137 Reports for Duty

The triple plea as usual! Votes, recommendations, and collections, please collect, collect, collect, I beg you to collect!

Outside the Free Bar in Houhai.

"How is it? Did that guy take you in as his apprentice?"

Brought back after being tricked, Huang Bo first glanced at Gao Kui, then shook his head. "The Master refused to accept me."

"Wait, wait, isn't he supposed to be a master, how did he become a grandmaster?"

"What do you know? The moment I met him, he called me by my name. Can you do that?" said Huang Bo.

Gao Kui was stunned for a moment and said, "I can do that. Aren't you just Huang Bo? Didn't I just call you out?"

"Go on, go on, I'm talking to you seriously."

Huang Bo had fallen on hard times. Back in his early days developing in Guangzhou, his peers like Mao Ning and Yang Yuying had become famous before switching to singing residencies in Yujing. People like Zhou Xun, Man Wenjun, and the Zero Point Band who started alongside him had also found fame, yet he was still running from gig to gig.

"I am very serious, Bozi. You are somewhat of a residency celebrity around Houhai; aren't there way too many people who know your name? If anyone asks around just a little, who wouldn't be able to call out your name?"

Hearing this, Huang Bo was slightly taken aback and said, "Then what about him instantly seeing that I'm wearing red underwear today? How do you explain that? There was even a pretty young lady standing right next to us at the time, it was so embarrassing!"

"You're wearing red underwear?" Gao Kui was startled once again. He looked him up and down, pointed at Huang Bo's waist, and said, "Isn't it exposed right there at the side? Red."

Huang Bo: "..."

"Being tricked means being tricked. Such things aren't the first time in the Capital, nothing new. At worst, today's lunch is on me, buddy," Gao Kui said generously.

"No, wait a second!" Huang Bo abruptly cut off Gao Kui's train of thought. "The Master also divined the color of my shorts yesterday, do you remember?"

Gao Kui said, "I'm not gay, why would I care about the color of your underwear? As for that master, why is he so concerned..."

"Stop talking and listen to me. The Master pinched his fingers to calculate, and said that the white shorts I wore yesterday—I really did wear white yesterday! How do you explain that?"

Gao Kui's eyes widened in shock. "No way?!"

"Anyway, the Master is just that accurate. He also told me that I have no future in singing, and that I have to follow you into acting to make something of myself!"

"Really or fake?" Gao Kui still didn't believe it.

Huang Bo retorted, "I've never mentioned you dragging me into acting to anyone else. What do you think?"

After calling a taxi to drop Jiang Zhizhen back at the Baishi Group, Yang Tang took another cab back to Guangxin Jiayuan.

In the evening, after buying all the ingredients and utilizing Little Master's culinary skills, Yang Tang cooked a large table of delicious food for himself, thoroughly indulging his appetite.

The next day, Wan Hailu had his subordinates deliver a fully documented, bulletproof Mercedes-Benz 500 SUV to Yang Tang.

Just as Yang Tang, who had newly obtained his driver's license, drove out for a spin, the videos of those two-and-a-half songs he performed at the Free Bar were already going viral online. Netizen comments were everywhere.

"Hey hey, what song is this? The high notes actually shattered a wine glass!!"

"That was only half a song, the divine song 'Tantalizing' that comes after is even more hilarious!"

"Listening to half of 'Tantalizing' can make someone nearly pee out of anxiety..."

"Who says otherwise? I actually think 'Tantalizing' is most suitable for urging children to urinate."

"The person above is an idiot!"

"+1"

"High notes are undoubtedly precious, but I think the second song is much more catchy!"

"True, the melody is simple, the lyrics aren't hard to remember either, very easy to become a hit..."

"Agree with the upstairs!"

"What a pity, what a pity. The uploader's recording resolution is too low, they even made our handsome lead singer look like he has pockmarks."

"Hey upstairs, how do you know the lead singer is handsome?"

"Just listen to the video, wasn't there someone shouting 'handsome' when those bar patrons were applauding?!"

"Exactly, I heard it too."

"+1"

"..."

Yang Tang's matter not only blew up on the internet within Beijing's cultural circles, but it also alerted many scouts from music and entertainment companies. They even tracked down Baishi Company, where Jiang Zhizhen belonged. Unfortunately, President Qian had already personally experienced the formidable accuracy of Yang Tang's divine divination and naturally dared not offend Master Yang. Whenever a call came inquiring about Yang Tang's whereabouts, he had long since instructed the operators to uniformly reply with "No comment!"

A few days later, the day for Capital University's school opening finally arrived.

Yang Tang brought all his ID documents, admission notice, and other paperwork, carrying a travel bag packed with two sets of old clothes and a few packs of instant noodles. Without driving, he simply hailed a cab straight to Wanshouyuan Road.

At the commercial street passageway near the intersection of Wanshouyuan Road and Haidian Road, he withdrew thirty thousand yuan in cash to keep on his person. Carrying his travel bag, Yang Tang strolled into the Capital University campus through the nearby southwest gate.

Arriving at the registration desk, he saw that the registration process was all one-stop. As long as the documents and photos were complete, one could be processed in three to five minutes. However, the queues were extremely long. Too lazy to stand around and wait foolishly, Yang Tang directly struck up a bargain with a guy at the end of the line: he would leave his travel bag in the queue to hold his spot and give that guy one thousand yuan to watch the bag for him.

Hearing about such a profitable deal, the guy hesitated for a moment before agreeing. "Brother, I reckon this line will still take about an hour. Go ahead, I'll watch it for you right here, but this travel bag of yours—"

"Nothing much, just a few worn-out clothes and some instant noodles, nothing else." Yang Tang unzipped it to show him. "Look, take these five hundred yuan first, and let my bag hold a spot right in front of you so you can keep a good eye on it. Later, when the line moves up, I'll add another five hundred yuan for you, deal?"

"No problem, it's a deal!"

Then Yang Tang strolled off to a photo studio. He hadn't registered his ID photos yet—headshots definitely wouldn't do—so he asked the studio owner to rush an extra set of prints. Paying a bit extra, the owner patted his chest and guaranteed he would definitely get the photos within an hour and a half.

Two hours later, his palate having been spoiled by Little Master's culinary skills, Yang Tang reluctantly ate a few skewers of grilled meat and returned to the registration desk with the extra photo prints.

By this time, the line was only three people away from the spot held by his travel bag.

Thus, Yang Tang wedged his way into the line, exchanged pleasantries with the guy who watched his bag, and slipped him the remaining five hundred yuan, settling the matter completely.

Soon enough, he completed his registration. Yang Tang, along with several others, formed a small group and followed an older student up to the dormitory area. They were assigned to two adjacent dormitories on the western end of the third floor of Building 33. Both were four-person rooms, and the accommodation fee was two hundred Chinese Yuan per year.

Originally, Yang Tang hadn't planned to live on campus, but seeing that the dorm fee was only two hundred yuan a year and relatively cheap, he figured he might as well claim a spot.

As soon as the senior student left, the floodgates of conversation opened among the occupants of Room 303.

"Hey hey, let's all introduce ourselves!" spoke the only person wearing glasses among the four.

"Right, right, self-introductions, and by the way, let's rank our seniority!" echoed the tallest, most naive-looking, and dark-complexioned big guy.

"Alright, I'll go first!" said the horse-faced man wearing a plaid shirt who was the shortest among the four. "My name is Ma Zhipeng, height 1.77 meters, from Longcheng in Jin Province. My old folks count as nouveau riche, but both have low educational levels, so they pushed me hard to study. Well, before I knew it, I managed to test into Capital University, majoring in the History Department!"

The bespectacled guy and the big guy immediately burst into laughter.

After laughing enough, the bespectacled guy introduced himself: "My name is Tan Yin, pretty strange name, right? Because my dad's surname is Tan and my mom's surname is Yin, they just called me that. From Shanghai, height 1.82 meters, studying Computer Science."

The naive big guy chimed in: "My name is Li Chong, from Xijing in Shaanxi Province, height 1.90 meters, a sports-recruited student!"

At this moment, it should have been Yang Tang's turn to introduce himself, but he instead tossed his travel bag onto the head of his bed, rested his head on it, and lay down as if he had fallen asleep.

"Hey, it's your turn to introduce yourself!" Li Chong walked over to the bed and gave the bed frame a heavy slap.

Yang Tang still didn't open his eyes, merely saying indifferently, "Yang Tang, from Chongqing, height 1.81 meters, History Department."

Upon hearing this, Ma Zhipeng's eyes lit up as he scampered over to Yang Tang's bedside. "What the hell, bro, you're actually in the History Department? Which major?"

"World History!" Yang Tang said with his eyes closed.

"Damn, you're awesome! Your score must have been really high during the college entrance exams, right?" Ma Zhipeng probed.

Li Chong asked, puzzled, "Why do you say that?"

Ma Zhipeng expounded knowingly, "Are you an idiot? The History Department only recruited forty-one people nationwide across two majors: twenty-five for Chinese History and sixteen for World History. It's basically a policy of rather having none than taking substandard ones. Do you think those forty-one people could be mediocre? More importantly, I heard that the male-to-female ratio in this year's World History class is severely unbalanced—there seem to only be four guys, and the girls are quite attractive!"

"Really or fake?" Talking about girls made even Tan Yin, the bespectacled guy who looked very calm and wise, crowd over.

Yang Tang finally rolled his eyes, opened them, and cut off the conversation. "Why are you rambling on about that? It's almost lunchtime; hurry up and state everyone's birthdays so we can go out for a group meal!"

"Right, right, group meal!" Mentioning food, Li Chong was immediately the first to respond.

"Fine, stating birthdays it is! I turned eighteen on the sixth day of the first lunar month this year!" Ma Zhipeng went first.

"My turn," said Tan Yin. "I turned eighteen on the third day of the first lunar month, slightly older than Zhipeng!"

Li Chong said, "I'm also eighteen, turning eighteen the day before the Dragon Boat Festival this year."

"Looks like I'm the youngest. I only turned eighteen a couple of days ago!"

As Yang Tang finished his introduction, Ma Zhipeng wailed, "Damn, the class vice-monitor and second-place student year after year... looks like I really am fated to be the eternal runner-up!"

Over the next few days, opening ceremonies, filling out forms, class meetings, visiting the university history museum, freshman orientation lectures, head teaching assistants and senior students visiting dormitories, welcome parties—every day had a few things to take care of.

Of course, the main focus was getting familiar with new classmates, exploring the Capital University campus and its surrounding environment, purchasing daily necessities, and preparing for the upcoming military training.

After Teachers' Day, the freshmen officially entered the preparation period for military training, which lasted two days. By noon on September 13th, military training uniforms were distributed to all freshmen for fitting; anyone with ill-fitting attire could go to the South Gate of Capital University to exchange them before 5 PM.

On the morning of September 14th, the military training mobilization meeting was held. September 15th was designated for haircuts and preparing military training supplies.

Early in the morning on September 16th, they officially headed to the military training base.

New week, please collect, please collect, please collect!!