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

Yan Xi put the porridge into her mouth.

"What else did your grandfather teach you?"

"Knife skills, cooking, wood whittling."

"besides?"

Li Chen thought for a moment.

He said that if a man can't even hand his wife chopsticks properly, he can forget about having a good life.

Yan Xi paused her chewing for half a second.

"Your grandfather's exact words?"

"The exact words."

Yan Xi lowered her head and continued drinking her porridge.

Her ears were slightly red, hidden by the collar of her gray sweater.

The two ate quietly for a while.

The porridge tastes better than takeout.

The shrimp are fresher, and the rice grains at the bottom of the porridge are more creamy.

Li Chen picked out two shrimp from his own bowl and put them into Yan Xi's bowl using serving chopsticks.

Yan Xi glanced at it.

"Aren't you going to eat it yourself?"

"I still have four left in my bowl."

"Have you counted them?"

I glanced at it when it was first served.

"You have six in your bowl, I have eight in mine, I'll give you two."

Yan Xi drew a line on the surface of the porridge with her spoon.

"You can't even count the number of shrimp."

"It's not about the number, it's about what we saw."

Is there a difference?

"have."

Li Chen took a sip of porridge.

"The numbers are deliberate; seeing them is instinctive."

Yan Xi raised her head.

His gaze was slightly blurred by the steam behind the hot pot, but it landed precisely on her face.

"When did you become like this?"

"What?"

"This kind of..."

Yan Xi's voice lowered by an octave.

"The way you store every single detail of me in your mind."

Li Chen put down his spoon.

He thought for a moment.

"have no idea."

He said.

"It's probably been like this from day one."

They were the only customers at the restaurant.

The boss was looking at his phone behind the counter, while the waiter was scrolling through short videos on a chair by the door.

Nobody paid them any attention.

Yan Xi picked up the last shrimp from the bowl.

She didn't put it in her mouth.

She stretched out her arm, stepped over the table, and placed the shrimp next to Li Chen's bowl.

Open your mouth.

Li Chen looked at the shrimp.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"You just gave me two."

"That's the extra one I have."

"This is also extra of mine."

Li Chen opened his mouth.

Yan Xi put the shrimp in.

As she pulled her chopsticks back, the tip of the chopsticks brushed against his lower lip.

I don't know if it was intentional.

He chewed it twice.

The shrimp was bouncy and had a slightly sweet taste.

"Is it tasty?"

"Um."

"Is it tastier than what's in your bowl?"

Li Chen swallowed it.

"tasty."

Why?

He looked at her.

"Because you fed it."

Yan Xi clenched her chopsticks under the table.

She didn't reply.

He lowered his head and finished the rest of the porridge in the bowl.

After the meal, Li Chen went to the counter to pay the bill.

By the time he took out his phone to scan the code, Yan Xi had already paid.

I said it's my treat.

Yan Xi's voice came from behind.

Li Chen turned around.

When did you pay?

"When you went to get tissues..."

He took no more than fifteen seconds to get the tissues.

"Don't steal mine next time."

"Be faster next time."

Yan Xi pushed open the shop door and walked out.

Li Chen followed.

He noticed a detail.

When Yan Xi went out, she pushed the door open with her right hand and held onto the door frame with her left.

Her left hand lingered on the door frame for a second longer.

It wasn't about helping someone up.

We are waiting.

Wait for him to catch up so that the door won't bounce back and hit him.

As he stepped across the threshold, her hand loosened its grip.

There were more people on the street than when we arrived.

During lunch break, office workers from nearby buildings look for food on the roadside.

Yan Xi walked to his right.

They didn't hold hands.

Lots of people.

But her shoulder rested on his arm.

It wasn't stuck on; it just happened to touch me due to the natural swaying motion when I was walking.

I encountered it at every step.

That's too precise; it's no coincidence.

Li Chen clenched his fist in his pocket.

"Xi Xi".

"Um."

"You said yesterday that you remembered a lot of things about me."

Yan Xi didn't stop walking.

"Um."

"I remember a little less of what you remember."

"Um."

"How much difference?"

Yan Xi took two steps.

"One."

Which one?

Her voice came from behind the scarf, filtered through the wind and the yarn.

"Your heart rate."

Li Chen paused in his steps.

"In a quiet state, it's about 67 to 70 kilometers per minute."

Yan Xi's steps were steady.

"After running, I'll be between 80 and 85."

Her voice was flat.

"You were ninety-two when you held me."

Li Chen stood still.

The crowds on the street scurried around him from both sides. Someone glanced back at him.

Yan Xi had already taken three steps.

She didn't turn around.

"That's why I said a little less than you."

Her voice was half-buried by a passing electric scooter.

"Because of this, you haven't remembered me yet."

Li Chen's mind went blank for two seconds.

He chased after him.

Three steps.

His hand reached out of his pocket and gripped her wrist.

Yan Xi was pulled to a stop by him.

On the sidewalk.

12:40 PM.

There were seven or eight pedestrians walking around.

He ignored it.

He pulled her hand over, turned it over so the back of her hand was facing up.

Then he placed his hand on top of it.

It's not a tether.

It means letting her fingers rest on the inside of his wrist.

Location of the arterial pulsation.

Yan Xi felt the pulsation under her skin with her fingertips.

One, one, one.

The frequency clearly exceeded ninety-two.

"Did you remember?"

Li Chen's voice was unsteady.

Yan Xi's fingertips lingered on his pulse for three seconds.

She looked up.

The streetlights are off; they're not needed at midday.

Sunlight streamed through gaps in the clouds and fell on her face.

Her pupils contracted.

"Um."

Her fingers tightened slightly.

"I've got it."

The phone vibrated five times in Li Chen's pocket.

He didn't look at it.

Yan Xi gently pressed her thumb on his wrist and released it.

She turned and continued walking.

This time, she took the initiative to extend her hand.

Spread your five fingers.

Li Chen took 0.5 seconds.

Their fingers are intertwined.

Their hands were clasped together in the midday sun of January.

His palms were burning hot.

Her fingertips began to warm up.

In the distance, a Porsche turned from the intersection.

Zhao Zixuan rolled down the car window and saw two people twenty meters away.

His fingers hovered above the steering wheel, and his mouth opened and closed.

Then he silently rolled up the car window, turned around, and drove away.

Three minutes later, a new message appeared in the 302 group chat.

Zhao Zixuan: I didn't see anything.

[Wang Qiang: ???]

[Chen Mo: Based on Zhao Zixuan's evasive denial and the timing of the message, it can be inferred that he just witnessed a highly intimate interaction.]

[Wang Qiang: Where are you?!]

[Zhao Zixuan: Outside the East Gate. Don't go.]

[Wang Qiang: Why?]

[Zhao Zixuan: Because if you go, you'll be blinded by the light.]

[Zhao Zixuan: Really.]

[Zhao Zixuan: I've never seen anything like this in my twenty years in the industry.]

[Chen Mo: You're only nineteen. What do you mean by "twenty years in the industry"?]

Zhao Zixuan: Single for twenty years.

The group was silent for four seconds.

Wang Qiang: I've also been single for twenty years. But what I'm more curious about is—have they gotten back together?

No one replied.

Two people walked side by side on the street outside the East Gate.

Their fingers were clasped together outside the coat pocket.

There was no hiding.

Yan Xi gently rubbed his thumb against the base of his thumb, the rhythm synchronized with his heartbeat.

Li Chen glanced down.

Her nails were neatly manicured and unpainted.

There is a faint ink mark on my index finger, left by a fountain pen.

He pressed the ink mark with his thumb.

Yan Xi's finger twitched slightly, but she didn't pull it away.

"itch."

"Don't press so hard when you write next time."

"Mind your own business."

Li Chen lowered his head and smiled.

The shadows of the two people were shortened by the midday sun, almost shrinking to their feet and overlapping.