Lin Mo liked libraries.
Not because he liked studying.
He liked them because nobody expected him to talk.
The university library was especially good.
Quiet.
Cool.
Comfortable chairs.
And, most importantly, charging outlets.
Lin Mo considered the last point essential.
He arrived ten minutes early and immediately chose a seat near the window.
He placed his laptop on the table.
Then his headphones.
Then a bottle of water.
Then snacks.
Gu Wen arrived a few minutes later.
He stopped beside the table.
“You brought snacks again.”
Lin Mo looked up.
“Studying is tiring.”
“You haven't started.”
“Preparing is tiring too.”
Gu Wen shook his head and sat down.
“What are you working on?”
“Nothing.”
“You asked me to meet you.”
“Yes.”
“So why are you not doing anything?”
Lin Mo pointed at the laptop.
“It's thinking.”
“Your laptop?”
“Yes.”
“It's turned off.”
Lin Mo looked down.
It was.
He quietly opened it.
Gu Wen laughed.
“You really are something.”
They spent the next hour studying.
Well.
Gu Wen studied.
Lin Mo occasionally studied.
Mostly, Lin Mo read through the assignment, answered two questions, checked his phone, stared at the ceiling, and ate snacks.
Eventually, Gu Wen closed his book.
“Do you actually like your major?”
Lin Mo thought about it.
“It's okay.”
“Only okay?”
“I like computers.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“True.”
He leaned back.
“I don't know what I want to do after graduation.”
Gu Wen was quiet.
“Is that worrying you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Lin Mo shrugged.
“There's still time.”
Gu Wen looked at him.
“You're surprisingly relaxed.”
“I have a secret.”
“What?”
“I've discovered that worrying doesn't make time move faster.”
Gu Wen smiled.
“That makes sense.”
Lin Mo looked at him.
“You?”
“What about me?”
“Do you know what you want to do?”
Gu Wen's fingers rested on the edge of his book.
“Research, perhaps.”
“That's very you.”
“What does that mean?”
“You look like someone who would voluntarily read a hundred-page paper.”
Gu Wen laughed.
“That's an insult.”
“It's a compliment.”
Around noon, they went downstairs.
The library courtyard was crowded.
Students were sitting beneath the trees.
Some were eating.
Some were discussing assignments.
Others were simply enjoying the sunlight.
Lin Mo bought a drink.
Gu Wen bought coffee.
They found an empty bench.
For a while, they said nothing.
Then Gu Wen asked,
“Have you ever thought about transferring universities?”
Lin Mo almost choked.
“Why?”
“Nothing. I was just asking.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Too much paperwork.”
Gu Wen laughed.
“You really hate trouble.”
“Yes.”
“Even when it might be good for you?”
“Especially then.”
Gu Wen shook his head.
“I don't understand you.”
“That's okay.”
Lin Mo took another sip.
“You don't need to.”
For some reason, Gu Wen didn't answer.
He simply looked at Lin Mo.
There was something strange about the way Lin Mo lived.
He didn't seem ambitious.
He wasn't lazy in the usual sense either.
If something needed to be done, he did it.
He simply refused to chase things that didn't matter to him.
Gu Wen found that unusual.
Interesting.
And, increasingly, familiar.
That afternoon, Gu Wen received a call.
He stepped away to answer it.
Lin Mo waited on the bench.
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
Twenty.
Lin Mo looked at the time.
He sent a message.
Lin Mo: Everything okay?
No reply.
He waited another five minutes.
Finally, Gu Wen returned.
His expression was slightly different.
Lin Mo noticed immediately.
“What happened?”
“Family matter.”
“Serious?”
“Not really.”
Gu Wen sat down.
He looked tired.
Lin Mo didn't ask further.
Instead, he handed him the drink he'd bought earlier.
“Here.”
Gu Wen looked at it.
“You don't like sweet drinks.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you buy it?”
“I bought the wrong one.”
Gu Wen stared at him.
Then smiled.
“You're lying.”
“Drink it.”
Gu Wen accepted it.
Neither mentioned the phone call again.
That evening, Lin Mo returned to his dorm.
He opened his computer.
There was an email waiting.
From the university.
He opened it.
The subject read:
Academic Exchange Event — Updated Guest List
Lin Mo almost deleted it.
Then he saw a familiar name.
Shen Yichen.
He sighed.
“Why does this guy keep appearing?”
He scrolled further.
There were professors.
Researchers.
Company representatives.
Several students.
Then another name caught his attention.
He frowned.
He knew that name.
Not personally.
From the novel.
Jiang Rui.
Lin Mo stared at the screen.
Apparently, Jiang Rui had been invited as a guest for a short discussion about the entertainment industry's use of technology and digital media.
Lin Mo leaned back.
“So he's coming too.”
He thought for a moment.
Then closed the email.
He wasn't going.
Simple.
Problem solved.
The next morning, however, Xu An arrived at his dorm carrying two tickets.
“Lin Mo!”
“No.”
“You don't even know what I'm asking.”
“No.”
“Free tickets.”
“No.”
“Free food.”
Lin Mo looked up.
Xu An smiled triumphantly.
“I knew that would work.”
Lin Mo stared at the tickets.
Then at Xu An.
“What kind of food?”
Xu An handed him the event brochure.
“Catering from a five-star hotel.”
Lin Mo slowly took one of the tickets.
“I'm listening.”
Xu An laughed.
“You have no principles.”
“I have principles.”
“What principles?”
“Never waste free food.”
Lin Mo looked at the brochure.
He didn't know that accepting this ticket would place him in the same building as several people whose paths were never supposed to cross this early.
He didn't know that Shen Yichen would be there.
He didn't know Jiang Rui would be there.
And he certainly didn't know that someone else had just added the event to his calendar.
Someone whose name Lin Mo had been carefully avoiding even in his thoughts.
Mo Chen.
But Lin Mo hadn't seen that name yet.
And for one more day—
his peaceful world remained intact.