Starting a new chapter in life

He Zhijun's mood brightened considerably, his lips curled up, and his face softened. Jing Yan looked up at his face and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the smile on his face. She thought to herself, "Sigh, I really have to coax this man. It's so hard for me. But this feeling is really nice."

A smile inadvertently appeared on Jingyan's lips. She gently closed her eyes and drifted into a light sleep as the car swayed. He Zhijun felt the weight on his shoulder, looked down and saw that Jingyan had fallen asleep. The corners of his mouth also turned up. He leaned his head against Jingyan and closed his eyes as well.

The school wasn't too far from Changning District; the bus arrived at the station in about an hour with frequent stops and starts. He Zhijun heard the ticket seller announce the stop, opened his eyes, and patted Jingyan. Jingyan hadn't been sleeping soundly either; she opened her eyes and sat up straight as soon as He Zhijun moved. "Have we arrived?"

He Zhijun nodded: "I'll wait at the door first. Come over when the car has stopped. Be careful not to fall."

When Jingyan saw him carrying his luggage and going to get his backpack, she stopped him and said, "I'll get this bag later. You go to the car door first."

He Zhijun hesitated for a moment, nodded, and slowly moved to the door of the bus while holding onto the back of the seat in the aisle. He said to the ticket seller, "Hello, comrade, please stop at University City."

The ticket seller straightened the ticket holder on her back and called out, "Stop at University Town, passengers can get off!"

As the bus approached the station and slowed down, Jingyan could already see the school's signboard. She quickly gripped the strap of her backpack, and as soon as the bus stopped, she picked up her backpack, got up, and walked towards the door. After getting off the bus, she felt rather lost.

He Zhijun grabbed her hand and pointed in a direction: "I just saw the school's signboard, let's go that way."

Jingyan obediently let him lead her, and they soon arrived at the school gate. Looking at the gate, Jingyan exclaimed in surprise, "Is this built in the style of a palace? It looks so magnificent."

He Zhijun wasn't particularly interested in architecture, but looking up, he remarked, "Hmm, it's full of ancient charm."

The road toward the school was crowded with people. Some were carrying things on their backs or in groups of several, but all of them shared the same expression—joy.

The two didn't linger and followed the crowd toward the school gate. When they arrived, there were various banners on both sides of the gate, and a table was placed under the banners. He Zhijun carefully looked at the departments on the banners and finally found his major in the corner: Mechanical Engineering.

He led Jingyan over and said to a bespectacled, refined-looking man sitting behind a table, "Hello comrade, is this the registration office for the machinery industry?"

The man looked up at the two of them: "Which of you is the student?"

Jing Yan smiled and pointed at He Zhijun: "He is. I'm here to see him off."

The man nodded knowingly: "Oh, family member." He then pulled a form from the table and handed it to He Zhijun: "Enrollment registration form, fill it out yourself. Did you bring your admission notice? Let me see it."

Jing Yan nodded quickly, "Yes, yes." Then she looked at He Zhijun and said, "You fill out the form first, I'll find the admission notice."

He Zhijun took the registration form, took out a pen from the pocket of his Zhongshan suit jacket, and began to fill in the information on it.

Jing Yan handed the admission notice to the refined man, who took it and looked at it carefully before smiling and saying, "He Zhijun, welcome to the mechanical industry family."

He Zhijun had just finished filling out the report form, capped his pen, put it back in his pocket, handed the form to the man, and said with a smile, "Thank you."

The person took the registration form, checked it over, wrote a number on it, signed it in the confirmation area, and handed the form back to him: "Please wait a moment. Our department's reception teacher just took people to the administration building. The next group will come over after they've been settled in, and then they'll take you to complete the enrollment procedures."

He Zhijun nodded, took the registration form and admission notice, pulled Jing Yan aside, and took off the luggage he was carrying and placed it on the military bag on the ground.

After waiting for a while, two more freshmen arrived. One of them had five people accompanying him, and the other had two family members accompanying him. Looking at it this way, He Zhijun had the fewest people accompanying him. Jing Yan silently wiped away her sweat and secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, Zhijun asked her to come yesterday. Otherwise, it would have been too pitiful for him to be all alone here while everyone else had family members accompanying him.

Thinking of this, Jingyan turned around and grasped He Zhijun's hand. He Zhijun was a little surprised, but seeing her looking at the other families, he knew what she was thinking and couldn't help but chuckle: "I'm not that fragile. I'm already very happy that you're here to give me this."

Jing Yan smiled back at him. The man with the most people seeing them off looked at the two of them, hesitated for a moment, and then came over to greet them: "Comrade, are you also from the mechanical industry? This is..."

He Zhijun saw him looking at Jing Yan and continued, "Yes, I also work in the machinery industry. This is my wife."

The man was taken aback for a moment, then quickly said, "My name is Zheng Jingke, a local from Haishi. You two don't look like locals. Where did you come from to take the exam?"

He Zhijun smiled politely: "My name is He Zhijun. I'm from Yangzhou. I used to work in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, specifically in Jiangshi, in the Great Northern Wilderness."

Zheng Jingke paused for a moment, looked at Jing Yan, and said, "Then your wife is from the Great Northern Wilderness?"

He Zhijun smiled and said, "Pretty much."

Zheng Jingke smiled and said, "Sorry, I was just curious. She's really tall. I'm 1.7 meters tall, and I feel like she's about the same height as me. Are all northerners tall?"

He Zhijun didn't expect his focus to be on this. "Not everyone is tall. There are tall and short people everywhere. You can't generalize. But I worked there for four or five years, and there were indeed more tall people there."

Jing Yan watched them chat without interrupting. The two got along quite well after a few words. Zheng Jingke sighed, "I'm twenty-four this year, but my family has always been against me dating. Now that I've been admitted to university, my family says it would be best if I could find a classmate to develop a revolutionary friendship with. You don't look that old, so why are you getting married so early?"

He Zhijun smiled and said, "I'm twenty-seven years old this year. I got married at twenty-four. What's the difference between early and late when it comes to marriage? You just get married when you meet the right person. You haven't met the one you like yet. If you do, your family won't be able to stop you."

Zheng Jingke scratched his head: "I don't know what kind of person I'm looking for. She has to be good-looking. My family hopes that my partner is educated and will have a stable job in the future. It would be even better if her family is simple and has few problems."

Jingyan listened from the side and secretly curled her lips: He has quite a lot of requirements. Doesn't he see what he has to offer besides being a college student? He's not good-looking, his height is so-so, and he keeps talking about family. He's already twenty-four and still hasn't grown up. What college student who isn't blind would be interested in him? Humph!

He Zhijun frowned as he listened to his request: "Although my wife is not highly educated, she graduated from junior high school. She is polite, manages the household well, and my family likes her very much. Of course, I like her the most."

Back when I was in the army, I fell for her at first sight. To get her to marry me, my parents even went to Northeast China and spent over a month getting to know her before she and her family finally agreed to our marriage. I went to great lengths to win her over.

The few people around who were listening, intentionally or unintentionally... another man saw that the two were having a good conversation, so he came over and said: "My name is Qu Zitao, I'm from Hangzhou, I'm thirty years old, and I also work in the mechanical industry. Hello."

The group greeted each other again, and their casual conversation led to the return of three teachers. The refined-looking man pointed to the three people and said, "They are also new students. Could someone please take them to the administration building to complete their enrollment procedures?"

One of them stepped forward and said, "I'll take you there. We still need to assign dorm rooms." Then he waved to the group and said, "Come with me."

The others carried large and small bags, while He Zhijun had the fewest belongings. After carrying the bedding on his back, He Zhijun took Jing Yan's hand and followed behind the teacher. The remaining two students glanced at their clasped hands and subtly pursed their lips. A woman next to Qu Zitao looked at Jing Yan with some envy, but quickly looked away and followed after her, carrying several bags and baskets.

The group arrived at an office in the administration building. As instructed in the notice, they paid five yuan for textbooks and received a timetable and a key. "Go to class at the scheduled times according to the timetable. This key is for your dormitory. After you put your luggage in the dormitory, I will take you to the cafeteria to buy meal tickets. You will use meal tickets to eat from now on," the teacher who was guiding them said as she led them towards the dormitory building.

"Teacher, isn't it said that there are subsidies for college students? Where do we get the subsidies?" He Zhijun asked, as he was quite concerned about this part.

"You all must have had jobs before, right? Those with five or more years of service will still receive a salary from their original employer. Those with less than five years of service will receive a scholarship. Our school's scholarship is the highest level, fifteen yuan a month. You are ordinary students, so you will receive 75% of the scholarship, which means you will have eleven yuan a month for living expenses." This teacher was good-natured and explained it very clearly.

The remaining two questions were straightforward, but He Zhijun continued to ask: "Teacher, I used to work in the Production and Construction Corps in Beidahuang. I transferred all my records to the school when I came here, and I have enough years of work experience. Where do I collect this?"

The teacher stopped and looked at him in surprise: "You were in the army before? Oh, that's a bit special. After I take you to the canteen, you can come with me alone. I'll take you to the admissions office to ask. In principle, since your transfer has been completed, your subsidies will also be transferred to the school for unified distribution. However, we need to register there so that the school can keep an eye on things and not delay anything."

He Zhijun nodded, smiled and said thank you, and then everyone continued to the dormitory. The dormitory area was located at the back of the school, and the male and female dormitories were in separate buildings. They went straight to the third floor and found their dormitory according to the label on the key. The three of them tried the locks on the door to confirm that the keys were correct, and then they began to assign beds.

It's a simple room with a window directly opposite the door, four bunk beds on either side, and a long desk in the center with eight backless stools. Behind the door are two rows of large metal cabinets, also eight in total, seemingly one for each person. The cabinets have doors, but no locks, so you probably have to buy your own.

He Zhijun looked around and chose the upper bunk by the window: "I want this bed, and for the wardrobe, I'll just take the second one from the top, so it'll be convenient to take things in and out."

Jingyan placed her military bag on the table and looked at it. "There aren't even brooms or mops in the house. Are we going to have to buy them ourselves?"

The teacher interjected, "There will be new students registering tomorrow. In the next couple of days, all the new dormitories can go to the logistics department in the administration building to pick up a set of cleaning tools. Just bring your dormitory key to pick it up. Each dormitory can only pick up one set. Who will go to pick it up?"

A man in his thirties came out from Zheng Jingke's family and said, "I'll go. It's the building we just went to."

The teacher nodded: "When we got the keys earlier, I didn't know if this dormitory had been assigned to anyone, so I didn't take you there. Take one key to the second floor of the administration building, turn right and you'll find it at the end. There's a number on the door; it's the logistics department."

The man nodded, took the keys from Zheng Jingke, and went straight out.

He Zhijun took the washbasin and foot basin out of the net bag and was looking for a place to put them. Jing Yan took the basin and pointed to the space under the bed: "These commonly used items should be placed under the bed. We'll put them away after we clean them up. Let's put them on the table first. I'll wipe the bed clean for you and then put on the bedding."

He Zhijun smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

Jing Yan smiled and turned to look at the teacher: "Teacher, where is the place to get water?"

The teacher pointed to the right: "At the end of the right side of the corridor, there is a water pipe and a laundry sink, in the room next to the toilet. There is no hot water here, you need to take a thermos to the water boiler room to get water. The water boiler room is next to the cafeteria, you will see it when you go there. It is only open for three hours each in the morning and evening, and it closes after that time."

The group nodded, indicating that they understood.

The teacher said, "Take some money and go to the cafeteria to buy meal tickets. If you are a local student, you will go home on weekends, so just buy a week's worth. If you are from out of town and want to keep it simple, you can buy a month's worth. You can decide for yourselves. I don't recommend that you buy meal tickets every day before eating, it's too much trouble."

"How much do you need to buy a week's worth of meal tickets?" Zheng Jingke asked.

"Meat dishes are one to three cents a plate, vegetable dishes are five to one cent a plate, steamed buns are five cents each, two steamed buns are enough for a grown man, and rice is five cents for two ounces. You can calculate how much you want to buy yourself."

"What's the face value of the meal ticket?" Zheng Jingke continued to ask.

"A ticket costs five cents. The food tickets and vegetable tickets are different colors and need to be bought separately, so I suggest you calculate how many you need in advance."