Chapter 124: Sizing People Up and Putting on a Show

The first floor of this shelter consisted only of a cashier's counter and a short corridor, which led to the stairs up to the second floor—where the main event was held.

By the time Li Mu reached the second floor, there were already dozens of men and women gathered inside. A worn-out banner had even been hung up: “Warmly Welcome New Students from Southern Suzhou to Join the Renmin University Southern Suzhou Alumni Association.”

Li Mu glanced at the tattered banner. It looked like it had been used for years; no wonder it didn’t specify which cohort—it could be reused indefinitely.

As he stepped upstairs, many eager eyes turned toward him, mostly from young men with infatuated expressions. Their gaze fixated on the same focal point: Su Yingxue, standing beside Li Mu.

Su Yingxue seemed somewhat uneasy and instinctively moved closer to Li Mu. The event hadn’t officially begun yet; people were scattered around, sitting and chatting casually. She pointed to a booth in the corner and said, “Shall we sit over there?”

Li Mu nodded slightly, but before he could take a step, three girls and two boys approached them.

“Yingxue!”

These were Su Yingxue’s middle school classmates. Though they had been in different classes, they were all top students who had known each other since middle school.

The two boys looked shy, as if they hadn’t seen Su Yingxue in years and were a bit embarrassed to meet her in such a setting.

The three girls, however, seemed to have met Su Yingxue privately before. They pulled her aside to whisper, and though Li Mu wasn’t very close, he caught snippets of words like “senior,” “handsome guy,” and “boyfriend.”

Soon, Su Yingxue called Li Mu and Sun Jian over and introduced them to the three girls. The girls clearly showed more interest in Li Mu, which made Sun Jian’s expression appear somewhat wistful.

Li Mu and Sun Jian sat idly for a while until a tall, handsome young man stepped onto the small stage in the shelter’s main hall. Holding a wired microphone and smiling, he said, “May I have your attention, please.”

Once a host appeared, the room quickly quieted down. The tall young man’s smile was quite charming as he loudly introduced himself: “First, let me introduce myself. My name is Wu Shuai. I’m a junior majoring in Economics at Renmin University, from Jinling. I’ll be hosting today’s alumni gathering.”

Thunderous applause erupted, and the girls let out a series of excited shrieks. Someone in the crowd shouted, “Senior Wu, you’re so handsome…”

Wu Shuai was indeed good-looking—fair-skinned, with somewhat long bangs and a hint of coolness.

Li Mu ran his fingers through his spiky hair and thought to himself that he was nowhere near as handsome as this guy. But Wu Shuai’s looks were a bit effeminate, almost delicate.

Wu Shuai seemed accustomed to the screams. Smiling gently, he continued, “On behalf of all the senior members of the Renmin University Southern Suzhou Alumni Association, I warmly welcome the new students from the 2001 cohort. From now on, here at Renmin, in Yanjing, we are one family. If anyone faces difficulties, all of us in the alumni association will never stand by idly.”

For most students newly arrived in Yanjing, Wu Shuai’s words were stirring, earning him another wave of thunderous applause.

Li Mu watched coldly, thinking that this guy was interesting. He had already paid thirty yuan on Su Yingxue’s behalf—clearly showing he was interested in her. If Li Mu’s guess was right, Wu Shuai was about to launch a romantic, warm, and attentive series of advances on Su Yingxue.

Wu Shuai received many adoring glances from the girls but kept his eyes quietly on Su Yingxue. From the start, she hadn’t looked up at him once, seemingly indifferent.

“Cold,” Wu Shuai thought. He’d met many cold-faced beauties before. Su Yingxue wasn’t the coldest—some were so frosty they could freeze a person with a glance. But so what? He had conquered ice queens before. Only after they thawed did he realize their passion burned fiercer than a volcanic eruption. Just last year, there was such a girl who nearly clung to him like glue.

But thinking about it, she was far from Su Yingxue’s caliber. If he could melt an iceberg like Su Yingxue, it would be like conquering the Everest of romance.

Wu Shuai smiled to himself and said, “Let me introduce the event. Our gathering today will have two parts: the first here at the shelter, and the second is a dinner at seven in the evening. Of course, if you want to join the dinner after this, you’ll need to sign up again and pay fifty yuan each as an activity fee.”

Without giving them time to think, he continued, “Let’s begin with the first part. After my opening remarks, we’ll move into self-introductions. Everyone received a number tag when entering, so we’ll go in order according to the numbers.”

Wu Shuai pulled out a number tag with the digit one on it. “I’m number one. Let me reintroduce myself: Hello everyone, I’m Wu Shuai from Jinling. I love music and movies, play guitar, and like to sing. Also, I acted in a movie this summer, which should be released around National Day.”

More applause, especially from the girls, who were nearly swooning.

Wu Shuai, pleased with the reaction, nodded and said, “Now, number two, please.”

Number two was also an upperclassman; a guy stood and babbled on extensively.

Su Yingxue chatted briefly with her middle school friends and then excused herself to return to Li Mu’s side. When number ten was introducing himself, she whispered, “So boring…”

Li Mu nodded. “The organizer’s abilities are indeed limited.”

There were no waiters on the entire second floor. Although drinks were unlimited, you had to serve yourself. Li Mu asked Su Yingxue what she wanted and fetched several drinks. By the time he returned, the introductions had only reached number thirteen, but it was already three o’clock.

Li Mu calculated that after all the self-introductions, it would probably be five o’clock.

Wu Shuai seemed to realize this as well.

Some people were brief, standing, stating just their name and hometown before sitting down. Others rambled endlessly, making Wu Shuai somewhat annoyed. After the fifteenth person finished, he interrupted, saying, “Everyone, time is limited. Let’s not waste it. From now on, please just say your name and which city you’re from. This will help others find their hometown friends. We’ll set aside some time later for hometown groups to chat.”

After this, efficiency improved dramatically—about ten seconds per person.

Fifty-eight new students attended today, plus a dozen or so upperclassmen, totaling over seventy. Renmin University recruited five students from Haizhou this year: Li Mu, Su Yingxue, two girls, and one other boy.

That boy, named Dou Xueli, happened to be in the same major as Li Mu but in a different class. Perhaps because only two boys from Haizhou were admitted this year, Dou Xueli approached Li Mu enthusiastically after introductions ended and struck up a conversation.

Though both claimed to be from the same province and thus hometown friends, there wasn’t much sense of closeness. China was vast, provinces too large, and dialects varied greatly. Sometimes people from neighboring cities couldn’t understand each other’s speech. For example, northern Pengcheng and the heart of Jinling spoke completely different dialects. Haizhou and Jinling were also quite distant, so they mostly communicated in Mandarin.

People from the same city, speaking the same dialect, tended to feel a stronger bond. Li Mu and Dou Xueli exchanged numbers. Dou said he lived in Building 5, Dorm 519 of Yard 1, just below Li Mu’s dormitory, which surprised them both.

The group of over fifty people split into several small clusters, chatting among themselves. Meanwhile, a young man who had been greeting newcomers downstairs approached Wu Shuai and said, “Chairman Wu, the money you advanced for Su Yingxue, she refused to accept it.”

Wu Shuai frowned. “What do you mean she refused?”

The man recounted the situation and added, “That Li Mu, the guy sitting next to Su Yingxue.”

Wu Shuai glanced over. “Is that the kid with short hair on the sides and longer hair in the middle, styled upwards?”

“Yes, that’s him.”

Wu Shuai smacked his lips, thinking, this guy is quite handsome—potentially dangerous.

He turned to a young man beside him and gave a subtle signal. The other nodded, stood up, and grabbed an acoustic guitar from nearby. Volunteering, he said, “Everyone, let’s liven things up. The shelter has karaoke facilities, so if anyone’s interested, feel free to come up and sing. I’ll start us off with a song.”

Young people loved excitement and cheering. Upon hearing this, many cheered. The young man went on to strum and sing “Those Flowers,” one of the favorite songs among college students.

His playing and singing were average, but he still earned a lot of applause.

After finishing, he said, “Actually, I’m still a beginner. Our Chairman Wu here is a master. Let’s give him a round of applause and invite him to sing a song!”

Another round of applause thundered through the room.

Wu Shuai took the stage with a half-reluctant, half-playful attitude. Having seen many performances, Li Mu immediately recognized the act.

At that moment, Li Mu’s phone buzzed. It was a text from Chen Wan: “You bad boy, what are you doing?”

“Heh heh, little brother, I’m watching someone show off.”

“Oh? How’s he showing off?”

“Playing guitar and singing.”

“Who? Showing off in front of you? What song?”

Li Mu was about to reply “don’t know” when Wu Shuai sat on a stool, microphone in hand, and said, “I’ll sing a rather niche song called ‘Zebra, Zebra.’”

As those words left his mouth, a thousand wild curses raced through Li Mu’s mind...

(To be continued.)

P.S.: This is the third update. Not sure how to set rules for extra updates yet—no experience. I’ll just try basing it on monthly tickets and tips. Currently, monthly tickets are just over a hundred. If it reaches 170, four updates; if zero, five updates. If tips exceed 200, I’ll add more updates. This weekend, I’ll wrestle with the computer!