“Is that so?” Yu Yingying froze.
“Oh, don’t make it so serious,” Jian Mei said, washing a plate of cherries and handing it to Yu Yingying. “Look forward, don’t look back. Just live in the present.”
“Thank you.” Yu Yingying took a cherry and smiled. “You’re right.”
“Take more.” Jian Mei put a handful of cherries on the table for her. When she went to give some to Yu Qing, she shot Yu Qing a hard glare, signaling her not to talk nonsense.
Yu Qing stuck out her tongue.
Yu Yingying didn’t dwell on it any further. Thinking of her grandmother made her think of the blue-screen phone her grandmother had given her. Why had she bought another knockoff, second-hand senior phone instead of using the one her grandmother gave her? Had it broken? Otherwise, it would be such a waste of money. Jiang He had even said he’d given her a phone before, but she’d left it unused—that was even stranger.
After thinking for a moment, she opened her wardrobe to look. Sure enough, she found a paper box at the very bottom. Inside was a brand-new phone still in its packaging, and another phone—a blue-screen slide phone—wrapped tightly in a plastic bag, broken cleanly into two pieces.
Even without any memories, the moment she saw the blue-screen phone, Yu Yingying’s heart still clenched in pain. She recalled what had happened back then; her eyes reddened with discomfort. She pressed her lips together, forcing the emotion down.
Case solved.
With her personality, the damage to the blue-screen phone definitely had something to do with Jiang He.
Ding-dong.
A notification sound suddenly rang out. With a headache, she picked up her phone from the desk and opened the message. Sure enough, it was the underground boyfriend’s punctual lunchtime greeting:
【Girl, have you eaten?】
Yu Yingying went silent for a moment, then unpacked the new phone and inserted the SIM card.
Her knockoff second-hand senior phone had poor specs and tiny memory. It could only make calls and send texts; downloading even one app like WeChat was an unbearable burden. Now that it was broken, it was completely unusable.
Earlier, Yu Qing had mentioned that she was the only one in their class who had never joined the class group chat. Whenever there were important notices, either the counselor called her or Qian Baobao relayed them to her. With a new phone, things would be much more convenient.
Yu Yingying registered a WeChat account and had Yu Qing add her to the class group. Naturally, Yu Qing and Jian Mei gathered around to check out her new phone.
Yu Qing sighed. “You’re finally willing to use this phone. Electronics update so fast. I even tried to persuade you that day you were hospitalized.”
Jian Mei teased with a smile. “Yingying, now that you’re willing to use this phone, does that mean you’re no longer mad that your cocky guy broke your old phone, and you’re planning to go public with the relationship?”
Go public?
A line of capitalized “GIRL GIRL GIRL” flashed through Yu Yingying’s mind. She felt dizzy just thinking about it and rubbed her temples. “Well… let’s just go with the flow.”
“Yingying, you’re in the group now,” Yu Qing said.
“Thanks, I see it.”
She clicked into the group chat.
She was majoring in Information and Computing Science, a program with far more boys than girls. After Yu Qing added her to the class group, it caused a small stir. In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen classmates sent her friend requests, which she accepted one by one.
“Yingying, there’s also the dorm group—I’ve added you.”
“Okay.”
Putting down her phone, Yu Yingying took out her major textbooks and study notes. As she read, each knowledge point felt like it was being reactivated and snapping back into its original place. It seemed that although she had forgotten the people and events of the past two years, she hadn’t forgotten studying at all!
Was this the innate instinct of a grind king, as Yu Qing put it?
In any case, this was good news. She let out a sigh of relief, no longer worried about failing finals and having to take make-up exams.
Next, she took out her ledger to check her finances and was pleasantly surprised to find she had saved over two thousand yuan—a “huge sum.”
When she realized it was money she’d been saving to buy a second-hand computer, and checked the market prices for used computers, her smile gradually faded.
Still so poor.
With a concussion, she needed more rest. At noon, Yu Yingying didn’t go to the cheaper cafeteria and ordered delivery instead. To save money, under Yu Qing’s guidance she bought a set meal through a WeChat mini-program: one serving of braised meat dry noodles, two pork crackling shumai, and a cup of soy milk—filling enough.
Jian Mei ordered luosifen, slurping and panting from the spice while sighing, “Still, the Ding Sheng Lou food your cocky guy bought tastes better.”
“……” Yu Yingying ignored her.
After lunch, following Yu Qing’s recommendations, and amid a chorus of “Stop grinding!” and “You’re not human!” cries, she picked up her phone, planning to research various study apps.
…
Jiang He was eating beef hotpot.
He had an apartment near A University, a furnished place his family had casually bought when he enrolled as a freshman. Back then, he’d said it was so he could live comfortably while studying, but in truth it was for convenience in starting a business during college.
After eating, he shuffled over in slippers and plopped down on the sofa, kicking Jiang Chengyu beside him. “Ranked?”
Jiang Chengyu was holding his phone and didn’t move.
Jiang He kicked him again, impatient. “Dead?”
“No…” Jiang Chengyu’s expression was complicated as he held up his phone. “Brother Jiang, big news! Yu Yingying registered a WeChat account and joined our class group chat. I’ve got a small group, and several animals in there are shouting about adding her as a friend—some even say they want to pursue her.”
Jiang He frowned. “What the hell?”
He took the phone.
Jiang Chengyu stared blankly, incredulous. “Are those guys who want to pursue Yu Yingying sick in the head? What normal person would like someone like her?!”
Jiang He’s fingers paused. He lifted his eyes calmly and glanced at Jiang Chengyu, then lowered them again to look at the phone.
Annoyed!
He opened the SMS conversation with Yu Yingying. It was full of messages he had sent. These past two days, he had been persistently disgusting her three times a day, but that person—whether blind or disabled—hadn’t replied even once. It was boring.
Switching to the WeChat interface, he found Yu Yingying’s avatar in the class group and tapped on it, but his finger hovered over the “Add to Contacts” button, hesitating, unable to press it.
If he added Yu Yingying himself, wouldn’t that mean he was conceding to her? No way, absolutely not!
He chose to back out, not adding Yu Yingying. Instead, he opened the profile of a guy in the group named Wang Wei and sent him a message:
Jiang He: “Register a WeChat alt account, pretend it’s me, and add Yu Yingying as a friend. Once she accepts, use the mini-program to send her ‘Good morning,’ ‘Lunch time,’ and ‘Good night’ messages daily. One month, 1,000 yuan. You in?”
Since this involved a third party in his little scheme, he didn’t dare use words like “Girl” or “Heart” that were too cheesy—didn’t want anyone thinking he was a pervert.
Wang Wei quickly replied: “No problem, Jiang Ge.”
Jiang He transferred 1,000 yuan and smugly tossed his phone aside. Perfect. He saved the time of writing the program himself. He could disgust Yu Yingying without lifting a finger—worth every penny for a month.
Crossing his arms and leaning back on the sofa, his grin was overly arrogant. Jiang Chengyu curiously leaned over: “Jiang Ge, why are you grinning like that?”
Jiang He arched an eyebrow smugly: “Yu Yingying… she’s done for!”
“What happened? Spill it!”
Jiang He cleared his throat, feigning calm: “Nothing much. She lost her memory, and because of various misunderstandings, she thinks we’re a couple… Since she’s unfair, I’ll be ruthless—I’m going to make her cry her eyes out!”
Jiang Chengyu was impressed and gave Jiang He a thumbs-up. “Jiang Ge, awesome. And it rhymes too!”
“No big deal, no big deal,” Jiang He waved dismissively.
Jiang Chengyu changed the subject: “But that Wang Wei guy—he was just in the group saying he wants to pursue Yu Yingying. Jiang Ge, he won’t actually play for real and ruin your reputation, will he?”
Jiang He’s smile froze. “Damn it… that too?”