My IQ has been increasing year by year.

In early June, Huizhou was already so hot that it made people feel irritable.

Wang Dayong walked over from the other end of the corridor, clutching a stack of forms in his hand and sweating profusely.

Counselor Xue Boyong asked him to distribute these verification forms for third-year students' academic records and subsidies to the people in the dormitory for signature.

He pushed open the door to room 216.

"Old Chu, Lu Jia, it's signed."

Lu Jia was the only one in the room.

Lu Jia sat at his desk, engrossed in a draft paper covered with square roots and integral symbols.

Chu Ge's chair was empty, the computer screen on the desk was still lit, lines of code scrolling rapidly down, and next to it sat a half-eaten bowl of Master Kong braised beef noodles, now bloated and soaking. "Where's Chu Ge?"

Da Yong walked over and slammed the form onto the corner of Lu Jia's desk.

"They've gone out."

Lu Jia didn't even look up; he simply drew a circle on the paper with his pen.

"Teacher Xue's form? Just leave it there, I'll sign it later."

Da Yong was feeling unbearably hot, so he picked up a magazine from Chu Ge's desk and used it as a fan.

Remove the magazine; underneath it lies a freshly printed A4 sheet of paper.

That was a photocopy of Chu Ge's ID card.

It's black and white, the portrait is a bit blurry, but the bolded numbers next to it are clearly visible.

Da Yong glanced at it casually, and was about to look away when he suddenly stopped.

He blinked and moved his face a little closer.

1987 6 Month 14 Day.

Da Yong quickly subtracted the current year in his mind.

His eyes widened suddenly, and the magazine in his hand fell to the table with a thud.

Holy crap!

Da Yong shouted fiercely.

Lu Jia's hand trembled, and the ballpoint pen drew a long black line on the draft paper.

"Stop writing!"

Da Yong grabbed Lu Jia's arm with surprising strength.

"What are you doing?"

"Something terrible has happened."

Da Yong stared at the photocopy and swallowed hard.

"Chu Ge... he's 14 this month, he'll be 18!"

Lu Jia was stunned.

In the gifted youth program, a place teeming with fifteen- or sixteen-year-olds, eighteen is a very distant and intimidating age. Most people didn't even have much of a beard when they entered the school, and they had to awkwardly borrow an older student's ID to go to an internet cafe outside of school. "Turning eighteen?"

Lu Jia's mind raced.

"So, he's about to acquire full civil capacity and be required to bear legal responsibility independently?"

"What legal responsibility? That's a real man now!"

Da Yong pulled Lu Jia up from the chair.

"Let's go to our dorm!"

215 Dormitory.

Chen Zhuo leaned against the headboard, a thin blanket draped over his legs, and held a copy of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" in his hand.

The electric fan creaked and groaned as it blew his hair a little mess.

The door was pushed open with a bang.

Da Yong pulled Lu Jia inside, then locked the door behind him and snapped the safety latch on.

Chen Zhuo looked up from the book, glanced at the panting Da Yong, and then at the helpless Lu Jia.

"Is someone checking the dorms?"

Chen Zhuo spoke casually, casually tucked a bookmark into the book, and closed the book.

"What do you mean by checking dormitories?"

Da Yong lowered his voice, took a few steps to Chen Zhuo's bedside, put his hands on the edge of the bed, and his eyes shone.

"Xiao Zhuo, our two dorms are about to produce their first legally recognized man."

Chen Zhuo raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Chu Ge?"

"How did you know?" Da Yong was taken aback.

"Lu Jia is two years and three months away from turning eighteen, and you are one year away from turning eighteen. Who else could it be but Chu Ge?"

Chen Zhuo picked up the enamel mug on the table next to him and took a sip of water.

What date in June?

"There's still almost two weeks left!"

Da Yong slapped his thigh.

"This is a big deal! He's the first one to come of age among us underage kids. We need to deal with him properly!"

Lu Jia pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, speaking in a serious tone.

"From a sociological perspective, rites of passage are indeed important rituals for human tribes to declare an individual's maturity, and they can enhance the cohesion of small groups." "Speak plainly."

Da Yong rolled his eyes at him.

"manage."

Lu Jia said.

Chen Zhuo leaned back on the pillow, looking at the two people in front of him, and a smile slowly crept onto his lips.

He wasn't particularly attached to these ritualistic things, but watching these guys go through all this at USTC was quite interesting. "What are you planning to do?" Chen Zhuo asked.

"We definitely can't use that effeminate approach of buying a cake and lighting candles."

Dayong paced back and forth in the dormitory, his mind racing.

"He's an adult! We need to take a hard line and give him a surprise attack."

"We can go to Old Li's barbecue stall," Lu Jia suggested.

"Adult men are more likely to lower their psychological defenses and achieve empathy under the influence of alcohol."

"Okay, let's go to Old Li's place."

Da Yong made the final decision.

"We'll each prepare our own gifts, and no one should tell anyone else. Just slam your fist on the table and say, 'No one's allowed to buy anything! Buying is pointless; we have to make our own.'" Chen Zhuo nodded.

"Can."

"It's a secret."

Da Yong pointed at Chen Zhuo, then at Lu Jia.

"Whoever slipped up in front of Boss Chu in the past two weeks will be responsible for serving meals for the next month."

For the next two weeks, a strange, unspoken understanding developed in dormitories 215 and 216, known only to the three of them.

Despite this tacit understanding, Chu Ge was unusually busy.

When Chen Zhuo went out to the library, he could often see Chu Ge's back through the open door.

Chugo seems to have been sleeping non-stop for the past few months.

The computer fan spun wildly every day, emitting a deafening roar as it struggled under the strain. Chu Ge's eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, and his keyboard clattered loudly. One noon, Da Yong came to visit room 216 with his lunchbox.

He had just put down his lunchbox when he noticed several books stacked high next to Chu Ge's monitor.

The top book was *Macroeconomics*, below it was *Fundamentals of Corporate Finance*, and further down, surprisingly, there was another book, *Introduction to Economics*. Da Yong pulled up a chair and sat down, picking at the braised pork in his lunchbox while tapping the cover of *Macroeconomics* with his chopsticks. "Boss Chu, have you taken the wrong medicine lately?"

"How come you, someone who spends all your time grappling with code, have taken this so lightly?"

Chu Ge's eyes were fixed on the screen, his hands typing blindly on the keyboard, without even turning his head.

"What do you know?"

Chu Ge's voice was a little hoarse, but it carried his usual casualness and teasing.

"This is called well-rounded development. If I don't learn some capitalist tricks, how am I supposed to exploit you bunch of technicians who only know how to do the work?"

Forget it.

Da Yong pursed his lips.

"So what's the deal with your 'Mao Zedong Thought'?"

Chu Ge pressed the Enter key, and the code on the screen began to run.

Only then did he have time to turn his head, rub his sore eyes, pick up the water glass on the table, and take a big gulp.

"Change your mindset."

Chu Ge leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

"I'm sick of code. Try reading some Ideological and Political Education and Mao Zedong Thought to help me fall asleep. People like you who snore the moment their head hits the pillow don't understand the pain of insomnia."