Lian Jichuan put down his fork, his expression impassive: “Mom, I have something to do this afternoon.”

“What could you possibly have to do? We agreed to go to the racetrack later.” She settled their afternoon plans in a few words, and the three continued to chat and laugh.

After lunch, the three left the restaurant. Hu Bing wasn’t from Haishi, she was here to discuss business with her partners. Chen and Jiang went to the parking lot to get the car, while the two waited on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.

Lian Jichuan’s phone suddenly rang.

He answered the call, his eyes scanning the not-so-crowded road, “Under the sycamore tree twenty meters ahead of you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a white Volkswagen stopped on the road in front of Lian Jichuan. Lian Jichuan hung up the phone and walked towards the car door.

Hu Bing was startled: “Jichuan, where are you going?”

“Back to school.”

Hu Bing was shocked: “You’re going back to school? How can you go back to school? We agreed to go to the racetrack.”

“I didn’t agree.” Getting into the car, Lian Jichuan closed the door without hesitation and said to the hesitant ride-hailing driver, “Huai University.”

Less than a minute after the car drove off, Lian Jichuan’s phone buzzed. He hung up the call, and his mother immediately called again. Lian Jichuan simply turned on airplane mode.

Half an hour later, the ride-hailing car stopped at the main gate of Huai University. Lian Jichuan took the school bus to the men’s dormitory. After entering the school, he turned off airplane mode. Sure enough, he saw seven missed calls and more than ten messages full of angry questions.

He didn’t bother to reply. He held his phone and went back to his dorm.

As soon as he returned to the dorm, the three people in the room were gathered around his desk. When they heard the sound, they all looked over. Sun Qi said first, “Lao San, your goldfish seems to be dying. It’s flipped over.”

On Lian Jichuan’s desk was a miniature fish tank with two goldfish about the length of a thumb.

Lian Jichuan walked over and saw that the goldfish with the yellower tail was indeed flipped over on its belly, its body color pale.

Lian Jichuan scooped the goldfish out of the tank. Sure enough, it was dead.

Lian Jichuan suppressed his annoyance and calmly wrapped the goldfish’s body in a tissue and threw it in the trash can. Then he changed the water in the tank.

After doing this, he was about to go to the lab to run programs, but his senior sister sent a message saying that the motor outside the lab building had malfunctioned, and they couldn’t run the program for the robot dog this afternoon.

Lian Jichuan’s face didn’t show any obvious emotional changes, but his annoyance reached its peak. He liked a well-ordered life, he liked everything to be under control, and he hated losing control and unexpected events.

But today, unfamiliar people suddenly appeared in the restaurant, there were dozens of accusatory messages on his phone, his goldfish died, and the lab suddenly needed maintenance. It all spelled out two words.

Out of control.

Lian Jichuan’s head felt like it was stuffed with a burning fire. He took two deep breaths and drank two large glasses of ice water. The anxiety in his heart seemed to have finally subsided to a tolerable level.

He sat down at his desk, turned on his computer, and tried to use the code he could control to replace his anxious life that had become disordered. But after typing two lines of code, his anxiety became even stronger.

The phone screen lit up.

Lian Jichuan picked up his phone.

It was Xiao Pangxieya who had sent a new message.

Xiao Pangxieya: [Picture]

Xiao Pangxieya: [I saw someone selling cotton candy at the school gate, it’s so big]

Xiao Pangxieya: [m, have you ever eaten cotton candy?]

Lian Jichuan typed two words in his anxiety, then suddenly turned off the screen and threw the phone aside.

The phone screen lit up again.

Xiao Pangxieya: [m, you’ve been typing for ages, why didn’t you send anything in the end?]

Xiao Pangxieya: [What are you doing now?]

Lian Jichuan stared at the phone, until the phone screen, which had lit up because of the message being sent, went dark again. Lian Jichuan picked up the phone with a sullen face and typed more forcefully than before, [I’m very annoyed now]

Bian Er finished his morning shift at the coffee shop and bought a string of pink cotton candy after lunch, walking towards the dorm. He suddenly saw Lian Jichuan’s message and stopped. He typed, [What’s wrong?]

m didn’t reply.

Bian Er typed again, [Can you tell me?]

He didn’t receive a message from m until he returned to the dorm.

Bian Er tried again, [Can I do anything for you?]

After eating most of the cotton candy, Bian Er received a message from Lian Jichuan.

m: [Can you do anything for me?]

Bian Er took a big bite of cotton candy, his cheeks puffed up. He said cautiously, [Illegal activities are not allowed]

m: [Where’s your dorm?]

Xiao Pangxieya: [?]

m: [I have something for you]

After a minute, m sent another message, [I won’t come to you, I’ll send it to you]

Xiao Pangxieya: [What is it?]

m: [Address]

The thing he was sending couldn’t be illegal, right? Bian Er thought for a moment and didn’t dare to say the main gate of Huai University. He said a certain Cainiao Station at the neighboring University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Half an hour later, Bian Er, who was wandering around the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, received a message from m, saying that the item had been left at Cainiao Station.

Bian Er had just seen a delivery guy enter Cainiao Station with a bag, but he didn’t see Jiang Yuan. The Cainiao Station delivery guy left after putting down the package, and Bian Er went in to retrieve it.

The item was wrapped in a plastic bag, very flat. Bian Er could feel a hard, round object inside, but he didn’t know what it was.

Xiao Pangxieya: [m, what did you send me?]

m: [Open it]

Afraid that it would take too long to open the package, Bian Er ran back to the Huai University dorm. He gasped for breath as he tore open the plastic bag and saw a necklace with sparkling pearl-like fragments. But it wasn’t a necklace, it was too long. It would be a long string around the neck. And how could the back half of the necklace be adorned with tassel crystals?

Bian Er: [Picture]

Bian Er: [Is this it? But what is it? It doesn’t look like a necklace.]

A bracelet? How many times would you have to wrap it around? Six or seven times? That’s too bulky.

m: [It’s a waist chain]

A waist chain?

Bian Er picked up the chain and gestured with it in the air. It did look like a waist chain.

m: [Now put on the waist chain, take a picture and send it to me]

Xiao Pangxieya: [Why?]

m: [Didn’t you say you would listen to my orders?]

Xiao Pangxieya: [I’ll put it on right away]

This afternoon, his junior and Song Yongzhao were both out of the dorm. Bian Er used his chin to press down the hem of his T-shirt, lowered his head and put the waist chain on.

The cool pearls and tassel crystals touched Bian Er’s body. He felt a little cold at first, but after getting used to it, he adjusted the buckle to the back of his waist, looked in the mirror, and then took out a pair of dark blue low-waisted jeans from the closet and changed out of his high-waisted sweatpants.

He adjusted his posture in the mirror, took a picture, and sent it to m.

The “typing” indicator at the top of the screen stayed on for a while before Bian Er received a message from m.

m: [Write m on the side of your waist, take a picture and send it to me]

Bian Er: “…”

It wasn’t a big deal, but Bian Er suddenly remembered what Song Yongzhao had said at the gym a few days ago, the words written on the body were usually…

It seemed that he hadn’t received Bian Er’s message for too long, m sent a new message, not a voice message, but Bian Er could sense the indifferent reprimand in his tone, [Are you unwilling?]

m: [I’m a little disappointed in you]

Xiao Pangxieya: [No, no]

Writing a letter wasn’t anything erotic, Bian Er sent a message, [Should I use a red pen or a black one? I have a marker, can I use a marker?]

m: [Red marker]

Bian Er took out the red marker from his desk, lowered his head, and wrote the letter m on the side of his waist more skillfully than before.

He put the marker back on the desk. Bian Er’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He looked at himself in the mirror for a moment, his face flushed, and he took a picture of his waist and sent it to m.

After a while.

m sent a message, [Do you have any milk in your dorm?]

Xiao Pangxieya: [No]

Xiao Pangxieya: [But I can go downstairs to buy some now. The vending machine downstairs has milk. Can you wait for me?]

m: [.]

Bian Er lowered his head. He originally wanted to take off the waist chain before going downstairs, but he felt it was a bit troublesome. He simply let the hem of his sweatshirt hang down and took his phone downstairs.

A few minutes later, Bian Er went upstairs with a carton of pure milk.

Xiao Pangxieya: [m, I bought the milk]

m: [Now pour the milk on your waist and abdomen, take a picture]

Bian Er: “???”

Bian Er: “!!!”

Bian Er carefully looked at the message m sent, and for a while, he couldn’t understand.

m: [Is it a request you can’t fulfill?]

Of course not, it was just a request that made me a little embarrassed. Bian Er vaguely felt that Jiang Yuan might not be as warm and harmless as he seemed. He might have a bit of a quirk, but thinking of his pair of hands, which could be called a work of art…

Alright, this request was completely doable.

Xiao Pangxieya: [Wait for me, m]

Bian Er stood in front of the mirror, poked the milk straw at his abdomen, and squeezed the milk forward. Soon, the milk slid down along the lines of Bian Er’s abdomen, but it slid down too quickly, and his pants were soaked halfway. There was still no milk lingering on his waist and abdomen.

Bian Er had an idea.

He held the remaining half carton of milk and climbed onto the bed. The pearls and crystals on his lower back made him a little uncomfortable, but it wasn’t unbearable.

Bian Er lifted his shirt, poured the cold liquid over his waist, licked his lips, took out his phone, moved the lens down, and took a picture of his waist lying on the bed.