Chapter Nineteenth: A One-Centimeter Error

  Zheng Wei felt a little guilty, thinking that she must have delayed Ah Zheng's business, because when he sent her back it was already very late, and even the large iron gate at the bottom of the dormitory building had been locked. Zheng Wei had no choice but to call out to wake up the dorm mother, Auntie, who had just fallen asleep. Auntie came to open the door with a frown on her face, wearing only her clothes, and said, "Huh, aren't you Xiao Zheng Wei from room 402?"

  Zheng Wei smiled and said, "Thank you, Auntie." The person had already run up the stairs in a flash. When she reached the corner of the second floor, she saw him still standing there, so far away that it was hard to say anything, all she could do was look at him foolishly smiling, he waved his hand, indicating for her to go, and he himself turned around and left.

  The dormitory had already turned off the big lights, and except for her, everyone else had gone to bed. Seeing her rushing back, Ruan Ruan said, "You scared me, I was just worried that you got lost."

  Zhu Xiaobei blurted out, "Honestly, where did you sneak off to? You're the master and you ran away with it, leaving us a group of people there, what's going on?"

  "It's just." Li Wei Juan dragged out her voice, "When you left, Master Xu was so sad, I couldn't bear to look at him."

  They chattered on, but Zheng Wei tuned them out, standing quietly in front of the dorm's dressing mirror. Borrowing the soft light from He Luyan's bedside lamp, she gazed at her reflection, again and again. Familiar eyebrows and eyes, what was different? Was it the sparkling eyes or the tender lips... She reached out a hand, lightly touching the ring finger to the person in the mirror's lips. She thought, I'm really drunk.

  That night, she slept with Ruan Ruan, and the two of them whispered to each other until midnight, neither of them feeling sleepy.

  Later, she and Chen Xiao Zheng had many more such secret sweet moments under the sky, leaving their shadows in the initial basketball frame, the small woods of the campus, and the Mao Yisheng Plastic Sculpture Garden. Chen Xiao Zheng did not like to spend his free time strolling in parks or killing a night's time at the small night market near school like He Luyao and most campus couples, even with an additional Zheng Wei by his side, his life remained regular and strict between dormitory, classroom, and library. He said he hated all kinds of idle ways of passing time.

  Although Zheng Wei was close to him, Chen Xiao's expression on his face was mostly light when facing her. It was only in those dark corners that belonged to the two of them that the temperature on his lips made Zheng Wei doubt whether the person who held her tightly in his arms was really that aloof and proud young man? However, who else could make her forget herself besides him?

  Zheng Wei liked the way he looked when he took off his glasses. His myopia wasn't severe, and under the lenses were a pair of deep and beautiful eyes. Even when he was excited, he could always keep his face calm, but his eyes wouldn't lie, and the flickering flames of agitation and confusion would surely betray him. Those burning moments she had seen before, only she had seen, yes, only she.

  When he first inserted his trembling hand into her blouse, the strong and proud little dragon's face turned red like a ripe apple, but in her heart, she couldn't help but regret why she didn't wear her most beautiful lace underwear today. When he covered her budding breasts with his thin-skinned hands, the small white pigeon on her chest was about to fly away in excitement. The taste of desire for the first time is so intoxicating, yet every time he gets excited beyond control, he forces himself to stop at the critical moment.

  Zheng Wei was also afraid, but she didn't understand. One time, while nestled in his arms, she murmured dejectedly, "Is it because I'm too small that you don't like me?" He was taken aback, and after a long moment of thought, he finally understood what she meant. With no elegance at all, he laughed, "You're a bit small, but I've never seen anyone bigger, so I think it's fine... But, silly, I can't do that now, not yet." When he said the last part, his eyes were sorrowful, but Zheng Wei couldn't understand why someone as proud as him would have such a fleeting look of sadness.

  Zheng Wei was a happy person, so she always preferred to remember the happy and sweet moments, remembering his smile, forgetting the sorrow. The happiness at that time was too much and too strong, even when the two of them reluctantly returned to their dormitory in the evening, facing the tightly closed iron gate, they didn't dare to wake up the dorm mother again and again, and had to take a risk and climb over the wall. The fragments were all beautiful.

  The wall of G University's female dormitory was originally only to prevent gentlemen from entering, not to prevent villains. Zheng Wei had been wild since she was young, climbing walls and trees was her specialty, as long as Chen Xiao Zheng gave her a slight boost, she could easily climb to the top of the wall. He always kept reminding her to be careful, but she liked to sit on the wall and make funny faces at him before jumping down into the courtyard.

  During that time, her agility became an idol among the late-returning couples in G University's campus, sometimes after successfully climbing over the wall, she would also pull her fellow sisters along. The boy holding a star-shaped balloon waiting under the building, his girlfriend was a fat girl living on the floor below Zheng Wei, after they begged her several times, the soft-hearted little dragon ignored Chen Xiao Zheng's opposition and had an experience of climbing the wall with the fat girl.

  According to her complaints to Chen Xiao Zheng afterwards, her arms were sore for at least a week, Chen Xiao Zheng helped her exercise while saying that she was asking for trouble.

  Of course, there were no tears. Shortly after that birthday night, Kaiyang asked Zheng Wei to have dinner together again. Zheng Wei remembered his abrupt departure that night and had always felt apologetic towards Kaiyang. The two sat opposite each other, with Zheng Wei trying hard to find a pleasant topic, but he didn't succeed until finally realizing that their tacit understanding and joy might really never come back.

  Kai Yang said, "Wei Wei, I hope you won't be angry. That night... it was my last resort."

  Zheng Wei shook her head repeatedly, "I'm not angry, I'm not angry, can't we just go back to how things were before?"

  Kaiyang smiled bitterly, "Don't think too highly of me, you've found the one you love, I have no way to stand by and watch you two smile."

  "What do you mean by that? Are we not going to be friends anymore?" Zheng Wei said, her eyes welling up with tears. They used to be such good friends, they could even share a bowl of food together.

  "Of course we are still friends, but probably from now on we won't be having meals and chatting face to face like this again. Just take it that I have a narrow heart, at least for now, seeing you guys makes me feel uncomfortable."

  Tears fell from Zheng Wei's eyes as soon as she heard. Why had she never thought before that getting something meant losing another? She still remembered the way Kai Yang handed her the chess pieces, but this person might no longer be her good friend.

  Kaiyang saw her crying and felt a bit uncomfortable, so he could only force a smile. "Obviously I'm the more pitiful one, having just lost the girl I liked. Why do you seem to be crying even harder than me?"

  Zheng Wei sniffled while sobbing, "Kai Yang, why don't you go into seclusion for a while? When you've figured things out, we can play chess together again, okay?"

  He feared she would cry again, so he nodded, "There will be such a day."

  In fact, they never had another day of facing each other across the chessboard again. For many people, once missed, it's a stranger's road.

  Zheng Wei couldn't understand for a long time, was it because she was too greedy, so when she realized she was going to lose Kai Yang, she felt so much pain, every tear was from the heart. Why did getting love have to mean giving up friendship? Maybe in Kai Yang's eyes, his feelings for her were never friendship. From this moment on, Zheng Wei began to understand that some things had to be let go of. She cried loudly and shed tears freely, but didn't allow herself to regret it, because everything was her own choice.

  She chose Chen Xiao Zheng, and she also chose the bitter and sweet that came with him. In the days they spent together, she was always waiting for him, waiting for him to finish school, waiting for him to attend classes, waiting for him to self-study, waiting for him to go on dates. She would always arrive earlier than him, then count the leaves on the trees and count her own fingers while waiting for that person who loved to be late. He would sometimes come a few minutes late, sometimes half an hour late, and in the worst case, they had agreed to meet at 8:30 on weekends to visit the book market, but he didn't show up until 10:30. He was clearly a punctual person, never late by even half a second when it came to his teachers, classmates, or friends. But only in front of her did he lose all sense of time. Perhaps he was too confident that she would always be there waiting for him, so he felt at ease doing his own thing and strolling to their dates without rushing. He would always finish his own business before thinking of her, because she was always there.

  Of course, they had also been at odds over this matter. She was clearly the most impatient person, and after waiting for a long time, she couldn't help but lose her temper and argue countless times. He couldn't win an argument with her, so when she flew into a rage, he would always remain calm, and she would get her way, but the one who ended up crying was always herself. After arguing, they would often enter a period of cold war. Most of the time, after turning around, she would start to regret - actually waiting wasn't that hard to bear, she said. So, with just one phone call from him, she would forget all her unpleasantness and smile as she threw herself into his arms. The wound could be completely healed, and the pain forgotten - isn't that a kind of blessing?

  Sometimes he would say, sorry, I'll be earlier next time. But she was still waiting next time.

  One time she waited under his building for a long time and couldn't bear it anymore, so she rushed up to his dormitory. To her surprise, she saw him sitting on the edge of his bed with everything ready, but he was staring blankly into space with his arms around a book. It was the first time she had seen Chen Xiao Zheng looking lost and at a loss like a child. He was usually so determined and clear about where he was going, refusing to give up until he reached his goal, yet now he had an uncertain expression on his face.

  She didn't mind that he was late every time, as long as he never stood her up. As long as she could wait for him in the end, it didn't matter how the process went.

  Chen Xiao Zheng once said to her, "Actually, you don't have to wait like this."

  Zheng smiled mischievously, "I've thought about being late a few times to let you taste the feeling of waiting for me. But I'm afraid that if I were late, you wouldn't be there waiting for me. So I'll just arrive a bit early instead. You're always saying I'm idle and lazy anyway."

  She finished speaking, Chen Xiao Zheng lowered his head and focused on her Civil Engineering assignment, she couldn't see his expression.

  After a long time, he said, "Zheng Wei, your homework is really careless. The ratio of this rebar is wrong."

  She absent-mindedly glanced over and said, "Really? Maybe I miscalculated."

  "He was extremely dissatisfied. 'Don't you know that a small mistake can cause a big building to collapse? You're so careless and sloppy, how can you be a civil engineer?'"

  "I didn't ask you to help me check, did I? Do you have to be so worked up?" she muttered.

  Chen Xiao Zheng looked at her for a long time, then let out a sigh. "I guess I'm just overthinking things, but Zheng Wei, I'm different from you. My life is like a building that can only be constructed once, so it has to be precise and flawless, not even a millimeter off - that's why I'm so tense, afraid of making any mistakes."

  She sat on his lap, coquettishly hooking her neck around his, "Am I not just that one centimeter of error? Ah Zheng, didn't the teacher also say that any building is allowed to have a reasonable margin of error within it? This one centimeter of mine isn't enough to make your skyscraper collapse."

  He put down his homework and tightly hugged her. He was afraid that he had fallen in love with this inch of mistake, throwing the entire building behind his mind.