CHAPTER 32: CHAPTER 31: THE LIVING ENCYCLOPEDIA

"Classmate?" A timid voice came from behind, and when Su Ziceng turned around, both of them were stunned.

Standing behind her was a familiar face, unlike Su Ziceng’s peddler outfit, Yan Wuxu was under the scorching sun, covering herself up with the Kelly Women’s College autumn and winter uniform. The women’s vest combined with a meticulously buttoned vintage white shirt looked very hot.

"It’s you." Yan Wuxu’s smile, primed just a second ago, froze. The girl in front of her was the very one who had witnessed her stealing clothes, and she was also a new student at Kelly Women’s College.

Having worked as a sales associate at Admiration for over half a year, Yan Wuxu had developed a scanner-like gaze. A cheap white T-shirt, utility canvas pants, she defined Su Ziceng’s peddler disguise as, "You know Brother Han, you’re from the Sixth District too?" Her tone became friendlier; since they both came from the Sixth District, there shouldn’t be a need to excessively ingratiate herself with others. However, why was there another student from the Sixth District? Clearly, Teacher Pello said that each year, Kelly Women’s School has only one "poverty scholarship spot."

"Ah, yes." Su Ziceng nodded hurriedly, thinking it was good to have an acquaintance, but what she should be more concerned about right now was which way to the school auditorium where the opening ceremony was held?

"I can’t read the map either, but I know the way," Yan Wuxu glanced at the two big bags of luggage behind Su Ziceng, pretended not to see them, and pointed towards a rose bush ahead, "I came a few days early to get accustomed." After receiving the admission notice, Yan Wuxu moved to the campus because she didn’t want to stay at home, listening to the cries of her younger siblings. After leaving Admiration, she planned to live directly within Kelly Women’s College.

"Just turn at the corner marked with roses, and you’ll be there," she walked fast, scratching underneath her long sleeves which were already rubbing against an itch. The neatly trimmed shrubs extended inward as the two of them moved along, with the last few choruses of summer cicadas in their ears. Su Ziceng’s baggy utility pants and suitcase made discordant rubbing noises all the way.

Yan Wuxu deliberately kept some distance from her; this new student really was careless. It took her well over an hour to decide what to wear to the opening ceremony, and finally, she picked out the only decent school uniform.

Stopping at the entrance to the auditorium, Su Ziceng paused, her eyes landed on the bulletin board – more than a dozen full-color posters demanded anyone’s attention. Wen Maixue, all Wen Maixue, from her first birthday photo to horse-riding photo, to ballet dancing photo, up to her college graduation photo, and even the latest Eve Ball’s black phoenix qipao photo. Wen Maixue was like a chameleon Barbie in a display window.

"College graduation?" Su Ziceng didn’t envy the exquisite photo of the Eve feast like Yan Wuxu did but pointed at the photo of Wen Maixue in a black graduation gown, "Isn’t she the same as us, a freshman? Faking it a little too far, don’t you think?" Su Ziceng felt somewhat indignant at heart; with the same eighteen years, why should Wen Maixue experience all sorts of life, while after thirty-five years, her life still looks as pale and dull as a fish belly.

"Miss Wen Maixue had already self-taught and completed all the university courses by the age of sixteen and has even obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Education from London University. Miss Wen Maixue’s life is also vibrant; she has exquisite taste, enjoys drinking 45-year-old wine, and loves purebred Arabian horses..." Yan Wuxu rattled off as if listing treasures, turning the grandiose personal exhibition of Wen Maixue into a celebrity interview show – only it was a monologue.

"You seem to know a lot about Wen Maixue?" Su Ziceng thought to herself, she must introduce Yan Wuxu to Qiu Zhi, to spare her the need to cozy up to Wen Maixue, "The main point is, if she’s already graduated from college, then why is she at Kelly Women’s College? Isn’t Kelly Women’s College a private women’s university?"

While speaking, a succession of footsteps emerged from the auditorium; the opening ceremony had already ended.

Leading the way was Wen Maixue, the very picture of Snow White with the grace of an Odette. New students chattered noisily beside her. As she passed by Su Ziceng, not even the afterglow of her gaze graced her, leaving the air filled with a faint whiff of feminine rivalry.

"Kelly Women’s College is not a university," mused Yan Wuxu, finding it hard to imagine someone not knowing this fact. She thought every girl entering Kelly had the same goal as she did, which was that "the founder of Kelly, who also was the twenty-third matriarch of the Wen family, was one of the first female students from our country to study abroad. After returning from her studies, she established Kelly Women’s College with the aim of..."

"Please don’t say ’to strive to become stronger, and not to be the sick man of East Asia,’" Su Ziceng, indifferent to history, found it hard to picture an old lady, with a "Wen Maixue face," from the ashes of the Wen family rolling up her sleeves, looking all fierce and determined.

"Of course not, Old Mrs. Wen studied in Britain, the birthplace of the women’s rights movement, so what she advocated for first and foremost was ’economic independence.’" Yan Wuxu sounded like an encyclopedia of Kelly. Noticing that the students around had all left, and seeing Su Ziceng struggling with a huge bag in each hand, she thought about it and rolled up her sleeves to help her with one.

The opening ceremony had ended, so Yan Wuxu had no choice but to take Su Ziceng towards the dormitories on the west side.

The women’s dormitories at Kelly were divided into two areas. One was a high-end apartment complex occupied by the likes of rich young ladies such as Wen Maixue, guarded around the clock by security, and situated next to the beautifully scenic man-made lake, "West Lake."

The other living area was the standard dormitory, located close to Kelly Women’s College’s glass greenhouse. Since the greenhouse needed to maintain a constant temperature all year round, it inevitably attracted some mosquitoes, rodents, and ants. Yan Wuxu, seeing Su Ziceng’s plain attire and lack of family escort, assumed she would be staying in the standard dormitory as well.

Upon hearing that the standard dormitories allowed free access without even registration at the entrance, Su Ziceng was only too happy to follow Yan Wuxu there.

The standard dormitory was a seven-story white building cloaked in dense evergreen vines. In this season, the vines bore touch-me-not fruits, attracting birds to feed and requiring students to be extra cautious as to avoid the droppings that might fall unexpectedly.

Apart from these minor inconveniences, the dormitories housed two students per room. Hearing that Yan Wuxu’s seventh-floor room had yet to find another occupant, Su Ziceng went to the registration desk, obtained the keys seamlessly, and moved in without a hitch.

After settling in, the campus bell tolled five o’clock, and just as Su Ziceng was thinking about going downstairs for dinner, she saw Yan Wuxu dawdling and pulling out a bag of cold bread rolls from under the desk, preparing to make do for dinner.

"Is that really your dinner? Come with me to Kelly’s dining hall, see what the food’s like," Su Ziceng dragged her out the door without waiting for a response.

"No, you can’t eat in... you just can’t eat in Kelly’s dining hall!!" Yan Wuxu resisted, recalling the dreadful scene she witnessed on her first day in the dining hall. However, Su Ziceng, famished and adamant about the importance of a good meal, dragged her reluctantly towards the cafeteria.