Chapter 4

With gloom heavy over her, not even the introduction of their homeroom advisor could lift Du Ruo’s spirits.
It wasn’t until the assembly ended and everyone broke into groups to tour the labs, watching senior students handle all sorts of mysterious instruments, that her mood finally cleared. Excitement for college returned, fresh and sharp.
After the lab tour, they split into smaller classes.
Sensors and Control only had one class: twenty-two students, twenty-one boys, and one girl.
Yep. That one girl was Du Ruo.
She sat in the first row of the middle section, dead center. No one else sat in her row. The guys clustered at the back or in the side blocks, as if some invisible force field surrounded her.
Their advisor was named Yang, first name Changqing, a man in his forties, beaming but a bit shy, glasses thick with professor vibes.
As the lone girl, Du Ruo had already braced herself for this.
Sure enough, the first thing Mr. Yang said: "Well, looks like we’ve got a real-life rare panda in our class!"
The boys all laughed. Even Du Ruo couldn’t help cracking a smile.
Mr. Yang was easygoing. He started by having everyone introduce themselves. The class was from all over the country, but nearly half were locals.
Du Ruo noticed a guy named Li Wei, he sat behind her during the assembly and ended up in the same dorm as Jing Ming. During his intro, he joked, "Easy to remember my name, half Li Bai, half Wang Wei.”
After all the intros, most people couldn’t remember everyone’s stories yet; that would come with time. But the class’s one-and-only “rare item”, the sole girl from the southwest, Du Ruo, was pretty unforgettable.
Mr. Yang asked what had drawn everyone to this major and what they already knew about it.
The classroom fell quiet, a few students’ faces tight with caution.
Du Ruo was one of them. She honestly knew nothing about this major.
School, she figured, was basically about learning a skill or three, so you could work and take care of your family. That was it, right?
In high school, all she’d done was bury herself in books and practice tests. Her school cut all extracurriculars, what would she know beyond the textbooks?
Probably the others had just picked their majors at random too.
But Li Wei raised his hand: "I’ve loved cars since I was a kid. I’m especially interested in automated stamping and assembly. Every division of the production line needs sensors and controls, so that’s why I picked this major. Ha!”
Du Ruo understood each word he said, but the full meaning also went right over her head.
She started getting nervous, cheeks flushing hot.
Mr. Yang nodded, still smiling warmly. "Great, anyone else?"
Another boy, Wan Zi’ang, chimed in: "My family runs a factory. I grew up around lathes. But the imported machines have lousy feedback loops, bad precision, tons of scrap, and it wrecks the gear too. I want to figure out what’s going on, and maybe even make a breakthrough!”
Mr. Yang praised him generously: "That’s the spirit. In the world of engineering, even tiny breakthroughs, ” he pinched his finger and thumb together, tracing a sliver of light through the air, “can mean massive gains for productivity. A single key technical advance can revolutionize an entire industry.”
“Our major, you know, the sky’s the limit. Energy, healthcare, food and chemical engineering, robotics, transportation, manufacturing, cars, elevators, you name it, there are endless stages waiting for you to shine.”
He smiled and said,
“You’re all still young. That’s wonderful. When you’re young, dream boldly. Take as many risks as you want! And for me, as your advisor, for all of us professors here, our job is to pour all we’ve learned into you, to give you every push we can as you charge ahead.”
“Kids, just run, full speed, no holding back!”
The room fell silent. But beneath all those calm faces, excitement rippled, deep and thunderous, saying nothing, and saying everything.
Twenty-two pairs of hungry, curious eyes locked onto their middle-aged professor.
For a reason she couldn’t name, Du Ruo felt a sting behind her eyes. Was it shame? Inferiority? She couldn’t tell.
The meeting was short, they picked a temporary class monitor, Li Wei. He gathered everyone’s contact info and promised to send around a spreadsheet soon.
When Du Ruo got back to her dorm, the other three had just returned as well. He Huanhuan was off hanging out with two girls from the room next door, who happened to be in her class too.
Du Ruo came in and asked the two left behind, “So, what did your class meeting talk about?”
Qiu Yuchen shrugged. “What else? Introductions, some random chit-chat, that’s it.”
Du Ruo opened the closet, peeled off her torn T-shirt, swapped it for a new one, and before putting it on, she inspected the seams closely. “Then why’d you two pick your majors?” she asked, curious.
Xia Nan scrolled through shopping apps on her phone. “I’m just into computers.”
Du Ruo looked at Qiu Yuchen. “You?”
“Same.” Yuchen fired up her laptop, ready to binge a drama.
Du Ruo shut her closet and plopped down at her desk, falling quiet.
Qiu Yuchen noticed and scooted over. “What’s up?”
Du Ruo twisted her fingers, quickly summarizing her awkward class experience. She spoke softly: “Everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing, except me. I barely understand my own major, and… honestly, I didn’t even choose it out of passion. Feels like I’m already one step behind…”
“No big deal. Once you start studying, you’ll find your way.” Xia Nan never looked up, idly sorting through her phone. “Were you a genius at birth? Now look at you, ace at math, English, science, the works. No one’s born knowing everything. If you wanna be good at something tomorrow, start grinding today.” She looked over at Yuchen: “By the way, is that app you mentioned even legit? Those masks are way cheaper than stores, hope they’re not fakes.”
“I only heard about it too. If you’re worried, just buy from the counter.”
Yuchen scooted over to Xia Nan, and the two launched straight into a debate over clothes: one minute it was “this looks great,” the next, “that one charges too much for shipping.”
Watching them, Du Ruo relaxed. Instantly soothed.
She realized, she needed new clothes herself. So she jumped in, elbow-to-elbow with the other two.
The trio were deep into window-shopping when He Huanhuan walked in, dropping the minor bomb: “The girls next door? Both ended up in Jing Ming’s class.”
Du Ruo: “…”
Isn’t there some kind of law that says, the more you try to avoid someone, the more they pop up? Their class monitor Li Wei was Jing Ming’s roommate; now next door’s two were his classmates too.
Great. That name was going to haunt her ears for the rest of her college days.
Just, perfect.
Qiu Yuchen grinned. “There are some cute guys in our major, but him, he’s gotta be peak campus heartthrob, right? Hey Xia Nan, what about his girlfriend, is she our school too?”
“No, she goes to some kind of specialist college. Did pretty badly in school, so I don’t really know her.”
“But she’s gorgeous?”
“Super pretty.”
Yuchen’s nosiness dried up quick, and she changed topics at lightning speed: “Huanhuan, you joining our clothes hunt or what? We’re mid-bargain with a seller, group up, free shipping!”
“Why didn’t you call me sooner? You traitors.”
By the time the four of them wrapped up their online spree, it was nearly 7pm. They hit the dining hall together, grabbed dinner, and then strolled lazily back to the dorms.
Halfway there, Du Ruo’s phone buzzed, an unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Du Ruo?” A guy’s voice, upbeat, very familiar.
“Um… Who is this?”
“Wow, already forgot me? It’s, ”
“Ohhh, class monitor.” She recognized him just in time. “Hey, monitor.”
Li Wei laughed, voice cheery. “Textbooks are in! A few of us just lugged them up to our dorm. The boys all live in one place, so sorting’s easy. Which dorm building are you in? I’ll bring you yours.”
“No, that’s alright.” She felt bad making him go out of his way. “I’m not in my room anyway. I’ll come grab them myself.”
“That works too.”
When Du Ruo reached the guys’ dorm, she saw a stream of people hauling stacks of textbooks in and out.
She texted Li Wei: “I’m here.”
Just as she pressed “send,” footsteps pounded behind her. Du Ruo turned, and there was Jing Ming, racing straight toward her, all height and storm, not slowing down for anyone. He swept right past, so close the air shifted; a blur and a rush of wind.
Her heart barely had time to leap before he was halfway up the stairs, gone into the dorm in two seconds. Only the faint, clean scent he left behind hung for a moment in the night.
Du Ruo knew he hadn’t seen her. To him, she was no different than a tree, or a speed bump.
That lopsided relationship left her oddly miffed.
Jing Ming got halfway up the stairs, just as Li Wei came down with an armful of books. Jing Ming frowned. “Where you off to?”
Li Wei grinned. “Delivering books to our class beauty.”
Jing Ming raised a brow, surprised how fast this “class beauty” thing had spread, until he remembered their class only had one girl. The title wasn’t exactly up for grabs.
He quirked a smile and kept climbing upstairs.
It was late summer. Night breezes whispered through leafy branches and tugged at Du Ruo’s clothes, cool and crisp.
She looked up. Branches cast dark shadows against the starry university sky, wind weaving through it all. This was what campus life felt like.
She hadn’t stood by the flowerbed for long before a stunningly pretty girl came from across the way, long hair fluttering, wrapped in a blue shirt-dress cinched at the waist with a thin belt. Her legs under the hem were endless and pale.
The boys going in and out couldn’t help but stare. Even Du Ruo glanced over more than once, unconsciously stepping back to widen the gap between them.
The girl, phone pressed to her ear, was saying, “I don’t care, just make him come down. … I’m literally downstairs now! … Why’d he block me? … Fine, then get him on the phone. … He better come down here, or I’ll just storm the boys’ dorm myself!”
Du Ruo hunched her shoulders and gazed upward, college life really was dramatic. Taking an evening stroll to fetch textbooks somehow meant catching a soap opera.
Something good to gossip about with Yuchen and the others later.
While she was mentally composing a chat recap, Li Wei came out. He offered, “These are heavy, I’ll help carry them back for you.”
“It’s fine, I got it.” Du Ruo waved her hands. “Back home I used to help with chores, stack of books is nothing.”
Li Wei paused, then chuckled, about to reply,
When a cold voice cut through, loaded with annoyance: “What are you doing here?”