Chapter 0096: The Start of the School Season

Anyone who has experienced freshman registration knows that it is probably the most crowded moment in the entire university.

Crowds of young men and women from all over the province and even the country, riding green trains, came from their hometowns to Ninghai and stepped onto the campus of the Normal University.

This was the beginning of a beautiful era and the end of an innocent age.

Before long, this city, in the march of modernization, would rapidly open its bloody mouth like a galloping monster, devouring everything around it. The once lush trees and low-lying bungalows were replaced by steel-and-concrete steel monsters, with towering buildings and flashing neon lights.

In the low bungalows outside the East Gate and the dilapidated tube-shaped apartments beyond the third district, there were students who had not yet graduated, as well as young people who longed for success after graduation. The seemingly glamorous office workers intertwined with the heavy life.

Zhao Fusheng stood in front of the school office building, beside a row of tables with a banner reading "School of Advertising Media Freshman Registration Point." By analogy, the more than twenty colleges of the school registered here.

Most freshmen entered the school with the excitement of escaping the dark, hard-studying high school life, having heard from friends countless wonderful things about university compared to middle and high school.

Handsome and beautiful opposite sex, splendid and colorful parties, rich club activities.

In the eyes of many freshmen, university represented a bright and beautiful future.

And many years later, when they leave school, in the ever-advancing yet trap-ridden real society that cuts them all over and makes them cry, perhaps they suddenly realize:

It turns out that it wasn't they who attended university, but university that attended them, and then life screwed them over, leaving only hollow tears and numb eyes.

"So, any pretty ones?" Wen Yu leaned in close to Zhao Fusheng and asked in a low voice.

Zhao Fusheng sighed and looked at him helplessly: "So you're that eager to fall in love?"

"Look at you, you're no fun at all."

Wen Yu shook his head, at a loss for words at Zhao Fusheng's dullness. In recent months, the guy had become increasingly boring; in Tan Kaixuan's words, he was more and more like an old man.

As the two were talking, a girl came up from ahead and asked softly, "Excuse me, is this the registration desk for the School of Advertising and Media?"

Zhao Fusheng wanted to ask her if she couldn't even read the words on the banner.

But glancing over, he noticed that the girl seemed very shy; even if her eyes met someone else's, she would quickly lower her head, and even her ears turned red.

It's often said that the eyes are the windows to the soul; all of a person's emotions are fully reflected in their gaze, whether pride or inferiority, shyness or confidence.

Of course, some people are used to fooling themselves, and after fooling themselves enough times, it naturally becomes second nature.

The girl before him might be leaving home for the first time, or perhaps she was used to hiding behind her parents; in any case, she was very shy, or more precisely, quite timid.

Of course, she was also very pretty.

Not tall, but she seemed petite, with an oval face, bright eyes and white teeth, fair skin—definitely a girl above average. Zhao Fusheng could even imagine that in her class, the boys would surely be smitten with her.

But this had nothing to do with him. Zhao Fusheng nodded at the girl. "That's right. What's your major?"

"Advertising design," the girl replied, still in a low voice.

"Okay, come over here to register." Zhao Fusheng pointed to the registration area and said to the girl.

The girl nodded, followed the direction of Zhao Fusheng's finger to register, and then was led by a senior student to the academic affairs office. Next, she would have to pick up her bedding and keys on her own, and then go to the dormitory.

As for Zhao Fusheng, he continued to lounge around there, chatting idly with Wen Yu.

"That freshman just now, an eight out of ten," Wen Yu said, leaning on Zhao Fusheng's shoulder with a grin.

"If you like her, go for it." Zhao Fusheng shot him a glance.

"No way, I don't like introverted girls. Too much trouble to communicate." Wen Yu laughed. "You think everyone's like Tan Kaixuan, enjoying hanging out in the library?"

Hearing this, Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but laugh. Hu Xia was quite introverted; most of her dates with Tan Kaixuan took place in the library. In other words, they would go to the library together, and then Hu Xia would read and study while Tan Kaixuan, bored, would watch Hu Xia.

And Wen Yu, clearly, didn't like that kind of relationship dynamic.

Zhao Fusheng didn't mind either way. His personality was always about being happy. In his previous life, he might have been a bit petty, but now he viewed things with more magnanimity than his peers.

Of course, Zhao Fusheng also considered things more maturely.

When income decreased or money was tight, he would become extremely anxious, and he only felt at ease when he was on the path to making money. Perhaps it was because he knew how hard it was to earn money—after all, for a long time in his previous life, he had lived in a state of "falling short of others," both materially and spiritually. His parents had given him the best they could, yet he had still developed a habit of chronic anxiety. He had low resilience to stress, no sense of security, and when anxious, he couldn't control his emotions. He would cry in the bathroom alone for two hours at night and question the meaning of life.

That was Zhao Fusheng's state during a certain period in his previous life.

Fortunately, now he was full of motivation.

He stayed with Wen Yu until one in the afternoon, then made an excuse that he had things to do and went straight back to the dormitory.

Unexpectedly, that guy Tan Kaixuan was actually there.

"Why are you here? Not with Hu Xia?" Zhao Fusheng asked curiously.

Since today was the day for freshmen to report, juniors and sophomores had no classes. Hu Xia wasn't in the student union, and neither was Tan Kaixuan. Logically, they should have been on a date.

"No, she had a fellow townsman coming to report, so she went to help. She asked me to go, but I didn't." Tan Kaixuan shook his head. "Dating is dating, but I don't want to be tied to her all the time."

Zhao Fusheng laughed. He hadn't expected Boss Tan to see things so clearly.

Since no one else was in the dormitory, he remembered something and asked Tan Kaixuan, "How are your family's stocks doing?"

When Tan Kaixuan had called him earlier, he had mentioned it. Using the name of Zhu Yushi, he had tricked Tan Kaixuan into selling. He wondered if Tan had listened to him.

There was no stock exchange in Ninghai, and Zhao Fusheng couldn't find much information about stocks online. Besides, he couldn't show too much interest, so he had actually been quite concerned about this matter.

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's question, Tan Kaixuan frowned and suddenly let out a sigh...