The three finally returned to their lodgings, thoroughly satisfied after their meal. Shiman, adhering to her usual routine, had brought along a considerable stash of what she deemed excellent provisions. "Now we have snacks for the evening," she declared, immediately flipping on the air conditioning upon entering the room before heading off for a shower. "When you travel, you absolutely must book a room with AC. It might cost a bit more, but it makes such a difference in comfort."

Wang Qiqi, having walked for so long, was drenched in sweat. As she entered the room, she slowly felt the air cool, letting out a long, contented sigh. While she acknowledged that sweating a bit in the summer was supposedly good for one's health, she readily admitted that staying in an air-conditioned space was pure bliss. "Tomorrow we go look at the houses?"

Zhu Lina paused to consider. "I'll call them first and confirm the details." Truthfully, the only time she had actually seen the property in question was when she went for the initial purchase; everything afterward had been left to the renovation company her father had approved. All subsequent updates regarding the house came from her father. To her dismay, Zhu Lina realized she had completely forgotten the street address number.

Wang Qiqi uttered a soft "Oh," and didn't read too much into the slight hesitation from Zhu Lina, assuming she was worried the renovation wouldn't be complete by the time she and Shiman went to inspect it. "I'm going to shower now. Lina, you're last."

Zhu Lina gave an 'OK' gesture, then pulled out her notepad, flipping through until she found the contact information. She called the renovation company, first whispering to quietly confirm the building number and floor, then moving on to discuss the progress of the renovation. After about ten minutes of conversation, Zhu Lina finally hung up the phone.

"The renovation is almost done. Oh, by the way, I was planning on tiling the living room and using wood flooring in the bedrooms—is that alright?" Zhu Lina remembered Wang Qiqi seemed to prefer wood. Except for the kitchen, bathrooms, and balconies, her own home was entirely floored with wood, which was wonderfully cool in the summer—so comfortable you could walk barefoot or simply lie down whenever the mood struck.

"That’s fine," Wang Qiqi replied, thinking to herself that since she was just a guest, why make so many demands? "My requirement is simple: easy to clean." She wasn't sure if they would hire a cleaning lady later, but everything needed to be conducive to swift upkeep. "And it needs to be close to C University." Wang Qiqi mused that if it was near C University, they wouldn't need to cook much; they could just rely on the campus cafeteria for meals.

"It’s just about a ten-minute walk from the South Gate. We can buy bicycles later; it'll be convenient for commuting back and forth," Zhu Lina suggested. Even if she hadn't brought it up, once they enrolled, bicycles would be a necessity anyway. Navigating the campus—the lecture halls, the cafeteria, the library, and the dorms—was a significant trek on foot.

"That’s quite close, then," Wang Qiqi conceded, realizing that distance wasn't far at all. "I can get up early every day to exercise on campus." No matter how nice the residential complex was, university grounds offered a better environment for fitness.

Exercise. Zhu Lina and Shiman fell silent. They knew about her dedication to physical activity ever since she started running every morning and practicing yoga before bed during her final year of high school. "I think you might end up being the fittest among the three of us," Shiman commented.

"You could be too," Wang Qiqi countered. She thought that instead of spending money on a gym membership, running around the campus was far superior, provided the air quality remained good. She worried that in another decade, the air quality in Beijing wouldn't be suitable for outdoor workouts.

Zhu Lina just smiled, thinking she likely wouldn't even have time for that, even in university.

The next day after arriving in Beijing, the plan they had settled on was to visit the house first, then explore C University, with the main objective being to snap a commemorative photo at the main gate as proof they had been there. Consequently, Shiman slept soundly until ten o'clock before slowly getting moving. Once the 'young lady' had finished all her preparations, the three had a meal that could have been brunch or lunch, and then, armed with their cameras and following directions previously obtained from the hotel concierge, they finally set off.

Although they had done their homework beforehand, after transferring from the subway to the bus, the three became slightly confused. "Lina, how did you get here last time?" Shiman asked from the curb after getting off the bus.

Zhu Lina checked the notes she had prepared. "I remember he said it was this way. He wouldn't lie to us," she thought. He was a local; how could he possibly be wrong about directions?

However, Zhu Lina wasn't worried. She had assumed they would only see the house again after they officially registered at the university. Furthermore, she felt confident that as long as she found the South Gate of C University, she would know where the apartment was, leaving no room for error. "Let's ask someone where the South Gate of C University is."

"Even a local wouldn't be perfectly familiar with this complicated route involving subway transfers and then buses," Wang Qiqi noted, skeptical that being a local automatically conferred superior knowledge of public transit unless you were a taxi driver, whose job required knowing every route.

"Last time, I was riding in my dad's car, following him," she explained. Sitting in the back seat, all she remembered were straight stretches, left turns, and right turns. Her own sense of direction wasn't great; how could she possibly recall the route?

Wang Qiqi agreed that asking for directions was the best course of action, far better than blindly following a shaky intuition and wandering farther off course.

After questioning two different people, Wang Qiqi finally reached a conclusion: the hotel concierge had given them incorrect information. "After getting off the subway, we should have taken the 211 bus route, but we got on the wrong one."

Zhu Lina and Shiman stared, aghast. "Did we even look at the route map at the waiting platform?" Shiman asked after a moment.

Wang Qiqi shook her head. "I didn't look, and we didn't have time to check anyway."

Wang Qiqi had initially intended to verify if the bus number the concierge gave them actually went to their destination, but unfortunately, by the time the three reached the bus stop, the correct bus was already pulling up. Shiman and Zhu Lina sprinted toward the vehicle, and the three rode along, yet somehow never heard the announcement for the C University stop.

"What do we do now? I really don't want to keep taking the bus," Shiman lamented. She felt this house-viewing trip had been a mistake. Being lost in such heat felt like being stranded in a desert without water.

"Let's take a taxi," Wang Qiqi said, spotting an empty cab and immediately hailing it. "If we keep messing with the buses, who knows if we’ll even get there by this afternoon."

After their arduous journey, the three finally stood before the entrance of the complex they would call home for the next four years. Shiman exclaimed excitedly, "Despite all the tribulations, I have a good feeling about this complex!"

Wang Qiqi surveyed the well-maintained gate. It was worthy of a complex only a year old; both the cleanliness of the buildings and the impressiveness of the entrance were excellent. "Shall we go in?"

Zhu Lina finally led Wang Qiqi and Shiman smoothly to the first house that would belong to her. Before knocking, she announced happily, "Welcome to the Free Space." "Even though we lived together all last year, that was solely for preparing for the Gaokao—it doesn't count as Free Space. But the next four years..."

The thought of the upcoming four years—which she anticipated would be the most wonderful and joyous period of her entire academic life—made Shiman determined. "I must live these four years to the absolute fullest!" Skipping class and dating were both on Shiman's agenda, information gleaned from her older cousins. While Shiman found the idea of having endless conversations with someone she barely knew slightly odd, her relatives insisted this was what college was about—to fully enjoy this last stretch of freedom. After graduation, they would have to return to the paths set by their families unless they found someone significantly better, as their parents wouldn't approve otherwise. She had seen examples of relatives who had protested and later regretted it, finding that divorce and remarriage only worsened their career prospects. Shiman, however, didn't care much for official careers; if she truly found someone who loved her and whom she loved back, she could always choose not to return home—after all, her cousin was doing quite well abroad. "I'm so excited. I can't believe I'll finally be free of my parents' direct control for at least four years."

Wang Qiqi looked at Shiman’s flushed excitement and wanted to say, Girl, your rebellious phase is terribly late. Most people hit theirs in middle school or high school, but hers was starting in university. "College! I have so many plans."

"Study plans?" Shiman turned to see the look of intense seriousness on Wang Qiqi's face and sighed. "You were the one who dated early among us, but then you changed. The point is, we’re in college now, do you understand? There’s no need to keep yourself so wound up. If you just study hard, Shiman feels it’ll be exactly the same as being stuck in the third year of high school."

Wang Qiqi nodded. "I understand. That’s why I’ve decided to travel around with my backpack during the summer breaks." She meant traveling by train or plane, not hiking or hitchhiking—partly because transportation wasn't as developed now, and partly because she was cautious around strangers, worrying about encountering unstable people. "I plan to use these four years to, if not see the whole country, at least see a good portion of China." This was something Wang Qiqi deeply wanted to do in her previous life but hadn't managed. Shiman was surprised that Wang Qiqi's college goal was travel. She thought it was a decent idea, but only decent. Some things Wang Qiqi could do, but she herself couldn't. She couldn't spend an entire summer traveling; her parents wouldn't agree, and she wouldn't have the funds either. "I envy you, Qiqi, having the time, the money, and no worrying about your parents scolding you."

"Isn't it nice to have people care about you? If my parents were still here, I would go home instead. Family comes first over traveling, right?" Wang Qiqi thought that the only reason she wasn't keen to return was that no one was waiting for her, and no one was worth returning for. (To be continued)