Chapter 156
The setting sun casts long shadows of the two of them.
Wei Cheng was happy to hear Xiao Qi agree to go with her. Her 5'7" frame was bouncing about happily.
"Let's go together at first. Once we've learned the ropes, we can take turns going," Wei Cheng said with a smile. Her single eyelids narrowed into slits, making her look even smaller, but still cheerful and infectious.
"It's $200 a visit, so going three times a week is $600. If we go every week, that covers a month's living expenses. I've looked around, and this seems like the highest paying part time job for students. There's also a cafe on campus looking to hire servers with pretty good pay, but I'd rather serve animals than people. Animals are simpler than complex humans."
Xiao Qi had agreed to go together because she wanted to practice driving near the new campus, which wasn't far. She was also quite interested in the horses they saw the other day. That little horse had touched her heart.
She didn't expect Wei Cheng to say serving animals was better than serving people. Crude but true.
On the way over they messaged their roommates about dinner. Chen Mier excitedly replied that she had joined the student council and they were having dinner tonight. Gu Yunshu was reading novels in the dorm and didn't want to come out, asking them to get takeout.
So Xiao Qi and Wei Cheng went to the cafeteria. You can order good food there, and it's cheaper than the restaurants off campus and cleaner too. Wei Cheng preferred the cafeteria.
The portions at the cafeteria were huge. Don't just pick at the meat, eat until full for cheap.
After they ate, they got takeout for Yunshu and some fruit. She liked fresh fruit and fancier things.
When Xiao Qi got back to the dorm, she practiced writing for a bit, then went for a run.
The key to distance running was perseverance. Skip one day and you'd feel lazy the next day. Skip two days and you basically won't want to move on the third day. Xiao Qi was alright thanks to the system's natural motivation. She had also consciously increased her training lately, like doing sets of TOEFL after SETs of CETs. The CETs felt easy after the TOEFLs.
It was the same with running. At first even 10,000 steps a day was exhausting. Now 30,000 steps was nothing. 10,000 steps felt like child's play in comparison. Xiao Qi really liked the environment at Enhua University. Spacious, quiet, separate dorm areas for males and females with the male dorms in a completely different zone. No disruptions when exercising.
After finishing today's 30,000 steps, she ran two more laps. She felt more tired than usual but her heart rate remained steady instead of racing too fast.
With swimming experience under her belt, Xiao Qi also looked up running videos to learn techniques. Besides building stamina, there were skills to running faster or breaking records, like breathing, leg thrust, and movement. She ran while recalling the videos, correcting her mistakes.
She looked forward to joining the running club and learning from the experienced president who had run marathons.
After her run, Xiao Qi carefully stretched then repeated the movements her fitness coach had taught her before heading back to shower.
Her phone rang. It was her mom.
"Xiao Qi, have you eaten?" Her mom always started with asking if she'd eaten.
"Yes, I've eaten. Have mom and dad eaten? Is everything ok at home?"
"I've eaten. Today is the Tomb Sweeping Festival. Your dad went with the villagers to clean the roads. They're having dinner at the village temple tonight and he hasn't come back yet. Everything's fine at home. The new piglets are growing so well, easy to raise. Your dad's bamboo baskets are selling well. Other families are starting to make them too but your dad says it's fine. His are better quality. Focus on studying, don't worry about money. Spend what you need to spend." Her mom rattled off advice over the phone. Xiao Qi's eyes grew moist listening.
Lights out was soon since classes started tomorrow. Tonight was mandatory study hall. Xiao Qi and her roommates followed the local custom and went to class before lights out.
There were over 70 people in Information Management Class 1. About half had showed up since school just started.
But her deskmate Chen Mier hadn't come. She was at the student council new member dinner.
According to the schedule, there were 3 classes tomorrow. Two in the morning at Zhulin Building - Academic English Reading and Writing, Information Management Systems. One in the afternoon at the Experimental Building - English Speaking. The Experimental Building was near the library between the old and new districts.
The English teacher was listed as Betty. An English-speaking teacher. Xiao Qi had studied English for so many years but never been taught by a foreigner. She was quite excited.
The schedule wasn't fixed every day. She only had 2 classes the day after tomorrow but there were also evening electives she could freely choose from.
Overall, first years had a heavy course load, with only 1 class on Fridays. Other days had at least 2 or 3, up to 4 classes.
Each class was 90 minutes - two 45 minute lectures with a 10 minute break. Xiao Qi had previewed the classes for tomorrow afternoon at the library.
Tonight she planned to do another CET-4 set and study Japanese.
But the classroom was a bit noisy since most students didn't know what to do and were bored. Students who got into Enhua University weren't top scorers. The top scorers wouldn't come here. It was more a feeling of revelry.
Xiao Qi studied with headphones on, undisturbed by her surroundings. With other people around, she was even more efficient, driven by the sense of urgency from seeing others fool around.
Wei Cheng also came to preview books. Gu Yunshu was absorbed in a good novel she'd found this afternoon.
It wasn't until 8:30 that Chen Mier came back, smelling of barbecue. She'd probably gone to eat barbecue. Xiao Qi's keen sense of smell found the aroma too strong.
Chen Mier snuck in and saw her deskmate studying. She whispered, "I'm just stopping by to take a look. Keep going, I'm going back to shower. So tired." Then she trotted off again.
There was a break during mandatory study hall. Wei Cheng came over to discuss with Xiao Qi, "Let's go report to the stables after English class tomorrow since we'll be near the new district and get out early."
Xiao Qi nodded in agreement.
By the end of study hall, she had finished an English set and reviewed tomorrow's English lesson again, completing all the exercises. She felt Academic English Reading and Writing didn't seem difficult, possibly because they had just started. It was quite simple.
Language learning was always easy to hard. Like Japanese - the Fifty Syllabic Chart seemed so simple at first, giving the illusion of fluency. Then upon further study, the complexity emerged - grammar, context, uppercase and lowercase letters, etc. Memorization was the safest bet.
Some of the academic English vocabulary Xiao Qi had memorized before, overlapping with New Concept English, making it feel like cheating and very quick to learn.
She rewrote and organized the Japanese vocabulary learned this week. She had searched but the school cafes were about the same as the one in the new district so she didn't sign up. There were Japanese electives in the English department she could try to audit. Teachers who taught students must have superb skills.
People started leaving the classroom around 9, before the end of study hall. Her roommates came to get Xiao Qi and she left with them.
Back at the dorm, it smelled pleasantly of Chen Mier's shower gel and shampoo, from Sephora.
Seeing her deskmate return, Chen Mier eagerly rushed over as if to fling herself into Xiao Qi's arms, only to be blocked by a book Xiao Qi held up.
Chen Mier didn't care, still smiling and said: "I became a student union executive, maybe I'll be in charge of checking the dorms in our building in the future, so if you guys need anything, you can sneakily bribe me first."
Xiao Qi: ...
The student union really seems complicated, Mier who had just gone for half a day, already knew how to take advantage of a little power.