Chapter 13

If anyone in school could sense the slightest change in weather, it was always the morning study crew.
Every morning, Du Ruo went out to the field for early English reading and could clearly feel the air getting chillier.
The sky was starting to pile up thick clouds, all gray and heavy.
Even the sun seemed lazy now, hiding behind the clouds, refusing to rise, until a hint of pink brushed the eastern sky.
The air was cool and sharp.
But even with the dip in temperature, plenty of people still came out to run and read in the morning.
Du Ruo wandered the track, book in hand, reading as she walked. Occasionally, a dry yellow weed would brush her ankle and she’d hop up to scratch the itch. That’s when she spotted Jing Ming jogging past in sports gear, earbuds in, all energetic and alive.
She froze, crushing her book into a tight roll in her hand.
She’d just finished a passage, so she quickly packed up and hustled off the field.
She planned to sneak off to the classroom for more studying, skipping breakfast in the cafeteria. So she ducked into the convenience stand to grab a bread roll, handed over five yuan, and the shop owner gave her back two fifty.
Du Ruo frowned. "Wait, aren’t these two yuan?"
"Price went up. Two-fifty now."
"Seriously? Why?" As she asked, someone came in from outside, his shadow blotting out the daylight for a second, then letting it in again.
The autumn sun slanted across Du Ruo’s hand, warm and golden.
When did the sun even come up?
The guy stood by the shelves behind her, picking things out. The shop was so cramped, he had to politely say, "Excuse me, could you move a bit?"
Du Ruo’s heart slammed against her chest like a pinball bouncing off a wall.
She shot him a lightning-fast glance over her shoulder, then looked away just as quickly, burying herself against the counter to give him space.
He walked past.
The owner said, "Our suppliers raised their prices. We had no choice but to follow."
Du Ruo’s cheeks were burning. "Oh."
She scooped up her change, desperate for escape. On the shelves, a jumble of donuts, ramen, crackers, peanuts, spicy sticks, bright wrappers smeared together like an Impressionist painting sweeping past her eyes.
She’d just taken half a step when Li Wei burst in, all sweats and running shoes, his gaze following Jing Ming, then landing on Du Ruo. He grinned. "Morning, Du Ruo."
"Good morning."
"That’s breakfast? Is that enough for you?" Li Wei asked, concerned.
"It’s plenty. I don’t have a big appetite," Du Ruo replied. Suddenly, a pale, long-fingered hand reached from behind, scanning the QR code on the counter, close enough that she could smell the guy’s scent, all sweat, soap, and early morning air from his run.
She froze in place, catching him standing right beside her out of the corner of her eye, he held two bottles of sports drink in one hand, scanned, paid, and left the shop without a word.
His tall, lean silhouette flashed through the doorway, sun-drenched for an instant, then gone.
The sun was now fully up, a thin golden veil poured over the campus.
The ginkgo trees had started to yellow, though it’d be another week or two before the whole campus turned gold.
With time to spare before class, Du Ruo sat on the steps beside the flowerbeds, chewing her bread and watching the steady stream of people flow by.
A boy with his backpack walked past, muttering to himself as he puzzled through problems. Three girls holding books walked by, laughing like windchimes. A little kid hopped along, led by grandparents, babbling out endless “What’s this, what’s that?”
She wondered what kind of lives they all led, Was it easy? Were they stressed? Were they happy or struggling?
At least right now, no one seemed weighed down by anything, if they were, it was just about their studies.
Somewhere nearby, the long whistle of a pigeon soared through the sky, and when she looked up she saw a flock sweeping over the rooftops.
She wondered, do pigeons ever get worried, too?
Or is flying on the wind all there is?
When she finished her bread, she tossed the wrapper in the trash and took a bracing deep breath before heading toward the classroom building.
Her phone pinged, a new message in the dorm group chat.
He Huanhuan: "Du Xiaocao! You’re famous now! HAHAHAHA!"
There was a link attached. Du Ruo clicked, and it took her to the school BBS forum. The headline blared:
"That girl running 400 meters in a tutu and sneakers is too cute, anyone know her?"
The top photo was her, in her short hair and puffy white tulle dress, arms wrapped around her skirt as she tore down the track. Narrow shoulders, delicate collarbones, legs like matchsticks.
Oh, right, she was even wearing a white camellia clip in her hair.
The post already had nearly ten thousand views.
Du Ruo: "…"
Scrolling down, more photos popped up.
Huiyan: [I got pics too! Sharing for everyone, no gatekeeping! (photos)]
Big P Anzi: [Which department hosted this sports meet? This is actually awesome. Makes college feel real.]
I’mTotallyHot: [That’s a freshman, from the Sensors and Control department. Asked around, their whole class only has one girl. Won’t name her, go look it up yourselves, LOL.]
Chubby Foodie: [Aww, so cute, I want to squish her cheeks.]
Du Ruo: "…"
At least the comments were friendly enough.
She closed the page and replied to He Huanhuan with a string of ellipses: "…"
In the group chat, her roommates were clearly bored:
Xia Nan: [Xiao Ruo, you’re a campus celebrity now.]
Qiu Yuchen: [Xiao Ruo, you’re a campus celebrity now.]
He Huanhuan: [I am THRILLED to have contributed to our girl’s viral moment! So proud!]
Du Ruo: [You commented too?]
He Huanhuan: [Of course! Guess which one was me?]
Du Ruo: [Chubby Foodie.]
Qiu Yuchen: [Hahahaha!]
He Huanhuan: [Excuse you, I was 'I’mTotallyHot'!]
Du Ruo: "…"
He Huanhuan: [Just you wait, your senior fanboys will be lining up for you. (Rabbit-pole-dancing.jpg)]
Du Ruo replied with a nosebleed emoji.
She clicked the link to look at her own photo again. Uh, her expression looked like she was about to burst into tears.
She shuddered in embarrassment, about to close the tab, when her gaze caught on a trending post with a bright “hot” flame icon,
"Who’s your money on for the Battle Bot finals: Yi Kun or Jing Ming?"
Du Ruo was stunned for a moment, suddenly remembering there was a match this afternoon. Jing Ming had even given her a ticket.
Good thing that random post reminded her.
She clicked open the thread and skimmed the summary: The national robot fighting tournament was down to the wire, and their school had two representatives in the final match.
The finalists were both from her university, new freshman Jing Ming and grad student Yi Kun.
The original poster asked who would take the win, and replies poured in below:
Qingran: [No contest, Jing Ming all the way!]
NonHuman: [Please, it's definitely Yi Kun. Our Brother Kun isn’t some lightweight! And Jing Ming, who is that, some rookie freshman? Just wait, Brother Kun will crush him in ten seconds flat.]
Pycjchessmansmiling: [Cutie above, let me give you a link so you can learn who Jing Ming is. When you were still getting snot on your sleeves in middle school, his robots were already competing internationally!]
Under the Blue Sky, You & Me: [Exactly! Agreed with the poster above, there's no talking with people who just show up for the hype with zero clue. My man Jing Ming is the best!]
sryin: [Both are total legends, lucky us to watch. But my money's still on Yi Kun's skills.]
Su Qi Liang Shu: [Jing Ming, for sure! He’s stupid handsome! Ugh, take my hand in marriage!]
Shi Zaizai: [What weirdo slipped in above? ...Sweating... but I'm backing Jing Ming.]
So many replies. It was wild.
Du Ruo scrolled quickly, estimating that Team Jing Ming and Team Yi Kun were basically fifty-fifty.
Neck and neck. This match was clearly going to be epic.
Du Ruo had the afternoon off. Once her morning class ended, she rushed through lunch and headed straight to the venue.
It was a massive gymnasium, with long lines at the ticket booth filled with students.
Sometimes a passerby would slow down, curiosity piqued, giving the place a closer look.
One old gentleman out for a stroll ambled up and asked someone in line, "What kind of show is on in there?"
A student answered, "It's a robot competition."
The old man asked, "Robots? Like remote control cars and planes?"
The students laughed, "Yep, kind of like that."
Glancing at the booth, Du Ruo noticed tickets were priced by seating tier, from 50 RMB all the way up to 200 for the best spots.
She held her seatless VVIP ticket, breezed through security, and walked inside.
The lobby was packed wall-to-wall with techie guys, most of them looking... distinctly underdressed.
She, being a girl in the crowd, stuck out like a sore thumb. More than a few odd glances landed her way.
She moved off to the side, checked the time, still twenty-five minutes before the show was set to start.
Slipping her phone away, she settled in to wait patiently.
All around, event photos and banners plastered the walls, a dizzying blur of color and hype.
Long vertical banners hung from the ceiling: robots posing heroically on some, others depicting intense battle scenes like a sci-fi clash of the titans.
Spectators filed in steadily. A crowd was gathering at the info desk for brochures. Du Ruo joined them, picking up copies of every booklet and intro, each chock full of science facts and insider tidbits, she flipped through, eyes gleaming with interest.
She found a gem packed with resources and was about to dive deep, when she realized the time and quickly checked her phone. Right on the dot.
She took a breath and dialed Jing Ming’s number.
"Ring... ring..." After two beeps, he picked up. "Hello?"
"I’m here."
"You came in through the main entrance?"
"Mhm."
"Take the right, corridor 101, then there's a VIP hallway. Look for the signs; they’ll lead you to Rest Lounge 1."
"Oh. Got it." She nodded, even though he couldn't see.
"See you in a bit." He hung up.