“No matter what, Qiu Chenxi is your cousin. We are relatives. It is okay to help the family, but it is foolish to help outsiders.”
“Alright, what you said can only deceive a three-year-old kid. There is no way that I will be cajoled now.” Shi Qing shook her head. “It is getting late. I have to report to the school and pay the school fees.”
The two elderly of the Feng family sighed. Their granddaughter was great except that she was too upright and was influenced by their son-in-law. She refused to listen to the family. “Come. Let’s complete the procedures for admission. We drove the car here. Although you won’t be going home for the night, how about having a meal at home?”
“Sure.”
With her family around, particularly Elder Feng, Shi Qing took a shorter time to complete her admission procedures.
Other freshmen needed to queue up, while Shi Qing could skip the queue.
Therefore, by the time Shi Qing had completed the admission procedures, Qiao Nan was only halfway through.
Although they did not belong to the same course, they still bumped into each other along the way.
Qiao Nan passed some brochures to Shi Qing. “Take a look at this. When the military training is over, various clubs and unions in the school will start to recruit new members. Participating in clubs is considered part of social practice as well. Take a good look and see which interests you the most. I have highlighted several of them in red just now. You can use it as a reference.”
“Have you made a decision?”
“Yes.” Qiao Nan did not intend to join a lot of clubs. After all, no one would have so much time and effort to join so many clubs.
“Sure, I will…” Shi Qing was about to say that she would choose those clubs that Qiao Nan had highlighted for her.
However, she was reminded that her family seemed to have some misunderstanding toward Qiao Nan and stopped herself immediately. “Alright, I will consider carefully.”
“Okay.” After passing the brochure to Shi Qing, Qiao Nan nodded politely to her family and went off without another word. She did not even ask whether she had completed her admission procedures or what she intended to do next.
Grandma Feng seemed to be slightly displeased. “No matter how emboldened she is, she has to owe it to others for having what she has today. The teenagers nowadays…” They only thought of getting in through the back door and did not understand that they must be down-to-earth.
Shi Qing massaged her temples. “Didn’t we say that we are going back for dinner? I am hungry. Shall we go now?”
Shi Qing’s initial plan was indeed to go back to the Feng family’s residence today.
She had two cousins, and both were males. One of them had a career in politics while another was a businessman. They had connections and networks in the capital.
Shi Qing’s intention was to bring Qiao Nan to the Feng family’s residence and introduce her to them. If anything happened while she was not around, and Qiao Nan could not solve it by herself, the Feng family could help her with it.
However, Shi Qing did not bring up her plan of bringing Qiao Nan with her. At the very least, before she found out the reason behind the Feng family’s animosity toward Qiao Nan and had a solution to it, she could not bring her home.
“Sure, let’s go back now. You can take a shower and change into new clothes. Look, you are drenched in perspiration.” The elderly couple in the Feng family were glad that their maternal granddaughter was going back home.
Feng Cheng drove the car to the school today. Therefore, she was in charge of driving all of them back to the Feng family’s residence.
The elderly couple of the Feng family doted on Shi Qing. They sat in the back seat of the car, on each side of her, asking about her life in Ping Cheng for the past two years. They wanted to know whether she led a good life and whether she ate well and slept well.
Shi Qing answered each of their questions patiently, but she was actually wondering about the reason behind her family’s animosity toward Qiao Nan. They were, in fact, impolite toward Qiao Nan. This was not what someone would do to an ordinary stranger.
Shi Qing told herself that she must get to the bottom of it. As for Qiao Nan, she had forgotten about the matter.
Qiao Nan had finally settled everything and wiped her dormitory clean. She was drenched in perspiration from doing all the chores.
The electric fan on the ceiling made buzzing sounds in the background, blowing warm air into the room.
Qiao Nan took out some new clothes. She turned on the tap and started to bathe.
By the time Qiao Nan came out from her shower, the three other roommates that she would be sharing the dormitory with for the rest of her four years of college had arrived.
“Hi, you are early. You have already taken your shower.” One of them wore a floral print dress. She looked cheery as she took the initiative to talk to Qiao Nan. “Hi, I am from Jiang Chuan. I am Yu Xiaoxiao. Let’s look out for each other in our four years in college.”
“I am Lü Yan.”
“I am Tang Jiayun.”
“Hi, I am Qiao Nan.”
The four of them began to tidy their luggage after introducing themselves.
Thankfully, each bed had one name pasted on it, so no one would fight for the bed that they wanted. Everyone was orderly and behaved properly. At least, on the first day that they met, no one threw any tantrums or complained about the living conditions in the dormitory.
Qiao Nan heaved a sigh of relief. She hoped that in her four years in college, the four of them would be able to get along peacefully with one another. She did not harbor any hopes that they would be able to get along as well as when she was in high school.
“Hey, Qiao Nan, you are wearing a ring. Is that an accessory?” Tang Jiayun had sharp eyes. She noticed that Qiao Nan wore a ring on the ring finger of her left hand. “The ring looks beautiful and shiny. Is it a platinum ring?”
There was a flicker in Qiao Nan’s eyes. She did not rush to deny it. “No, it is a silver ring.”
“Silver rings may not be as expensive as platinum rings, but it is still very beautiful.” Tang Jiayun smiled. “Can you take it out so that I can have a look?”
Tang Jiayun liked to doll herself up. She loved to look at beautiful things. She knew that Qiao Nan’s ring was different and her attention was centered on her ring.
Qiao Nan refused with a smile. “That won’t do. I promised someone else that I will never remove this ring.”
The silver ring was Qiao Nan’s engagement ring. Zhai Sheng specially entrusted a veteran master to custom-make the one-and-only ring in the world.
Diamond platinum rings were, in fact, very popular nowadays.
Zhai Sheng’s initial plan was to custom-make a one-and-only diamond platinum ring for Qiao Nan, but Qiao Nan opposed it.
To Qiao Nan, since it was an engagement ring, she would not remove the ring once she put it on. She would only remove it in order to wear her wedding ring.
However, she was a student, and she had to go through four years of college. She was there to study, not there to flaunt her wealth. If she wore the one-and-only diamond platinum ring to school, she would worry that her ring might be stolen.
The discerning buyers would be able to tell what the good stuff was.
Qiao Nan did not want to be well-known in school because of her ring.
Zhai Sheng wanted Qiao Nan to have the best in the world, but Qiao Nan’s words did make sense.
In the end, Zhai Sheng changed his mind and accommodated Qiao Nan’s wishes. Instead of a diamond platinum ring, he gave her an ordinary pure silver ring.
