Chapter 06

Bai Zining couldn’t understand, why did it turn out like this?

There must have been a mistake somewhere. He needed to review everything.

The entire Sunday, Bai Zining spent searching for online dating guides. The internet was flooded with all sorts of experience posts, tutorials, and warning articles. Varied and endless.

During the process, Bai Zining clicked his tongue in amazement, as if he had opened the door to a whole new world. He was astonished by the creative strategies and realized that his previous worldview had been far too narrow.

As he read, he diligently took notes in his memo app, producing a detailed record of over 3,000 words—putting more effort into it than he did for his professional courses.

Yesterday, he had been too hasty. Guys generally don’t like overly aggressive pursuers, especially someone like Zhu Shizhou, who had such excellent qualities. Perhaps Zhu Shizhou was used to being surrounded by people who actively pursued him, which was why he didn’t take Bai Zining seriously.

After identifying the problem, Bai Zining decided to send another friend request. However, this time, Zhu Shizhou didn’t accept it.

That evening, when Zhu Shizhou returned to the dormitory, Bai Zining stole a glance at him and saw that he was constantly on his phone. Then why wasn’t he responding to the verification message?

Bai Zining kept sending friend requests, attaching pitiful emojis and apologetic messages each time.

Little Bear Bread: 【Sorry, Senior. The way I spoke earlier was inappropriate. Please don’t take it to heart.】

Little Bear Bread: 【Senior, I really have something important to talk to you about. Can you please accept my request?】

Little Bear Bread: 【I’m begging you, Senior. Please approve my friend request (;﹏;)】

After Bai Zining persistently sent his thirteenth request, a new notification finally appeared: “Due to the recipient’s settings, you can no longer add this person as a friend.”

Zhu Shizhou had blocked him!?

Bai Zining angrily threw his phone onto the bed. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Cai Yu, who was busy rushing to finish his homework, turned his head at the sound and asked, “What’s wrong, Ah Bai?”

“Nothing.” Bai Zining took a deep breath to calm himself. At that moment, he noticed that Zhu Shizhou, who had been sitting in his usual spot, had also looked up and was glancing in his direction.

In the brief moment their eyes met, a hint of guilt crept into Bai Zining’s heart. Could he have been found out?

No, no, that was impossible. This account had no similarities to him whatsoever—it was impossible to be discovered.

With that reassurance, he boldly stared back and said forcefully, “What are you looking at?”

The person below the bed withdrew his gaze without a word. Finding it boring, Bai Zining lay back on his bed and resumed studying his online dating notes.

Bai Zining was definitely not someone who gave up halfway.

He pulled an all-nighter, working himself to the bone that evening.

First, he deactivated his original account, then carefully created a new one, meticulously crafting its details.

First, the username had to be memorable. Second, the profile picture needed to spark a desire to chat. Third, the Moments section needed to project the image of a beautiful and popular girl. Finally, when chatting, he planned to be reserved, striking a balance between rejection and allure.

At the same time, he ordered two dresses online: a white cotton French tea dress with ruffles and a pink slip dress with lace trim.

To do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools.

After buying the dresses, he also took the opportunity to learn some photography and photo-editing techniques. He tested them out with his own photos, and the visual effect was indeed much better than before.

Pulling an all-nighter had its consequences, that’s he couldn’t get up for his 8 a.m. Monday class and ended up skipping it. Unfortunately, that was the one class where the teacher happened to take attendance, costing him two participation points.

Bai Zining was so furious he rolled around on his bed in frustration, blaming Zhu Shizhou for this loss as well.

A few days later, the dresses arrived. Taking advantage of an empty dorm room, Bai Zining meticulously took photos, edited them, and posted one to his Moments using the new account, setting it to be visible for only three days.

This time, Bai Zining carefully avoided all the previous mistakes. In the verification message, he directly wrote: 【Hello, Senior Zhu. I’m a freshman from the Computer Science Department at B University. I have some academic questions I’d like to ask you.】

His new persona was that of a lively, cheerful, and confident freshman junior. His profile picture was a white Arctic hare, looking cute yet unique. As for the username? It was an abbreviation of “Shazi Zhu” (Zhu the Fool), a jab at Zhu Shizhou for having called him a fool last time—who’s the fool now?

Before long, the other party approved the friend request.

Hawthorn Porridge^[1]The name Shan Zha Zhou (Hawthorn Porridge) is a playful abbreviation of Sha Zi Zhu (Zhu the Fool), as both share the same initials, SZZ.: 【Hello, Senior! My friend is from your university, A University. I’ve been struggling with some coursework lately, and she said you’re super smart and know everything, so I thought I’d come ask for your advice.】

Guys usually liked being praised, and this kind of casual flattery worked even better to win someone over.

Ferry: 【I’m not a senior; I’m also a freshman.】

Ferry: 【I may not be able to answer your question. I suggest asking your professional course instructor.】

Of course, Bai Zining already knew that, but considering past experiences, he couldn’t bring himself to call him “gege,” and “classmate” sounded too distant. The term “senior” was far better than “classmate,” so he was determined not to change how he addressed him.

Hawthorn Porridge: 【Anyone with better learning skills than me is my senior!】

Hawthorn Porridge: 【Our professional course instructor is really strict, and I’m a bit scared. Don’t worry, Senior, my questions aren’t difficult, and I won’t bother you often.】

Ferry: 【Give me a note name.】

Hawthorn Porridge: 【You can just call me Ningning, Senior. That’s what all my friends call me.】

Ferry: 【Full name.】

Truly someone who wouldn’t respond to either soft tactics or hard ones, Bai Zining thought, casually borrowing Cai Yu’s surname.

Hawthorn Porridge: 【My name is Cai Ning.】

And then, there was no further reply.

Bai Zining wasn’t in a hurry. This time, although Zhu Shizhou’s attitude was still cold, at least he wasn’t completely ignoring him like before, this meant there was hope.

He needed to take it step by step, progressing gradually. Besides, he had the powerful wisdom of online netizens and their summarized strategies for winning someone over:

1. Approach as a friend, without showing too much intention.

2. Show admiration, not affection. Don’t be stingy with compliments, guys naturally enjoy being admired and affirmed.

3. Highlight and amplify your strengths, mutual attraction is key in relationships.

4. Increase your presence in his life. Make your appearance a habit through daily chats or meetings.

5. Create a sense of crisis. At the right moment, pull back to let the other person feel the impact of losing you.

The comment section was full of success stories. People checking in to say they had successfully pursued someone, and even a few coming back after a year of dating to express their gratitude. Everyone’s human, Bai Zining thought. He refused to believe this strategy wouldn’t work on Zhu Shizhou.

He had initially said he needed to consult Zhu Shizhou about academic problems, but Bai Zining didn’t know the first thing about computers. To find new conversation topics, he borrowed a professional course textbook from Zuo Xingwei that evening.

“Why are you suddenly interested in our field?” Zuo Xingwei asked curiously.

“Don’t worry about it, buddy.” Bai Zining grabbed the book and excitedly got up to return to his seat. Just then, the door opened, and Zhu Shizhou walked in.

Zuo Xingwei’s desk was closest to the door, so Zhu Shizhou immediately noticed the book in Bai Zining’s hands. However, he only glanced at it briefly before averting his gaze.

Bai Zining stared at the professional textbook for twenty minutes and realized he couldn’t understand a single word. It was clearly a mix of Chinese and English, but somehow, when strung together, it all became incomprehensible.

What kind of language is C language? How does a while loop loop? Logical operators didn’t seem very logical at all.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have made up the whole same-major junior story. Now look where it got him, if he asked something simple, the other person might think he was an idiot. But if he asked something difficult, he wouldn’t understand it himself!