Doing It Over Again

Inside the conspicuous, luxurious Bentley, no one spoke.

The car drove up to the hotel and stopped.
Just as the young man in the suit was about to exit the car and open the door for Shen Shao, Shen Shao opened the door himself and got out.
The young man in the suit could only drag Shen Shao’s suitcase and lead him into the hotel.

“Young Master Shen, this way please.” The young man in the suit pressed the button for the elevator and handed Shen Shao a room card.
“We’ve already paid for the hotel.
Please don’t worry about the cost.
Here’s my business card.
If you need anything, please call me.” As he said this, he also slipped his business card into Shen Shao’s hand.

Shen Shao looked at the card and saw two big gilded characters on it with the name ‘Chen Zhang’.
There was a landline and cell phone number on the bottom, but no job title.

By this time, mobile phones were becoming common in business circles.
The screens were still black and white, the signal wasn’t particularly stable, and there was no choice of color or style, but that didn’t stop people from falling in love with their phones.
Anyway, no matter how ugly they were, they were better than those old-fashioned brick phones people used to carry around.

“Please thank the second young master for his hospitality, but you don’t get something for nothing.
I’ll pay for my room myself.” Shen Shao glanced at the room card.
“You can take this and return it.”

There was only one possible way Shen Shao would accept such a mysterious gift with an easy mind, and that was if his brain turned to mush.
After returning the room card to Chen Zhang, Shen Shao turned around and strode to the front desk.
He took out his ID.
“Hello, are there any rooms available?”

“Please wait a moment.” The front desk clerk had watched the interaction by the door, but she was too well-trained to stare.
She quickly completed the formalities for Shen Shao and offered the room card with two hands.
“Sir, your room is on the left-hand side.
Please take the elevator on the left to your floor.”

“Thank you.” Shen Shao took the room card and slid it into his backpack.
Then he went back and retrieved his suitcase from Chen Zhang.
Smiling, he said, “Thank you very much for the warm reception.
Please convey my gratitude to the second young master.”

Chen Zhang heard the lack of warmth in Shen Shao’s voice and knew that if he tried to do anything more it would only backfire.
If that happened, the second young master might get angry at him too.

“Young Master Shen is too polite.
In that case, I won’t walk you upstairs.” Chen Zhang pressed the button to open the elevator door and made a gesture of invitation.
“Please.”

Seeing that Chen Zhang didn’t intend to follow him, Shen Shao’s annoyance began to fade.
Nodding slightly, he reached out and hit the button for his floor.

After the elevator door closed in front of him, Chen Zhang’s smile collapsed.
He’d expected Shen Shao to be no more than an inexperienced student or a lordling from an ivory tower.
But as it turned out, he wasn’t anything like that.

When Chen Zhang gave his report, Gu NingZhao listened with a stiff face.
“You made him pay for the hotel himself? He didn’t accept the room card?”

Chen Zhang stared at Gu NingZhao in surprise.
When had the second young master ever said more than twenty words in a conversation?

“I could tell he was about to get angry and I was worried he’d resent you, so I was forced to return the room I booked.” Chen Zhang had no idea why the second young master cared so much about a student from a poor area, but he knew how to cater to people and develop things in a good direction.

Gu NingZhao frowned.
The books he read said that if you wanted to be good to someone, you should give them what they need.
What Shen Shao needed right now was a place to live.
How could that make Shen Shao feel resentful?

He scrutinized Chen Zhang, confirmed the other party was speaking in earnest, and slowly lowered his head.
What went wrong?

Chen Zhang was puzzled about why the second young master cared so much about a stranger.
It didn’t fit his usual style at all.

Shen Shao’s hotel was next door to Hua U.
When registration opened, he gathered the documents he needed, fought back his inner excitement, and walked through the gates of the university.

Huaguo University had a long history.
Apparently, during feudal times it was the site of the Imperial College.
Later it transformed into the current Huaguo University.
Many of the majors offered by the school were not only the best in the country, they were among the best in the world.
It was a palace of learning where countless students yearned to study.

It was only a dream in his last life, but in this life it finally came true.
Shen Shao was filled with excitement and more complicated emotions.
As he walked along the broad main path through campus, he was surrounded by the lively atmosphere of the start of the school year.
He heard the bright chatter of students coming and going around him and couldn’t help but smile.

His dream in his last life, getting into Hua U, had finally come true.

On the main path there were a lot of upperclassmen standing by to welcome freshmen.
When they met a new student, they’d check the student’s admission information and escort them to the registration area for their major.

The upperclassman who met Shen Shao was a mild-mannered girl who told him the name and background of the buildings they passed along the way.
When they arrived at the area for information science majors, she handed Shen Shao over to the people in charge of orientation.
Then she said goodbye and left in a hurry.

Shen Shao smiled as he watched the girl leave.
The senior students of the university had a lot of enthusiasm.

“You’re a freshman in our department?” a boy wearing glasses asked Shen Shao in a friendly way.
“Your major is the best and most difficult subject in our branch.
I’ve heard that some of our seniors are working on an aviation base right now, and others are doing software development.
Their products are already famous internationally.”

The young man proudly introduced some of the influential figures in their college and took Shen Shao to pay the registration fee.
Finally, he led Shen Shao to the dormitory building.
“6012, this is your room.
The school requires freshmen to live on campus.
After sophomore year, if you don’t want to live in the dorms anymore, you have to submit an application to the residential life office.
Then you can move out.
Of course, some people continue to pay their room fee every year and just leave it empty, then rent an apartment off-campus.
The university allows all students to choose their own lifestyle, but if anyone breaks the law off-campus, the school won’t cover it up.
The university will expel them immediately.”

All of the dormitory rooms in Huaguo University were for four people, with no exceptions.
If a student was too pampered to accept that kind of communal living arrangement, they’d have to deal with it themselves.
The university’s attitude was to treat everyone equally.
If someone didn’t like dorm life, too bad.

Hua U had no shortage of excellent students.

Shen Shao thanked the upperclassman who escorted him.
Then he turned and pushed open the door to the dorm room.

To his surprise, there was already someone inside, and the room had been cleaned and tidied up.
It didn’t fit his image of a rough-and-ready boys’ dorm room at all.

The skinny boy who was scrubbing the sink with a brush saw him walk in and quickly stopped what he was doing.
He dried his hands and strode over to Shen Shao.
“Hi, I’m Xiong Gang, biology major.”

“Hello,” Shen Shao looked at the young man, who was extremely thin, and found it difficult to match a burly name like ‘Xiong Gang’ with the person he was looking at.
“I’m Shen Shao, majoring in information science.
I thought room assignments were based on majors, but I guess not.”

Xiong Gang saw that despite Shen Shao’s outstanding looks, he was still easy to get along with, and felt relieved.
“I don’t know how it was decided, but we come from all over.
It must be destiny at work.”

“That’s true.” Shen Shao looked over the room and began unpacking his things.
He made his bed and noticed that Xiong Gang had started to wipe down the door to the bathroom.
Shen Shao had excellent eyesight, but no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t see a trace of dirt on the door.
Yet the young man was scrubbing so intently that Shen Shao couldn’t bring himself to discourage him.

Despite Xiong Gang’s magnificent and mighty name, his personality and figure were open and straightforward.

When Xiong Gang was finally satisfied with the cleanliness of their room, the door swung open with a bang.
In the center of the doorway stood a big, sturdy boy with his hands in his trouser pockets.
He nodded at the two of them, then pointed to one of the beds.
“That’s it.”

From behind him, several men and women immediately filed into the room.
They made his bed and put away his clothes, and when they were done they vanished as if by magic, leaving not the slightest trace behind.

“Hi guys.
My name’s Wang Hao.
I’m originally from Mei City, but we moved to the capital three years ago.” Wang Hao fished out a large bag of snacks from his suitcase and put them on the table.
With a trace of embarrassment he added, “Sorry about slamming the door just now.
Hope you don’t mind.
Here are some local specialties my relatives brought from my hometown.
Please try some.”

“Thank you,” Shen Shao said.
He thought to himself that this local tyrant roommate really did seem to have an impressive background.
The boy’s shirt cost at least four figures, but although he was wearing expensive brand name clothing, his attitude was down-to-earth.

Shen Shao thought that this person had a good personality.
He reached over and took a packet of snacks, opened it, and took a bite.
“Delicious!” he praised.

“They’re good, right? That’s an authentic local specialty from Mei City.” Wang Hao ignored the messy suitcase he’d just opened and sat down beside Shen Shao.
He opened another small bag and ate from it, and tossed two bags to Xiong Gang.
“I’m majoring in art and design.
What about you guys?”

When Shen Shao heard this big, burly student dressed in nouveau riche famous brands call himself an art student, Shen Shao felt a sliver of his world view begin to tremble.
He coughed dryly and said, “That’s a good major.
My name’s Shen Shao.
I’m majoring in information science, and Xiong Gang is a biology major.”

Wang Hao gave Xiong Gang a sidelong glance and fought to keep a straight face.
“Your name… has a lot of personality.”

Xiong Gang: ……

Like your name is so great.
Haha.

“Is there anyone else in our dorm who hasn’t come yet?” Wang Hao looked at the empty bed next to Shen Shao’s.
It had a label with a student’s name and major.

“Gu NingZhao, finance…” Wang Hao frowned and scratched his head.
“Why do I think that name sounds familiar?” It felt like he’d heard it multiple times.

Shen Shao also had the feeling he’d heard the name somewhere, but not in the last year or so.
After thinking about it, he shook his head.
China had over a billion people, and duplicate names were common.

“No, I remember.
Isn’t he that famous genius…” Before Wang Hao could finish speaking, the door creaked open.
When he glanced back and saw the new arrival, he swallowed the rest of his words.

Shen Shao also looked over.
With some surprise he saw a young man outside the door surrounded by several bodyguards.
Wasn’t he that mystifying second young master?

They were actually assigned to the same dorm room? Could such a coincidence really be a coincidence? 

Kinda sus.

 

TL Notes:

Imperial College – 国子监 – Directorate of Imperial Academy; the Imperial College, the highest educational administration in feudal China

local tyrant – 土豪 – local tyrant / local strong man / (slang) nouveau riche

big, burly – 五大三粗 – “five big three thick” – big and tall; strapping, burly.
The “five big” are hands, feet, ears, shoulders, and hips, and the “three thick” are waist, legs, and neck (Baidu)

Could such a coincidence really be a coincidence – 界上竟然有如此巧合的事，他们竟然真的像张莉说的那样 – “Could there really be such a coincidence in the world, of the kind Zhang Li said” – Seems to be a quote or reference but I didn’t preserve the exact wording

Kinda sus(picious) – 这不科学 – “This is unscientific/illogical/uncanny”

 

Transliterated names, places, and titles—new in this chapter:

Bentley – 宾利 – Bīnlì

Chen Zhang – 陈章 – Chén Zhāng

Xiong Gang – 熊刚 – Xióng Gāng – Surname 熊, “a bear, brilliant, bright”.
given name 刚, “hard, tough, rigid, strong”.
So his name is basically “Strong Bear”

Wang Hao – 王壕 – Surname 王, “king, royal”, but it’s a common and generic surname that doesn’t sound very regal.
For English speakers I guess the equivalent would be something like “Brown” or “Bush”

Mei City – 煤市 – AKA Coal City – A rich kid surnamed Wang from Coal Town would probably make native readers guess this is the child of an upstart who owns a coal mine, someone with money but not much class

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