Chapter 38: Can’t Move It at All

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Can’t Move It at All

After finishing their meal, the two of them took their trays to the return station.

"Wait for me a second."

Song Jianye turned and walked over to the cold noodle window, then swiped her meal card on the reader.

She just swiped it once and walked away.

"What was that for?"

"I was checking my balance. I forgot to look when I bought the noodles."

As she spoke, Song Jianye took out her phone and typed a few numbers into her budgeting app.

13931.5 - 500 = 13431.5

Chen Yuan: ’???’

’Serves me right for being nosy. I shouldn’t have looked.’

After leaving the cafeteria, Song Jianye stood at the entrance, shielding her eyes from the blazing sun with her hands.

"The theory test is at one this afternoon. What should we do now? Want to go to the library and review a little more?"

"No, there’s no need," Chen Yuan said.

"My mom sent me some stuff. Come with me to pick it up."

"Okay."

It was Saturday, and his austerity plan hadn’t started yet, so Chen Yuan bought two lemonades, and they headed to the delivery center together.

"Do you need me to help you carry anything?"

Song Jianye walked slowly, dragging her feet as her mind raced.

’What if he finds out I’m really strong while we’re carrying things?’

’I wouldn’t seem like a gentle girl then.’

’Tingting is so annoying.’

’I just accidentally bumped her head that day, why did she have to say it was like an "immortal caressing my crown, with enough force to crack my skull"!’

"I can handle it myself, you don’t need to help."

"Good, because I can’t carry it anyway."

Chen Yuan looked at Song Jianye. "We haven’t even seen it yet. How do you know you can’t carry it?"

"I just can’t, that’s all. I’m not very strong."

Chen Yuan thought back to when they sold the old cardboard boxes. ’She’d lifted a twenty-two-pound box with just one hand.’

Taking their time, the two of them arrived at the delivery center.

Song Jianye’s arrival drew a lot of attention.

It wasn’t every day you got to see the campus belle, a figure who usually only existed on the school’s online confession page.

Comparisons are odious. Standing there, Song Jianye exuded the air of a beautiful young maiden, looking as though she’d stepped right out of a comic book.

Chen Yuan’s attention, however, was focused on the packages.

The room and the doorway were piled high with packages large and small. After searching for a bit, he finally found the rice his mom had sent.

There were two large boxes in total, each containing two smaller boxes.

Chen Yuan had already planned it all out: one large box for Uncle Zhang, and the other for Song Jianye’s advisor.

’As for his own advisor, Lao Wang, he’d just give him something next time.’

He opened one to take a look. The packaging was quite elegant; it was definitely nice enough to be given as a gift.

The only thing was, Comrade Li’s words had left him a little confused.

One minute, he’d said it was special stuff you couldn’t buy anywhere; the next, he’d said it sold for over thirty yuan a pound. Chen Yuan wasn’t sure what to believe.

Song Jianye crouched down and looked at the rice in the box. She picked one of the smaller packages up to have a look, but upon feeling its considerable weight, she quickly put it back down.

’Can’t let him find out I’m strong.’

’Can’t lift it. Can’t lift it at all...’

But she was also torn, a mess of contradictions.

’Will he think I’m just a lazy girl?’

"So, what’s the plan for the rice?"

Song Jianye took out a small fan and fanned Chen Yuan, as if to make up for her guilt over not helping with the manual labor.

"We’ll give two boxes to your advisor, so he’ll look out for you at school. The rest will go to Uncle Zhang; he can decide what to do with them," Chen Yuan said.

"Call your advisor. Just tell him we’re in the parking lot and ask him to come over. We can load them directly into his car then."

"I’m the student and he’s the teacher. Is he really going to come just because I ask him to? Maybe we should go to him instead."

"Going to him wouldn’t be right. Just tell him we’re in the parking lot. He’ll understand what it’s about. He’ll definitely come," Chen Yuan said.

"And while you’re at it, ask him where his car is parked and for the license plate number."

"Oh, okay."

Song Jianye stepped aside to make the call while Chen Yuan stood and waited for her advisor to arrive.

’Anyone who’s made it to an advisor position has probably gotten plenty of these calls over the years. If you know, you know.’

Song Jianye came back a moment later.

"You were right!"

"Right about what?"

"I did what you said and asked Teacher Wu to come over, and he said he’s on his way," Song Jianye said.

"I was so worried he’d think I was being disrespectful."

"I doubt he would. Besides, didn’t you say he treats you well?"

"He does. When we were electing class officers, he even encouraged me to run."

"See? So we should show our appreciation."

Song Jianye didn’t really understand these social complexities. ’I’ll just do whatever Chen Yuan says.’

"Teacher Wu said his car is near the flowerbeds by the east gate. He said it’s a Corolla, license plate 23J92."

"Let’s go find it."

Chen Yuan carried the boxes of rice and headed toward the location.

Seeing Chen Yuan struggling, Song Jianye wanted to help but was afraid of giving herself away.

’This is so frustrating!’

’Why can’t a girl be strong *and* gentle?!’

The advisor’s car was easy to find. Chen Yuan carried the two large boxes over to it.

He placed one box in plain sight and hid the other.

Uncle Zhang would be coming to pick them up for the theory test soon, so he would just give it to him then.

Just then, Chen Yuan heard someone call his name.

"Chen Yuan, what are you doing here?"

Chen Yuan looked over at the sound of the voice.

It was his own advisor, Wang Shoucheng, approaching with car keys in hand.

’What’s he doing here?’

He glanced at the boxes he was holding.

’Well, this complicates things...’

In Chen Yuan’s eyes, Lao Wang was a quintessential middle-class Chinese man.

He had a stable job, a wife and kid at home, wasn’t particularly tall, had an okay personality, and a decent income. He was also one of those rare advisors who was a real hard-ass about academics.

In his speeches, he’d basically defined undergraduate students as an invasive species—there were just too many of them, flooding the market.

Getting a master’s degree was the only way forward; when it came to job hunting, a master’s was the only degree that would get you in the door.

As for a Ph.D., he claimed it wasn’t really necessary. The two were more or less the same, so a master’s was basically enough.

At the start of the semester, everyone had taken Lao Wang’s words as gospel. They thought he had a point and planted the seed of pursuing a master’s degree in their minds. Getting a Ph.D., on the other hand, became a non-issue.

They only found out later that he himself had graduated with a master’s and failed to get into a doctoral program. Otherwise, he would’ve been saying, "All who are beneath a Ph.D. are but ants."

And if he ever did get one, he’d probably start saying that Ph.D.s were the absolute best, and anyone who went on to do a post-doc was a total loser.

But no matter what, encouraging everyone to study hard wasn’t a bad thing. His only flaw was that he took it a bit too far.

He’d probably stop a passing dog and make it go home to memorize a few English words—at the very least, it should know how to spell "dog."

"Teacher Wang."

"What are you doing here?"

Wang Shoucheng pressed the button on his key fob, and the lights of the Volkswagen Jetta parked right next to them flashed.

’Holy crap.’

’They’re parked right next to each other.’

"I was just waiting for you, actually," Chen Yuan said with a chuckle.

"My mom sent me some rice that she says you can’t buy in stores, and I was planning on bringing it over to you."

...