Liu Chen turned her head following the sound and saw a boy emerge from under a tree beside the dormitory, stopping at the dormitory entrance.
Looking at Qiao Yang, who had a buzz cut, Liu Chen was still a bit dazed. After a moment of thought, she uttered his name.
"Qiao Yang?"
Qiao Yang, wearing a white t-shirt and blue basketball shorts, heard Liu Chen call his name. The apprehensive expression on his face disappeared, replaced by a bright smile.
"I wanted to come and thank you."
Liu Chen was a bit puzzled. She had no connection with Qiao Yang; what was he thanking her for?
"Uh, the things you told me on QQ before, I've kept them all in mind. Recently, the teacher also said that I've calmed down and can truly learn well and serve China."
Reminded like this, Liu Chen also remembered. It was during the summer vacation that she saw Qiao Yang's advice when he was trying to persuade her to choose a major. Cough, cough, she felt a bit embarrassed recalling it.
"It's nothing, we're classmates. Besides, it truly depends on yourself. If you don't want to learn, no matter how much I say, you won't be moved. I've received your thanks, so, goodbye?"
Liu Chen spotted Xiong Wan walking towards her from a distance and wanted to end the conversation with Qiao Yang quickly. Otherwise, knowing Xiong Wan's personality, who knew what strange things she might say.
"Liu Chen, I've also figured it out. I like you. I'm just telling you this; you don't need to respond. Cough, cough, if one day you want to find someone to date, you can consider me."
Liu Chen looked at Xiong Wan, who had already walked up to her and stopped, and sighed slightly.
As expected, before Liu Chen could reply, Xiong Wan's voice, deliberately lowered and slowed down, speaking Mandarin like a Taiwanese person, rang out:
"Wow, Sister Liu Chen, who is this? He doesn't seem to be from our class. Is he a senior you knew before? Liu Chen, you know so many seniors. Are you going to accept the senior's confession?"
Liu Chen smiled slightly:
"I have no such plans, and I don't know many seniors. This is my high school classmate. I understand; I'm not considering dating for the time being."
Qiao Yang was taken aback for a moment when he heard that Liu Chen wasn't considering dating for the time being. Then, his face bloomed with a bright smile, and he nodded vigorously.
"Got it!"
Then, he ran off like a gust of wind.
Liu Chen, standing in place, frowned slightly and looked in the direction Qiao Yang ran off. "What is he smiling about?"
"Because what you said just now, Sister Liu Chen, means you don't want to date for now, but you'll give him a chance when you do?"
Liu Chen: "???"
"Then I'll explain to him on QQ; that's not what I meant. He misunderstood."
Xiong Wan thought Liu Chen was feigning ignorance until she saw Liu Chen actually take out her phone, open QQ, and type in the chatbox that she never intended to date Qiao Yang. Only then did Xiong Wan look at the serious Liu Chen with a complex expression and ask earnestly:
"Sister Liu Chen, you came to college, and you don't want to be a class monitor or date. So what do you want to do?"
Liu Chen put away her phone and looked at Xiong Wan.
"Study hard and live each day earnestly." And maybe make tens of millions in a year!
Of course, the latter part didn't need to be said. Xiong Wan would probably roll her eyes if she heard it.
Hearing this answer, Xiong Wan opened her mouth and whispered, almost silently, "Crazy!"
The "crazy" Liu Chen sent the message and went straight upstairs. She had to get up early tomorrow, so she'd better finish her washing and bathing early tonight, after all... there was only one shower in the dormitory bathroom!
Tang Shengnan followed behind Liu Chen, her eyes full of fervor as she watched Liu Chen's retreating figure. This was the Tsinghua she had imagined! This was the spirit of a Tsinghua student!
Xiong Wan, who had originally intended to complain about Liu Chen to Tang Shengnan, silently shivered when she saw Tang Shengnan's expression. She then chose to follow the study committee member Wang Ranran to their dorm.
They chatted until almost ten o'clock that night before returning. Liu Chen, groggy from sleep, heard the dorm door open, then pulled her quilt over her head and continued sleeping.
At five in the morning, the loud bugle call sounded on the campus broadcast. Liu Chen was the first to wake up, got out of bed, and woke the other three. She then went to the balcony to wash up. Returning, she changed out of her pajamas and put on the camouflage military training uniform issued after last night's orientation.
After Liu Chen changed, Sang Ling and Tang Shengnan also started changing. Meanwhile, Xiong Wan grumbled and climbed out of bed. She had washed up and showered after returning last night, then lay in bed playing on her phone. Liu Chen guessed she didn't fall asleep until midnight.
Liu Chen nodded to Sang Ling, and the two tacitly left the dorm first. Tang Shengnan followed closely. With the sound of the door closing, Xiong Wan, who was brushing her teeth, poked her head out. Seeing the empty dorm, she quickly sped up her actions.
At five in the morning, the sports field was still illuminated by the surrounding streetlights, and the sky above was still a deep blue.
Liu Chen had initially thought she and the other two would be among the first to arrive. But upon seeing the students already lined up in their respective departmental formations on the sports field, she couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.
Indeed, people like Xiong Wan, who didn't understand the situation, were probably very rare at Tsinghua University.
Those who could get into Tsinghua were all disciplined individuals; otherwise, they wouldn't have broken through the Gaokao.
Tang Shengnan and Liu Chen were in the first class of the Food Science department. Three minutes after the system time, the entire sports field was packed with freshmen. Xiong Wan finally arrived late. Liu Chen glanced and saw that the girl still had the leisure to put on lipstick.
"All attention, class monitors take attendance!"
After the roll call, the thirty-six departments and one hundred and forty-three classes on the sports field welcomed their instructors. Liu Chen's class was no exception.
Illuminated by the streetlights, Liu Chen saw their class instructor: a thin soldier about 1.7 meters tall, wearing the same camouflage uniform as herself.
Che Xing'an, who was temporarily assigned to train the new students at Tsinghua University, looked very serious. He had just returned from the border last month to recuperate from his injuries. During his recovery, he practiced a set of exercises called Baduanjin, recently promoted in the army, every day.
After practicing for a month, he even felt his body was better than when he was on the border. Unfortunately, the organization refused to let him return to the border, and even assigned him the trivial task of training university students.
Thinking of this, Che Xing'an's expression became even more serious.
With his legs spread, standing at the forefront of the Food Science department's first class formation, Che Xing'an first introduced himself and then issued the day's first command.
"All attention, turn right! You, follow me, run!"
The one called was the newly appointed cultural and sports representative of the class. His sturdy shoulders seemed a bit tight in the camouflage uniform, but he obediently followed the instructor and started running.
Liu Chen was in the middle of the first file, only six people away from the cultural and sports representative, Xu Dazhuang. She was also among the first row to start running.
Before dawn, Liu Chen ran around the entire Tsinghua University with her class formation. Thanks to her foundation in Baduanjin, Liu Chen, after an initial period of adaptation, began to adjust her breathing after about seven or eight minutes and gradually got used to it.
The sky also began to transition from deep blue to the first hint of red at this time.
The sunlight broke through the horizon, dispersing the deep blue sky, forcibly tearing it open. In just ten minutes, the sky changed from dawn to bright daylight.
Little birds also began to chirp, perhaps just waking up. Liu Chen thought to herself while running, looking at the back of the heads of the people in front of her.
However, as they ran, people in front started falling behind. Liu Chen understood; after all, they had been running for forty minutes and hadn't even had breakfast.
When Che Xing'an heard the footsteps behind becoming increasingly scattered, he turned to look back and saw a face closely following his own.
"Ah!!!"
Liu Chen was startled by the sudden scream and stopped her already heavy legs.
"Instructor?"
Che Xing'an looked at the girl's face in broad daylight, the same face from the Baduanjin teaching video he had practiced for a month, and felt as if he had seen a ghost.
"Who are you!"
Liu Chen looked at the instructor in front of her, who had been panicked moments ago but was now frowning and questioning her, feeling perplexed.
"Reporting, Instructor, I am Liu Chen from the Food Science department's first class."
"Liu Chen?"
Che Xing'an then noticed the extremely long line of his class stretching behind him. He felt that the last student could be a kilometer away from his current position.
"The physical fitness of your batch of students is too poor. You're already exhausted before the official training has even begun. All attention, assemble in front of me within one minute. Those who don't make it will run an extra kilometer this morning!"
Che Xing'an's words penetrated the crowd, reaching every student in the Food Science department's first class. At this moment, they all had no choice but to lift their legs, which felt as heavy as if they were filled with cement, and start running.
Liu Chen stood in place. Although sweat beaded on her forehead, Che Xing'an could see that Liu Chen still had plenty of energy. In other words, the current level of training was far from effective.
After one minute, Che Xing'an, holding a roster, had those who arrived report their names and ticked them off. Then, he said to Liu Chen, who was standing to the side:
"You go eat first. After eating, come back and run two laps around the sports field with these students who didn't make it."
"???"
"Instructor, I'm not the class monitor, and I did assemble within the allotted time."
Che Xing'an looked at Liu Chen with a complex expression:
"You'll run the extra time this morning in the afternoon."
Hearing this, Liu Chen's face finally broke into a smile. After all, the Beijing sun in mid-August was truly scorching, and it was quite worthwhile to run two fewer laps in the afternoon under the blazing sun.
Meanwhile, Xiong Wan, who had finally reached the assembly point, heard this and looked at Che Xing'an with suspicion. Her eyes darted around, and she raised an objection.