Chapter 7

It was already past 3 PM, and the temperature in Ice City had noticeably dropped. Liu Meng strolled through the campus, starting from the 7th dormitory and walking around the entire area.

Next to the 7th dormitory was the 8th, which had a table tennis room in the basement. Not long after the start of school, the three of them—Older Brother, Dongdong, and Liu Meng—would often come to play table tennis. Liu Meng's skills were the worst, as he had no foundation and had never participated in any sports or entertainment activities before college.

His family was poor, and during the summer, their entertainment activities were limited to swimming and chasing each other in the small river. Otherwise, they would form groups to steal watermelons from the neighboring village. These kids were quite ruthless; they would carry large watermelons in their arms and step on the smaller ones, crushing them. The melon farmers hated them and often let their dogs chase them.

During winter, they would play marbles and paper games in the abandoned house of the village committee, their noses running from the cold, but they still had a lot of fun. Around the New Year, they would collect duds from fireworks, extract the gunpowder, and often get injured in the process.

Turning a corner, he reached the Second Canteen, which was far from the main building. It was less crowded, and the food was quite good. They had eaten there during military training.

At the entrance of the Second Canteen, he could see the plastic sports field. There were many open spaces around the field. Not long after the start of school, the founder of Crazy English came to Ice City University of Technology. It was the first time Liu Meng had seen someone with a bit of fame.

The scene was truly impressive, with the entire sports field filled with students holding small pieces of paper and shouting English phrases into the sky with the founder of Crazy English. Many students bought Crazy English textbooks, and Liu Meng, despite his financial constraints, also bought one and a BBG mini tape recorder. For a while, he would run to the edge of the sports field early in the morning to practice his English.

However, his English didn't improve much.

Later, the founder of Crazy English became quite crazy, with news of him beating his wife and getting divorced causing a stir.

Thinking about it, he felt a bit nostalgic. Back then, they were really too young and naive.

Walking around the sports field, he reached the south side, which was now a dusty construction site. In winter, it would be a bustling ice rink created by the university.

Ice skating was quite fun.

South of the ice rink was the main building, where many classes were held. Room 508 was the computer lab, and during his first year, Liu Meng spent a lot of time there, storing his novels on a 3.5-inch floppy disk with only 1.44MB of storage. The disk was very unstable, often losing files, which made Liu Meng frustrated and forced to rewrite them.

Just as he was about to enter the grand main building, he saw a sign: "This Day in Ice City University of Technology History." This section was once managed by Liu Meng for a week, as assigned by the counselor, Li Xin.

A girl walked towards him, instantly capturing his attention. In a place like Ice City University of Technology, where beautiful girls were rare, it was difficult to encounter one.

The girl was wearing headphones, playing loud American heavy metal music, dressed in a sporty outfit and sneakers. Even later, Liu Meng preferred girls with a tough and sporty vibe.

She had fair skin and large eyes, and her gaze was high, not even glancing at Liu Meng. How could someone like her notice such an unremarkable, short, and thin guy?

His mind buzzed. Who was this? What was her name?

Right, Gu Pan!

Liu Meng finally remembered her name.

How could he forget her? She was the first girl he had a crush on at Ice City University of Technology.

At that age, he was easily attracted to girls he found appealing, especially after the three years of suppression in high school, when his emotions burst forth like a flood, intense and uncontrollable.

There were eight classes in the Electrical Engineering Department, and Liu Meng was in Class 3. This girl was in Class 2 and was a class officer, possibly the cultural committee member.

Counselor Li Xin had made a list of contact information for all the class officers, which included Gu Pan's phone number.

Liu Meng loved her but lacked the courage to express his feelings. He was too shy and, as a poor student, lacked confidence.

He first sent her a text message, then called her, but never dared to meet her in person. She knew who he was from his number but pretended not to, treating him like a Sunday pastime, just to pass the time.

At the end of the first semester, Liu Meng mustered the courage to ask for a meeting, but she was indifferent, and the matter was dropped.

This girl, Gu Pan, and his classmate, Zheng Wen, were both from Ice City and had a good relationship. Later, Zheng Wen told him that Gu Pan had a boyfriend from high school who went abroad, and she eventually married a very ugly, wealthy man.

Liu Meng had seen their wedding photos on social media.

As Gu Pan walked away, Liu Meng hesitated, thinking that in this new life, he needed to be more relaxed and resolve the shadows and regrets of the past. He had never dared to greet her or speak to her face-to-face.

If he continued to act as he did before, he would only repeat the tragedy. He needed to change. Liu Meng made up his mind and no longer hesitated.

Liu Meng's personality was a typical contradiction. He was naive and warm-hearted with his family and loved ones, but rarely showed mercy to strangers, believing that those who were pitiful had their own faults and lacked ambition. He would do everything possible to strike back at enemies or those who annoyed him until they were afraid.

Now, Gu Pan was a stranger, or even someone who had annoyed him in the past.

He quickly walked up and tapped Gu Pan on the shoulder.

She was startled, took a step back, and assumed a taekwondo stance, eyeing the unexpected visitor suspiciously, thinking he might be a lunatic.

"Hi, I'm Liu Meng. You're Gu Pan, right?" Liu Meng smiled calmly, trying to appear peaceful and normal, even a bit relaxed.

"Who are you? I don't know you. Where did you come from? Why are you touching me? Trying to get close? Do you want me to beat you up?"

A string of Northeastern dialects shot out of her mouth, leaving Liu Meng speechless.

This girl was truly a Northeastern tiger.

A drop of sweat rolled down Liu Meng's forehead.

"Shut up!"

"Let me speak first."

"I just looked at you and thought you were pretty, so I said hello. That's all."

Liu Meng was angry. He had a very bad impression of Gu Pan and decided not to be polite. He thought, if I can't handle a little girl now, I might as well commit suicide.

Gu Pan was taken aback by his blunt words. She had seen many people trying to chat her up, most of whom were timid and trembling, but none were as aggressive as this guy.

She became even more disgusted, thinking, "Look at yourself. You're so poor, short, and thin. Which mountain did you crawl out of? Do you have the nerve to confess to me?"

"I don't like you. If you were confessing, you're done now. Get lost."

Liu Meng's temper flared. He only had a good temper with polite people. Such a proud woman needed to be struck down, again and again.

"Don't be so smug. I only like your looks a little. Even if you were my girlfriend, I'd still have to think about it. Good looks without substance are just an empty shell."

"You're asking for it. Talking so rudely, do you think I'd be your girlfriend? Even if all the men in the world were dead, I'd rather be blind than choose you. I'll beat you up."

Gu Pan was furious. No one had ever spoken to her like that. She had practiced taekwondo and was ready to attack.

Liu Meng quickly retreated into the main building, saying, "You even curse your own father. How disrespectful. A real man doesn't fight with women. I won't bother with you."

He ran faster, knowing his small frame might not stand a chance against Gu Pan, who was a well-built athlete.

"I need to start running and exercising. I need to grow to 176 cm and develop a six-pack," Liu Meng muttered to himself.

Without a strong body, how could he survive in a place like Northeast China, where tough girls were everywhere?

Gu Pan was increasingly angry as she walked home. What was this? A lunatic's confession? A chat-up? It was disgusting, like stepping on dog poop.

At home, she was still sulking. She took off her shoes and walked into the spacious and luxurious living room. Her mother, noticing her mood, quickly brought her slippers.

"Panpan, what's wrong? Did you argue with Du Yi?"

"No," Gu Pan said stiffly.

"Oh, who made our little treasure angry? Is it Du Yi? I'll go talk to his parents. How dare he bully our Panpan?"

"Mom, it's not Du Yi. Don't worry about it."

"What happened? Tell me, Mom is your best friend, right?"

Gu Pan then told her mother about the encounter with Liu Meng.

Her mother chuckled, trying not to laugh to avoid upsetting Gu Pan, but her face contorted.

"Mom, you're laughing at me. I won't tell you anything again. Humph, be careful, your face might freeze from the Botox."

Her mother's smile vanished, and she touched her cheek, a bit worried. "Is it that serious?" She hugged her daughter and comforted her, "That guy is quite interesting, actually."

"But remember, Du Yi is my chosen son-in-law. I won't accept anyone else! At Ice City University of Technology, be careful. Since Du Yi isn't studying there, I'll keep an eye on you."

Gu Pan pouted and squirmed in her mother's arms, blushing. "Are you my mom or Du Yi's mom? We haven't even done anything yet."

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End of the page.