Oh no! I've only been a freshman and I've already been targeted by a mean upperclassman.

The advanced mathematics class ended two minutes early at 3:18 PM.

Li Chen closed his notebook, his pen clipped to page forty-seven.

Wang Qiang slumped in the seat next to him, his face pressed against the table.

"My soul has been extracted by the Laplace transformation."

Zhao Zixuan reached out a hand from the back row and patted Wang Qiang on the back of the head.

"Stop pretending, you weren't listening at all."

"I listened to the first five minutes."

"The first five minutes are a review of the previous lesson."

Wang Qiang lifted his face from the table and turned to look at Li Chen, who was packing his things.

"Go pick it up again?"

"Um."

"I have a question for you."

Wang Qiang sat up straight, his expression unusually serious.

"Have you already memorized her class schedule?"

Li Chen zipped up his backpack.

"She has two architectural history classes on Monday morning and one structural mechanics class in the afternoon. Tuesday morning is free, and she has two design classes in the afternoon."

"Studio all day Wednesday."

"One period of architectural physics on Thursday morning, and the student council meeting in the afternoon."

"One elective class on Friday morning, free in the afternoon."

The three people in room 302 fell silent at the same time.

Chen Mo pushed up his glasses.

"It's not just memorized, it's engraved in our DNA."

Zhao Zixuan leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers twice on the table.

"Li Chen".

"Um."

"Do you ever have this feeling?"

"How does it feel?"

"You've turned dating into a babysitting situation."

Li Chen stood up and pushed the chair in.

"Not a nanny."

"What is that?"

He thought for a moment.

"Human memo"

The three people's expressions were distorted.

Wang Qiang slumped back onto the table.

"I hereby declare that, starting today, Room 302 has officially entered the... chapter of Li Chen's Love Observation Diary."

"Shut up."

Li Chen pushed open the door and went out.

The flow of people in the corridor was surging out. He walked against the crowd, at a slow pace and with steady strides.

From the computer science department building to the architecture department building.

I left home at 3:19.

He didn't run away.

They left.

Because Yan Xi said that her get out of class ended at 3:40.

He has twenty-one minutes.

After walking for fifteen minutes, there are six minutes left.

As he passed by the library, he turned into the beverage area on the first floor.

I bought a cup of hot cocoa.

Whole milk base, no cream, one part cocoa powder, half a part sugar.

Yan Xi liked a picture of hot cocoa on her WeChat Moments last week.

The like was given at 11:07 PM.

At that time, she was usually reading academic papers.

When people are tired, they have an instinctive craving for sweet things.

He put this message and "shrimp paste" in the same folder.

3:34.

The lobby on the first floor of the architecture department's teaching building.

He sat down on the bench by the door, with hot cocoa next to his knees, the warmth of the cup seeping through the paper to his fingertips.

Several architecture students were discussing model designs in the lobby.

One of the boys noticed Li Chen and nudged the person next to him.

"Is that Li Chen?"

"Yeah, the one from the computer science department."

"What's he doing here?"

"you guess."

The two exchanged a glance and simultaneously looked towards the elevator.

3:41.

The elevator doors opened.

Yan Xi walked out from inside.

Today I changed into a light gray sweater, and wore that white down jacket over it.

A canvas bag was slung over his shoulder, and a roll of blueprints was held in his left hand.

Her gaze swept around the hall.

0.3 seconds.

locking.

Li Chen stood up.

Yan Xi walked over, her steps unhurried, but her direction straight.

When he walked up to him, Li Chen handed him the hot cocoa.

Yan Xi glanced down at the cup.

"What?"

Hot cocoa.

"I didn't say I wanted hot cocoa."

"You liked a picture of hot cocoa last week."

Yan Xi's finger paused on the side of the cup for a moment.

She took it and took a sip.

It's at a moderate temperature and has just the right amount of sweetness.

The cocoa flavor melts on the tongue, with a hint of milky richness.

She offered no comment.

But the second bite came faster than the first.

"Walk?"

"Walk."

Li Chen took the roll of blueprints from her hand, and casually took the canvas bag off her shoulder and hung it on his own.

Yan Xi glanced at him.

"Now you've even stolen my bag?"

"There's a mark on your left shoulder where the shoulder strap should be; it's from the strap digging in too much."

Yan Xi slowed her pace by half a beat.

"You even look at this?"

"The marks on the clothes are very obvious."

Yan Xi glanced down at her left shoulder.

There is indeed a faint horizontal line on the sweater, which was caused by the pressure from the canvas bag strap over a long period of time.

She looked up.

Li Chen was already ahead.

He had her beige canvas bag slung over his right shoulder, a roll of blueprints in his left hand, and his own black backpack on his back.

Three burdens.

Like a mule carrying a heavy load.

The corners of her mouth curved into a smile.

When I came out of the teaching building, the two architecture students who were discussing the model were still standing there.

They watched as Li Chen helped Yan Xi carry her bag, blueprints, and hand her hot cocoa, their expressions shifting from curiosity to awe.

"Is he a human Swiss Army knife?"

"No, he's a human-shaped all-powerful butler."

"How did you find Yan Xi?"

"I don't know, but I know why I'm single."

The two remained silent for three seconds.

"I understand."

Outside.

Yan Xi walked beside Li Chen, holding a hot cocoa in her hands, taking a sip every few steps.

What did you learn in class today?

"Laplace transform".

Is it difficult?

"It's not difficult."

"What about the rest of your dorm members?"

Wang Qiang said his soul had been taken away.

Yan Xi's shoulders twitched.

"He's always so exaggerated."

"That's just the kind of person he is."

The two walked onto the main road.

The campus was even more crowded at 4 pm than in the morning.

Li Chen did not hold Yan Xi's hand; she was holding a cup with both hands.

But he walked to her left, his body slightly turned towards her.

Whenever someone walks towards him, his shoulder will subtly shift outward by an inch, eliminating any potential collision space in advance.

Yan Xi finished the last sip of hot cocoa and handed him the empty cup.

Li Chen took the phone, glanced around, walked to the trash can three meters away, threw it away, and turned back.

The entire process should take no more than eight seconds.

Yan Xi's right hand was empty.

She didn't put her hands in her pockets.

Li Chen saw it.

He reached out his hand.

Yan Xi's fingers reached out to meet it.

Their fingers are intertwined.

Unlike yesterday, she was the one who tightened it first today.

"Where to?"

"Your laboratory."

Li Chen turned his head to look at her.

How did you know I was going to the lab today?

"You go to Professor Liu's lab to debug programs on Monday afternoons when you don't have classes, and you've been doing this for three weeks in a row."

Li Chen paused for half a second.

"You kept track of my itinerary?"

Yan Xi's gaze was fixed straight ahead.

"You memorize my class schedule, and I'll remember your habits."

Her tone was flat.

"Fair trade".

Li Chen gripped her hand tightly.

Palm to palm.

His body temperature was high, while her fingers were cold.

The two temperatures exchange at the contact surface and gradually converge.

"Xi Xi".

"Um."

How much of my information have you memorized?

Yan Xi didn't stop walking.

"You remember a little less of mine than I do."

"How many?"

She turned her head and glanced at him.

The streetlights are not yet on.

The last rays of light fell on the outline of the teaching building.

Her face was sharply defined in the twilight, and the phoenix hairpin reflected the light in her hair.

"That's enough."

She looked away.

"So many that I don't even feel like myself."

Li Chen's fingers tightened slightly.

The two turned into the side door of the laboratory building.

The corridor lights automatically turned on, casting a white light on the terrazzo floor.

Li Chen swiped his access card to open the laboratory door.

When he pushed the door open, he released Yan Xi's hand.

The moment their fingertips separated, her ring finger traced a line on the back of his hand.

It's not a circle.

It is a straight line.

From the base of the fingers to the wrist.

It's very light.

But a fine, dense reaction appeared on his forearm.

"Go inside and get back to work."

Yan Xi leaned against the door frame, her hands in the pockets of her down jacket.

"I'm going to the student council to take care of some things."

"What time will it end?"

"uncertain."

Message me when you're done.

Yan Xi looked at him.

That quiet, still gaze.

"Li Chen".

"Um."

Have you ever thought about this?

"What?"

"You remember what temperature water I drink, I remember when you go to the lab on Monday afternoons, you carry my bag for me, and I buy you soy milk."

Her voice was very low.

The corridor lights hummed overhead.

"What's this?"

Li Chen leaned against the lab bench, looking at her by the door frame.

He thought for a moment.

"It can be anything."

He said.

"As long as it's with you."

Yan Xi's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

She took the canvas bag off his shoulder and slung it back over her own.

As the movement passed by his neck, the fingertips touched his earlobe.

I don't know if it was intentional.

"6:30."

she says.

"What?"

"I'll finish at 6:30."

She turned and left.

The sound of footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor.

Li Chen stood at the laboratory door.

He touched his earlobe with his right hand.

There was a small, warm mark where she had touched it.

He closed the laboratory door.

The screen lights up, and the code interface pops up.

He sat down.

Place your fingers on the keyboard.

Didn't move.

He looked down at the back of his right hand.

There was nothing there.

But the circles and lines she drew still seem to be there.

He took a deep breath and started typing.

The time in the bottom right corner of the screen is ticking.

Three fifty-eight.

There are 152 minutes left until 6:30.

He converted the number into seconds.

Nine thousand one hundred and twenty seconds.

He didn't write down the number anywhere.

But with each line of code I type, that number automatically decreases by one in my mind.