The first semester’s final exams arrived regardless.

On the morning of the third of February, Xu Ye got up early, forced a few key points from the textbook into his head, and when he saw all three of his roommates getting ready to head to the exam hall, he casually swiped a pen and prepared to go with them.

Yang Fei was full of dread. Seeing Xu Ye — an equally hopeless case — looking entirely relaxed, he asked, baffled, “Xu Ye. Are you seriously not worried about failing?”

“I went and confessed to the counselor last night. Told her that if I sat these exams normally I’d fail for certain.”

“And?”

“And she tore strips off me. Said I’m the class president and I’m going to fail, asked me whether I had any shame at all. And then, at the very end, she told me that the invigilators for our exams are all lecturers from our own school, and that a lot of them share an office with her.”

“So?”

Xu Ye said, exasperated, “The subtext being that the invigilation won’t be strict. Seats are arranged by student number. Guo Caixia’s in front of me, Li Tongwen is on my left. I copy the short questions off the front, fill the long-answer sections with whatever comes to hand, and it should be fine — our own lecturers mark the papers anyway.”

“Fuck.” Yang Fei was worked up instantly. He threw an arm around Li Tongwen’s shoulders. “Li Tongwen. Don’t let him see yours.”

Li Tongwen said awkwardly, “That doesn’t seem right, though. If he fails he’d have to resit it.”

There was no chance whatsoever that Li Tongwen wasn’t going to let him see. He was the one who’d told Xu Ye that his seat was on Xu Ye’s left in the first place.

As far as he was concerned, the finals were the one opportunity he had to repay Xu Ye for anything.

Once the four of them reached the exam hall they took their seats by student number. After a dozen or so minutes the invigilator came in with the papers, handed them out, then sat down at the front of the room and very obligingly stared into space.

Xu Ye turned his paper to the back and filled in the few paragraphs he’d managed to memorize that morning on the answer sheet, then folded himself over the desk and stared into space as well. Halfway through the exam, Li Tongwen had already finished his paper. He glanced up at the invigilator, then deliberately shifted his answer sheet across to the edge of his desk.

Xu Ye’s eyesight was decent. In no time at all he had “written” his way through all the short questions at the front, worked out roughly what that was worth, decided the marks on the page were probably enough, and couldn’t be bothered with the long-answer questions after that.

Over the following two days, he handled every exam the same way.

The morning of the fifth.

After the last paper — Statistics — the first semester of his freshman year was formally over.

Over at the fruit shop, they’d been running discounts throughout the exams, and by the fifth there wasn’t much stock left. Xu Ye split what remained among the people at the company, and on the fifth the shop shut up for good.

As for the company, once the school broke up the gymnasium and the entrepreneurship practice center would both close, and the vending machines would take essentially nothing over the winter holiday, so the company went on holiday at the same time. Jiang Wei, however, volunteered to take on keeping an eye on the vending machine backend.

With everything at the school settled, Xu Ye packed his things and got the subway across to Chen Qingqing.

He’d spent the last two weeks looking forward to this day.

…

Chen Qingqing knew he finished that morning, so as noon approached she sent him one message after another.

The two of them talked the whole way, and as Xu Ye was about to come off the subway, she hurried into her shoes and headed for the school gate.

Seeing him come along wheeling a suitcase, Chen Qingqing quickened her step to meet him. “You came straight here without eating, didn’t you?”

“Mm. Nothing at lunch, nothing at breakfast either. My stomach was growling the whole way over.”

Chen Qingqing said, “And whose fault is that?”

Xu Ye smiled. “I wanted to see you sooner, didn’t I.”

“Come on. Food first.”

They set off side by side toward the commercial street up ahead. A few steps in Xu Ye took her hand, and finding it cold, he stopped, breathed hot air into his palms, and then took both her small hands between them and rubbed them for a moment.

Xu Ye frowned. “Aren’t you wearing a down jacket? How are your hands still this cold?”

Chen Qingqing pushed her lips out. “I don’t know either.”

“You’re not wearing long johns, are you?”

Chen Qingqing looked off to one side and didn’t answer the question, which told Xu Ye he’d got it right. He reached over and flicked the end of her nose. “As soon as we’ve eaten, you’re going to go and put some clothes on for me.”

“You’re so naggy. Come on, come on, let’s go and eat.”

Chen Qingqing moved round behind Xu Ye and pushed him along by the back.

Xu Ye didn’t know whether to laugh or not. “Hotel first, though. It’s awkward dragging this suitcase around.”

“Oh.”

Five or six minutes later the two of them walked into a hotel they’d stayed at before. Xu Ye took his wallet out of his backpack, produced his ID card, and handed it to the front desk.

The young woman at the desk took the card and asked, loaded with meaning, “Twin room? Or double?”

Xu Ye smiled. “Double.”

He was reasoning that he’d be in the room alone anyway, that both beds in a twin were always small, and that since the price was much the same he might as well take the double.

But he’d barely finished saying it when Chen Qingqing reached over and quietly tugged at the hem of his jacket.

Xu Ye turned to look at her.

Chen Qingqing said, under her breath, “Can we get another room?”

Xu Ye lowered his voice, not following. “Why?”

Chen Qingqing explained, “Zhang Ruowei went home this morning too. There’s only me left in the dorm.”

Xu Ye was about to say so what if you’re on your own, then realized she might be frightened staying in the dorm alone, and changed course at once. “Hold on. Make it a twin instead.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

The young woman had the room sorted quickly. Xu Ye took the keycard she passed over and pulled Chen Qingqing toward the lift.

The moment they were inside it, Chen Qingqing demanded, “I told you to get two rooms.”

“A twin has two beds. One each. That works out perfectly.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Don’t worry. The absolute most I’ll do is put an arm round you and talk to you — I’m not going to do anything else, you have to trust me. Besides, I’m still in the startup phase, so where money can be saved it should be saved.”

“I’ve got my own money.” Chen Qingqing made an indignant noise. “And I’m not falling for it. Zhang Ruowei told me a man’s mouth is a lying devil.”

Xu Ye argued his case immediately. “You’re frightened staying in the dorm on your own. So why would you want a hotel room to yourself?”

“We broke up early. There’s hardly anyone left at school. Zhang Ruowei only stayed two extra nights because she could see I was scared on my own.”

By this point the two of them had reached the door of the room.

Xu Ye put the card in, opened the door, pulled the suitcase inside, and said, perfectly calmly, “If you don’t trust me, then when we’ve eaten and come back, get yourself another room next door.”

Seeing that Xu Ye seemed a little bit “unhappy,” Chen Qingqing looked at the two beds in the room, hesitated for a while, and then said, going red, “Then you have to promise you won’t try anything tonight!”

Xu Ye immediately raised a hand and smiled. “I swear!”

Watching his face change back that fast, Chen Qingqing had the sudden sensation of having fallen into a trap.

Oh no.

He’s tricked me again.

(End of Chapter 178)