Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1127. The Last Week of August

Early Sunday morning, the rain that had just stopped for a day started again, drizzling down from the sky, overcast but not dense. Although it was only a day later, the temperature had cooled down a lot, and the golden wind blew down the summer leaves, and the whole yard seemed to be covered with a layer of Italian high-end leaf carpet. Dong Qiangqiang looked out the window and couldn't help but feel the chill that only comes with late autumn. He couldn't help but miss the good days before when it was neither cold nor hot, and there was no wind or rain. It seemed that summer clothes could no longer be worn, and autumn clothes should be put on.

When he went downstairs to eat, he heard Li Lei's stuttering and emotional voice reading the newspaper in the living room. Driven by the dual psychological desire of curiosity and watching the fun, he moved his pace from the kitchen to the living room.

"Morning, Ms. Yulia."

Dong Qiangqiang walked into the living room and slowed down his pace while greeting the landlord. He glanced at Li Lei who was at a loss and the landlord who was sitting upright on the sofa.

The cat lazily squinted its eyes and dozed on the windowsill, not caring about Dong Qiangqiang's arrival. "Radar" was still closer to Dong Qiangqiang, and jumped up from the ground, wagging its tail and walking to Dong Qiangqiang's legs, sniffing around for a while before lying down again.

When Dong Qiangqiang walked into the living room, the sound of reading suddenly disappeared, as if someone suddenly turned off a radio that was playing a hot song.

When Dong Qiangqiang walked into the room, Li Lei was having a headache and secretly complaining about himself. He just wanted to go to the toilet and got up so early. He wanted to take a good nap after peeing, but he happened to see the landlord at the second floor staircase. He greeted him politely and was "invited" to the kitchen. He never expected that he would have to read newspapers and magazines to the landlord on the second day after moving in. When he heard Dong Qiangqiang talk about the morning reading every day, he didn't think it was difficult. But when he read it, he found that it was the same as many things he had experienced: knowing is easy but doing is difficult.

What made him even more depressed was that he was told he had to read it every day?!

At the same time, he was puzzled: How did Dong Qiangqiang survive this year?

Li Lei held the newspaper with a worried look on his face, tears seemed to burst out at any time, and the beads of sweat sliding down his forehead and neck were particularly eye-catching in this cool morning. There were too many new words in the newspaper, and he had to stop and wipe his sweat after reading two sentences. When the landlord was not paying attention, he quickly gave Dong Qiangqiang a look, indicating that Dong Qiangqiang would help him out.

The landlord saw his little action clearly, but she did not stop Li Lei and Dong Qiangqiang from exchanging glances. She just nodded slightly without saying a word, and it was unclear whether she was happy or unhappy. After seeing this action, Dong Qiangqiang and Li Lei immediately understood that she meant for Li Lei to continue.

Dong Qiangqiang realized that if he spoke up to help Li Lei at this moment, it might backfire, so he pretended to listen for more than ten seconds, then smiled silently and left the living room.

He opened the refrigerator and took out milk, bread and eggs. The sound of cooking came from next door again. He couldn't help but feel that his decision was wise. He was finally not alone.

I don’t know if it was because Li Lei’s performance was much worse than the landlord’s expectations, but he didn’t stop reading until Dong Qiangqiang left home. The landlord didn’t seem angry, but corrected him more frequently than before. Although Li Lei was resentful, he didn’t dare to say anything and could only let the landlord control him.

Duanmu was urging him to finish his work, so Dong Qiangqiang didn't dare to delay and spent the whole day in the library. The progress was quite encouraging. After he knew the deadline for submission, Dong Qiangqiang dared to return home.

Until the library closed, the results of the five subjects were still not announced.

After dinner, Dong Qiangqiang was scrubbing the oven tray while thinking about what else he needed to add to make the report more complete. He heard a creaking sound behind him. He turned around and saw Li Lei running into the kitchen with a sad face and closing the door. He looked ashamed and listless.

He thought the other party hadn't eaten dinner yet, so he pointed to the two pieces of pizza left on the plate on the table and said, "If you haven't eaten yet, I haven't touched these two pieces." "Thanks," Li Lei pulled out a chair, sat down, reached out and picked up a piece of pizza and put it in his mouth, muttering as he put it in his mouth, "This is really hell..."

"You may not be used to it on the first day, but it will be fine later." Dong Qiangqiang comforted him as he wiped the rag clean and placed it on the drain rack.

"I'm not complaining. I just moved in and haven't even finished unpacking the boxes, but she already asked me to read this and that to her. I spent the whole morning doing nothing." After swallowing the first piece of pizza in a hurry, Li Lei picked up the second piece while panting.

"Just be content. At least she let you rest for one more night. I studied after 10 pm when I moved in."

"Is this true? Are you kidding me?" Li Lei obviously didn't believe it.

"Isn't there an old saying? If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight. Cheap rent also comes at a price. Living in a German family, you can't avoid dealing with Germans. You either force yourself to adapt as soon as possible, or go out and continue looking for a house."

"Alas, when you are poor, you have low aspirations, and when you are thin, you have long hair." Li Lei finished his second bite, wiped the pizza crumbs from his mouth, and sighed, "My savings are getting less and less, and I can't afford to rent an expensive house. After looking around, I think the old lady's house is the most suitable one to make do with."

Dong Qiangqiang thought to himself: If you buy less things, you won’t be out of money.

"Actually, I don't really mind reading to her. I'm just busy preparing for the free talk. She always asks me to read to her, which makes me have no time to read. There are so many things to read. To be honest, I'm nervous when I go to the bathroom now, for fear that she will call me. Hey, was she like this when you first moved in?"

"No, I usually read for half an hour to forty minutes, and chat with her about everything. If she keeps talking to you, it means she likes you, and you should be happy, otherwise you will feel even worse if she chases you away."

"That's true, eh..." Li Lei glanced at Dong Qiangqiang, "It's really... do you have any solution?"

"Method?" Dong Qiangqiang was confused. "What do you mean?"

Li Lei opened his mouth, not knowing how to answer. He had hoped that Dong Qiangqiang could say a few good words to the landlord for him, so that he could see the light. But now he found that the fog of confusion in front of him was becoming more and more lingering. He said nothing more, sighed heavily, and left the room dejectedly with a head full of lawsuits and two pieces of pizza full in his stomach.

Dong Qiangqiang spent the entire night revising the report.

The last week of August is when the results for each subject are released.

Dong Qiangqiang was afraid that he would have to wait endlessly for Li Lei to read something, so he got up very early and quickly read to the landlord. However, when he finished breakfast and left home, Li Lei had not come down yet.

In the morning, the operator's engineer would come to his home to inspect the site and come up with a plan, so he had to be present. However, there were still more than two hours until the time agreed upon by both parties, which was enough time for him to travel back and forth between the university and home.