An Unfortunate Situation 

Due to the cold winter mornings, the seats in the library became increasingly popular and occupied. 

Zhu Mingwen had difficulty getting up early, so she asked Bo Ziren to help her catch a seat. During the first few days, there was no problem. Later, someone stuck a piece of paper on the entrance of the library, which stated that occupying a seat for someone else would not be allowed for the sake of fairness. 
Zhu Mingwen secretly complained a bit, but then showed her own perseverance later on. 

Every day, a little after six o’clock, she would walk sleepily into the library and sit down next to Bo Ziren.

“You’re losing one of your eyelashes,” Bo Ziren remarked to Zhu Mingwen one day.

Zhu Mingwen hurriedly took out a small mirror, fixed the lash back in place, then turned to look at Bo Ziren and smiled. “I’ve never seen you put on makeup.”

Bo Ziren shook her head and replied, “It’s too complicated for me.”

Zhu Mingwen tilted her head to the side as she scrutinized her face. “Your skin is so good and looks white without putting on anything or any treatment. It’s just that your cheeks are a little too dry. You should try applying moisturizing cream,” she advised.

“Really?” Bo Ziren asked in wonder.

“Forget it, women are the type of creatures who please themselves first. When you have someone you like, you will naturally come to pay attention to these things.” 

Zhu Mingwen knew that Bo Ziren was not interested. She decided not to bother wasting her breath, since the other party would probably only let it out the other ear.

She was wrong.

“Do you have any recommendations?”

“For a brand of moisturizer?” She asked, surprised.

“Yes,” Bo Ziren answered, as she tore off a piece of paper from a notepad. “Please help me by writing the name down.”

Zhu Mingwen hastily wrote several, including product recommendations from particular lines as well as their prices. 

Bo Ziren thanked her as she took the paper.

“By the way, did you offend Fang Zheng somehow? He’s been going too far lately, always saying bad things about you.”

“No, I don’t know him well.”

“At first glance, boys like Fang Zheng are very friendly and like to get close to several female classmates to help with all kinds of small favors. But they have an inferiority complex ingrained in their bones and are also narrow-minded. They might hold a grudge just because of one sentence.”

Zhu Mingwen suddenly changed the topic. “By the way, I heard he took the postgraduate entrance examination purely to escape from reality. Turns out, he got angry some time ago and sent a text message cursing the customer he was dealing with at a certain company. Later, the customer complained about him, and he was forced to quit after that.”

Zhu Mingwen continued, “With such a personality, no wonder he can’t find a girlfriend.”

Bo Ziren stayed silent.

“Tell me the truth. Did he confess his feelings to you, but got rejected, and is holding a grudge against you now?”

Bo Ziren did not answer. She had deleted everything about Fang Zheng and the note from her mind’s memory bank and refused to recall any details related to that person.

But even if she didn’t want to think about it, she still remembered everything very clearly. 

For several consecutive days, Fang Zheng had appeared before her, wherever she was. 

Like when she had been shopping at a convenience store near the campus, Fang Zheng had stood next to her, talking all by himself. 

Or the time, when she had been eating in the canteen and the guy suddenly came out of nowhere, passing her by at full speed.

Not to mention the many classroom incidents where the teacher at times called on her to answer a question, but as soon as she would stand up, some thermos at the corner of the square tables would, unfortunately, fall to the floor with a loud bang.

Fang Zheng had constantly been making small actions to attract Bo Ziren’s attention, just so that she couldn’t fully ignore him.  Then finally, she came face-to-face with him in the canteen. 

He bowed his head as he was about to pass, but as soon as he got close to her shoulder, he dropped his voice to a whisper and haughtily said, “What are you pretending for?”

After Bo Ziren finished her meal, she made up her mind and took action. She grabbed her plate and went straight to Fang Zheng’s table. “Please don’t appear in front of me again,” she said calmly.

He had been sitting at the table with two other male students. They had ordered beers and stir-fried food and had been having a good time. 

When they heard Bo Ziren’s words, they all dropped their chopsticks in surprise. 

“Does this miss have a problem? Excuse me, is the canteen owned by your family? Do you live alone on this campus? Why don’t you just tell me not to live on this planet?” Fang Zheng had already prepared his lines to fight back.

Contrary to his expectations, Bo Ziren did not get angry. She was silent for a moment before finally opening her mouth to say, “If that’s the case, then I can only hope that we will run into each other less often in the future.”

She turned and left, leaving Fang Zheng sneering.

“How did I provoke her? I didn’t even say anything and yet she’s coming over to warn me. She really has a severe ‘I am a princess’ illness. “

Although Fang Zheng had refused to admit all the purposeful things he’d done, Bo Ziren’s warning had an effect, and he stopped bothering her for the next few days, allowing her life to go back to its former, peaceful state.

After taking a bath that evening, Bo Ziren received a text message from Mu Zibei after she’d sat down to read a book.

[Mu Zibei: This number belongs to your brother, who is loved by everyone. When you see this number, you see the owner. Write it down quickly.]

Bo Ziren saved his number and then received another message.

[Mu Zibei: Send me Brother Cheng’s number.]

[Bo Ziren: What do you need his number for?]

Bo Ziren felt a little worried that Mu Zibei would call and disturb him.

[Mu Zibei: Last time we met we agreed that we would continue to be friends in the future. I like him very much, and he also has a good impression of me. In such a case, I should of course get in touch with him as much as possible.]

Bo Ziren thought his logic was very strange.

[Bo Ziren: How can you tell that he has a good impression of you?]

[Mu Zibei: He talked to me for quite some time. There aren’t many adults who are willing to talk to me for so long.]

[Bo Ziren: I’ll give you the number, but not to disturb him at night. Say whatever you want to say during the day.]

[Mu Zibei: All right, I know. Gua Ziren, hurry up.]

Bo Ziren sent Cheng Jing Bo’s number to Mu Zibei. She then quietly looked at the name in her contact list, feeling that she was not as brave as Mu Zibei.

At least he had the courage to send a text message to Cheng Jingbo. 

What about her?

She would often take her phone out, stare at the number, and then put the matter aside for later. She’d never dared to disturb him, except for that short time in the cafe. To her, he was a person from another world. Prudent, modest, knowledgeable, someone who respected others and maintained courtesy, but also kept his distance.

His good image in her mind was probably because of the first time they’d met. As he’d bent down to hand her the water-stained books, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu.

She had never met him before, but he seemed unreasonably familiar to her. As soon as she closed her eyes, she could see his eyebrows, his eyes, the outline of the bridge of his nose, his arms hanging at his side, his long legs, his gestures, his words, and his deeds. 

Everything. 

Everything was as clearly visible as a picture, and for the first time, she was thankful for her memory from the bottom of her heart.