At eight in the morning, Lin Qin was woken up by her alarm clock.
When she opened her eyes, she was dazed for a good while before realizing she was at Meng Jingnian's place.
She had gone to bed late, but the sleep quality was good—a rare full night's rest. She climbed out of bed and pulled open the curtains. The morning light outside was clear and bright, and she felt refreshed.
Stepping out of the room, everything in sight was bathed in translucent sunlight. Through the open door of the kitchen, she could see someone inside—wearing a white shirt with sleeves rolled up, a figure as graceful as wind through pines, immersed in the mundane world of cooking yet without a hint of incongruity.
"…Morning." Lin Qin spoke up.
Meng Jingnian turned at the sound of her voice and smiled. "Morning. Have you washed up yet?"
"…Not yet." Seeing his handsome features in broad daylight stirred a wave of shame in her heart. Her feelings were conflicted—she both feared and hoped he would discover her true self.
Not some honor student or good girl; wearing eccentric clothes was only the most superficial layer of her rebellion.
"Hurry up. Wash up and come eat breakfast."
"Okay."
Ten minutes later, Lin Qin emerged from the bathroom, and breakfast was already set on the table.
The dining area was very small—a wooden table propped against the wall with two chairs.
Breakfast was a homemade ham and egg sandwich with freshly squeezed orange juice. When she took a bite, the ham and egg were still warm.
"Thank you." Lin Qin glanced up at him, then quickly lowered her gaze. "…It's delicious."
Meng Jingnian looked at her for a moment, vaguely sensing that her eyes were evasive, but he couldn't figure out why.
Back when Meng Luodi had been caught by their parents reading comics under the covers with a flashlight, she'd had that same expression.
Perhaps she hadn't listened to him last night and had stayed up studying again.
But it was hard to fault or admonish her for it.
When he was a student, he'd also been ranked first in his grade. He knew better than anyone that maintaining such grades was no easy feat—no matter how smart you were, you had to put in more effort than others. And she even had a part-time job on top of that.
After Lin Qin finished breakfast, Meng Jingnian told her she didn't need to clear the dishes—just leave them.
Lin Qin went back to the study to grab her bag, then called out to the person in the kitchen, "Uncle, I'm heading back to school."
"One moment."
Meng Jingnian washed his hands, walked out of the kitchen, and went to the entryway. He picked up something and handed it to Lin Qin.
A small rectangular access card with a cloud-shaped keychain attached.
Lin Qin stared at the item placed in her palm, momentarily stunned.
Meng Jingnian said, "There's a dinner gathering tonight, and I'm not sure when I'll be home. If you need a quiet place to study, you can come straight here—just send me a message on WeChat. I'll send you the door code later."
It was still that gentle, considerate tone of an elder looking after a younger one.
He could never have imagined that she would instead harbor a greedy desire to push further: "…Can I stay at your place until the exam week is over?"
She said it quickly, her ears filled with what sounded like the rush of tides, afraid that if she hesitated even half a second, she'd lose her courage.
Meng Jingnian was slightly taken aback, then smiled. "No problem. Of course you can."
"…I only have one exam today. I'll go back to the dorm this afternoon to pick up some things, and I'll probably come over after dinner."
"Do you have exams tomorrow?"
"Two. Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics in the morning, and Data Structures and Algorithms in the afternoon."
Meng Jingnian nodded. "Alright."
Lin Qin clutched the access card. "…I'm off then."
"Good luck on your exam." Meng Jingnian added with a smile, "If you're sleepy, buy a coffee. Don't fall asleep in the exam room."
"…Okay."
Meng Jingnian returned to the kitchen to continue tidying up. He heard the sound of the security door closing from the entryway, and amid the sound of running water, the space fell instantly silent.
After cleaning up the kitchen, he went to the bathroom.
Pushing open the door, a faint fragrance lingered in the air—barely perceptible.
Not like last night, when he'd walked in and been met with a wave of hot steam carrying a damp, fragrant scent, with a layer of white mist still fogging the mirror. Like an evening rain after a day of scorching sun.
He had immediately pulled open the blinds and opened the window, waiting until the steam had mostly dissipated before washing up.
Now, in the glass rinse cup beside his electric toothbrush on the counter, there was a toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste, quietly leaning there.
He averted his gaze, turned on the tap to wash his hands, and caught sight of a long strand of hair by the edge of the sink.
He picked it up with damp fingers and tossed it into the trash.
He had mild OCD about cleanliness, especially in the bathroom—it had to be spotless.
Yet this strand of hair, which by all rights should have been unforgivable, stirred not the slightest trace of disgust.
Realizing this, Meng Jingnian furrowed his brow.
/
During the day, Meng Jingnian went to the department building's laboratory to help Xie Heng review the first draft of a paper he was preparing to publish.
Once the draft was finalized, it would be sent to their advisor. Jiang Sidao was strict in his requirements—not a single formatting error could be made.
Xie Heng had already reviewed it himself many times, to the point of going cross-eyed, but self-checking always left blind spots. Having someone as meticulous as Meng Jingnian do a final quality check was safer.
Xie Heng was exceptionally attentive today, fetching tea and water at her beck and call.
Meng Jingnian held a red ballpoint pen, flipping through the printed thesis while occasionally circling marks.
"…Old Meng, I have a complaint."
Meng Jingnian looked up. "What complaint?"
"Is my thesis really that boring? You've yawned a hundred times already."
"Honestly, it is a bit boring. I should charge you for mental damages."
"Get out of here. My thesis is full of innovative points." Even as he said this, he pulled out his phone and opened a food delivery app. "Want me to order you a coffee?"
Meng Jingnian nodded. "Sure."
Half an hour later, an iced Americano arrived. Meng Jingnian relied on the coffee to stay alert, carefully checking Xie Heng's work twice over, catching two typos and an issue with improperly formatted charts.
Grateful for his immense kindness, Xie Heng treated him to lunch.
The two left the faculty building and reached a sheltered spot, where Xie Heng asked him to wait a moment while he had a cigarette.
Meng Jingnian stepped aside to wait, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and saw a WeChat message from Lin Qin.
Lin Yiyi: Done with exams!
Lin Yiyi: I think I did pretty well.
Meng Jingnian smiled and replied: Nice. Get some rest.
Lin Yiyi: Hungry. Going to grab lunch now.
MJN: Okay.
Just as he sent the message, he heard Xie Heng call out, "Professor Ni."
Meng Jingnian looked up and saw a female professor approaching from ahead.
Ni Ye was an assistant professor who had transferred from another university in the first half of the year. She was thirty-one, with excellent poise and presence, and importantly, still single. A guy in Xie Heng's dorm was completely smitten with her, saying she looked like Akana Rika from Tokyo Love Story, which earned Professor Ni the nickname "Rika" in private.
Meng Jingnian also greeted her. "Professor Ni."
Ni Ye smiled. "Aren't you two going to lunch?"
"We were just about to." Xie Heng quickly put out his cigarette.
Ni Ye nodded and was about to leave when she remembered something. "Oh, Meng, do you happen to have Professor Kerry Emanuel's contact info from MIT? I emailed his official address but never got a reply."
Meng Jingnian nodded with a smile. "I do. I'll send it to you on WeChat."
"Have we even added each other on WeChat yet?"
Meng Jingnian thought for a moment and nodded. Just as he pulled out his phone, Ni Ye said, "Why don't we grab lunch together? We can add each other on the way."
/
With no exams in the afternoon, time was relatively free. Lin Qin went to the third cafeteria with her roommates, where the second floor offered stir-fry dishes at slightly higher prices than the regular counter.
Each of the four ordered a dish to share, and the eternal topic at the table was complaining about how ridiculous the guys in their department were.
"Did you guys go to that mixer with the Journalism and Communication department last time?"
"Didn't go. Why?"
"Chen Hui from Class Two added a bunch of girls and chatted with all of them using the exact same script, bragging about how many properties his family owns. I have a friend in Journalism and Comms who said those girls get together every day to trash-talk him, and they've all agreed not to delete him yet—treating him like a circus monkey online…"
"Didn't Chen Hui also pursue Lin Qin?"
"Is that right?"
Lin Qin, who had been mentioned, snapped back to attention and smiled. "He pursued me freshman year, I think."
The conversation continued, and Lin Qin buried her head in her food for a couple of bites before her gaze unconsciously drifted toward the diagonal ahead.
At a four-person table, Meng Jingnian and a guy sat with their backs to her. Across from them sat a beautiful woman with a chin-length bob that somehow made her look especially elegant.
People with secret crushes all share a talent: the ability to quickly spot others who share the same target in a crowd.
Throughout the meal, the woman's gaze would occasionally fall on Meng Jingnian in a seemingly casual way—not exactly fervent, but clearly interested.
Lin Qin ate without tasting anything, watching the three finish their meal and carry their trays to the return station. The woman deliberately lagged a step behind, walking shoulder to shoulder with Meng Jingnian.
What were they talking about? Meng Jingnian tilted his head slightly, as if trying to hear her more clearly.
At noon, Lin Qin returned to her dorm for a nap. In the afternoon, she did laundry, washed her hair, tidied up…
She had no appetite for dinner and decided to skip it for now. She packed a week's worth of clothes into a small suitcase and headed straight to Meng Jingnian's place.
She had messaged him beforehand but received no reply—she didn't know if he was rushing off to a dinner gathering.
Having been there twice, she knew the route well.
She entered the code on the lock and opened the door to 1108. Looking out, she saw the balcony flooding the room with golden-red sunset light, spreading across the floor and walls… shimmering as if about to catch fire.
She lowered her head, about to open the shoe cabinet for her slippers, when she noticed Meng Jingnian's dress shoes sitting in the entry area.
She snapped her gaze back up and realized someone was lying on the sofa, apparently asleep.
She changed her shoes and tiptoed over.
Meng Jingnian lay on the sofa with his long legs crossed, arms folded over his chest, eyes closed, breathing evenly.
He was still wearing the white shirt from that morning, now creased from sleep.
She didn't wake him. Instead, she braced one hand on the empty space of the armrest and looked down at him.
Her gaze traveled from the bridge of his high, straight nose to his lips—thin but beautifully shaped, like a well-crafted default preset in a game model.
She couldn't imagine whether they would be warm or cold.
A destructive urge surged through her, a desire to retaliate for the moment in the cafeteria today when he had leaned slightly closer while listening to that woman speak.
Why was it that every other woman in this world could harbor open, unabashed desires for him, yet she alone could not?
Lin Qin bit her lip, staring at him for a long while. In the end, she let the impulse grind through her mind a hundred times without ever acting on it.
She pressed her palm down, ready to straighten up and leave.
Meng Jingnian's eyes snapped open.
Completely caught off guard, the emotions she hadn't yet managed to hide crashed directly into his gaze.
Her heart stopped. She froze there, rigid.