Genshin Impact: Please don’t bully me, fellow stragglers

A Liu will be home late tonight, and Nan Ke politely declines Lei Dianying's suggestion that he stay the night with her. She stands alone in the elevator on the way home, looking down at her palms, feeling a little dazed.

Personal matters.

It seems to have nothing to do with me.

It doesn’t matter whether you understand it or not.

As long as time keeps moving forward, she has to live on, minute by minute, against her will.

Thinking of this, Nan Ke felt an inexplicable emptiness in his chest. The feeling was subtle, but it was hard to describe the pain.

When Nan Ke entered the room, a pungent smell of burning suddenly hit him in the face.

But the room was quiet and dark, with no signs of fire.

Nan Ke turned on the light and saw black plum blossom paw prints all over the floor, crisscrossing from the bedroom to the living room, and even a few on the wall.

It was like a cat that jumped into a pile of firewood, rolled around, and then went back into the house to parkour and have fun.

Nan Ke then remembered that she had forgotten to tell Guangdai to take Guobeng back.

"The country collapsed?" She couldn't help but sigh and followed the claw marks to the bedroom. "You opened the door by yourself again."

The bedroom door was indeed open.

A dark shadow was coiled around Nan Ke's chair. When Nan Ke turned on the light, it raised its head slightly and squinted at her with its half-round purple eyes.

"Where did you get the ashes from?" Nan Ke squatted down beside the chair and rubbed Guo Beng's head. "The kitchen? The ceiling in the kitchen was blackened by the smoke."

Guo Beng yawned, his eyes shifted languidly to his tail that was curled up at his side, and he pretended to lick its fur.

"Don't lick it." Nan Ke pulled its tail.

The cat's tail, which had been burned bald before, had just grown a layer of short fluff, and it was still a tender flesh-pink color. When Nan Ke swung it in his palm unhappily, it felt itchy.

Realizing that he couldn't escape from her grasp, Guo Beng simply stretched, stood up, and jumped onto the desk next to him.

Nan Ke followed it with his eyes and suddenly found that there were signs of burning on the withdrawal application form that it stepped on.

The flames licked a corner of the file bag, leaving behind a charred and yellowed rugged edge. Nan Ke pushed away the cat's claws and pulled out the inner pages. The inner pages were also affected, and the signature box at the end was deformed and yellowed. It shattered into powder when touched by a finger.

Now, even if Nan Ke wanted to compromise with his father, he had no way out.

Nan Ke stared at the burnt application form in silence for a long time, then looked at Guo Beng.

Guo Beng lay down again, with his eyes closed, looking listless.

The wounds on its body had almost healed.

What needs to heal will heal, what needs to grow back will grow back, and after the hair is parted, even the most serious burns will only leave shallow scars.

But the strange thing is.

Nan Ke saw that Guo Beng had two curled beards.

On the edge of its abdomen, there were a few tufts of particularly short cat hair, with black and yellow ends, stuck together.

It was burnt.

Nan Ke came to his senses and wondered where the strange smell in the house, the footprints all over the living room, and the burn marks on the application form came from.

"Guobeng, did you go to play with the stove?" Nan Ke pinched Guobeng's paw, his tone almost affirmative.

Guo Beng turned his head and covered his ears with his other paw.

I can't eat anything and just want to sleep.

Nan Ke looked at it for a while, sighed softly, let it go and got up.

Nan Ke mopped the floor diligently.

Then he picked up Guobeng, who was sleeping soundly like a rag doll at the mercy of others, to give him a bath, and rubbed and trimmed the ashes and burnt hair on his body.

Finally lying on the bed, with wet hair, she tiredly buried her face in the soft velvet in her arms: "Today is so long..."

The next day.

At dawn, the sky was light pink.

In the cold morning mist, on the tall, square granite door lintel, a row of bold and powerful characters were painted in red lacquer:

A City Polytechnic University.

"This is a copy of my ID card and admission ticket," Nan Ke stood in front of the window of the guard room under the door lintel and took out the documents from the canvas bag, "I'm here to see the teacher in the admissions office."

The guard asked her to sign the visitor's book and pointed in a direction: "School of Physics and Engineering. There is a map on the roadside."

"Thank you." Nan Ke said softly.

The gate leading to University A opened in front of her. Nan Ke looked inside the campus, took a deep breath, and walked in quickly.

The college building of the School of Physics and Engineering is located by a lake surrounded by green trees.

The campus was deserted during the holidays. The teacher on duty in the college building finished organizing the meeting materials, stretched his muscles and stood up from his office chair, intending to go outside to get a refill of tea from the water dispenser.

Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps were heard.

As if being chased by something, and because of the solemnity of the occasion, he dared not slow down his pace, and could only try his best to speed up the pace of his uneasy footsteps.

"Hello, teacher." As the footsteps suddenly stopped, a girl with short hair appeared at the office door.

The hurried walk made her sweat all over her head, her cheeks flushed, and her bangs grew a little long, sticking wetly between her eyebrows.

Unlike her anxious pace, her voice was steady, full of restraint and respect, "Excuse me, is this the admissions office?"

"Freshman?" The teacher on duty was not surprised. He turned back to his workstation holding the thermos cup and asked, "What's the matter?"

Nan Ke followed him in, with the carefully choreographed words on the tip of her tongue. When she heard the slightly hollow sound of the thermos cup being put back on the table, she hesitated and said, "Sorry, I'll get you some water."

The teacher on duty looked at Nan Ke in surprise: "Hmm...? Oh, thank you for your help."

Two minutes later.

By the time Nan Ke came back with the water, the sweat on his face had been washed away.

"I'm a freshman for the next class," Nan Ke said as he sat on a plastic stool beside his workstation, explaining his purpose and handing his ID to the teacher. "I want to enroll in school early, but I accidentally lost my admission letter, so I want to come here to complete the formalities."

"No wonder you're so anxious," the teacher on duty understood and opened the enrollment system on the computer. "Don't worry, the admission letter is just a certificate. As long as your name and student file arrive, it'll be fine. Let me see, your name is Nan Ke? You're not yet an adult, can you explain the reason for your early enrollment?"

Nan Ke did his homework before coming.

The reason for her early enrollment was that she came to City A to work during the summer vacation and wanted to live in the student dormitory.

Nan Ke also brought the convenience store’s labor contract.

The teacher on duty glanced over the contract, frowned and thought for a long time, then asked, "Where is your guardian?"

"I've already gone home."

"So where do you live now?"

"My parents rented a house for me, but the rent was a bit high, so I thought it would be better to move directly into the dormitory."

The teacher on duty printed out the form and returned it to Nan Ke along with her ID card: "Did you bring your bank card? Let me remind you that you have to pay the tuition and accommodation fees before you live in the dormitory."

Nan Ke just filled in one word, then looked up in surprise: "Aren't we supposed to wait until school starts to pay the fees in one go?"

"That's another school," the teacher on duty said meaningfully, "You are not yet an adult, and you came here alone today. As a school, we have to be responsible for your personal safety if you want to stay there."

If the parents are not present and the students can pay the tuition fees on their own, it can be regarded as a proof of parental support to some extent.

Nan Ke lowered his eyes to avoid the teacher's scrutiny and secretly clenched his pen: "I applied for a student loan at my place of residence. The bank said that it would be directly deposited into my account at school when school starts."

"Did you bring the loan certificate?"

Nan Ke shook his head silently.

The teacher on duty sighed and reached out to take the form: "Then come back another day."

"Teacher." Nan Ke pressed hard on the paper under his hand.

She was silent for a while, then looked up and asked, "Then I won't live in the dormitory yet, can I apply for early admission first?"

The teacher on duty said in confusion, "Huh?" "If it's just for enrollment registration, then there's no problem..."

"Thank you for your help." Nan Ke breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed his hands. "Should I still fill out this form?"

The teacher on duty turned the form over and said, "Yes, write your current address and landlord's contact information in this box..."

After filling out the form, Nan Ke stared at the teacher as he uploaded the student information, printed the admission certificate, and stamped it.

The process was complicated, and by the time Nan Ke finally got the admission certificate, her tense shoulders had become stiff.

Great.

There were only a few lines of words on the thin piece of paper. Nan Ke's heart was beating fast, but he didn't dare to show it. He carefully put the admission certificate into his bag.

"You don't need to register when school starts. Just use your ID number to pay the fees on the official website and check your dormitory number," the teacher on duty reminded him. He glanced at the form Nan Ke had just filled out and asked casually, "What is the relationship between your family and the landlord?"

"Is there any problem?" Nan Ke's heart tightened.

The teacher on duty was amused by her expression: "You live in a university staff housing estate, don't you know that?"

Nan Ke was shocked and slowly opened his eyes.

"That residential complex was built only a few years ago, and a subway will be built next to it next year. You can't rent a room there without some connections," the teacher on duty asked her in a kind tone, raised an eyebrow, "How much is it per month?"

Nan Ke hesitated and stretched out five fingers.

"Five hundred?! You and that teacher must be related..."

"Five thousand," Nan Ke put down his hand and spoke stiffly, "pay it in full every two months."

The teacher on duty froze. Three seconds later, shock shifted to his face: "...How much?!"

Nan Ke was silent.

She ran away from home secretly. She was a minor and the rental was short-term. She contacted many people online in advance, but no one was willing to rent a house to her.

If it weren't for Kamisato Ayato's help, she wouldn't be able to rent a house, let alone stay in a hotel.

Therefore, Nan Ke did not object to the rent of Lei Film.

Just think of it as renting a fully secure hotel for two months.

"A bit, too..." The teacher on duty chose the words and said with difficulty, "It's a bit expensive, huh? If there is a chance to apply for a dormitory in advance, I will try my best to help you get it."

"Thank you." Nan Ke stood up and bowed sincerely to express his gratitude.

Early admission was successfully completed.

Nan Ke walked out of the college building and picked up his cell phone as the sun was gradually rising.

She slid her finger across the contact list, caught a glimpse of "Kamisato Ayato", and paused slightly.

……never mind.

Nan Ke held the phone to his ear, looked ahead at the lakeside where the breeze was blowing, and returned along the same path: "Hey, Dad..."