Chapter 510: Dormitory Dispute

Chapter 510: Dorm Drama

The six people in Dormitory 206 quickly split into cliques.

Chen Hongyan, Zhou Yuanning, and Zou Yan, all locals from Guangdong, hung out together.

Zhang Chunling and Liu Jinmei, both from rural areas, came from poorer families compared to the others in the dorm. They usually didn’t eat with the group and occasionally paired up instead.

As for Su An, she kept to herself, sticking to her daily routine.

The dormitory was an old-style building with poor conditions—no AC, not even a fan. The ventilation and lighting were bad, leaving the room stuffy, so the door was left open all day.

Chen Hongyan and her two friends, coming from well-off families, were already uncomfortable in such a cramped, sweltering space. To make matters worse, Liu Jinmei wasn’t particularly hygienic.

This really got under Chen Hongyan and her friends’ skin.

Su An had just returned from the cafeteria when she heard arguing before she could step inside.

"Liu Jinmei, can’t you clean up after yourself? You think this is your village? There’s barely any space here, and it all stinks because of you. Even the best food would be ruined—just seeing you makes me lose my appetite."

Liu Jinmei was stout, dark-skinned, short, and sweated a lot.

She and Zhang Chunling, both from poor families, usually ate their meals in the dorm. They loved spicy food, and after eating, Liu Jinmei would be sweating buckets.

The smell wasn’t pleasant.

Chen Hongyan and the others had long been irritated by her, and today, they finally blew up.

As Su An entered, she saw Zhou Yuanning rolling her eyes and complaining, "Ugh, no regard for anyone else. Where’s your basic decency?"

Liu Jinmei’s face turned beet red. "I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful next time."

With that, she snatched her bucket and bolted, likely heading to the shower room.

Chen Hongyan watched her leave, scowling. "Disgusting pig. How’d we get stuck with someone this gross? Staying near her for too long makes me stink too."

Zou Yan chimed in, "That’s not all. Did you see her shorts? Those ratty red shorts look like potato sacks."

"Hahaha, yeah! The girls from Dorm 205 were asking about them—who wears those raggedy red sacks? Are those even meant to be worn?"

"God, rooming with her is so humiliating. I’d hate for anyone to think those rags are mine," Chen Hongyan grumbled.

Zhou Yuanning giggled. "No one would mistake them for yours. You’re so skinny—those sacks would fall right off you!"

Her mocking tone stretched out, followed by loud laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

"How does someone so poor, wearing patched-up underwear, manage to eat herself until she’s built like a hog?"

"Easy. Haven’t you seen her meals? Just one plate of greens, a scoop of homemade chili paste, and she downs a whole mountain of rice. Even pigs don’t eat that much..."

Su An walked in and sat on her bed, fanning herself.

This college dorm was like a soap opera, full of cliques and catty fights.

She had no issues with anyone—as long as they left her alone, she wouldn’t start anything.

After all, they’d be living together for years. There’d already been a fight over bunks in the next dorm, escalating until the counselor had to intervene.

The counselor shut it down—no dorm swaps unless it was serious.

Dorms were a mix of kids from all over, clashing personalities and all. If transfers opened, every room would beg to switch.

No matter how much Chen Hongyan and the others sneered, Liu Jinmei kept her head down and stayed silent. She only mumbled to Zhang Chunling and Su An in private.

But before the month was up, all hell broke loose, dragging Su An into it.

Chen Hongyan had a crush on a student council senior, a third-year student named Deng Zhangyang, who was also from Hunan, the same hometown as Zhang Chunling.

Chen Hongyan orbited Deng Zhangyang like a satellite, trying to get closer. But many girls surrounded him, and she couldn’t get him to look her way.

Soon, she remembered that Zhang Chunling was from the same hometown as Deng Zhangyang, so she even dialed back the attitude with Zhang Chunling—a little.

However, Zhang Chunling had already clashed with her over bunk-jostling and didn’t want to talk to her.

Not about to swallow her pride, Chen Hongyan cornered Liu Jinmei instead.

"Liu Jinmei, aren’t you close with Zhang Chunling? Help me ask—how do you say ‘drop-dead gorgeous’ in their hometown dialect? And also..."

She’d seen some underclassman flirt her way into Deng Zhangyang’s good graces with a few phrases in their local dialect. Though the girl mispronounced them, Deng Zhangyang even corrected her with a smile.

Chen Hongyan decided to imitate her.

Liu Jinmei practically glowed at the attention. "Okay, I’ll ask her for you later."

When Zhang Chunling returned to the dorm, Liu Jinmei bombarded her with questions, quickly steering the conversation to local dialects. "Chunling, how do you say ‘eating’ in your dialect?"

"And how about ‘I’ll wait for you to have dinner together’?"

Zhang Chunling ribbed Liu Jinmei. "In our hometown, ‘eating’ is ‘qia fan.’ ‘I’ll wait so we can qia ya fan together.’"

"Oh, ‘raining’ is ‘luo yu.’"

"What are you doing?"

*"Ni zai gao wu ya?"*

Liu Jinmei’s eyes bugged out. "Wu ya? No way—hahaha!"

Zhang Chunling forced a laugh. "Dialects change every few miles. Some say ‘zai gao mo zi.’ And this is the common version—some villages might as well be foreign countries, and neighboring villages might not even understand each other."

"How does your village say ‘eating’?"

"Also ‘fie,’ fourth tone."

"And ‘relatives’?"

*"Qíng chǎng."*

"What about ‘very beautiful’?"

"‘Hóu huān!’"

Liu Jinmei howled with laughter. "Hahaha, sounds like gibberish—straight outta some anime."

Zhang Chunling’s smile froze as Liu Jinmei kept laughing.

"I'm telling you, you can say our hometown dialect sounds unpleasant, but you can't insult it like that. You're the one who sounds like you're speaking Japanese! By the way, why are you suddenly so curious about our dialect?"

Liu Jinmei laughed, "I heard someone speaking it and couldn't understand a word, so I was just curious."

The two chatted and giggled privately for a while longer. After parting ways, Liu Jinmei went straight to Chen Hongyan.

That same afternoon, Chen Hongyan happened to run into Deng Zhangyang. She stopped him and blurted out, "*Gaohuazi* [beggar], I want to wait for you to *qia ya fan* [eat together]."

Deng Zhangyang turned red with anger right then and chewed her out in front of everyone.

Furious and humiliated, Chen Hongyan ran back to the dormitory in tears and slapped Liu Jinmei across the face.

"You fat, good-for-nothing bitch, I'll kill you!"