Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Dong Qiangqiang admitted that he had indeed helped Lu Shan a lot, but Lu Shan had already said similar words of thanks to him once. Hearing it again, he felt it was strange to be thanked repeatedly.

He didn't want to listen to Lu Wei's chatter, so he interrupted her words of thanks with Zheng Chunhua's request. Lu Wei didn't think twice and agreed very happily. After that, she complained that she was very busy this summer vacation: in terms of academics, she is currently in the advanced stage of her master's degree. She has stopped classes for a year. It is much more difficult for her to study and take exams again than before the suspension of classes. Especially this summer vacation, she has to prepare for a major exam and a minor exam. In terms of work, in addition to the Chinese class at the University of Trier, she also has three Chinese classes at her base camp, the University of Hanover, the University of Hamburg, and the Technical University of Dortmund. She is too busy to handle it. She thought about quitting the Chinese class in Trier, which is the farthest from Hanover, when she is really too busy. She is also worried that this will make the relationship with Feng Chong, which has just eased, stiff again. When she was worrying, Dong Qiangqiang handed her a ladder at the right time. If Zheng Chunhua can really substitute for the class, she can also resign from Feng Chong.

Dong Qiangqiang didn't ask Lu Wei how she got back together with Feng Chong. No one would feel good about bringing up the past, and some things were better left behind as soon as possible. So he gave her Zheng Chunhua's phone number and said he would let her contact her as soon as possible.

Only before ending the call did Lu Wei sigh that she was not actually ready to live in two different cities with her brother. She didn't feel lonely when she lived alone before, but after her brother had been with her for a year, she realized how good it felt to have family by her side. There was endless sadness in her words. After hearing this, Dong Qiangqiang remembered what Lao Bai had said. Although it is also a big city, Hanover cannot retain a young person like Lu Shan who is energetic, idealistic and ambitious.

Li Lei called Dong Qiangqiang almost every other day, even when he was preparing for the exam. When Dong Qiangqiang was annoyed, he would always get angry and ask: Why didn't I use my authority to throw his application letter into the wastebasket?

  Li Lei was always confused by Dong Qiangqiang's many questions. In his opinion, for a person who was about to become a college student, these so-called questions had ready-made answers on the Internet, and he could find out by searching, without asking anyone. And when faced with the same city change, the younger Lu Shan did not ask anything. Of course, it could also be that Du Lan had helped him take care of it in Munich, but Li Lei, if you didn't know Dong Qiangqiang, couldn't you have done these things yourself? Didn't he cross the river by feeling the stones at the beginning? He could do it, but Li Lei couldn't?

But Dong Qiangqiang couldn't save face and told the other party: You must find a good house before moving to another city, and only after the house is settled can other things be decided.

Li Lei really climbed up the ladder just as he imagined, and then asked if he could apply to live in the student dormitory. Dong Qiangqiang said angrily that he had been waiting for almost a year and still hadn't received any news, and it was simply a pipe dream for him to want to live there right after he arrived. Li Lei immediately asked where he lived now, and whether he lived in a big house with many small rooms that could be rented out separately, like when he was in Hanover before.

Dong Qiangqiang knew what his old classmate was thinking, but with the experience of Lao Bai, he didn't want to introduce any acquaintances to him, so he used the excuse that the landlord was traveling to decline Dong Qiangqiang's request to introduce him to someone. Dong Qiangqiang didn't want him to stay at his home when he went to Trier to look for a house and then fall in love with the landlord's house, so he stood aside and pointed out the addresses of several local youth hostels, several local house-hunting forums, and the rental channels in the university.

Dong Qiangqiang could feel Li Lei's disappointment even through the phone. He could even imagine the expression on Li Lei's face twisted with anger. He was surprised at his own indifference and didn't want Li Lei to move in. He couldn't help but think of the plot of "Beijingers in New York" that he had watched when he was a child: the male protagonist's good friend in China went to New York to seek refuge with the male protagonist. The male protagonist, who was in a difficult situation, first led his friend to the basement where he used to live, and then told the other party that I have rented the basement for you. This is the money I lent you. You can go to this address to work after you put your things away. There is no need to rush to pay back the money I lent you. You can pay it back when you get your salary next month. After that, he walked away, and the angry friend cursed behind him. Dong Qiangqiang could only comfort himself. Although he was indifferent, at least he didn't introduce Li Lei to live in the basement. He just let him find a place based on his own ability. He was still a little humane, but he didn't know if his humanity was constantly decreasing.

Ever since Tong Lele followed her teacher into the music copyright business, she has disappeared from the public eye and is often difficult to contact. When she can be reached on the phone occasionally, she is either getting on a plane or in a country outside Germany. The call ends in a hurry because of the time difference between the two countries before they can even say a few words. As a result, Dong Qiangqiang only knows that Tong Lele's business is more difficult to develop than tourism during the SARS period. Although he is worried about her, he dare not disturb her easily.

Dong Qiangqiang complained that he had applied for a dormitory for a year but had not received any news. Then he received an email from the Student Dormitory Management Office of the University Foreign Affairs Office, informing him that the dormitory he had applied for a year ago had just been approved. He could look at the room anytime, and if he liked it, he could go through the formalities immediately and move in in September. If he didn't like it, he could wait for a dormitory of a different size.

The dormitory assigned to him was in the dormitory building opposite the library, less than three minutes' walk from the Economics Department, and he and Fang Shuang became neighbors in the same building. The single apartment was not large, at most only fifteen square meters, but it was small but fully equipped, with an independent kitchen and independent bathroom, each three square meters, and a one-square-meter triangular balcony, where he could grow flowers and plants to cultivate his sentiments. Opposite the balcony was the forest area behind the cafeteria, where Chen Xiaofei had chased the exhibitionist before. There had been a lot of rain recently, and the area around the forest had been shrouded in mist. I heard from my classmates downstairs that there were occasionally many strange calls at night. The rent was a warm rent that included water and electricity, and the monthly rent was eighty euros, which was extremely cheap compared to other warm rented houses in society, but it seemed expensive compared to the landlord's. He was now living in the landlord's house for free, and the money he earned from regularly cleaning the yard could not only cover the rent but also have a surplus. But moving into the dormitory can save commuting time and gas money, which means more time for reading. There are supermarkets in front and behind the dormitory, so you can ride a bike there. There is a free parking lot not far from the dormitory building, and it is also very convenient to go down the mountain and into the city. Of course, the most convenient thing is that Dong Qiangqiang can finally surf the Internet in the dormitory, but he only has 2G of traffic per month. If he exceeds the limit, his account will be blocked because the university believes that 2G is enough to check study materials in the dormitory. What makes Dong Qiangqiang even more puzzled is that once blocked, he has to wait until the first of the following month to reopen his account after paying the fine, instead of having it restored immediately after paying the money. But there are solutions. Living close to the library, Dong Qiangqiang can go to the library every day to surf the Internet. The dormitory traffic is more than enough for emergency use.

Everything is fine with the landlord, except that I can't cook as I like and go online at any time. But besides being able to practice speaking for free every day without worrying about seeing people's faces, there are also opportunities for odd jobs from time to time, such as digging ponds. If you want to keep practicing speaking every day while living in the dormitory, you can probably only wait for the students to discuss it after class. There are few students coming to the university on weekends and holidays, so it may not be easy to practice speaking.

If he really had to move out of his landlord's place, he would be reluctant to leave behind the pets he had developed feelings for, whether it was the crazy "Radar" who accompanied him at night, or the stray cats he and the landlord had rescued together, and of course the parrot that he had let loose in the woods outside the yard. The parrot now goes out to play every day, sometimes for a few days, and then returns to rest in the luxurious bird's nest that Dong Qiangqiang built for it on the balcony outside the window, so that it can come and go freely.

Both sides have their own advantages. Dong Qiangqiang was a little undecided for a moment and decided to listen to Zheng Chunhua's advice.

After looking at the environment inside and outside the dormitory, Zheng Chunhua leaned on the balcony handrail with both hands, looked towards the woods for a long time, and then asked Dong Qiangqiang a question: "What do you think is the biggest gain of living as a landlord this year? If you live in the dormitory, what do you think is the biggest gain you can get?"

"The landlord's place... the rent is cheap, I can practice speaking anytime, I can get in touch with nature as I please, I can work regularly, and because there is no internet, I can read more efficiently at home than in the library." Dong Qiangqiang paused after he finished speaking, and thought seriously for a few minutes, then shook his head and denied it. "No, these are not real gains. The biggest gain may be the friendship I have established with the landlord and the trust I have gained from her to a certain extent. Although I have no interest in integrating into German society, the landlord is indeed a window for me to understand German society. She is older than my parents, but like them, she tolerates my mistakes and gives me the opportunity to prove my abilities. She will consciously or unconsciously urge me to examine myself and delve into the details of my deeper goals in life."

Dong Qiangqiang laughed out loud without waiting for Zheng Chunhua to ask again: "You don't have to say anything, I'm not moving, I will reply to the Student Dormitory Management Office this afternoon."

"Are you going to wait for the landlord to come back and tell her about your decision?" Zheng Chunhua turned around, leaned on the balcony railing and asked curiously.

"No, she doesn't need to know."

Zheng Chunhua cast her eyes toward the bluebird that suddenly soared into the sky above the distant forest, and seemed to be thinking about something. (End of this chapter)