Xia Xiaolan kept the residents of Room 307 up all night.
She was drunk and giggling.
“Take her to the balcony for some fresh air to clear her head!” Su Jing wailed.
Why did she drink so much? It didn’t seem like a breakup – after all, who gets escorted back to their dorm by their ex after a breakup?
“Don’t be ridiculous. If she gets cold air while drunk, she’ll catch a cold.”
Yang Yonghong knew Su Jing was joking. While helping change Xia Xiaolan’s clothes, it was mostly Su Jing who did the work. They finally managed to get Xia Xiaolan to sleep, but she vomited all over the floor at dawn. Yang Yonghong held her nose while mopping: “I know you’re all awake, stop pretending to be asleep!”
“Pfft-“
Lu Yan, being the youngest, couldn’t hold back her laughter, revealing that she was indeed awake.
When Yang Yonghong called her again, she covered her face with her blanket, refusing to leave her bed.
Zhou Limin resigned herself to getting up, “Senior Sister, you mop the floor, I’ll get some water for Xiaolan.”
Su Jing turned on her flashlight, “I’ll light the way for you.”
The dorm lights had been turned off earlier.
Well, with all this commotion, there was no point in pretending to sleep anymore – everyone got up to help.
When Xia Xiaolan woke up in the morning, all seven roommates from Room 307 were silently surrounding her bed, watching her.
The last traces of alcohol disappeared from Xia Xiaolan’s system out of shock:
“What are you all doing?”
“Do you remember what happened last night?”
“Sixth Sister, you were such a handful!”
“Did Instructor Zhou get you drunk?”
“You started singing when you were drunk, and when I tried to cover your mouth, you bit me…”
Xia Xiaolan was skeptical. She remembered drinking quite a bit and throwing up, which troubled her roommates, so being criticized was warranted. But singing while drunk and biting people? Really?
“I’m guilty! I was wrong, please be merciful and give me a chance to make amends!”
One mouth couldn’t argue against seven, and everyone said she had bitten someone. Su Jing even showed her the teeth marks on her hand, so Xia Xiaolan quietly admitted her mistake.
Yang Yonghong cleared her throat and handed Xia Xiaolan a piece of paper:
“After serious discussion among all members of Room 307, we’ve decided on the following punishments for your drunken disturbance last night. Do you have any objections?”
First, take responsibility for dorm cleaning for two weeks.
Second, buy breakfast for the dorm for one week and fetch water for one week.
Third, actively participate in setting up former homeroom Teacher Dai’s party this Friday. Special note: no monetary contribution allowed, must contribute labor only.
This wasn’t a punishment – her roommates were just playing around.
“No problem with conditions one and two, but what’s condition three about? Teacher Dai is having a party?”
Xia Xiaolan knew nothing about this.
Teacher Dai, whose hairline had receded to nearly resemble the Mediterranean Sea, was this trendy?
“You’re always gone on weekends, there’s a lot you don’t know. Now that Teacher Dai has officially been retained by the university, he’s ready to settle his marriage – and you’ll never guess who he’s marrying!”
Hmm?
She had thought Teacher Dai already had children, but it turns out he was unmarried.
Well, Teacher Dai did look older than his age.
But the way Su Jing put it, the bride must be someone she knew.
A teacher-student relationship?
Impossible, the school would never approve.
“Stop keeping me in suspense, just tell me! I’ll agree to the third condition, okay?”
“You didn’t notice? Many people didn’t notice – Teacher Dai is marrying Teacher Lin who teaches us English – weren’t you quite close to Teacher Lin during the English competition? I heard they’ve been dating for many years. Teacher Lin stayed at the university, and Teacher Dai was pursuing his doctorate, so things got delayed.”
She hadn’t noticed at all!
Teacher Dai was an optimist, and as a homeroom teacher, students weren’t afraid of him. All the male students got along well with Teacher Dai.
Teacher Lin was more serious, and in her English class, daydreaming was forbidden.
It was Teacher Lin who had registered Xia Xiaolan for the English competition, and it was Teacher Lin who, together with Professor He from the Foreign Languages Department, had given Xia Xiaolan extra tutoring to improve her English level.
Xia Xiaolan immediately reproached herself: “I didn’t know. It seems I haven’t been paying enough attention to our teachers.”
“No worries, now you have a chance to help!”
Teacher Lin had insisted on waiting until Teacher Dai finished his doctorate before getting married. Teacher Dai felt indebted to Teacher Lin, after all, a woman’s youth is precious, and she had waited for him all these years without any complaints. In those days, university teachers lived quite modestly, unlike in later times when research funding and various affiliations provided many ways to earn money. There was no question of Teacher Lin being interested in Teacher Dai’s prospects.
Teacher Lin had finally waited for Teacher Dai to complete his doctorate and secure a position at the university, and they could now marry. Teacher Lin hadn’t asked for any traditional wedding items or bride price – perhaps the more educated one is, the less they care about such material things.
But Teacher Lin hoped to host an English salon.
To celebrate her marriage to Teacher Dai in the form of a party.
“Teacher Lin wants to celebrate with like-minded people. Are students allowed to attend?”
“Of course! Why else would we have you help with the decorations? You must have attended plenty of parties in America!”
This was something Xia Xiaolan was willing to help with.
The department had provided a small auditorium as the venue. Students were voluntarily helping with the decorations. This was Teacher Lin’s modern wedding – she wanted to celebrate her marriage to Teacher Dai by conversing with friends and students who shared her love for foreign languages… even more progressive than a destination wedding.
Xia Xiaolan had wanted to bring Zhou Cheng, but he, along with Jiang Yan and Pan Bohua, had to report to the Marine Corps the day after they arrived in Beijing.
Not just Xia Xiaolan, but many students were willing to help, and it didn’t require much money – all the decorations were created through everyone’s ingenuity. Teacher Lin had used her salary not to buy alcohol, but to provide snacks for everyone attending the salon, and tea was unlimited!
The “No Gift Money” sign was prominently displayed.
On Friday evening, both Teacher Dai and Teacher Lin wore flowers on their chests, marking them as the bride and groom.
Everything was remarkably simple – there was no ceremony of vows, no exchange of rings. Though Huaqing University didn’t have a music department, it had many music enthusiasts and an orchestra that provided free performances for the evening. Liu Huazheng, a fellow student from the Economics and Management Department known for her artistic talents, also performed… Was it modest? Not at all. Whether it was the newlyweds or the teachers and students who came to participate, everyone was accomplished in their own right.
While it might not have been a gathering of great scholars, it certainly wasn’t a meeting of common folk!
This special wedding was deeply moving.
Teacher Lin was the busiest, but when she finally managed to break free, she called out to Xia Xiaolan:
“Another friend is coming tonight, please wait for her.”
Xia Xiaolan was surprised, “They’re coming to see me?”
Teacher Lin nodded, “You could say that.”
Xia Xiaolan became very curious.
Who would come to Teacher Lin’s wedding party looking for her?
Then she saw two foreigners enter the auditorium. There were more than just these two foreign friends attending the party tonight, but among the newcomers, Xia Xiaolan recognized one of them –
“Teacher Catherine?”
Catherine was a guest on CCTV’s “Follow Me” English learning program, a judge for the first National College English Competition, who had taken a great liking to Xia Xiaolan and had repeatedly invited her to study in England!