OVERGROWN GRASSLAND

1

“Check your luggage one more time.”

Without a word, Zhu Yun listened to her mother and opened up her suitcase and checked her belongings.

“You’ve got everything, right?”

“I’ve got everything.”

Her mother nodded with satisfaction.

It was finally time for the next step. Zhu Yun’s mother pulled her daughter to her side and grabbed her shoulders. “When you get to school, make sure to call home, okay?”

“Mmh.”

“I really want to send you all the way to school.”

“It’s okay. You and Dad are both busy when school starts. I can go on my own.”

Her mother’s face was full of concern.

Zhu Yun said, “It’s not that far anyway. We’re still in the same province.”

Her mother urged her, “Get along with your teachers and classmates.”

“Mmh.”

“There are a few things I’ll remind you about again. First, under no circumstance should you try to get special treatment, otherwise you’ll get bullied. Second, make sure to keep a good relationship with your roommates. You’ll be living together for four years. Third—”

“I know, I know.” Before her mother expanded any further, Zhu Yun cut her off.

She and her mother were the only two left at the ticket gate. Her mom’s eyes were turning red. She pat Zhu Yun’s head and told her, “Be good. I’m proud of you.”

They waved goodbye.

With her luggage in hand, Zhu Yun took a deep breath. After her emotions steadied, she felt quite at peace.

She pulled two large suitcases onto the train car. And four hours later, she pulled two large suitcases out of the train car.

It wasn’t Zhu Yun’s first time in this city. Neither was it her first time at this school. As one of the top schools in the nation, and considering the fact that it wasn’t too far from home, this school had long ago become Zhu Yun’s parents’ target college for her. One of the professors at the school had also been a good friend of her father’s, though she heard that he’d died from a stroke several years ago.

The school was full of enthusiasm on Registration Day. This was a top school, so the new students couldn’t help looking around eagerly. No matter how tightly they shut their lips or tried to remain uanffected, they couldn’t control the burning flames in their eyes.

In contrast, the upperclassmen were much calmer, and the graduate students were even sluggish, the shine gone from their eyes. Their eyelids drooped, indifferent to the newly arrived chicks flapping their wings, rushing this way and that way.

When Zhu Yun dragged her luggage into her dorm room, there was already someone inside.

Zhu Yun once had a friend who liked makeup a lot. Thanks to her, in Zhu Yun’s shallow understanding, all girls who wore makeup were classified as beautiful. According to that standard, the girl in the room holding a mirror must have been a world class beauty. Actually, her makeup made her face look like a birthday cake.

When Cake Girl heard someone enter the room, she turned around. Two pairs of eyes met, and Zhu Yun gave a kind smile.

“Hello, I’m Zhu Yun.”

Cake Girl looked her over. The girl’s smokey makeup did nothing for her white eyes. Being looked at in this manner, Zhu Yun nearly lost her smile.

“I’m Ren Di,” Cake Girl finally introduced herself. And.. How many years did she spend smoking to end up with a voice as hoarse as that? Zhu Yun’s thoughts were muddled, unsure what to do next.

Just then, a voice sounded behind her. “That..”

Zhu Yun turned her head around and a girl with glasses looked to her and Ren Di. She said, “We must be roommates. Hi, I’m Fang Shumiao!” And then there was another round of introductions.

Ren Di didn’t say much. After finishing her makeup, her expression was very indifferent. Understandable. How much of an expression could you expect a slice of cake to have?

Zhu Yun had tried her best to keep the situation from turning cold. Fortunately, Fang Shumiao was pretty lively. As she spoke, she pulled out some dried fruit from her bag. “A hometown specialty. Give it a try.” Zhu Yun thanked her and pulled out the jerky that her mother had prepared for her.

Perhaps their class had fewer girls or some other reason, but a fourth girl never showed up. After politely chatting for half an hour, Zhu Yun suggesed, “It’s about time. We should go pick up our military training uniforms.”?(t/n: At the start of the school year, some schools have mandatory military training—More info on Wiki?and the web.)

Fang Shumiao suddenly recalled such a thing. “That’s right! We have a class meeting in the afternoon too.”

It was their first class meeting of college. They’d meet their class advisor and classmates, so it was pretty important.

The summer afternoon was hot and unbearable. After some tens of minutes standing in place, the front of the line showed no signs of moving. The line of people extended all around from the gymnasium.

Zhu Yun was completely prepared. She pulled out an umbrella from her bag. “You guys should come under too.”

“Thanks.” Fang Shumiao moved under the umbrella.

“Ren Di?”

“No, thanks.” Ren Di had been standing behind them, listening to music. After being interrupted by Zhu Yun, she closed her phone and shouted to the front. “Are you handing out the uniforms or not!?”

Zhu Yun and Fang Shumiao were both startled by the outburst. Students who attended a top school such as this were usually quite favorable, well-behaved with gentle speech. But these new chicks were too excited on this day, so after Ren Di’s outburst, the other students also chimed in.

They shouted—

“Yeah!”

“Are you handing them out or not?! I’m going to get heatstroke!”

“I’m going to faint from this heat!”

After the shouting continued a bit, the sweat-covered organizer stepped out from the gymnasium. “Settle down! When your name is called, come inside! You can all remember your student numbers, right?”

Everyone bowed their heads and searched for the student IDs they’d just received.

The organizer, with a worn out list in his hands, raised his head and shouted, “First is the Computer Department! Technology Applications Class 1! Number 1, Li Xun!”

Zhu Yun was pleased. She’d be out of the sun soon.

“Class 1, Number 1! Li Xun!” No one answered.

The organizer’s voice was growing hoarse from his shouting. “Li Xun! Is Li Xun here?! Does this person exist? Li—”

“Here,” a response came from who knew where.

Zhu Yun was startled. This voice felt very clean. This clear, easygoing voice was easy to distinguish in the afternoon campus. Indeed. A good school had good seedlings. A pleased Zhu Yun slowly turned her head, but what greeted her caused her insides to burn.

Everyone else was also startled. As the boy walked forward, the crowd split in two to make room for him, like Moses split the sea. After he disappeared into the gymnasium, the crowd started chattering again.

“Wow, what a showoff.”

“Who is that..?”

“The school lets you dye your hair?”

....

“Hey, did you see?” Fang Shumiao gently nudged Zhu Yun. “His hair was blond.”

I saw. How could anyone miss it. He was like a walking lightbulb.

Zhu Yun’s parents were both teachers, so she’d come across all sorts of students before. But she’d never seen a student with hair that bright. Zhu Yun surveyed those around her.

Compared to high school students, college students had a lot more freedom. There were more than a few students who dyed their hair, but since this was a science and engineering school, people were generally more conservative. Browns were a common choice, and some might go so far as to dye their hair a dirty blond. But blond hair that looked nearly white when the sun shined onto it was a rare sight.

What was his name? Li Xun. Zhu Yun felt a bit embarrassed. Why’d you dye your hair like that? Are you pretending to be the sun? No one at this school wanted to be a disgrace.

While Zhu Yun’s thoughts flew, Li Xun completed his training registration and exited the gym.

Everyone seemed to have made a silent agreement. They all shut their mouths and looked over the boy out of the corner’s of their eyes.

He was wearing an ordinary gray, cotton, short-sleeved shirt. Since it was hot out, he’d rolled his sleeves up to his shoulders, exposing a pair of slender arms. There was a thinness to him that only the young could have.

He took large steps and left without meeting with another student. But he grazed Zhu Yun’s shoulder. A tall stature, a narrow face, and somewhat tired. That was Zhu Yun’s first impression of him.

A short?hmph?cut her thoughts short.

Zhu Yun turned her head to see Cake Ren cross her arms across her chest, her eyes narrowed as she stared at Li Xun’s retreating figure. Her expression wasn’t great.

Since they’d met, this was the first time she’d showed some type of emotion on her face—raised left eyebrow, lips turned down, eyes receding. I guess it would be called a sneer. Her face remained fixed until Li Xun disappeared from their line of sight, and after a moment, she spit out the word very clearly, “Arrogant.”

“...” Zhu Yun couldn’t help thinking that the two were quite the match.

After the registration was complete, the students drifted over to the academic building.

“Hey, the library!” Fang Shumiao pulled Zhu Yun along as she pointed to a nearby building.

Ordinarily, a school’s library reflected the learning atmosphere of the school. Fang Shumiao looked inside at the large crowd, and she cried out in excitement, “There are a lot of people! Awesome!”

They must be distributing books.

The hallways in the academic building were packed with new students, like a marketplace.

Zhu Yun and the girls quickly found their class and took a seat. The rest of their classmates slowly gathered, sitting down with their roommates and chatting about this and that.

And then, the room quieted.

Zhu Yun turned around, and there was Li Xun. He took a seat diagonally behind her. Just as she was about to look over him more carefully, the bell rang and she snapped forward, eyes to the lecturn at the front.

The halls grew quiet. And soon, a middle-aged male professor entered the room. He wasn’t tall and his head was very round. He stepped up to the lecturn and smiled at everyone.

“Hello, everyone.”

The students answered, their responses scattered and disjoint. “Hello, sir.”

The teacher rubbed his hands and said, “I’ll introduce myself first. My name is Zhang Dai, and I am the advisor for Technology Applications Class 1. I’ll also be your advanced mathematics teacher.”

Teacher Zhang was obviously an academic type with a shining résumé, but he wasn’t good at expressing himself. He stumbled on, “How about everyone makes an introduction, so I can get to know each of you, and also so you can familiarize yourselves with each other. Who wants to go first?”

Deathly silence followed.

Teacher Zhang wiped away the sweat on his forehead. “Then.. Let’s go by your student number.”

Student number? Number 1 in my class..

From behind her, a student walked past her. He stepped up to the lecturn, and the advisor suddenly seemed even shorter. Zhu Yun stared ahead. She could finally look at his face openly.

If she were being honest, he was a bit handsome. But his hair.. In such close proximity, Zhu Yun could see that he’d used hairspray. If you’re going to use it, use it well. His hair had been grabbed and fussed into a mess. To put it nicely, it looked like an overgrown field. In less pleasant terms, it looked like an old and worn-out broom.

The rest of the students, Zhu Yun included, secretly looked forward to what Teacher Zhang would have to say.

Teacher Zhang really must have seen all sorts of people though, for he was only briefly taken aback before recovering. He turned to the class and said, “A lot of students in our class are from this province, right?”

“Mmh,” the students responded. Zhu Yun also nodded along with the class.

Teacher Zhang then announced, “This is the top scorer on the science exam. You all probably didn’t know that, did you?”

Zhu Yun couldn’t help but think,?WHAT?!

Top scorer? Now that she thought about it, when the scores were released, the science top scorer hadn’t been reported in the newspaper. She did think it was a bit strange at the time, but since it didn’t involve her, she didn’t linger on it.

So, the current situation was.. The entire district’s examinees lost to a punk like him? Zhu Yun’s stomach started to hurt a bit.

Teacher Zhang pat Li Xun’s shoulder and said, “Go on, introduce yourself.” The entire class went silent. His dark eyes were heavy, like he was extremely tired. Teacher Zhang’s words seemed to wake him up a bit.

“I’m Li Xun.” That clear voice sounded again, neither too high or too low. It was dependable, like the sound of a knock on a piece of high quality wood in a silent courtyard.

Everyone waited for his next words, but it seemed he hadn’t thought of what to say next. After a few seconds, he smirked. “I’m the top scorer on the college entrance exam this year.”

One word flit into the heads of ten plus in-district students—

Motherfucker.

TL Talks

Happy Valentine’s Day??

The tentative schedule is Tuesdays and Fridays (or Wednesdays and Saturdays depending on where you live), and I’ll probably post 1-2 chapters at a time.

The Lighter and Princess Gown?is written by Twentine in two parts. The description posted on jjwxc honestly wasn’t very descriptive, but I think the theme is simple enough. Zhu Yun is a girl who?comes across as a good and obedient student, but perhaps there’s more to her than meets the eye. When she starts college at a prestigious(?) and somewhat conservative school,?she collides with a rather unconventional boy.