Hello, Mr. Major General

“Yep, you don’t have to call me if you’re busy. I think we have a class meeting tonight anyway.” Gu Nianzhi remembered Miao Yunxiao telling her during the day that they were in the same class and there would be a meeting in the evening.

Huo Shaoheng nodded his head slowly. “Is this going to be an overnight meeting? Call me before going to bed so I’m not worrying about you.”

“Ok.” Gu Nianzhi’s heart warmed, reluctant to see him go. “I’ll walk you outside.”

“That’s fine.” Huo Shaoheng stopped her. “I’m going to leave after I go downstairs.”

“I know, but I’ll see you off anyway.” Gu Nianzhi refused to let go of Huo Shaoheng’s arm. “I’ll walk you downstairs. This is my home now and you’re my guest; of course I have to see you off.” Seeing how persistent that Gu Nianzhi was, Huo Shaoheng stopped refusing and walked to the elevator with her.

Miao Yunxiao shook her head wordlessly and slammed the door shut. Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng took the elevator down to the first floor.

Huo Shaoheng turned to Gu Nianzhi and said, “Call Big Xiong of you’re uncomfortable in any way; he’s always been in charge of contacting anyone on the outside. He can solve any problems right away and if he can’t handle it he’ll let me know.”

“There won’t be trouble.” Gu Nianzhi was very confident in her postgrad career. “I never had to bother Brother Xiong about anything during my undergrad, so I don’t see why it would be different for the postgrad.”

“Good.” Huo Shaoheng didn’t say anything more and merely nodded at Gu Nianzhi before hurrying down the steps and getting into the car. The driver quickly drove away in a rush.

Gu Nianzhi watched Huo Shaoheng’s car disappear, worried about any possible problems he might have at work. Taking out her phone, she meant to call Zhao Liangze to ask him about it, but thought about how Huo Shaoheng’s work involved state secrets and was highly classified. It wouldn’t do for her to go poking around. After considering for a long time, she finally put her phone away and went back to the dormitory, worry heavy on her mind. When she arrived to her dorm, she pushed the door but it refused to open. Gu Nianzhi took out the key but the door still wouldn’t budge: she soon realized that it had been dead bolted. Gu Nianzi had just seen Miao Yunxiao open her door and walk out earlier, so she couldn’t make this deliberation any more more obvious. Gu Nianzhi pursed her lips and knocked on the door so hard the whole hallway could hear her. Several students popped their heads out to see what was going on.

Miao Yunxiao also heard it from inside the room and was so angry her whole body shook. She wrenched the door open and whispered furiously at Gu Nianzhi, “What are you trying to do?! Must you embarrass yourself even more?!”

“I can say the same back to you,” Gu Nianzhi replied coldly. “You knew I was out and purposely bolted the door. What do you want me to do?”

“You just brought a man here; I had to protect myself.” Miao Yunxiao couldn’t find a rebuttal nor raise her voice. She looked particularly guilty.

“What do you mean I brought “a man” home? I clearly walked him out!” Gu Nianzhi clenched her jaw. This girl was getting on her nerves. “Classmate Miao, what do you think about all day? If you shake your head, do you hear the sound of the ocean?”

Miao Yunxiao didn’t have a sharp tongue and was confused by Gu Nianzhi, “I don’t understand what you mean? Why would I hear the ocean if I shook my head? We don’t live by the ocean?”

Gu Nianzhi snorted. “That is my point: stop bringing up ridiculous things that have nothing to do with each other.”

Miao Yunxiao didn’t like being made the fool. “I had told you the first time I saw you: a person like you won’t get along with other students. You can go to the faculty and request to move to a different dorm if you don’t want to live with me.” She turned around, a smug look flashing across her face as she mumbled quietly, “The dorm building 4 seems to have a spot, maybe that’s a good option.”

Gu Nianzhi froze. She now knew why Miao Yunxiao had been giving her dirty looks since they’d met—turns out she was forcing her to move out. Gu Nianzhi followed Miao Yunxiao back to the dorm and asked casually, “What happened to your old roommate?”

“I didn’t have one before—!” Miao Yunxiao blurted out and shut her mouth with annoyance before changing the topic. “Who I lived with before is not your business.”

Gu Nianzhi smiled. “You can go the faculty and request for a different dorm if you don’t like living with me. I never said I wanted to leave.” She went inside her room and slammed the door shut.

Miao Yunxiao had enjoyed living in the two bedroom and one living room unit for six months, so no wonder she didn’t want a roommate. Gu Nianzhi decided to ignore any of Miao Yunxiao’s further provocations and went to her bathroom to wash her face and apply a face mask. She sat in before her desk and turned on her computer to start preparing for class the next day. Yin Shixiong had sent the class schedule to her. She read through it carefully and figured out she was in Class 1 of the Faculty of Law postgrad students. Her instructor was He Zhichu and she was the only masters student being mentored by him. All professional classes would be taught by him one-on-one at his office. Three public academic credits were required in the Master of Law degree at B University, but He Zhichu had used her six month internship at the US Congress as an equivalent for the three public credits. In other words, Gu Nianzhi only needed to complete 40 credits of professional courses to obtain her degree. Each course was three credits so she needed 10 classes to earn 30 credits. If He Zhichu could reasonably arrange her schedule, she could complete all ten courses within a year and graduate early. She looked at the computer and made the plans happily. She decided to email He Zhichu directly to inquire about graduating earlier.

Soon after the email was sent, Gu Nianzhi received a call from He Zhichu. “Nianzhi? Are you on campus now?” He Zhichu’s voice sounded in the phone, flat as always.

Gu Nianzhi was a bit nervous but calmed down when she heard He Zhichu’s indifferent tone. “Yeah, I came in this morning and just unpacked in the dorm room.” Gu Nianzhi thought about it and decided to thank He Zhichu. “Professor He, thank you for arranging this dorm room for me. It’s very spacious and I really like it.” Although the roommate wasn’t great, but that wasn’t He Zhichu’s fault. Gu Nianzhi wouldn’t take this out on him.

He Zhichu smiled faintly. “This is the only grad student dorm building with two-person suites, so it’s ighly sought after. All other buildings are four-person suites so I thought you’d like something a little more private.”

Gu Nianzhi actually wouldn’t have minded a four-person dorm at all since that’s what she had occupied during her undergraduate years at C University. She had gotten along so well with her three roommates and still kept in touch with them; But, in the grad student dorm, with Miao Yunxiao as her only inkling as to what others could be like, Gu Nianzhi wasn’t inclined to try a four-person dorm. It could only be said that she had been too lucky during her undergrad to meet great friends like Green Tea Fang, Little Temptress, and Lady Cao. Gu Nianzhi thought about her previous classmates and said to He Zhichu, “Professor He, thank you for helping me. I did want to live in a two-person dorm.” She half joked, “Actually, I don’t even mind living alone.” She was no longer scared of living alone; she wouldn’t have dared to six months ago.

He Zhichu laughed. “Tomorrow is the first day of class; do you know where the classroom is?”

Gu Nianzhi went straight to business. “I just saw the class schedule, and I had sent Professor He an email to ask if it’s possible for me to graduate early?”

“This is just your first day of school. It’s too early to be thinking of graduating early. We can talk about this later.” He Zhichu became curt and ended the call.

Gu Nianzhi tried speaking into the phone several times before confirming that He Zhichu had already hung up. While she was debating whether or not to call him back, she heard a knock on the main door of the suite.

Miao Yunxiao went to open the door and saw that it was their class rep, Yan Kehua. “Yunxiao, is the new classmate living with you here?” Yan Kehua asked with a smile and peered inside the room.

“Yes.” Miao Yunxiao answered rigidly as she turned to point. “She lives in that room.”

Gu Nianzhi was just opening the door to see Miao Yunxiao and a petite girl standing in the living room. The class reps eyes were kind and playful. “You’re Gu Nianzhi? I’ve heard lots about you! It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She enthusiastically shook hands with Gu Nianzhi.