Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1142. Reinforcements
Dong Qiangqiang stayed in the library until closing time and revised his report thoroughly before going home. Although there was internet at home, which was slightly faster than the university network, he had long been accustomed to studying in public places. It was not easy for him to have random thoughts in crowded places. He wanted to try his best to dispel the gloom brought about by failing.

The car was driving on a straight road. Dark clouds covered the night sky. There was not a single star in the haze. The surroundings were empty and lonely. The leaves on both sides of the road rustled. The summer in Germany was not like that in his hometown, where one could easily hear the cheerful, loud croaking of frogs and the hoarse chirping of cicadas in the wild. The night here concealed the sadness of the summer insects. Walking outside seemed to lead one to fall into a deep, silent pit that one could not easily escape from at any time.

The first floor was completely dark, and the landlord must have gone to bed long ago. The light was still on in Li Lei's room on the second floor. Dong Qiangqiang had talked to him enough during the day and didn't want to waste any more time, so he went straight back to his room.

He didn't turn on the light. His schoolbag was thrown casually on the ground. He lazily sat down on the hard chair and looked out the window at the gray and black, shadowy silhouettes of plants. He stared at them for more than ten minutes before he got up and turned on the light.

The moment the lights came on, his eyes fell on the dirty flood of wine on the table almost without any delay.

He picked up the bottle but had no appetite for a drink. He just turned it slowly in his hands. The grooves formed by the dried mud on the bottle were hard and prickly. Peter and Walter White naturally emerged in his mind. It was understandable that Walter White could not see any hope during the SARS epidemic, but what was the point of drinking? Would all these bad things disappear out of thin air if he got drunk and had a good sleep? If he were in the same predicament as Walter White, he would definitely not give himself to alcohol. Of course, he would not fail the exam. What could a mere make-up exam do to him? At most, he was just annoyed by the make-up exam. After all, he and Walter White were still young. If he were Peter's age, he would only think of never giving up and starting over when he encountered bad things.

Suddenly, there was a light knock on the door behind him. Dong Qiangqiang put down the bottle of wine silently. He made up his mind that he had more than a week to prepare for the make-up exam, so he had to make it a success in one go and not create any more complications. After he passed the make-up exam, he would talk it over with his parents and Du Lan, the three people closest to him, from the beginning.

Dong Qiangqiang opened the door wide and outside stood Li Lei, who looked tired, holding in his hand a rolled-up Chinese textbook that Dong Qiangqiang had lent him.

"You're back so late? Are you studying in the library again? You didn't relax your requirements for yourself during the summer vacation. You are really self-disciplined and hardworking." Li Leipi was making small talk with a smile on his face, while his eyes were looking around the room behind Dong Qiangqiang. He saw the mud wine bottle on the table at first glance. At first glance, he thought it was garbage, but after a closer look, he found that it was something else. He was suddenly a little angry: I worked hard to prepare for the exemption of classes, but I didn't expect this kid to be so comfortable and even have a little wine to drink. Thinking about it, I couldn't help but take a few more glances, and soon remembered what I found in the corner of the basement when I was washing clothes in the afternoon. It turns out that anyone can drink this wine. I will take a bottle later, he muttered softly.

The other party knocked on the door in the middle of the night. Dong Qiangqiang knew without any hesitation that something must be wrong: "Go ahead."

"I didn't have time to ask this morning. Are you okay going to the Economics Department?" Li Lei added.

"If you have something to say, just say it." Dong Qiangqiang became impatient when he saw Li Lei beating around the bush.

"I told my landlord that I had a very important meeting on Thursday and needed to spend time preparing, and she agreed that I would not do morning reading for the next two days."

"Oh, okay, then you should make good use of every minute to review." Dong Qiangqiang was about to close the door. Li Lei was quick-witted and quickly stretched out his foot to hold the bottom edge of the door.

"Oh, I wanted to discuss this with you," Li Lei wanted to say a few polite words and wait for Dong Qiangqiang to comfort him, but seeing that he looked unhappy and showed no concern, he was very disappointed. He couldn't just turn his face away from Dong Qiangqiang, so he got straight to the point. "I mentioned this to you yesterday, but then you were busy so I didn't dare to disturb you. It was about the internet thing at home. If you are exempt from classes, you have to look up information all the time. I don't have a car like you, so I can come back from the library no matter how late I stay. It's not realistic for me to go to the library several times a day. After all, it's more convenient to look up information at home. But don't worry, I won't use it for nothing. I'll pay half of the fee, or I can pay a little more."

Even if Li Lei didn't use the banner of learning, Dong Qiangqiang would be more than happy to have someone willing to share the Internet fee, and responded readily: "Is this the case? Okay, no problem."

Li Lei didn't expect Dong Qiangqiang to agree so readily. Fearing that he would change his mind, he quickly confirmed the matter: "How much per month? I'll give it to you right away."

"Fifty (Euros) per month." Although he agreed, Dong Qiangqiang doubted whether Li Lei could afford the internet fee every month.

"You said... fifty?" Li Lei took a breath of cold air. This amount of money was far beyond his budget. He thought it would be no more than thirty. He said with a pained face, "How come it's more expensive than my rent?"

Hearing the other party's tone questioning the amount of money, Dong Qiangqiang closed the door silently.

"Hey, buddy, let's talk it over. You...you don't close the door." Li Lei stood outside the door and lowered his voice, wanting to shout but not daring to, for fear of waking up the sleeping landlord downstairs.

When the door opened again, a piece of paper was handed to Li Lei: "Read it yourself."

Seeing it in black and white, Li Lei finally believed that Dong Qiangqiang had not lied. He hesitated and did not say anything. Dong Qiangqiang was not surprised by Li Lei's reaction: "I only charged you half of the contract amount. If you think it is expensive, you can sign another one in your name, but I don't know whether the landlord will approve it. If you don't want to sign a new one and don't want to share the cost, I can also open a temporary account for you so that you can check some information temporarily. Tell me after you're done and I'll cancel it." Li Lei didn't want to feel so depressed about going online, and he didn't want to let Dong Qiangqiang look down on him. Even though the money was not a small amount for him who had no income, he stomped his feet and made up his mind: "Okay, fifty is fifty, I accept it." After that he took out a fifty-euro bill and handed it to Dong Qiangqiang with trembling hands.

Dong Qiangqiang glanced at the shaking corner of the banknote, but did not reach out his hand. He just said lightly: "Then wait a moment."

He quickly handed the slip of paper with the account number and password to Li Lei: "You don't have to give me the money yet, think about it, and give it to me if you are sure you won't change it. I don't want to take it today and return it to you in two days, which is not enough trouble."

Li Lei held the note but did not retreat as Dong Qiangqiang expected, but continued to stand at the door.

"Anything else?"

“There are a few concepts that I think will be tested, so I wrote them in German, but I’m not very sure. I’d like you to check them for me.” Li Lei’s tone was full of humility.

"Is it all written in the book?" Li Lei's request was very reasonable, and Dong Qiangqiang had no reason to ignore it.

"Yep."

The notebook was handed over.

"If possible... can we do it tonight..." Li Lei asked tentatively.

"I'll give it to you tomorrow morning." Without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, Dong Qiangqiang closed the door without saying anything.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Looking at the tightly closed door in front of him, Li Lei raised his hand with a sullen face and knocked twice carefully.

Dong Qiangqiang had no choice but to open the door again: "I said I would give it to you tomorrow morning, and I will definitely give it to you."

"Boss, don't think I have too many things to do. I have no choice. Time is limited. I can only ask you for a favor. No matter how late it is today, I will wait for you. Even if you can just give me a part of it first, it will be fine. Thank you for your help." Li Lei bowed deeply after saying this.

Dong Qiangqiang thought for two seconds and raised the notebook in his hand: "Is there a Chinese version of the concept you want?"

"Yes, yes. They are all in Chinese on the top and German on the bottom."

"Then I won't change it. I'll just print out the German concept for you. Come pick it up in an hour."

"Thank you!" Li Lei didn't know what to say.

Dong Qiangqiang, who tossed and turned until the late night, thought he would sleep until noon, but strangely, just like the day before, he woke up very early and tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. He thought he would be fully revived and come back as a king after a good sleep, but the frustration and melancholy of the previous day was only relieved to a certain extent. He felt lazy all over. He could not muster the energy to open the books to review, and he was not interested in paying attention to the results of the remaining two subjects. He seemed to have returned to the state when he graduated from preparatory course and was waiting for the university admission notice.

From downstairs came the landlord's soft shouts coming from afar, and the occasional squeaking sound of poultry stepping on hay. Dong Qiangqiang stood on the balcony and looked down curiously. He saw a figure bending over busy in the vegetable patch, while the poultry were running busily around the patch.

"Good morning, Ms. Yulia." Dong Qiangqiang said this before he remembered that he was no longer living alone on the second floor. He just had a new neighbor. He turned his head and glanced at Li Lei's room, only to see that the dark curtains were closed. Li Lei should not have gotten up yet.