nChapter 19: CET 4 and the Computer

nTranslator: May Wiggins Editor: Efydatia

nQin Guan and Cong Nianwei went out and got on a bus. Qin Guan felt much more relaxed in his own clothes. He decided to get off at Xizhimen and have some hand-pulled noodles with Cong Nianwei.

nSoon, they arrived at a noodle restaurant. When their noodles were served, Cong Nianwei laughed at Qin Guan, “You made quite a fortune today. Noodles! Is this your treat?”

nQin Guan was really hungry, because he had not eaten much at lunch. As he was swallowing his noodles, he told Cong Nianwei, “Give it a shot. They’re yummy. They taste like the noodles at the restaurant near our high school.”

nQin Guan had obviously not gotten her meaning. At the time, even the author had started to worry about his EQ. No wonder he had not officially become Cong Nianwei’s boyfriend.

nCong Nianwei thought Qin Guan was both cute and silly. She picked up some noodles and found that they were truly yummy.

nThe humble noodle restaurant located between used cell phone stores was inconspicuous. Despite its messy surroundings though, there were still no empty seats inside. The owner had set a table outside, but if that was also occupied, customers had to squat down and eat on the sidewalk. Some customers rode a bicycle there while others drove a car. Old customers would even get off their BMWs for a bowl of hand-pulled noodles, and squat down and eat by the roadside.

nThe noodles there were simple and coarse, but their taste was unforgettable. Qin Guan and Cong Nianwei stopped talking and emptied their bowls quickly. Putting down the bowls, they looked at each other and laughed out loud.

nQin Guan paid 10 yuan for the two bowls. It was cheap, but he and Cong Nianwei were fully satisfied. He saw off Cong Nianwei at the Xizhimen station, regretting that he had not gotten the chance to hold her hand.

nQin Guan was upset. He had been courting Cong Nianwei for almost a year now, but he had not won over her heart yet. Cong Nianwei would blow him off without a second thought. What was so wrong with him?

nIf Cong Nianwei had known what Qin Guan was thinking, she would have despised him. Ever since he had come to college, he had hardly ever called her. He even had a part-time job on the weekends. What irritated her more, was that Qin Guan had forgotten to officially confess his love for her. A girl would have to be a fool to say yes to him.

nThe life of a sloppy guy was always a hard one.

nAfter his date, Qin Guan went to Huang Jiajia’s home. It occurred to him that he might have pissed off the little girl earlier in the afternoon.

nHe went into the house nervously, but to his surprise, he found that Huang Jiajia was quite well-behaved. She studied harder than ever and voluntarily asked Qin Guan to give her more assignments so she could exercise every day.

nQin Guan was still puzzled when he went back to campus. Huang Jiajia had behaved so well that he found it hard to adapt to the change. She had neither made fun of Qin Guan, nor moved purposely closer to him. It seemed like she had totally changed.

nOf course, a rough guy like Qin Guan had soon forgotten all about it, but Huang Jiajia had gone through quite an interesting transformation.

nShe was actually at home right that moment, throwing away her clothes. She wrapped all her fashionable clothes in a coverlet and gave them to her mother, telling her that she could either donate them or give them to others as gifts. Either way, she would never wear those clothes again.

nFrom that day on, Huang Jiajia decided to be a good girl. She had seen Cong Nianwei and how charmed Qin Guan had been by her.

nHuang Jiajia was both upset and sad. She did not know why, but she knew Mr. Qin loved Cong Nianwei. He would never love a girl like her.

nShe was determined to change, though. She was still in her second year of high school, so it was not too late for her. She would study really hard and get accepted into CUFE, where Qin Guan was studying. She would never wear makeup or dress up again. She wanted to be a comely girl like Cong Nianwei.

n“When I get accepted into CUFE, I’ll be closer to Mr. Qin than she is. I’m younger than her, so I can to wait for him to come back to me.”

nThat poor little thing, with her full lips and enchanting eyes... Her style was the total opposite of Cong Nianwei.

nHuang Jiajia was desperate. She only wanted to get closer to Mr. Qin.

nHuang Jiajia’s mother noticed that her little girl had given up those hideous clothes. She had also stopped dying her hair and wearing makeup. Instead, she was studying hard every day. Her mother felt both glad and relieved.

n“Should I give a bonus to Mr. Qin? He did teach her well after all. Jiajia has stopped idling about. Even more surprisingly, she has started studying hard.”

nTime flied. Qin Guan was leading a busy life, so a month passed by quickly. Before he knew it, it was already mid-November.

nHis life had gotten more regular now. He had finished his two part-time jobs at the exhibition and done some odd jobs as a promoter. His tutoring schedule was as regular as it had been, but Qin Guan did not allow himself to waste any time. During the day, he had classes and recited English words. He could recite the full vocabulary of College English Test Band 4 (CET 4) from A to Z, and had already started to recite the vocabulary for CET 6.

nQin Guan’s roommates wanted to sit CET 4 as early as possible. According to Qin Guan’s experience, this was the best time for them to take the test. Therefore, all the boys in his dorm followed him in reciting English words.

nCET 4 was in mid-December, so Qin Guan and his roommates submitted their applications in advance.

nAs a matter of fact, universities did not encourage students to sit the test in advance, because their passing grade was never satisfying. Qin Guan and his roommates were all top students in their classes, though.

nNo one studied as hard as top students in their first year of college. Ye Dong, the oldest boy in the dorm, had been studying hard in order to get elected as a member of the Students’ Union, so he had never missed a class.

nQin Guan was both a top student and an enthusiastic reader. He went to every lecture and read a lot after class. Liu Xiaoyang had a high IQ, and Wang Lei studied harder than everyone.

nAs for Mu Lejiang and Li Jie, they maintained a good balance between studying and fun. They had never missed any of their classes in favor of having some leisure time.

nQin Guan thought that if he hadn’t been reborn, he’d never have been able to catch up with the boys in his dorm.

nWhen the boys had successfully completed their registration for CET 4, even their teachers had showed their approval.

nOn November 15, 1998, it was raining lightly. The breaking news in Qin Guan’s dorm was that the six boys had carried in a computer. They all had chipped in and bought a computer from Zhongguancun.

nQin Guan had tried to stop the boys, but he had failed. Liu Xiaoyang had heard that Internet would soon be available in their dorm. For a gamer like Liu Xiaoyang, going to an Internet cafe on campus was too much trouble, so he had pestered everyone to buy a computer. He had paid the most because he was rich, but his roommates had also chipped in some money so they could use the computer to do research online.

nWhen it came to computers, Qin Guan could not stop Liu Xiaoyang’s craze. The young boy did not want to buy a popular brand either. Instead, he bought the most expensive one with the best gaming keyboard. There was even an extra memory bank in it.

nQin Guan really wanted to tell Liu Xiaoyang, “This computer will be outdated in a year. A memory bank’s capacity is only 64 MB now. Do you know how fast computers are developing? By that time, you’ll hate yourself.”

nLiu Xiaoyang did not care about that, though. After several rounds of selecting, he finally picked a computer that cost more than 9,000 yuan. Liu Xiaoyang paid the 9,000 and the other boys shared the rest of the cost. Liu Xiaoyang was still quite satisfied.

n“Look at the mouse pad! It’s limited edition!”

n“Please, man. The shop owner gave it to you as a gift and told you it was limited edition. How could you even buy that?”

n“Look at the laptop bag. It’s free!”

n“Gee, you bought a desktop! The shop owner just gave you a laptop bag so you would buy a laptop in the future!”

nIgnoring Qin Guan’s facial expressions, the boys excitedly carried the computer to their dorm and installed it together.

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