She didn't really remember the old man, but she also found him quite familiar. She didn't expect to meet the man a second time. It could have been Fate at work.
The professor asked Shuishui, "Which university do you want to go to?"
"I also thought of going to this university." Shuishui was a little interested in the university even before she had visited it. When she got to enter the campus, she was a bit more convinced that it would be a good choice.
"When you pass the exam, come find me. I'll arrange a class for you. I hope to see you three years from now," the professor said. He rarely saw such an outstanding student. She was not like other kids who were obsessed with studying. She was very flexible and had great comprehension. He felt that she would be even better once she entered university.
Shuishui did not think too much about it because many things could happen. She was not sure what her future would be like. She only knew that she would do everything to achieve her goals.
The professor did not want to lose such an outstanding child. "Just work hard. You're very intelligent, so it should not be very difficult for you. Look for me if you need anything."
Shuishui understood what he meant. If Shuishui's total score would not make the cut, the professor could help her. Others would not have understood what he meant, but it was clear to Shuishui. She was a little surprised. "Thank you, Teacher."
"This is my business card. Take it. If you need anything, just e-mail me. Have fun today. Many small stalls have opened, and there will surely be many people there. I suggest you go to the one at the end of the hallway. That stall sells second-hand books. Many of the books are a little damaged, but they're all original," he said to Shuishui.
Shuishui blinked her eyes. "Is there such a thing? Thank you, Professor. I'll go take a look. If I can find some good stuff, that would be good too."
"Go ahead." He nodded and proceeded with his tasks.
Shuishui quickly ran over to the stall the professor had pointed out. She wanted to take a look. She wasn't sure if there was anything else she wanted.
Shuishui followed the map directions, and she soon found the stall. She continued to walk towards the end and saw stalls that displayed books. Some even sold notebooks. They were quite cute. She walked to the second-hand book stall first and saw the sign that said any book costs only 5 yuan.
She squatted down and started to fiddle with the books. There were indeed many original editions, but they were not well-preserved. Some pages were missing, some had torn covers, and some were even wet. The pages inside were not even worth looking at. However, she burrowed under the pile of books and took out the ones that were underneath. She found one titled 'Planet Theory.' It seemed a little strange, and she casually flipped through it. It was about the galaxy and the many theories and laws concerning it. It also had an interesting story, which was written in Russian. It was a Russian book, but there were English translations below the texts. The book was obviously very rare. She had never heard of its author before, but the beginning of the book piqued her curiosity. She found another book that appeared to be handwritten. The texts were already a little blurry, but she carried it with her. She didn't expect to find a treasure. She continued to search for more books. Shuishui liked to read books that attracted her.
She ended up with only two books and left after she paid for them. Soon, Jiang Li called Shuishui. Shuishui answered his call. "Sister Qian, where are you?" he asked.
"I'm at the stall area," Qian Shuishui said as she looked around and walked forward.
"Come to the ice cream truck. I'm eating ice cream here with my two friends. We have a seat and bought a lot of snacks. Come quick. Eat with us." He looked around and said, "There's a small round table near us. If you can't find it, call me."
"I know, right? I think I passed by you just now." She looked around and kept walking until she saw them. She saw that they had an extra seat. She walked over to them. The other tables were full. It was clearly a popular area in the campus. She sat on the seat next to Jiang Li.
Jiang Li looked at Shuishui. "Did you come upon anything interesting?"
"It's okay. I joined a class. It was pretty good."
Jiang Li wasn't interested in the class Shuishui attended. He then said, "Come, eat. I bought you a bottle of mineral water. I'm not sure what you like to drink, so I chose water to be on the safe side."
"Thank you." Shuishui looked around as she drank. "There are quite a lot of people here," she said.
"Yeah. When we arrived here earlier, there were basically no vacant seats. We waited for half an hour until this table was vacated. Look at the people over there. They are all waiting for their seats. But we don't plan to walk around anymore. We'll just sit here until noon. Otherwise, we won't be able to sit again." Jiang Li didn't want to move anymore. He just wanted to sit down and chat with his friends. He wanted to eat and wait for his father to pick them up at noon.
Shuishui sat down and ate a few snacks. She couldn't be too picky, but the snacks weren't very delicious for her.
"Sister Qian, do you want to try Old Beijing toast? I'm not sure if the ones sold here taste good. I'll buy one, and we can buy more if you like it." Jiang Li had to be a gentleman towards Qian Shuishui. He had a good impression of her.
Shuishui nodded and said, "Thank you."
She sat quietly and looked at the other two people in front of her. She only smiled faintly. They looked at Shuishui awkwardly. One of them asked, "Sister Qian, how about going with us tonight? We're going to sing and have fun."
"Uh . . . We'll see what Xiao Li has to say about it." She could not directly reject them, but she wanted to see what Jiang Li would say.
The boy laughed and said, "That's great. He'll definitely go. We can go there at eight." They gazed at Shuishui and realized that she was indeed quite attractive. Unfortunately, Qian Shuishui was not from the capital. She was only there for winter vacation. However, they thought that they could still get to know her. They might get to hang out with her more in the future. They could add each other as friends and could chat with each other when they're free.
They took out their phones to open their Penguin accounts. They wanted to add Shuishui. Shuishui gave them her account number so they could add her as a contact.
When Jiang Li returned, he held a few pieces of toast in his hands. "The two of you should go and buy some food too. Sister Qian has never tasted our capital's specialty snacks before."
Jiang Li placed the toast on the table while the other two boys stood up and went off to buy food. They did not mind buying for Shuishui, who was unfamiliar with the capital and its delicacies. Many of the snacks sold in the stalls were traditional and old-fashioned ones. The boys returned after more than ten minutes. "There are so many people. We waited in line for a long time and bought a large serving of plum fried chicken and french fries. Although they're not specialties of the capital, the foods sold in that shop are superb. They're really delicious."
Jiang Li nodded. "I wanted to buy that, but I saw that there were too many people, so I didn't bother to line up."
They started to eat the foods they had bought. The fries were relatively large and drizzled with salad dressing, tomato sauce, and cheese sauce. It was also topped with chopped seaweed. They found it very delicious. The fries were newly baked and were fresh out of the oven. They were crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
"They're all okay." Foods were prepared differently, depending on who cooked them and where they were cooked.
The plum fried chicken had a sweet and spicy flavor, and it was not bad either.
The three boys soon talked about their classmates and teachers. Shuishui listened and found their conversation very interesting.
Weren't all middle school students like that?
They suddenly asked Shuishui, "Sister Qian, when you were in middle school, did you hate a certain teacher very much?"
"I think so." There were many people that she hated, especially the teachers she had back in junior high school. She had basically offended all of them, and they saw her as a very rebellious student. She felt that the teachers were hypocritical towards her. From what she remembered, there wasn't a single teacher who tried to help her or reached out to her. Instead, they gave up on her because of her rebellious behavior. She was often belittled in class. They felt that Shuishui only relied on her family and wouldn't learn much even if she tried.
Of course, it was also because Shuishui was very disrespectful towards her teachers. They simply concluded that she had a twisted mentality. They thought that she had become more aggressive and that she just wanted to attract attention.
"How annoying was she? We'll see if her personality is the same with the teacher we dislike," they said to Shuishui.
Shuishui thought for a moment and said, "Let's put it this way. At that time, I didn't like to be restrained by my teachers. That teacher only preferred students who had very good grades. Many students hated that teacher. Perhaps it was because she felt that only students with good grades would do well in the future. She felt that other students who weren't as smart would end up unsuccessful and useless."
"That's right! That's how it is. She only cares about students who do well in their studies. She thinks only the good students are credible." It was something that many people had encountered. Even the way their teacher would look at them would make them feel uncomfortable.
Many people would be able to relate to their sentiments. However, Shuishui did not really want to say too much because not all teachers were like that. There were many who were actually kind. It was only because there were many students who had ill intentions towards her, regardless of whether she had done something wrong or not. Some of the rumors and bad things said against her were simply personal opinions and said out of jealousy. Besides, they had not confronted Shuishui. They simply talked about her behind her back. She could not really judge her teacher for believing what others said about her.
They all agreed to go to a KTV bar at eight that night. Jiang Li could bring Shuishui along then.
Shuishui's phone suddenly rang. She glanced at Jiang Li, stood up, walked to the side, and answered the call.
"Ziyu." She saw that she had missed a few of Mu Ziyu's calls. She found out just then and planned to call him again after a while. He did not expect that he would call again.
Ziyu smiled when he heard Shuishui's voice. "You're finally free?"
"I wanted to call you later. I didn't expect you to call again. I'm at Beijing University of Technology. I'm with Uncle Jiang's son. We're here at the university's open day. I got the chance to join and sit in a class. It was fun." Shuishui smiled as she talked to Mu Ziyu. She felt quite embarrassed that she had missed many of his calls.
Mu Ziyu couldn't wait to see Shuishui. "I'll be in Beijing tomorrow. Send me your address. I'll pick you up when I get there."
"What about Mu Zilin?" she asked.
Mu Ziyu was annoyed by the thought of not being able to spend time with Shuishui because of Mu Zilin, the third wheel. "He's going to stay behind for a few more days because he wants to go out and have a bit of fun. He'll come to Beijing with our parents. I need to go ahead of everyone to check the house."