Shi Yan reappeared a week later, but he did not meet He Nuo. When he arrived, He Nuo was called to help plan and prepare for the welcoming Freshmen Association and Military Training Reporting Exercise conference by the Publicity Department. Shi Yan sat down with He Nuo’s classmates for a while, talking about their daily exercise time and the intensity of it. The roommates of course reported about He Nuo fainting, Shi Yan was not surprised. He only smiled and shook his head, sighing, “That’s normal. That stubborn personality of his, it’ll be weird if he didn’t faint.”

Shi Hao comforted Shi Yan by saying that He Nuo’s luck wasn’t that bad. The instructor always take care of him now, and the Student Council often come to borrow He Nuo to help, this way he could avoid the high-intensity training. Lao Er had thick eyebrows and big eyes, a majestic bandit king temperament — he said so himself, everyone’s accurate appraisal is the appearance of a stalwart bandit king. So he spoke to Shi Yan with indignance, “One look at our Lao Wu’s pitiful appearance makes people want to protect him, those instructors of course can’t bear to be too harsh on him (Fuck!)¹, the Student Council is also purposely helping him to escape. There’s such a huge gap because someone looks good, it’s so unfair!”

“Er Ge if you refuse to accept it, just pretend to be delicate. As long as you go ahead and do a few hundred stiff push-ups like a corpse.…” Everybody laughed loudly. At this time Lao Er, Meng Tuo caught sight of a girl from class reaching her limit, leaving to take a rest. Lao Er also immediately reported to the shade, in the end this buddy was chatting up the girl, talking animatedly, excitedly forgetting that he was pretending to be weak. His coarse laughter startled the instructors and students who were practising hard on this side. As a result, he was taught a lesson by the instructor, to do push-ups until he collapses on the ground like a corpse.

Shi Yan’s topics revolved around the Student Council, he’s keeping an eye on He Nuo, to judge these roommates of his. Shi Yan’s school majority were hoodlums, going with the flow for their studies, it naturally didn’t matter if they entered the Student Council or not. However, for those who have both knowledge and talent, excellent in both conduct and learning, and wishes to fulfil their ambitions in university, the Student Council is the needed first step. Its far-reaching influence is directly related to the good and bad job assignments after graduation. For Shi Yan they all, students with backgrounds, they did not have to consider the future job assignment; after all, majority of students still had to depend on their own strength.

He Nuo being discovered by the Student Council, it would only be right and proper. Only Shi Yan did not think that he would be discovered in advance at the stage of military training, it certainly couldn’t have been a good appearance. Sticking his neck out, He Nuo is not familiar with the ways of the world, his understanding of worldly wisdom is wrong, and bound to attract other people’s envy without knowing it. He Nuo was defenceless, Shi Yan was afraid he might get back stabbed. Shi Yan’s father once taught him that, the more intellectuals gather at a place, where plenty of talented people are all at a place, the more an individual is prone to paranoia and have a gloomy mentality about their “talent remaining unrecognized”. The thing that happened shortly afterwards, proved that Shi Yan was not worrying unnecessarily. He Nuo also learnt his first lesson from University, realising that University was not as cheerful as it seems.

Fortunately, Lao Er seemed to just have that straightforward nature, he said it bitterly but there wasn’t true jealousy seen. Towards Lao Si, Shi Hao, his impression of him was the best, it felt like he was very sincere. Shi Yan left six boxes of supplements behind, asking Shi Hao to pass it for him. He then asked Shi Hao to tell He Nuo to wait for a month first, then start on these two boxes, if not there’ll be too much internal heat and He Nuo wouldn’t be able to stand it. Only then did Shi Hao understood why when the previous ones were finished, Shi Yan didn’t come to send more over.

The posters made by He Nuo and the others stood out among the posters from other institutes, because regardless of theme or the beautiful writing it was all handled by He Nuo, the seniors all praised him. He Nuo came back after eating dinner together with the Student Council members. They were starting to become familiar with one another, because of the department heads and counsellors’ actions which did not differentiate between seniors and juniors. He Nuo also knows that the counsellors were their seniors before the holidays, due to being dissatisfied with their major, they gave up the school’s guarantee to be a postgraduate. Choosing the second best option and becoming a counsellor, planning to prepare themselves for the major which they fancy in first-rate universities — International Economic Law.

Knowing that Shi Yan came, it was a little surprising that he didn’t wait for himself, not knowing what to say about his current state of mind. He stood silently in front of the open door, putting the things on the left side properly, a stack of five cartons on the right side. It was the second time Shi Yan brought things over, no wonder he agreed so happily that time. Inside there were two boxes of snacks, two boxes of pickled vegetables and minced meat, and in the last box was unexpectedly a bunch of colourful ball-point pens, a number of toothpaste, toothbrush and scented soap. All these were enough to last He Nuo for a long time. None of it has been used by He Nuo, he didn’t dare to accept Shi Yan’s feelings.

On National Day, because there was still two weeks left for the military training, homes nearby or far had the same treatment, all the freshmen did not have holidays. Shi Yan and his buddies all went back home, and he even went to He Nuo’s home, informing the He family that he would come back six days later (School only gave three days of holiday, it was extended by Shi Yan they all themselves), if they had anything to give to He Nuo, he was willing to help. At He Nuo’s home, he chatted well with the He family’s couple and the several brothers, speaking highly of both A University and He Nuo. Due to He Nuo only calling once ever since he reported, afterwards he only wrote letters back, and he only wrote greetings, when it came to himself he only said a simple fine. This kind of general statement, “Schoolmates are fine, teachers are fine, military training is fine.” After reading finish the letter, it was almost like nothing was said. So it wasn’t as specific as what Shi Yan said, knowing that Shi Yan even visited He Nuo, the family members expressed their thanks to this kid at the same time, also politely asking Shi Yan to give advice to the “naughty”² He Nuo.

Shi Yan they all returned to school together, wanting the driver to first send three people to A University. When Shi Yan, Qiu Linsong and Wang Feng reached He Nuo’s dormitory, there was a lot of noise going on inside. Originally next weekend was the military training’s showcase, parade and actual combat drill. He Nuo was appointed as a flag guard and was issued a dress uniform separately. Shi Yan was happy for He Nuo, and He Nuo blushed. He was nervous for himself, playing such a prominent role for the first time, “I don’t know why me, I’m not very tall.”

Indeed, last year’s military training flag-bearer chosen was 180cm in height, the two flag guards were 178cm. And on the physical examination form when He Nuo they all entered the school, He Nuo’s height was 174cm. He Nuo didn’t know that the counsellor appointed him as a flag guard, and in order to accommodate him, the other two people this year were also 175cm.

Qiu Linsong they all did not have such a formal military training experience, hearing that there was a drill, they all expressed interest in it. He Nuo not having said anything yet, his roommates already enthusiastically telling them that the parades and drills are in the stadium and they can act as old students to go in. Shi Yan gave him a heavy bag that was entrusted by the He family, the weight making He Nuo suspicious, but he didn’t open it on the spot.

t/n:
I had a lot of troubles with this chapter rip so many words which I didn’t get the meaning of, also I am slightly scared of what’s going to happen next, from that two sentences. What do yall think? Also I think some of the roommates have names but are rarely mentioned apart from SH I think, unless it’s not a name 

¹ (Fuck!): originally it was (C ! O 一声) which I think is censoring 操 (Cao), a swear word equivalent to fuck and he was sort of like exclaiming it after he said 狠操 (Hen Cao), so it’s like a double meaning I suppose.
² “naughty”: 不懂事 (Bu Dong Shi), not exactly naughty but more of not knowing better.