Chapter 29: The First Time Skipping Class

The next day was the official start of classes. Public Administration was known as the "jack-of-all-trades" major, with a wide range of subjects such as "Principles of Management," "Western Economics," "Organizational Behavior," and "Applied Statistics," among others.

At first, except for Chen Hansheng, everyone listened attentively. Even Yang Shichao had bought a new notebook, with glasses perched on his nose, diligently jotting down "1, 2, 3..." on the pages. However, after a couple of days, as everyone got used to the university rhythm, many people began to relax. Chen Hansheng, on the other hand, continued to sleep.

"Brother Chen, why aren't you listening?" Li Zhennan, who sat next to him, tried to remind him to pay attention to his studies.

"I'm getting old, can't remember anything anyway," Chen Hansheng lazily responded. He had been through a similar phase as Yang Shichao. Back in the day, his first two pages of his new notebook were filled with notes, but by the third page, his handwriting had become sloppy, and the fifth page onward was completely blank.

"You can't teach a child," Yang Shichao said, assuming the role of dorm leader and showing off his perfectly organized class notes.

Chen Hansheng rolled his eyes. He thought to himself that by the time of the final exam, Shen Youchu would already be his girlfriend, so he wouldn't need Yang Shichao's tutoring. But he couldn't stand Yang Shichao's act of being a bookworm. He nudged his shoulder and said, "Let's go play CS in Desert Dust."

"I'm not going. I need to study," Yang Shichao firmly refused.

"A chicken leg meal on me," Chen Hansheng offered.

"It's not about the chicken leg meal, I want to study," Yang Shichao replied, still not agreeing.

"How about a bottle of soda as well?"

"Don't act like that, we're here to study..." Yang Shichao continued his sermon.

"Fine, I'll pay for the internet fees too," Chen Hansheng added.

"Alright, let's go," Yang Shichao finally gave in. "But no sniping!"

And so, the three internet addicts planned their first skip class, intending to leave the "Mao Zedong Thought and Contemporary Chinese Political Economy" class during the break.

Li Zhennan, the good student, definitely wasn't going. Jin Yangming, who was more of a slacker, also wanted to play CS, but no one paid him any attention. The closest person to him was Dai Zhenyou, who was there because of his phone.

Although Jin Yangming didn't admit it, deep down he wanted to join Chen Hansheng's group, thinking that they were the "high-end circle." But he also couldn't shake off his local superiority complex, which left him conflicted.

This indecision caused problems. Just as Chen Hansheng and the others were about to sneak out, Jin Yangming suddenly shouted, "Teacher, report!"

The elderly teacher almost got startled by this, adjusting his glasses and asking, "What is it, student?"

The three of them were taken by surprise and quickly sat back down. Since "Mao Zedong Thought" was a large class, there were over 100 students, and everyone was now looking at Jin Yangming.

Jin Yangming gave the internet-addict trio a warning glare and then loudly said, "Teacher, you forgot to assign homework."

Before Chen Hansheng could say anything, the rest of the students all disagreed. They thought to themselves, "Is this guy a fool? Who would remind the teacher about homework?"

Luckily, the "Mao Zedong Thought" teacher knew that these metaphysical political ideas weren't very significant. He waved his hand and said, "Thanks for the reminder. The main thing is that we study on our own after class."

"You're such a jerk, did you do that on purpose?" Guo Shaoqiang muttered under his breath when they returned to their seats.

Jin Yangming snorted coldly, fiddling with his phone without saying anything.

Chen Hansheng thought that Jin Yangming was being hypocritical and shook his head, saying, "Alright, let's go, the more the merrier."

Jin Yangming pretended to hesitate before reluctantly saying, "But you can't fight me for the sniper position."

"Alright, alright, whatever you want," Chen Hansheng agreed.

So, the trio turned into a group of four. The excitement and nervousness of their first time skipping class was palpable, not like later years when skipping class almost became a habit.

But when they reached the campus gate, a security guard stopped them, insisting that they sign a form before letting them leave. Chen Hansheng figured that this was probably a directive from some department leader, using this method to intimidate the freshmen into not skipping classes.

"Fine, I'll sign it. It doesn't really matter," Chen Hansheng said casually and signed the form before leaving.

Jin Yangming was the second to sign, but when he saw the name "Li Zhennan, Public Administration, Class 2" written on the form, he looked up at Chen Hansheng's back and cursed silently before quickly writing, "Dai Zhenyou, Public Administration, Class 2."

Yang Shichao and Guo Shaoqiang did the same. In the end, everyone successfully left the campus, though before entering the internet café, Chen Hansheng told them to go ahead while he took care of something and would be back soon.

"Why are you so mysterious?" the others wondered, but they quickly got lost in the world of "Fire in the Hole."

Chen Hansheng left the café and pulled out a part-time recruitment flyer he had torn off in the water room, the one for "Shentong Express Campus Agents." The address was near Tianyuan East Road, not far from the Yiwu Commodity Center. He walked for about ten minutes and arrived.

It was a row of two-story street-side shops, but in 2002, it was quite deserted. Without a subway, the nearby residential area didn't get much foot traffic, and the purchasing power of college students was limited. These shops were generally not doing well, far behind the Yiwu Commodity Center.

At the moment, only the Shentong Express Jiangling branch was open, with several delivery men carrying and sorting packages.

"There's no uniform, disorganized picking, and unsafe storage. Shentong is a mess from top to bottom," Chen Hansheng thought to himself as he walked up to a delivery man and offered him a cigarette. "Big brother, is the manager around?"

The delivery man, seeing that it was a Red King cigarette (which was a level above the usual Red Tower Mountain), placed it behind his ear and casually pointed him to the upstairs office. "Manager Zhong is on the second floor."

Chen Hansheng thanked him and headed upstairs. On the way, he saw packages tossed around carelessly, and delivery slips were scattered here and there. The disorganized management was a clear reflection of the overall state of the courier industry at the time.

He pushed open the office door on the second floor. The scene inside was similar to downstairs, but with two dusty office desks and a water dispenser. A man in his forties sat at one of the desks, holding a cigarette in one hand and filling out delivery forms with the other.

When he saw Chen Hansheng enter, he glanced up and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

"I saw this part-time job flyer at school," Chen Hansheng said, handing over the recruitment notice.

"Oh." The man glanced at it and lazily asked, "Which school are you from?"

"Financial Academy."

"It's too late. Your school already has an agent. You can only be their subordinate," the man replied indifferently as he went back to filling out the forms.

Chen Hansheng didn't leave. He stood at the door, still looking at the man. "I just want to ask, how can I replace that agent?"