Chapter 15: Have We Met Before?

It wasn’t until she returned to the dormitory that Jian Li felt like the events were still somewhat unreal.

Tan Xueying was still fascinated with her new little electric scooter. After taking a spin around the city, she rode it back home to show her family her cute and stylish electric vehicle.

The dormitory was left only with Jian Li. After finishing her washing up, she lay on her bed and opened the profile picture of someone who had just updated their avatar twenty minutes ago on her friend list.

Zhou Shubei’s nickname was a small cat icon on WeChat. His avatar was of a marshmallow, slightly thinner than it was now, lazily sunbathing on a tree branch. The sunlight shone on its fur, making it soft and shiny, with its eyes looking directly at the camera. In its brown pupils, Jian Li could see a tiny figure, white-haired.

It was Zhou Shubei’s grandmother.

Jian Li had met Zhou Shubei’s grandmother once, the week before the first semester finals in her first year of high school. She had heard that Zhou Shubei participated in a city-wide math competition and won first place. Several universities wanted to recruit him.

Her deskmate had friends in the class next to Zhou Shubei’s. During those days, Jian Li often heard about teachers from different universities coming to Xiyuan from the North City to learn about Zhou Shubei’s school situation and talk with him. If he agreed, he could be directly admitted.

“The academic genius is so arrogant. If I could be directly admitted to a top university, my parents would set off firecrackers and let everyone in the town know, and they’d even host dozens of tables.” Her deskmate sighed while leaning on the desk. “Ending this stressful high school life early would be the happiest thing ever. I just don’t know what he’s thinking.”

“Maybe he enjoys the tense learning atmosphere,” said a girl from the front row, returning an eraser to the deskmate. “We feel stressed to the point we can’t breathe, but he might not feel that way. After all, not all of us learn as easily as he does.”

“True,” the deskmate replied, putting the eraser back in the pencil case. “If he wasn’t so talented, how could he attend school and participate in various competitions? If I had his brain, I wouldn’t be staring at test papers like this.”

Jian Li listened to their conversation, her mind wandering to the image of Zhou Shubei standing under a streetlight, smiling and telling her, “It’s not your fault.” The young man was carefree, nothing could trouble him—not even his studies.

After class, Jian Li went to the small store to buy some homework books. The shop was near the school gate. As she came out, she saw an elderly woman leaning on a cane and stooping with age, her hair completely white. Her eyes, weathered by time, were cloudy, and her hands were thin and frail, like tree bark.

A security guard approached and asked what she was looking for. The old woman said she was looking for her grandson, “Zhou Shubei, from Class 3 (1).”

“The third-year students are over there,” the guard pointed in the direction, “from here, cross the street and you’ll see the school. Classes are about to start, so if you need to find him, hurry.”

The old woman thanked him and walked away slowly. Jian Li recalled Zhou Shubei’s tone when he spoke on the phone that evening—it was completely different from the elderly woman’s. Watching her slowly disappear, Jian Li felt a surge of pity but was powerless to do anything.

Xiyuan High School had a closed-campus policy. Day students had to scan a code to enter and exit, and boarders needed a signed leave slip from their homeroom teacher to leave campus.

That evening, after school, Jian Li didn’t see Zhou Shubei on the basketball court. A classmate told her that the elderly woman had successfully found him. Jian Li sighed in relief, and as she was reviewing her mistakes on the newly-distributed mock test, her deskmate came back with some gossip.

“Guess what, Zhou Shubei has a surprising background?” her deskmate said mysteriously, drawing many curious questions from those around. Some urged her to hurry up and tell.

“My friend said that not only did his grandmother come today, but his family also came from the Guanghui Zhou family in North City. It’s said that he’s been directly admitted to North City University.”

At the time, Jian Li had no concept of the “Guanghui Zhou family,” but from the shocked tone of her classmates, she guessed it was a very wealthy family, and North City was the capital city.

Jian Li imagined the bustling city she had seen on TV, with multi-story homes, swimming pools just outside the windows, expensive cars for commuting, private chefs and nannies, and bank cards that could be used without passwords.

North City University was a top-tier university, a dream school for countless students. Struggling to get in was just the starting point.

Looking at the big “X”s on her test paper, Jian Li noticed the densely written pages of her draft book. Without careful examination, she wouldn’t be able to tell what was written, like her inner longing—the desire for Zhou Shubei and North City University.

“Work hard. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be Zhou Shubei’s junior, and it won’t be considered early romance.”

“When you get there, Zhou Shubei will probably already have a girlfriend.”

“True.”

The draft book’s algorithm temporarily paused, and her hand tightened around the pen, making a small tear in the paper.

…

Zhou Shubei’s WeChat moments had no timestamp, and his posts were sparse, mostly four-square grids: dumplings, sky lanterns, fireworks, cotton candy—all posted on New Year’s Eve. The latest one showed a marshmallow lying on his lap, its paws hugging his hand.

Unlike other carefully curated posts, Zhou Shubei didn’t even bother with a signature, and his background image was the default system one.

Jian Li scrolled through his moments for about half a minute, then stopped at their chat window and transferred the AA (shared) expenses from that evening.

Zhou Shubei replied after half an hour: ?

Jian Li typed with both hands: 【The money for meals, taxi, and games. I estimated the water cost.】

Zhou Shubei seemed amused: 【Teacher Xiao Jian, I shouldn’t be that stingy.】

He refunded the money: 【Thanks for playing games with me.】

At that point, Jian Li didn’t push back and added: 【I’m used to splitting costs.】

She kept an accounting book and recorded every cent she spent.

Zhou Shubei replied with “Hmm.”

In the following period, Jian Li became very busy.

After the experimental team was formed, the professor assigned tasks—writing observation reports based on the finished robots. Each team had their own robot, and Jian Li’s group got a black hardened robot.

Qian Hao looked at the robot on the table, “It looks like Venom’s son.”

“Venom” was a recently released movie, very popular. Jian Li had heard others talk about it, and the most memorable comment was Tan Xueying’s complaint, “Venom doesn’t brush his teeth.” She couldn’t help but look at the robot’s mouth, but fortunately, it didn’t have any teeth.

The first experiment was not difficult, but it required time for observation. The three of them scheduled their observation times—Jian Li in the morning, Chen Runzhe in the afternoon, and Qian Hao in the evening. Chen Runzhe made an experiment log and shared it in their group chat to fill out after each observation.

The online document wasn’t big, but because the computer was too old, it took time to load. To avoid missing anything, Jian Li wrote down her observations in her notebook. Besides that, Feng Yutao had notified them to push their sales during the last few days of autumn marketing. Jian Li shuttled between classrooms, labs, and the sales office, and spent her weekends tutoring, keeping herself incredibly busy.

In November, the temperature in North City dropped sharply. Jian Li, afraid of the cold, took out a thick quilt from a woven bag to replace her blanket. After finishing, her forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat. After washing her face in the bathroom, she came out and saw two new messages on WeChat.

Both were from Sheng Ying.

【90 points! Teacher Xiao Jian, you can’t break your promise. I’ve already told my mom and Zhou Shubei.】

Before Jian Li could reply, a new message popped up.

【Did you promise Sheng Ying to play the escape room?】

Apart from that day, Jian Li hadn’t messaged Zhou Shubei again. She was busy, and he wasn’t the type to chat with her casually.

Jian Li: 【Yes.】

Zhou Shubei kindly reminded her: 【The escape room is full of scary chasing, much more terrifying than the games.】

Implying she could still back out.

Jian Li replied: 【I promised her.】

Once she promised, she wouldn’t go back on her word.

The next weekend, when Jian Li went over, Liu Xinlan was all smiles and even more satisfied with Jian Li, thinking the salary was too low, and offered to double it.

Liu Xinlan’s pay was already generous, and Jian Li didn’t want to be greedy. “No need, this is what I should do. Mainly, Xiao Xiao is already very smart.”

Sheng Ying, who had been praised, tilted her head, her big round eyes sparkling like grapes, happily sharing with Jian Li, “Mom promised to take me to Disneyland next week.”

Liu Xinlan nodded with a

satisfied smile. “Just don’t get too scared next time, Teacher Xiao Jian. The class can get so chaotic.”

In that moment, Jian Li thought, this truly was the happiest time.

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