It was dinnertime, and the restaurant buzzed with lively chatter.
The server quickly brought out their order — evenly sliced, thinly cut meat, along with an array of vegetables, fruits, and drinks.
Sun Xiaozhen and Wen Siyuan were still talking about the robot. In fact, building it could have earned them bonus points for autonomous enrollment, but neither of them had needed it — both had gotten into Huai’an University and Jing University on raw scores alone.
Wen Siyuan had enrolled in Automation because it was what he loved. Sun Xiaozhen had gone into the Mathematics Department, same as Ning Sui.
The first-generation VE intelligent robot was a small, home-companion type — no bigger than a palm — capable of moving freely across a tabletop and navigating around obstacles on its own.
Its screen could display expressions and interact with the user, vividly conveying a range of qualities that robots did not truly possess, such as “moods” and “emotions.”
The second-generation model they were currently developing would have a more refined appearance, smoother reactions and movement — though neither version would be able to speak. At most, they could emit simple onomatopoeia like “ya” and “wa.”
Ning Sui was a little curious, so Wen Siyuan showed her the video they had just recorded.
The little thing was even tinier than she had imagined — looking so fragile it seemed like it could barely walk — but its movements were remarkably steady.
Most importantly, the small expressions on its screen were absolutely adorable. In the video, someone — she couldn’t tell who — reached out to tease it, and a little anger symbol appeared at the corner of its forehead. It quickly turned its back, as if sulking in silent indignation.
This is way too human-like.
Ning Sui found it fascinating and was just about to ask how they had pulled it off, when she lifted her lashes with a faint gleam in her eyes — and without warning, ran straight into Xie Yichen’s gaze.
He was holding a cup of corn juice, lazily biting down on the straw as he drank, and when their eyes met, he didn’t look away.
The two of them held each other’s gaze for a few seconds. Wen Siyuan was the first to speak up with enthusiasm: “That was the 1.0 version — we’re still continuing development.”
Sun Xiaozhen added: “Though the core hardware system was mostly built by CEO Chen. Compared to other products at the same level on the market, it’s already quite advanced.”
As she spoke, she stole a glance at Xie Yichen. He simply smiled at that, unhurried and unbothered: “It’s the team’s achievement. The humanization module also plays a very important role.”
Ning Sui said nothing. After a moment, she reached for a glass of what looked like a healthy kiwi juice and asked, “So school starts in September — will your development work have to pause?”
Wen Siyuan said, “Our faculty advisor at Huai’an University has already applied to the Qing University side, saying we can borrow their lab. By then, it’ll be treated as an official project and we’ll continue the research at the university. We might even be able to join their talent program.”
It seemed they had already figured everything out.
Which made sense — who was Xie Yichen, after all? Was there any point worrying about him?
People flowed in and out of the restaurant in a lively stream. The small hot pots bubbled with rising steam, and the aroma drifted over, fragrant and irresistibly enticing.
Ning Sui kept her head down, focused on eating, and paid no attention to anything else.
Midway through the meal, her phone buzzed. It was a WeChat message from Hu Ke’er: [Babe! Did you use that green fruit thing!!]
Given her personality, no matter how much she might be itching to try it, Hu Ke’er wouldn’t do it herself — she had a boyfriend. When it came to keeping to her own principles, Hu Ke’er was actually quite good. Ning Sui replied with a mix of exasperation and amusement: [Yeah, seems like it was a misunderstanding…]
Paopao Ke: [?]
Paopao Ke: [What do you mean?]
Suisui Sui: [The other person probably isn’t Zhang Yuge.]
She paused for a moment, then added: [It’s probably someone from Huai’an University who just used a photo of Zhang Yuge from the campus confession wall. But I don’t know who it actually is.]
On the other end, Hu Ke’er was deeply disappointed. She had been looking forward to seeing what Zhang Yuge looked like when teased — and it turned out to be just this.
But wait — was Zhang Yuge really this popular even at Huai’an University?! Someone posting his photo on the confession wall was one thing, but someone stealing it??
Ning Sui set down her phone and noticed that Xie Yichen seemed to have taken a call. Sun Xiaozhen had gone to the restroom, and Wen Siyuan had gone to the condiment bar to grab some soy sauce for his snacks, leaving only Ning Sui and Xie Yichen seated diagonally across from each other. She casually picked up a slice of watermelon from the fruit plate.
On the other end, it seemed to be one of his elders. The two of them were discussing some kind of software evaluation.
She couldn’t make out the details very clearly, but the general meaning was that two weeks were up: “Nothing else to speak of — the operation is quite smooth, the module design is fine too. I’ll write a brief report and send it over tonight.”
The person on the other end said a few things, and Xie Yichen raised an eyebrow, replying in an easy, unhurried tone: “Whether you invest or not, that’s up to you. I wouldn’t want to use it for even one more day — this platform really does attract all sorts of people. Just now someone came right out and said they wanted to see me naked.”
He paused, drawing out the last syllable lazily: “You really ought to spare a thought for my mental wellbeing.”
“……”
Since there were only two people at the table, Ning Sui felt as though an invisible arrow had silently pierced her knee.
She lowered her eyes and quietly tightened her grip around the piece of watermelon in her hand.
After that little episode, Ning Sui realized, at least somewhat, that Xie Yichen had apparently not been using the app for the purpose of chatting.
That night back in Panxi Village, she vaguely recalled him having mentioned this social app. Based on the conversation that night and the questions he had sent during their exchange, she pieced together that he had probably been conducting some kind of evaluation for his elder.
So once Xie Yichen hung up, Ning Sui proactively lifted her eyes with a conciliatory air, leaning forward slightly to strike up a conversation: “Who was that?”
Xie Yichen paused for a moment: “My great-aunt.”
Seeing that she looked genuinely interested, he went ahead and filled in the rest. “She’s a lawyer. She took on a case, and the client is the founder of a dating app, so she asked me to look into it.”
Ning Sui picked up her drink and continued sipping: “Oh, I see.”
She had a habit of biting the straw — she’d bite it into an O shape, rotate it ninety degrees, then bite it again, like a little squirrel. Xie Yichen glanced over and asked idly, “You like kiwi juice?”
Ning Sui blinked and looked down at her glass: “Yeah, it’s pretty sweet.”
Just now it might not have been stirred well enough — it wasn’t as good as it tasted now.
Neither of them brought up the fact that they hadn’t been in contact for the past few days. It seemed as though they had simply turned the page on it. Ning Sui felt the distance between them now had returned to something comfortable — not too close, not too far, just right.
“What have you been up to these past few days?” Xie Yichen looked over at her then.
“I’ve been at home tutoring my little brother.” Ning Sui put down her drink, already feeling mentally drained just thinking about it. “My mom wants him to get through all the first-year middle school subjects before school starts.”
“That’s quite a lot.”
“It is. So the little rascal couldn’t take it and started looking for sneaky workarounds.”
Xie Yichen perked up with interest: “Like what?”
Ning Sui asked solemnly, “Have you ever heard of quantum wave speed-reading? You flip through a textbook from start to finish at high speed, over and over — supposedly you can read 100,000 characters in five minutes.”
“……”
Xie Yichen had actually heard of this. At the time, those con artists had set up training classes, plastered flyers everywhere like it was some kind of cult recruitment drive, and the truly baffling thing was that people actually believed it. He had heard from Xie Zhenlin that some distant relative had actually sent their child to take those classes.
Not that you could blame the scammers for being creative — the real fault lay with the people gullible enough to fall for it.
Xie Yichen’s voice rose slightly at the end: “Your brother actually believes that?”
Ning Sui: “Not really — mainly he just wants to resist my mom.”
He let out an “oh,” then glanced at her sidelong, a faint smirk playing at the corner of his mouth: “That rebellious spirit of his — he learned it from you, didn’t he.”
“……”
Ning Sui fell silent for a moment.
She had been about to say something, but her eyes happened to land on a small wound on Xie Yichen’s right pinky finger, and she instinctively asked: “How did that happen?”
He didn’t follow: “What?”
She pointed: “You have a cut on your hand.”
Xie Yichen only then noticed it — a fairly small injury, probably just a scrape from something. It had already scabbed over.
He held still and looked down at it for a few seconds, then lifted his fingertip and touched it carelessly: “Yesterday, playing squash with Zhang Yuge and Lao Lin — I didn’t notice at the time.”
He paused, then added in a low, unhurried voice: “It doesn’t hurt.”
Ning Sui sipped her drink and nodded: “Okay.”
At that moment, Wen Siyuan and Sun Xiaozhen returned to the table one after the other.
Wen Siyuan was actually a pleasant person — quite the talker, and fond of butting heads with Yu Zhiguo in everyday life. He was also good at stringing people along. But Sun Xiaozhen was simply too reserved to get much out of in conversation, so the topic kept circling back to robots all evening.
The school wasn’t far from Ning Sui’s home, so the four of them went their separate ways at the roadside after dinner.
Sun Xiaozhen and Wen Siyuan took taxis and left one after the other. Xie Yichen stood where he was without moving. Ning Sui quietly glanced sideways — and found him looking right at her.
Her lashes flickered. She simply asked: “What are you planning to do later?”
Xie Yichen glanced at his phone: “It’s still early. Haven’t decided.”
The area nearby was a commercial street. Huai’an was, after all, a first-tier city — its nightlife was rich and dazzling, full of flashing lights. Beyond the shopping centers, there were also food courts and upscale venues. The two of them stood at the fringes of the most bustling part of the area, and were simultaneously drawn by the glittering lights ahead.
Ning Sui ventured: “Then… shall we walk around a bit?”
Xie Yichen made an affirmative sound and said lazily: “Hand it over.”
Ning Sui: “Huh?”
“The bag.” He gave a brief, upward tilt of his chin.
Ning Sui had originally planned to bring only a USB drive today — she had the digital version of her university textbooks — but had bought paper copies just in case, so her backpack was now considerably heavy. Before she had even quite registered what was happening, Xie Yichen had already casually taken it from her and slung it diagonally over his shoulder.
The backpack was a plain, dark grey color, but somehow it ended up looking quite cool on him.
Ning Sui wet her lips, her expression unchanged, and followed along.
She had been to this area many times with her parents, but they had only ever come to eat and then left. It turned out that once you started exploring, there was a creative arts alley hidden here — tucked around a corner, concealing all manner of curious little shops.
Like the one right in front of them: “The Worry-Free General Store.”
The moment Ning Sui saw the name, she wanted to go in. Xie Yichen caught her expression with a glance and immediately understood what she was thinking. He raised his arm and swept aside the string of chiming bells hanging at the entrance.
The doorway was narrow and tight — he was tall with long legs — and though the path ahead was dark, with who knew what theatrical tricks the shopkeeper had arranged, the moment they stepped through, Ning Sui felt an inexplicable sense of security.
Inside was a corridor, its walls textured to look remarkably like the stonework from the Hogwarts castle — very much in a Western European style. Wall sconces were mounted along the sides, their flames flickering and shifting.
Since there was light ahead, it wasn’t too dark — and besides, he was right beside her — so Ning Sui was able to observe the surroundings while speaking aloud: “Xie Yichen, have you seen Harry Potter?”
He strolled at an unhurried pace: “Seen it several times. I quite like it.”
“Oh, me too.” Ning Sui was surprised to find that his tastes aligned with hers so closely — the last time he had asked what she liked, she hadn’t even thought to mention this.
Perhaps because her real life tended to be rather conventional and rule-bound, Ning Sui had always had a particular fondness for things with fantastical and magical elements — especially the strange and unusual, the things rarely encountered in everyday life.
The two of them walked side by side, one fist’s width apart. Ning Sui blinked and said: “When I was little, I absolutely loved the Nimbus 2000 flying broomstick. I pestered my dad for ages until he found someone traveling abroad to bring back an official one from Universal Studios.”
Xie Yichen remembered that the item was fairly large — and a limited edition, too. Intrigued, he asked: “Do you still have it at home?”
“Mhm.” Ning Sui said slowly, “My mom uses it to sweep the floor when she’s in a bad mood.”
“……”
They kept walking and eventually reached a small room, with an ornate carved golden door ahead — though it was shut. The room itself was done in vintage red and green, with a grid of display panels hung with all manner of sticky notes covered in the various troubles written by previous visitors.
Only then did Ning Sui remember that this shop was meant to relieve worries.
[Please, let my thesis advisor stop blocking my dissertation — I JUST WANT TO GRADUATE!!]
[Got cheated on by a scumbag, and the scumbag and his side piece are openly flaunting their relationship in my face — have they no shame [middle finger]]
[How can any client be this impossible — after forty-something rounds of revisions, they turn around and tell me to use the first draft. I’m seriously losing my mind!!]
[Why does everyone act like 996 is so exhausting — if I could ever work 996, I’d be laughing 🙂]
Seems like everyone’s going through it.
Ning Sui couldn’t help pursing her lips and sighing: “How can people have so many things to worry about?”
“Because we’re all only human.” Xie Yichen let out a soft laugh, casually leafing through the notes as he brought something up: “Do you remember the relative I mentioned before? The one running the short video company.”
“Yes, your distant cousin.” Ning Sui frowned, puzzled. “What about him?”
“He had pretty good foresight, and things were going well for him, but lately he’s run into some trouble. A large corporation is trying to seize control of his company, and the existing shareholders are all selling off their stakes.”
Ning Sui let out a small sound of concern: “What’s he going to do?”
Xie Yichen: “Right now he can only look for new investment wherever he can find it. He mentioned it to my dad too.”
Xie Yichen hadn’t expected things to be this urgent. It seemed Xie Zhenlin had been slow to respond, because that very afternoon, Du Junnian had called him to ask if he could spare some funds.
He knew that Xie Yichen had a fund in his name that he could manage freely.
Ning Sui asked curiously: “How large is his operation at this point?”
Xie Yichen: “His valuation is somewhere around seventy to eighty million.”
“And how much does he want you all to invest?”
Xie Yichen said nothing. He extended one hand toward her, palm facing up.
Ning Sui didn’t immediately understand what he meant.
But seeing the deep, pensive look on his face, she assumed it might be a business secret, so she earnestly pressed her own palm against his in a high-five gesture: “Don’t worry, I won’t breathe a word.”
Xie Yichen: “……”
He tugged lightly at the corner of his mouth: “I’m showing you five.”
The only light in this room came from the beautiful colored glass lanterns hanging at each corner, so it was relatively dim. When their palms touched, Ning Sui suddenly noticed how large his hand truly was — the knuckles long and well-defined — and she could probably only cover about two-thirds of it.
The air seemed to go still for a moment. She looked up without thinking, and met his gaze.
In that amber-hued light, his clear peach-blossom eyes carried a faint ripple, his long, curling lashes trembling almost imperceptibly.
The light also caught the fine, downy hairs along her cheek, making her look soft and delicate.
— Like a coconut, indeed.
The warmth of skin against skin carried a gentle heat. Ning Sui’s palm was soft — even her fingertips were soft. Xie Yichen lowered his eyes, and a thought surfaced unbidden.
Her hands are so small.
If he closed his fist, he could probably wrap her entire hand inside his.
“You——”
He had barely gotten the first word out when Ning Sui’s ears seemed to flare with sudden heat. She pulled her hand back, and instinctively bounced a small step backward.
“……”
The two of them stared at each other. Through a faint haze, Ning Sui caught sight of that thing at his throat shifting again — distractingly. She reacted quickly and spoke up: “Oh, five million.”
Her gaze flickered, and she asked in a measured tone: “Did you lend it to him?”
“……”