Chapter 134

Xiao Qi dried her short hair quickly with a towel after taking a shower. Her hair was casually scattered around.

She had just come out when Wei Cheng couldn't help but say, "Xiao Qi, you have too much stamina! I often help my dad with work at home, but I'm not as capable as you."

Indeed, Wei Cheng was tall and strong. Her family grew mushrooms and built sheds. She wasn't unfamiliar with hard work. Her hands had calluses.

On the other hand, Xiao Qi was from the countryside like her, but the calluses on her hands were from practicing writing, not hard labour. If you asked her to work in the fields with a hoe for a day, her hands would probably be rubbed raw.

"I couldn't do it at first either. I'd get very tired after running for half an hour. But after persisting for a while, I got better, because I signed up for the Meng City Marathon. So I have to practice running every day."

"Marathon?" Even the composed Gu Yunshu was curious now.

"What's a marathon?" Chen Mier didn't have a clue.

Gu Yunshu was more knowledgeable and explained, "Meng City holds a marathon competition along the Ring Sea Road every year. It's a big event. Not only citizens and college students, but many domestic and foreign professional athletes come to compete too."

"Can we sign up too?" Wei Cheng asked curiously.

"You can. There's an app. Registration should still be open. There's still time." Xiao Qi shared a screenshot of the app in their dorm group chat.

But after taking a look, none of her roommates were interested after seeing they had to run over forty kilometres. It was too far for them.

"We'll just cheer Xiao Qi on then." Chen Mier shamelessly said. "Great. You'll be my cheer squad. I'm pretty fast at running." Xiao Qi said confidently. She really felt that way. With anything, if you persist in doing it every day without giving up, you'll see results.

It was the same with running. She truly felt that the more she ran, the better her fitness got. Compared to how she first started, there was a world of difference. And there was the system pushing her too. She hadn't given up for almost a single day, and had also consulted coaches at the gym. Her fitness, breathing and especially endurance were all very good.

Additionally, after getting the Jump stat, Xiao Qi felt running was even easier. She even constantly felt an urge to sprint, but she always remained composed and paced herself. She wouldn't blindly push for speed. After all, she had a daily target to meet. Going faster didn't necessarily help her complete it better.

She had a good grasp of pacing for running. What's most important wasn't speed, but consistency. Being able to run steadily, then slowly accelerating was the optimal state. Sprinting at the start to exhaust yourself, then having no strength left later was useless.

After showering, Xiao Qi tidied up and climbed into bed too. But she didn't immediately go to sleep and picked up a book to read instead.

Clearly, her roommates were still excited. Seeing Xiao Qi reading, they also took out books, but couldn't concentrate at all. They still wanted to chat.

After all, it was their first day on campus, having come from faraway places to Meng City. And they were rooming together, so it seemed they had endless things they wanted to talk about.

Xiao Qi wanted to read for a while, but suddenly at 11pm sharp, the dorm lights turned off... They turned off.

The sound of howling and screams instantly rang out across the entire dorm building. While the neighbouring building remained perfectly quiet.

Then spots of light flickered on in the neighbouring building.

It was probably because Hua Shan Building housed only freshmen, so there was extra panic. They didn't expect the dorm buildings to have scheduled blackouts.

Only now did Xiao Qi find out that because it was the first day of school, the blackout only started at 11pm. Usually, there was no electricity from 7-9pm. Students could only go to classrooms to study at night. Then from 9-11pm, there would be electricity.

The neighbouring Huangshan Building housed second-year students. They were already used to this. Where there are policies, there are countermeasures. Many students had bought emergency lights. They charged them during the day, then turned them on when the blackouts happened at night. If each roommate bought one and turned them all on together, it was actually quite bright in the dorm rooms.

The freshmen hadn't undergone rules orientation yet, so they were still in panic.

Xiao Qi also didn't expect there to be blackouts. She could only put her book away and tidy up her bedding by the light coming in from outside the window before lying down.

The grass woven blankets and pillows issued by the school were army green, just like in the army. Although they were newly issued, they were clean. Lying on them didn't feel too bad.

None of them felt sleepy. They continued chatting intermittently.

Chen Mier was the most excited. You could tell she had a very lively personality and talked the most.

"You wouldn't believe it. Many of my classmates told me not to come to this school when I got in. Some even advised me to retake the exam next year, but my dad felt I might not necessarily do better if I retook it. Since I tested in, I should just come." "To be honest, I didn't want to come either. The school fees here are too expensive. One year costs as much as four years elsewhere. But in my family, my sister only tested into a college for vocational training. My brother didn't even get into a Tier 3 college and is retaking the exam. So even though it was difficult, my parents still insisted I come." Wei Cheng said in a small voice, but very clearly in the darkness of the night.

The usually reticent Gu Yunshu also seemed more talkative perhaps because of the cover of night.

"My parents originally wanted to send me abroad. My sister is already in Melbourne. But I didn't want to go too far from home, so I still chose Enhua in the end."

After everyone had spoken, it seemed wrong for Xiao Qi not to say anything.

"My parents' thoughts are similar to Chen Mier's dad. Since I tested in, I should just come."

In truth, there was a lot more to it. They had sold pots and pans to scrimp and save to pay for their only daughter's education. All the hardships behind that didn't need elaborating. It was a difficult endeavour, but they still wanted to improve their station in life. Their efforts as a common farming family to transcend the farmer class were apparent.

Xiao Qi spoke very plainly. It was all in the past.

"Well, I feel this school is pretty good after coming here. My dad says it's not bad too. The school is so big with so many buildings. We even met many foreign teachers on the roads. My dad feels it's quite good." Chen Mier continued chatting excitedly. Then it became like a dorm room talk show, with each person taking turns to say one sentence.

"Yeah, our school is really pretty. I heard the new campus looks even better. We can take the school bus or walk along the lakeside to get there."

After thinking silently for half a day as if she had fallen asleep, Gu Yunshu finally slowly said, "For looks, Qingmeng University by the seaside is prettier. The school even has a golf course. It's really beautiful when I went once before. It has that century-old campus vibe while our school is too new. The trees along the roads are all small. It doesn't have that lush, shady feel from rows of big trees."

Xiao Qi thought that she hadn't contacted Brother Lin Min since coming over this time. She wondered how he was doing.

It was Chen Mier's turn to bring up a new topic again, chattering away.

That was how they were, taking turns to say one sentence, and unconsciously ended up talking late into the night. Xiao Qi squinted at her watch and found it was already past 12.30am.

"What do you all plan to do after graduating university? I don't want to stick around my dad's factory. And it probably won't have much to do with me anyway. My uncles all have sons. My big brother already works at the factory. My mum and aunties selling clothes is also boring. Anyway, I don't know what I want to do either. I just wanted to get away from home and go out to take a look. Maybe after studying for a few years, I'll figure something out." Chen Mier had already laid bare her family background and the mess with their hometown family business.

"I don't have anything planned yet either. I just want to earn money to relieve some pressure from my parents. Growing mushrooms is too tough for them. They still need to support my two siblings and I through school."

After thinking silently again for a long time, Gu Yunshu finally slowly said, "I don't know. Ever since I was little, my parents have already decided everything for me. Coming to Enhua to study this time was an act of rebellion on my part. Or else I would have gone to Melbourne this summer break already. But I feel Enhua is quite good. All of you are great too."

Xiao Qi yawned loudly. She had woken up early and kept regular sleep times. She usually tried to sleep by 12am the latest. She was exhausted now.

"I want to become someone really useful to society... Really useful..." She yawned again as she said this. Hugging her pillow, Xiao Qi fell asleep.