How I Tamed My Wolfish Husband Back in 80s-Chapter 179 - 181: Renting an Apartment_1

Li Qiao had just finished packing when Zhou Ya asked for her specific contact information at school, "We could become pen pals in the future."

Considering they were from the same hometown, Li Qiao readily agreed, "Sure."

Young people have many topics to talk about, so the journey that followed was no longer dull as they shared amusing stories from their respective schools.

Laughter erupted from time to time.

The next morning, as the two girls got off early, Li Qiao lamented with reluctance, "Happy times are always so fleeting."

Qin Jin could relate deeply, after settling her in, he too had to return to his hometown to attend to his business.

That afternoon, the train reached its final destination, Li Qiao and Qin Jin settled down in a nearby hostel, and early the next morning they went back to the station with big and small bags, spotting a young woman holding a Beijing University sign.

Li Qiao stepped forward to introduce herself.

The young woman pointed to a minibus not far away, "You go wait over there first, and once everyone is here, we’ll set off."

After thanking her, Li Qiao and Qin Jin walked towards the minibus.

Most of the seats on the bus were occupied by both young and old, casting frequent glances at the two of them.

So there were such attractive people at the university.

Those who had partners thought they set up early, and those who were single felt an urge to act.

Li Qiao and Qin Jin sat down at the back of the bus.

A young man in the front row turned around, "Classmates, which department are you in?"

Li Qiao, "Math and Physics."

"The admission score for Math and Physics seems quite high, how much did you score?"

Li Qiao, "I got in through a competition."

"What competition?" The young man, chatty as could be, kept asking.

Qin Jin, looking displeased, "We already said Math and Physics, what more do you want to know?" Making idle talk, are you trying to hit on my girl?

Must be as dumb as a bicycle, needs a kick!

At this moment, the young woman in charge of welcoming new students led a group on board, and the seats filled up quickly.

After a brief exchange with the driver, the young woman closed the bus door.

Once the bus started moving, the conversation ceased and everyone gazed out the windows, admiring the grandeur and bustle of Beijing.

After about half an hour, the bus entered the campus.

Everybody hurried off.

As Li Qiao stepped out, a young man with black-framed glasses offered to help with her luggage. She was about to say she had no luggage for him to carry when Qin Jin put a large bag on the man’s shoulder, "Thanks, comrade, which way do we go now?"

The young man, holding his side, "Your luggage is really heavy."

"It’s less than thirty kilograms, can’t you handle it?" Qin Jin pretended to take it back, and the other, gritting his teeth, thought to himself what kind of stuff made it thirty kilograms to bring to school? He smiled, "It’s just thirty kilos, I can manage. Follow me."

Li Qiao thanked him, and they followed the man in the front, chatting with each other.

The young man wanted to interject but couldn’t, and it dawned on him that this stunningly beautiful girl was taken.

He really wanted to throw the bag off his shoulder, with her tall, robust partner only carrying a small bag, and he, at just one meter seventy, had to carry a large one. Such misfortune!

....

Under the guidance of the young man, Li Qiao registered, reported in, received her dorm key, and collected various living supplies.

Men were not allowed in the girls’ dormitory.

Qin Jin had no choice but to wait outside. Li Qiao carried the bedding into the dorm, where the walls were a stark white, an environment hundreds of times better than their rural middle school.

In their old dormitory courtyard, they had to press a pump to get water; here, there were faucets in the rooms, along with a row of radiators.

She roamed around the dorm, which had four beds in total; the bottom bunks had been made into simple desks, and people would sleep on the top.

She fetched a basin of water, climbed up, and wiped the bed board before just placing the mat. The door to the dorm room opened, and in came two girls about eighteen or nineteen years old.

One wore a white dress and was average in appearance. The other wore a red plaid skirt, had big eyes, an oval face, and looked delicate and pretty, with a fine silver necklace around her neck.

She looked Li Qiao up and down with a critical eye, Li Qiao, in her red dress with a Peter Pan collar and her hair bunched up on top of her head, revealing her whole face—bright and delicate. For some reason, it made her feel very uncomfortable. She put on an air of superiority and asked, "What’s your name?"

Li Qiao honestly answered, "Li Qiao."

"Li as in ’wood’ next to ’bridge’?"

"Li as in ’mountain’ on the side," Li Qiao said. "What are your names?"

The girl in the red plaid skirt suddenly didn’t respond. The girl in the white dress said, "I’m Cheng Shuqin, and this is Xue Sufen, the Top Scholar from our city, with a total score of 690, she got 657 points. What about you?"

This time, it was Li Qiao’s turn to be silent; mentioning her own score would be a blatant show-off.

Xue Sufen suddenly remembered, when the scores were released, she thought she was the top in the country, but her uncle said the true number one hailed from a southern village, missing only one point, and seemed to be named Li Qiao.

She had assumed it was a male classmate, yet it was a girl.

Being outperformed by twenty or thirty points made her even more depressed. Her face darkened as she said, "A real hero doesn’t dwell on past glories; that’s all in the past. It’s the grades in university that really count."

Cheng Shuqin chimed in, "That’s right. Your uncle is a math professor in our department. You’re definitely going to be the top student in our class."

"Why bring up my uncle? People who don’t know might think he’s going to give me special treatment."

Li Qiao was as quiet as a mouse, tidied up her little space, organized her desk, and then went straight out to find Qin Jin.

Xue Sufen said, "Do you think she put powder on her skin? Why is she so pale?"

"Most likely, and her lips are so red because of lipstick, right?" said Cheng Shuqin. "She must be from the countryside. I saw her pull out a floral pouch, wrapping jars and bottles, and it looked like there were dried radishes inside. Such a country bumpkin, does her family not have food, still eating dried radishes?"

"She does look like a country bumpkin."

"...."

Unaware she had been the subject of discussion the moment she left the room, Li Qiao cheerfully rushed to Qin Jin, "Were you getting anxious?"

Qin Jin replied, "Not anxious." It was just a little irritating; in that short time, six young women had come up to him asking which department he was from, wanting his contact to become pen pals, to study together, and to make progress together.

Li Qiao took the rest of her belongings back into the dormitory, placed them in the storage locker, and locked it.

Another roommate arrived, wearing a floral blouse, black trousers, and square canvas shoes, her two big braids hanging over her chest. She looked travel-weary, her face dusty. She bashfully said to the three in the room, "My name is Ma Hongxiang. Are all of you city girls?"

Cheng Shuqin and Xue Sufen, wearing their local pride, arrogantly acknowledged and introduced themselves.

Li Qiao simply stated her name without elaborating, and Cheng Shuqin asked, "Li Qiao, where’s your hometown?"

"It’s a rural area, a small place you wouldn’t have heard of," Li Qiao said and then left.

Cheng Shuqin snorted, "Look at her acting all pretentious!" What’s there for a country person to be proud of?

Ma Hongxiang looked at Cheng Shuqin, thinking to herself that this person was definitely not easy to get along with. Li Qiao didn’t say much, so how was she being pretentious?

....

Li Qiao and Qin Jin ate lunch in the cafeteria and then went out to look for a rental house.

After asking around for an afternoon, they finally found a dilapidated little house with a yard in Hu Family Alley, about a kilometer from the university. There were two bedrooms, each about ten square meters, a kitchen of about five or six square meters, with only a sink that, when turned on, dispensed rusty tap water.