Chapter 4: The Depressed San Bao Zi

  Today I decided to go back to the dormitory in the evening "to have fun with the people", after calculating, it has been almost a month since I last went back to the dormitory. Although I moved out of the dormitory for a long time, I always insist on regularly going back to the dormitory, playing cards and bragging with my brothers in the dormitory. If not because some work needs to get up early and busy till late at night, I won't choose to move out and live elsewhere.

  Maybe it's been a long time since I climbed the sixth floor, when I reached the top of the dormitory, I had an idea whether I was already old and faded. The corridor is still the same as before, with only two public phones in front of which are full of people, almost all of whom are lining up to make phone calls to their girlfriends or online friends. Those who are slightly richer will choose to use mobile phones, but generally this situation mostly occurs when two people have just met or are far apart, and most people who can meet frequently choose to send text messages.

  In the 21st century, an era that emphasizes speed and information, in a time when almost all universities have equipped their dormitories with broadband and cable TV, it is unbelievable that each dormitory in our university does not even have a telephone. Every time I complain to my friends from other schools, they doubt my sanity, saying that I am denying the achievements of reform and opening-up, and pointing out that under the leadership of the Party, China's educational hardware facilities have been greatly improved with the development of reform and opening-up, and this situation can only occur in backward western regions. So I called my friends in western cities to verify their situations, but they said I was intentionally belittling my own learning environment to gain their sympathy... So I finally understood that this is just an individual phenomenon, in a vast and populous country like China, while making great progress through reform and opening-up, there will inevitably be some backward elements that cannot keep up with the pace of the times, and are left behind by reform and opening-up. It's just my bad luck.

  When I first came to this school, many people had reflected on this issue to the school. Later, the school's response was that in order not to affect students' studies, all facilities would not be installed. I have always been unclear about the necessary connection between telephones, TVs, and networks with academic performance. If there really is one, then shouldn't our country, which aims to cultivate excellent talents to revitalize national development, reject these things at the border? I really don't know what those school authorities who shout "keep up with the times" and "support the three representatives" are doing every day. Can't they feel the importance of information in the information age as pioneers of education? It's really hard to believe that such remarks would appear in a university. I'm even more unsure whether hearing this kind of talk should make me feel extremely happy. The principal must have a unique understanding of "two ears not asking about outside affairs, one heart only reading sacred books". After all, there are too many temptations outside the school, and online it's even more chaotic. The principal must be protecting us simple university students, so they made this decision with a heavy heart. As an international bank invested 400 million to build this university, installing these things would be like "a big tree losing one leaf, a granary reducing one grain of rice". How could they be stingy about this little money? Truly, it's a painstaking effort.

  When I entered the dormitory, only San Pangzi was lying on the bed in a daze, with a look of confusion in his eyes. The reason for this is that our school used to be a normal university, so most majors are still normal classes, which makes the male-to-female ratio of our school severely unbalanced, with the most extreme being one to seven. Also because of this, the boys in our school finally have something to be proud of when facing boys from other schools. So as long as you're a boy from Harbin Institute, as long as you're not too disgusting, you won't have to worry about not having a girlfriend, and the quality will be better than what boys from other schools can find. This is also why many of my classmates were indignant when they came to our school, some even had a heroic desire to save the beauties. I can only comfort them by saying: "Because you're not cow dung, there's no flower for you."

  But San Pangzi spent three years of single life in Ha Yuan, to be honest, he hasn't reached the point where he can't find a girlfriend in Ha Yuan, because many people who are even more rotten than him have already paired up. After several sleepless nights, he concluded that it was due to his overweight body shape affecting his overall image, so he decided to lose weight, with a specific plan to run laps around the playground every day. In fact, I always think that San Pangzi's fat is not only not his shortcoming, but also gives him a kind of cute feeling, just like Shen Danyi wouldn't be so popular today if she wasn't fat. I really can't imagine what San Pangzi would look like after losing weight successfully, nor can I confirm whether he will find a girlfriend after slimming down. At least, if I were a girl, I would choose the San Pangzi who hasn't lost weight without hesitation.

  It's probably because the school leaders took into account the tight land use in Harbin city, so the school was built surprisingly small. If Harbin Institute wants to break into the top ten in some college rankings, then by campus area from smallest to largest, Harbin College will definitely be among the top. Since it was built so tightly, it's not possible to build some small woods or other ideal dating spots like HeiDa, HIT, or HeiKe, those rich and oily schools, for students to use. This has led many couples to huddle on the stands around the not-so-large playground when night falls, which is also affected by the weather. So, the phenomenon of seat occupation that can only happen in libraries in other schools strangely appeared on our school's playground stands. This has also inadvertently increased the motivation for those who exercise running for love, like San Bao Zi.

  Tonight, San Pangzi continued his weight loss plan as usual. After a long time of adaptation, San Pangzi had become accustomed to the kissing and breast-touching actions on the viewing platform, but he didn't know when he ran to which lap, suddenly heard a sound from the nearby viewing platform that was enough to excite him. Although it wasn't very loud, relying on his years of experience watching adult videos, he quickly judged that this was a couple making out. Perhaps due to moral condemnation, he didn't continue looking, but this incident was like a drop of cold water falling into a boiling pot of oil, causing him to become depressed quickly, so he ended today's run early. When I came back, I happened to catch up with him being depressed on the bed.

  As a dormitory brother, I can only strongly condemn this behavior in exchange for San Baozi's temporary calmness, and had an in-depth discussion with him on the ideological and moral issues of contemporary college students. Not long after, Lao Er swaggered in with a song "Today is Really Exciting", looking like a small-minded person who has succeeded.

  So I decided to let Lao Er tell the exciting story to ease San Bao's mood. Lao Er first took a sip of water, then began to narrate his romantic encounter today like a storytelling master. It turned out that today Lao Er occupied two seats in the library for self-study, one of which was reserved for San Bao, but San Bao had something urgent and didn't show up. In the afternoon, a girl who Lao Er described as having exceptional looks and figure asked if she could sit next to him in the empty seat. Lao Er happily agreed, and they chatted all afternoon, then had dinner together, and later took a walk on the playground. After strolling around the playground for a few rounds, the girl suddenly asked Lao Er if he had ever made love in such a place. Lao Er was surprised at first, then pretended to be calm and said no. The girl then asked Lao Er if he wanted to do it once here. As a seasoned person, Lao Er still felt embarrassed after hearing this, but agreed anyway, since she was a beauty. So the two found a secluded spot far from others and started doing it. In Lao Er's words, it was thrilling, exciting, and satisfying...

  During Lao Er's narration, I used no less than ten implicit methods to try to get him to stop, but he was completely immersed in the wonderful feeling at that time and ignored my hints. Just as Lao Er was describing the wonderful experience of working outdoors, San Pangzi got up from bed, put on his clothes, and rushed out. After our unanimous analysis later, it is believed that he went to an internet cafe for overnight surfing, trying to vent his depression in the virtual online world to net friends...