The words spoken by Wang Qiqi created quite a ripple in Jiang Xin's heart. Not just anyone would say such things to her, but this came from her own maternal grandfather. Knowing she was about to leave for university, he had called her in for a long talk. The underlying meaning in her grandfather’s words mirrored Wang Qiqi’s: getting into university was merely the start of life. What surprised Jiang Xin, however, was that Wang Qiqi shared this view. If she hadn't seen Wang Qiqi's file during registration, she would have assumed Wang Qiqi was at least in her thirties.

Jiang Xin stared at Wang Qiqi for a long time, making Wang Qiqi feel increasingly uneasy, as if something was wrong with her. "Is something the matter? Forget it, just pretend I was spouting nonsense." Wang Qiqi thought to herself, it was rare for her to share such heartfelt words with someone she didn't know well, and not only did no one seem to understand, but she was being stared at with such a strange look—odd beyond measure.

Jiang Xin snapped back to reality and threw her arms around Wang Qiqi. "You are truly amazing, you understand so much. You know, even my older male cousins say university is just for fooling around." Though Jiang Xin still felt it would be a bit tragic if her university life turned out that way, was this what her grandfather meant by 'choice'? "I genuinely don't know how to choose: should I seriously study for these four years, get good grades, and find a good job afterward to live a good life, or should I spend these four years living the ideal university life I envision, even if finding a job after graduation will be difficult?" This seemed like a choice between two opposing paths; choosing one meant giving up the other.

Wang Qiqi completely understood Jiang Xin's anxiety, or rather, her indecision. "Play hard when it's time to play, and study hard when it's time to study."

Wang Qiqi mused that studying diligently didn't mean one couldn't play; it just meant knowing one's limits. "Perhaps you can become someone who studies well and still does many of the things other university students do, but first, we need to go eat dinner."

After finishing dinner, Wang Qiqi returned to the dorm to find it empty. Knowing the others were likely out at a gathering and hadn't returned, she lay down on the ** and started reading a book she had specifically brought—an original edition. Although Wang Qiqi hadn't majored in foreign languages, she wouldn't neglect English. As for Japanese and Korean, thanks to watching Japanese anime and Korean dramas in her previous life, she could understand a bit, even if she couldn't write it. In this life, Wang Qiqi planned to improve these two foreign languages. She didn't aspire to be a professional translator, but at least being able to handle procurement trips to Japan or Korea in the future would be easy. Wang Qiqi had found her future career direction: becoming an international procurement agent.

Yes, a procurement agent. Although more and more people would travel abroad in the future, not everyone who wanted to purchase luxury goods or special items would have the money or time to fly overseas. As someone with plenty of free time, she could certainly do this job.

"It seems my future tasks are quite heavy. Should I perhaps start learning some French or German?" Wang Qiqi suddenly considered this, though she wasn't sure how easy they were to learn. Never mind for now; she would wait and see. After the first European trip of her two lives next summer, she would assess the results before making a decision.

Wang Qiqi was just like that—quietly sitting under the electric fan, looking at her original book. After an unknowable amount of time, perhaps past eight o'clock, the dorm door finally swung open. "Who was the last one out? Why didn't you lock the door?"

"No way, that's too careless."

Wang Qiqi heard voices. Although she didn't know who it was, the tone suggested they were her roommates. "I'm inside. Don't worry, the dorm isn't empty."

As soon as Wang Qiqi spoke, the person pushing the door paused, and the chattering outside ceased. The room and the space outside fell completely silent.

It felt like a long time had passed, but it was only five or six seconds before someone pushed the door open. "Hello, when did you get back?" A girl with a round, apple-like face entered first, a smile on her face. "A little after four." Wang Qiqi knew what they wanted to say. "When I got back, I saw you were all out."

"We thought you weren't coming back today, so a few of us went out to eat," said an aloof girl standing behind, watching the scene like an audience member. She thought to herself, so what if you have a rich classmate? You're still ignored in the dorm. That meal just now was a great chance for everyone to get to know each other, and she missed it—the implication of that was obvious to everyone. "Hello, I'm Han Meina."

"Hello, I'm Wang Qiqi." Wang Qiqi recognized Han Meina's smug expression as a deliberate attempt to annoy her or show off how close she was with her other roommates. Wang Qiqi found this quite amusing, like watching toddlers.

"Can I call you Qiqi?" The first girl who entered, the apple-faced one, introduced herself next. "I'm Wu Rui."

"Hello, Wu Rui. I was out helping my friend pick up something and got back late. Once military training is over, I'll treat you all to a meal." Wang Qiqi thought, it's just placating a bunch of kids. Although Wang Qiqi felt there was no need to compete with Han Meina's behavior, extending an invitation to dinner was very easy to say.

"No need, actually, this was our mistake."

Wu Rui had expected Wang Qiqi to be temperamental but was surprised by how polite she was. Comparing this to what Han Meina had said at dinner, and what her father had told her when leaving—Wu Rui understood her father’s meaning—but the fact was, if Wang Qiqi were difficult to get along with, she would absolutely not try to befriend her, settling for mere superficial pleasantries at best. Yet, Wang Qiqi’s reaction to not being invited to dinner was like this. "How about we just go AA next time?"

"That works too," Wang Qiqi said nonchalantly. "I know a decent place nearby... their dishes are good, though I can only handle mild spice, the flavor is decent."

"Eating spicy food in this summer heat, you really don't mind getting hot," Han Lina scoffed. "I think the stir-fry place we went to today was also good."

"Really? There’s Sichuan food nearby? Is it expensive?" A girl who seemed to be from Sichuan heard Sichuan food mentioned and exclaimed in pleasant surprise. "Is there authentic Sichuan food?"

Wang Qiqi hadn't expected there to be a Sichuanese girl. As for her question, Wang Qiqi honestly didn't know how to answer. "Why don't you go try it sometime? I only tasted the mala flavor; whether it's authentic needs to be judged by a true Sichuanese person like you."

"Right. Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. Duan Xiaomin, from Sichuan." Duan Xiaomin didn't have a very good impression of Wang Qiqi, but she also didn't think highly of Han Lina. How could someone talk so poorly about another person at the dinner table? Thinking back, if Han Lina hadn't deliberately brought up that topic, would Wang Qiqi have said what she said?

"..." Girl, no wonder your skin is so good. Eating too much spicy food only causes pimples on the face." Wang Qiqi jumped off the ** and walked over to Duan Xiaomin, cupping her face to look closely, before sighing. She pointed to her own face. "You can still see the acne on my face, right? I'm genuinely curious why the four of you... eat so much spice, yet never get pimples?"

Duan Xiaomin looked at the complaining Wang Qiqi, covered her mouth, and laughed. "That's just the good feng shui of our place. Outsiders who eat that much chili there won't get pimples. Why don't you visit sometime?"

Sichuan? This was a place Wang Qiqi definitely intended to visit. "Deal. I'll definitely ask you to be my guide then; don't ignore me." Wang Qiqi joked.

"No problem. I haven't visited enough of Sichuan myself yet," Little Duan Xiaomin readily agreed.

"Hey, Duan Xiaomin, you're not taking me!" A tall, seemingly straightforward girl said indignantly. "Bai Ge, white dove's 'bai,' pigeon's 'ge,' from Dali!"

"Are you from a minority group?" Wang Qiqi hadn't expected to have a roommate from a minority group. Alright, Wang Qiqi admitted she was ignorant, but growing up in an area populated almost entirely by Han Chinese, the chance to meet someone from a minority group was quite small. "Right, you're from Yunnan, aren't you? I'll have a companion if I visit Yunnan later." Wang Qiqi had intended to ask if she knew Lijiang, but then realized Lijiang wasn't that famous yet; its reputation would only start growing in a few years. "Um, you're very interested in Yunnan?" Bai Ge was surprised that Wang Qiqi was so knowledgeable about Yunnan.

Wang Qiqi nodded. "Actually, I'm very interested in traveling. I've decided that before I graduate, I want to travel across two-thirds of China." Hahaha, the thought itself made it seem like a very interesting aspiration.

Han Lina gasped when she heard Wang Qiqi speak. Heavens, to travel across two-thirds of China—what a concept! In fact, apart from Han Lina, the others also drew a sharp breath. Afterward, they all simultaneously thought: she must be so rich to afford traveling to so many places.

"Will you go to Inner Mongolia?" A very gentle-looking girl asked. "I'm from Inner Mongolia, but not Mongolian. Li Xin."

Mongolia? Heavens! "The grasslands? Do you have horses?" Wang Qiqi thought, I'm so lucky; three of my roommates are from completely different regions.

Li Xin shook her head. "No horses, but my aunt's neighborhood has horses raised by Mongols. But you need to be very careful when walking on the grasslands, always watching out for hidden explosives. However, the Naadam Festival is wonderful. If you happen to catch it, you'll definitely find it very lively."

The Naadam Festival! Wang Qiqi was certainly interested. "Great! I was so envious when watching shows about Emperor Qianlong. I'll see if I can go next year." "But I don't know if my trip to France next year will go smoothly, and it also depends on when I depart. However, I won't stay abroad for too long, as my credit limit is capped there." "If I go, I'll definitely find you, Li Xin."