Chapter Seventeen: Only Madness Brings Life

Zhang Lei and Leng Haoyang had just stepped onto the stairs when they heard her cry and rushed down. Dong Yanyan was already so frightened that she didn’t dare move a muscle. Zhang Lei approached the window to take a closer look, and suddenly another head popped up on the other side. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Dong Yanyan, saying, “It’s fine, it’s just a senior from the broadcasting class.” He reached out and helped pull someone through the window. Then, to Dong Yanyan’s astonishment, this senior extended his hand again and pulled up a girl from below, followed by another boy climbing in. One after another, seven or eight young men and women crawled up through the window.

Leng Haoyang felt a bit awkward, his expression stiff as he greeted them. They, on the other hand, nodded at him with calm composure.

Dong Yanyan scoffed disdainfully. Seeing their faces flushed with excitement, she immediately guessed what they’d been up to! Humph! They’d been partying for so long before coming back, and ended up giving her a fright.

“I was scared to death! I should have stomped on that hand just now!” she muttered through gritted teeth, her voice low.

Just then, a boy who had only taken a few steps turned abruptly, hurried back to her, and pointed menacingly at her nose, demanding, “What did you just say?”

Leng Haoyang jumped, quickly stepped in front of Dong Yanyan, and forced a smile. “Brother Ren, she didn’t say anything.”

A few other boys crowded over, laughing good-naturedly. “Jiaxuan, don’t scare the little sister…”

Dong Yanyan recognized him immediately: Ren Jiaxuan, the broadcasting class senior who appeared scholarly but was truly spirited and unpredictable. In his two years here, he’d been involved in every notable event at the school, making it impossible not to remember him.

“I am. You’d better go upstairs from this side, because Teacher Wang is about to come down the stairs over there,” she said, glancing at her watch—midnight, exactly twelve. From that direction, Teacher Wang’s footsteps were already descending. The boys exchanged glances and tiptoed upstairs, while the girls carefully went downstairs. One heavily made-up girl turned back, gave Dong Yanyan a brilliant smile, and whispered, “Thank you, little sister!”

That “little sister” made Dong Yanyan’s heart blossom with delight—what a beautiful, long-lost title! Ever since she had Lulu, people had stopped calling her sister and instead called her big sister. Now, a young and pretty girl was calling her little sister, and she was almost flattered beyond belief.

“Sister, don’t mention it!” she replied in a sweet, delicate voice, tossing her a flirtatious smile, then skipped downstairs humming a tune. She was so happy that her fear disappeared; for the first time ever, she went to the restroom alone, without anyone accompanying her. Returning to the dormitory and lying in bed, she realized she’d actually dared to go by herself—her courage was bigger than she’d thought! With this psychological boost, she wasn’t afraid to go to the restroom at night for a long time afterward.

*

The curriculum at the vocational school wasn’t demanding; classes ended by three or four every day, leaving the rest of the time for the students to themselves. One day, bored out of her mind, Dong Yanyan asked Liu Siying to go shopping at Changbai. In this era, large supermarkets were practically nonexistent, and there were only a handful of big department stores, so the historic Changbai was considered a landmark mall in the city. Of course, with only a couple of coins in her pocket, she couldn’t afford anything there, but shopping was a girl’s nature—even if they didn’t buy, window shopping was still fun!

The range of digital products upstairs was scant and outrageously expensive; after a quick glance, the two returned to the third floor to look at clothes. Dong Yanyan enthusiastically tried on a few sweaters, each one fitting perfectly. Even the sales clerk said she didn’t need to try them on—her figure guaranteed she’d look great in anything! This made Dong Yanyan very happy. Xiaoying felt a bit embarrassed by her trying but not buying, and quickly dragged her, still reluctant, down to the first floor. The first floor was filled with cosmetics and jewelry counters. Liu Siying gazed longingly at the beautifully packaged cosmetics behind the glass; Dong Yanyan, however, was unimpressed. Years later, this friend’s husband would become a high-earning executive, and she herself would be a young urban professional, buying clothes and cosmetics in matching sets, dismissing most brands as beneath her. What fortune!

They laughed and looked around, examining this and that, when Dong Yanyan suddenly spotted, as if discovering a new continent, a tall and beautiful woman by the counter up ahead! It was Teacher Yang, head of the broadcasting class and also their politics teacher. She usually left right after class and rarely interacted with students.

“That’s our teacher! Let’s go say hello!” Liu Siying exclaimed, grabbing her hand. Unlike other girls, Liu Siying wasn’t intimidated by teachers, so they all liked her.

Teacher Yang greeted them with a slight smile and a nod, then instructed the sales assistant to pack up the cosmetic set she’d just chosen and rang up the bill. Dong Yanyan glanced at the price—it was equivalent to a month’s salary for Teacher Yang. There was no comparison; her husband was truly capable!

“I noticed the other counters are giving out samples of the new products. Don’t you have any for such a big brand?” Dong Yanyan asked the sales assistant, feigning casualness as she propped her chin.

“Really?” Teacher Yang asked, puzzled, hesitating as she put down the cosmetics.

Seeing this, the sales assistant quickly replied, “Of course! We have the most complete selection. Any purchase over five hundred yuan comes with a set of new samples. I’ll get it for you right now!” She turned, retrieved a gift box set from the cabinet behind her.

With this unexpected surprise, Teacher Yang was delighted and became much more talkative.

“Thank you! It’s not that I care about the money, but I really love these gifts! You’re in the broadcasting class, right? What’s your name again? I can’t quite remember!” she asked, affectionately draping her arm around Dong Yanyan’s shoulders.

“Teacher, my name is Dong Yanyan!” Dong Yanyan didn’t mind that Teacher Yang didn’t recognize her; after all, she barely knew anyone in her own class.

Her answer seemed to give Teacher Yang an opening, and her eyes suddenly brightened. “Right, right! You’re the one who sings those dolphin notes! Teacher Ma from language class mentioned you twice; you’ve been diligently practicing Mandarin. You should come audit our class sometime. Let me think—tomorrow afternoon we have two performance classes taught by Teacher Ma. You can come and listen; I’ll let your class advisor know!”

Dong Yanyan and Liu Siying exchanged a look of joy, hugging Teacher Yang’s arm and thanking her excitedly.

*

On the way back to school, Liu Siying was still caught up in excitement. “Yanyan, thanks to you, we finally get to audit their class! I’ve always wanted to hear the broadcasting class lessons. I never thought Teacher Yang was so wealthy, and you managed to get her an extra set of samples—she was so happy! How did you know there’d be gifts? I looked for ages but didn’t see any at the other counters!”

“That’s normal—even the richest women love getting freebies. It’s instinct, not about money!” Dong Yanyan said smugly. As for the complimentary gifts, she’d worked at a cosmetics counter for two years; she knew all the tricks by heart!