Global Film Emperor

Chapter 13 University Student Course Simulation (Part Two)
"Does this count as a crush?"

After returning to the vast white system space, Lu Ze regained his memories. Reflecting on the gains of the semester, he felt that university was truly wonderful; although poor, it was carefree.

He still remembered that girl's face very clearly, and his heart was still moved by her—a feeling he had never experienced in his twenty-four years.

He had girlfriends, or rather, not really girlfriends. There are many couples in Hengdian who aren't really married; they're just living together as a couple.

Both men and women were lonely and needed companionship, so Lu Ze teamed up with a 19-year-old female drifter in Hengdian and they ate from the same pot.

Do they like it? Not really, it's just that people here have suffered a lot, and they're afraid of getting sick from keeping it all bottled up, so they're looking for someone to confide in.

As for that female drifter, after sleeping on the same kang (heated brick bed) with Lu Ze for more than three months, she said she had followed a big boss, packed her bags, said goodbye to Lu Ze, and left overnight. She was never seen again.

He had never experienced the feeling of liking someone, nor did he know what it was like for a man and a woman to like each other and be together. After all, for someone who would starve if he didn't work, love was a distant concept.

A large number 3 reappeared in the space, and then a voice that sounded like a polyp came over.

"Entering the second phase of simulation. The second phase will last for one academic year. Please prepare, host. 321."

The space darkened.
"Son, call me when you get to school!"

Li Yumei waved and called out from the train platform, but unfortunately Lu Ze, who was busy putting away his luggage on the train, didn't hear her at all.

He had a very happy holiday. He checked his final exam results on the China Higher Education Student Information System (CHESICC) and found that he ranked first in his department, earning him a scholarship of 6,000 yuan.

He spent a thousand yuan to buy his younger sister a pair of nice shoes—a single pair cost a thousand! But he didn't feel any remorse, because his sister only completed junior high school before dropping out so that her brother could go to school.

He owed his sister something he could never forget, something that money couldn't make up for, because he had destroyed a young girl's path to education.

At first, the younger sister did not accept this fact and cried and shouted, "Why can my brother go to school, but I can't?"

Even now, recalling that scene feels like a knife stabbing into my heart; the slightest touch brings tears to my eyes.

So he had to make something of himself, find a suitable job for his sister, and watch her find a good husband so she could live a happy life. This was Lu Ze's vow.

The train started moving. He looked out the window at his mother waving, and wanted to wave back, but the train windows couldn't be opened in winter, and no one would let Lu Ze open them, so he couldn't wave to his mother this time.

As the train moved, my thoughts drifted into the distance. I took out the architecture books I had bought at the bookstore, gently flipping through them, stirring up the stale air in the train, and then inhaling them into my lungs.

On the second day after returning to school, he got up at five o'clock and went to the cafeteria at five-thirty to put on his work clothes. This morning there was steamed egg custard, so he had to stir a large basin of egg liquid, add salt and oil and warm water, pour it into small bowls, and then put it into the steamer.

Then he started frying dough sticks and steaming buns, working as skillfully as a real breakfast shop helper. His roommate once joked that if he didn't like the construction industry in the future, he could switch to the catering industry and he wouldn't starve.

The cafeteria was deserted at six in the morning; the sun had just risen.

The glass door of the cafeteria was opened by the cleaning staff, and even if there was a cold draft, it could still blow in, making Lu Ze's fingers icy cold. He only felt warm when he was holding bowls of steamed egg custard.

I rubbed my palms together and exhaled a breath of air. The first student to get up and eat had arrived, and then the number of students gradually increased.

"I'd like a bowl of steamed egg custard, two mushroom buns, and a cup of soy milk."

The soft voice came over, and Lu Ze looked up and his thoughts slowed down a bit, but he quickly reacted, placed it on the tray, and then pressed 7.5 yuan on the card reader.

Watching her and her classmates leave, Lu Ze felt a mix of emotions he couldn't quite describe. He was indeed vain, and it wasn't until this moment that he realized he was vain.

He didn't want her to see him working in the cafeteria; it would make him feel embarrassed. But he also felt a little disappointed because she didn't remember the sneeze or the guy who had run away in fright.

But at that moment, he suddenly didn't want to work honestly in the cafeteria anymore.

He felt that a monthly salary of 800 yuan was really not much. He wanted more, at least to get to know her on an equal footing, to be able to take her to a movie, and to have dinner with her.

But what power does he have to change all of this?
Knowledge! But his current knowledge is far from sufficient, he's still a long way off! He took the thousand yuan scholarship he had taken with him when he left home to the bookstore to supplement his knowledge of various aspects of architecture, so that he could improve himself more quickly.

He learned about the things he should learn at school through a third-year student he met through his roommate, and spent two months absorbing this knowledge and making it a part of himself.

I spent my weekends working as a free intern at various construction companies, learning from the software and teaching materials used by those companies.

At the same time, I bought cheap paints and art textbooks, found art teaching videos online, and began to teach myself sketching, structure, and color.

He learned everything from simple line drawings to pen and marker drawings, until he could draw a European castle in twenty minutes with a pen.

Finally, before the end of the semester, I resigned from my job as a design assistant at an architecture firm, which offered no salary whatsoever, and began to delve into the prices, quality, and newly launched materials at the building materials market.

However, his unfashionable attire and youthful appearance made the building material store owners simply ignore him.

He transformed himself again, growing a beard and slicking back his hair, making him look like a handsome man in his late twenties. Only then did the bosses have a tiny bit of interest in talking to him.

He was exhausted, without a single day off, running from morning till night, practically on the verge of collapse. But whenever he decided to rest for a day, just one day! He would always silently tell himself, "Closer, closer, even closer!"

Until that day, he returned to school exhausted and covered in sweat, and used the remaining thirteen and fifty yuan on his campus card to buy a bottle of mineral water.

In order to build relationships with building material store owners, he bought a pack of decent cigarettes, and that's how he learned to smoke.

There was also a pack of Hongmei cigarettes that he usually smoked by himself. He took one out, put it in his mouth, took a puff, and then sipped some mineral water. This was one of the few times he could rest.

Looking at the students playing football in the sunset on the playground, and the students jogging at night with headphones on, their faces beaming with smiles, Lu Ze felt a deep envy.

Why can they live such an easy life?
Lu Ze froze when a couple walked towards him, the girl smiling happily as she put her arm around the boy's shoulder.
Lu Ze stared straight at the girl, making no attempt to hide or conceal his gaze. The two noticed him. At first, they weren't embarrassed to see a man who looked to them in his late twenties staring at them. After all, it was university, and dating was illegal.
The boy felt increasingly uneasy. Why was this man staring at him? This blatant gaze made him very uncomfortable, and the hot-blooded young man decided to teach this bearded man a lesson.

"What are you looking at?"

Lu Ze did not answer, and continued to look at the girl.

"What are you looking at! Why are you looking at us like that?"

"Seeing you break the law?"

In just a few months, Lu Ze has matured a lot. He entered society earlier than his classmates, even if he was only halfway there. He couldn't afford to fight before because he was poor, and he still doesn't fight now because he thinks that people who fight are just hotheads.

But today, let's have a fight? Then let's go.

When you're young, you should fight for a girl.

It's not just about fighting; this kind of thing is not something to be encouraged.

Lu Ze's indifferent tone further enraged the boy, who yelled, "You fucking want a beating, don't you? Come here!"

The girl was startled by the boy, but fearing they would actually fight, she quickly grabbed him and left.

All that remained were the shouts and curses, which gradually faded into the air.

Watching the two figures walk away, Lu Ze clenched his fists, then let them fall limply.

At that moment, his belief crumbled.

"."

(End of this chapter)