Huayu: That year, I withdrew from the Super Boy competition.

The next morning, Su Wei checked out of the room.

They came with a bag, and they left with a bag each.

It seems he came here for nothing.

It seems like something has changed.

After finishing breakfast, he didn't linger and went straight to Dongyang by car.

Fortunately, I managed to buy a sleeper berth when I got back.

That saved my butt from suffering for another eight hours.

The train swayed and rattled northward, and the scenery outside the window gradually changed from mountains and farmland back to buildings and factories.

Su Wei threw her bag on the bed, sat down on the bench in the corridor below, propped her elbows on the windowsill, and stared blankly outside.

It was already afternoon when we arrived in the capital.

The moment he stepped into the school gate, he suddenly felt a little dazed, as if he had been away for a long time.

There's always a mixed smell in the hallways of the boys' dormitory building.

When I went up to the fourth floor...

That familiar scent wafted over, washing away the last trace of worldliness he had brought back from Hengdian.

Upon reaching the fourth floor, Su Wei pushed open the dormitory door.

All three of them were present.

Dou Xiao sat at his desk, on which lay an open book.

But his hand was on the mouse, and the screen showed World of Warcraft.

An orc warrior was standing blankly at the entrance of the auction house in Orgrimmar.

Hearing the door open, he turned around.

Chen Mo nestled in bed, phone pressed to his ear, speaking in a very low voice.

Zhang Zhuoran's seat was at the very back.

He wasn't playing games or making phone calls; he was sitting cross-legged in a chair, holding a bag of snacks, with some kind of drama playing on the computer screen in front of him.

Su Wei threw her backpack onto the bed and walked towards her seat.

At this moment, Dou Xiao put down the mouse and spoke first.

"Awei," he turned around, one arm draped over the back of the chair, "I haven't seen you these past couple of days. What have you been up to?"

The other two didn't stop what they were doing.

But Su Wei could sense that their attention had shifted to him.

Su Wei bent down to untie her shoelaces.

"I?"

He kicked off his shoes, put on slippers, and leaned back in his chair.

"I went to Hengdian and did an audition."

As soon as he finished speaking, all three people in the room stopped moving.

Chen Mo hurriedly said "I'll call back later" into his phone, hung up, and stared blankly at the phone.

The potato chips in Zhang Zhuoran's hand were suspended in mid-air, hovering near his mouth, but he forgot to put them in his mouth.

Dou Xiao changed his posture, sitting backwards in the chair, facing Su Wei.

The chair leg scraped against the concrete floor with a screeching sound, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"No way—"

Dou Xiao's voice was much louder than before, "Dude, when did you secretly submit your resume behind our backs?"

He lightly slapped Su Wei on the back, laughing and scolding:

"You're really good at doing big things quietly."

Then his smile faded, he leaned forward, and became serious.

"Which production crew? What role? Did you get the part?"

Three questions in a row.

Su Wei didn't rush to answer, but instead stretched.

His joints cracked a few times, and he let out a long sigh before slowly speaking.

"Well, it's a long story. In fact, I was just lucky."

The three of them remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"Isn't there some kind of review form to fill out this week?"

I had forgotten about it before, so I made a special trip to the homeroom teacher's office..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Mo interrupted.

"So—it was your homeroom teacher who recommended you for the audition?"

He leaned against the headboard, crossed his arms, and said sarcastically.

"Huh, this is biased..."

The dormitory suddenly fell silent.

That's a rather harsh way to put it.

Sure enough, the relaxed expression on Su Wei's face disappeared.

He said curtly, "See, you're in such a hurry. Can't you let me finish what I have to say before you start being sarcastic?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Mo's expression froze for a moment.

Su Wei turned her gaze away, took a sip of water from the table, and continued speaking.

"After I came out of the office, I happened to run into the president of Tangren Media."

Dou Xiao pulled the chair forward a little more.

"I was walking down the stairs when she came up from below."

Su Wei paused, her tone indifferent.

"After she saw me, she called out to me and asked me to wait for her."

"Later she told me that she was from Tangren Media and that she thought I had a good image and wanted me to try out for a role."

"I went."

Su Wei shrugged. "I was just lucky; I happened to be there at the right time."

Dou Xiao licked his lips.

"What play?"

"The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3"

The dormitory fell silent for a moment after those three words were uttered.

As everyone knows, Tangren Media is currently preparing for this drama, and it has caused quite a stir online.

Su Wei continued speaking.

"The role I auditioned for was Chonglou—"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Zhuoran, who was at the very back, suddenly spoke up.

"Paris polyphylla?"

He looked up at Su Wei.

"That Demon Lord from Chinese Paladin 3?"

He pushed up his glasses, his tone serious.

"That's not easy to act. Chonglou is ridiculously popular in the game, and if you mess it up, you'll be cursed to death."

Su Wei paused for a moment, then smiled.

So that's why.

He stood up and pushed his chair further into the table. "I don't know if I'll get the job. They told me to come back and wait for their notification, saying they'll contact me then."

Dou Xiao opened his mouth, as if to say something.

But after glancing at Chen Mo, he swallowed his words back.

Su Wei pulled out two plastic basins from under the bed and stuffed the few pieces of clothes that had been taken off on the bed into them.

I've had this stuff for almost a week now—T-shirts, shirts, pants—it's made the basin really heavy.

He picked up the basin, tucked the laundry detergent bag under his arm, pushed open the dormitory door, and went out.

He let out a long sigh as the door closed behind him.

The laundry room is at the end of the corridor, near the public restroom.

When he went in, the ground was, as usual, wet, and his footsteps made a slight sound.

Su Wei placed the basin next to the sink and turned on the faucet.

Water was poured into the basin, and the coolness traveled down the side of the basin to my fingertips.

He picked up the laundry detergent bag and shook it twice. The white powder fell onto the water's surface and, when washed by the water, created a layer of fine foam.

The bubble expanded and burst rapidly, just like the jumbled thoughts in his mind.

They kept popping up, only to be suppressed one by one by him.

Also, Chen Mo's words just now made him very uncomfortable, which only added to his annoyance.

He turned off the water, flipped a T-shirt in the basin over, and let it soak in the water.

The fabric swelled up and deflated in the water. He pressed it hard and squeezed out a string of bubbles.

Forget it.

Thinking about these things is useless.

All he can do now is wait.

Su Wei rolled up her sleeves and started scrubbing the clothes.

I had only rubbed it a few times when I heard footsteps behind me.

Because of the water on the ground, the person's footsteps on the cement floor made a "tap-tap" sound.

The sound came slowly and steadily towards them.

Su Wei did not turn around.

The footsteps grew closer.

They stopped a short distance behind him.