Returning to the dormitory, it was already two and a half hours later.

Zheng Xunqian accompanied him to finish all the experimental reports and then walked back to the dormitory area together.

Jing Tian hesitated all the way, wondering whether he should invite Zheng Xunqian to dinner to express his gratitude.

The invitation was on the tip of his tongue, but he never said it in the end.

In contrast, inviting Zhang Yuewei was much simpler; it only required considering politeness, without the need to think too much.

After parting ways, he immediately took out his phone, deleted Zheng Xunqian’s original nickname, and changed it to his full name.

“Trash” wasn’t a good word at all, extremely offensive; if the person found out, it would undoubtedly be extremely embarrassing.

Thinking of Zheng Xunqian’s expressionless yet oppressive gaze, Jing Tian couldn’t help but shiver uncontrollably.

Just as he walked into the hallway, he bumped into Chu Chen Tao his senior.

“What a coincidence,” Chu Chen Tao smiled at him, “I was just about to call you. Are you free tonight? Let’s have dinner together.”

“Just… the two of us?” Jing Tian asked.

Chu Chen Tao looked at him with a smile, “Who else?”

Jing Tian thought for a moment, then pointed to his backpack, “I have to study. If I don’t quickly review what I learned today, I’m afraid I’ll forget.”

This was partly an excuse.

Although the semester was only halfway through and the workload was heavy, it wasn’t so urgent that he couldn’t spare time for a meal.

He just instinctively felt anxious about any intimate relationships that appeared out of nowhere and completely out of his control.

Seeing his uneasy expression, Chu Chen Tao didn’t insist and quickly accepted his explanation, “Okay, I won’t disturb you. Don’t forget to eat on time while you’re busy studying.”

Jing Tian felt grateful for this kindness and nodded, “Yeah, I know. Thanks, senior.”

Chu Chen Tao smiled at him again and said, “Although our majors are different, many courses are similar. If you need anything, feel free to ask. I might be able to help.”

“No need, the teacher has already arranged it for me,” Jing Tian said, “There’s a classmate responsible for teaching me.”

Chu Chen Tao still smiled, “…Arranged by whom? That Zheng Xunqian?”

Jing Tian quickly shook his head, “No!”

After saying that, he quickly came to his senses and asked, “How did you know we’re classmates?”

Chu Chen Tao didn’t directly answer his question, just shrugged, “Heard about it.”

He didn’t know him a few days ago, so if Zheng Xunqian’s reputation hadn’t preceded him, then Chu Chen Tao must have asked specifically.

Realizing Chu Chen Tao’s reason for being interested in Zheng Xunqian, Jing Tian felt extremely guilty and just wanted to slip away immediately.

“This person is not trustworthy,” Chu Chen Tao said, “You’d better be careful.”

Jing Tian didn’t respond.

Back in the dormitory, Jing Tian lay on the table again, opened WeChat once more, and clicked on Zheng Xunqian’s account.

Zheng Xunqian’s Moments were set to be visible for six months, yet they were empty, in stark contrast to Jing Tian, who almost posted one or two updates every week with a three-day visibility setting.

It reminded him of himself three years ago.

It’s strange, why did he set such a strange nickname for him? If he had hated him before, then how could he… have done such a thing with him?

In Jing Tian’s concept, no matter how casual a person was, they couldn’t possibly have an intimate relationship with someone they disliked; that would be too lacking in principles.

Chu Chen Tao warned him to beware of Zheng Xunqian.

As the only old acquaintance among the people he had encountered these days, Jing Tian naturally had a sense of trust in Chu Chen Tao.

When Chu Chen Tao said he had confessed his feelings proactively, although he was surprised, he didn’t doubt it.

He had always admired this excellent senior, so it wouldn’t be surprising if his feelings had changed over time if they had more interactions.

But although Chu Chen Tao warned him to be careful of Zheng Xunqian, he found it hard to take it to heart.

Even though Zheng Xunqian made him instinctively nervous.

Jing Tian lay on the table, looking at the notes he made during the experiment today, his mind a mess.

Chu Chen Tao was trustworthy.

But what about Zheng Xunqian? Zheng Xunqian… Zheng Xunqian… he looked really handsome when he smiled.

Just one meeting left a deep impression.

Yang Yue didn’t come back until late, and when he entered the dormitory, he smelled of alcohol, startling Jing Tian.

Fortunately, this guy was still clear-headed and remembered to apologize for standing him up.

“Achen was yelling and screaming on the phone, I thought something happened,” Yang Yue said, leaning on the table with a lack of energy, “Turns out he’s broken up again, dragged me out for drinks until now.”

“Should I know this Achen?” Jing Tian poured him some water.

“Oh right, you don’t remember,” Yang Yue took the glass of water, “We mentioned you today. He’s quite worried. Do you want to go out another day? Meet some friends and get to know them again?”

Jing Tian blinked, feeling strangely nervous.

“The doctor said, right, that interacting more with friends is beneficial for memory recovery,” Yang Yue said, “Just take half a day out. Shouldn’t be a big problem, right?”

Jing Tian hesitated for a moment and nodded, “Okay.”

In the photos he saw on Moments, he always looked very happy, with a bright smile, very friendly and lovely.

Compared to the gloomy appearance without grooming in high school, he seemed much more approachable and cute.

In contrast, his unconventional style wasn’t worth mentioning at all.

He wanted to try to touch this unfamiliar, curious side of himself.

Yang Yue said, to stimulate his memory, the meeting place was also set in a place Jing Tian was familiar with.

But when they actually arrived downstairs at that KTV, Jing Tian’s mind was still blank.

This shop was located in the nearest commercial area to A University, away from the city center, not very bustling.

As he waited for the elevator with Yang Yue, a strange girl in the lobby took the initiative to talk to him.

“I seem to have seen you somewhere,” the girl was petite but mature and charming when she smiled, “You’re a student nearby, right? Did you used to come here often?”

Jing Tian felt extremely nervous, “Sorry, I have amnesia, I don’t remember!”

“Oh, I see,” the girl paused for a moment, then shrugged with a face of speechlessness, turning her head away, “Okay.”

Jing Tian licked his lips. “I-I’m sorry!”

As they got on the elevator, Yang Yue nudged him hard. “Are you stupid? She was trying to chat you up!”

“Huh?” Jing Tian woke up as if from a dream. “Chat me up?”

Yang Yue shook his head with a wry smile. “She probably thinks you’re making excuses to reject her.”

Jing Tian was dumbfounded for a moment, his face flushing.

He had just been wondering if he had been impolite.

It turns out he wasn’t just impolite, but also clueless about romance.

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter. She’s not your type anyway.”

As Yang Yue sighed, the elevator arrived. “Stop standing there like a fool, let’s go.”

Jing Tian lowered his head, biting his lips, and followed silently behind him, still replaying the scene in his mind.

He felt a slight urge to go back downstairs and explain to the girl.

“What’s wrong?” Yang Yue looked at him puzzledly. 

Jing Tian smiled and didn’t say anything.

He was embarrassed to tell Yang Yue that he was actually a little excited because a beautiful girl had chatted him up.

It was an experience he had never had before and couldn’t even imagine.

To have a girl of the same age, who looked charming, express her feelings to him.

That wasn’t a trivial matter; it was something that made Jing Tian, who was used to walking with his head down, feel pleasantly surprised.

If only his response had been a bit more appropriate just now.

Regardless of acceptance or rejection, he felt grateful to the unfamiliar girl.

“Your face is so red!” Yang Yue said loudly.

“…Does it look weird?” Jing Tian asked.

“A little bit,” Yang Yue laughed, “Are you embarrassed because you got chatted up?”

Jing Tian lowered his head again.

Yang Yue laughed continuously. “You’ll get used to it.”

He reached out and put his arm around Jing Tian’s shoulder. “Be more confident. You’re quite popular now.”

There were a total of seven people at the gathering, four guys and three girls.

According to Yang Yue, they and a few others had joined a group for eating, drinking, and entertainment in the New District University Town. After participating in several activities, they found themselves particularly compatible, so they formed a small team and often went out together, getting along very well.

Everyone was amazed at Jing Tian’s cute and shy appearance now, teasing him one after another. The two boys even made up some stories to scare him, and the atmosphere in the private room became lively.

Jing Tian sat awkwardly on the sofa, looking uninvolved, but he was actually quite happy inside.

Except for Yang Yue, every face was unfamiliar, but he looked at them and couldn’t help but feel a fondness for them, wanting to get closer.

A boy named Achen kept asking him, “Do you remember anything when you look at this dice? You used to love playing with it. Does it trigger any memories?” “Listen to this song. You used to love singing it. Does it bring back any memories?” “Come on, let me sing a song loudly. You’ll definitely remember something soon!”

Jing Tian didn’t remember anything, but he found it amusing and couldn’t stop laughing.

Achen sang a song called “The Most Familiar Stranger” to him, which was a sad love song but made everyone burst into laughter.

Everyone urged Jing Tian to sing a song too, but he hesitated for a long time and finally didn’t dare to.

“Would I be too much of a buzzkill?” he secretly asked Yang Yue.

“It’s okay, they’ll understand,” Yang Yue said, pointing to his phone on the table, “Do you want to post on Moments like you used to?”

Jing Tian thought for a moment and picked up his phone.

Pointing the front camera at his silly face for a while, he adjusted the camera to the back and took a panoramic photo of the room.

With this photo, he edited a text.

• Journey to Retrieve Memories.

After pressing send, he received several likes within five minutes.

Most of them were still names and avatars he had no impression of.

For these past few days, he had been avoiding because he didn’t know what to do, but now, he had a different idea.

He wanted to try to get to know each of the new friends he had made over the past three years.

Just as he looked at the screen of his phone and secretly made up his mind, a new message notification popped up at the top.

It was from Zheng Xunqian.