CHAPTER 755: CHAPTER 745: PRINCESS JIN’AN, OUR DORMITORY’S

It turned out that Jiang Lingxi’s reminder was very timely.

Xu Ling’an drove her little white car, carrying three parents to Hua University. After showing her student ID, she was allowed to drive into the campus and finally parked in the parking lot next to the dormitory building.

Xu Yin looked out through the car window, "So many people!"

Gao Lan, fearing her daughter would get anxious with the crowd, patted her hand, "It’s the start of school today, and there are other parents like us bringing their kids to register, that’s why there are a few more people around. Usually, there aren’t this many."

After Jiang Cisheng got out of the car to retrieve his daughter’s suitcase from the trunk, he found his mother-in-law and daughter flanking his wife on either side, leaving him with the role of the luggage carrier.

The four adjusted their masks and walked along the clean tree-lined path toward the dormitory entrance.

As they walked, something started to feel off.

"Why aren’t there so many people at the entrance of the dorm across? Did something happen here?"

"We’ll find out if we go over and see."

Jiang Cisheng moved from behind the three to the front, taking the lead.

As they got closer, they finally heard the chatter emerging from the crowd, which was mostly female students.

"I didn’t expect the actress playing Princess Jin’an in ’Yuan Zhao Empress’ is actually a student at our school."

"Looks like our school is going to have a celebrity!"

"I even went to the print shop to print a picture of Princess Jin’an, hoping to get an autograph. I’m really fond of Princess Jin’an."

"Who wouldn’t want to come and see her in person?"

"Are you sure she’s living in this dormitory?"

"Xu Ling’an, freshman, Computer Science Department, also last year’s top scorer in the Imperial City college entrance exam. Plus, with so many people here, it’s unlikely they all got it wrong."

"Then why haven’t we seen her?"

"She probably hasn’t arrived yet, let’s wait a bit longer."

...

The four stood not far from the crowd, looking at each other.

They thought something had happened, but it turned out to be about their family.

Gao Lan whispered, "Luckily, Xixi reminded us beforehand."

If they had come without any disguise, the family would have been surrounded by now.

Xu Ling’an pulled her mask up further and also put on a hat.

Gao Lan and Xu Yin also compliantly shielded their child a bit.

"Let’s go up from the side."

So, Jiang Cisheng continued to lead, discreetly guiding his mother-in-law, wife, and child through the crowd, smoothly entering the dormitory building.

However, if parents wanted to go upstairs with their child to the dormitory, they needed to register.

Xu Ling’an pulled up her electronic student card from her phone and went to the dormitory supervisor for verification and registration.

During the face recognition step, she had to remove her mask.

The dormitory supervisor, upon seeing the student information on the machine and recognizing the face on the screen, subconsciously glanced at the real person, "Xu..."

Xu Ling’an quickly made a "shhh" gesture to her.

The dorm supervisor promptly fell silent, looked at the crowd still gathered outside the dormitory, lowered her voice, and said with a smile, "Hurry on up."

From the supervisor’s earlier reaction and her current expression, Xu Ling’an knew she most likely recognized her from ’Yuan Zhao Empress.’

"Thank you, teacher."

"You’re welcome, you’re welcome."

From the lobby to the dormitory room, it was slightly better. After all, they lived in the same dormitory building and had chances to meet in the hallway or elevator; everyone wasn’t as excited as those outside.

At the dormitory door, Xu Ling’an swiped her card to enter.

Jiang Cisheng was the last to enter, pulling the suitcase inside and closing the door, instantly isolating the outside clamor.

The four of them breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Gao Lan walked to the balcony and looked down, seeing that the crowd below showed no sign of decreasing, "It’s not easy being famous. What if they keep gathering to see An’an in the future?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Cisheng frowned too.

School should be a place for study; if this continues, it will definitely affect her studies.

Xu Ling’an seemed the calmest, comforting them, "Grandma, uncle, there’s no need to worry. It’s just like this today because there’s no class on the first day. Once classes start, everyone will be too busy with lectures to pay attention to me. Plus, my role isn’t major, and I don’t plan to continue acting in the future. Once this popularity fades, everyone will focus back on their studies."

"That’s true." Gao Lan relaxed a bit, reaching out to wipe a table, "Let’s clean off some dust first."

Jiang Cisheng rolled up his sleeves, "I’ll do it."

Halfway through cleaning the dormitory, someone twisted the door handle from outside.

Xu Ling’an was wiping the table and turned her head when she heard the sound, "Boss."

"An’an, you’re..." The person’s eyes lit up upon seeing An’an, almost blurting out her cameo in the drama, but quickly zipped up upon noticing the three elders in the room.

Seeing the little girl feeling uneasy, Gao Lan suggested to her daughter and son-in-law that they wrap up the cleaning and leave.

Xu Ling’an handed over the car keys, "I’ll see you off."

"No, no, no," Gao Lan quickly stopped her granddaughter, "We know the way down, you just stay here in the dorm."

She had glanced downstairs again, noticing that while the crowd wasn’t as thick as when they first arrived, there were still quite a few people.

Xu Ling’an could only watch them enter the elevator from the hallway.

As she turned back into the dormitory, she was immediately grabbed.

"Let me have a look at our little Princess Jin’an!"

Xu Ling’an: "..."

A phone call saved her.

"Sister."

"Did you manage to stay unrecognized all the way?"

"No, thanks to your reminder beforehand."

"So there really were people who came to see you on purpose?"

"Yes, there were quite a few. I didn’t expect so many here at our school watched ’Yuan Zhao Empress’ over the winter break."

They even traced her! If she hadn’t been prepared, it could have been quite an unexpected scenario.

After speaking, she saw their dormitory leader come over, wink, and mouthed silently, "I watched it too, it’s super good!"

Xu Ling’an almost couldn’t hold back her laughter.

After ensuring Xu Ling’an had no major problems, Jiang Lingxi ended the call.

The dorm leader, who had been sitting silently opposite Xu Ling’an, finally dared to speak, "I also chased ’Yuan Zhao Empress’ every day at home, but it’s inconvenient to keep up once back at school."

Xu Ling’an thought about the current progress of ’Yuan Zhao Empress,’ "There should only be a few episodes left until the finale. You can binge it over the weekend."

"True, watching all at once is more satisfying. Do you know what my reaction was when I saw you on TV?"

"What reaction?"

"I jumped up from the sofa and even kicked the plate of melon seeds flying, then my mom rewarded me with a smack with a slipper. Why didn’t you warn me before you appeared? I could have been mentally prepared. I bragged to my mom that Princess Jin’an on TV is my classmate, from the same dorm, the youngest in our room. She just rolled her eyes at me, said I was dreaming. I showed her our group photo and she accused me of photoshopping it!"

"Hey, hey, hey, my mom is video calling. She must want to check if I’ve settled in at school. Could you show your face so she’ll be convinced?"

Listening to her rapid-fire chatter, Xu Ling’an nodded unconsciously.

Then she saw their dorm leader answer the video call and, not three sentences in, began to boast, "Mom, let me show you our dorm’s little princess, live, right next to me. I’m really not lying!"

Xu Ling’an: "...Hello, Auntie!"