After the class meeting, it wasn't even 8:10.
Lan Tingting hadn't prepared her toiletries yet, so she pulled Lin Jing to the supermarket next to the dormitory.
When the two returned to the dormitory, the other two roommates were present: one was sitting on a chair, talking on the phone, and the other was organizing her belongings.
Lan Tingting's things were also not packed. She placed the items she bought on her desk and then went to stuff clothes into her locker.
Lin Jing had nothing to do, so she sat at her desk and opened her laptop.
Behind her was the roommate on the phone. She was wearing headphones, and based on the conversation, it sounded like someone from her family was calling. "It's not too cold tonight... I packed my things a while ago, don't worry, everything is fine... Got it, I'll go to bed early tonight."
Lin Jing subconsciously glanced back. Just then, Lan Tingting's phone, which was in the same row as hers, also rang.
It was a video call. She was busy tidying up and couldn't hold her phone, so she put it on speaker.
"Tingting, have you arrived?"
"I arrived ages ago."
"You arrived and didn't call home. Didn't I tell you to report your safety to us when you got to school?"
"Oh, I haven't had the chance yet. There was traffic, and I had the class meeting as soon as I got to school."
"..."
Lin Jing glanced at her own silent phone, which she had placed beside her, and quietly put her earphones in.
She entered her laptop password, clicked on the video app, and found the drama she was currently following.
This drama updated daily from Monday to Wednesday at 8 PM. As of the latest episode, she was less than ten minutes behind. With playback speed at 2x, she finished it in a few minutes.
She casually browsed through other dramas. There was nothing she really wanted to watch, so she took off her earphones, picked up her phone. Sudan Novel Network.
When she finished lunch, she had informed Aunt Qin Yao in the group chat that she was returning to school. It was now 8:30 PM. Jiang Wan hadn't appeared in the group chat or sent her a private message, as if she had completely forgotten she had a daughter.
The roommate behind her had already hung up. Lan Tingting's call was still ongoing. She had just finished talking to her mother and was now video calling her father.
Compared to her mother, her father doted on her more, calling her "my precious daughter" repeatedly.
Perhaps it was too sweet, Lan Tingting's mother couldn't stand it: "Shut up, you're more oily than the Daqing Oilfield."
Lan Tingting was amused by her mother's choice of words: "Hahaha, my mom is jealous."
"I'm not jealous, I'm drowning in oil. With your dad's beer belly, why would I be jealous?"
"..."
Lin Jing lowered her eyelids, looking at WeChat, and suddenly felt envious.
It's so nice.
She wanted that too.
Lin Jing paused for two seconds, blinked, exited WeChat, and clicked into a game.
She just logged in to check things out, and Chen Jing invited her.
She accepted, and before she could even see if it was a ranked or casual match, it was matched, and she entered the hero selection screen.
It was a five-person queue. Besides Chen Jing, she knew the other three players: Jiang Zui, Li Xiaozhou, and Qin Yu.
Chen Jing turned on his mic: "Lin meimei, come fill in for us. Jiang Zui is trying to get into the national server, and he needs performance points. He's afraid of losing, so he doesn't dare to play with randoms."
yLs·Qing Zui: ?
yLs·Qing Zui: I'm afraid of losing?
yLs·Qing Zui: Who was it that was screaming like a banshee after being beaten by randoms, begging us to do a five-man queue?
Qin Yu: "It was him, our support, Boss Jing. He initially had He Wang. Since He Wang always had the lowest rating, he decided to find a noob to be cannon fodder. So he kicked He Wang, who was the MVP of the last game, and invited you."
Li Xiaozhou: "Key point: noob. Jingmei, if it were me, I absolutely wouldn't stand for it."
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: ...Okay, it's fine.
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: Five-man ranked, the first pick is the noob.
yLs·Qing Zui: 6
Qin Yu: "Hahaha."
Li Xiaozhou: "Awesome, Jingmei is still the same Jingmei, silent for years, but a sudden marvel."
Chen Jing, who was the first pick: "..."
Chen Jing picked a mid-lane hero, a short-legged one, Xiao Qiao.
Right from the start, he was repeatedly ganked in the mid lane. In less than two minutes, his mentality collapsed, and he yelled into the voice chat: "Holy crap, what's wrong with the opponents? They're ignoring Gongsun Li, who has the highest gold, and ganking me, a Xiao Qiao. Do they even know how to play?"
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: Easy to gank.
Chen Jing: "Huh?"
Just then, the enemy jungler and top laner went to gank Jiang Zui. Not only did they fail to kill Jiang Zui, but Jiang Zui even managed to kill one of them.
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: See? If you try to gank others, you might fail and even give them kills.
Lin Jing chose Yao as her support. After following Qin Yu's Gongsun Li to dive the tower and kill the enemy Marco Polo, she returned to Chen Jing.
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: You're different, you die as soon as they gank.
As Lin Jing sent this message, the enemy jungler, who had escaped from Jiang Zui, managed to heal himself by killing small jungle monsters. He, along with the support, came to the mid lane and ambushed Chen Jing, who died instantly under the tower.
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: Died again.
Chen Jing: "..."
The game ended in sixteen minutes, and Chen Jing still had the lowest rating among the five players.
Lin Jing casually gave Chen Jing a thumbs-up. The other players, hearing the notification, also gave Chen Jing a thumbs-up.
Chen Jing: "...You guys have had enough. I just couldn't be bothered to pick my main heroes. If I had played support, the enemy would have surrendered in six minutes."
Returning to the lobby, Chen Jing saw that Lin Jing wasn't ready and urged, "Lin meimei, get ready. No matter what, I'll show you my true strength."
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: Not playing anymore.
Chen Jing: "Why?"
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: There's a gathering, I have to go out soon.
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: I'm logging off. You guys can invite He Wang back.
Chen Jing: "Alright."
As Lin Jing was about to leave the room, she suddenly thought of Sheng Kuang. She typed two more lines.
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: Oh, right.
Xiao Jingjing Jingjiang: Did Sheng Kuang get home?
yLs·Qing Zui: He did.
Qin Yu: "Just arrived."
Lin Jing typed an "Oh," but before she could send it, Chen Jing's voice blared from her phone: "Sheng Kuang, Lin meimei is looking for you."
Lin Jing: "..."
Lin Jing deleted the "Oh" and was about to say she was just asking if he had arrived home, when the next second, Sheng Kuang's voice came through the voice channel: "Hm?"
Lin Jing: "..."
Chen Jing: "Lin meimei, she's looking for you."
Sheng Kuang: "What's up?"
Lin Jing paused for two seconds and then turned on her game mic: "Nothing much, just checking if you got home."
Sheng Kuang: "I did."
Lin Jing: "Oh."
"Let me log in too," Sheng Kuang paused, then added, "Who can make space for me?"
Lin Jing: "I'll make space for you."
Sheng Kuang: "?"
Lin Jing: "I have plans with my classmates to go out for supper at 9 PM. I need to leave, so I'm logging off."
Sheng Kuang: "Class leader?"
Lin Jing: "Ah?"
After a couple of seconds, Lin Jing realized Sheng Kuang was asking if she had plans with the class leader for supper. "Ah, no, it's just a few of us from the dorm. We haven't seen each other in a long time."
Sheng Kuang hummed, his tone noticeably more relaxed: "Then hurry up and go."