037 The Dorm Room Ranking
Their dormitory was on the fourth floor, room 414.
Fu Hanwen, Wang Ke, and Tang Hexing climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. Even as they opened the door and entered the dorm, they still felt a bit dazed.
They sat down at their respective desks and habitually turned on their computers, but gradually they found… for some reason, the games suddenly weren’t fun anymore.
Fu Hanwen canceled his ranked match queue, wandered over behind Wang Heng, and peeked at his screen. He was instantly blinded.
“What is this… Unity3D?” Fu Hanwen was shocked. “School hasn’t even started, and you’re already studying on your own?”
Hearing this, Wang Ke and Tang Hexing also gathered around.
Wang Heng looked back at his three roommates and explained, “It’s normal. You know I’m about to go work for someone, and I need knowledge in this area.”
Fu Hanwen: “You’re about to start working, but you’re just sharpening your spear now. Isn’t it too late?”
Wang Heng: “It’s okay. I’ve looked into this area a bit before. I’m just picking it back up now.”
“Looked into it a bit before…” The corner of Fu Hanwen’s mouth twitched.
Wang Ke couldn’t help but ask curiously, “By the way, why did they choose you? Do you know someone at Penguin Company?”
“I guess so. I already did some work for them during the summer vacation, wrote some code, and earned a little money. It’s probably because they feel that finding people on freelance platforms is not very reliable, so they asked me to work for them again.”
Wang Heng said it so casually that his roommates looked at each other in dismay.
As someone with the psychological age of a man approaching thirty, he of course knew that he was suspected of showing off. But he had already thought about it while climbing the stairs. Instead of forcibly pretending to be weak, it was better to establish a persona in the eyes of those around him from the beginning, letting others understand that his coding skills were far beyond that of a freshman. It was a strategy that killed three birds with one stone.
On one hand, this would give him more freedom at school and be more advantageous when competing for certain opportunities. On the other hand, he could also use the image of a wooden person who “only understands code and not romance” to reject any potential romantic disasters he might encounter. Of course, there was another point, which was that showing off like this was indeed quite satisfying…
Tang Hexing picked up the new C language textbook the school had issued, flipped through a few pages, pointed to a certain line, and asked a question:
“Can you tell me why this line has to be written here?”
Wang Heng glanced at it and explained casually, “Oh, that’s a preprocessor command. Simply put, this thing declares to the C system that it needs to insert the code from another file. You can understand it separately: #include is a command, and what follows is the filename the command requires. This file is a header file, the standard input/output function library…”
Tang Hexing’s mouth was slightly agape. As he listened, he suddenly felt as if he had been enlightened.
Wang Ke and Fu Hanwen, on the other hand, looked completely bewildered, having no idea what the two of them were discussing. They could only look at the cover of the textbook in Tang Hexing’s hand and guess that the topic was something from the C language.
After a while, Wang Heng finished his explanation, and Tang Hexing silently retreated to the side with his textbook.
Fu Hanwen asked again, “Big Bro, did you get in through the college entrance exam?”
Wang Heng nodded.
Fu Hanwen was on the verge of questioning his life. “That’s not right! The college entrance exam is so tiring. Just the stuff for Chinese, Math, English, and Science is enough to fry your brain. And you still taught yourself programming?”
Wang Heng said calmly, “Because for me, it’s not really self-study. It’s just out of interest, playing with code.”
Fu Hanwen and Wang Ke looked at each other and saw a similar complexity in each other’s eyes.
Wang Ke sighed. “Big Bro, you’re really… awesome!”
Wang Heng chuckled, turned back, and continued to read his book.
Clearly, there was no need to say anything more. The geek persona had been preliminarily established.
He was about to continue reading when he heard the notification sound of a text message on his phone. He opened it and saw a new message from Pei Ningle:
【Found a job! Do you want to come and listen to me sing tonight?】
He didn’t need to guess to know that it was another short-term job like a bar singer. Wang Heng was about to refuse directly, but halfway through writing the message, the girl actually called him.
He answered the call and heard the girl’s energetic voice:
“I’ve made an agreement with the bar owner. I’m going to try out tonight. If it goes well, he’ll give me some money on the spot, and then I’ll have work every night!”
“Work every night…” Wang Heng couldn’t help but retort, “Don’t you think that phrasing is a bit ambiguous?”
“What ambiguity?” The girl was stunned for a moment, then realized. “Oh, you mean that? Tsk, tsk, your mind is so dirty!”
Wang Heng: “Before you say my mind is dirty, the environment you’re going to is very complicated. Even if you assume the worst of others, you might not be able to guess their lower limits.”
Pei Ningle: “What do you mean? Are there that many bad people in bars?”
Wang Heng thought for a moment and explained, “A bar that needs to find a temporary singer probably isn’t deserted. And as long as it’s a somewhat popular bar, most of the customers who come to spend money are people who are unwilling to be lonely. You can’t say these people are bad, but the environment is complicated, people’s hearts are hard to fathom, and in a big forest, there are all kinds of birds. Besides, when people drink, their rationality is weaker, and they often get into trouble on impulse. Do you understand?”
The girl on the other end of the line was silent for a dozen seconds before saying in a low voice, “You’re right. I’ve also encountered disgusting guys in bars in the Imperial Capital before… But even if I’m scared, I have to go. Otherwise, how can I work and earn money?”
Wang Heng: “Well, you’re just a singer anyway, and you won’t be responsible for drinking with customers, so it should be fine. Good luck then.”
Pei Ningle: “But you can come with me! Then it will be safe!”
Wang Heng: “Huh?”
The girl’s voice was full of expectation. “Think about it. I’m a girl going to a bar to sing. How dangerous is it to be alone? But it’s different with you. I feel particularly at ease with you. Even when we ran into a kidnapper, it was no problem!”
Wang Heng was speechless.
Pei Ningle: “Please, please, I’m begging you, okay?”
Wang Heng answered with difficulty, “Alright…”
“Yay! That’s great! It’s a deal then. I’m almost at your school gate. Come out quickly!”
The girl hung up the phone happily.
Wang Heng put down his phone numbly and saw Fu Hanwen giving him a thumbs-up.
“Big Bro, we discussed it while you were on the phone. We heard that many dorms used to rank by age, with titles like ‘Eldest,’ ‘Second,’ ‘Third,’ and so on. We think that ranking by age is too subjective.”
Wang Heng: “So?”
Fu Hanwen continued, “It doesn’t matter how the three of us are ranked, but you have to be the Eldest Brother.”
Tang Hexing: “That’s right! When it comes to picking up girls, Big Bro has to teach us step by step!”
Wang Ke: “I don’t need to pick up girls, but you can teach me how to program.”
Wang Heng: “…Fine. I’ll talk to you guys when I get back tonight.”
Fu Hanwen quickly waved his hands. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Big Bro doesn’t need to worry about our feelings. It’s totally fine for you to spend the night out with a girl!”
Tang Hexing: “Exactly. We heard you just now. You’re going to a bar. After getting a girl drunk, there will definitely be a next step. Go for it, Big Bro!”
Walking out of the dormitory, Wang Heng could only sneer silently, already at a loss for words.
