Chapter 52 - 43: A Treat
Chen Lin nodded.
"Holy shit!" Fatty Zhao threw his eggplant back onto his plate, a look of disbelief on his face. "Brother Lin, are you for real? I thought that thing with Shen Yan was just you messing around!"
"You’re really going to study math?" Wang Tao’s voice was also filled with shock.
After the brief shock, the once lively atmosphere at the barbecue stall rapidly cooled down, replaced by an indescribable silence.
The expressions on the three’s faces slowly shifted from shock to a complex mix of emotions. There was confusion, but mostly, it was reluctance to part.
"So if you change majors, does that mean you have to change dorms too?" Fatty Zhao asked in a low voice. This was the question they were most concerned about at that moment.
"Yeah," Chen Lin nodded, not hiding anything. "According to school rules, they have to reassign me. But I’ll probably stop living in the dorms next semester. I’m going to rent a place off-campus."
Those words were like a stone, completely shattering the last bit of cheerful air at the table.
The three of them fell silent. They lowered their heads, each poking at the skewers on their plates, and no one said a word.
They all knew what this meant. Dorm Room 406, where they had lived together day and night for two whole years, was about to be broken up.
Seeing them like this, a sour feeling welled up in Chen Lin’s heart. He raised his beer bottle and took the initiative to tap it against their three bottles.
"Alright, stop moping around," he said with a forced, easy smile. "It’s not like we’ll never see each other again. I’m just changing my major, but I’m still at Yan University, right? Whenever you guys want to party up for a game, just give me a call."
Wang Tao looked up, gave him a deep look, then raised his own beer bottle and clinked it heavily against his.
"Lin, as long as you’ve thought it through, that’s what matters. No matter what you decide, we support you!"
"Yeah! We support you!" Fatty Zhao and Li the Monkey immediately raised their bottles too, their eyes filled with resolve.
"Thanks, brothers." Chen Lin’s heart warmed, and he drained the rest of the beer in his bottle.
With the knot in their hearts untied, the atmosphere became lively again.
"What about you two?" Chen Lin looked at Fatty Zhao and Wang Tao. "What are your plans for the future?"
Fatty Zhao patted his round belly and sighed. "I’m preparing for the graduate entrance exams. It’s really hard to find a job with a bachelor’s in our major. I’m planning to switch fields and try for media or law. At least the job prospects are better."
"I’ve already figured it out," Wang Tao said, seeming very calm. "My dad has an uncle he’s close with who started his own company, a distributor for fast-moving consumer goods. It’s already been arranged. I’ll go straight there after I graduate and start as a management trainee."
Chen Lin nodded. Their choices were both within his expectations.
Finally, all three of them turned their gazes to Li the Monkey.
Li the Monkey scratched his head and gave a slightly embarrassed smile. "With my grades, I’m not going to jump into the grad school rat race with you guys. I plan to listen to my parents. While I still have time, I’ll start preparing early to take the civil service exam or test for a public institution after graduation. I just want something stable."
"That’s great," Chen Lin said sincerely. "All roads lead to Rome. As long as you find the path that’s right for you, that’s what matters."
The four of them talked excitedly about the future, chatting about whether they would stay in Jinmen or go back to their hometowns after graduation, about who would be the first to get married, who would be the first to get rich.
As they talked, they started reminiscing about the past two years—about staying up all night to watch games, pulling all-nighters to game together, and highlighting key points for each other before exams.
Those daily routines that once seemed so ordinary had now, on the verge of their separation, transformed into sparkling, precious memories.
...
...
At half past midnight, the lights in Dorm Room 406 had already been off for over half an hour.
Outside the window, the moonlight was like water.
The only sound in the room was the soft whir of the air conditioner.
No one was asleep.
In the darkness, all four of them lay quietly on their beds with their eyes open, lost in their own thoughts.
"Are you guys asleep?" Wang Tao’s voice suddenly broke the silence in the darkness.
"Nope."
"Nope."
"Me neither."
Chen Lin, Fatty Zhao, and Li the Monkey answered almost simultaneously.
The dorm room fell into a brief silence again.
"Lin," Wang Tao’s voice came again, tinged with a hint of emotion. "I remember when you used to have that regular gig at the Back Street Bar. The three of us went to support you that one time at the very beginning, and then we never went again, did we?"
"Yeah," Chen Lin replied. "What about it?"
"Tonight is our last night as roommates," Wang Tao’s voice was very calm. "Sing a song for us, one last time."
In the darkness, Chen Lin was silent for a moment.
Then, he let out a soft "Mm."
"Okay."
He didn’t use his phone to look for any instrumental backing.
In the quiet of the night, he took a breath, and his clear, slightly magnetic voice began to flow out slowly, echoing through the small dorm room.
"Brother in the top bunk,"
"So silent and still,"
"Those questions you once asked me,"
"No one asks them anymore."
...
His voice was soft and gentle, as if telling a story.
Fatty Zhao turned over to face the wall.
Li the Monkey pulled the blanket over his head, covering his entire face.
Wang Tao, however, lay with his arms behind his head, staring quietly at the ceiling.
"The letters you send are getting more and more polite,"
"You never mention a word about love."
"You say you have many friends now,"
"But you no longer worry about those things."
...
Chen Lin remembered the first time the four of them met when they started college, remembered the classes they’d skipped together, the scoldings they’d gotten from the dorm manager, and the countless days and nights spent fooling around, laughing, and arguing.