Chapter 55

Late October, the weather was turning cold.
Another deep autumn, fallen leaves carpeting the tree-lined walks. Around this time, each college started their freshman sports day.
That day, Du Ruo and Jing Ming headed to the library to study. Passing the sports field, they caught the freshmen’s opening ceremony and lingered by the mesh fence for a while.
Du Ruo couldn’t help sighing, “A whole year gone already. How did it go by so fast?”
Jing Ming suddenly asked, “Last year, when I ran the 400 meters, did I crash into you?”
Du Ruo turned, surprised. “You remember that?”
“Shouldn’t I?” Jing Ming replied. “You startled the hell out of me.”
She found it funny. “Why’d I scare you so much?”
He teased, “You were so skinny back then, all arms and legs. I honestly thought I’d break you in half. Good thing you didn’t fracture anything.”
She burst out laughing. So that’s what was on his mind? “And what else?”
Jing Ming: “What else?”
Du Ruo: “What I was wearing that day.”
Jing Ming: “No clue.”
He seriously forgot? Du Ruo frowned, indignant. “You even complimented me! Said I looked great!”
Jing Ming just snorted. “Dream on.”
Du Ruo shot him a glare and stalked off, mock annoyed.
He raised his brows, swaggering along after her. Before long, he caught up so they walked side by side.
At the library, they nabbed their usual seats: facing each other across the table.
Then each buried themselves in their own books and research.
The library was always quiet. They exchanged the barest whispers now and then, maybe a water bottle or pencil, but mostly stayed in their own little worlds, perfectly at ease together.
Sometimes, while surfacing from her reading, he’d glance up at her, across the table, watching her jot down notes with fierce focus, then look away as if nothing had happened.
She’d do the same. Sneak a peek at him, spot him frowning at his research, deep in thought, then drop her head right back down.
After going public, they started showing up at the library, the cafeteria, and the lab as a pair, no more sneaking around.
But, sitting together in the library or especially having meals in the cafeteria, they definitely turned heads. As for the lab, their teammates teased them for a day or two but quickly got over it.
At the end of the month, Prime held an internal meeting about overall speed improvements.
Speed sounded simple, just upgrade the engine or motor, right? But reality wasn’t so easy. Every department, every system, every link had to move faster in sync. The control team especially needed to up the AI’s processing speed, and teach it new tricks for self-learning.
Li Wei ticked off, “Joint speed, sensor responsiveness, feedback rate, data-processing, everything, up.”
Zhu Tao joked, “Our team’s seriously chasing excellence round the clock, huh.”
Wan Zi’ang asked, “You don’t think the driving experience is good enough?”
Li Wei: “It’s great. Honestly, it feels like driving a well-spec’d $30K car.”
Wan Zi’ang got it: “But we’re aiming for the forty, sixty, hundred-thousand-dollar level.”
Li Wei: “Right. She drives beautifully. Acceleration, hills, no problem. But... once you’ve driven something better, you just feel it’s not as effortless. That feeling...”
Jing Ming: “It strains.”
“Exactly, strains,” said Li Wei. “We’ll meet almost anyone’s needs, but it’s up to us where we take it from here.”
Jing Ming: “So, she’s nearly perfect already, but if we want, she could be even better. Anyone can make slow cars. It’s when you push the speed that the real challenges show up. Whoever solves them first wins the game.”
Du Ruo felt a ripple of worry and was about to speak, but Jing Ming cut in, “But that’s a long-term thing, could take years. We go one step at a time, progress is progress.”
That settled her heart.
He Wang loved a challenge and shrugged, “Fine by me. It’s gotta get done someday anyway. Let’s do it and see how far we can push her. I want to see her develop real self-awareness and stronger crisis-response as soon as possible too.”
Everyone was fired up and agreed right away.
Jing Ming grinned. “Alright, let’s all do our best.”
After the meeting, Jing Ming brushed past Du Ruo, nudged her arm, and murmured, “What do you want for dinner, Western or Chinese?”
She was surprised and whispered back, “Isn’t tonight a group dinner? Shouldn’t we ask everyone?”
Jing Ming: “Those guys? They’d eat anything, trust me. You get VIP treatment, what you want, you get.”
He Wang howled, “I heard that! That’s blatant favoritism!”
Jing Ming tossed a pen at him without a word.
Du Ruo’s eyes sparkled. “I want hotpot.” The recent rain had brought a real chill.
“Done.” Jing Ming smiled. “I’ll find us a good place.” He ruffled her hair when he finished.
He Wang turned to Wan Zi’ang and kept up the melodrama: “I kinda miss when they weren’t official, honestly, a little restraint! Now it’s total anarchy!”
Wan Zi’ang just shrugged.
Dinner was pretty far from campus, they drove three cars out there.
The hotpot place was in an upscale restaurant district, decorated in red and black, with all private booths. The aroma hit you as soon as you walked in, warm, inviting, never overwhelming.
They sat around a huge table, ordered, and then Jing Ming and Li Wei disappeared for a bit.
Zhu Tao nudged Du Ruo. “You have any idea how childish Jing Ming is?”
“What’d he do?”
“He’s been going on BBS, arguing back at all those classmates trash-talking you. For more than an hour, no less. Hilarious.”
Du Ruo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Just then, the two returned, carrying a big shopping bag.
He Wang’s eyes widened. “What’s this about?”
Li Wei explained, “Prime No.2 dropped, so the boss decided to get everyone a little gift.”
The bag was stuffed with gift boxes, no two alike. Jing Ming fished around, then tossed one to He Wang. “Yours.”
Zhu Tao and Wan Zi’ang were next.
He Wang tore his open and nearly jumped out of his chair. “Holy crap! The Optimus Prime limited edition I’ve been dying for! Where the hell did you even find this?”
Zhu Tao was beside himself. “These Yeezy sneakers are totally sold out!”
Wan Zi’ang had scored himself an ultra high-end set of headphones, the others landed crazy watches, rare collector’s edition CDs… Everyone had exactly the thing they’d been dreaming of, stuff that hit right at the center of their hearts.
Du Ruo watched the delighted crowd, unsurprised that Jing Ming had taken the time to find out each of their favorites. To him, they were his closest friends.
She watched as Jing Ming made his way around the table, steadily approaching her. Du Ruo unconsciously sat up a little straighter, anticipation bright in her eyes, ready for the surprise that had to be coming.
At last, he came to her, handed a gift to Tu Zhiyuan who was sitting to her left, then turned, and her heart started racing.
But the next second, he walked right past her and sat back down on her right side as if nothing had happened.
Du Ruo: "…"
She couldn’t help staring at him. Noticing, Jing Ming turned and met her gaze. "What’s wrong?"
Du Ruo: "…"
"Are you hungry?"
"…Yeah."
"Just hold on, food’s coming soon." He reached over and ruffled her hair.
"…"
Everyone else at the table was busy gushing over their new gifts, conversation loud and cheery. Du Ruo quietly twisted her chopsticks in her hand.
She’d joined the club late, so… no gift for her, right? Biting her lip, she glanced around at her friends, then dropped her gaze and went back to fidgeting with her chopsticks.
Jing Ming caught her look, hid a smirk behind his glass as he took a sip of water.
Soon the hot pot broth arrived, loaded up with all the fixings. Du Ruo shelved her little disappointment and turned her focus back to eating.
Thin-sliced beef, tripe, squid rings, lamb, scallops, sole fillets… All tossed into bubbling spicy broth, then fished out onto plates in moments, everyone digging in with gusto.
As He Wang dipped lamb slices into the pot, he turned to Jing Ming: "Hey, seriously, where’d you find that limited edition set? I scoured for a year and came up empty."
Jing Ming: "Took me two, three days."
"Come on. Screw you," He Wang swore, "Get out of here."
The group chatted away; Du Ruo focused all her attention on cleaning her plate of scallops, quietly scanning for tripe. Tripe was always snapped up in seconds at hot pot. She always wanted to leave it in to cook longer, but every time she tried, it was gone before she could grab any.
Right then, she noticed someone lifting a little strainer from the tripe pot, a single scoop, and all the tripe was gone.
Du Ruo: "…"
She’d just managed to take a bite of shiitake mushroom when the whole pile of tripe landed neatly on her plate.
Jing Ming set down the strainer like it was nothing and kept chatting with his friends: "I liked the white one with the floral pattern best."
He moved so naturally, it probably hadn’t even registered to him. But Wan Zi’ang and the others clearly noticed. Du Ruo’s cheeks ran hot, like all that steam had gone straight to her head.
How does he always know when I want something, even when he’s busy talking?
They finished the meal and headed back to campus.
In Jing Ming’s car, Du Ruo sat up front, He Wang and Wan Zi’ang chatted in the back, both fully enraptured with their new treasures and comparing notes every so often.
Du Ruo, the only one sans present, could do nothing but play with her hands, crunch mint after mint, turning to watch the dark cityscape streaming past the window.
They reached campus in no time. The two in back were sharp enough to hop out first and disappear.
Du Ruo unfastened her seatbelt slowly. "I’ll head in," she said.
"Mhm." Jing Ming didn’t even look up as he turned off the ignition.
"…" So it was true, there really wasn’t a gift for her.
Her lips drooped. She reached for the door, and he let out a soft, knowing laugh. "Waited all evening just to leave like this?"
She spun around in an instant.
In the shadowy car, his smile was all mischief, his voice low: "You don’t want your gift?"
"You did that on purpose!" She gave his arm a playful smack.
He grinned, pulling a tiny box out from somewhere and offering it to her. "Here."
She reached for it, but he drew it back, tapping his cheek. "Gimme a kiss first."
"Why didn’t you make He Wang kiss you for his gift?"
"I don’t like him." Jing Ming replied at once. "What’d I want a kiss from him for?" He raised an eyebrow. "No kiss, no prize."
Du Ruo let out an indignant huff.
He watched her a moment, then relented, passing her the box. "Take it."
She opened it up, inside, on a bed of black velvet, lay a platinum bracelet so finely crafted it seemed spun from stars, encrusted with diamond flecks that caught every stray glint of light.
"It’s gorgeous," she breathed, awe in her eyes.
"Your wrists are tiny, so I got the smallest size." Jing Ming took her hand and gently fastened it around her wrist. "Perfect fit."
The streetlight outside cast its beam through the windshield, turning the bracelet dazzling and luminous.
"It really is beautiful. I love it so much." She beamed up at him. "Thank you."
He looked a touch embarrassed now, brushing it off: "Everyone got one. It’s what you deserve." But he pointed to his cheek again, all teasing. "Really not gonna kiss me?"
"Nope." She said it on purpose, smiling as she reached for the door handle.
Click, the lock engaged. Silence wrapped the car.
"No kiss, no going anywhere," he warned.
Half-shadowed, his eyes gleamed at her.
She pressed her lips together, a little smile curling, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. The second she did, he turned, and his lips brushed fleetingly across hers, the gentlest, teasing touch before he smiled again.
Her breath caught. The taste of mint lingered between his lips.
Suddenly, he pulled her in by the waist, a hand cradling the back of her head, and kissed her full on the mouth. She was off balance, half sprawled in his arms, when the seat collapsed backward. He caged her against him, kissing her cheek, her ear, trailing toward her neck.
It might have been deep autumn, but she felt feverish and breathless. In a small voice, she said, "It’s stuffy in here."
"I don’t feel it," he murmured, hand already slipping up beneath her shirt.
She startled, eyes locked on his.
His gaze was steady, as his other hand deftly unhooked her bra through the fabric.
A moment later, her chest was suddenly burning, her face flushed apple red, her mind all short-circuited confusion as she just stared at him, dazzled.
A trace of laughter lit his dark eyes before he kissed her again, sealing her lips, then brushing his mouth against the places on her pale skin where the blush had bloomed.
She whimpered, her blood thrumming, her whole body turning soft and boneless. Scrambling with sudden awkwardness, her hand hit something she shouldn’t have. She froze; so did he. After a beat, he sighed, rolled over, and lay flat on the seat beside her.
She cast him a mortified look; his face was just as red as hers. He turned to meet her eyes. "Well, looks like you’ll have to sit with me a little longer."
She bit her lip, determinedly looking anywhere but down.
Suddenly, he flipped over and pinned her again.
She jumped in shock.
But he only looked at her, calling softly, "Ruo Ruo."
"Yeah?"
"When the test drive goes off without a hitch next month, we’re all taking a team vacation overseas. And then... can we share a room?"
Her heart thumped like a drum. She twisted her face away; he gently turned her chin back. "Yes or no?"
Her face went crimson, words tumbling out. "We’ll see when the time comes!"
He saw straight through to the meaning underneath, grinning as he planted one last intense kiss on her lips.
After they climbed out, Jing Ming walked her all the way back to her dorm, chatting the whole way before finally saying goodnight.
Du Ruo walked into the building, cheeks still aflame, replaying everything he’d done and said that night, ears burning as if she’d been sunburned inside out.
She glanced down at the bracelet and grinned uncontrollably. Even in the elevator, she couldn’t stop smiling, looking again and again at her wrist.
But back in the dorm, she didn’t rush to show off or say a word.
Unluckily, the second she took off her jacket, He Huanhuan caught sight. "What’s that bling?" She bounced over, grabbing Du Ruo’s hand. "Damn, this is gorgeous! Jing Ming give it to you?"
Xia Nan and Qiu Yuchen turned, equally shocked. "Oh my god!"
Color creeping into her cheeks, Du Ruo pulled her hand back.
Qiu Yuchen said, "Damn! Dating a rich guy hits different, look at that bracelet, must’ve cost a fortune."
Du Ruo blinked, about to explain that it was a reward for Prime No.2’s successful test drive.
Xia Nan interjected calmly, "He may be loaded, but he’s not the type to throw gifts around. This bracelet says he’s crazy about you."
He Huanhuan couldn’t help asking, "Just how much is it?"
"Over two hundred grand."
"Holy crap!"
Du Ruo’s mind went blank, the glittering thing on her wrist suddenly piercing her vision,
Two… hundred… grand?