Chapter 13
If there were any group of people in school most sensitive to climate change, it would be the morning students.
Du Ruo wakes up early every morning to practise English on the field and could feel the weather getting colder.
Thick clouds were gradually forming in the sky, grey and hazy.
The sun lazily hid in the clouds, unable to rise above, revealing a few wisps of light pink in the eastern sky.
The air was cool and crisp.
Even though the weather was getting cooler, there were still many students studying and running in the morning.
Du Ruo was reading while walking on the track and field with a book in her arms. Occasionally, withered weeds brushed across her ankles. She jumped and raised her feet to scratch her leg, and saw Jing Ming, dressed in sportswear, jogging with earphones in his ears, full of vitality.
She was stunned for a moment, and the book fell out of her hands.
She happened to have just finished reading the text, so she hurriedly collected the book and left the field.
She planned to go to the classroom early to study, so didn’t plan to go to the cafeteria for breakfast. She went to the convenience store to buy some bread to eat on the go, and gave five yuan. The shopkeeper gave her two and a half yuan in change.
Du Ruo was surprised: "Isn't this bread sold for two yuan?"
"The price has gone up, it's two and a half yuan now."
"Why did it go up?" As she asked this, someone walked in from outside, and his figure suddenly blocked the sunlight outside. Soon, they moved away.
The autumn sunshine slanted in and covered Du Ruo’s hands.
When did the sun rise?
The man was picking something from the shelf behind her. The space in the convenience store was narrow. He lowered his head and said, “Classmate, please give way.”
Du Ruo’s heart jumped suddenly in her chest, like a pinball hitting the wall.
She glanced back at him then quickly looked away. She hurriedly stepped forward and pressed against the counter to make way for the people behind her.
He walked past.
The shopkeeper said: "The price of supplies have gone up, so we can only follow suit."
Du Ruo blushed: “Oh."
She took the change and fled in panic. The donuts, instant noodles, soda crackers, peanuts, spicy strips on the shelves… the colours of the packages blended into an impressionistic painting, flowing past her eyes.
As she took a step forward, Li Wei, dressed in sportswear, rushed into the convenience store. His eyes followed Jing Ming but when he saw Du Ruo, he smiled and said: "Good morning, Du Ruo."
"Good morning."
"Are you having this for breakfast? Will it fill you up?" Li Wei asked with concern.
"Yeah. I have a small appetite." Du Ruo said. A hand reached out from behind her and scanned the QR code on the counter. The hand was fair, slender, and had clear joints. Being very close, Du Ruo could smell the scent of that person. He had just finished running, the smell of sweat, soap and the morning air surrounding him.
She remained motionless, and out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of him standing beside her, holding two bottles of functional drinks. After scanning them, he left the store without saying a word.
The tall and slender figure flashed in the sunlight at the door and disappeared.
The sun had risen, and a thin layer of golden light spread all over the campus.
The ginkgo trees in the school were starting to turn yellow. If you wanted a golden scenery, you would have to wait another ten days or so.
There was still some time before class started, so Du Ruo sat on the steps by the flowerbed, biting her bread and watching the people coming and going on the road.
A male student walked past her alone carrying a schoolbag, thinking about questions in his head, mumbling to himself. Two or three female students held books, walked briskly, and laughed like silver bells while chatting. Children jumped around, led by their grandparents, mumbling a hundred thousand whys.
What kind of lives did each of them lead? Was it relaxing or stressful? Were they happy, or struggling?
At least at this moment, no one seemed worried, and some were just thinking about studying.
The sound of pigeons cooing could be heard close by, piercing across the sky. She looked up and saw flocks of pigeons flying by.
She wondered if pigeons also had worries.
Or perhaps, they just needed to ride the wind and fly.
After Du Ruo finished her bread, she threw her rubbish into the bin, took a deep breath and walked towards the teaching building.
Her phone beeped, and there was a message in the dormitory group chat.
He Huan Huan: "Du Xiaocao! You are famous! Hahahahaha!"
Followed by a web link, Du Ruo clicked on it. It was the school's BBS forum with the title:
“This girl running 400 metres in a gauze skirt and sneakers is so cute! Want to get to know her!”
In the first picture, she had short hair, wearing a tube top and a fluffy white gauze skirt, holding the hem of the skirt as she sprinted on the track. Her shoulders and collarbones were thin, and her calves were also thin.
Oh, and there was also a white camellia on her head.
The number of post views is almost tens of thousands.
Du Ruo: "..."
Scrolling down the screen revealed more photos.
‘Huiyan’: "I took some too. I took some too! Selflessly sharing them with you. (Photos)"
‘Da Pi An Zi’: "Which university’s sports meet is this interesting. This is what university should be like.”
‘The Handsome One’: "This girl is a freshman, majoring in Control Systems. After asking around, she seems to be the only girl in their class. I won't say her name. Go find out more yourself, hahaha."
‘Fatty Who Loves to Eat’: "Ah, she’s so cute. I want to pinch her cheeks."
Du Ruo: "..."
Fortunately, these were all nice comments.
She closed the page and replied to He Huan Huan with a series of ellipses: "..."
In the group, her roommates were obviously very idle.
Xia Nan: "Classmate Du, you are famous."
Qiu Yu Chen: "Classmate Du, you are famous."
He Huan Huan: "I contributed to her popularity! I'm proud!"
Du Ruo: "You also left a comment?"
He Huan Huan: "Of course! Guess which one is me?"
Du Ruo: "Fatty Who Loves to Eat."
Qiu Yu Chen: "Hahahaha!"
He Huan Huan: "No way, I’m 'The Handsome One'!"
Du Ruo: "..."
He Huan Huan: "Just wait for the senior brothers to line up to chase you. (Rabbit Pole Dance.jpg)"
Du Ruo responded with an embarrassed expression.
She clicked on the link and took another look at herself in the photo. And, well, her expression looked like she was about to cry.
She shivered coldly and was about to close the page when her eyes were drawn to a hot post with the “hot” tag:
“Who are you betting on to win the fighting robot final? Yi Kun? Jing Ming?
Du Ruo was stunned and suddenly remembered that there was a competition in the afternoon and Jing Ming had given her a ticket.
Fortunately, by chance, this post reminded her.
She clicked on the link and took a brief look at the content: The recent national robot combat championship is entering its final stage, and their school has two participants who made it to the final.
The two participants are Jing Ming, a freshman, and Yi Kun, a graduate student.
The post asked everyone who they thought would win, and there were a bunch of comments below:
‘Qing Ran’: "No need to say more, Jing Ming!"
‘Fei Ren Zai’: "Of course, my Big Brother Yi Kun. Kun Ge’s strength is not to be underestimated! As for that Jing Ming, who is he? Just a little brat in his freshman year? Watch Kun Ge defeat him in ten seconds."
‘PYCJches’: "Little cutie upstairs, I’ll give you this link to search who Jing Ming is. When you were still blowing your nose in middle school, his robots were already competing abroad!"
‘Under the Blue Sky’: "Exactly, praising you upstairs. You can't communicate with people like this who only watch the excitement and don't understand the rules. My Master Jing is the best!"
‘SRYin’: "Both are strong so we're in for a treat. But I believe in Yi Kun's strength more."
‘Su Qi Liang Shui’: "Jing Ming, Jing Ming! He’s so handsome! Ah, I want to marry him!"
‘Shi Zaizai’: "What’s going on upstairs?... Sigh… I support Jing Ming.”
There were a lot of people commenting.
Du Ruo quickly scrolled through the page and roughly estimated that the support for Jing Ming and Yi Kun was about 50-50.
It was evenly matched, the competition was bound to be exciting.
...
Du Ruo had no classes in the afternoon. As soon as the morning class ended, she ate her lunch quickly and set off to the venue.
It was a large gymnasium, and there was a long queue at the ticket booth, mostly students.
Occasionally, passersby would look curiously at the scene.
An old man who was walking nearby came over and asked the people in line: “What kind of performance is happening here?”
The students replied: "It's a robot competition."
The old man asked: “ A robot, like a remote-controlled car or a remote-controlled aeroplane?
The students laughed and said: “Yes.”
Du Ruo passed the ticket booth and saw that ticket prices were graded according to seats. The cheapest one was 50 yuan and the most expensive one was 200 yuan.
She passed the security check with a VVIP ticket with no specified seat number.
As she entered the lobby, she saw a bustling crowd, mostly of tech-savvy male students, many of whom were not dressed neatly.
As one of few girls, out of tune with the environment, she attracted a lot of strange looks.
She walked to the side and checked the time. There were still twenty-five minutes before the event started.
She put away her phone and waited patiently.
Looking around, she noticed promotional posters and banners hung everywhere, creating a dazzling display.
Long vertical banners hung from the ceiling. Some depicted heroic robots, while others were painted with scenes like Mars hitting the Earth and robots battling.
Audiences filed in, and many people went to the booklet collection area to get information. When Du Ruo saw it, she also walked over and took various introductions and popular illustrated guides. A quick glance revealed a wealth of fascinating content.
She found them to be like treasures and was about to take a closer look when she suddenly remembered the time. She quickly took out her phone, and the time was just right.
She took a breath and dialled Jing Ming's phone number.
"Beep, beep..." After two beeps, the call went through. "Hello?"
"I have arrived.”
"Did you enter from the main entrance?"
"Mm."
"On the right side of aisle 101, there's the VIP corridor," he said in a calm voice, sounding low and magnetic through the phone. "There are signs on the wall, follow the signs to lounge no. 1."
"Oh. Got it." She nodded.
"See you later." He said and hung up.
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