their books, picked up their thermoses and went to the canteen for a late-night snack together.

With no one else in the dorm, Lu Yudong sat on Zhang Ziyun’s bed, and the two of them sat side-by-side, soaking their feet, each with a basin.

Zhang Ziyun spread out a pile of snacks, wanting Lu Yudong to pick out a few she liked, but Lu Yudong just kept shaking her head.

“You fetch hot water for me every day. I should treat you to something,” Zhang Ziyun said.

“It’s okay. It’s not heavy,” Lu Yudong said. She then dried her feet, walked into the toilet, and poured out the foot-washing water.

Seeing Lu Yudong being so polite, Zhang Ziyun simply picked a few bags and threw them onto Lu Yudong’s bed.

Lu Yudong had just finished pouring out the water and came out of the toilet when she saw this, finding it both annoying and funny.

She had planned to bring delicious food to share with Zhang Ziyun, but Zhang Ziyun had bought a huge pile of snacks and generously gave her some.

It seemed her jar of walnut kernels was completely unpresentable. Only people who rarely ate snacks would cherish it, right?

Lu Yudong finished washing up and walked to her bed. Just as she was about to climb up to the top bunk, she saw Zhang Ziyun pull out a pile of plastic panels from her backpack and divide half of them for her.

“What are these?”

“They’re book racks. I used them when I boarded in junior high. I knew you probably wouldn’t know, so I bought two,” Zhang Ziyun said. “Assemble it and put it under my bed. Books should be placed upright. Putting them horizontally makes them hard to grab, and the bottom one easily gets damaged.”

Lu Yudong nodded and, imitating Zhang Ziyun, assembled the book rack and placed all the textbooks inside.

“How much does this cost?”

“About ten-something yuan. Don’t be so polite with me, okay? Just consider it payment for the hard work of fetching hot water,” Zhang Ziyun said impatiently.

Lu Yudong thought for a moment and nodded: “Then you can take the week off. I’ll fetch the water alone.”

Zhang Ziyun asked: “That good?”

“Mhm.” Lu Yudong nodded and climbed back to her bunk.

She looked at the snacks Zhang Ziyun had thrown onto her bed in silence for a moment, then put them all neatly by her pillow, closed her eyes, and began to meditate.

“Lu Yudong, formal classes start tomorrow. Have you set your alarm?”

“I wonder what the teachers for each subject are like, how old they are, and if there are any handsome guys or beautiful girls…”

“Actually, our Teacher Hu is quite sophisticated. She has a great speaking style, don’t you think, Lu Yudong?”

“Lu Yudong? Are you asleep?”

Zhang Ziyun was talking to Lu Yudong from the bottom bunk while eating potato chips. After talking for a long time without a response, she couldn’t help but stand up and look at the top bunk.

Well, well, Lu Yudong was up there with her eyes closed and legs crossed, doing something.

Zhang Ziyun: “Lu Yudong, what are you doing? Practicing yoga? Is that a yoga pose?”

Lu Yudong didn’t even open her eyes: “If I said I was practicing magic, would you believe me?”

Zhang Ziyun: “I’d believe you’re a ghost!”

Lu Yudong: “It’s good that you don’t believe me.”

“Seriously, what are you doing? Are you losing weight?” Zhang Ziyun stepped on the edge of her bed, leaning over the guardrail of Lu Yudong’s bunk, curiously: “You’re already very thin.”

Lu Yudong said: “I’m contemplating life, what university to attend, what job to take.”

Zhang Ziyun rolled her eyes: “You might as well think further ahead: what kind of person to marry, what gender of child to have…”

“That’s a bit far. I genuinely haven’t thought about that,” Lu Yudong said.

“Can you say something truthful!” Zhang Ziyun pouted.

Lu Yudong thought for a moment and said seriously: “I’m practicing magic.”

“Alright, alright, practice all you want. I wish you success soon!” Zhang Ziyun said perfunctorily. She released her hands, crawled back onto her bed, and started tidying up the snacks scattered everywhere.

Practicing magic?

She would rather believe Lu Yudong was contemplating life.