Gradually, the rain stopped completely, though it was still dark all around. Chu Hang carried Tan Yin on his back, trudging unevenly through the mud. Tan Yin, wrapped in his jacket, lay against his back, drawing in his body heat.

Cold — it really was cold. Tan Yin’s teeth were even chattering. And yet inside, her heart churned like boiling lava.

The whole way, neither she nor Chu Hang spoke — Chu Hang probably didn’t want to talk to her, while Tan Yin didn’t know what to say. For the first time in her life, she felt a bit nervous and at a loss.

Chu Hang’s back really was quite steady — he walked very evenly, keeping his usual pace throughout. As they were about to reach the building, Tan Yin finally couldn’t hold back any longer.

She cleared her throat, making conversation for the sake of it. “So, Chu Hang, have you noticed the air is especially fresh after it rains?”

“Tan Yin, just say what you want to say.”

“…”

Tan Yin deflated. After holding it in for a moment, she finally mumbled, “I’m sorry.”

Chu Hang’s footsteps paused.

“For the comic. I really am sorry.”

Chu Hang was silent for a moment before saying coldly, “What were you even thinking, drawing something like that? Just because I turned you down, you wanted revenge? Tan Yin, are you a child? So immature? If you can’t have something, you have to destroy it? Smear someone’s reputation?”

Tan Yin felt rather wronged. “I wrote you a letter every single day for half a year. In my whole life, I’ve never persisted at anything, not even the college entrance exam, as hard as I did with that — and you didn’t even look at them, never wrote back once.”

“I get at least two or three love letters and confessions a day. What do you think I am, some kind of mayor’s hotline? Obligated to reply to every single one? I’m busy — I don’t have time to look at that stuff. I treat all of you equally: I don’t read any of it. And because of that, you decided to draw that comic about me?”

“That’s not why I drew the comic.” Tan Yin fell silent for a moment before continuing. “It’s because you looked down on me, tolerated others mocking me, showed me no respect at all, objectified women — I thought you were trash.”

Chu Hang’s voice rose sharply. “What? I’m trash?”

“There was this one time, you were in a coffee shop having a meeting with some guys from the student council, and I was right next door — the soundproofing there is terrible, and I heard what you all were saying.”

Bringing this up, Tan Yin still wasn’t happy about it. She bit her lip and said nothing more.

The scene from back then was still vivid in her mind — the guys next door had been loud, and Tan Yin had overheard their conversation —

“Chu Hang, isn’t that Tan Yin from your department chasing after you?”

“Lucky you, man, she’s pretty good-looking, and her chest is huge too.”

“Speaking from my extensive experience with women, girls like her — they seem all innocent on the surface, but once you get them in bed, they’re actually really wild, up for anything.”

“Seriously, Chu Hang, why don’t you give it a try with her? Even if you don’t like her, sleeping with her wouldn’t hurt, right? And when you want to dump her, just say her grades are bad, she’s too dumb, use that as an excuse to break up — find some noble-sounding reason, don’t make the breakup too ugly, and afterward, who knows, you two might still hook up again.”

“Hahahaha, hey man, if you do get with her and later want to dump her, remember to pass her on to me — I don’t mind that you’ve had her first, I’ll happily be the rebound guy.”

“Hey? Chu Hang, quit drawing and say something!”

“What do you not get? He’s basically agreeing already, aren’t you satisfied? What more do you want him to say? A guy like Chu Hang — staying silent is as good as consent. Don’t bother him while he’s drawing.”

…

What followed got even worse, cruder and more explicit — those guys kept egging each other on and joking around, as if a girl, simply for pursuing a guy on her own initiative, deserved to be labeled an “easy girl,” as if that was all she was fit to be discussed as.

And yet Chu Hang hadn’t said a single word — he’d just let them talk about Tan Yin with such disrespect, like a kind of tacit approval.

Tan Yin had no idea who the other people discussing her were, but she knew Chu Hang — and almost the moment she got back to her dorm, driven by impulse and a mix of anger and humiliation, she’d begun drawing that comic.

Tan Yin had thought she only needed to hint at it and Chu Hang would understand the whole situation, but Chu Hang, frowning, thought it over for a long time before finally asking, “Was this before I went abroad?”

“Yes.”

Chu Hang was quiet for a moment before speaking again. “I’m sorry.” He pressed his lips together. “But I really didn’t know what they’d said, that time.”

“I had wireless earbuds in.” Chu Hang’s voice carried a note of apology. “I had heavy metal rock playing, I didn’t hear what they were saying. If you hadn’t told me, I might never have known. I’m sorry.”

Tan Yin bit her lip, staring at the back of Chu Hang’s head, momentarily at a loss.

“But even though I didn’t hear it, I can roughly guess now what they would have said.” Chu Hang’s tone turned somewhat cold. “I joined the student council in my first year, was assigned to the department those guys were in, and I disliked them from the very first day. Their conversations were always vulgar and crude, extremely low-brow.”

“I quit the student council pretty quickly — I didn’t want anything to do with them. But because of the handover, I still had to meet with them that once. After the handover, while they were chatting, I just put in my earbuds and drew.”

“I’m sorry. If I’d known they’d said something out of line about you, I would have stopped them.”

Tan Yin felt like this evening had just given her an overwhelming amount to process…

“But before you drew that comic, you should have at least checked with me first.”

Tan Yin straightened up. Since things had already gone this far, she figured she might as well let it all out. “You make it sound so easy — how was I supposed to check with you? Just walk up and say, ‘Hey Chu Hang, did you let someone say I had a big chest and was wild in bed, and that once you got tired of me you could pass me around to your friends’?”

Sure enough, Chu Hang had nothing to say to that. He was silent for a moment before saying “sorry” again.

“Well, since that’s settled, why don’t we just call it even?” Tan Yin changed the subject, pressing her advantage while the iron was hot. “I’ll turn over a new leaf and stop drawing you, I’ll even post a public apology — and you give me back my comic manuscript?”

Chu Hang just scoffed. “Dream on.” He glanced back at her. “Without my leverage over you, you’ll just keep posting it online, won’t you? Then I’d be the one at a disadvantage.”

“Chu Hang, where’s the trust between people?! Honestly, how could you think so poorly of me!”

“And you don’t think poorly of me? You called me trash.”

“I didn’t say only bad things about you — back then I at least said you were good-looking trash! I objectively acknowledged your strengths! What about you? Other than insulting me, you never once complimented my drawing skills! Look how attractive I made you look!”

“…”

Chu Hang felt a headache coming on. He warned over his shoulder, “Tan Yin, if you keep talking this much, you can walk the rest of the way yourself.”

“You’ve already carried me this far, might as well see it through — besides, I’m just a poor, helpless little girl with a twisted ankle…” Tan Yin was in the middle of her performance when she looked up and suddenly spotted a snake hanging from a tree branch, tongue flicking.

“Snake!!!!” Tan Yin screamed, instinctively leaping down off Chu Hang’s back, and then took off running with impressive speed and agility.

Tan Yin ran all the way to the foot of the building at the village entrance before she realized something was off. She instinctively looked back, and sure enough, saw Chu Hang walking toward her step by step, his face full of amusement and mockery.

“Helpless? Fragile?” Chu Hang raised an eyebrow. “Tan Yin, with the speed you just showed, you could’ve won a hundred-meter sprint — and you’re talking to me about trust between people?”

“…”

“Going to all that trouble to trick me into carrying you — you really put your heart into it.”

“No… it wasn’t like that…”

Buddy, if I hadn’t tricked you into thinking I’d twisted my ankle and couldn’t walk, how else was I supposed to explain wandering around alone in the forest in the middle of a thunderstorm with two perfectly fine legs? Should I have said that when thunderstorms cause negative ions to collide with oxygen molecules in the air, producing a surge of negative ions, and forests are natural havens rich in negative ions, so I was out there in the storm at night just to breathe the freshest air?

Chu Hang had no idea what was going on in Tan Yin’s head. He just looked at her coldly. “I really was careless. Everything you did really was just to get my attention.”

Tan Yin, looking at Chu Hang’s face turning cold and stern once more, felt like crying without tears — the positive image she’d just managed to rebuild in front of Chu Hang hadn’t even lasted half a day before it collapsed entirely. Their boat of reconciliation, capsized just like that?

Chu Hang didn’t even give Tan Yin the chance to explain — he shot her one warning glance, then turned and walked away.

Fortunately, the sensation of being soaked through didn’t leave Tan Yin wallowing in melancholy for long. She quickly took a hot shower and changed into clean clothes. As for Chu Hang’s jacket, she’d ended up bringing that back with her too.

I’ll wash it and return it at a good moment later, Tan Yin thought drowsily, before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, everyone finished up their sketching work, then boarded the bus back to school.

On the ride back, Tan Yin once again tried to get on Chu Hang’s good side. Eager to prepare an argument, she recited some facts she’d just looked up on her phone: “Chu Hang, did you know that the probability of two people meeting in this world is one in five thousand; the probability of truly knowing each other is one in two hundred million; and growing old together… no wait, I mean, the probability of becoming classmates and being placed in the same group is one in five billion, so about my group evaluation score…” Tan Yin narrowed her eyes and smiled, “Any chance you could go easy on me?”

Chu Hang gave a mirthless laugh. “Trash like me doesn’t know how to go easy on people.”

“…”

The group evaluation, it seemed, was completely off the table with Chu Hang.

What Tan Yin hadn’t expected, though, was that just when she’d already mentally braced herself for a low score, she logged into the online grading system and found her sketching assignment had received a score higher than she’d ever imagined — and a score like that meant the group evaluation couldn’t have been low at all.

And along with the grades came a delivery arriving punctually every morning.

Congee.

Red date, peanut, longan, and goji berry congee.

Chu Hang really was a man of his word — he’d said he’d repay the congee, and repay it he did, and he’d said it wouldn’t be just one bowl, and indeed it wasn’t just one bowl —

The same red date, peanut, longan, and goji berry congee, and Chu Hang sent it every single day for an entire month!

By the end of it, Tan Yin practically wanted to flee at the mere smell of red dates, peanuts, longan, and goji berries. Chu Hang had successfully made her develop an aversion to all four ingredients.

After the sketching trip, Tan Yin had actually run into Chu Hang a few more times, and each time he’d walked right past her with a cold expression, as if he didn’t know her at all. As for whether Chu Hang had truly let go of what she’d done, clearly not — but thinking it over, Tan Yin figured that Chu Hang giving her a high score in the end was probably because she’d called him handsome trash. Even though he was trash, he was handsome trash — and maybe the word “handsome” had pleased Chu Hang enough to make up for it.

In any case, Tan Yin spent an uneventful, ordinary but wholesome month at school, until Jiang Yilu came back with an explosive piece of news.

“The department says they’re setting up a mentorship pairing program — pairing students with good grades one-on-one with students who are struggling, forming study groups to progress together regularly!”

Tan Yin showed little interest. “Oh.”

“Don’t just say ‘oh’ — this program is mandatory. This is the first year they’re running it, and they’re forming eight pairs total, matching the top eight in the grade with the bottom eight.” Jiang Yilu’s tone was sympathetic. “Do I need to remind you? Last semester’s final exams… you were dead last! Chen Ziqiang was first, so you’ll be paired with him…”

Hearing this, Tan Yin blew up. “Haven’t we studied enough politics? Our country is still, and will remain for a long time, in the primary stage of socialism — we haven’t reached the stage of communist mutual aid yet, have we? Now even studying has to be forced charity? A bunch of gold-tier students getting randomly dragged into carrying a bunch of bronze-tier ones — can they even carry the weight? The gold-tiers won’t like it, and the bronze-tiers will feel bad about it too!”

But Tan Yin hadn’t even finished complaining before she got a call from her academic advisor.

“Tan Yin, come to the lecture hall for a meeting about the department’s newly established mutual-help study group system…”

“…”

Tan Yin hung up on her advisor and, without wasting a minute, immediately called Chen Ziqiang.

“Hey, old Chen, I heard the study group has paired us up…”

Tan Yin had it all planned out — first she’d make small talk with Chen Ziqiang, gently lead into an understanding that he probably had his hands full with his girlfriend and gaming and had little time to spare, then hint that she wasn’t very interested in this study group either, and finally propose a win-win arrangement — officially they’d be paired, satisfying the department’s requirement on paper, but in practice their “study group” would just be going through the motions; she wouldn’t bother him, and he wouldn’t need to worry about her either, everyone would go their own way… A smooth arrangement — the two of them would form a strategic alliance, and everybody wins.

But what Tan Yin hadn’t expected was that Chen Ziqiang interrupted her before her whole eloquent speech even got started: “Tan Yin, I’m not the one who’s tutoring you.” He sounded somewhat embarrassed. “It’s not that I don’t want to — it’s that I fractured my left leg playing basketball yesterday. It’s pretty serious, I had surgery and I still can’t get out of bed…”

Never would she have imagined her own words would prove so prophetic — Chen Ziqiang’s leg really did just happen to break, right on cue…

“But don’t worry.” Chen Ziqiang comforted her enthusiastically. “The one taking over to tutor you is Chu Hang! He’ll definitely explain things better than I could. The only reason I got first place last semester was because he went abroad for an exchange program — otherwise first place would’ve been his for sure. I’m confident that with him, your grades will really improve!”

Tan Yin got excited. “Really?! Chu Hang is going to be in my study group?!”

“Really!” Chen Ziqiang, apparently caught up in her enthusiasm, said reassuringly, “I knew you’d be happy about this arrangement. Tan Yin, with this thirst for knowledge of yours, studying properly under Chu Hang, your grades are sure to turn around this year!”

How could she not be happy, Tan Yin thought — if Chu Hang was the one tutoring her, he was probably only taking on this hot potato because he was pressured by the department, and given the history between the two of them, he surely wouldn’t want to look at her twice more than necessary. She probably wouldn’t even need to negotiate with him — after this one meeting, the two of them would naturally go their separate ways in peace.

Tan Yin was already congratulating herself when she arrived at the lecture hall, practically beaming. Sure enough, Chu Hang was already there, sitting far off in the front row. When Tan Yin walked in, he didn’t even spare her a glance.

This couldn’t be more perfect!

The advisor went on and on about the rules and pairings of the study group system while Tan Yin idly doodled in her sketchbook.

“Alright, from now on, everyone please make an effort to study together according to your assigned groups. That’s all for today’s meeting — you can coordinate privately based on your pairings.”

The moment the advisor finished speaking, Tan Yin put away her doodle pad, ready to leave — but before she could get out of the lecture hall, someone blocked her path.

“Tan Yin…”

“Chu Hang…”

Tan Yin and Chu Hang’s voices rang out almost simultaneously.

Tan Yin looked at Chu Hang standing coldly in front of her, and smiled with confidence. “You go first.”

What could he possibly say — probably just informing her not to get her hopes up, that studying together privately just wasn’t going to happen, ever. At best, occasional email exchanges about study questions would be Chu Hang’s final act of mercy.

Tan Yin had already anticipated Chu Hang’s answer would boil down to that overarching theme, so she had no plans to take the initiative herself, intending to leave the decision up to Chu Hang — that way, if the department later found out the two of them hadn’t properly followed the study group system, she could pin the blame on Chu Hang entirely — he was the one who looked down on her, refused to tutor her, refused to help her improve!

Chu Hang didn’t hold back either. He pressed his lips together. “Do you have anything going on later?”

“No, nothing.”

“Good, then let’s start right away.”

“Sure.” Just get it over with. Once it’s out in the open, we can each go our own way, live and let live.

“So, for structural mechanics of buildings and basic architectural design, which one do you want to start with?”

Tan Yin: ???

Chu Hang pressed his lips together. “Since you’re free later, and I happen to have time today too, let’s just do our first study session now.”

“Wait… wait a minute…” Tan Yin felt like things were developing beyond her expectations. She looked at Chu Hang again and again. “Chu Hang, are you sure you have time???”

“Mm.” Chu Hang pulled a structural mechanics textbook out of his bag, glancing coldly at Tan Yin. “Actually, never mind, I’ll pick for you — your Structural Mechanics A last semester was dead last, and this year there’s Structural Mechanics B, so let’s just start with structural mechanics.”

“Chu Hang, think about it again — surely you have other things to attend to! Did you finish the structural mechanics assignment Zhu Kangmei gave last time? Have you written your Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory paper? What about the engineering mechanics report? And that classical music appreciation elective you’re taking — have you gone through all the pieces? And what about your personal chores — have you finished those too? Have you washed your clothes? Your shoes and socks? Have you sunned your blanket?” Tan Yin said righteously, “I can’t let my poor grades disrupt your whole life like this…”

Chu Hang set down the textbook, glanced at her, then quickly looked away. “You don’t need to feel burdened. I’m capable of managing my own affairs. My job is to tutor you — your job is to bring up your grades and not embarrass me.”

“…”

Tan Yin looked quietly at Chu Hang, thinking, buddy, you have no idea — the difficulty of bringing up my grades and the difficulty of winning you over might just be the same level of impossible!

Chu Hang frowned slightly and opened the book in his hands. “Stop spacing out. Let’s begin.”

Tan Yin sized him up, convinced this must be some scheme of Chu Hang’s — not actively rejecting the study group activity, but forcing her to be the one to propose quitting, so that later, if her grades stayed poor and the advisor asked, Chu Hang could wash his hands of any responsibility entirely — after all, he’d been willing to teach; it was she who hadn’t been willing to learn.

Chu Hang really was Chu Hang! What a scheme! A thousand-year-old fox spirit!

Sticking to her strategy of retreating to advance, Tan Yin said nothing, watching warily as Chu Hang opened the structural mechanics textbook. Bring it on, she thought. Let’s hurt each other. Who’s afraid of who!