True Solution of the Sword Dao

"Your dorm is in Ningyuan Garden, you’re lucky it’s all nearby and not far. No need to walk a long distance," Senior Sister Wang carried Lin Fei’s belongings with good cheer and led the way to Ningyuan Garden.

The male and female dormitory areas were located in different sections, and with Senior Sister Wang’s help, Lin Fei easily found the dorm he’d been assigned to. Ningyuan Garden looked just like an ordinary dormitory building from the outside, but upon entering, Lin Fei discovered the interior environment was quite nice. The clean and tidy white corridors of the dorm were gently infused with the scent of air freshener on each floor. The boys coming up and down the stairs were also mostly dressed neatly.

"Don’t be fooled by their appearances now, they’re not usually like this. It’s only because there are more girls coming and going during this time," Senior Sister Wang whispered disdainfully. "You better not let them corrupt you. I really like clean boys," she leaned in close to Lin Fei and said with a smile.

Lin Fei unconsciously stepped away from her. "Senior Sister," he said softly to remind her.

Senior Sister Wang’s face turned red. She also realized she had gotten a bit too close.

Lin Fei’s dorm room was on the fourth floor, near the stairwell. There were a few other pairs carrying things upstairs, seemingly senior students assisting freshmen, some of which were stylishly dressed boys. Others, whose packaging wasn’t up to the mark, could only move up slowly, burdened with their belongings.

The whole stairwell was quite cool.

Naturally, Lin Fei’s dorm room was very refreshing too, with the door unlocked and wide open.

Lin Fei and Senior Sister Wang, carrying their things, entered just in time to see a tall boy being helped by his parents to arrange his bed. The family was also speaking an incomprehensible dialect.

The dorm was a four-person room, and it seemed the other roommates hadn’t arrived yet. This guy was apparently the first.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the boy and his parents all turned their heads in unison.

"Yo! Is the new guy here!" The first roommate who arrived immediately put on a habitual smile, though it didn’t seem very natural, and had a bit of a fake vibe to it. His face was oily, with a large pimple on the left side, small eyes, and a large nose, giving him the appearance of the typical alcoholic’s bulbous nose. Although he seemed to have put some effort into his hair—sporting a fresh buzzcut and a dab of gel, possibly styled—regrettably, his looks just deducted all his points.

"Hello," Lin Fei said with a polite smile. "Hello, uncle and auntie."

The boy’s parents seemed to feel somewhat self-conscious, exuding an overly humble air. Their attire didn’t suggest they came from a well-off family either. They returned Lin Fei’s politeness with smiles and continued arranging their son’s things.

"Dude, just pick a bed for now, we who came earlier follow this rule: take a spot first, our registration later will follow this exact arrangement." The guy approached proactively, his speech peppered with a somewhat awkward local accent; his Mandarin was not very standard.

"Thanks," Lin Fei, who was originally not much for talking, or rather, didn’t enjoy it, especially after learning swordsmanship, liked this even less. In both his past and present lives, he was the type that had to keep some distance from both classmates and friends, a moderate amount of space made him feel comfortable. Actually, everyone needs their own personal space when socializing. It’s just that Lin Fei’s requirements for it were a bit larger than most people’s.

There are actually many people like this in life, who are not good at socializing, who dislike it, who keep away from overly noisy and bustling environments, and keep their distance from overly enthusiastic people. Because they are not good at socializing, their circle of friends, their real friends, are very few, if any at all, save for those bound by interests or ordinary relationships, only family and the like.

In both his past and present lives, Lin Fei was indifferent and weary of so-called social interactions. In his past life, his approach to interpersonal relationships was more about deduction and imagination. Or rather, it was a sort of set pattern, deciding beforehand how to behave and what words to use depending on the type of person and their status. Even now, Lin Fei still belonged to that category where, if you interacted with him normally, you might get along well. But if you got too close, he would immediately keep his distance because proximity made him feel unsafe and uncomfortable.

Lin Fei chose a bed near the door on the left side. The beds in the four-person room were all bunks, with cupboards and desks integrated with the bed structure beneath. Everything was a uniform cream color. The floor was made of grey-white stone tiles, which looked harmoniously colored and, in the current hot season, felt very refreshing.

Lin Fei had just made up his bed when Senior Wang left her phone number for Lin Fei and took her leave. Lin Fei was quite grateful to this overly enthusiastic senior. Although she was a bit odd, just like Zhou Ting, her help was genuine.

The tall guy with the ruddy nose on the other side had, with the help of his parents, already finished preparing his bed. Then he nodded at Lin Fei and went out to pay the tuition fees.

Following the steps given by Senior Wang, as well as the freshmen registration procedures handed out upon arrival, Lin Fei then went to the finance office to pay the tuition fees. The tuition fee was around five thousand for a year, and he could pay directly via bank transfer. Lin Fei had a bank card prepared in advance by Lin Jianguo and Jiang Feng. After waiting a long time in line at the finance office, it took Lin Fei half an hour to finally pay the tuition and leave the finance office with the receipt.

The last step was getting the campus card, issued at a station run by the school’s logistics department, where the crowd was even bigger. By the time he got the card, it was already past seven in the evening. The sky had begun to darken slowly.

Lin Fei calmly returned to the dormitory, his pocket holding his student ID, library card, and other related documents. From today on, he was officially a student at Yan Capital University.

In the dormitory, the other two beds were also occupied. Apart from Lin Fei, the other three guys had brought chairs to sit in the middle of the room, chatting and munching on some sort of dried meat.

"He’s back, he’s back!" Seeing Lin Fei come in, the tall guy with the ruddy nose immediately stood up. "He’s one of our roommates."

Lin Fei nodded with a smile and entered the dormitory, taking a moment to size up the other two.

One had a fair complexion and a thin build, wearing glasses, sitting on his chair with a proper posture. His dress gave him a scholarly air. He slowly tore strips from the block of black and yellow dried meat in his hand, chewing them thoughtfully.

The other was completely different in style, tearing into the meat directly with his mouth. He had coarse features, big eyebrows, and short hair; he wore a fashionable white shirt with blue stripes and black jeans with a hint of purple, and his black leather shoes shone brightly. Judging by the quality of his clothes, he seemed to come from a rather wealthy family, though not extremely rich, giving off the impression of someone whose family had some money but wasn’t excessively wealthy.

"So, these are my roommates for the next four years," Lin Fei roughly judged in his mind.

The man with the rosacea nose stood up with a smile, "Let’s introduce ourselves again, get to know each other better." He took the initiative to pull a chair from Lin Fei’s side of the wardrobe and placed it properly, "I’m Du Xiaosheng, from Hedong."

Lin Fei thanked him and sat down.

"I’m Lin Fei, from the Southwest. ’Grass’ radical on top and ’fei’ from ’right and wrong’ underneath."

The guy with glasses then indifferently followed, "Local, Shi Ran. ’Teacher’ from ’master,’ and ’nevertheless’ from ’however’."

"Ouyang Dong, from the coastal area," the last one said succinctly, tearing a piece of meat. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

It was evident that these two were rather standoffish. If it hadn’t been for Du Xiaosheng’s enthusiasm, it was likely the others wouldn’t have bothered to introduce themselves.

"Lin Fei, why did you choose this name?" Du Xiaosheng asked, somewhat hesitantly. "To be honest, you already look pretty feminine, and then you chose this name. Not very manly, eh!"

"My dad just flipped through a dictionary and the first character he saw became my name, no other reason," Lin Fei explained with a smile.

"Then your dad is pretty lazy..."

"By the way, does your province have a national unified exam?" Du Xiaosheng initiated a conversation with Lin Fei.

"Yes, it does."

"Us too, I was quite on the edge, just made it based on the cut-off score. Luckily, the entry score for the Physics Department isn’t too high. Ouyang is from the coastal area, Shi Ran is a local, they have their own exams, so it’s not comparable. What was your score?" Du Xiaosheng asked.

As soon as scores were mentioned, the other two’s attention was immediately drawn. One wouldn’t possibly be attending Yan Capital University if they were a poor student, naturally, each carried a sense of pride.

Lin Fei glanced at the two, sensing their keen interest.

"706."

"How much?" Du Xiaosheng was exasperated. "706?"

"Yeah," Lin Fei nodded.

"Damn, at that level! Seems like you’re not even on the same plane as us!" After a moment of shock, Du Xiaosheng burst into laughter.

The other two also seemed surprised, but quickly regained their composure.

The three chatted about their hometowns.

As expected. Du Xiaosheng’s family wasn’t wealthy, both his parents were workers. Shi Ran’s family did business locally, and between the lines of their conversation, it was evident many of their belongings and social venues were of higher quality. Ouyang Dong, on the other hand, remained silent in his chair, just listening.

After a few exchanges, the personality traits of each person began to emerge slightly.

Du Xiaosheng was warmhearted and good at creating a pleasant atmosphere, yet he seemed to take particular pride in his academic achievements and performance, though there was a hint of inferiority in his speech. Perhaps due to a not-so-great family environment.

Shi Ran appeared to be somewhat snobbish, incapable of talking about anything without referencing high-class objects or events. There was this faint sense of boasting, and though he maintained a calm facade, there was still a bit of immaturity about him.

Ouyang Dong, on the other hand, had this ’I’m aloof; I’m detached’ appearance. Lin Fei had encountered many boys with such a personality, who believed themselves to be more mature than their peers, thus adopting an attitude of superiority. They often pretended to be pensive, gazing skyward at a 45-degree angle as if it was meant to describe these types of boys.

Each had their own characteristics. The blend of youthful naivety and immaturity with adult prudence and opportunism was all encapsulated in their personas.

University life isn’t like those described in novels, where people instantly become brothers; most interactions were courteous like this. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommended tickets, Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)