In the dormitory, Du Ruo sat in front of the computer and listened to Caltech's online teaching courses with headphones on.
On the next table, a group of girls from the dormitory next door crowded in front of He Huanhuan's table to watch the video of the competition. Even the students from the Faculty of Arts came—on the bbs forum, the posts related to the robot fighting competition had been slaughtered, and the attention was unprecedented.
In the past, robot competitions only attracted attention in a small area, but this time, because of Jing Ming, it attracted a large number of fans from passers-by.
The girls chirped:
"So handsome! You can judge him as a school grass!"
"The clothes look really good. I heard that he is a rich second generation."
He Huanhuan: "Hey, are you here to watch the competition or the models?"
"Well... his robot is so cute!"
"Well, robots are amazing."
"You can also talk about tactics, you're smart!"
He Huanhuan: "..."
Du Ruo didn't join them, so he packed up his textbooks and prepared to go to class.
"He seems to have a girlfriend." Hua Jiang Xiaoyun, the Department of Media Department in the opposite dormitory, said disappointedly.
"I saw someone on the bbs saying that they just broke up."
"I heard from Chen Si that the woman kicked his robot, he was sick."
Du Ruo was taken aback, and slowly zipped up the schoolbag.
After watching the video, everyone was obviously not satisfied: "Is there any previous games of his, let's find out and watch."
Du Ruo packed her schoolbag, passed by them, and glanced at the computer screen through the crowd of figures.
Seeing Jing Ming from a few years ago, a thin little boy in a white shirt, with long hair covering his eyes, expressionless, only a trace of a tugging arc at the corner of his mouth, looking at his own robot on the field Take the test.
Sure enough, these games were very "serious", highly professional, and free of "violence and blood".
She took one more look at the boy in the video, then hurriedly looked away, tried hard to recall what she had just learned, and left the dormitory without looking back.
Learning is an ascetic ascetic, and you will feel happy only when you are comfortable. She will get to that stage as quickly as possible.
She was meditating all the way, but when she was about to reach the teaching building, she was slightly distracted and her pace slowed down slightly.
The autumn sun fell from the treetops, she squinted her eyes, hesitated for a moment, took out her mobile phone, opened the bbs forum, and quickly searched up and down.
Finally, on the 79th floor of a certain post, I found a comment:
"I just broke up with his girlfriend, it happened yesterday."
She looked through it again, but there was no other news. She lowered her head and walked up the steps of the teaching building. She didn't pay attention for a while, and bumped into a boy next to her.
"sorry!"
"It's okay." Li Qinghe turned around with a smile, and suddenly felt familiar, "Hey, you are..."
"Li Qing and senior brother, we are in the same courtyard." She smiled and put away her phone.
Li Qinghe remembered: "The one who ran 400 meters in a gauze skirt."
"... Uh," Du Ruo scratched his head, "It's so embarrassing."
"No, it's quite fun. The more embarrassing thing is," he deliberately paused, and said jokingly, "At the freshman meeting, the senior was speaking, and someone's cell phone rang."
"Well, we're going to drill a hole."
Li Qinghe laughed loudly: "Just kidding you." He followed her into the teaching building, "What class is there this morning?"
"Matrix Theory. Fundamentals of Modern Physics."
"Do you find it difficult?"
"It's not difficult."
"It seems to be adapting well."
"Thank you for your concern." Du Ruo said. In fact, she was exhausted to death some time ago, anxious day and night. But fortunately, it has passed, and these are not enough for outsiders.
Li Qinghe asked suddenly: "Didn't you join the club? I remember you joined the student union to recruit new students, but you didn't go to the second round of interviews."
"Yes." Du Ruo smiled awkwardly, "I'm too busy studying to take care of it."
"It doesn't matter if you don't go, there is nothing special to do in the student union. But, are you interested in debate?"
"Debate?" She was a little surprised, then waved her hands and smiled, "I can't do it, I can't do it."
"Don't be afraid, debate is not about quarrels, it's about theory and skills." He took out a leaflet from his schoolbag and handed it to her, "The Debating Association holds events every two weeks, if you're interested, you can go and see it. Don't force it. "
"Okay, thank you."
At the corner of the stairs, the two parted ways.
Du Ruo looked at the leaflet as he walked. There were several photos printed on the front of the leaflet. The brothers and sisters were dressed in formal attire and looked heroic. Everyone is smiling faintly, with confident faces and high spirits.
The reverse side lists the achievements and countless awards of the Debating Association, "the first place in the xth National Debating Competition", "the second place in the xth World University Debate Competition"...
Wow!
This thing has nothing to do with her.
Two boys walked towards her, and the content of the conversation jumped into her ears:
"That kid Jingming is too arrogant, he actually burned the robot directly, how could he be so merciless!"
She raised her eyes and saw a strange boy, and Yi Kun.
Yi Kun didn't notice her, and walked past her with a cold tone: "He intended to cut off the circuit, and gave me time to cool Sonny down, but I didn't want it. Sonny was burned, and I was responsible. … Humans, heh, don’t need pity from their opponents.”
"Sonny..." Another person said in a low tone, "He just died."
The two walked away.
Du Ruo really couldn't bear to think of the scene of Sonny being burned that day, and his master must be even more sad.
The phone suddenly beeped, and a text message from the bank came.
Received 2000 yuan this month.
Du Ruo was very surprised. Her monthly living expenses were 1,000 yuan.
She ran to the end of the corridor, dialed Mingyi's phone, and explained the situation: "Auntie, did you mistype the money? I'll refund half of it, or you don't have to send me the money next month."
"That's right, that's the number." Ming Yi said in a distressed tone, "You child, now that the price of goods is soaring, why don't you tell your aunt that you don't have enough money to spend? How can you just eat a piece of bread for breakfast? If Jingming didn't mention it, I I didn't know you lived so frugally at school."
Du Ruo was very surprised, and gradually blushed hot: "Auntie, thank you, but I really don't need it, I have enough money, that time was a misunderstanding, I was in a hurry to go to class..."
"Stop talking, you know Auntie's temper. That's it. Besides, it's getting cold, so let's add some winter clothes."
Du Ruo's eyes were hot, and his heart was sore and warm. After a long time, he let out a low "hmm".
Ming Yi changed the topic to a lighter one: "How are you doing at school, can you keep up with your studies?"
"I can keep up." She raised her voice a little, and actively reported her grades, "Learning very quickly. Now I am self-studying extra-curricular content, and I even go over the wall to see foreign thesis databases and research courses. I can learn every day. Something new is very satisfying."
"I have started to study by myself. Auntie is very happy to hear that."
"Thanks to the computer you gave me."
"Xiao Ruo, you are too polite. Tell me about a computer. How many times have you thanked me? You have mentioned it when you call back. Don't mention it next time."
She blushed and stuck out her tongue and smiled: "Hey."
"Speaking of which, your uncle and I neglected it before and didn't buy it for you earlier. It was Jing Ming who mentioned it, and his father and I thought about it."
Du Ruo didn't expect it again, and froze in place.
By the time I put down the phone, the burning sensation on my cheeks hadn't faded away, and even my breathing was chaotic.
She was preoccupied, and returned to the classroom. When she passed the stairwell, she heard the footsteps and voices of a group of boys going upstairs quickly. The boys chattered about the problem, and one of them was Wan Ziang, a classmate in her class:
"Damn it, you are awesome, you are willing to dismantle such an expensive car into parts."
"Dedicated to science." This is Jing Ming's teasing voice.
Du Ruo shrank back, hesitated for half a second, and finally bit the bullet and walked forward, meeting a few of them at the stairs.
Jing Ming was wearing a red and black bomber jacket with his hands in his pockets. When he walked up the steps, he raised his eyes and met hers casually, and moved away without stopping.
Du Ruo sucked it up to the mouth of her throat and couldn't get it down.
When she passed by, she held her breath and didn't dare to look up at him, only saw a small white logo on the chest of his jacket, which read: us army.
In a flash, he passed by.
Li Wei and Wan Ziang smiled at Du Ruo. Zhu Tao and Zhang Lei in the next class didn't know her well and didn't say hello. Their class is on the first floor upstairs, and they bid farewell to Li Wei and the others: "Let's go."
"goodbye."
Jing Ming didn't speak, and without turning his head, he lazily pulled out his hand from his pocket and waved it. went upstairs.
Du Ruo's breathing slowly fell, and she walked towards the classroom.
Wan Ziang slapped his head: "Oh, I just talked about the car and forgot to ask him how Eva is?"
Li Wei: "Don't worry, it's been fixed early, he's just jumping around in the dormitory." Speaking of this, he seemed to think of something, sighed, and said to himself, "I can't make peace this time. dude."
Wan Ziang didn't pay attention, and saw the flyer in Du Ruo's hand in a blink of an eye, and asked, "Want to join the debate team?"
"No, how can I argue?" She folded the paper.
Li Wei said: "Du Ruo is a bit introverted, but you can go to train."
Du Ruo said, "Forget it, I'm afraid I won't even pass the interview."
In the stairwell, Jing Ming and a few classmates went upstairs.
Zhu Tao suddenly said without warning: "The girl just now was the one who was very popular on bbs a few days ago. Before being slaughtered by Eva Jingming, there were many."
Zhang Lei: "Which one?... Oh, the one who ran 400 meters in a gauze skirt. I saw it during the race that day. It was really fun."
"Yes. It's her. She's in Li Wei's class. She's very cute. Jingming ran and knocked someone down. Haha." Zhu Tao put his hand on Jingming's shoulder. The latter was playing with his mobile phone and ignored him.
Zhu Tao shook Jing Ming's shoulder: "What do you think?"
Jing Ming stuffed the phone into his pocket: "I don't think so."
…
There were four professional classes in the morning, and by the end of the class, the boys were a little sleepy, but Du Ruo was always full of energy.
When the last class bell rang, she packed up her books and ran to the stairwell.
The students were all out of class and poured down from upstairs.
Du Ruo went back and forth at the stairs, going back and forth several times, but he didn't meet that person, nor did he meet his classmates.
She went up to the first floor and looked around the classrooms along the corridor. Classes were all over, and the classrooms were empty. Only then did she realize that maybe they only had two classes this morning, or they had changed classrooms.
It is always better to say thank you in person.
She ran downstairs towards the boys' dormitory.
…
There is a straight but not spacious road at the entrance of the male dormitory building, with ginkgo trees planted on both sides of the road. The wind blows, and occasionally two or three leaves fall.
One or two birds flapped their wings and landed on the tree, got into the branches and leaves, and disappeared.
Du Ruo sat by the flower bed at the other end of the road, looking at the gate of the boys' dormitory more than ten meters away from time to time.
It was lunch time now, and some boys walked out of the dormitory alone or in groups, some boys trotted into the gate with packed lunches, and some carried three or four plastic bags in one hand, which were lunches bought for the entire dormitory.
On the balcony on the third floor, Jingming's og-107 army trousers were hung on the clothes rail, occasionally swaying with the wind.
The sun is not strong, but still dazzling.
Once or twice, a figure flashed by on the balcony, and she stretched her neck to look, and quickly recognized that the shadow did not belong to him.
She has been sitting in the warm sunshine, with complicated emotions and embarrassment, until a certain moment, she feels that she should not sit any longer, and there will be no results.
When he was about to leave, he saw Jing Ming coming out of the dormitory quickly.
She was in a dilemma, thought about it, and finally followed.
The big trees swayed in the wind, and the students hurried away with their lunches and schoolbags on their backs.
Tree shadows and human figures are separated between them.
His back is tall and thin. Maybe because he was wearing a bomber jacket, the clothes in autumn were thicker, so he didn't look like a thin boy in summer.
He never looked back.
She followed him through the boys' dormitory building, the activity building, the auditorium, the main road, the garden, the pond... The surrounding scenery changed and the population gradually decreased.
Until I walked to a certain building from the Republic of China period, I lost it.
It was a small two-story building with gray brick walls, red wooden windows, and green creepers on the upper floor.
There is no one coming and going on the boulevard, the yellow and green leaves cover the blue sky, it is very quiet, as if everyone in the world is taking a nap, it is extremely quiet.
Du Ruo searched around, went around the corner of the small building, kicked out one foot, tripped over her calf.
"Ah—" She staggered and almost fell. A thin shriek startles a bird in a tree.
Jing Ming frowned: "Follow me?"
"No. I have business with you." Du Ruo said.
Jing Ming glanced at her up and down, and finally fixed his gaze back into her eyes, with an expression of "see what you're going to say next".
At this moment, he was as usual again, without the good temper he had on the day of the game.
Autumn sunlight poured down from the gaps in the leaves and fell on Du Ruo's neck. The tip of her nose was hot, she didn't look directly into his eyes, her eyelids drooped, and she stared at the US Army on his chest.
She opened her mouth, thank you for giving me the computer, and the living expenses. The words froze on the tip of his tongue, unable to speak.
She suddenly regretted following her.
The person in front of him was not a good-tempered master, he already frowned impatiently.
Her mind turned quickly: "I'm teaching myself a robotics course, do you have any recommended books?"
He frowned slightly, took out his phone, and typed quickly.
With the wind blowing, the creeper leaves on the wall rustled.
He pressed his thumb on the screen, put away the phone, and the next second, there was a "ding".
Her cell phone rang, and Du Ruo took it out, text messages from Jing Ming, densely packed with more than a dozen book titles.
"Thank you." She looked up.
He didn't even say hello, just passed by her shoulder, walked onto the main road, and disappeared on the yellow and green avenue in a short while.
Du Ruo looked up at the leaves swaying in the wind, took a deep breath, and strode towards the library.