Bai Sichan and Zhu Xinghao sat on the bed and watched the video over and over again.
The video had been recorded at their university and uploaded to the school’s official website. The reason for it was that He Shenglian had sponsored this year’s Mathematics and Science Culture Festival and provided generous prizes.
His introduction included a long list of titles before his name, but Bai Sichan immediately noticed the words Hengke.
The same Hengke where her older sister worked.
Tang Jiang also provided another video she had personally recorded.
On the stage, He Shenglian was dressed in a white shirt and black trousers. He smiled calmly and spoke in an unhurried voice. The spotlight shone on him, while excited discussions from the female students could be heard all around.
Tang Jiang looked extremely proud.
“Thankfully, that big idiot saved me a spot in the front row. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to record him this clearly.”
Zhu Xinghao patted Bai Sichan on the shoulder.
“Congratulations. You found yourself a treasure.”
Bai Sichan was still completely overwhelmed by the absurdity of everything that had happened.
It was unbelievable.
Bai Sichan continued desperately trying to convince herself.
“Maybe they just have the same name and happen to look alike—”
“And both of them happened to come to our university on the exact same day?” Zhu Xinghao looked at her sympathetically. “That’s less likely than a group of old female pigs lining up in front of me tomorrow and doing a Hawaiian hula dance.”
Tang Jiang finally noticed that something was strange about the two of them. She took the phone away.
“What happened? Did you see such a handsome guy that you were shocked? Have all the beautiful girls in our department finally fallen for my husband?”
Zhu Xinghao looked at her sympathetically.
“Honghong, give up. He’s already taken.”
Tang Jiang looked at Bai Sichan, then at Zhu Xinghao.
She covered her mouth with one hand.
In a trembling voice, she asked,
“Why did a whole dramatic captivity-and-obsession storyline suddenly pop into my head? Sichan, could he have fallen for you? Could this entire Mathematics and Science Culture Festival have been held because of you?”
Bai Sichan stared at her.
“Honghong, you’ve been reading too many novels.”
Zhu Xinghao looked depressed.
“Why don’t you think he fell for me?”
“My theory is based on facts,” Tang Jiang said confidently. “Think about it. Ever since the Mathematics and Science Culture Festival, our cute Sichan has been looking extremely depressed. Why is that?”
Because she wanted a divorce.
“In the past, our Mathematics and Science Culture Festival was always sponsored by seniors who had already graduated. Why did He Shenglian suddenly come this year? Isn’t it because our Sichan wins the mathematics and science competitions every year?”
Zhu Xinghao rubbed her chin.
“That actually makes some sense.”
She looked at Bai Sichan, pinched her cheek, and sighed.
“Little white rabbit, it looks like the big bad wolf has noticed you.”
Tang Jiang immediately expressed her loyalty.
“Don’t worry, Sichan. Compared with someone who looks like he came straight out of heaven, I still prefer my down-to-earth idiot.”
Zhu Xinghao comforted Bai Sichan.
“Cheer up, Sichan. Just think of it as accidentally picking up a gold bar. Think about it. You casually got yourself an amazing man—rich, handsome, and… well, let’s not talk about that part yet. Besides, he’s unmarried and you’re unmarried—”
She paused and looked at Bai Sichan with affection.
“Look at the situation between you two. Why don’t you try dating him?”
Bai Sichan shook her head.
“Mr. He doesn’t mean it that way.”
He only wanted someone to help him deal with his family’s pressure to get married.
Zhu Xinghao disagreed.
“Then are all of these just coincidences? So many coincidences happening at exactly the same time?”
Bai Sichan opened her laptop and silently continued working on the small bug she hadn’t managed to solve two days ago.
At the same time, she sent a message to the group chat, informing the other members of her team that they would have training at 2A405 the next afternoon.
She had formed a team with four students from her major to compete in the final big-data competition of this year’s Mathematics and Science Culture Festival.
They had easily passed the preliminary round, but they had heard that people from Hengke had participated in designing this year’s final problems, so the difficulty would be higher than usual.
Bai Sichan did not take it lightly.
During her first year of university, while her classmates were still enjoying their relaxed college life, she had already been joining seniors in various competitions.
In her second year, she had actively found students from her major who shared her interests and formed a team with them.
That team had been the only team made entirely of second-year students to win first place at that year’s festival.
This was also one of the reasons why many of the boys in her class later became too intimidated to pursue Bai Sichan.
She was simply too outstanding.
But there were always a few brave souls who refused to give up.
For example, Shi Mingxi from her class.
During military training, he had dared to go on stage and sing a song to confess his feelings to Bai Sichan.
After military training ended, he arranged roses and candles outside the dormitory building.
Unfortunately, the dormitory manager had come out with a water hose and washed everything away.
It had already become a legendary story in the School of Information and Electrical Engineering.
Yet Bai Sichan remained unmoved.
She politely talked to Shi Mingxi.
“I can’t take away your right to pursue someone, but please don’t interfere with other people’s normal studies and daily lives, okay?”
After that, Shi Mingxi really didn’t do anything inappropriate.
But when Bai Sichan began forming a team for the competition, Shi Mingxi spent an entire week desperately studying the competition material.
He successfully passed the selection and joined the team.
Zhu Xinghao had once sighed over it, saying that Shi Mingxi was a once-in-a-century hopeless romantic.
Unfortunately, Bai Sichan was as hard as a stone.
The Mathematics and Science Culture Festival lasted only about two weeks.
During the period of preparing for the final competition, Bai Sichan completely put the divorce matter out of her mind. She focused entirely on solving problems and attended training sessions with the other members of her team.
He Shenglian also never called again.
It wasn’t until the day of the final competition that Bai Sichan saw him again.
He wasn’t wearing a suit today.
He wore black trousers and a light gray top. Another young, unfamiliar man stood beside him.
The two of them were sitting with the university’s secretary and administrators.
Even from a distance, they were extremely noticeable.
Only then did Bai Sichan realize that the entire front row of the audience was almost completely occupied by female students.
That had never happened before.
The final competition was held in the university’s sports and cultural center, with a large screen set up for a live broadcast.
It was much more modern and professional than last year’s competition.
Bai Sichan took a deep breath and sat down in front of her computer.
There were five minutes left before the competition began.
At the front row of the audience, Xu Ting was lazily spinning a pen in his hand.
He accidentally lost his grip.
The pen flew out of his hand and landed right in front of He Shenglian with a soft clack.
Without even looking away from the stage, He Shenglian picked it up and handed it back.
“Keep quiet. The competition is about to start.”
His voice was unusually stern.
“But Brother Lian, what’s so interesting about this?” Xu Ting asked in confusion, lowering his voice. “It’s understandable that you sponsored it as a way of supporting young talent, but canceling a meeting just to come here seems like a waste of time, doesn’t it?”
This really didn’t fit the image of the workaholic He Shenglian.
Of course, Xu Ting didn’t dare say that last part aloud.
He Shenglian remained silent.
He simply focused on the people on the stage.
Xu Ting followed his gaze.
He was looking at a team that was currently solving problems.
Their team name was quite unusual:
“The Birds in the Tree Come in Pairs.”
Xu Ting laughed.
Young people really were creative these days.
Before he could finish laughing, the large screen switched to show a girl answering a question.
Xu Ting was stunned.
The girl was wearing a simple white polo shirt with the university department emblem printed on the chest.
Her hair was tied into a simple ponytail.
Her bright eyes seemed to contain little stars as she stared at the screen with complete concentration.
Her slender fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard.
She was a clean and beautiful young woman.
Xu Ting suddenly understood.
So this was why He Shenglian had rushed all the way here.
It was because of this girl.
Well, well…
It seemed that the old tree was finally blooming again.
This competition was different from the abstract algorithm competitions of previous years.
Because Hengke had participated in designing the problems, all three questions were based on practical problems encountered in real work, making them considerably more difficult.
The contestants had three hours.
However, even after two hours had passed, many people were still stuck on the first question.
The screen only showed each team’s computer screen. Unlike a game competition, there was no commentator explaining what was happening.
For spectators who were not from the Information and Electrical Engineering field, the only way to follow the results was through the real-time system status displayed in the upper-right corner of the screen.
The competition was slow and tedious.
Many people were not really interested in the problems at all. They had come to see the beautiful girl from the Information and Electrical Engineering school.
And some of the female students had come specifically to see He Shenglian.
The murmuring voices in the audience gradually grew louder.
He Shenglian frowned.
In the final minute, Bai Sichan quickly reviewed the code she had written.
She ran it.
Then she submitted it.
A result box suddenly appeared on the screen.
True.
At the same time, the final screen announcing the end of the competition appeared.
Zhu Xinghao could no longer contain her excitement.
She shouted toward Bai Sichan,
“Little Bai, 666!”
Bai Sichan’s fingers were sore and trembling.
She smiled and waved at Zhu Xinghao.
At the same time, Xu Ting noticed that He Shenglian, who had kept a serious expression since the beginning of the competition, had finally smiled.
He heard He Shenglian quietly say,
“Good girl.”
Five minutes later, the competition results were announced.
Bai Sichan and her teammates remained seated in their competition area, taking a short break.
Shi Mingxi sat beside her.
He opened a bottle of mineral water and handed it to her.
Bai Sichan thanked him and accepted it.
She wasn’t actually sweating.
She was simply exhausted from concentrating on the problems for so long, and her brain felt like it had stopped working properly.
Whenever she closed her eyes, all she could see were conditions, loops, and lines of code.
She had only taken one sip of water when she realized someone was looking at her.
She glanced around.
Then she saw He Shenglian.
He was too far away for her to see his expression clearly.
Bai Sichan silently put the bottle back on the table.
She reminded herself:
Don’t imagine things. Don’t imagine things.
He was probably really there for the reason mentioned in the video—to encourage and support young talents in the IT field.
As for her, he only wanted her to help him deal with his family’s pressure to get married.
The results came out soon.
As expected, The Birds in the Tree Come in Pairs won first place and successfully defended their championship title.
Only three people had completely solved all three problems within the time limit.
Besides Bai Sichan, one was Li Shiqing, and the other was a fourth-year student from another team.
Even Shi Mingxi, who had consistently ranked at the bottom of their team, managed to solve the second problem during the final fifteen minutes.
It could only be described as an overwhelming victory.
Because the prizes were inconvenient to carry, the organizers first presented the winners with certificates and plaques representing their prizes.
But—
Why was He Shenglian presenting the first-place award instead of the department dean?!
Why?!
As the winning team’s captain, Bai Sichan stood directly in front of He Shenglian.
He Shenglian smiled and shook her hand.
“Congratulations, young lady.”
His hand was warm.
Bai Sichan’s hand, however, was cold.
Although she now knew He Shenglian’s true identity, seeing him again still felt somewhat awkward.
“Thank you, Mr. He.”
Their hands briefly touched before naturally separating.
He Shenglian handed her the certificate.
Their fingers accidentally touched.
Bai Sichan immediately pulled her hand back as if she had been shocked by electricity.
After the award ceremony, she stood in front of He Shenglian while members of the university newspaper took their pictures.
According to tradition, the final competition should have ended at this point.
But just after they stepped off the stage, their supervising teacher hurried over and called them back.
“Come on. Mr. He is treating the winning team to dinner tonight at Heyuelou.”
Heyuelou.
Bai Sichan instinctively refused.
“Professor Wang, I’m not feeling very well. Can I skip it?”
Professor Wang hesitated.
“Are you sure? It seems Mr. He came here specifically to select some students for Hengke’s university-industry training program…”
Hengke had developed rapidly in recent years, and many students were desperately trying to get into the company.
Bai Sichan looked at Zhu Xinghao, who was running toward her, and shook her head.
“I really can’t go, Professor Wang. I’m not feeling well.”
Professor Wang didn’t force her.
“All right. Go home and get some rest.”
At 6:30 that evening, at Heyuelou.
He Shenglian looked at the people who had arrived.
Two members were missing.
The young woman hadn’t come.
Neither had the boy who had been sitting beside her during the competition.
He still remembered seeing the young woman drink the water that boy had handed her.
She had even smiled at him.
He Shenglian smiled at Professor Wang, poured him a glass of wine, and asked casually,
“Why are two members of the team missing? Do they dislike the food here at Heyuelou, or do they think my sincerity isn’t enough and aren’t interested in accepting the job opportunities Hengke is offering?”
His tone was calm, almost as if he were joking.
But anyone could tell that He Shenglian was unhappy.
Xu Ting took a sip of his wine and rested his fingers against his forehead, happily watching He Shenglian.
Tsk.
He’s jealous, isn’t he?
Professor Wang had never encountered a situation like this before.
He immediately became nervous.
“I’ll call them right away and ask them to take a taxi here.”
“Then I’ll trouble you, Professor Wang.”
He Shenglian smiled.
“The two students you supervise are both very talented. I wouldn’t want to slight either of them.”
He paused.
“Here, let me—”
He waved to the assistant beside him.
The assistant immediately walked over.
He Shenglian said,
“Go and bring the two students here.”