When Xinyan returned to the dormitory, the two new roommates were tidying up their beds.
Seeing Xinyan come in, the girl on the lower bunk near the door smiled and greeted her, "Hello."
Xinyan smiled and nodded at the girl, "Hello, I’m Han Xinyan."
The girl quickly added, "I’m Zhang Zhaodi."
The girl on the upper bunk above Zhang Zhaodi also looked at Xinyan, somewhat shyly, "Hello, I’m Su Yuelan."
Xinyan nodded to her too, "Hello."
Su Yuelan’s family knew their daughter was shy and not good at interacting with people, so her mom took the initiative to chat with Xinyan, "Classmate, which bunk is yours?"
Xinyan pointed to the upper bunk next door, "Auntie, I live on the upper bunk."
Su Yuelan’s mom didn’t expect that the bed with curtains was Xinyan’s, "So that bunk is yours. We’re also preparing to get some fabric to help our Yuelan put one up, so she can have a private space, which makes changing clothes or other things more convenient."
Xinyan glanced at Su Yuelan; it seemed this girl was pampered at home too. In these times of planned economy, buying fabric still required quotas, and a curtain like this needed quite a bit of fabric, which ordinary families couldn’t easily afford.
Looking at her daughter, then at Zhang Zhaodi and Xinyan, Su Yuelan’s mom said, "You all are far from home, so you should help each other and get along well."
Xinyan nodded with a smile, "Auntie is right."
Zhang Zhaodi also chimed in, "We’re living in the same dormitory, so we definitely need to get along well."
While they were chatting, the last roommate arrived. She seemed a bit aloof, just nodded to the people in the room, surveyed her surroundings, and then moved her belongings to the empty upper bunk on the left inside.
Though she seemed cool, she worked efficiently, fetching water to wipe down her bed and making it up in no time.
After she climbed down from the upper bunk, she noticed everyone was watching her, "Hello, I’m Jiang Peiqin."
Just as she finished speaking, Cui Haili and Bai Aiwen walked in one after the other.
Cui Haili warmly greeted everyone and then looked at Xinyan, "Did your family leave?"
Xinyan, having just picked up the thermos to get some hot water, replied, "There wasn’t much left to do here, so I let them go."
Zhang Zhaodi asked Xinyan, "Xinyan, where are you from?"
Xinyan rubbed her earlobe, "I came here from East Province."
Cui Haili glanced at Xinyan. Having previously heard Xinyan’s dad and cousin speak, she thought they were locals, but she didn’t say more.
Seeing Xinyan going to get hot water, she also took out her thermos.
Zhang Zhaodi turned to Cui Haili, "Sister Haili, how about you?"
Cui Haili smiled at her, "I’m from Huishi Province. Are you from Sichuan?"
Zhang Zhaodi laughed heartily, "You could tell?"
Cui Haili replied with a smile, "I used to be in the countryside where there were educated youths from Sichuan."
At this moment, Bai Aiwen joined the conversation, "I’m from Mountain Province. Over in Sichuan, they call shoes ’child.’ My dad’s factory has colleagues from Sichuan, and when they first came, there was a funny incident.
Some naughty kids in the building above messed with the shoes hanging out to dry, knocking them downstairs. In panic, the Sichuan uncle rushed out shouting, ’My child, oh no, my child!’
After shouting, he climbed onto the railing to look down, and everyone thought an actual child had fallen, so they all gathered around, leaning on the railing and peering below, asking ’Where’s the child?’
At first, even the uncle was confused, but once he realized and explained, everyone understood that it was his shoes that had fallen."