Chapter 297 Locals

"There's not much to say about my high school years." Fang Yuzhou put down his chopsticks, his voice not loud. "The high school in the county was all about doing problems every day, from morning till night. There weren't many clubs or activities. The three years just flew by like a day."

Cheng Yue perked up immediately upon hearing this, "You're really amazing! To get into this school from your area, your ranking in the entire province must be off the charts."

Fang Yuzhou didn't respond to that, lowered his head and continued eating, the tips of his ears turning slightly red.

Cheng Yue then turned his attention to Xiao Jue, asking, "What about you? Where did you come from?"

"I'm a local," Xiao Jue said. "I live in the western part of the city."

Cheng Yue's eyes lit up. "Then you're playing on home turf. You'll have to lead the way when we go out to eat from now on."

"Sure." Xiao Jue smiled. "But I haven't figured out how to eat in the cafeteria yet, let's finish this first."

The atmosphere remained relaxed throughout. Cheng Yue was like a fully wound-up topic-generating machine, able to catch any question that came his way and throw it back at the conversation, preventing any awkward silences.

Then he turned to Zhou Heng.

"Hey bro, where are you from?"

Zhou Heng was drinking soup when he heard the question. He put down his spoon and looked up at Cheng Yue.

"Local." His voice was soft, his tone as flat as a straight line without any undulations.

"You're from here too?" Cheng Yue was pleasantly surprised. "Then you and Xiao Jue are from the same hometown! Which district are you both from?"

Zhou Heng paused for a moment. In that instant, he chose the least effortful way to answer.

"South of the city."

Xiao Jue paused for a moment while peeling the ribs, and then raised his eyelids to glance at Zhou Heng.

The south of the city. The south of the city is a huge area, with high-end residential areas where the price is 200,000 yuan per square meter, as well as densely packed urban villages and old communities. This answer is essentially meaningless.

Cheng Yue didn't notice this detail and continued with the next question with great interest: "What does your family do? My parents run a small business, a hardware store. Yuzhou, what about you?"

Fang Yuzhou said that both his parents are middle school teachers.

Xiao Jue said his father makes some investments, his mother stays home to manage household chores, and also takes care of his sister-in-law and nephew.

While saying this, she casually tossed the cleaned pork rib bone on the table into her plate. "My brother and sister-in-law live next door to my parents. My little nephew is only two years old and is very naughty. Last time, he dismantled all the models in my study. They were missing arms and legs, and I couldn't put them back together."

Then everyone looked at Zhou Heng.

He had just finished the last sip of soup and gently placed the spoon on the rim of the bowl, making a very slight sound.

"Nothing much to say," he said, his tone still indifferent. "Just an ordinary family."

Cheng Yue opened his mouth, wanting to ask something, because the answer "ordinary family" was too broad.

At this moment, Xiao Jue suddenly stretched, leaned back in his chair, and bumped Cheng Yue with his elbow.

"You said you brought a deck of cards at noon? Are you going to play tonight?"

The conversation was abruptly cut off, like a river being cleaved in two, the water splashing and then flowing in a new direction.

Cheng Yue was indeed led astray.

Zhou Heng lowered his eyes, pushed the plate in front of him further into the table, and sat there quietly, like a plant transplanted into an unfamiliar flowerpot, silently tightening its roots, not giving anyone a chance to peek in.

Xiao Jue leaned back in his chair, his fingers unconsciously tapping twice on the table.

Back in the dorm, Cheng Yue actually pulled out that deck of cards, and the four of them sat on the floor playing "Dou Dizhu" (a card game).

Xiao Jue is dishonest when playing cards; he's good at bluffing. Even when he only has a pair of threes left, he can still put on an expression as if he has a royal flush.

Cheng Yue always fell for it, and every time he was tricked into breaking up his big hand. After losing, he would angrily curse Xiao Jue, "How come your card game is harder to calculate than the college entrance exam math?"

Fang Yuzhou didn't talk much, but he played the most steadily. He was very good at calculating the cards, and Xiao Jue's bluffing tricks were basically useless against him.

Zhou Heng's card skills are mediocre. He has the same expression whether he wins or loses. He doesn't smile when he wins, and he doesn't get angry when he loses. He's like an expressionless AI at the card table.

Cheng Yue lost the worst, with notes stuck all over his face. The way he tilted his head and blew on the notes was incredibly funny.

Zhou Heng's lips twitched slightly at that moment, a very small movement, like an uncontrollable conditioned reflex.

Xiao Jue squatted on the ground and glanced up at him through the gap between his elbows.

The night of the first day of school came sooner than I expected.

Just after 9:30, the corridor became quiet.

The freshmen had been busy all day, dragging their luggage through various procedures and cleaning up their dorm rooms until they were drenched in sweat. By evening, they were all like batteries that had been drained, with hardly any energy left to even speak.

The light in room 409 was still on, the fluorescent tube emitting a faint buzzing sound, like an insect trapped inside the lampshade, unable to fly out.

The four of them each occupied the desk area under the bed. Cheng Yue turned the chair around and sat down, putting his legs up on the ladder next to the bed, curling up in a comfortable position.

He had just finished showering, and his hair wasn't completely dry yet. Water droplets trickled down his temples, leaving a small, dark water stain on his shoulder.

Fang Yuzhou sat at his desk, on which lay a copy of "C++ Primer" that he had just bought from the school bookstore, as thick as a brick.

Xiao Jue lay half-reclined on the bed, one leg bent, the other casually dangling off the edge of the bed.

Zhou Heng sat on the edge of the bed, his back against the wall, one leg bent and placed on the mattress, the other leg stretched out and resting on the edge of the bed.

Holding the phone in his hand, the light from the screen reflected on his face, making his already expressionless face appear even colder.

His thumb swiped slowly across the screen, not fast, as if he were reading something long, or just refreshing aimlessly.

Occasionally I would stop, stare at a particular line for a few seconds, and then continue scrolling down.

Cheng Yue was the first to speak.

"Let me tell you, my biggest dream in this life," he said, emphasizing the word "dream" as if making a solemn promise, "is to start a logistics company after graduation."

Fang Yuzhou finally put down the book he was flipping through, pushed up his glasses, and looked at him. "A logistics company?"

"Yes, don't underestimate logistics." Cheng Yue lowered his hand from above his head and gestured. "Do you know how big e-commerce is now? The volume of goods transported during Singles' Day every year is something that just a few big platforms can't handle. The trunk lines are handled by those big companies, but the last mile, you know? The last mile is where the real money is made."

He spoke with great enthusiasm, his eyes sparkling, as if he could already see his company's listing on the stock exchange.

"Back in my hometown, there's this guy who didn't even finish junior high, but he's been in logistics for eight years and now he manages over fifty trucks, making tens of millions in revenue a year. I, on the other hand, have formally studied management; am I not better than him?"

Fang Yuzhou's lips curved slightly. He neither refuted nor agreed, but simply said, "Not a bad idea."

"And you, Yuzhou?" Cheng Yue turned his chair around, pointing his gun at him. "What are your plans for the future?"

Fang Yuzhou was silent for a few seconds, then looked down at the thick programming book on the table and gently stroked the cover with his fingers.

"Go to a big company," he said, his voice not loud, but each word landing steadily and clearly. "Or go to graduate school, and after graduating, go to a big company. Do technical work, the kind where you quietly write code, without having to deal with too many people."

Cheng Yue clicked his tongue twice. "Your personality is definitely suited for this. I can't sit still. I'd go crazy if you made me sit in front of a computer all day."

He then turned to Xiao Jue, "Big brother, what about you?"