Li Wu walked back to his dormitory step by step as if walking toward another destiny. His hands were in his pockets as he watched the grass blades in the flower bed swaying wildly in the wind, seemingly attempting to uproot themselves and fly toward the horizon.
He walked faster and faster until he was excitedly running—a young snow leopard sprinting, as if newborn.
The dorm door was half open upstairs—his roommates had probably returned.
Li Wu caught his breath and slowed his pace as he walked in.
Sure enough, there were exactly three boys inside, each busy with their things. One was munching on a rice ball with one foot propped on the edge of his chair; another had earphones plugged in, completely absorbed in bobbing his head to the music; the third stood by the bathroom door making a phone call, his back turned.
“Rice Ball” was the first to notice him, his foot quickly sliding back to the ground as he raised his hand in an awkward “Hi.”
Li Wu looked at him and returned the greeting.
“Rice Ball” hurried to pull at the music listener, who irritably yanked his arm back, his eyebrows knotting as he looked over.
Meeting Li Wu’s gaze, he pulled out one earphone, jerked his chin first toward the overly neat desk beside him, then back to Li Wu: “So it’s you?”
Li Wu nodded once.
“Damn,” the music listener cursed under his breath, “My position as dorm heartthrob is in danger.”
Rice Ball laughed, pushing up his black-framed glasses as he introduced himself: “I’m Cheng Rui. You’re Li…”
The music listener cut him off, nearly kicking him, removed his other earphones, and said concisely: “Lin Honglang.”
Li Wu walked to his desk: “Li Wu.”
“Li Wu? Like a gift?” Lin Honglang raised his eyebrows. “Who’re you giving a gift to? Your name’s interesting.”
Li Wu said: “Wu as in mist.”
“Great! Sit down,” Cheng Rui noticed he was still standing. “Don’t be so formal, once you’re through the door we’re all brothers.”
Lin Honglang snorted: “Who wants to be brothers with you?”
Li Wu sat at his desk, reorganizing the textbooks and workbooks on his bookstand. His things had been moved; he could tell at a glance.
Seeing this, Cheng Rui looked embarrassed: “We didn’t mean to snoop, just curious about who our new roommate was. We didn’t take anything.”
Li Wu looked at him: “It’s fine.”
Lin Honglang kept staring at him, feeling this transfer student was somewhat cold and unapproachable, seemingly drawing a line between them from the moment he entered: “Why are you alone? Where are your parents?”
Li Wu’s hand paused as he was inserting a book, not answering.
“They left?”
He lowered his eyes, burying the book on the shelf, and arranging it neatly.
Cheng Rui, being observant, caught something and suddenly slapped Lin Honglang’s shoulder, warning him to ask fewer inappropriate questions.
Lin Honglang wasn’t happy, turning back to counterattack: “Why’d you hit me—”
Cheng Rui subjected him to a flurry of random punches, hurting enough to make him curse. The two boys quickly engaged in a war of words, thoroughly insulting each other’s ancestors.
Their commotion finally caught the attention of the one on the phone.
He hung up and rushed in: “What are you guys doing?”
Lin Honglang pointed at Cheng Rui: “He hit me.”
Cheng Rui rubbed his arm: “Who hit who?”
“Can’t you two settle down? You’re making us look bad,” the phone caller glanced at Li Wu. “See? The new classmate is laughing at you.”
Li Wu: “…” He hadn’t laughed; his eardrums were just tingling from their shouting.
The Cheng-Lin duo finally ceased fire, each returning to their place.
The phone caller also introduced himself, smiling: “I’m Ran Feichi, I’m their father.”
“Yeah right—” Cheng and Lin scoffed in unison.
Ran Feichi kept smiling: “I was just talking to their mother on the phone, sorry for the delayed welcome.”
“Gross.” The two on the chairs fake-retched in unison.
“Keep that up and I’ll report your puppy love.” Lin Honglang raised his fist.
Ran Feichi ignored him, his gaze returning to Li Wu. He noticed the pattern on his clothes, his eyes brightening: “You like Real Madrid?”
Li Wu had no idea how to respond. His information intake had been limited since childhood; he could guess Real Madrid was a football club but knew nothing beyond that. Not wanting to pretend, he remained silent.
“Wow, I just noticed the team logo on his clothes.” Cheng Rui mumbled through his mouthful of rice.
Lin Honglang dismissed it with contempt, zealously proclaiming: “Bayern is the best!”
“It’s Barça!”
“Get lost, Barça dog.”
They began a new round of bickering.
Dad Ran held his forehead, too lazy to intervene, returning to his seat to rapidly type on his keyboard, continuing to exchange sweet nothings with his girlfriend on WeChat, occasionally smiling to himself as if alone.
Li Wu quietly let out a breath of relief; thanks to Lin Honglang’s interruption, he had escaped questioning.
After organizing his books, the two beside him were still arguing. Their team rivalries were like ancient scripture to him; Li Wu couldn’t understand at all, only able to take out his phone from his pocket to check the time.