Chapter 1285: She Moved Into the Campus Residence

He Xiyan moved onto the campus houses three days later. The campus houses were meant for students who were preparing to take the entrance examination for their Master’s or for students who took on part-time jobs and found it inconvenient to stay in the hostels. Most of the students who lived in campus residences were rich students who were reluctant to live in shared hostels. They would then move into campus houses on the pretext of taking the entrance examination for their Master’s.

She chose the cheapest room. It was only slightly more than 20 square meters and it was a one-bedroom studio with an en-suite restroom and a tiny kitchen that was probably only 3 square meters.

The rent was 800 dollars which was considered very cheap for a major city like Ye City. This was still a rather large financial burden for her, so she had to take on additional jobs.

She sorted through her belongings and placed her clothes neatly in the closet and her shoes on the shoe rack.

Mercury had fallen at Ye City and it was negative three or four degrees Celsius at night, so she had to turn on the heater.

The cost of heating was included in the rent when she lived in the hostel but now that she had moved into the campus residence, she had to pay for the cost of heating. Her room was 28 square meters, so the monthly cost of heating would be 200 to 300 dollars, and after she included her electricity bills, she estimated that she would spend more than 1,000 dollars in rent here.

She was so tired that she didn’t have any energy left in her to continue drawing that night. She lay in bed after she finished the noodle soup that she had cooked for herself.

She held a notebook in her hand. This notebook recorded all the money she had borrowed over the past three years.

2011: Borrowed 2,500 dollars from Professor Yang Sulan, 2,000 dollars from Professor He, 1,800 dollars from Professor Hu Meimei, 800 dollars from Aunty Li, 800 dollars from Uncle Yang, 500 dollars from Miqi, 700 dollars from Yafei.

2012: Took a student loan of 18,000 dollars. Borrowed 1,000 dollars from Chen Yuan, 2,000 dollars from Professor Yang Sulan, 2,000 dollars from Professor He.

2013: Took a student loan of 12,000 dollars

She stared at the amounts written in her notebook. Her mother had passed away in 2011, leaving her with nothing, so she had to beg and borrow in order to continue her education.

She was almost 50,000 dollars in debt and even though her teachers, classmates, and kind neighbors hadn’t asked for their money back, she still felt guilty owing them so much money. She felt especially guilty when she thought of the money she had borrowed two years ago.

She felt like there was a large stone that weighed a ton pressing against her heart each time she thought about her debt.

She wondered when she would be able to truly relax and pay off all her outstanding debts.

——

One month later.

She went to classes every weekday over the past month or so, worked on her drawings at night in her room, and headed to the art school to conduct lessons every weekend. She worked hard every day and continued working through her illness. She would still repeat the same routine even when she was down with the flu or having a fever.

It was the 21st day of the last month of the lunar calendar, which meant that winter vacation had started two weeks ago. The art school she was teaching at had also taken a break for the winter vacation the day before.

She rose early the next morning, dragged a suitcase from under her bed, and stuffed her clothes, daily essentials, drawing paper, pencils, and a computer into her suitcase.

Although her parents were both deceased, she would still head home every winter vacation. She would return to the home where she was all alone.

She booked her train tickets online. She could take a high-speed rail from Ye City to Sha City, but she had booked an ordinary train ticket in order to save some money. This meant that she would take 18 hours to travel to her hometown.