RIRW – Chapter 147

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One of the downsides of having such a large campus was that it could take forever just to find the classroom.

Zuo Dan took several turns before finally arriving at the base of the teaching building. The building wasn’t very tall, only about three stories. Following the directions on the signboard she had memorized earlier, Zuo Dan found her classroom.

This classroom was usually used for meetings, not for regular classes, so it was relatively fixed. Zuo Dan wrote down the room number in her notebook before entering.

As soon as she walked in, she saw that there were already many people inside—of all ages. Some women were even visibly pregnant.

Everyone was leaning over their desks reading, looking eager to learn.

Zuo Dan quickly found an empty seat towards the back and took out her books to read.

Not long after she sat down, another woman entered. She looked neat and clean and gave off a sincere vibe.

After glancing around, the woman walked over and sat down next to Zuo Dan.

She smiled kindly at her. “Hello, I’m Zhu Min, from Renren City in Dong Province.”

Zuo Dan hadn’t expected the first person she met to be so friendly. She smiled back and said, “I’m from the provincial capital of Nanjiang Province.”

“We come from all corners of the country. It’s really not easy for us to end up in the same major, in the same class.”

Zhu Min smiled.

“As the saying goes, if fate wills it, people a thousand miles apart will meet.” Zuo Dan smiled in return.

The two chatted for a while. When Zhu Min learned that Zuo Dan was already married and had a child, she shared that she was also married with a child, though she hadn’t brought the child with her—she had come alone to study.

Zuo Dan explained that her husband was also a student here, studying economics in the Department of Economics. She didn’t plan on hiding her marital status—better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Ahem. After all, she thought she wasn’t bad-looking. What if she accidentally attracted someone? She was already a mom—couldn’t let little Youyou suspect that his mom was up to no good.

When Zhu Min found out that Zuo Dan’s husband was also studying at the university, her face was full of envy.

“Where’s your husband? Why didn’t he just come with you? Being apart like this must be hard.” Zuo Dan asked casually.

“He’s staying at home to take care of parents. He couldn’t leave,” Zhu Min replied.

Zuo Dan nodded and didn’t pry further.

Soon after, more people arrived. Zuo Dan noticed that there weren’t that many students in their major, and most of them were women.

Their class advisor was an older woman who wore glasses and looked very gentle. She spoke softly, first explaining the school’s rules and regulations, then talked about things to be aware of after the term began. She also handed out the class schedule.

Once all the miscellaneous matters were handled, the morning session was over. Classes would officially start in the afternoon, so they could go back early.

Zuo Dan was planning to go find Shen Yiming.

Just as she was about to leave, Zhu Min called out to her, “Let’s go together. By the way, which dorm are you in? Maybe we can go back together later.”

“My family’s situation is a bit difficult, so I applied to live off-campus. Once things settle down, I’ll move into the dorm.”

Zhu Min said regretfully, “Living off-campus must be inconvenient. You have to find your own place and everything. It’s better to live in the school—you can grow together with your classmates. If you get the chance, you should move back.”

Zuo Dan smiled, “I’ll move back once everything is arranged at home.”

After going downstairs, Zuo Dan set off to find Shen Yiming. She followed the signs to his classroom, but found it already empty—they had finished early.

Thinking Shen Yiming had already gone home, she decided to head back. Just as she walked down the stairs, she saw Shen Yiming riding a worn-out bicycle toward her, sweat on his forehead, clearly from rushing around.

“You finished so early? I was just about to come get you,” he said, panting a little. Being out and not finding her had made him anxious.

Zuo Dan grinned and circled around him, “Shen Yiming, where’d you get that bicycle?”

“Oh, it was left by one of the older student cohorts—the worker-peasant-soldier type. They were graduating, so I managed to get it. It’s a bit old, but a lot cheaper than buying a new one.”

Zuo Dan laughed and climbed onto the back seat. “Comrade Shen Yiming, you’re really good at finding bargains!”

“I did it for you. With your short legs, walking everywhere would be too tiring. Better to save you the trouble early,” Shen Yiming said with a smile as he mounted the bike.

“Who are you calling short legs!” Zuo Dan pinched his waist playfully. “My long legs are at least 1.8 meters!”

Shen Yiming felt a tickle in his heart from the pinch and was reminded of when they had first started dating. It felt like it was just yesterday.

Now, in the blink of an eye, they were married with a child, and even going to college together.

The two of them rode through the campus—the gentlemanly man and the lovely woman looked like a perfect match.

Zhu Min, on her way back to the dorm with her arms full of books, happened to see Zuo Dan sitting on the back of a man’s bicycle, beaming with joy. She paused in surprise.

“So that’s her husband?”

It took less than ten minutes for Zuo Dan and Shen Yiming to ride home. On the way, they stopped at the supply and marketing cooperative to buy rice, oil, vegetables, and meat.

One had to admit—Beijing was different. The availability of goods was much better than in the provincial capital.

Even going out at noon, they could still get some meat scraps.

Zuo Dan wasn’t picky. Once they got home, she asked Shen Yiming to cook while she breastfed the baby.

After waiting all morning, little Shen Youyou saw his parents finally return and happily reached out, wanting a hug. Zuo Dan walked over, scooped him into her arms, and kissed him. “Were you a good boy today?”

“He was very good,” Grandma Shen said with a smile, bringing a towel over to wipe Zuo Dan’s hands. “He didn’t cry even though you weren’t around this morning. Ate rice cereal, drank milk, and just played on the bed.”

Watching Zuo Dan wipe herself down and begin to nurse, Grandma Shen added, “Now that you’ve started school, maybe it’s time to wean him. We have formula at home—it’s just as nutritious.”

She was mostly just feeling sorry for how hard Zuo Dan was working.

Zuo Dan smiled, “It’s okay. They say breastfeeding is better for the baby. I plan to keep it up for at least ten months.”

Little Shen Youyou had no idea that his beloved food source had nearly been taken away. He closed his eyes contentedly, focusing on his meal.

No matter how much other food he got, this was always his favorite.

Shen Yiming moved quickly as well, and in no time, he had prepared two dishes and a soup. Then he brought the food into the room.

After eating and drinking her fill, Shen Youyou lay lazily on the bamboo mat on the floor, playing by himself. The three adults sat together to eat.

Grandma Shen asked with concern, “How’s school going? Are you getting along well with your classmates?”

Shen Yiming replied, “There are twenty-five male students and eighteen female students in total. Six of them are locals; the rest are from different places. There are no fellow townspeople. As for their personalities and traits, they still need some observation.”

“…” Zuo Dan was speechless. It hadn’t even been that long, and Shen Yiming had already figured everything out. Meanwhile, she was still completely in the dark. How many people were in her major again? She’d already lost count. All she knew was that there were more girls than boys. As for where they were from—forget it.

Grandma Shen saw Zuo Dan’s expression and laughed, “Don’t mind him. Whenever he gets to a new place, it’s like he’s conducting a household registration check. He practically wants to uncover everyone’s background.”

Zuo Dan said, “It’s a good habit.” She felt a bit inferior in comparison.

She made up her mind to find an opportunity in the afternoon to investigate everyone’s background. Who knew, maybe she’d uncover some hidden second-generation rich kids or government officials’ children. Oh, second-generation rich was unlikely, but there might be a few children of officials.

Grandma Shen then started talking about things at home. That afternoon, no one came by. Even that Sister-in-law Guo hadn’t shown up. But the people in the nearby courtyard were still easy to get along with.

When she sat at the alley entrance with the child in her arms, quite a few elderly ladies came out with their own grandkids to play.

Shen Yiming nodded but also felt that this kind of living environment wasn’t suitable in the long term. A child shouldn’t grow up in such a place. They needed to move to a better environment.

After finishing their meal, the two of them hurried to class. Having a bicycle made things much easier. Shen Yiming pedaled and dropped her off first before heading to his own class.

When Zuo Dan arrived at her classroom, Zhu Min had already saved her a seat. There were a few other young women sitting nearby, all engrossed in their books. She also noticed that students at this time truly cherished the opportunity to study. Whenever they had free time, they buried themselves in their books. There wasn’t much chatting.

Zuo Dan sat next to Zhu Min. Zhu Min whispered, “I saw you riding on a male comrade’s bicycle at noon. Is that your husband?”

Zuo Dan hadn’t expected Zhu Min to see that and smiled, nodding, “Yes.”

“I really envy you two—being able to go to and from school together,” Zhu Min said with a trace of envy in her eyes.

Zuo Dan also felt quite pleased deep down, but she had to be considerate of others whose spouses were living apart. So she said, “It’s actually not as great as it seems. We barely get time to talk. We’re both busy.”

Zhu Min smiled but didn’t say anything more.

After a while, the old professor arrived to start the lecture.

As usual, Zuo Dan found the theoretical content a bit dull. As the professor lectured, she began marking key points in her book.

From her years of exam-taking experience, she knew that the test questions always came from the textbook. If a professor repeated certain points often, there was a high chance they’d be on the final exam.

Just after finishing her highlights, she glanced at Zhu Min beside her, who had already filled several pages with notes. Zuo Dan immediately felt a little guilty. Now that was real studying. What she was doing was basically 1970s-style cramming. Not good at all.

So she picked up pen and paper and started taking notes too—at the very least, she needed to look the part.

For the next few days, Zuo Dan went through her classes like this.

Although her handwriting wasn’t as neat as others’, Zuo Dan felt she was learning quite well.

By the time Friday came, the counselor held another meeting to elect class officers.

Zuo Dan didn’t really care about it and planned to just be a quiet voter. But before the voting even began, the counselor called her name. Because everyone hadn’t interacted long enough to hold a fair election, the counselor decided to proceed through nominations instead. And he nominated Zuo Dan.

“I believe Comrade Zuo Dan has a strong political and ideological awareness. She’s very suitable to be our class’s Communist Youth League Secretary.”

“…” Zuo Dan was stunned. Since when had she become so well-known?

Then she saw the counselor pull out a newspaper. “Comrade Zuo Dan was the top liberal arts student in Nanjing Province, with a near-perfect score. What’s even more commendable is her dedication to learning. Let me read a bit to everyone.”

Blushing slightly, the counselor began reading the newspaper article about Zuo Dan.

At that moment, Zuo Dan had only one thought: stop pretending to be humble in the future! This was all in the past, and now it was being dragged out again. She was hearing it so often she was starting to believe it herself.

After the reading, the classmates all started seeing her differently.

Especially some of the classmates who were former educated youth—they were moved when they learned that Zuo Dan’s motivation to study was to help them return to the city and reunite with their families as soon as possible.

So when the counselor brought up her nomination again, even more people supported it. And just like that, the matter was settled.

Sitting beside her, Zhu Min looked at her with a puzzled expression, “Didn’t you say you were from the provincial capital in Nanjing? How come now you’re from the countryside…”

Zuo Dan replied, “My husband’s family is indeed from the provincial capital. We came here from there.”

“But if you’re from the countryside, how did you marry into the provincial capital… Don’t get me wrong, I’m just curious,” Zhu Min said awkwardly.

Zuo Dan said, “What’s so strange about that? My husband was an educated youth sent to our area back then. We met in my hometown, and later got married and moved to the provincial capital.”

Zhu Min seemed to be deep in thought as she looked at Zuo Dan.

On Saturday, when they had class, Zuo Dan noticed a change in Zhu Min’s attitude toward her. Previously, when Zhu Min arrived early, she would save her a seat or at least greet her. But now, she acted like she didn’t even see her.

Thinking back, Zuo Dan realized she hadn’t offended her or anything. Could it be because of her new position as League Secretary? Probably not—Zhu Min hadn’t participated in the election either.

Thinking more carefully, it likely started after she revealed she was from the countryside.

Whatever the reason, Zuo Dan wasn’t going to go out of her way to curry favor. She decided to focus on her studies. Because she kept changing seats, she also got to know a few other female classmates.

On Sunday, the school had a holiday. Zuo Dan and Shen Yiming got up early to buy meat and Chinese cabbage, then returned home to make dumplings.

Once they were done, Grandma Shen put about a dozen dumplings into a bowl and asked Zuo Dan to deliver them to Sister-in-law Guo’s house.

Since they had moved in, the Guo family had only brought over a bowl of pickled beans and hadn’t visited again. Grandma Shen felt that no matter what the reason, they owed a courtesy in return.

When Zuo Dan brought the dumplings over, the Guo family was in the middle of a meal. The couple was just eating a bowl of pickled beans and a plate of greens.

Seeing Zuo Dan bring over dumplings, they were quite surprised.

“Comrade Zuo Dan, what brings you here?” Sister-in-law Guo asked in surprise.

Zuo Dan smiled and said, “We made some dumplings at home, thought I’d bring some over for you to try.”

Looking at the bowl of dumplings in her hands, Sister-in-law Guo was speechless for a long while.