Chapter 34 (1/2)
“Don’t you think that you should go to take a shower first? You’ve changed from a lovely Young Pioneer into an ugly, dirty nestling from the desert.” Someone sneered behind Lin Wenxi. Lin Wenxi turned around and saw Zhang Dong standing on the withered grass. It was late autumn, but Zhang Dong just wore a red vest and black shorts.
Lin Wenxi looked down at himself and discovered that his olive green camouflage suit was smeared all over with his sweat and the mud that Zhang Dong had poured onto him. He thought to himself, “Wow, it has turned a muddy colour. It’s indeed suitable for concealment in the desert.
He stood upright and slightly lifted his chest while saying, “Well, you should say, ‘You’ve changed from a marine into a desert eagle.'”
“Stop showing off your flat pecs. Don’t embarrass yourself.” Zhang Dong smiled teasingly and added, “You haven’t had a good rest for days! Go to take a shower now. There’s a dinner party tonight. After dinner, you have to go to sleep in a mixed dorm. There’s no single room reserved for you!” He paused for a moment and continued, “You’ll go back to your university tomorrow. Hey, you know what. You’ll fall into my hands again.”
Lin Wenxi watched Zhang Dong walking away and made a face toward him, while thinking. “You can never manipulate me by threatening me with violence, Robber Zhang Dong!” After that, he took his basin and sat in a daze in front of a public bathhouse, which was located in the southwestern corner of the depot. Upon seeing the boys laughingly walk out of the bathhouse with their toiletries, he went into the place to take a shower.
He enjoyed the hot shower so much that he felt slightly dizzy.
He wondered, “During the past two months, things really didn’t go as I had expected. Every time I think back to the first day when I came to this university founded by my father and those roommates in my dorm, I feel as if I just had a dream. Where are Zhao Yuan and Zheng Kai now? When will they reach the destination?” When Lin Wenxi slowly rubbed his soap on his skin, he thought of something else. “That day, when Zhao Yuan treated my skin wound, he just hastily applied some medicine on it, but Shu Xiaoman was different. She moved gently and slowly. Wait, did she touch me somewhere where just shouldn’t be touching?”
When be began to rub the soap on his buttocks, he felt a dull pain and immediately stopped rubbing. He placed one of his hands on the shower wall panel to keep balance, sighed and then pounded on the wall panel with the other hand.
Suddenly, the light flickered and went out. Lin Wenxi immediately tensed up and continued to rub soap on himself in the dark. After a while, when the light was on again, Lin Wenxi could see that his shower door was locked. He felt much relieved. A few seconds later, the light was dimmed, and everything seemed to quiet down except for the sound of running water. Lin Wenxi saw a hat above his shower door, but it quickly disappeared. He let the shower run full blast, trying to calm himself down with the loud sound of running water. The next moment, he felt something wiggling on his feet and could not help but scream. He shrank into a corner while panting heavily, and then he heard some people running into the bathhouse. The light was on, and some student asked, “How are you? Is there anything wrong inside?”
When Lin Wenxi was about to speak, he heard Zhang Dong’s voice. “I came here to check the bathhouse. When I was about to turn off the light, some boy suddenly screamed. I was really startled! Hey, who’s inside this shower room? Which class are you from? Have you washed for two hours? Get out now!”
“Are you saying that this person has stayed inside that shower room for two hours?”
“Wow, he must’ve scrubbed a layer of skin off himself.”
“Maybe he’s not alone.”
“Yeah, there are probably a boy and a girl or two boys inside this shower room.”
“Hey, the people inside, I saw you!”
…