Daydreaming about Me

Chapter 8

Ba Zhong (Eighth Middle School) allows students to live on campus, but it’s not mandatory. Those who live nearby can choose to stay at home. Lin Yujing’s previous school didn’t offer this option, so she was unaware. Upon hearing Li Lin’s introduction about the dormitories, she eagerly decided to live on campus.

However, since she arrived late, her classmates had already submitted their dorm applications, leaving no room for this last-minute addition. Furthermore, it required parental consent.

Lin Yujing wasn’t sure if she still had a guardian, but the allure of being able to go home once a week was too great. So, that evening, Lin Yujing called Meng Weiguo.

Meng Weiguo displayed unprecedented patience, even asking about the new school’s environment, her classmates, and the teachers. Lin Yujing hadn’t planned on directly

stating her desire to live on campus. She pondered a moment, feeling that such simple questions from Meng Weiguo seemed incredibly difficult.

How does one describe Liu Fujiang as a teacher? He is undoubtedly good and very responsible, although it’s clear he’s new to being a class teacher and somewhat inexperienced. Despite his age, he firmly believes in the power of love to save the world.

Her classmates were also easy to get along with, including her deskmate, who was reportedly a handsome guy who almost beat his last deskmate to death.

Deciding to be tactful, Lin Yujing said, “It’s good. The school is big, and the teachers and classmates are… enthusiastic.”

Meng Weiguo seemed pleased. “Initially, Aunt Guan wanted to send you to Yi Zhong (First Middle School), but I didn’t agree. This school isn’t much different, and your brother graduated from here.”

It took Lin Yujing a moment to realize that “your brother” referred to Fu Mingxiu.

She hesitated but didn’t argue, deciding to get to the point. “Dad, I want to live on campus.”

Meng Weiguo paused. “What?”

“Ba Zhong allows students to live on campus. Many of my classmates do, and I want to try it too,” Lin Yujing said quickly. “I’ve never lived on campus before, so I’d like to experience it.”

“No,” Meng Weiguo refused flatly. “There are many things you haven’t done before. Do you want to try them all?”

Lin Yujing slowly said, “It takes a long time to commute to school in the morning, and I get stuck in traffic—”

“Your brother stayed at home before. Why can he do it, and you can’t?” Meng Weiguo interrupted impatiently, his earlier good mood apparently gone. “Do you dislike being at home that much?”

Lin Yujing felt frustrated, thinking that her simple wish to live on campus had somehow turned into a dislike of home in Meng Weiguo’s mind.

“I don’t dislike being at home,” she said.

“Aunt Guan treats you well, considering everything. When has your mother ever cared for you like this? You want to live on campus for freedom. How do you think Aunt Guan would feel if I told her?”

Meng Weiguo’s voice became background noise, like the drone of an airplane engine, entering her ears and lodging in her brain, making her feel dizzy and uncomfortable.

“Are all men who marry into their wives’ families this sensitive?” Lin Yujing asked calmly.

The atmosphere froze. Meng Weiguo seemed incredulous, pausing for five seconds before asking, “What did you say?”

Lin Yujing hung up the phone.

She turned off the phone, removed the SIM card, and stared at her phone on the bed for a while. Then, she jumped out of bed, grabbed her suitcase, found the SIM card removal tool in her phone box, and took out the SIM card, finally feeling a sense of completion.

The house had excellent soundproofing, and once the door was closed, no sound could be heard. Lin Yujing sat on her bed, looking around her room for the first time since she moved in a week ago. She remembered how Guan Xiangmei had shown her the room on the first day, calling it “a room for our little princess.”

The European palace-style decor and furniture, the small suite with a small living room, and the bedroom behind the gauzy curtains felt empty, like a model home.

Lin Yujing felt a sense of irony.

She couldn’t understand Meng Weiguo’s thoughts. She only wanted to live on campus, a simple request. Living in this place made her feel suffocated, oppressed, and like a dependent, a feeling she couldn’t shake off even for a minute while she was there, whether eating or sleeping.

From Meng Weiguo’s perspective, she should be grateful and happy to accept Guan Xiangmei’s generosity and show love for her new home without any desire to leave.

The next morning, Lin Yujing got up early. Aunt Zhang was still making breakfast when she saw Lin Yujing coming downstairs. Surprised, she said, “Miss Lin? Breakfast is almost ready…”

Lin Yujing greeted her and waved her hand. “It’s okay, no rush. I’ll eat at the school cafeteria.”

Avoiding the morning rush hour, the traffic was finally manageable. When Lin Yujing arrived in class, not many students were there. Several were carrying breakfast, walking in.

In the classroom, every seated student was writing furiously, heads down, while eating buns.

The intense studying atmosphere surprised Lin Yujing, making her believe Liu Fujiang’s claim of a 98% graduation rate.

She sat down with her backpack, noticing Li Lin writing something. Curious, she saw it was biology homework. “Did we have biology homework yesterday?”

On the first day of school, Liu Fujiang was the only teacher who didn’t assign homework, making Li Lin tearfully grateful at the time.

However, the next statement wasn’t as pleasant: “But the summer homework is due tomorrow. Each subject representative will collect it.”

Li Lin, head down, responded, “No, it’s the summer homework.”

Lin Yujing understood. The intense studying atmosphere was due to everyone catching up on homework.

Although they were newly assigned to classes in the second year, the previous teachers were different, but the holiday homework was the same, with standardized workbooks handed out, each subject having thirty sets, one set per day, no breaks.

“Study six hours a day, fifty years of happiness and a lifetime of joy,” Li Lin mumbled while writing and eating a bun.

His desk was covered with piles of worksheets, extending to his deskmate’s side. Lin Yujing glanced at them, resembling exam papers with multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, short answer questions, and essays for Chinese and English. The questions weren’t difficult, mostly basic knowledge.

However, with subjects like Chinese, Math, English, and Science combined, there were over a hundred sets of papers. Even copying them would be exhausting.

Lin Yujing suspected Shen Juan was exaggerating.

Although she didn’t understand where he, a student on leave, got the homework to catch up on.

She turned around, checking the schedule. The first class was English. She took out her English book, yawned, and flipped through it idly.

After a couple of minutes, she remembered Liu Fujiang mentioning that dormitory applications required a signed consent form from parents.

She pulled out a notebook, tore out a sheet of paper, and quickly wrote Meng Weiguo’s name.

Lin Yujing’s handwriting was large and flowing, unlike a girl’s typical neat script. She had tried to emulate her classmates’ neat, delicate handwriting but had given up.

During her self-introduction yesterday, Liu Fujiang had praised her bold, attractive handwriting.

That was the problem.

Liu Fujiang had seen her handwriting, and she couldn’t produce a different style.

Lin Yujing awkwardly wrote Meng Weiguo’s name again in a different style, like a child’s drawing, messy and unappealing.

Sighing, she continued scribbling on the paper, propping her head on her hand.

After about ten minutes, someone gently tapped the corner of her desk.

Instinctively, Lin Yujing turned her head, seeing a well-defined hand.

For some reason, she remembered an old post or tweet she had seen: “What part of a man do you find most attractive?”

The answers varied wildly, but the most popular choices were hands and collarbones.

Lin Yujing looked up. Shen Juan was standing beside her in the aisle, looking down at her with a bag of soy milk in his mouth.

Her gaze subtly swept over his collarbone, noticing the white collar of his shirt.

The school uniform jacket on the boy was neatly worn, zipped up to his chest, very clean, with a faint scent of laundry detergent.

He was completely different from the school bullies she had known or seen, who wore their uniforms carelessly and had graffiti all over them.

Moreover, his eyelids weren’t drooping.

His eyes looked alert, not sleepy.

It seemed the school bully had a good night’s sleep yesterday.

Lin Yujing put down her pen and stood up. Shen Juan went in and sat down.

Today, he did bring a backpack, but it looked so light that one might doubt if there was anything inside. Shen Juan casually tossed his backpack into the desk compartment, glanced at the schedule written on the blackboard, pulled out an English book, opened it to the first page while biting the bag of soy milk, and started rummaging inside his desk.

After what felt like an eternity, just when Lin Yujing thought he was up to something strange, he finally, after what seemed like a journey to the West with endless trials and tribulations, leisurely pulled out a pen and signed his name on the first page of the English book.

His handwriting was quite beautiful, contrary to her impression of delinquent “social brothers” with scribbles that looked like a cockroach crawl.

This person was full of surprises.

Looking at his neat handwriting, and then at the indecipherable scrawl she had produced on a whole page, Lin Yujing tapped her fingers on the desk, thought for a few seconds, and then leaned toward him. “Hey, Shen Juan.”

Shen Juan didn’t look up, still focused on his English book, twirling his pen while reading.

Reading an English book? Can you even understand it? Lin Yujing called him again, softly, “Shen Juan?”

He acted as if he didn’t hear her.

Feeling a bit impatient, but needing his help, she suppressed her annoyance and leaned over the desk, blinking at him. “Deskmate?”

With a “plop,” the pen in Shen Juan’s hand fell onto the desk.

He paused for a couple of seconds, then turned to her without much expression. “Speak properly.”

Lin Yujing decided to be subtle. With people like him, one couldn’t be too direct. She pointed to his English book. “If there are any words you don’t understand, you can ask me.”

“Thanks,” Shen Juan paused, feeling the need to clarify, “My English is okay.”

Lin Yujing looked at him with a face that said, “Don’t give me that nonsense,” and instinctively retorted without thinking, “Do they teach you how to brag in the first lesson when you become a delinquent?”

Author’s Note:

Shen Juan: Speak properly. Don’t flirt, you made my hand numb and I dropped my pen.