Qin Guan had been running his business at the night market for eight days. More and more customers visited his stand, and the three boys had their hands full.
They were too busy to notice how weird their customers behaved.
The stand attracted an increasing number girls. It was a common occurrence for a group of female students to hang out by their stand and drool all over Qin Guan while they had some food. The reason was simple. The day that Qin Guan had started his business, a female student had visited the night market to buy some draft beer for her father, and she had seen this cute boy selling barbecue. She had taken a closer look and recognized him right away.
“Gee, isn’t that the hunk from my high school?”
She had been staring at him for years from a distance, and now she was only half a meter away from him. It was like a dream come true for her.
The girl held onto the plastic bag with the draft beer while she stood by the barbecue stand, staring at Qin Guan to her heart’s content. Her father had hot beer for the first time that night.
When she arrived at home, the girl was still exhilarated. Wanting to share her happiness, she called dozens of her girlfriends to brag about her story of seeing the Prince Charming, which was not going to remain a secret for much longer.
That was how the news had spread. Now every student in the neighborhood knew that the graduate Prince Charming was running a stand in the night market.
Those who lived near the market came to buy barbecue and take a look. They believed that if they didn’t go, they would never get to see the Prince Charming again considering he had already graduated.
The small stand was swarming with girls every day. The Prince Charming still looked cute despite his choppy hairstyle.
When the girls saw that his new hairstyle could do nothing to undermine Qin Guan’s good looks, they all agreed that he definitely had to be the cutest school boy in all high school history.
Many years later, when junior girls would look at some boy on their cell phone screens and say that he was really cute, older girls would eye the boy critically and say, “I bet he wouldn’t still look that cute with a choppy hairstyle. Our high school Prince Charming was way cuter. You must have heard of Qin Guan, blah blah…”
Qin Guan’s moneymaking business ended in very a peculiar way.
A few days before the new school term, Qin Guan lended his barbecue cart to his cousin to help him earn some extra money on the weekends.
Zhou Jing and Li Jian came over to Qin Guan’s house very early to split their profits. They put all their profits of the past month together and carefully counted the money. They were surprised to find out that each of them would get more than 2,000 yuan.
Two thousand yuan was a fortune for any student in 1998.
Zhou Jing and Li Jian were jumping up and down in excitement, but Qin Guan let out a sign.
That money was not enough to buy him a good computer. But considering the fact that computers still ran on Windows 95, Qin Guan felt relieved. He was going to ask his parents to help him buy a cell phone.
On August 29, 1998 was the Chinese Valentine’s Day.
It was a sunny Saturday, and Qin Guan’s parents stuffed the last piece of clothing into their bulging baggage before they went shopping for Qin Guan’s first cell phone.
They arrived at the Zhenhua Commercial Building, the largest shopping mall in the whole city. At that time, the cell phone counter on the first floor was considered an absolute luxury.
Qin Guan knew his way around very well, so he led his parents to the counter. There were few famous cell phone brands in China back in 1998. Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, Ericsson and Mitsubishi. These were all the brands that were available, and they cost quite a lot. Qin Guan and his parents observed every model carefully, but in the end, Qin Guan still decided to buy the Nokia 5110. It had a long standby time, a bright color, and was so shockproof it could even serve as a weapon when necessary.
Taking out the red envelope with the money his parents had given him plus the money he had earned working at the night market, Qin Guan paid over 5000 yuan for a blue Nokia 5110.
Customers in the mall were surprised that the couple would be willing to buy their son such an expensive cell phone when Qin Guan’s mother began to brag, “Well, my son was admitted into the Capital University of Finance and Economics, blah blah... He earned this cell phone through his own hard work during the summer, blah blah.”
Under the admiring gaze of everyone, she was shoved out of the mall by Qin Guan’s father.
On August 29, Qin Guan and his parents dragged their luggage to the train station and got on the train heading to the capital.
After one night’s journey, they arrived safely at the Beijing Station on the next day around noon.
Qin Guan arrived at his university on Sunday, which was peak time for freshmen registration. Qin Guan’s parents went to the Dean’s Office to pay the tuition fees while Qin Guan forced his way to the Student Reception Center to inquire about his dormitory.
When Qin Guan and his parents met up again, they were all sweaty and out of breath.
Together, they headed to Qin Guan’s dorm. Qin Guan put his luggage on his bed while his mother automatically started unpacking. She made the bed, hang up a mosquito net, dusted the closet and set the table. In less than an hour, she had cleaned up the whole room and put everything away.
Looking at the compact dorm room, Qin Guan realized that this was where his battle would begin.
There were six beds in total, three upper and three lower, a wall-mounted TV, a long table, three stools and six metal lockers stacked together, all in pristine 1990s style.
Qin Guan’s bed was the lower one nearest to the door. Mounted on the wall beside it was a telephone. It seemed that he could not open the door and answer the phone at the same time.
Except for the upper bunk above his bed, all the other beds were filled with stuff. Clearly his roommates had checked in earlier.
Qin Guan’s parents looked at the dorm furniture, feeling rather satisfied with the place their son would live from now on.
When he had finished unpacking, Qin Guan decided to visit the restaurant. He would then find a hotel for his parents, and buy a washbasin, a thermos and other essential items.
After Qin Guan had made a hotel reservation for his parents, he returned to his dorm, which was now packed with people. Before Qin Guan could greet anyone, the door was opened again.
Amid clanking and jingling, eight people streamed inside the room. A little boy standing in the middle of the group was shoved inside.
A fashionably dressed woman was the first to approach the empty bed. She touched the bed beam and frowned slightly. Then she took a look at the closet.
The dorm was fully packed. Qin Guan was pushed to the side, but he didn’t feel annoyed. He dragged out a stool from behind a table and sat down to watch along with everybody else.
The woman was giving out instructions. Some people started unpacking the baggage while others began making the bed. She turned to the little boy behind her and said, “Is there nothing good here? Six people have to share one room, and look at how narrow the bed is! You’ve never left home, never even helped with any chores. You’re still a kid. Our home is around here, so how about I go and apply for commuting for you?
The little boy, who was undoubtedly a tsundere, was thinking to himself: “I’m old enough now! How could you say this in front of everyone? I want to die of embarrassment.” He yelled at his mother, “I’m already 16! I’m a college student! You’re driving me nuts! I can handle it by myself!”
“How can you not understand? I’m doing this for your own good. Now I feel terrible,” the little boy’s mother was thinking to herself. Out loud she said, “Okay, calm down. As long as you like it, I’ll be fine.” Then she turned to a woman who looked like a nanny and said, “Hurry up! Put away the clothes and clean the bedstead.”
While he looked on, Qin Guan started to introduce himself to his other roommates.
The boy who slept on the upper bunk near the window was Mu Lejiang from Northwest China, and right under his bed was Ye Dong from Northeast China. Both boys were majoring in International Trade.
Qin Guan liked Mu Lejiang and Ye Dong from the moment he met them. They both had a robust physique and sparse stubble, and appeared to be hearty laughers. Qin Guan knew that they were his kind of people. Only sloppy guys with a lot of body hair were real men.
The two boys whose beds were opposite Qin Guan’s appeared quite gentle. The lower bunk belonged to Wang Lei from the Water Towns of Southern Yangtze River, who wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and had a soft voice. He and Qin Guan were in the same Accounting class.
The upper bunk belonged to Li Jie, a Cantonese boy from the Department of Economics and Management. Short though he was, he seemed capable and smart.
The three boys were talking animatedly when they saw that all the little boy’s stuff had been cleaned up.
The boy’s mother came over and told Qin Guan, “Oh, so you’re another one of Xiaoyang’s schoolmates. You must have been admitted to the Beijing Film Academy.”
The little boy’s mother held Qin Guan’s hands and observed him for quite a while. Qin Guan felt puzzled. Behind him, Wang Lei could not help laughing out loud.
Perhaps feeling that she had gone a bit too far, the boy’s mother hastily let go of Qin Guan’s hands. She dragged the little boy to the front and said, “Xiaoyang is younger than you. Since you will all be living in the same dorm, would you please help take care of him and forgive him any mistakes he makes?”
Even the most careless of parents loved and planned for their kids.
Xiaoyang’s roommates all promised her politely. Then Xiaoyang insisted that his family leave. When they did, Xiaoyang sank onto a stool and wiped his sweat, saying, “I’m Liu Xiaoyang from Beijing. I turned sixteen this year.”
Liu Xiaoyang was truly younger than his roommates. He was fairly smug because he had been skipping grades since primary school, and he was currently majoring in Finance at the Capital University of Finance and Economics. Apparently his goal was to become a part of the social elite.
Their dorm consisted of two sloppy guys, an aspiring socialite, two gentlemen, and a sloppy handsome boy. They were all easy-going and quickly felt right at home with each other after spending some time talking and laughing. Noticing that it was almost dark, the six boys decided to have their first dinner party.