Free Web NovelChapter 440: Chapter 440: Military Training
Listening to the chattering voices all around her, Tan You had no intention of trying to get along with her new roommates. Her reasoning was simple. She would only be living in the dorm for a week before moving out once classes officially started. Besides, they were all strangers, so there wasn’t much to talk about.
Just as Tan You had expected, the bedding roll provided by the school consisted of a straw mat, a pillow with a pillowcase, two 1.5 by 1.8-meter bedsheets, and a small, lightweight quilt.
It also came with two duvet covers, an enamel basin, a small thermos, and a large enamel mug. In all honesty, Tan You didn’t think the entire set was worth 500 yuan.
After unpacking the bedding roll, Tan You picked out the bedsheets, duvet covers, and pillowcase. She then grabbed the laundry detergent she had brought with her and headed for the communal sinks.
A girl from the bunk across from hers asked in confusion, "Those are new. What are you planning to do?"
Tan You stopped in her tracks. "They have a strange smell. I’m going to wash them. It’s hot enough that they’ll definitely be dry by this afternoon."
Cheng Wenhui, who had been working at a clothing factory for a while, knew about the manufacturing process for new clothes and sheets. She chimed in, "You should definitely wash them. They collect a lot of dust at the factory."
"I... I’ll go wash mine too. They’ll be ready to put on the bed tonight." With someone taking the lead, the other nine girls in the dorm all followed Tan You to the sinks. Soon, a long row of bedsheets and duvet covers was hanging from the dorm’s balcony.
Because Tan You had been the first one there, she easily snagged a spot on the outside line of the balcony. As she was smoothing out her duvet cover, another girl came to stand beside her. Noticing Tan You’s sideways glance, the girl smiled at her, looking very friendly.
Tan You couldn’t help but smile back. Watching the other girl arrange her duvet cover, she casually handed over a few of her extra large clothespins. "Use these. They’re less likely to get blown away."
Perhaps it was the large clothespins that broke the ice between them. The girl, whose name was Yin Xiu, naturally started sticking close to Tan You, following her almost everywhere she went.
Cheng Wenhui checked the time. "I have to get to work. You get along with your classmates, okay?"
Tan You nodded. "I will. Be careful on your way."
Turning to Tan Deming, Tan You’s smile widened. "Grandpa, you should head back too. It’s going to get hotter, and the journey will be too much for you."
Tan Deming chuckled. "Alright. Do you have enough spending money?"
"I have enough, don’t worry about it." Tan You gently pushed his back. "Go on, head back. We have military training this afternoon, and we need to go to the classroom to pick up our textbooks now."
Tan Deming smiled and tapped her lightly. "Alright. Give us a call when your military training is over. Do you want me to come pick you up?"
"No need, I won’t have much to bring back anyway." Tan You pursed her lips, then looked at Tan Lin. "Remember what I told you yesterday."
"Don’t worry, I’ll get it done for you, no problem. Am I your dad or are you my dad?" Tan Lin rolled his eyes, took Tan Yue’s hand, and turned to leave. "We’re going. If you run out of water, I’ll bring you more. Just give me a call."
"Go on," Tan You said, waving as she watched them walk off into the distance.
Yin Xiu asked curiously, "Does your family live near the school?"
"Yeah," Tan You said with a smile, not denying it. "I’ll invite you over for a meal at my house after the military training ends."
One of the bolder girls spoke up, "Just inviting Yin Xiu? Tan You, you’re playing favorites."
Tan You shook her head. "I’ll invite everyone. I’m definitely not playing favorites."
By now, the parents had all left. Tan You checked the time. "Let’s go. Time to head to the classroom."
It was one thing when she was standing still, but the moment she moved—wow. The entire dorm room of girls moved with her. ’It was never like this when I lived in a dorm before,’ Tan You thought. ’Could this be the power of 35 charm points?’
Yin Xiu, completely unbothered by the heat, linked her arm with Tan You’s. "Tan You, your skin is so fair! It looks so smooth and dewy."
"Yeah, I noticed that too," said another girl, walking on Tan You’s right. "When she first walked into the dorm, I felt like the whole room brightened. It’s like you’re so pale you’re glowing."
"You’re all very fair too," Tan You said, changing the subject. "Have you guys bought sunscreen? During military training in this heat, you’ll get a tan really easily if you don’t use any."
"Sunscreen? What’s that?" Most of the students at this town high school were from the surrounding rural areas. Since the internet hadn’t yet become a household staple, they were unfamiliar with things like that, hence the girl’s curiosity.
Seeing their confused expressions, Tan You sighed. "I bought extra, so I’ll share it with everyone later. Once you get a tan, it’s not that easy to get your fair complexion back."
Yin Xiu hesitated. "We couldn’t do that, could we? You paid for it with your own money."
Tan You said, "It’s fine. We can all share it. We just need to get through this week. I don’t normally buy this stuff either."
The class assignments for military training were completely random, and Tan You was placed in Class 3. After the ten girls from her dorm entered the classroom and sat down, Tan You found herself surrounded on all sides by her roommates. The topic of conversation gradually shifted away from her, drifting toward their high school entrance exam scores and stories from their summer vacations.
When the topic turned to entrance exam scores, Yin Xiu fell silent. Tan You glanced at her. "Didn’t perform well on the exam?"
Yin Xiu looked up, clearly surprised that Tan You had said that. ’I’ve been a teacher before, after all,’ Tan You thought. ’I know how to read people. If I couldn’t even tell that much, all my past experience would have been for nothing.’
"Yeah. I used to get really good grades," Yin Xiu said, resting her head on her desk. "But I got really nervous during the entrance exam..."
Tan You understood. "I didn’t do well on my entrance exam either, but it wasn’t because I choked."
Yin Xiu was curious. "Then what was it? Which middle school did you go to?"
Tan You looked out the window. "The junior high attached to this school. I just barely scraped by, scoring only two points above the cutoff line. My grades used to be decent, but I slacked off in my last year of middle school because I got into reading novels."
Yin Xiu knew the school’s cutoff score. "You got a 582? That’s much higher than me. I only scored in the four-hundreds, so my family had to pay a lot of money to get me in."
Tan You smiled. "Then let’s study hard together and make sure your family’s money doesn’t go to waste."
Yin Xiu wrinkled her nose. "That’s what I was thinking too. I already studied the first-year high school material over the summer."
Tan You looked at her for a moment. "I believe you when you say your grades used to be great. I never used to study ahead."
Before she encountered the Beauty System, Tan You wouldn’t have said her attitude toward her studies was particularly good. She was the type of student who would diligently complete assignments but would never review or study ahead on her own. It was as if she was always being pushed along by her teachers.
However, after encountering the Beauty System and seeing more of the world, Tan You came to deeply understand the importance of studying. She had learned her lesson the hard way, whereas Yin Xiu was the very model of a diligent student. For that reason, Tan You admitted to herself that she hadn’t been as good as Yin Xiu back then.
Yin Xiu’s smile revealed a pair of dimples, making her look even sweeter. An emotion flickered in Tan You’s eyes. Her own mother, Cheng Wenhui, had two dimples, and now her new classmate had a pair, too. ’How come no one passed a single one down to me?’
