ECG -Chapter 34 Fatty Meng and Cui Gang

Lin Hao pushed open the door and saw two people squatting on the floor, packing up their luggage.

“Who are you guys?” Lin Hao was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected that after not even staying one night, new roommates would already be moving in.

Their “world for two people” was gone just like that!

When the two saw someone coming back, they hurriedly stood up.

The two of them were one tall and one short. The tall one was about the same height as Wu Xiaozhou. He was fair-skinned and chubby, and his eyes looked as if someone had used a blade to carve a thin slit across his face. He looked extremely cheerful and amusing.

The other person was around 170 centimeters tall, with short hair and a pair of large eyes beneath thick eyebrows.

The tall fatty raised his hand in greeting.

“Hello, my name is Meng Dafa. My friends all call me Fatty! I’m in Percussion Class Six!”

“Hello, I’m from Wind Instruments Class Seven. My name is Cui Gang!”

Cui Gang was very handsome, but his voice was the complete opposite of his appearance. It had a slightly gravelly, rough quality. Hearing this moon-shrouded-by-clouds kind of voice, Lin Hao was slightly startled.

After the two finished introducing themselves, Lin Hao and Wu Xiaozhou quickly introduced themselves as well.

Meng Dafa’s major was jazz drums, while Cui Gang’s major was trumpet.

Lin Hao secretly wondered: the two of them had come to live in their 428 dormitory, so there were only two possibilities. Either their skills were excellent, or their families had connections. He didn’t know which type these two belonged to.

Perhaps because of the building’s design, Dorm 428 was nearly one-third smaller than those eight-person rooms, which was why it couldn’t fit four bunk beds.

The layout was basically the same as the other dormitories. Against the two walls were two iron-frame bunk beds, and by the window in the middle was an old desk.

On the right side after entering the door, facing south, was a four-door wardrobe. Although it looked old, the cabinet doors and drawers were still in decent condition.

There was also another desk on the left side of the entrance. Although there were only two desks, for people like them, they probably wouldn’t be used very often.

Lin Hao and Wu Xiaozhou hadn’t made their beds before, so they immediately got to work.

Originally, both of them had taken the lower bunks. Just as Lin Hao was about to open his luggage, he glanced at Fatty Meng and said:

“You take the lower bunk. I’ll move to the upper bunk.”

Fatty Meng clasped his hands together.

“Thank you, Brother Lin!”

Lin Hao chuckled.

“Why thank me? I’m just afraid you’ll fall from the upper bunk and crush me to death!”

The four of them burst into laughter.

After making their beds, they put their clothes and other things into the wardrobe. Coincidentally, each person got one cabinet door, and the small locks on top were all still working.

Looking at the time, it was already meal time again, so the four of them went to the cafeteria together.

The cafeteria was packed with people, noisy and lively.

After getting their food, the four sat around a table. Wu Xiaozhou pointed his chin in one direction.

“Wan Yong!”

Lin Hao looked up. Sure enough, it was the Wan Yong who had sung on the train. He was also with that fatty from before. The two were carrying trays and looking for seats.

Fatty Meng laughed.

“Music school really is great. All the beautiful girls are here!”

Wu Xiaozhou blinked his big eyes.

“Brother Meng, how many are you planning to mess with?”

Fatty Meng let out a cackling laugh, and his already tiny eyes nearly disappeared.

“Let fate decide! Let fate decide!”

That was how young people were. The four of them quickly became familiar with each other, and by the time they were walking back to the dorm, they had already started joking around and fooling around.

Cui Gang was probably because of his voice or personality, but he didn’t talk much. However, Fatty Meng’s mouth basically never stopped. After meeting Wu Xiaozhou, the two of them could be considered evenly matched opponents who had finally met their match.

After returning to the dorm, the four of them took off their shirts, sat cross-legged on the lower bunk with cigarettes in their mouths, and started bragging. The atmosphere was extremely lively.

Fatty Meng’s family was in the city, while Cui Gang’s home wasn’t far from Chunhe.

Lin Hao quite liked the personalities of these two.

Fatty Meng’s personality was very similar to Wu Xiaozhou’s. Although he seemed carefree and always laughing, he was actually rough on the outside but careful inside.

As for Cui Gang, his personality was somewhat similar to Lin Hao’s, perhaps even more introverted. When talking with others, he didn’t say much, but he would politely look at you and quietly listen.

Cui Gang didn’t smoke. He had a habit of carrying a small brass mouthpiece with him everywhere, and occasionally he would put it to his lips and make the motions of playing it.

Fatty Meng had started learning the yangqin when he was five. Both of his parents were involved in traditional Chinese music, so he could be considered part of a family of folk musicians. However, according to him, they had gone into business more than ten years ago. In fifth grade, he became obsessed with drums, and his parents couldn’t stop him, so they could only let him do as he pleased.

Cui Gang’s parents were both forestry workers. They probably wanted him to learn a skill from a young age so he would have a way to make a living when he grew up, so they took him to apprentice under an old folk musician who played the suona.

He started learning the suona at the age of seven. It wasn’t until the first year of junior high, when he was selected to play the trumpet in the school’s marching band, that he finally abandoned the suona and became fascinated with the trumpet.

His hometown was a county even smaller than Chunhe. They couldn’t even find a teacher who taught trumpet. It wasn’t until his second year of junior high that he managed to get his hands on a copy of Arban’s Trumpet and Cornet Method—and it was only a photocopy.

After lights-out at ten, the four of them chatted until very late before finally falling asleep.

The next morning, they all woke up late. They didn’t even get breakfast and hurried toward their respective classes.

When Lin Hao arrived at the classroom, his classmates were already lined up and heading out. He quickly stood to the side, planning to follow behind after everyone left.

After watching for a while, he became a little confused. His class actually consisted mostly of girls. There weren’t even ten boys, and that included himself.

At the sports field.

Lin Hao’s Piano Class Three was assigned a dark-skinned, thin instructor. Judging by his appearance, he was at most twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

“My surname is Yu. Yu as in ‘the hook radical plus a stroke.’ From now on, you will call me Instructor Yu!”

No one said anything, but when they heard him explain the characters of his surname, some people still couldn’t help showing amused expressions.

“Next, line up and collect your uniforms, then go back to the dormitory and change. I want to see you all back here within twenty minutes! Begin!”

After saying that, he even glanced at his watch.

Lin Hao grabbed his clothes and ran straight toward the Music Department’s administration building. There was a restroom on the first floor there—why bother running back to the dormitory and climbing all the way to the fourth floor?

But when he ran into the corridor, he was stunned.

A lot of people were already inside, and the men’s restroom was completely packed. There was no way he could squeeze in.

He shook his head with a bitter smile. He had thought he was clever, but it seemed no one else was stupid either.

With no other choice, he turned and ran back toward the dormitory. On the way, he ran into Fatty Meng, who was panting heavily.

“Run faster!” he shouted.

“F—fuck!” Fatty Meng was almost out of breath. “I—I seriously can’t run anymore!”

Lin Hao grabbed his arm and dragged him along.

“Where are Little Wu and Cui Gang?” he asked.

“Up—up ahead!”

“These two unprincipled bastards!”

When they ran back to the small music department field, they found that most of the people had already returned. Everyone looked like defeated soldiers fleeing from a battlefield, completely disarmed and exhausted.

Instructor Yu stared at these stumbling, crooked figures with his sharp little eyes.

Gradually, everyone arrived. Instructor Yu stood there with his hands behind his back without saying a word. Everyone quickly adjusted themselves and tried their best to stand a little straighter.

Then he began his lecture.

“Standing in military posture, also called ‘pulling up military posture,’ is the first lesson for a soldier!” His voice was extremely loud and clear.

“Separate your feet at sixty degrees. Keep your legs straight! Place your thumbs against the second joints of your index fingers, and let both hands naturally hang down, pressed tightly against the sides of your thighs.”

“Remember! They must be pressed tightly! Tightly!”

“Even if someone forcefully pulls your hand, even if you are dragged down, your hands still cannot loosen!”

After saying this, he pointed at a male student.

“Hey, you! Yes, you—the one doing the orchid fingers!”

“Pfft!”

The phrase “orchid fingers” immediately caused a burst of laughter.

“What are you laughing at?” Instructor Yu shouted sternly. “Pull in your stomach, raise your chest, lift your head, look straight ahead, and pull both shoulders back!”

After explaining the important points of military posture, he began walking in front of each student, adjusting their standing positions one by one.