I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Shen Kang turned his head and saw that the little white flower had finally stopped staring at the wall and was now standing to his right, looking at him, and the blush on her face had faded.

Seeing Shen Kang looking over, Xiaobaihua said, "How about I ask a classmate to bring over a pair of pants? You can wear these for now, and when you get back to the dorm, change your pants and then give them to me. I'll wash them and give them to him."

Shen Kang thought for a moment and said, "That's too much trouble. Do you sell pants at your school? Just buy any pair, I'll pay you."

Little White Flower shook her head. "It's not like you bought it yourself. You might not like something you just bought randomly. Besides, it's hard to return it once you've worn it. It'll be a waste if you never wear it again. Just borrow a pair of pants for now, it won't be a waste."

Shen Kang didn't argue with her any further, and nodded, "Alright. It would be best if you could lend me a pair of jeans."

His underwear is wet now, and even if he wrings it out later, it won't be completely dry; it'll still be wet. If he gets a thinner pair of pants, they'll probably get wet again and lose their shape. Jeans are the safest bet.

Xiao Baihua agreed, then took out her phone and made a call. However, she didn't speak Mandarin, but rather a language she couldn't understand.

After Xiaobaihua finished her call, Shen Kang casually asked, "Are you Miao?"

There are quite a few Miao people in Qianlin Province. As a native of Yangcheng, Shen Kang doesn't speak Miao, but he knows a little about it and knows that there are three types of Miao.

The language Xiaobaihua spoke on the phone seemed to be one of the three Miao languages, Qiandong Miao.

"Yes." Little White Flower nodded. "I am of the Miao ethnic group."

She paused for a moment, then said, "My name is Long Yuewen."

"Shen Kang".

After Shen Kang gave his name, he started chatting with her: "Are you working part-time here to support your studies?"

Long Yuewen hummed in agreement.

She was quite perceptive; perhaps feeling it wasn't appropriate to look down at Shen Kang like that, she proactively squatted down, bringing her gaze level with his, before asking, "And you? Did you come here on business?"

Shen Kang said, "Yes, I talked to a dean upstairs about a collaboration on a public welfare project. Although it didn't go very smoothly, overall, the road is winding, but the future is bright."

Long Yuewen chuckled, "You know, it actually does seem quite plausible."

Shen Kang laughed too, "Right? It looks like it, doesn't it?"...

As they chatted, Shen Kang mentioned that he was a student at Yangke University and had come to visit a friend. He explained that the calls he had made earlier were to his friend for help, but his friend was currently not answering the phone and seemed to be doing nothing.

Shen Kang learned more about Long Yuewen: she was a junior majoring in Chinese Language and Literature, and was indeed a Miao from Qiandong who came to Yangcheng for university.

As they chatted, they naturally came up with the culprit from earlier.

"...Now that I think about it, it seems like she bumped into me on purpose. Do you know her?" Long Yuewen asked.

Shen Kang shook his head. "I don't know him."

Long Yuewen thought about it for a while, but still couldn't figure it out. "Then she really is quite strange..."

As the two were talking, someone came from the other end of the corridor.

It was a boy, quite tall, and he was carrying a plastic bag.

Seeing the boy approach, Long Yuewen stood up and greeted him, "Xingchen."

After the boy arrived, he introduced himself to the two of them, and Shen Kang learned that the boy's name was Long Xingchen. He couldn't help but think that these Miao names were really impressive; one was Long Yuewen, and the other was Long Xingchen. They sounded like the male and female protagonists in a novel, so domineering.

After receiving the plastic bag, Shen Kang used it to block the view below, then stood up and walked towards the restroom on this floor.

Long Xingchen didn't follow, but instead grabbed a mop and started cleaning up the mess in the hallway with Long Yuewen. While cleaning, she also asked what had happened.

When facing his fellow countrymen, Long Yuewen became noticeably more cheerful, chattering away as he recounted what had just happened.

After listening, Long Xingchen commented, "He probably offended that girl sometime during the day." After saying that, he stopped talking about that topic and started talking about something else.

"Are you confident about being named one of the top ten singers tomorrow?"

Long Yuewen shook her head, somewhat dejected: "I don't know. There are many capable people."

Long Xingchen mopped the floor for a moment, then said, "Let's try our best, after all, there's an 800 yuan bonus. I've also sold my embroidery piece. If you get your bonus tomorrow too, it'll be about the same..."

As the two were talking, Shen Kang had already wrung out his underwear and changed his pants as much as he could. He put the wet pants directly into a plastic bag and carried it over.

Before he could even reach the two of them, Shen Kang's phone rang.

The ringing of the bell also drew the attention of Long Xingchen and Long Yuewen.

Shen Kang picked up his phone, glanced at it, and saw that it was Yin Mingyang finally calling. He answered the call, put the phone to his ear, and said, "Feed."

"Hey, Lao Shen, you're looking for me? Why are you calling me three times in a row?" Yin Mingyang's voice came from the other end of the line, which was a bit noisy, as if he were in a crowded place.

Shen Kang asked, "Where were you just now?"

On the other end of the phone, Yin Mingyang's voice sounded somewhat hesitant: "N-nothing..."

Shen Kang's expression suddenly changed, and his voice rose.

"What? Your stepmother gave birth? Your dad wants you to come back?!"

"..."

There was silence on Yin Mingyang's end. After a moment, he said, "Old Shen, are you brewing up some bad news again?"

Shen Kangxian was somewhat indignant: "You're really something, calling me over and then running away!..."

After grumbling a couple more times, Shen Kang's expression softened, and he sighed, "Alright, you can go back now. I'm going back to school too."

After saying that, Shen Kang waited for two seconds, seemingly hearing some unreasonable request from the other end, and laughed in anger, "Fine, fine, you're really something, making me wait here for two days, and you'll come back after your stepmother gives birth!..."

On the other end of the phone was the cafeteria of Qianmin University.

Yin Mingyang found a quiet corner and snuggled up there with Huang Jing.

Both of their lips were red, as if they had eaten chili peppers.

Besides the two of them, Fang Shiqi was also there.

It's yellow crystal.

After learning from Yin Mingyang that Shen Kang had come to Qianmin University, Huang Jing secretly informed Fang Shiqi, and then Fang Shiqi rushed over.

In front of the three of them was a cell phone, already on speakerphone, from which Shen Kang's words were being transmitted.

"...Tell me, you're not a doctor, and you don't know how to deliver babies. Your stepmother gave birth, so why did your dad insist on calling you back?"

Realizing something was amiss, Yin Mingyang brought them here and put the phone on speakerphone so they could also enjoy Shen Kang's pantomime performance.

That's why they're such good buddies; they even use the same dirty tricks.

Hearing Shen Kang repeatedly say "my stepmother gave birth" on his end, and with echoes seemingly coming from the void, making it sound so real, Huang Jing couldn't hold back any longer and quietly asked Yin Mingyang, "What happened to Old Shen?"

Yin Mingyang whispered, "What do you mean by 'become like this'? He's always been like this! I told you before, but you didn't believe me. Now you believe me, right?"

Huang Jing nodded silently.

Her strongest impression of Shen Kang was that on National Day, Shen Kang called everyone out of Grandma Li's house, and then gave Grandma Li a big princess carry, carrying her out in a majestic manner.

That scene really gave people a very reliable impression.

Therefore, even though Yin Mingyang had revealed some of Shen Kang's "true colors," she did not believe him.

But I don't believe it anymore.

Then, Huang Jing turned her head and looked at Fang Shiqi, only to see Fang Shiqi listening to what Shen Kang was saying on the phone, smiling and acting like a lunatic.

"..."

Huang Jing coughed, suppressing her voice, and asked in a low voice, "Shiqi, what do you think?"

Fang Shiqi smiled, her eyes full of admiration, and whispered, "He has such a great sense of humor."

"..."

Huang Jing and Yin Mingyang exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves, "My best friend is hopeless."

……

Shen Kang on one end of the phone had no idea what tricks Yin Mingyang was up to on the other end.

He's still performing; it's already in its final stages.

After venting his anger, Shen Kang seemed to have vented it all. He sighed and said helplessly, "Knowing you is the worst luck I've ever had. Fine, I'll wait for you here for two days. That's all for now, or I'll get angry before your stepmother even gives birth! Bye!"

After saying that, he hung up the phone.

Ever since Long Xingchen and Long Yuewen heard the phrase "Your stepmother gave birth," they have stopped mopping the floor and are completely unable to do any housework. They have been listening intently ever since.

They both knew they shouldn't laugh at this, but what Shen Kang said was so abstract and funny that they found it hard to hold back. They could only turn their backs and try their best to suppress their laughter, but their faces couldn't stop twitching.

Thankfully, Shen Kang finally finished speaking.

The two quickly rubbed their faces, took deep breaths, and after calming themselves down, they turned around to look at Shen Kang.

Long Yuewen, who was relatively familiar with Shen Kang, asked, "Your friend ran away?"

Shen Kang nodded helplessly, "Yeah, they ran away."

Long Yuewen then asked, "Are you going to wait for him at our school for two more days?"

Shen Kang nodded again, "Yeah. It's all his stepmother's fault!"

Upon hearing the word "stepmother," Long Xingchen and Long Yuewen couldn't hold back any longer and quickly pinched themselves to suppress their urges.

Long Yuewen took two deep breaths before saying, "Then, cough cough, what are you going to do these next two days?"

Shen Kang sighed deeply, then slowly turned his gaze to Long Xingchen. "I don't know anyone at Qianmin University anymore... Brother Long, could you help me find an empty bed?"

Long Xingchen seemed like a nice guy, and since he thought finding Shen Kang would be quite interesting, he immediately said, "Okay, no problem, it's not hard to find him. You can come with me tonight."

"Thank you in advance." Shen Kang quickly expressed his gratitude, and then diligently helped the two of them clean up, while silently thinking to himself.

Abstraction illuminates reality

Bad news: My laptop broke down, and all my data is gone.

Good news: I didn't have any drafts saved up at all.

Good news: I spent a whopping 709 yuan yesterday morning to order a used 6th generation 7th generation laptop.

Bad news: It won't arrive until tomorrow.

So I went to an internet cafe last night and have been writing this until now.

Everything will be alright once the used laptop I ordered arrives.

What? You're asking me what to do with a broken old laptop?

I threw it away.

It's really funny to encounter something like this when you're featured on the Shanghai University promotional page, haha.

Finally, I want to say that secondhand websites are absolutely fantastic. A computer costing a few hundred yuan is about the price of a new hard drive—more than enough for writing.

People mock these used laptops online, but in real life, who wouldn't be eager to spend a few hundred dollars to buy one? (My approach is flexible: if the used laptop I buy has problems, I'll delete all this and start criticizing it again. If I don't criticize it afterward, then it means I made the right purchase.)