Great. Now, even if he wanted to take a break, his only option was to sit on the floor.
Jiang Wei bent down and found his suitcase in the corner. He realized he had been incredibly naive; he had only brought a change of school uniforms and various daily necessities, but no cleaning tools like rags or cloths.
*Tsk.*
Fortunately, Tang Zihe’s dorm was right next door. Jiang Wei didn't care about his pride anymore, though he wasn't sure if anyone was actually inside. One touch of the table sent up enough dust to bury his lungs; he had no choice but to try his luck.
Jiang Wei knocked on the neighboring door.
After a few seconds, the door opened from the inside, revealing a head wearing glasses.
"Who are you looking for?" Gu Renwen asked.
"Um... I wanted to borrow a rag, or anything I can use to wipe off dust. Anything works," Jiang Wei said, sizing up the boy in front of him. He seemed to be about the same height as Jiang Wei, looking quite refined with his glasses—very different from most of the Alphas he had seen at school.
"A rag? I don't have one. You can ask the others when they get back from their showers," Gu Renwen said, preparing to close the door.
"Alright, thanks anyway."
Jiang Wei had no reason to stop him from closing the door. He glanced at the shut entrance and then silently squatted down outside.
*Might as well wait.* Jiang Wei leaned his back against the wall, adjusting himself into a slightly more comfortable position.
He wasn't sure how long he waited, but he finally looked up when a pair of light blue slippers stopped in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" Tang Zihe frowned in confusion, instinctively reaching out a hand to help him up.
"Slowly, my legs are numb." Jiang Wei rubbed his back against the wall, inching himself upward bit by bit.
"What are you doing here? Waiting for me?" Tang Zihe asked again.
"Yeah," Jiang Wei scratched his head with a smile. "I just wanted to borrow a rag. It looks like no one’s lived in my room for a while. There's so much dust I can't even stay in there without cleaning it first."
Tang Zihe said, "Couldn't you have borrowed one from someone else while I was gone?"
"I'm not close with anyone else. I could only come to you." Jiang Wei patted the dust off his jacket. "Hurry up and lend me one; I want to finish cleaning early."
"Come in and wait. I'll find one for you." Tang Zihe opened the dorm door and led the way inside.
"Hello." When Jiang Wei entered, Gu Renwen looked up at him. Jiang Wei gave him a friendly greeting.
Gu Renwen lowered his head again.
Tang Zihe pulled a white rag out of his suitcase. He was about to toss it to Jiang Wei but abruptly stopped mid-motion.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Wei asked, puzzled.
At that moment, the bandage on Jiang Wei's left hand felt more eyesore than ever to Tang Zihe.
"Forget it. I'll give you a hand." Tang Zihe turned around and walked toward the door under Jiang Wei’s half-smiling gaze.
Jiang Wei stood frozen in place.
"What are you standing there for? Let's go," Tang Zihe beckoned.
"Coming."
"Maybe I should do it after all." Jiang Wei looked apologetically at the dust swirling in the room and reached for the rag in Tang Zihe's hand.
"Stand there and wait," Tang Zihe commanded, pointing to the center of the room.
"Yes, sir." Jiang Wei sighed and walked to the middle of the room, watching Tang Zihe begin to wipe down the table.
"You still like light blue as much as ever," Jiang Wei started, making casual conversation.
"Mm."
"And you're still so kind-hearted. Thanks." Jiang Wei smiled.
"Helping the weak is everyone's responsibility," Tang Zihe countered.
"What about you?" Tang Zihe’s movements paused for a second as he suppressed the urge to turn around. "Where have you been these past two years?"
Jiang Wei pursed his lips and thought for a moment before saying sincerely, "If I have to be honest... nowhere."
Tang Zihe stopped what he was doing and shook his head. Although he didn't speak, Jiang Wei already knew what he wanted to say.
"I'm sorry." Jiang Wei bit his lip, finally only able to offer those two words in a deeply apologetic tone. "I failed to keep my promise. I'm sorry."
"You know that's not what I meant." Tang Zihe started wiping the wardrobe, using a bit more force. The wardrobe let out a creaking groan.
"I know." Jiang Wei blinked and said with a smile, "But still, I'll have to trouble you, Boss Tang, to wipe the slate clean regarding our past grievances. And while you're at it, look out for me in the future."
Tang Zihe was rendered speechless by the other's attitude. This person had been like this since they were kids—as long as there was something he didn't want to say, he could come up with all sorts of ways to gloss over it. No one could pry a single word out of his mouth if he didn't want to share.
*Fine, there's no winning with him.*
"Finished." Tang Zihe worked quickly. He had likely gone through this ordeal every semester and was already very proficient.
"Thanks, Boss Tang. You're the best," Jiang Wei praised playfully, even giving Tang Zihe a wink.
"The dorm showers are at the end of the hall," Tang Zihe said, rolling his eyes. "Once you're done washing up, bring your homework to our room."
"Okay." Jiang Wei knelt down, opened his suitcase, and pulled out a set of pajamas.
After Tang Zihe left the room, Jiang Wei locked the door and reopened his suitcase. He dug out a small box from the very bottom, opened it for a quick look, and then silently tucked it back into the depths of the suitcase.
Once everything was settled, Jiang Wei flipped through his backpack, only to realize that the homework he hadn't finished today was... quite a lot.
"We were just waiting for you. Come in, come in!" As soon as Jiang Wei stepped out of his room, he saw Tang Wanbai waving at him from next door.
"Isn't this a bit conspicuous?" Jiang Wei helped close the door behind him.
"Standard procedure. This girl is lucky; she's never been caught once," Yang Xiangtong said with a helpless shrug.
Jiang Wei gave a thumbs-up.
"The little yellow bird on your pajamas is so cute," Tang Wanbai said, pointing at his clothes. "If you don't look closely, it looks like a chubby little chick."
"Right? I like it too." Jiang Wei smiled and found an empty seat.
"Alright, everyone's here. As per usual, let's start with the easiest subjects," Xia Shan clapped his eyes. "Let's make this quick."
"Chemistry then?" Yang Xiangtong flipped through her chemistry workbook. "None of us are particularly bad at chemistry, right?"
"No," Tang Zihe, who had been silent, said. "Is there anything you don't understand?"
Although Tang Zihe wasn't looking at Jiang Wei, Jiang Wei could tell the question was directed at him.
"I'm not sure. I won't know until I test the waters with the opening exam," Jiang Wei shook his head and answered honestly.
"Is this the confidence of the elite?" Ding Banfan sighed, sounding a bit salty.
Tang Zihe gave a small huff.
"Then I'll just highlight a few high-frequency exam points for you all, and then we'll start Biology." Tang Zihe skillfully opened his scratchpad. Everyone sat in a circle, leaning their heads in.
Given the long-standing saying that "Biology and Chemistry are inseparable," the group spent ten minutes reviewing Chemistry before diving straight into a discussion on Biology.
"If I may be so bold, the complexity of the human body is truly not something I should have to endure," Yang Xiangtong held her head. "I already have a premonition that I'm going to fail."
"Usually, the people who say that end up scoring better than anyone else." Xia Shan clutched his chest. "Boss Tang, save my Physics."
"Is no one reviewing the humanities?" Jiang Wei asked curiously. "Don't we need to look at English?"
"There's no point in last-minute review for those. For Physics, you can at least memorize a couple more formulas. If you don't understand English, memorizing grammar won't help you solve the problems. Same goes for Chinese. So, we always ignore those two subjects during our reviews," Tang Wanbai explained.
"Oh."
Jiang Wei lowered his head again to listen to Tang Zihe explain Physics to the other three.
In truth, he understood everything Tang Zihe was saying; there was nothing he really needed to hear. Even the difficult points only took a few seconds of thought for him to grasp. But he just wanted to hear Tang Zihe speak.
This was the first time since their reunion that he had heard Tang Zihe say so much.
His voice was very pleasant.
Jiang Wei’s mind drifted in and out of thought. By the time he snapped back to reality, they were already reviewing Math.
"You guys are moving pretty fast," Jiang Wei said, somewhat surprised.
He had thought they would need a long time to review a "metaphysical" subject like Physics.
"Can't be helped. We have to review so many subjects in one night; if we don't hurry, we'll never finish." Yang Xiangtong glanced at the white watch on her left wrist. "It's almost 10:20. Theoretically, the dorm lights go out at 10:30."
"If I may be so bold, you guys don't look like the type to race against the clock just for lights-out." Jiang Wei raised an eyebrow. From what he knew, he didn't think this school did late-night bed checks.
Yang Xiangtong shook her head and pointed at Gu Renwen, who had his back to them. The meaning was clear: they weren't worried about the dorm supervisor, but rather the "lone wolf" in the room.
Jiang Wei wrote a few words on his scratchpad with a pencil.
Yang Xiangtong took out her phone and typed silently.
"He goes to sleep at 11:00 sharp every night. At 10:30, he starts kicking us out. Once, he almost caused the dorm supervisor to come over. He's not easy to talk to, and he has a bit of a temper."
Jiang Wei understood, but he immediately put an index finger to his lips and whispered, "Does your dorm supervisor wear high heels?"
Everyone froze. Ding Banfan was the quickest to react; he glanced at the two girls present and immediately stood up to pack his workbooks.
Tang Wanbai silently mouthed a curse. Grabbing Yang Xiangtong, the two of them scrambled into the gap between two wardrobes in a few quick steps.
"I forgot, the supervisor checks the rooms on the first day of the term." Just as Xia Shan finished speaking, the *click-clack* of high heels drew closer and closer, finally stopping at their door.
"You people inside, why is it still so noisy when the lights are about to go out?" The supervisor's voice sounded like a woman in her thirties—perhaps a stern, intellectual type standing outside the door with a stiff face.
The supervisor opened the door.
"Sorry, teacher. I was just in this room reviewing. I was just about to head back." Jiang Wei blocked the supervisor's line of sight, a very apologetic smile on his face as he straightforwardly admitted the fault.
"And you are?" The supervisor paused. She didn't recall seeing this student before.
"I'm new. I live in the dorm next door. I'll be in your care from now on, teacher." Jiang Wei gave a slight bow, his attitude exceptionally polite.
"Alright, it's late. Get back to your room. Don't oversleep for the exam tomorrow." The supervisor couldn't find anything else to say, so she simply waved her hand and walked toward the other end of the hall, her heels clicking away.
"Whoa, not bad, Jiang Wei. You've got a real silver tongue. Impressive." Xia Shan gave a thumbs-up.
"Usually she scolds us for at least a couple of minutes. Today was really unusual; she didn't say anything." Ding Banfan moved out of the way, and the two girls poked their heads out from the gap between the wardrobes.
"Scared me to death," Tang Wanbai muttered.
"It's all practice." Jiang Wei smiled and packed up his pens. "Alright, goodnight, you handsome guys and beautiful girls. I'm going back to rest, or I really won't be able to get up tomorrow."
"Goodnight. I have to race back at breakneck speed now," Tang Wanbai said.
"Goodnight."
***
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