The four of them walked down the street together.
Lin Feng wore a nervous smile. He had just invited them all to dinner without thinking, and he didn't even have a single yuan to his name. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't just back out after being the one to bring it up...
At that moment, a notification appeared before him.
[Personal account has been credited with ¥1000.00 from account ending in...]
He looked at the message. As expected of Mom, always coming in clutch.
But then he paused.
He wasn't using his phone. How was he seeing this?
It was through the system.
He reached for his phone. The message was there too. Was the system connected to his bank?
He opened the system interface. Everything else was still the same except for one line:
[Personal Balance: ¥1000.00]
He wondered how this thing even worked.
At that moment, they arrived at the place.
It wasn't a super fancy restaurant - just a small street-side stall with plastic tables and metal stools set up under a faded awning. The kind of place that served quick meals to students who didn't want cafeteria food. A bit more expensive than normal stalls, mostly because it was so close to campus, but the portions were decent and the food was great.
…
They ordered simply. Nothing expensive - mostly a single dish each and a drink. For Zhang Wei and Lin Feng, that drink was water.
Once the food arrived, Lin Feng cleared his throat.
"Well, since we're all roommates now, I guess I should properly introduce myself. I'm Lin Feng, from Ningshan. Scholarship student. Hope we can get along."
"Zhang Wei, Anhui Province. Also on scholarship." He spoke quietly but politely.
"Chen Ming! Hangzhou local, born and raised." He grinned widely. "My parents run a restaurant near West Lake. Let's make the most of these four years!"
"Li Jun. From Beijing." Short and simple.
They raised their glasses - water, cheap soda, and tea - and clinked them together.
"To getting along through campus!"
As they began eating, Chen Ming turned to Lin Feng. "So what made you choose Business University? Planning to start a company or something?"
Lin Feng chuckled. "Nothing that ambitious. Just seemed like a practical degree."
It had been so long that he had almost completely forgotten why he chose finance. If he had to guess, probably because it had the least amount of risk among his options.
"What about you?" He asked.
"Me? I'm already thinking ahead." Chen Ming's eyes lit up. "The food delivery thing I mentioned earlier? That's just the start. There's so much opportunity right now with everything reopening after the lockdown…"
"You really think people will use a campus delivery service?" Lin Feng asked, genuinely curious.
"Why not? Students are lazy. I know I am." Chen Ming laughed. "Pay a small fee, get food brought to your dorm? It'll work, I'm telling you."
"Makes sense," Lin Feng said. Though internally, he wasn't so sure. Most of the businesses Chen Ming had started had almost always ended in failure. Although he didn't remember the exact details about this one in particular as it was so long ago, he could make an educated guess based on statistics.
Their conversation continued flowing, but Lin Feng noticed Li Jun and Zhang Wei eating quietly on the side, not really joining in.
He turned his attention. "Zhang Wei, you're from Anhui, right? Which part?"
Zhang Wei looked up, slightly surprised. "A small town near Hefei. You probably haven't heard of it."
"Try me. What's it called?"
"Chaohu. It's really small."
"Like the lake?"
"Yeah," Zhang Wei seemed a bit more engaged now. "It's near the lake. It's... pretty different from here."
"I bet. What made you choose Hangzhou?"
"The scholarship, mostly. And..." Zhang Wei hesitated. "I wanted to see what the cities were like. Everyone back home talks about places like Hangzhou, Shanghai. I wanted to see for myself."
"So, what do you think?" Chen Ming asked.
Zhang Wei gave a small smile. "Well, it's definitely something."
Lin Feng turned to Li Jun, who had been eating silently. "What about you? Beijing must be pretty different from here. Do you miss it?"
Li Jun looked up from his food, considering. "Not really. It's... quieter here."
"Quieter is good sometimes. What games were you playing earlier? I saw you playing something earlier."
A flicker of interest crossed Li Jun's face. "Mostly LoL and WoW. Some single-player stuff too."
"League?" Chen Ming jumped in. "What rank are you?"
"Platinum."
"No way! I'm stuck in Gold. Who do you main?"
"I main mid. As for champions…mostly assassins."
"See, that's my problem," Chen Ming said, pointing his chopsticks at Li Jun. "I keep trying to play assassins but I'm terrible at them. I should just stick to support."
Zhang Wei spoke up quietly. "I used to play something similar back home. Not League, but another MOBA."
"Which one?" Li Jun asked.
"King of Glory. My internet wasn't great, so I couldn't play much."
"King of Glory is brutal," Chen Ming said. "The mobile controls alone…"
"You get used to it," Zhang Wei said with a slight smile. "When it's all you have, you make it work."
Lin Feng laughed. "I'm terrible at strategy games. I always get too aggressive and die."
"That's the opposite of your personality though," Chen Ming said, grinning. "You seem like the careful type?"
"I do? Well, gaming me and real me are different," Lin Feng said. "In games, I figure it's just a game. Might as well go all out."
"Unlike real life?" Zhang Wei asked.
"Yeah," Lin Feng said quietly. "Unlike real life."
"That's why games are great though," Li Jun said. "You can try things without real consequences."
"Unless you're solo queuing on ranked and your unemployed teammates report you," Chen Ming added, and they all chuckled.
The conversation drifted naturally - from games to which professors to avoid, to whether the cafeteria food was really as bad as people said, to military training starting tomorrow.
It felt comfortable, easy - as though they'd known each other for years rather than hours.
After they finished eating, Chen Ming leaned in as if about to reveal a huge secret and the others also leaned in to listen.
"I have an idea for making big money."