Chapter 78

When Tan Wenbin walked into the discount store, Run Sheng and the others were still busy checking inventory.

He walked to the beverage shelf, intending to grab a drink, but remembered he had no money in his pocket after changing into his athletic shorts. Sticking to his principle of not bothering them, he still walked to the counter, picked up a large mug, and gulped down several mouthfuls of water.

“Do you need any help?”

Yin Meng, holding a pen and a notebook, shook her head, “No, we’re almost done counting. There’s a lot of merchandise.”

“Of course.”

Yin Meng pointed to the shelves of daily necessities and said, “Before school starts, we’ll need to bring in another batch of daily necessities.”

Aunt Sun smiled and said, “It’s like this every year.”

Yin Meng: “We should bundle items like sleeping mats, mattresses, quilts, basins, cups, and towels into sets and sell them together with a discount sign.”

Aunt Sun paused, intending to boast about her experience, but found herself speechless for a moment.

Tan Wenbin shrugged, “Not bad, looks like you’ve gotten into the swing of things.”

Yin Meng sighed regretfully, “Logically, we should be able to collect a lot of second-hand items from graduating students. After cleaning them, we could sell them cheaply to new students for the new semester. Didn’t you collect any at the end of last semester?”

Aunt Sun shook her head, “We’ve never done that before.”

Yin Meng nodded, “Then let’s do it from now on. Most students come from ordinary families.”

Tan Wenbin leaned against the counter and teased, “Sure enough, the coffin shop was holding you back.”

“Since we’re doing this, we should do it well. I’m also planning to open a hot food section here. We could use hot pot soup base, add some meatballs and tripe, cook them, and sell them individually, like hot pot skewers.”

“Good idea, but don’t do the cooking yourself.”

Yin Meng looked at Tan Wenbin, a little unconvinced.

Tan Wenbin reminded her seriously, “This is a school. Causing a collective food safety issue would be very serious.”

Yin Meng didn’t argue, only shaking the pen in her hand, “Alright, I understand.”

Run Sheng put all the goods by his feet onto the shelves, clapped his hands, and looked at Tan Wenbin, “Were you just fishing?”

“Yes.”

“Any luck?”

“I encountered someone by the lake who called out to me from behind, but when I turned around, I saw no one.”

Run Sheng said, somewhat surprised, “Really?”

Aunt Sun asked, “Was it the lake to the west? Many people indeed like to run there on weekdays, and couples enjoy going there too.”

Tan Wenbin asked curiously, “Aunt Sun, you’ve been at this school for a long time. Do you know any campus ghost stories?”

“Ghost stories?”

“Yes, we’re quite interested in things like that.”

“There are no ghost stories, just idle gossip. If you’re talking about deaths, quite a few people have indeed died at this school. It happens every semester: people who jumped from buildings, drowned, overdosed on medicine, or even choked to death. There have been all kinds.”

When a population reaches a certain size in an area, a death isn’t uncommon.

But these weren’t the stories Tan Wenbin wanted to hear. He continued to ask:

“Are there no particularly eerie places?”

“Eerie places?” Aunt Sun covered her mouth and chuckled, “This is a school; where would there be eerie places? Though I did hear from a friend recently that things often happen at General Mountain at night.”

“General Mountain?”

“It’s all just hearsay; don’t take it seriously.”

“Alright, Run Sheng, Yin Meng, you two continue working. I’m heading back. Brother Xiao Yuan is still alone in the dorm.”

Tan Wenbin walked back to the dorm building. As he passed the dorm supervisor’s office window, he saw Auntie writing something with a pen while eating a sponge cake.

“Auntie Ran.”

“You rascal, you startled me.” Tan Wenbin had just helped her move some things before his night run, so they were acquainted.

Auntie Ran picked up a piece of sponge cake and offered it to the young man.

Tan Wenbin didn’t reach out to take it; instead, he opened his mouth, “Ah...”

Auntie Ran could only smile and put the sponge cake into the young man’s mouth.

“What are you busy with?” Tan Wenbin asked as he chewed.

“I’m writing a letter to my daughter.”

“Can’t you call her?”

“Phone calls are so expensive.”

“Just use the office phone for personal calls.”

“Hmm?” Auntie Ran paused, then realized what he meant. She playfully scolded him with a laugh, “You rascal, you know quite a lot. Looks like your family often does things like that.”

“You wrong me! My dad is very principled. When I was little, I always wanted him to drive me to school in a police car, but he never did.”

“Your dad is a good man, truly.”

“Of course, considering whose father he is.”

“Hehe.” Auntie Ran put down her pen and rubbed her wrist. “Phew... it’s done. Actually, even if I called, once I picked up the phone, there wouldn’t be much to say.”

“Here, let me see. I’ll help you check for typos.”

“Go on, go back to your dorm room.”

“Good night, Auntie.”

“Good night, you rascal.”

After Tan Wenbin left, Auntie Ran took out a matchbox, struck a match, lit the envelope, and when it was halfway burned, she dropped it into a large mug on the floor.

Beside the mug was a shoebox, half-torn, revealing a black high-heeled shoe inside.

Click!

After entering the room, Tan Wenbin turned on the light and found Li Zhuiyuan already in bed.

He immediately turned the light off again.

“Binbin, you’re back.”

“Did I wake you, Brother Xiao Yuan?”

“I wasn’t asleep.”

“Oh, you went to bed really early today.”

“It’s not early, look at the time.”

“Alright, then I’ll come back earlier at night from now on.” Tan Wenbin picked up a basin and a towel, intending to take a shower at the communal sink area.

He and Xiao Yuan had already washed up there after dinner.

There were bathrooms on campus, but they were quite far away and currently closed. Actually, even if they reopened later, Tan Wenbin felt too lazy to go. For a male dorm, it was much more refreshing to just grab a basin, fill it with water at the sink, and splash it over himself, then swagger back to the dorm afterwards.

Just as he was about to open the door, he noticed a talisman pasted on their dorm room door.

“Brother Xiao Yuan, what’s this...”

“It was here.”

“Huh?”

Tan Wenbin immediately held the basin in his left hand and the towel in his right, entering a state of alert.

“It left.”

“Oh.” Tan Wenbin relaxed. “Brother, what was it?”

“It left too quickly; I didn’t see it.”

“Brother, from now on, I’ll try not to go out at night. I’ll protect you.”

“I’m going to sleep.”

“Okay.” Tan Wenbin opened the dorm door, his large slippers making crisp ‘slap-slap’ sounds as he walked down the hallway. “What’s the point of my night runs? I might as well stay and protect Xiao Yuan. Tsk, Brother Xiao Yuan is even more mysterious.”

The next morning, Li Zhuiyuan woke up.

He habitually turned his head and saw Tan Wenbin still sound asleep.

The contrast was quite stark.

Li Zhuiyuan got out of bed, picked up his basin, and went to the sink. As he was washing up, someone came in behind him, humming a song.

“Hey, little brother, are you also here for university? Hahaha.”

“Yes.”

“Uh...” The other person hesitated before asking again, “Are you really here for university?”

“Yes.”

“Oh wow, really?”

After Li Zhuiyuan finished washing up, he put his things back into his basin, turned around, and walked out.

The other person, brushing his teeth, leaned out and only pulled back after seeing Li Zhuiyuan enter the innermost dorm room.

The boy put down his basin. Just as he sat down at his desk, Tan Wenbin woke up. He bent down to pick up the quilt he had kicked off the bed and muttered:

“It’s better to sleep in a coffin; no need to worry about kicking off the covers.”

After getting out of bed, Tan Wenbin stretched and said, “Brother Xiao Yuan, I’ll go get you breakfast after I’ve washed up.”

“No need. Let’s go find Run Sheng and the others together later. We’ll be going out to play these next few days. Once school starts, they’ll be busy with the store and won’t have time.”

“That’s true.”

Tan Wenbin left with his basin. After a while, he returned, opening the door with a smile and saying:

“Just now, a sophomore was at the sink, kept asking me if you were a student. He’s a really nice guy, named Lu Yi, from Harbin, and he even gave me a red sausage.”

As he spoke, Tan Wenbin took a bite himself. “Mmm, the taste is very authentic.”

“Have you had red sausage before?”

“No, but the taste when I first try something, that’s authentic to me.”

“He didn’t go home?”

“No, he’s staying on campus to tutor part-time. He said his family’s village is too big, so it’s inconvenient to tutor back home.”

Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin arrived at the discount store. The inventory had been checked last night, and business was slow, so they left Aunt Sun to mind the store. The four of them walked out of the school gate together and boarded a bus.

Tan Wenbin noticed Run Sheng carrying a large bag and asked, “Run Sheng, bringing so much water?”

Bringing one’s own water or buying it outside attractions before entering was a common practice for Chinese tourists at the time.

Because water inside scenic areas was more expensive, as for food... most people wouldn’t be willing to buy food inside an attraction.

“Last night, we tallied a lot of food that was nearing its expiration date or had just expired, so I brought it all. I eat a lot, and food and drinks outside are expensive, so this is perfect for me to finish them off.”

“Run Sheng, you’re at least a co-owner now. Why are you still so stingy? You should try to act the part.”

Run Sheng patted the large bag. “These are all good things. I hardly ever got to eat them when I was little. I never dreamed I’d be able to eat snacks freely someday.”

After getting off the bus, the four of them first went into a duck blood and vermicelli soup shop and had breakfast.

Then, throughout the day, they visited several attractions. Li Zhuiyuan provided the commentary the entire time, and by dusk, he felt his throat was a little hoarse.

There was no other way; anyone could see the magnificent natural scenery with their own eyes. But for cultural attractions, without detailed explanations, people would just skim through them, quickly leave, and declare them uninteresting.

The four took