Chapter 47

"Outside? With whom?"

Yuan Fang replied quickly, "I'm not entirely sure of the specifics, only that he and a friend rented a basement, and usually, apart from going to Professor Ye's laboratory, he stays there the rest of the time."

Ding Xian remembered Professor Ye, a man in his early fifties with meticulously combed hair, wearing a simple, old-fashioned grey checkered vest suit that looked like it had been worn for years. When he smiled, his face was kind and benevolent, with deep-set eyes full of fine wrinkles. The year the college entrance exam ended, right after the scores were released, Zhou Siyue had taken her to meet Professor Ye.

At dinner that day, she felt like a timid young wife, shrinking behind him, even more nervous than meeting Zhou Siyue's parents. Fortunately, Professor Ye was amiable, his eyes narrowing as he cheerfully looked at her, asking a couple of casual questions. She answered obediently, head bowed, occasionally glancing at Zhou Siyue during the meal, trying to gauge her performance from his expression.

However, the boy beside her remained expressionless throughout, diligently peeling shrimp with his head down. He really loved eating shrimp; even during their first meeting at the Zhou Family, he had kept his head down, eating shrimp and ignoring everything around him. Ding Xian thought, 'Which would make him sadder: if I disappeared that day, or if there were no more shrimp in the world? Probably the latter.'

Just as Ding Xian was about to reply, Yuan Fang sent another message: "He's been quite silent since freshman year. I thought that was just his personality, but from what you said earlier, his personality wasn't like this before?"

"No, he used to be a very cheerful and sunny person."

Yuan Fang put down his phone and glanced at the man sitting in front of the computer, typing code. The lights were off, and the screen emitted a faint blue glow, reflecting on his face and highlighting his indifferent expression. It was hard to imagine what a sunny and cheerful Zhou Siyue looked like; he seemed born to be this way. Yuan Fang shook his head slightly.

"Alright, I'm done gossiping with you, Junior Sister Ding. Keep it up, I hope in my lifetime you can let me see a sunny and cheerful boss."

Ding Xian lay down on her bed, holding her phone and replying, "It's a long and arduous journey, Senior Brother Yuan."

"Keep it up. ^_^"

Yuan Fang replied.

Half a month later, the clubs began recruiting new members.

Xu Shasha held a propaganda flyer in one hand, hesitating. "What do you guys think, should I join the Sign Language Club or the Aerobics Club?"

Ban Jiayu, who was memorizing vocabulary, looked up and said, "Aerobics. You're small, it suits you."

Ban Jiayu was a girl from Shanghai, quite opinionated, unlike the indecisive Xu Shasha. Crucially, she was also beautiful, but too aloof. Boys would usually just glance at her from afar and rarely dared to approach her; a cold, icy beauty.

Xu Shasha also wanted to choose aerobics in her heart, "But the senior in the Sign Language Club... is quite... handsome."

After speaking, she glanced at Ding Xian.

Just then, Lou Feng pushed the door open, carrying a plastic bag of snacks she had just bought downstairs. She was already twice as wide as Ding Xian but still didn't forget to eat, constantly complaining about wanting to lose weight but never taking action. Ban Jiayu often said that if Lou Feng ever succeeded in losing weight, Professor Wang would grow hair on his head.

Professor Wang was their programming teacher. Ban Jiayu often said that if you put a steel ring on Professor Wang's head, he would look more like Sha Wujing from TV.

The four girls, coming from different corners of the country and with varied personalities, got along harmoniously.

Xu Shasha chose the Sign Language Club. Ding Xian accompanied her to submit the application form. While leaning against the wall, bored, she suddenly heard someone shout beside her.

"Zhou Siyue."

She subconsciously looked in the direction of the voice. At the dark end of the activity center corridor, a tall figure was enveloped in shadow. A faint light from the window passed through his slender body. His hands were in his pockets, and his head was slightly lowered, his expression unclear. Only the hawk on his T-shirt was clearly visible, proud, free, full of power, glowing in the darkness.

"What?"

There weren't many people in the activity center, and his clear, resonant voice reached Ding Xian's ears without obstruction.

A short-haired girl poked her head out of an activity room, smiling as she said to him, "Thanks for the program last time. Next time you're free, I'll treat you to a meal." Halfway through, someone inside, she didn't know who, suddenly shouted, "Alright, no need for you to treat, I'll treat."

The girl was displeased and turned back to the person inside, saying, "Can we just split up? I don't want to be with you."

"But I'm the club president. Why are you so eager to show off here?"

The girl turned back to hit the person. Zhou Siyue stood at the entrance for a moment, then called out loudly inside, "I'm leaving."

The girl rushed out again, "Hey, you're leaving already?" She watched his retreating back for two seconds, then grumbled a few words and turned to go back inside.

Ding Xian withdrew her gaze, lowering her head slightly. In the dim light, footsteps gradually approached.

On the long corridor, in the gentle breeze, there were only the two of them. One was pressing against the wall, flustered, while the other slowly emerged from the darkness with his hands in his pockets. Time seemed to suddenly slow down, and light gradually leaked in through the window cracks.

Ding Xian didn't call out to him.

Zhou Siyue didn't look back either; he walked straight past her and turned to go down the stairs.

Ding Xian turned to look at the sign above the last classroom in the activity center.

—Computer Animation Club.

...

The last day of recruitment.

Ding Xian took her completed application form to the Computer Animation Club. The person who received it was the short-haired girl from the classroom entrance that day. She had slender, willow-leaf eyebrows, was even shorter than Ding Xian, and had a petite figure but large breasts. In Lou Feng's words, she was a loli.

Ding Xian looked at her chest, then at her own. 'At least one cup size bigger?'

The Loli Senior took her application form, gently tapping her pen as she slowly looked down at it. Suddenly, her eyes lit up:

"You can draw?"

Ding Xian nodded, "A little."

The loli clapped her hand on the table decisively. "Alright, there's a general meeting next Monday, remember not to be late."

"Ah?" Ding Xian was stunned. "That's it?"

The Loli Senior said, "That's it."

"..."

The Loli Senior's name was Xing Lufei. She was the vice president of the Computer Animation Club and a sophomore in the Computer Science Department.

That evening, Ding Xian was reading materials related to the Computer Animation Club in her dorm when Lou Feng, who was gossiping nearby, saw her and couldn't resist asking, "Did you join the Computer Animation Club?"

Ding Xian came back to her senses and nodded, "Yeah."

Lou Feng stuffed potato chips into her mouth. "I heard Xing Lufei participated in Super Girl, that talent show on Hunan TV."

Huh?

Ding Xian didn't pay much attention to such things and didn't realize how popular that talent show was.

Lou Feng simply pulled a chair over for her, her heavy body sinking onto it as she began to explain, "That super popular show on Hunan TV. But she was eliminated very early on because Xing Lufei's singing was terrible. There was even a group of straight male fans at school who voted for her every day."

"Is that still a thing?"

"If I looked like her, I'd go participate in Super Girl too."

However, according to Ding Xian's observations, even though Xing Lufei was popular among boys, she didn't seem to have many female friends. For example, in the club, hardly anyone listened when Xing Lufei spoke, and most members treated her with disdain; no one listened during meetings either.

Only when the club president, Ji Hang, was present would the atmosphere lighten somewhat.

Ji Hang, a local, was also a sophomore in the Computer Science Department. He wore glasses, was refined, spoke clearly and distinctly, and was gentle and courteous to others.

Just a few days after joining the club, someone had a conflict with Xing Lufei. This animosity had been building for a long time; both were old members, and small disagreements had accumulated over the years, all erupting at this moment, incidentally dragging Ding Xian into it.

Because Ding Xian was the only one Xing Lufei had let pass without an interview from Ji Hang, these older members, who disliked Xing Lufei, shifted the focus of their conflict to Ding Xian. Xing Lufei, being straightforward, wasn't afraid. "I'm the vice president, I have the right to decide. Ji Hang said this before. If you don't like it, there's nothing you can do. If you're so capable, then quit the club."

In a few words, she made the person cry, who then threatened to quit the club.

Indeed, they quit two days later, and even instigated a group of old members to quit.

Ji Hang had taken a few days off to go home. When he returned, the Computer Animation Club, which originally had over ten members, was left with only five people. Excluding the two boys and Xing Lufei, the rest were all new recruits from Ding Xian's batch.

"I've only been gone for two days, and you've already done a major overhaul?"

Rarely, Ji Hang wasn't angry; instead, he looked at Xing Lufei with amusement.

Ding Xian remembered how, in the past, no matter what she did, Zhou Siyue would always have a helpless smile, just like now. Later, after talking with Ji Hang, she realized she had overthought things. Ji Hang and Xing Lufei's relationship was purely platonic; they had simply been partners for many years, had excellent chemistry, and their friendship was exceptionally pure.

"Is there really such a thing as a pure friendship?"

Ji Hang looked at her for a while then, nodding seriously, "There is."

Freshman year finally stabilized completely after these twists and turns. Apart from spending time in the library, Ding Xian was either at the Anime Club or on her way to eat, sleep, and poop, or on her way to eat, sleep, and poop.

She completely calmed down and re-evaluated her complicated relationship with Zhou Siyue, wondering if it was truly as Ji Hang had described.

Can there be a pure friendship between a man and a woman?

The day before the National Day holiday, Ding Xian had just come down from the Anime Club when she received a call from Su Bocong.

She clattered down and ran to the school gate.

Su Bocong was dressed in a suit, leaning against a black Porsche, talking on the phone with someone.

Ding Xian walked over. He hung up the phone and smiled at her, "Oh, you've gotten much prettier."

He was never stingy with compliments towards women. Even if the other person was full of wrinkles, he could unflinchingly praise their skin as being more elastic than a peeled egg. This was the ease with which he handled interpersonal relationships in business over many years, without seeming greasy at all.

Ding Xian looked up at him, "Why are you here?"

Su Bocong maintained his gentlemanly faint smile. "I wanted to visit the country's top university. How about it, care to grace me with your presence?"