Restart life

Chapter 91 0089 [Too Much Freedom]

The next day, Chen Guiliang went to complete the enrollment procedures, but the time for the military training physical examination had not yet arrived.

I ate lunch at Peking University's No. 1 canteen, which is very close to Chen Guiliang's dormitory. There are two old locust trees at the entrance of the canteen, which are said to have been the main gate of the Grand Council in the late Qing Dynasty.

Rumors are generally unreliable.

When Jiang Junlai heard that Zhongguancun was right next door, he dragged Chen Guiliang to visit Zhongguancun.

"Wow, that's Lenovo!"

“Look at the wall of that building, there are Baidu’s paw prints. Baidu must be inside.”

Sohu! Sohu!

"And Sina, damn it, damn it! Let me check if NetEase is there..."

Jiang Junlai went crazy, letting out a gasp every now and then.

Chen Guiliang, however, was taking the opportunity to familiarize himself with the streets and routes. He wanted to start his own company, but he certainly wouldn't have an actual office address; he would have to pay to be affiliated with some organization.

I'll have to ask my senior brothers and sisters about this.

The Yuanpei Class was like a henpecked husband, so naturally they had to stick together for warmth, especially since communication across grades was extremely smooth.

Those upperclassmen are scattered across various departments throughout the university. They do all sorts of things, so it's very convenient to ask them for information; often, a barbecue is all it takes to get things done.

Long Xiang sent a text message: "There's a class meeting at 7:30 tonight in Classroom 101 of Building 2. Invite your roommates too."

"Received," Chen Guiliang replied.

Chen Guiliang and Jiang Jun strolled around Zhongguancun until after 5 p.m. before heading back to school for lunch.

To be honest, the food in the first canteen doesn't taste very good.

Especially for students from the south who are used to eating rice, the rice in the cafeteria didn't even meet the minimum standard. The grains were distinct and so hard they were gritty!

However, the dishes are quite oily and salty, which suits Chen Guiliang's preference for strong flavors.

Its advantage is that it's cheap.

The most expensive braised pork is 3 yuan a serving, the cheapest stir-fried cabbage is 5 mao a serving, and there is also free seaweed and egg drop soup.

Those particularly frugal students could eat a meal for just one yuan if they had cabbage and rice.

"The rice tastes awful."

Jiang Junlai said in a low voice, afraid of being overheard.

Chen Guiliang sighed, "It seems we need to change our staple food structure. I think those pasta dishes are quite good."

Jiang Junlai said, "It's okay to eat noodles occasionally, but you can't eat steamed buns and noodles every meal, can you?"

Chen Guiliang inexplicably thought of Xie Yang, who had gone to Hangzhou to study and whose diet was even worse than his own.

Xu Haibo was more comfortable and chose to stay in Sichuan.

"Let's try a different cafeteria tomorrow," Chen Guiliang said dejectedly. "I don't believe that all the cafeterias at Peking University can make rice like this."

Jiang Junlai asked, "What if it's always like this?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Then I can only admire the chefs at Peking University."

Complaining about the cafeteria rice the whole way, the two returned to their dormitory on the 36th floor to rest, and then headed to the large classroom in the second teaching building right on time.

Two people came out of room 403 across the hall; they were also freshmen in the Yuanpei Class.

Chen Guiliang took the initiative to greet everyone, and they introduced themselves and each other.

One of them was named Yunfan, the top liberal arts student in the province.

One of them was named Deng Chen, who ranked fourth in the province for science and was the top scorer in the city.

"Damn, you're Chen Guiliang!"

Deng Chenlai said in Sichuan dialect, "Fellow villager, I live in the city next to yours."

"That's a perfect coincidence! We can go home together during holidays from now on," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Yunfan, the top liberal arts student in a certain province, had never heard of Chen Guiliang. He asked his roommate Deng Chen, "Is Chen Guiliang very famous?"

"He's incredibly famous, especially in Sichuan," Deng Chen exclaimed in surprise. "You're a humanities student, and you don't even know him?"

Yunfan smiled shyly.

The four of them went downstairs together and ran into two freshmen, who turned out to be from the history department.

Chen Guiliang asked several people, and they were either from the history department or the Chinese department. It seems that the 36th floor is the dormitory for the history and Chinese departments, and the Yuanpei Class students are just temporarily staying there.

Chen Guiliang glanced at the girls' dormitory floor. If all the freshmen in the Chinese department were here, he would most likely live in the same dormitory building as Wu Meng.

"You're Chen Guiliang?" another freshman from the Chinese Literature Department exclaimed in surprise.

Chen Guiliang responded with a smile.

Yunfan was increasingly puzzled: Is Chen Guiliang that famous? How come so many people know him?

Upon arriving at Room 101 of the Second Teaching Building, one finds that over a hundred people have already gathered there.

The central, front-facing spots were considered prime locations, but they were almost all taken by the students.

Chen Guiliang, Jiang Junlai, Yun Fan, and Deng Chen could only sit in the second row after much deliberation.

After another ten minutes or so, all the students finally arrived.

A teacher and 14 third-year students (counselors) also came.

The teacher walked to the podium and said, "My name is Xiong Wenxin, and I teach Chinese language. I am not your homeroom teacher, class advisor, or counselor. The Yuanpei Class promotes student self-governance. Once you elect your class committee, everything will be handled by the class committee!"

This statement surprised everyone.

It's also very novel; student self-governance is so interesting.

Teacher Xiong Wenxin continued, "Of course, you've just entered university and aren't familiar with anything yet. So there are 14 senior students who will serve as counselors to guide you. Each senior counselor will be responsible for 10-11 freshmen. The school doesn't interfere with the allocation; it's roughly the same as the mentors you choose."

Deng Chen exclaimed in astonishment: "The degree of freedom is so high."

"A free-range approach," Yunfan said with a smile.

Chen Guiliang thought to himself: Most students really couldn't handle this; it really tests one's self-discipline.

"Teacher Xiong, how should we choose our courses?"

A girl sitting in the first row asked.

Teacher Xiong Wenxin said, "You will first participate in military training. After the military training, there will be a course selection planning meeting, where the mentors will recommend course combinations based on the students' interests. The mentors will also take turns giving lectures, talking about the general situation of various majors and courses, and about the development history, popular trends and cutting-edge achievements of major disciplines at home and abroad."

"Each tutor is only responsible for 10-11 students. Once you've made your decision, don't hesitate, otherwise your preferred tutor might already be full. There's a two-week trial period for the courses you choose. If you don't like the course, get the tutor's signature to choose another one."

"Remember, popular courses have limited spots, so if you're too slow, you won't be able to register. Also, you need to adjust the courses you register for according to the schedule, otherwise there may be time conflicts."

After these words were spoken, the audience whispered and discussed among themselves.

Whether it's being the top scorer in the province or the top scorer in the city, or winning a first prize or a gold medal, at this moment, my mind is completely blank.

Chen Guiliang was also a bit confused and had no idea how to choose courses.

Teacher Xiong Wenxin then said, "Next, according to the seating arrangement, from left to right and from front to back, everyone came up to the stage and gave a brief self-introduction. Please welcome this student!"

The boy sitting on the far left of the first row ran up to the stage with a grin: "Hello everyone, my name is Lei Tuo, I'm from Liaodong, and I'm a science student. Lei means thunder, and Tuo means pioneering. My hobbies are playing Go and reading. Thank you!"

"Clap clap clap..."

He received a round of applause from the audience.

Then another girl went up: "Hello teacher, hello classmates. My name is Zou Shuya, I'm from Lingnan, and I'm a liberal arts student. My hobbies are reading, listening to music, and watching movies..." One student after another went up on stage to introduce themselves.

Some people were calm, some were nervous, but they were all quite confident, and no one made a fool of themselves.

Everyone probably knows that the Yuanpei Class is full of hidden talents, so they all unanimously avoid mentioning their past achievements and resolutely refuse to talk about what they did before. So what if you're second in the province or first in the city? There are a total of 10 provincial top scorers in both arts and sciences here!
Chen Guiliang sat in the second row, and it was soon his turn: "Hello everyone, my name is Chen Guiliang, from southern Sichuan..."

"Whoa~~~~"

"Greetings, great talent!"

Before Chen Guiliang could finish speaking, at least 20 people started to jeer, and nearly one-seventh of the class knew him.

The other students looked bewildered and turned to discuss it with their classmates.

Who is Chen Guiliang?

Is he famous? Has he acted in movies?

"Could it be a sports star?"

"Looks like someone who plays ping-pong."

"..."

Chen Guiliang extended his right index finger, put it to his lips, and said into the microphone, "Shh~~~~"

After about half a minute of noise, the classroom finally quieted down, and Chen Guiliang continued, "Hello everyone, my name is Chen Guiliang, I'm from southern Sichuan, and I'm a liberal arts student. I like making friends, bragging, and playing games."

"Clap clap clap!"

The applause was even more enthusiastic this time, and even those who didn't know him clapped enthusiastically.

The 140-plus students are not divided into classes, and their courses are also different.

Aside from students who share the same tutor or counselor, it's difficult for other students to interact with each other normally, and they might not even know each other after graduating from university.

Chen Guiliang got off to a good start; he made an impression on the whole class by introducing himself on the first day.

After all the students had introduced themselves, Ms. Xiong Wenxin returned to the stage: "Now we're electing class officers. You can volunteer. First, we'll elect class monitors—one for arts and one for sciences, two class monitors in total. Which student would like to be class monitor?"

"Chen Guiliang, Chen Guiliang should be the class monitor for the liberal arts class!" Several scoundrels were jeering.

Chen Guiliang smiled and stood up, politely declining: "I won't be the class monitor. All of you classmates are outstanding, and I'm just someone who came from a writing competition."

The main problem is that I don't have the time.

Being the class monitor of the Yuanpei Class sounds exhausting, especially since many students don't even have cell phones or computers!

The class monitors of the first Yuanpei Class had the worst experience. They didn't have third-year students as counselors, and they didn't attend classes together. The entire class was scattered across nine different dormitory buildings. At that time, very few people had cell phones. If the class monitor wanted to pass on a message, they had to run from building to building, and even then, they weren't guaranteed to find the right person.

But some people don't mind the fatigue.

A boy walked up to the podium: "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Zhou Chu, the same name as the one who eliminated the three pests. I am willing to be the class monitor for the humanities class and serve all my classmates."

Teacher Xiong Wenxin asked, "Who else wants to run for class monitor of the humanities stream?"

No one answered.

"Alright, now liberal arts students will vote by raising their hands. If more than half raise their hands, it will pass."

A huge number of them were raised, and it passed unanimously!

Zhou was very excited and wrote down his mobile phone number, saying, "I just changed my SIM card today. If any of you need anything, feel free to call me."

Chen Guiliang took out his phone and wrote down the class monitor's number.

Next, the class monitor, two vice monitors, the academic representative, and other class committee members were elected.

The teacher immediately left, no longer caring about their fate.

In the following years, it relied entirely on student self-governance.

Fourteen third-year students, acting as guest counselors, walked to the podium amidst laughter and chatter.

One of the counselors said, “Come and get your campus cards. The campus cards were introduced two years ago. You can use them to get food in the cafeteria or as a library card. However, some cafeteria windows only accept cash. You need to deposit money into the card, and it will be activated when you deposit the money.”

"There's such a thing? How convenient!" Deng Chen exclaimed.

Chen Guiliang thought to himself: As expected of Peking University, they have campus cards so early.

The counselors, both senior students, took turns speaking: "You have two days, tomorrow and the day after, for the pre-military training physical examination. The military training will not be held on campus; your Yuanpei class has been assigned to..."

There's not much to say about military training; I'll just give a general overview.

The students of Peking University's Class of 02 originally planned to have their military training during the summer of 03. However, they encountered SARS last year.

As a result, Peking University's 02, 03, and 04 cohorts are undergoing military training simultaneously this year!
It is so large that one base simply cannot contain it.

On the day Chen Guiliang went for his military training physical examination, all the second- and third-year students returned to school. The three grades, organized by department, rushed off to Daxing, Huairou, and Yanqing.

It seems like Changping has been taken over by Tsinghua University, which is holding events for multiple grades this year.

The Yuanpei Class trained together with students from the School of Information Science, Chemistry, and Life Sciences; students from other departments did not come to this base.

There was some trouble during that time.

Third-year male students majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science are selected by the instructors to form a 100-person formation. They practice military boxing every day and add high-difficulty moves such as shoulder throws.

They trained so hard that almost everyone was injured, and their performance during the drill competition was awe-inspiring.

Then, they came in second place...

The first place winner was a girl from the same major as them.

"What's going on?" Jiang Junlai couldn't believe his ears.

Deng Chen, being a busybody, whispered, "I heard that the instructors of the 12th Company... need to achieve political achievements..."

Chen Guiliang stood in the queue without saying a word, just watching the show.

When the results of the drill were announced, not a single winning company went up to the podium.

"Down with xxxx!"

A slogan was suddenly shouted out.

"Down with xxxx!"

"Corruption in xxxx!"

"..."

The response was overwhelming, and the slogans became increasingly outrageous, the kind that would get a 404 error if written down.

Yunfan muttered to himself, "Is this Peking University?"

Jiang Junlai said, "It was an eye-opening experience."

Deng Chen said, "My senior brothers and sisters are really awesome!"

Chen Guiliang found it quite enjoyable.

The aftermath was a complete mess.

The students in the company involved were unharmed, and from then on they didn't train much. They even received preferential treatment in terms of food and played cards in their dormitories every day without anyone interfering.

But their instructors seemed very frustrated, and got drunk with the students after the military training ended.

After this incident, Peking University's military training never returned to this base.

-

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(End of this chapter)