My IQ has been increasing year by year.

USTC has officially started its summer break.

Chen Zhuo pulled his suitcase to the train station.

The next afternoon, Chu Ge dragged a suitcase, grumbled about the weather at the dormitory entrance, then turned and left through the south gate without looking back, taking a taxi to the long-distance bus station. Wang Dayong was the last to leave.

He didn't have much stuff; he stuffed it all into a huge woven bag. As he left, he stood by the door, patted Lu Jia's shoulder twice forcefully, said nothing, and turned to go downstairs. The two dorm rooms suddenly fell silent.

Lu Jia stood between the two dormitories.

Of the four desks, three were empty, not even a scrap of paper remained on them.

Four beds, three of which have their bed boards exposed; the straw mats and bedding have already been packed up and sent away or stored away.

The cicadas chirping outside the window are really annoying.

Lu Jia walked over and closed the door to the balcony, shutting out the heat and cicada chirping from outside.

He walked to his desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

The ceiling fan overhead whirred and spun, blowing out warm air.

The date was postponed by a few days.

Library study room.

The library was much less crowded after the holiday, and the air conditioning was on full blast.

Lu Jia sat by the window, a thick notebook open in front of her, and a pen in her hand.

He was working out a complex probabilistic model of behavior.

Zhou Yun sat across the table.

Her hair was casually tied back with a rubber band, and in front of her were two syllabi for the postgraduate entrance examination in politics and a collection of past English exam papers.

Zhou Yun sighed and threw the red pen in her hand onto the table.

Lu Jia didn't look up; the tip of her pen traced across the paper, writing down an integral symbol.

"The cafeteria lady has been replaced."

Zhou Yun lowered her voice and complained across the table.

Lu Jia's pen never stopped.

"Without the campus card, you have to pay an extra 20% for meals now."

Zhou Yun felt a pang of sympathy.

"When I went to the water dispenser to get some water, the old man insisted on seeing my student ID. I told him I had just graduated and was preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam, but he wouldn't let me in." Lu Jia finished writing the last line of derivation and drew a period.

He put down his pen and looked up.

Looking at Zhou Yun, who seemed somewhat helpless, on the other side.

Lu Jia opened the drawer, took out his campus card, placed it on the table, pressed the card down, and pushed it in front of Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun was stunned for a moment.

"Swipe my card."

Lu Jia said this in a flat tone.

Zhou Yun looked at the card.

"You can spend the money in there as you like. At the end of each month, pull out the bill and settle the cash with me monthly."

Lu Jia leaned back in his chair and adjusted his glasses.

Zhou Yun didn't say anything.

"And while you're at it, go to the cafeteria and get me a meal."

Zhou Yun laughed in exasperation at his matter-of-fact attitude.

She grabbed the campus card from the table and stuffed it into her pocket.

"Lu Jia, you must have been a rich landlord in your past life."

Zhou Yun gritted her teeth and cursed in a low voice.

"Go."

Lu Jia didn't respond.

"There won't be any food left in the cafeteria soon."

Zhou Yun glared at him, then turned and walked out of the study room.

Lu Jia watched her figure disappear through the doorway.

He lowered his head, turned to a new page of draft paper, and picked up his pen.

August.

The weather in Huizhou was extremely hot.

The library became the only place to escape the summer heat.

3 PM.

The only sound in the study room was the turning of pages.

Zhou Yun clutched her hair, burying her face between two thick political outlines. She had been memorizing the timeline of modern history for an hour, and her mind was a jumbled mess. She looked up, her eyes somewhat vacant.

Across from him, Lu Jia sat upright.

His draft paper was already covered with densely packed matrices and algebraic symbols.

Zhou Yun looked at him.

Liberal arts students struggle with books, while science students find peace in numbers.

Zhou Yun sighed and reached out to unzip the canvas bag at her feet.

She pulled out a plastic bag from inside, which contained an oily paper bag.

I bought a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) from a street vendor outside the school.

She untied the plastic bag and took out the roujiamo (Chinese hamburger). It was already a little cold, but it still smelled of meat.

She broke it in half.

Zhou Yun placed one half on a clean sheet of toilet paper, pushed it across the table, and then pushed it to Lu Jia's side.

Lu Jia paused for a moment.

He turned his head and looked at the half-eaten roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) beside him.

He raised his head again and glanced at Zhou Yun across from him.

Zhou Yun didn't speak, or even look at him.

She was biting into the half of her hand, her gaze returning to her modern history textbook.

There wasn't a single question about whether you wanted to eat it or not.

There wasn't even a thank you.

Lu Jia put down her pen, picked up the half-eaten roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), and took a bite.

The meat was a bit salty, and the green peppers were still a little crunchy.

He finished eating in two bites, then took a tissue and wiped his hands clean.

He picked up his pen again and continued solving the matrix he hadn't finished.

Their breathing mingled with the faint sound of the library's air conditioning, and neither of them uttered a sound.

end of August.

Evening, USTC's second canteen.

Although school hasn't officially started yet, there are already quite a few students who have returned to school early in the cafeteria.

The stainless steel plates made a rather noisy clattering sound.

Lu Jia and Zhou Yun sat facing each other at a dining table.

The two of them had only the most ordinary home-style dishes on their plates: shredded potatoes, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and two servings of rice.

Lu Jia ate very slowly.

He poked at the rice in his plate with his chopsticks.

"It's gotten colder these past couple of days."

Lu Jia suddenly spoke.

"Um."

Zhou Yun picked up a piece of egg with her chopsticks.

"It gets a bit chilly in the mornings and evenings."

Lu Jia took a bite of rice and chewed.

"Chu Ge and the others are all gone."

Lu Jia swallowed the rice in her mouth and looked at the chopsticks in her hand.

Zhou Yun didn't reply, but listened quietly.

"Last night, I turned the ceiling fan in my dorm room on the highest setting."

Lu Jia spoke casually, as if she were talking about a trivial matter.

"The wind is strong, no one is fighting me for the switch, and no one gets up in the middle of the night to turn it off because they're cold."

After he finished speaking, he lowered his head to pick up some food.

Zhou Yun across from them stopped eating.

She didn't look up, but just stared at Lu Jia's hand resting on the table.

She picked up a steamed bun and took a big bite.

"Your roommates all ran away?"

Zhou Yun swallowed the steamed bun, her tone even more casual than his.

"Mm." Lu Jia nodded.

"That's perfect."

Zhou Yun put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth with a tissue, and looked at Lu Jia.

"I rent a place by myself in an urban village. When I go back from evening self-study, there isn't even a street lamp on that alley. It's just dark, single-story houses on both sides." Zhou Yun frowned, her tone carrying a hint of complaint.

"Support those affected by the epidemic."

Lu Jia raised his head and looked at her.

"Starting from the start of the school year in September, the old library will resume its normal operating hours."

Zhou Yun tapped her fingers twice on the table, making the final decision.

"Every night, you are responsible for taking me back to the intersection in the urban village."

Lu Jia was stunned.

His brain started working almost reflexively.

He was just about to open his mouth and utter that set of rigorous logic.

"From the old library of USTC to the intersection of the urban village, the straight-line distance is no more than 800 meters. According to the data from the local police station last year, the crime rate in this section of the road between 10 pm and 11 pm is less than 0.00%...." But he didn't say it out loud.

Because he saw Zhou Yun's eyes.

Those eyes were staring at him.

There was no room for compromise, nor was there any room for him to present scientific data.

It carries a forced and somewhat domineering sense of binding.

She used her fear to give him a reason to show up on time every day.

"In return."

Zhou Yun watched as he swallowed the words he was about to say and leaned back in his chair with satisfaction.

"Every morning, I'll bring you an egg pancake with pork tenderloin from the stall near the school gate."

"It's settled then," Zhou Yun said.

The cafeteria was still noisy.

Someone carrying soup walked past their table.

Lu Jia looked at the girl opposite him who was arguing illogically.

He lowered his gaze and looked at the leftover shredded potatoes on his plate.

"I don't eat cilantro."

Lu Jia replied in a muffled voice.

Zhou Yun was stunned for a moment.

Then, she burst out laughing.

"understood."

Zhou Yun picked up her chopsticks and continued eating her scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

"So much trouble."

Early September.

USTC officially started its semester.

The autumn wind blew through the camphor trees on campus, bringing down a few yellowed leaves.

early morning.

215 Dormitory.

Lu Jia was sitting in a chair, putting on her shoes.

The phone on the table started vibrating frantically.

Lu Jia picked up her phone and pressed the answer button.

On the other end of the phone, Zhou Yun's anxious voice immediately came through, accompanied by the noise of the breakfast stalls near the school gate and the ringing of bicycle bells as people crossed the street. "Lu Jia! Have you come downstairs yet?!"

"Putting on shoes."

Lu Jia held her phone between her shoulder and ear and tightened her shoelaces.

"Hurry up and come down! The study room for postgraduate entrance exam takers on the first floor of the library seems really crowded today; if you go too late, there won't be any seats left!"

Zhou Yun shouted into the phone.

"I can't get in through the main gate; I need your card to swipe the access card!"

Two minutes.

Lu Jia stood up.

"Hurry up! Your egg pancake didn't have cilantro in it, it'll get cold if you don't come soon!"

The phone slammed down.

Lu Jia put his phone into his pocket.

He walked to the table and grabbed the schoolbag.

I left the dormitory.

I turned around and glanced at the familiar room.

Sunlight streamed in through the window and fell on the empty desk.

Lu Jia turned around and ran down the stairs.