Chapter 91: Serious Snow (Part 1)

Although the plan to "force" Chen Han Sheng out of the student council failed, Hu Xiuping and Zuo Xiaoli remained vice presidents, while Chen Han Sheng continued as the vice minister of the External Relations Department. 

However, after the truth came out, things became awkward whenever they met. Before, Hu Xiuping and Chen Han Sheng would exchange greetings when they ran into each other in the cafeteria, but now Hu just lowered his head and ignored him.

Fortunately, the internal debate selection contest for the Department of Humanities, organized by Mu Wenling, went quite well. Unfortunately, Zhang Minghui, the only male student in the second class of Public Administration, was eliminated. Bai Yongshan, Tan Min, and Dong Xiuxiu, three female students, would represent the department. Among them, Bai Yongshan was selected as the primary speaker, while the others were backups. 

It seemed that looks played a role in the selection as well. Bai Yongshan's cuteness was an advantage that helped her earn some extra points.

Zhang Minghui was feeling depressed and often went to the entrepreneurship base to sigh. Chen Han Sheng noticed this and decided to assign him the task of looking after the three female debaters, which cheered him up.

By mid-December, the winter had officially arrived in Jianye. The plane trees around the campus had already shed their leaves, and the stubborn, thin branches stood against the cold wind. It was necessary to bundle up when going outside.

With Christmas, New Year's, and the winter vacation approaching, the business at the entrepreneurship base improved significantly. The Rocket 101 tricycles, which were used for deliveries, now operated not only in the Financial College but also in the Engineering College, the Medical School, and the University of Eastern China.

"Xiao Chen, it's so cold here in Jianye these days, and the weather is gloomy," Xiao Rongyu said, calling again before bed.

"Yeah, I heard it might snow, but I'm not sure if that's true. Anyway, today some students kept shouting 'It's snowing, it's snowing!' every once in a while," Chen Han Sheng replied, holding the phone with one hand and using the other to calculate the increase in the number of deliveries.

"Ah, it's the same at our school," Xiao Rongyu said excitedly. "While I was eating, I don't know who yelled that it was snowing, and suddenly, everyone put down their chopsticks and ran outside. Sister Guo even dragged me out, but I spilled my soup on my clothes. It turned out to be just a little drizzle."

"You're being silly. If it snows, let it snow. It's not like it snows often in the harbor city," Chen Han Sheng said indifferently.

"Hmph," Xiao Rongyu snorted. Then, with a sweet tone, she reminisced, "You weren't like this before. Remember when we were in the second year of high school, and it snowed? I said I wanted to see a snowman, and you skipped half a class to secretly build one. When you came back, your hands were frozen."

"Really?" Chen Han Sheng couldn't recall such details. It snowed often in the harbor city, so he responded vaguely, "That was really foolish."

"Who said it was foolish?" Xiao Rongyu suddenly got upset. "It wasn't foolish at all. I'll remember that for the rest of my life. I'll always remember you, covered in snow, pulling me to see the snowman."

As she spoke, her voice lowered, and she continued, "Xiao Chen, you're not as nice to me as you used to be."

Chen Han Sheng didn't reply, letting the sounds of their breathing echo through the phone, with the "whoosh whoosh" of their breath filling the air.

After a long pause, Xiao Rongyu slowly said, "I'm going to sleep now. You should rest early too. Come see me when you have time."

"Okay," Chen Han Sheng said before hanging up. Less than thirty seconds later, he received a text message from Xiao Rongyu.

"Sorry."

Chen Han Sheng glanced at it and replied with two words: "Sleep well."

He buried his head in his work again, finally completing the delivery count for the four schools. Just as he was about to pick up his phone and get in bed, he suddenly remembered Xiao Rongyu's emotional shift.

"Looks like I'll need to deliberately not answer a few times. I can't let these late-night calls become a habit, or it'll turn into a sort of checking-up on me, which would be excessive," Chen Han Sheng thought to himself.

He couldn't help it; although he was touched by Xiao Rongyu's deep affection, a scoundrel's heart is often "cold as stone."

The next day, the temperature dropped by four degrees, making the cold even more unbearable. The campus broadcasting station had already announced that it might snow that night.

The first snow of 2002 was also expected to be the last one.

Chen Han Sheng arrived at the entrepreneurship base, where Shen Youchu was already there. She wore a royal blue down jacket and had wrapped herself in a colorful, oversized winter coat, looking like a chubby penguin.

"Isn't it cold?" Chen Han Sheng asked, his breath visible in the air as he spoke.

Shen Youchu shook her head and pointed to the electric heater nearby.

"Give me your hand," Chen Han Sheng suddenly said.

Shen Youchu didn't know which hand he wanted, so she extended both hands and looked at him blankly.

Chen Han Sheng held one of her hands and found it quite warm, which reassured him.

"I have a social event tonight, so you can go eat by yourself," he said, before heading to the 102 warehouse.

Shen Youchu wanted to say something, but Chen Han Sheng had already started talking to the people in 102.

In recent days, the daily collection of deliveries from the four schools had been hovering around 700 items. Although it hadn't reached 1,000 yet, Chen Han Sheng called Wang Wenhai over, as the current team of Li Zhenan and a few part-time students were struggling with sorting and packaging the parcels.

"Why isn't the electric heater on here?" Chen Han Sheng asked, walking into 102 and noticing the heater wasn't on.

"We're not cold. If we turn it on, the air gets stuffy," Li Zhenan said, sweating heavily from the work.

Chen Han Sheng pulled out a box of Red Jinling cigarettes, handing one to each smoker, and then gave the rest to Wang Wenhai. 

The others weren't surprised; Chen Han Sheng often did this. Wang Wenhai thought the treatment here was great—his salary was the same as the one at the shop, but he ate at the university canteen and worked with well-educated students.

Chen Han Sheng was a relatively easy boss to get along with. He wasn't stingy but had one rule: any request he made had to be fulfilled immediately. If there was any delay or an excuse, he would turn angry.

This made it easy to work for him, as long as the tasks were done. Sometimes, Wang Wenhai even volunteered to stay overnight in the 102 warehouse to help out and act as the duty officer. He did this hoping to bring his daughter, who was in middle school, over to experience the university atmosphere, and all he needed was Chen Han Sheng's approval.

Before leaving, Chen Han Sheng specifically called Li Zhenan to 101. "I'll give you an extra 500 yuan. Business has been good lately. Please make sure the part-time students get lunch. Don't skimp on this small amount."

Li Zhenan hesitated, "No need, I still have over 90 yuan from the last 500 you gave me."

"Keep that money," Chen Han Sheng said, pressing the 500 yuan into Li Zhenan's pocket. "You're from Chaozhou, right? It's customary there to visit people during the Spring Festival. If you have leftover funds, just keep them and use it to treat people when you go home."

Li Zhenan still felt awkward. "You already pay me a salary every month."

Chen Han Sheng didn't want to say much. He patted Li Zhenan on the back of the head. "Go work. Don't waste time talking."

After Li Zhenan left, Chen Han Sheng prepared to head out and catch the bus. Today was the day the vice general manager of Shentong and the general manager of Jianye were visiting Jiangning for an inspection.

"Hey," a soft voice suddenly called from behind him. Chen Han Sheng turned around.

"Don't... don't drink," came the voice.