The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

Compared to the other universities, Jifu University was unconventional in many ways, except for exam requirements. According to its university calendar, its students had to take many exams during the period between the New Year’s Day and the last day of this semester.

Lecturers at the university never highlighted or underlined any part of the books and never told the students which parts should they review for the exams. They just informed the students of the examination arrangements and then warned them that they often saw students get 59 in the exams. They said, “As students of this university, you should understand the cruelty of competition in advance.”

Upon hearing that, Wang Xiang pretended to give dying kicks and said, “My dear lecturer, just show some compassion!”

After the lectures, the guys went back to their dorm. Zhao Yuan scanned the pervious examination papers for some time and then he threw them to the ground grumpily while swearing, “Fuck!”

Zheng Kai picked up an examination paper and held it between the index and middle finger. After scanning the paper, he picked up another one and read it. A moment later, he cursed, “Fuck!”

Wang Xiang was a little surprised and teased. “Although they say that knowledge can bring you everything including a gorgeous woman, you guys really don’t need to act like this when you meet her.” With these words, he picked some examination papers and read them. His face gradually turned livid. When he was about to give dying kicks again, Zheng Kai coughed a few times to clear his throat. Wang Xiang was afraid that Zheng Kai would vent his anger on him. He hurriedly put down the papers and dragged Gu Xi, who had sat beside Lin Wenxi all this time, all the way to Zheng Kai. After that, he sat next to Lin Wenxi, who was busy preparing for the exams, and said, “You know what, Wenxi. Questions never repeat themselves in the past exams. ”

Lin Wenxi looked up and said, “I see.” After that, he continued to do his exercises.

In the following days, everyone was busy preparing for the impending exams. They were much busier than students who were preparing for college entrance exams.

Under the leadership of Zheng Kai, guys who lived in Dorm No. 216 and Gu Xi prepared for the examination of political ideologies together.

Gu Xi was more than happy to stay here together with Zheng Kai. He began to recite the book loudly.

“Love, do not harm the motherland. Serve, don’t disserve the people…” Gu Xi was unable to call to mind what was next.

To his surprise, Wang Xiang fluently recited all the “Eight Honors & Eight Disgraces”.

“I seldom saw you reading the book. Don’t tell me that you’re a man of noble mind.” Gu Xi felt reluctant to admit defeat.

“Do you want me to kick your ass?” Wang Xiang cracked his knuckles to make some popping sound and said. Suddenly, he remembered that Gu Xi was Zheng Kai’s best friend. He looked at Zheng Kai dejectedly and added, “It’s an honor to serve the people, including Zheng Kai. Go to serve him. Remember to touch only his upper body. If you touch somewhere else, you should pay for that.”

Lin Wenxi and Zhao Yuan remained silent all the time. They still treated each other like enemies. Wang Xiang could not help but feel curious about what had happened back in the bathhouse that night. When he asked Zhao Yuan about that thing, Zhao Yuan immediately put up his fists. When he asked Wenxi, Wenxi refused to talk to him for three days. When he asked Gu Xi, Gu Xi looked exceptionally worried and remained silent. When they were preparing for the exams together, Wang Xiang could only talk with Gu Xi and teased him sometimes. Gradually, they became good friends.

After they took all the exams, they started to pack their belongings, prepared to go home for the Chinese New Year.

Gu Xi gave Zheng Kai a jade goddess of mercy pendant necklace when he came to Dorm No. 216 to say goodbye to him. He said that it had been consecrated by a monk. Zheng Kai happily received this gift. When he was about to put it into his drawer, Gu Xi was displeased and insisted on putting the necklace around his neck. He enjoyed watching Zheng Kai wear the necklace. When he left with satisfaction, Zheng Kai took the necklace off and put it in his drawer. Wang Xiang squinted his eyes and said: “This is not a good choice.”

“I did this for a reason. I always lose things. I’m afraid that I’ll lose it after wearing it for a few days,” Zheng Kai said without looking up. He was busy packing his things.

When he was answering a call from his family, who urged him to go home as soon as possible, Zhao Yuan was intrigued by his dialect.

The guys in the dorm seldom had a chance to have a heart-to-heart talk as they were always busy with all kinds of things, such as the military training, the wilderness training, Freshmen Contests and exams. Now, when they were prepared to go home for the winter vacation, they finally had a chance to get to know more about one another. When they chatted at night, Zhao Yuan and Zheng Kai were surprised to find out that they were probably born into the same village and went to different counties later when they grew up.

Zheng Kai asked Zhao Yuan in their local dialect, “Hey, bro. What’s going on between you and Lin Wenxi? Why do you suddenly treat each other like enemies? You guys have to live in the same dorm for at least one and a half years in the future. Do you plan to treat each other like this until you graduate?” He dared to talk about this in the dorm now, as he was pretty sure that the other boys did not understand this dialect.

“Nothing. It’s just a personality clash,” replied Zhao Yuan.

“Bah, I don’t believe it. You guys used to treat each other like real brothers,” Zheng Kai snorted and said.

“Can you speak Mandarin Chinese?” Wang Xiang grumbled. Zheng Kai threw a banana to him. Wang Xiang was pleased and stopped interfering.

“When did you become such a gossiper like Wang Xiang?” Zhao Yuan asked Zheng Kai in their dialect.

Their dialect was not totally different from the Madarin Chinese, so Wang Xiang quickly realized that they mentioned his name. “Hey, did you talk about me in your dialect? Can you just be frank with me?” Zheng Kai threw two bananas to Wang Xiang and said in Madarin, “We said that you’re a great guy. If you interject again, I’ll throw some smelly socks at you.”

“You’re so mean and shameless,” Wang Xiang grumbled.

“I’m not trying to pry into your personal affairs, but we’re brothers who live in the same dorm. We’d better treat one another friendly. “Just tell me how you suddenly got a scar on your chest. Wang… That noisy bastard said that you had this scar after taking a shower together with Wenxi. Did you really have that kind of relationship with him? I have to warn you. That’s not good,” Zheng Kai seemed to get a little upset and said in the dialect.

“That’s nonsense. Don’t believe that little bastard. I got this scar after I hugged a hedgehog tightly. A hedgehog probably never needs a hug.” Zhao Yuan sighed.

“Fuck! It’s you that talk nonsense. What does this have anything to do with some hedgehog? If there’s a hedgehog in our university, I’ll eat it alive. De you believe that?” Zheng Kai could not help but feel somewhat irritated.

Zhao Yuan yawned and stopped talking. Zheng Kai thought, “Zhao Yuan is usually a straightforward guy. As he refused to tell me the truth just now, he must’ve decided to keep this thing to himself.” With this in mind, Zheng Kai decided to never ask him about this thing again.

Lin Wenxi could not help tossing and turning in bed. He could not feel asleep, as he had just discovered that Zhao Yuan and himself were from the same village:

He wondered, “How big can a village be? As we’re in the same class now, we’re basically the same age. How come I’ve never met him before? If I had met him earlier, we would’ve become friends a long time ago and I would’ve come home together with him. If so, I probably would not meet Zhang Dong that night… I would still be me. And Zhao Yuan, you would still be you.

“You’d better not hug a hedgehog like me. The more tightly you hold me, the worse you’ll get hurt. Maybe you just consider me a friend, a roommate or a brother, but I’ve already fallen in love with you…

“The moment I met you, I noticed the scars on your body. I want to know how you got those scars.

“I want to know everything about you.

“I want to know why you always look somewhat sad when you smile.”