036 Wishing My Roommates a Happy Military Training
After sending Pei Ningle to the express hotel, Wang Heng didn’t stay for a single minute and immediately returned to the school. His three roommates were already fast asleep.
He tiptoed back to his own bed, and then, the night finally passed peacefully.
Early the next morning, the counselor came to their dormitory.
The counselor was a young man with a simple appearance, surnamed Liu, so the freshmen in the class all called him Teacher Liu.
“How are you adapting to the school environment? If you have any problems, just let me know. I’m here to inform everyone that military training will begin tomorrow. If any of you have special circumstances and need to ask for leave, just let me know, okay? Oh, and you all have Q numbers, right? This is the class group. You can also talk about things in there in the future.”
The three roommates answered in unison:
“Understood, Teacher Liu.”
“No problem, teacher!”
“We got it.”
Teacher Liu nodded, turned to leave, and went to the next dormitory.
Last night, Wang Heng was the last to go to sleep, so naturally, he was also the last to wake up. His three roommates were either playing on their phones or on their computers. Only he was still lying in bed. He had just opened his eyes when he heard the counselor’s voice.
Then he sat up, got out of bed to get dressed, and was met with teasing from his roommates.
Fu Hanwen: “Yo, the love saint didn’t spend the night out?”
Tang Hexing: “Yeah, we all thought you wouldn’t be back last night.”
“How is that possible?” Wang Heng replied perfunctorily, trying to change the subject. “By the way, do you guys know how long our military training is?”
Fu Hanwen lowered his head and continued to play on his phone. “I don’t know.”
Wang Ke handed him a piece of paper. “I suggest you ask the counselor. This is the class Q group number he just put on the table. Add it and ask him.”
Wang Heng thought that made sense, so he picked up his phone, entered the number on the paper, searched for the class group, and sent a request to join.
In less than two seconds, the request was approved, and Wang Heng was in. There weren’t many students in the group yet, only 12 people including the counselor. A quick scan of the profile pictures and nicknames made him estimate that they were most likely all boys.
A STEM major in a STEM school—this was what made Wang Heng feel so at ease.
Suddenly, the notification sound for a new Q message rang. He opened it and saw it was from Lu Qi:
【Are you about to start military training?】
Wang Heng: 【It starts tomorrow.】
Lu Qi: 【That’s a bit troublesome. I was just about to say that the mobile game project here has started, and I need you to help out.】
Wang Heng: 【I’m also very conflicted…】
Lu Qi: 【You don’t want to do military training?】
Wang Heng: 【How many people actually like military training?】
Of course, he remembered the experience of military training at the beginning of his freshman year. In his memory, the military training wasn’t that unbearable, and there was even some fun in it—but that was entirely based on the premise that he wouldn’t have to go through it again. If he had to do it all over again, his feelings would be completely different.
So, a dozen seconds later, the message from Lu Qi made Wang Heng freeze.
【Do you want me to submit an application for you to take leave from military training and come work at the Penguin building?】
In the stuffy heat of September in Rongdu, standing at attention and marching on the training ground, or writing code in an air-conditioned office building? These two choices… no, in Wang Heng’s eyes, this couldn’t even be called a choice.
He replied without hesitation: 【Please send me an offer, a formal part-time offer for a current student. Thank you very much!】
Lu Qi: 【I’ll write an application letter for you in the official format of Penguin Company. An internship offer.】
Wang Heng: 【Yes, yes, thank you so much!】
Lu Qi: 【I can see you really don’t like military training. Alright, leave this to me. You should start by reading a book on Unity3D. We’ll be using it for game development.】
Wang Heng: 【No problem.】
Closing the chat window, Wang Heng stretched with great ease, feeling as if the sunlight outside the window had become even brighter.
**
At a little after five in the afternoon, the four boys from the same dorm finished dinner in the cafeteria and were walking back to their dorm, chatting leisurely.
The content of the chat gave Wang Heng a very strange feeling. After all, in terms of psychological age, there was a bit of a gap between him and his roommates. And when those popular phrases that had long since fallen silent in his memory were spoken so seriously by his roommates, the feeling was even more indescribable.
Tang Hexing: “There are really so few girls in our school… And they’re all concentrated in the School of Economics and Management. For us computer science students, how many girls can there be in our class?”
Wang Ke: “I heard the male-to-female ratio in our school is something like ten to one?”
Fu Hanwen couldn’t help but exclaim, “So exaggerated? Me and my little buddies are all shocked!”
Wang Heng, who was beside them, was silent, feeling as if he had a lot to complain about but couldn’t get it out. And just then, Wang Ke hit him with another critical strike.
This tall and handsome guy said in a transcendent tone, “What’s the big deal? Anyway, the girls in university are all old women to me.”
Fu Hanwen immediately retorted, “We all know you’re a lolicon, but we really didn’t know you use such old slang.”
Tang Hexing nodded in agreement. “It’s really old.”
Wang Ke was suddenly a little confused. “No way? I feel like it just became popular not long ago?”
Fu Hanwen looked at Wang Heng and asked, “What do you think?”
Wang Heng: “…It’s okay, look on the bright side. In another ten years, all these words will become antiques.”
Chatting idly, the four of them had already arrived at the dormitory building.
At this moment, Tang Hexing took out his phone to check the class group, and instantly froze, standing rooted to the spot.
Noticing his strange behavior, Fu Hanwen turned his head and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
Tang Hexing looked at his phone and then at Wang Heng, his voice trembling. “You guys, look at the class group…”
The other three also took out their phones, opened the class group, and saw Teacher Liu’s notice:
【Student Wang Heng has received an invitation from Penguin Company and will be working there part-time for a period of time, so he is unable to participate in military training. If other students have similar reasonable requests, you can also let me know. Our school is not rigid and inflexible and will not hinder the development of students for the sake of rules and regulations. In addition, if any students have physical conditions, please report them to me in a timely manner, but falsification is strictly prohibited. Military training is very hard, but it will become a precious asset in your lives. I hope everyone will cherish this opportunity.】
Fu Hanwen and Wang Ke also stared blankly at Wang Heng.
The Q chat they were using was from Penguin Company. In the domestic internet industry, it was one of the undisputed big three. To get a position in a company like this after graduation was practically the career dream of computer science students like them—but Wang Heng had already tasted the dream? And it was at the very beginning of his freshman year, before he had even attended a single class?
Wang Heng smiled slightly. “Aiya, to miss such a precious opportunity for military training, what a pity…”
