In a four-person dormitory, those who arrived first occupied the best beds, which was understandable. Liu Chen didn't mind; she just felt that this new roommate seemed to be looking at her for a bit too long.
Xiong Wan's gaze swept over Sang Ling, then Liu Chen, and finally landed on Liu Chen's suitcase. Seeing the discreet logo on it, the smile on her face became even more sincere.
She extended her hand, smiling a little sheepishly at Liu Chen.
"Hello, I'm Xiong Wan. My mom is like this at home, please don't mind."
Liu Chen smiled and gently shook Xiong Wan's outstretched hand.
"Hello, I'm Liu Chen."
"Liu Chen? That name sounds familiar?" Xiong Wan tilted her head slightly, pondering. "Ah! Aren't you the top science student from our neighboring province! Then aren't we in the same major?"
"Just luck," Liu Chen smiled, releasing her hand and letting it fall to her sides. "This is Sang Ling from the Computer Science department. I'm sure you've heard of her name."
Xiong Wan then shifted her gaze to Sang Ling, giving a slight smile and a nod in greeting, showing no intention of shaking hands.
Seeing this, Liu Chen stopped paying attention to Xiong Wan's intense gaze and exchanged a look with Sang Ling, who was standing nearby.
"Let's start unpacking our beds."
Xiong Wan's smile didn't fade despite Liu Chen's subtle rejection. The beautiful woman beside her rolled her eyes and was about to say something when her daughter tugged at her clothes, giving her a warning look.
Finally, she redirected her irritation towards the auntie named Sister Feng, sitting on a chair and urging Sister Feng to hurry up with the cleaning.
To sleep head-to-head with Sang Ling, Liu Chen chose the bed facing the door. After tidying up her bed and desk, Liu Chen took out the clothes she brought from her suitcase and hung them in the wardrobe.
Most of these clothes were bought during a shopping spree in Shanghai with Zhuzhu over the summer, ranging in price from tens to hundreds of yuan.
While Liu Chen was doing this, Xiong Wan sat on her own bed watching, especially looking at each piece of clothing as it was taken out and hung.
After discovering they were all cheap items, she pouted.
"Did I misjudge?"
When Liu Chen finished unpacking, she even hung up the bed curtains she had drawn from the system. The curtains were double-layered, with a breathable linen layer inside and a white mosquito net outside. After hanging them, a faint scent of sandalwood emanated.
"Oh? Liu Chen, these things you brought are quite good. Where did you buy them? I'll have my mom buy one too."
As soon as they were hung, Xiong Wan opposite her got off her bed and stood by Liu Chen's, reaching out to touch them.
"The quality feels pretty good. I'll give you a hundred yuan more than the original price, sell this to me. I've been prone to allergic reactions since I was little whenever I get bitten by mosquitoes, it's awful."
Sang Ling had also finished hanging her mosquito net and, hearing the latter part of the sentence, couldn't help but speak up.
"Liu Chen's mosquito net was custom-made by her mother. If you want one, Xiong Wan, you can find a fabric store, and they can make one for you too."
Liu Chen looked at Xiong Wan standing by her bed and sighed inwardly, feeling that her first dorm experience was with a roommate who seemed a bit… much.
Perhaps seeing Xiong Wan's pleading look, the beautiful woman on the chair spoke again.
"Wanwan, you refused to bring it before when mom asked, and now you want it after seeing someone else's. The one I made for you can buy ten of hers."
Liu Chen poked her head out from behind the bed curtain and looked at the beautiful woman sitting diagonally below.
"Auntie, the real purpose of a bed curtain is to keep out mosquitoes and protect privacy, not that the higher the price, the greater the effect."
"Hey! What kind of way are you talking, child?"
The beautiful woman was choked by her words and got angry. Just as she was about to say something, she heard her usually clever daughter speak first.
"My mom just cares about me too much. She's not shrewd, Liu Chen, don't overthink it, okay!"
Liu Chen put the shoes she had drawn from the system under the bed while listening to Xiong Wan's words behind her, feeling a headache coming on.
Just as she was thinking about whether she could switch dorms, the slightly ajar door was pushed open from the outside, revealing a somewhat dark and sallow, small round face.
"Hello? Is this 305? I'm Tang Shengnan from the Food Science department."
As she spoke, the small round face entered from the door. In contrast to her round face was her height of nearly 1.7 meters, making even Liu Chen seem shorter.
The arrival of the last roommate finally broke the somewhat quiet atmosphere in the dorm. Liu Chen smiled and greeted Tang Shengnan.
"Yes, this is 305. You must be our last roommate. Hello, I'm Liu Chen."
The three people in the dorm greeted Tang Shengnan one by one. Liu Chen and Sang Ling even got out of bed to help Tang Shengnan bring in her luggage.
Compared to Liu Chen's 28-inch suitcase, Tang Shengnan had quite a lot of luggage: three large woven bags and an old-fashioned canvas suitcase. After bringing them in, they immediately occupied the already narrow dormitory aisle.
The beautiful woman, who had been sitting on a chair, had to stand up and move towards the balcony door.
Noticing this, Tang Shengnan quickly opened the woven bags, revealing the quilts inside.
"My mom was worried that things in Beijing were expensive, so she helped me get these quilts from home. But I looked just now, and the quilts sold at the school seem to be more expensive, costing eighty yuan each. Where I'm from, they're only fifty yuan."
As she explained, Tang Shengnan nimbly spread out the slightly thinner cotton batting and then laid a green checkered bedsheet.
Next, she took out the duvet with the cover already on and neatly folded it at the foot of the bed, near the bathroom wall.
She placed a pillowcase on a pillow, separated from Xiong Wan's down pillow by two rows of wooden railings.
Unlike Liu Chen, with Tang Shengnan around, Xiong Wan seemed less awkward. Tang Shengnan had a more straightforward personality; she would interject a few words when the roommates spoke to avoid awkwardness, which finally livened up the atmosphere in the dorm.
Even the middle-aged beautiful woman's face had a smile on it again.
"It's already noon. I've booked a table at a nearby restaurant to celebrate your first meeting, four young ladies. The address has been sent to Wanwan's phone. You four go."
The middle-aged beautiful woman stood by the balcony door, sweating, and now fanning herself with her hand as she spoke and signaled for her Feng Jie to follow.
Xiong Wan didn't linger, just acted cute and said she would remember to call. After seeing her mother out the dorm door, she turned back.
"Then let's put on some makeup and go out to eat?"
Liu Chen, being psychologically thirty years old, didn't want to argue with seventeen or eighteen-year-olds. Plus, she would have to live in the dorm for at least a year before applying to move out, and she didn't want to create tension with her roommates, so she nodded in agreement.
When it was said to put on makeup, Liu Chen just touched up her sunscreen and applied some to Sang Ling. She was about to do the same for Tang Shengnan when she saw Xiong Wan, not wanting to fall behind, apply her sunscreen to Tang Shengnan.
Honestly, Liu Chen thought the overall appearance of their dorm 305 was good. Even Tang Shengnan, who had a darker complexion and a rounder face, had a round-faced, tall physique and a slender figure, comparable to a model.
In the four-person dorm, Xiong Wan linked arms with Tang Shengnan and walked out of the dorm first. Liu Chen and Sang Ling followed behind, not liking the idea of linking arms, just walking side-by-side.
At this moment, Xiong Wan, walking in front, was talking to Tang Shengnan.
"In our dorm, Liu Chen is the top science student from S province and is in the same Food Science major as us. Sang Ling is the top liberal arts student from S province, majoring in the school's flagship program, Computer Science. Her future salary won't be low.
As for me, I'm in our school's Food Science department entirely because of family requirements. I'll have to intern at the company after my junior year.
And you? Why did you choose Food Science?"
Tang Shengnan blinked, looking a bit embarrassed. "I was assigned to this major... So, Xiong Wan, will you go directly to work at your family's company after graduation?"
Xiong Wan's lips curved into a smile.
"It's just a small company of two to three hundred people. You can come work at our family's company then. With me there, my mom will approve in a heartbeat!"
The content of their conversation faintly drifted to Liu Chen's ears. Liu Chen finally understood why Xiong Wan had made such a fuss when she arrived. It turned out she had an empire waiting for her to inherit back home.
A company of two to three hundred people is actually quite large, with an annual income of at least several million yuan.
However, Liu Chen thought about the system task she received: to buy at least five mu of land. She estimated that could accommodate five to six hundred employees?
At the same time, on the Shuimu University campus forum, a highly discussed post appeared.
"On the Most Beautiful Freshman of 2009"
Below were dozens of photos, including those of Liu Chen and Sang Ling. At the end of the post was Xiong Wan's photo.
Some bored upperclassmen, staying at home, scrolled through the posts and teased.
"The most beautiful top student has been admitted to our school, it seems our campus belle will have to give up her throne."
"You're mistaken, upstairs. I think this student Liu Chen and our campus belle Bei Hong are two different styles of beauty, incomparable."
"What upstairs said makes sense."
"If you ask me, the best-looking freshmen this year are Liu Chen from Food Science and Sang Ling from Computer Science."
"Hehe, they're roommates. The girl in their dorm named Xiong Wan also looks good, but she seems to have a background. She even brought a nanny and a mattress to registration, tsk tsk."
"What's that? When Liu Chen and Sang Ling came to register, Senior Shen Hong, now a junior in our Computer Science department, saw them off. Seriously, I saw Senior Shen Hong carry Liu Chen's luggage, a 28-inch large suitcase! All the way up to the third floor!"
"Wait, are you sure you saw Senior Shen Hong? The rumored third-generation with a colorful background?"
"Absolutely certain!"
Xiong Wan looked at the campus forum news on her phone and couldn't help but look up at Liu Chen, who was sitting across the desk.
She was personally sent off by a third-generation official, with her luggage carried?