"Maybe." After Chen Ying finished speaking, she went back with a towel around her neck. The GRE test had exhausted her, and her plan to review words half an hour before bed had turned into a disaster, and the permutations of letters had made her dizzy. This is often the case for exchange students: compared to other students in the same class, Chen Ying needs to make up some of the credits from the previous semester in the next three semesters; On the other hand, she has to complete all the lessons that follow. Originally, this matter was not difficult for her, but under the double pressure of a double degree in sociology and an English test abroad, it was still a little difficult to handle. Unconsciously, she became busier than before, and her temper became irritable.

"Maybe I'll have to work a little harder." Rubbing her eyes, she pushed the Ruby Book from the head of the bed to the desk, and pulled the bed with her eyes closed. The emergency lights have been extinguished, leaving only a little residual heat. Sun Wei's snoring came from the other side of the room. Wu Yun, who was on her top bunk, skillfully turned over, causing the steel-framed bed to tremble slightly, interrupting Sun Wei's deep sleep. However, she did not wake up, and in less than half a minute, she heard the sound of even breathing. Chen Ying was lying on the bed in a daze, and was about to set the alarm clock for getting up the next day, when she suddenly received a message from Qin Hong:

"'Walking and walking are scattered, and the memories are faded;

When the wind blows through the clouds, they disperse, and the shadows fade;

The sunset is tired against the mountains, and the sky is dark;

A flower is tired of blooming, and the spring is complaining;

The birds flew away, and the morning was chaotic.

……

Who is tired and resentful, who is gone, who is messed up again?

Whose promises don't count, whose love with whom has changed?

……

The sea is dry and the rocks are rotten, and the earth does not turn;

The protagonists have changed, and they are used to hearing love stories.

Walking and walking are scattered, and the memories are fading;

I get tired of watching it, and the starlight is dimmed;

I got tired of listening to it and began to complain;

I turned around and found that you were gone, and suddenly I was in a mess. ’”

In the past, she would still be willing to answer a few words when she saw his news, even if it was just a simple "good night". But she was so tired today that she didn't even want to read the text message. She collapsed silently on the bed, set three consecutive alarms in her customary order, and then turned her head and fell asleep.

She began to appreciate Qin Honglin's hard work before graduation, when too many things flocked to her like a lively crowd, she was overwhelmed. The students who are in their third year of college seem to have suddenly become infected with anxiety disorders, and everyone rushes between the dormitory and the library every day, even those who usually don't take exams seriously. Sun Wei's main goal of surfing the Internet every day has changed from BBS irrigation to submitting resumes and finding internships. Wu Yun also signed up for the postgraduate entrance examination tutorial class with high spirits and buried his head in the sea of questions. In this difficult environment, Chen Ying also had to give up the stock strategy from speculation based on K-line analysis to value investment - just to free up more time and energy to memorize words. Unlike high school, everyone now enters a world where they are fighting their own battles.

Probably because he was worried about Chen Ying's health, Qin Hong came to school to accompany her every day after work. Because he had cancelled his campus card, they had to find an empty classroom to study together. Chen Ying likes to study in the lecture hall of the School of International Relations because it is spacious and bright, and it is in this building that last year's Model United Nations Conference was held.

"I'll call Gina over this Friday, let's have a meal near the school, okay?" One day, during a break in self-study, Qin Hong asked. Chen Ying had just returned from the bathroom, and her hands were still wet.

"I'm going to be on Social Behavior on Friday night — it's going to be around seven o'clock." Chen Ying opened the pencil case and looked at the class schedule and said, "And that professor will not care about time when it comes to rising." ”

"It's okay, I can make Gina wait."

"That's not good......"

I asked her. Gina is very talkative, so she shouldn't have any opinions. ”

Chen Ying took advantage of Qin Hong's text message contact and immersed herself in the sea of words in the red treasure book, and she now formed a conditioned reflex, flipping back and forth through the boring book whenever she had time, trying to make her brain copy all the content in an instant like a computer. She looked at it and suddenly remembered what Sun Wei had said before, and couldn't help blurting out:

"Why is your best friend a girl?"

"What's wrong?" Qin Hong stared at her directly, and his black eyes didn't blink.

"Nothing." She asked with a little regret, gently flipped through a page of the book, and made a look of not caring, "It's just that under normal circumstances, isn't it easier for young people to be friends with the same sex?" ”

He snorted and laughed, sat closer to her, touched her head tenderly, and said, "Jealous? ”

"Nope." Her gaze was still on the words, but she couldn't move down.

"My baby is jealous." He continued.

She snapped the book on the table and got up from her seat, her face turned away from him. He cupped her chin and turned her face back, all the way toward him. He smiled and looked at her carefully for a long time, and gently took her into his arms.

"Gina and I have known each other since high school — we're still at the same table after the arts and sciences are separated." He whispered in her ear, "You know, I didn't do well in the college entrance examination the first time, and Gina came here to go to college first. I refused to admit defeat and repeated my studies for a year, a year later than she came to Beijing. ”

Seeing that Chen Ying didn't speak, he continued:

"When I first arrived here, I didn't know my life. Although she and I are no longer in the same school, there is a fellow here, and it is not so strange. She helped me a lot in the beginning - Gina is warm and genuine, and you can feel that over time. We buy train tickets together every year, and then do the same train back, so naturally we are closer than others.

Originally, there were a few good classmates in college, but after graduation, everyone went abroad and went home, and after going their separate ways, Ji Na was still an acquaintance, so we moved around a lot between each other - for no other reason. ”

"Really?"

"Yes." He cupped her face and said seriously, "It's not easy for Jina here, and there is no one to talk to when she encounters problems at work." She may also have a hard time changing jobs frequently, so I wanted to find an opportunity to ask her out to talk. ”

"I didn't expect you to be quite caring." She smiled.

"It was natural." He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw her expression, and put on a high-spirited look. She felt relieved when she saw his happy face, as if the three mountains that had recently weighed on her shoulders had been removed. She closed her eyes and leaned on his shoulder and exhaled slowly.

"It's Friday?" He confirmed to her, his hand still on her shoulder.

"Okay."