Chapter 1 Encounter

  One foot stepped heavily on the fallen leaves, and the speeding figure suddenly stopped. The vigorous young man looked up at the four-character golden lacquer sign hanging high above his head, and slowly pulled out a letter.

  "Finally arrived..." The young man said with a sigh of relief.

  Guo Jing took a deep breath, and seven or eight black shadows closed in from different angles. Just now, they were pedestrians watching the scenery by the street, women holding babies for a stroll, and some seemed to be listening to the morin khuur.

  "Or CD?"

  "Want to play? Come here and have a look, no need to buy if you don't want to."

  "Software games are so boring..."

  "Get out of here! Vending is not allowed at the school gate, and I'll fine anyone who gets caught!" The duty security guard Peng Yingyu suddenly jumped out of the delivery room.

  In the blink of an eye, a vacuum zone with a radius of two meters was formed around Guo Jing again. Those high-ranking officials who had suddenly appeared were like water droplets merging into the river and disappeared in the crowd. For the first time, Guo Jing felt that Bianliang was indeed a place where dragons and tigers hid.

  "Hey, and you too. You're also setting up a stall here?" Peng Yingyu glared at Mo Da.

  Mo Da was playing the erhu seriously next to him, with over a dozen low-quality erhus painted bright red at his feet - in a sense, Mo Da was an ethnic musical instrument merchant from outside Bianliang.

  "This isn't for sale," Mo Da said very seriously, "I just brought it out to take a look and see how the sound is."

  Mo Da put down the conversation and picked up his erhu, continuing to play "Phoenix Seeks Phoenix" with a serious expression. Mo Da was known as "The Melancholic Song of North Road, The Wistful Gaze of Middle Flow", a nickname given to him by Yang Kang later on, because he had been playing at the intersection of North Road and Middle Flow Street in front of Bianjing University for five years. Unlike those young newcomers who sold pirated discs, Mo Da had seen more of the world and knew that campus security guards like Peng Yingyu were just pretending to be tough, but actually didn't have the power to arrest or fine people.

  "Scoundrel!" Peng Yingyu squeezed out these two words from between her teeth, clenching her fists and glaring at him. This old scamp was indeed cunning, leaving him helpless.

  "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix"... The sound of the qin is like a continuous silk thread, Mo Da's demeanor is majestic and unmoving, fully expressing his disdain for worldly views and his own transcendent elegance.

  "Huh? What are you doing?" Seeing Guo Jing staring at her, Peng Yingyu threw aside Mo Da and asked him loudly.

  Guo Jing wore a Mongolian robe with sneakers, and the dirty sheepskin robe seemed to be hiding countless small knives and medicine bags. Peng Yingyu had seen many people pretending to be ethnic minorities to cheat money.

  "I...I," Guo Jing tried to make himself speak calmly like a city person, but after pedaling the bike for almost an hour and being wrapped in his old sheepskin coat, he was sweating all over and his brain seemed duller than usual.

  "You, what are you?" Peng Yingyu was certain that Guo Jing wasn't a good person. "Don't linger at the school entrance if there's nothing going on. Today is the opening day and we need to welcome new students."

  "I... I'm here to report..."

  "Report for duty?" Peng Yingyu suspiciously snatched the admission notice from Guo Jing's hand, her two small bean-like eyes staring intently at the name on top and the seal below. Nowadays, movable type printing is all the rage, diplomas can be bought casually, 500 yuan for any major you want, and a thesis is even thrown in for free.

  "Hey, buddy," someone patted Peng Yingyu's shoulder, "don't look down on your ethnic minority classmates. What's it to you if they're not from here? Can't they stand here and enjoy the cool breeze?"

  Peng Yingyu turned around, and a kid chewing gum with his hands in his pockets was standing there with a lazy shrug of his shoulders, showing his teeth to him and Guo Jing. The expression that seemed like a smile but not quite, looked like he was greeting them, yet too lazy to greet them.

  In the first year of Jia You at Bianjing University, Yang Kang from the Department of Biological Technology walked into our story.

  Yang Kang had originally intended to warmly pat Guo Jing's shoulder after his grand words, letting him experience the high quality of Bianjing people. However, looking at Guo Jing's robe, it really seemed like it hadn't been washed in years, so he just symbolically patted Guo Jing's forearm.

  Guo Jing was a simple-minded child, very surprised and moved. He saw Yang Kang wearing a suit of Puma sportswear, with a pair of sharp steps, and on his white face, even the sweat was crystal clear. Thus, he naturally felt admiration.

  Yang Kang came running, and didn't take the start of school seriously. His home was just behind Bianjing University, after playing games for half a day in the afternoon, he remembered that his bed had not been settled yet, so he ran all the way here.

  "Hey, freshman? Which department are you from? I'm familiar with Bianjing University, let's go register together?" Yang Kang glanced at Peng Yingyu and invited Guo Jing to follow him in, as if he was welcoming a guest into his own home.

  "I... I'm from the Chemistry Department, my name is Guo Jing," Guo Jing pushed his bicycle and followed behind Yang Kang.

  "Mongolian classmate?" Yang Kang glanced at Guo Jing's clothes as he walked, "Didn't they recruit students from your place a few years ago? Are they recruiting again now?"

  "Uh, Teacher Qiu is calling me."

  "Teacher Qiu? Which Teacher Qiu? There are many people with the surname Qiu here."

  "Chemistry teacher Qiu Chuji, he came to our middle school to guide the competition last year."

  "Oh, Old Qiu," Yang Kang suddenly realized, "I heard he became a postdoctoral researcher last year. His boss is a big shot, does Wang Chongyang know?"

  "You know, an academician?"

  "Last year the old man was no longer any good, if he were still here, maybe in a few years the dean would have been replaced by Qiu Chuzi," Yang Kang said with a crooked smile, "now it's hard to say."

  "Which department are you from?"

  "Biotechnology," Yang Kang replied absent-mindedly.