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

It's not a question.

My phone vibrated.

[Wang Qiang: Brother Chen!! It's 8:15!! Have you guys arrived yet?? I'm just checking one last time—is she checking the bedside tables or the whole dorm??]

Li Chen glanced at Yan Xi.

Yan Xi picked up the last steamed dumpling and put it into his bowl.

"The entire dormitory."

Li Chen paused for a moment as he typed.

8:20.

The entrance to 302.

Li Chen swiped his card.

Yan Xi followed behind.

Someone peeked out from the next dorm room in the hallway and then withdrew.

Push the door open.

Wang Qiang stood in the center of the dormitory. His back was straighter than during military training.

The bed was flat. The blankets were folded into neat squares. The bedside table was reflective. The floor had been swept and mopped; even the dust in the tile grout was gone.

Zhao Zixuan sat in the chair in a relatively normal posture, but his shoes were arranged unusually neatly.

Chen Mo was reading a book. The desktop was spotless, just like usual.

Yan Xi stood at the door and glanced around.

Her gaze moved from Wang Qiang's bedside table to the desktop, then to the floor, and finally settled on the windowsill.

"Where's the insulated bag?"

Li Chen pointed to the windowsill.

The insulated bag was left there to dry. Zipper down. The lining was completely dry.

Yan Xi walked over and touched it.

"Dried. Put it away on the third shelf of the cabinet."

Li Chen did as instructed.

Yan Xi turned to look at Wang Qiang's area. She walked over and traced a line on the surface of the bedside table with her finger.

I looked at my fingertips.

Clean.

Wang Qiang stopped breathing.

"The left corner," Yan Xi said.

Wang Qiang's face turned pale.

Yan Xi pressed her finger on the left corner.

I picked it up. I looked at it.

There was nothing there.

"How many times did you wipe it?"

"Five times." Wang Qiang's voice was even more serious than when he was reporting on his work.

Yan Xi placed the paper bag on Li Chen's desk. She then took out the box of osmanthus cake.

"Here you go. Osmanthus cake from Daoxiangzhai. The one you ate was the original flavor."

Wang Qiang accepted it with both hands.

"Thank you, sister-in-law."

Yan Xi took out another small bag and handed it to Zhao Zixuan.

"Pine nut pastry. You posted about pine nut corn on your WeChat Moments."

Zhao Zixuan's expression was somewhat complicated when he took it.

Finally, it was Chen Mo's turn. Yan Xi placed a jujube paste mille-feuille on the corner of his table.

"Write two fewer pages."

Chen Mo adjusted his glasses and glanced at the placement of the pastry—exactly five centimeters from the left edge of his notebook.

"Did you measure the spacing between the items on my desk?"

"The minimum spacing between your things is 4.8 centimeters. I'll put them 5 centimeters apart. It won't bother you."

Chen Mo paused for two seconds.

Then I turned to a new page and wrote a line.

Li Chen didn't see what was written, but he could guess.

Yan Xi walked to his desk, opened his cabinet, and scanned it.

Two scarves. Hand cream. Seaweed and almonds.

She took the new thermos from his bag and put it on the right side of the cabinet. The old one was on the left.

"Don't throw away the old ones. You can't bear to part with them. Just keep them."

Then she closed the cabinet door.

My phone vibrated.

It's not group 302.

It's a logistics notification.

Sender's address: Beijing. Dongsi North Street. Handmade silverware workshop.

Recipient: Li Chen.

Your package has arrived at the Cainiao Station at Linjiang University. Please collect it using the pickup code.

Li Chen glanced at Yan Xi.

Yan Xi was also looking at her phone.

She looked up.

"The cup holder has arrived."

The two went downstairs.

Li Chen took half a step ahead. Yan Xi followed on his right rear. Her walking rhythm was completely synchronized with his.

"Aren't you curious?" Yan Xi suddenly asked.

"What are you curious about?"

"What words are engraved on the bottom of the cup holder?"

Li Chen glanced at her.

"You carve your name. I carve mine. We'll take turns using them."

Yan Xi slowed her pace by 0.5 seconds.

How do you know it was an exchange?

"You had your craftsman engrave each other's names on your cup holders. Your cup holder has 'Li Chen' on the bottom, and mine has 'Yan Xi' on the bottom. Whoever uses whose cup holder has the other person's name on the bottom."

Yan Xi didn't say anything.

She quickened her pace, walking alongside him.

"Did you figure it out while you were in the store?"

"When you asked the craftsman if you wanted an inscription carved, your eyes glanced in my direction for a mere 0.3 seconds. You usually make decisions without looking at people. You only confirm things when it involves me."

Yan Xi put her hands in her coat pockets.

"Go on."

"When the master asked what to engrave, you didn't hesitate. That means you had thought it through beforehand. If you were engraving your own name on your own cup holder, there would be no need to hesitate, because that's just a signature. The fact that you didn't hesitate means the plan isn't complicated, but it does require prior thought—to engrave each other's names and exchange them. When you drink water, you'll see my name. When I drink water, I'll see your name."

Yan Xi tapped the back of his hand on the outside of his coat pocket.

"Have you finished your analysis?"

"Um."

Is my analysis correct?

"you tell me."

Yan Xi didn't answer. She quickened her pace, taking two steps ahead of him.

Li Chen watched her retreating figure. The phoenix hairpin reflected the sunlight.

Cainiao Station. On the first day of school, the shelves were piled high with packages. Li Chen gave them his pickup code. A staff member took out a square cardboard box wrapped in three layers of bubble wrap.

Yan Xi took it and flipped through it.

"He wrapped it better than I expected."

The two walked to a bench outside the inn and sat down. Yan Xi unpacked the package. She did it very carefully. She peeled off each layer of bubble wrap, folded it neatly, and set it aside.

The cardboard box was opened. Inside were two separate small cloth bags. They were made of dark gray cotton and tied with cotton rope.

Yan Xi picked up one of them and untied the rope.

Silver cup holder.

Hammered surface. Unpolished. Light doesn't reflect off it; instead, it sinks into the grooves. The handcrafted look is very pronounced. The edges are irregular. However, each hammer mark is applied with uniform force and spacing.

She turned over.

bottom.

Two words.

Hand-engraved. The strokes are not deep, but they are clear.

"Li Chen".

She looked at it for two seconds. Then she placed the cup holder on her lap.

Pick up the second cloth bag. Untie it.

Another cup holder. Same hammered texture. Also unpolished.

Turn it over.

"Yan Xi".

She handed the second one to Li Chen.

Li Chen took it. He ran his thumb over the words at the bottom.

The engraved strokes have a slightly rough feel. It's handmade, not machine-engraved.

"What are you touching?" Yan Xi asked, looking at him.

"Character."

"What's so interesting about touching it?"

"The feel is different." He flipped it back over and twirled the cup holder in his palm. "Your name has many strokes. The craftsman made more precise cuts when he carved it. The last stroke of the character '曦' is very clean and crisp."

Yan Xi stared at his hand.

"You inferred the master's carving technique from the feel of the characters?"

"Yes. His last cut was an outward lift. It shows he had a feel for the character. When writing a name, a good craftsman will adjust the carving technique according to the structure of the character. Your name ends with '曦' (Xi), the right half of which is '戈' (Ge) plus '欠' (Qian), and the last stroke is a left-falling stroke. He lifted the knife at a two-degree angle to make that left-falling stroke more graceful."

Yan Xi ran her finger along the edge of the cup holder on her knee.

"You only looked at the store for thirty seconds before deciding to book this place."

"His hand is steady. His wrist doesn't shake when cutting silver. And his hammer is at least ten years old. The patina on the wooden handle isn't new."

Yan Xi put the two cup holders back into the cloth bag.

"I'll take this one."

"Um."

"You mustn't lose yours."

"Won't."

"It's not 'I can't.' It's 'What if I lose it?'"

Li Chen looked at her.

"You can punish me if I lose it."

"I can't afford the fine." Yan Xi stood up. She put her cup holder bag into the inside pocket of her coat, close to her chest. "There's only one pair like this in the whole world."

She took two steps. Then she turned back.

"Do you have classes this afternoon?"

Two points. Data structure.

"At the entrance of the teaching building at 1:50. I'll take you there."