Early on a Sunday morning, some guys in the male dormitory were already getting up.
As the sounds of washing up ceased, the person on the top bunk, Zhang Xu, sluggishly moved to the edge of the bed, his eyes bleary, and said, "What the heck! Ling Ze, don't you ever have Sundays? Why are you getting up so early!"
Ling Ze, without even lifting his head and with his back to him, was meticulously rolling up his sleeves. On his wrist, the understated yet luxurious watch was constantly capturing the attention of others.
Zhang Xu was momentarily dazzled by the starry watch face and forgot what he was saying. But soon he perked up again, "Eh? Ling Ze, what did you dream about last night? You sounded so angry talking in your sleep..."
Ling Ze paused in the act of rolling his sleeves and lowered his gaze, asking, "Oh? I talked in my sleep? What did I say?"
Zhang Xu was stuck.
He didn't remember very clearly and muttered vaguely, "It seemed like it was something like 'what are you talking about' or something, ah, I can't really remember."
Ling Ze smiled and said with nonchalance, "I slept very well last night, didn't dream at all, not a bit."
Saying that, he got ready to leave. When he reached the door, he turned back to Zhang Xu and said, "As for you, you must have been confused from all the gaming. I've never talked in my sleep, not since I was little."
Zhang Xu, feeling snubbed, and since he couldn't remember exactly what had been said, simply shifted his position and fell asleep again.
The other guys didn't have Ling Ze's energy and slept until noon before getting up to eat. Then they started gaming again. When it cooled down in the evening, a few of them planned to head to the basketball court.
Chen Cheng slapped Zhang Xu on the back, "What was with you this morning? You actually talked to Ling Ze?"
Zhou Haoran, wiping off sweat nearby, also joked, "Yeah, you guys even had a chat. No offense, but with Ling Ze's unexplainably arrogant air, I probably won't get along with him in this lifetime."
Zhang Xu teased him back, "You're thinking of getting along with him? No way, man. Ling Ze is our university's heartthrob, and the ones he meshes with are usually the girls. You, a single guy, tsk tsk, no chance, man..."
"Crap! Who wants to get along with him... You haven't even said what you talked about with him this morning?"
Zhang Xu was also helpless ╮(╯_╰)╭, "I heard him talking in his sleep when I went to the bathroom last night, so I casually asked him this morning. Who knew he'd deny it so adamantly... I saw though, he's been dressing better lately, and he's got a new watch that looks ridiculously expensive. It must be worth thousands, maybe tens of thousands."
Chen Cheng said morosely, "I'm pretty handsome too, how come no girls are buying me clothes or watches... Look at Ling Ze, receiving so much stuff, yet the girls still say he's principled and capable... Damn it!"
Zhou Haoran was speechless, "He knows how to accept gifts with taste, he turns down anything that's obviously expensive, only keeping those with substance and discretion... You, you won't have that discernment in your next life. Do you know how much that watch costs? A Z-brand one, easily over a hundred thousand... Also, you guys find it so novel that he talks in his sleep, seriously!"
He said it casually, but it was a shock to the other two:
"Crap! Over a hundred thousand!!! There goes the down payment for a house in my hometown... When I'm rich, I'm going to have to wear my house on my body!"
"It must be from Zhang Lingyan, sigh, the rich kids these days really have money. Unlike me, the 'debt generation.' Why can't a wealthy beauty throw herself at me!"
"Right, speaking of which, Haozi, you don't look bad at all! Your family has money too, how come you're still single******?"
Zhou Haoran grimaced, "Cut it out, you guys keep calling me 'Haozi,' and any girl who hears that can only imagine a sleazy guy... How am I supposed to get a chance with the ladies?"
"Heh heh... how could that be..." The two scratched their heads and laughed sheepishly.
However, bringing the topic back, Chen Cheng rubbed his shallow stubble on his chin, "But you know what, Ling Ze seems like he's never spoken in his sleep. I used to game deep into the night during our freshman and sophomore years, and I've never heard him. Now that you mention it, it's really strange. Tonight, I'm planning to grind again, and I'll listen in..."
Zhou Haoran looked at the two fools, wanting even to listen to someone's sleep talk... he shook his head, speechless.
In the wee hours, the dormitory's fan whirred loudly, the autumn heat still oppressive. As Chen Cheng was gaming on his computer, he suddenly felt the temperature drop sharply and sneezed, hastily turning off the fan with a flick of his hand.
Ling Ze once again arrived in a dream.
Today, he was still an old man, unaccomplished and defeated.
He stood now at the entrance of a house, a large and heavy shoulder bag hanging on him and holding a bottle of something like calcium pills, or something similar, in a cheap-looking white plastic container.
Soon, the door in front of him opened and a young man hurriedly looked outside—it was Zhang Xu's face!
Ling Ze couldn't fathom why, was it because Zhang Xu joked about his sleep talking in the morning, that his dream would feature him?
It wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
They say dreams are reflections of reality. At school, he indeed seldom spoke to his dorm mates. Zhang Xu just idled his life away, utterly ambitionless. Chen Cheng spent all his time gaming, skipping countless classes, while Zhou Haoran, relying on his family's wealth, acted aloof every day...
Truthfully, Ling Ze didn't feel much connection with them.
But why would Zhang Xu suddenly appear in his dream?
Before he could figure it out, he saw Zhang Xu grab his hand and stuff several red notes into it. At a glance, there seemed to be a thousand yuan or so, "Ling Ze, after all, we are classmates. Seeing you like this now... I won't say much, but I'll buy this health supplement from you."
As he spoke, he took the bottle labeled "XX Vigor Pills" from Ling Ze's hand, then offered a strained smile and quickly closed the door.
Ling Ze walked dazedly away from the building, which was on the ground floor. Passing by their balcony window, he could hear a woman's voice inside, "Who was that? Ah, there's door-to-door sales every day, it's so annoying. Let me see what you bought—XX Vigor Pills? What kind of nonsense is this? Why did you buy it, it can't be eaten..."
"Well, there's nothing to be done, just throw it away. That salesman was a university classmate of mine. I heard he's now unsuccessful, and his family is completely dependent on his wife, who works as a nanny. Giving him a bit more money is just a way of looking out for a classmate..."
"Your classmate? From Ming University, and he ended up like this? That's just humiliating..."
Ling Ze could no longer hear the rest of the conversation.
He didn't want to listen anymore— he was the pride of heaven, the only person from his entire village to get into Ming University! Why did it turn out like this, what on earth happened? How could he, how could he fall to such depths?!!!
No matter how furiously he raged inwardly, his body automatically returned to that excruciatingly small room.
Ling Ze looked at the familiar yet strange surroundings, the pink bedsheet he had once incinerated in a blaze, that cheap, red plastic stool scrubbed clean of bloodstains... all of it, every bit of destitution, poverty, lowliness, ridicule, and pity... all the disgrace stemmed from that woman who should never have existed!
He glared at the woman standing in the room and roared, "Zheng Mingcui, I'm going to kill you—"
In the dormitory, Chen Cheng fell to the floor with a "thump".