The mango tree began to mature, and the final exam season arrived. After experiencing the tragedy of last semester's Marxist philosophy flying low, Zheng Wei dared not touch Buddha's beautiful legs again before the exam. Their exams were not like those of liberal arts students like Li Wei Juan, where teachers would draw a circle around key points in the textbook, and reading them once could guarantee a score of 60 or 70 without any problem. However, for their college of architecture and engineering, if more than two major subjects needed to be retaken in the same academic year, they would have to repeat the year. Many people had encountered iron-fisted teachers who had marked one subject as failed on the professional course, and another subject had fallen behind in public foreign language, so they could not pass the makeup exam and had to sit in the same classroom with lower-grade schoolmates. Although Zheng Wei was laid-back, she considered repeating a year to be a great shame and would never allow it to happen to herself. So after class was suspended, she spent several days imitating Zhuo Mei's lazy life on her bed, then obediently followed Ruan Ruan to the classroom for self-study.

  The self-study room before the exam was always crowded, so seat occupation became a trend. The tools used for occupying seats included books, pens, notebooks, and water bottles. One time, Zheng Wei and Ruan Ruan passed by the classroom after breakfast and found two empty seats with great views. They were overjoyed and quickly occupied them, but unfortunately, they didn't have anything long to use as a placeholder. Ruan Ruan didn't want to use her keys, so Zheng Wei took out a packet of tissues from her pocket, pulled one out, wrote "Someone is sitting here" in big letters with a pen, and stuck it on the table. They then went back to their dorm to grab their books, hoping to return quickly. However, when they came back, they found that someone had taken their seats. To make matters worse, the tissue paper had been used by the occupant, who seemed to have a cold, crumpled it up and thrown it aside. Ruan Ruan tried to reason with him, but he refused to give up the seat, saying he had never seen anyone use tissues to occupy a seat before. He also asked how they could prove that the tissue paper belonged to them. Ruan Ruan wanted to pick up the tissue paper to show him the writing, but it was too disgusting. Zheng Wei got angry and picked up a long hair from the table, looked at it, then pulled out one of her own hairs. The two hairs were roughly the same length. She said confidently, "Look, this is what I used to occupy the seat - my own hair! If you have the guts, pull out a hair of the same length from any part of your body, and we'll leave!" The boy quickly left.

  Zheng Wei liked to sit in a seat close to the window, so she could occasionally look out the window and maybe catch a glimpse of that figure. Since classes were suspended, her course schedule had lost its purpose, and he was deliberately avoiding her, so she had to busy herself with reviewing, and for some time now, it had become increasingly difficult for her to track his whereabouts, leaving her only hoping for an unexpected encounter. The Mo Fei law states that when you dislike someone more and more, they will appear in front of you at all times, but when you want to see someone, you can't find them anywhere. Zheng Wei's distraction made the review effect not very good, fortunately, the university exam schedule was like a cat with constipation, one subject today, and another one after several days, she still had enough time to prepare, so when she finally rushed out with shining eyes after countless times of looking around, Ruan Ruan didn't even try to persuade her.

  She wouldn't misrecognize him, even if his figure was twisted into a knot she would still recognize him. She hastily chased after him, planning to sit next to him and give him a big scare. But as she approached the classroom, she saw that the door had "Exam Room" written on it in large letters, and inside, people were sitting neatly in rows. Only then did she realize that she had run into his exam time, and could only stand outside watching him enter the classroom with wide eyes.

  She sat beside Ruan for a while, but couldn't sit still. This time was different from usual, she had something important to tell him. If he slipped away again, who knows where she would have to find him next. She endured the discomfort for half an hour, worried that he would leave early after submitting his paper. So she packed up her things, told Ruan a word, and went straight to wait for him at the entrance of the examination hall.

  Chen Xiao Zheng never picked his seat during exams - at that time, the school's semester-end exams were simply divided into two exam rooms according to the students' odd or even student IDs, and then they would sit down in designated intervals. Of course, most people liked to occupy the positions in the teacher's blind spot as early as possible. However, seats near top students like Chen Xiao Zheng and Zeng Yu were also highly sought after. Chen Xiao Zheng deeply disliked those who were idle during normal times but tried to cheat their way through critical moments, so he would never do things like passing answers or intentionally placing his test paper in a conspicuous position. Although the semester-end exam was not a life-or-death hurdle, most of the time he would sit down in the seat prepared for him by familiar classmates, and as for whether they could peek during the exam process, that was up to fate - he just focused on completing his answers, checking them carefully, and then submitting his paper and leaving.

  This time, he had just finished the last question, and the boy sitting behind him took advantage of the teacher's distraction to poke his back with a pen. He frowned, ignoring it, but the guy didn't give up and poked again with increased force. He couldn't bear it anymore and turned around, ready to lash out, when he heard the boy whispering and pointing outside the window with his pen, saying "A Zheng, look who's outside?"

  The examination room was on the first floor, he looked out in confusion and almost immediately found the person who made his head ache the most. She was holding two books outside the examination room, walking back and forth, looking up at the sky one moment and then at the people passing by on the side of the road the next, obviously waiting for him. He silently wailed in his heart, having finally had a few days of peace, he was caught again by her, this guy wouldn't even let go of him during an exam.

  The invigilating teacher was in a state of dementia, but Chen Xiao Zheng had already given up the idea of handing in his paper. He no longer looked at her and instead focused on his own exam paper. The boy behind him, who seemed to be unaware of his surroundings, leaned forward and whispered, "Awesome, there's someone waiting for us after the exam, and she's so punctual. Girls from Jiangnan have great skin." Chen Xiao Zheng let out a faint hum through his nose, as if trying to refute the boy's vulgar gaze in his mind. His line of sight inadvertently glanced out the window again, where she was wearing a bright yellow top that day, an extremely eye-catching color he didn't like at all. However, when she wore it, her skin looked even whiter and more radiant, especially with her round face and plump cheeks, which seemed to be dripping with water. He suddenly had a vicious thought: if he pinched that deceiving face hard enough to make her cry out loud, how refreshing would that be? As if despising his own thoughts, he quickly adjusted his mindset - pinch her? He wouldn't even deign to look at her.

  "Didn't I tell you?" The humming noise came again from behind. Chen Xiao Zheng couldn't help but feel a wave of anger, how could there be such people, not working hard during normal times, and when the exam is about to end, still having ulterior motives, with eyesight that bad, it serves him right for failing the exam. He thought this way, his face turned even colder, unintentionally picking up the originally casually placed test paper, folding it in once more, and then ignoring the anxious hints from behind.

  Zheng Wei stood outside for a long time, and even counted the number of buds on the rose bushes in the flower bed next to her. Students had been coming out of the examination room one after another, but Chen Xiao was still sitting there, motionless as Mount Tai. She didn't know that he was deliberately teasing her, and the more she waited, the less likely he was to come out. Although he knew that no one could stay in the examination room after the two-hour exam time was up, it was good to torture her for another minute. It was rare to have a place outside of the men's bathroom where she didn't dare to enter, and her usual clinginess was really annoying. He glanced at her with his peripheral vision, kicked his leg, walked around the flower bed several times, and finally squatted down, boredly poking at the mud in the flower bed with a small stick. The number of students in the examination room was decreasing, and he had never wasted so much time inside after finishing his paper. At this point, he couldn't help but admit that this guy's persistence was indeed terrifying.

  The bell signaling the end of the exam finally rang, and Chen Xiao Zheng and the only other person left in the classroom had no choice but to leave the examination room. She was still crouching there, and from his angle, he could only see one side of her face. Although she looked strong like a monster, she was actually very thin, and when she crouched down, she became even smaller. He thought that since she had also heard the bell ring, he couldn't sneak away, so he might as well walk over to take a look at what she was doing, and incidentally study what kind of creature she was.

  As she lifted her head with a pitiful look, Chen Xiao was repeatedly reminding himself in his heart not to be deceived by the monster's appearance. "Why are you so bored? Aren't you preparing for the exam? There's plenty of time." He couldn't understand.

  "I have something to say to you." Her voice was softer than usual.

  "Come on, what are you squatting there for? Don't talk while walking, I'm in a hurry."

  She wanted to say something but stopped herself, and found that he had shown his usual cold and impatient expression again. She could only say embarrassedly, "I've been squatting for too long, my legs are numb."

  Chen Xiao Zheng let out a sigh towards the sky, and reluctantly stretched out one hand to her. She smiled and quickly grabbed his hand. He exerted some force, and she stood up with the momentum. Then he quickly flung her off, without saying anything, and walked forward by himself.

  Zheng Wei rubbed her calf while stumbling and chasing after him, "Chen Xiao Zheng, tomorrow is my birthday, I'll treat you to cake."

  He flatly refused, "No need."

  Zheng Wei wouldn't give in, grabbing his sleeve and shaking it non-stop, "Go go go, I'm only having one birthday, go go go, is that okay, go go go, go go go..."

  There were people looking over from the side of the road, Chen Xiao was made to blush all over her face by her, she rarely spoke in a low and humble tone, he also didn't dare to speak harshly to her, so he could only dodge and avoid her, but she stuck close again, still muttering like an incantation, "Go, go, at 8:30 tonight, I'll be waiting for you in front of the statue of Old Uncle Mao in the courtyard, no one else will be there, I'll just give you a piece of cake, absolutely won't do anything bad, and won't bother you, how many birthdays are there in a year? This is just my small wish, go, go..."

  He was annoyed beyond endurance and couldn't avoid it, so he warned her with a pointing finger, "That's enough, stop being so intimate in public, are you still a girl?"

  "Go go go, go go go...". She seemed to know only this one sentence.

  Chen Xiao Zheng felt like he was going crazy, and in order to end this terrible ordeal, he could only pretend, "I'll see if I have time, if I do, then I'll go..."

  "Really?" Her eyes lit up, "No backing out, okay."

  "Uh-huh." He waved his hand, "Just don't follow me anymore, stop following!"

  She was quite pleasant this time, and indeed didn't follow up again, only chasing after her to remind her, "Remember, 12:30, no see no scatter, the person who misses the appointment will get acne!"

  The next evening, Chen Xiao was in the classroom staring at a pile of review materials when he suddenly remembered Zheng Wei's appointment from yesterday. It was already 2:25. Would that guy really be waiting for him in front of Mao Yisheng's statue? She had always been cunning and it shouldn't just be about giving him a piece of cake - even if it were true, what could he do after going there? He couldn't possibly be with her, so why give her unnecessary hope? He thought to himself that he still had many places he hadn't reviewed yet, and many words he hadn't memorized. He didn't have time, really didn't have time.

  At half past nine, a thought flashed through her mind - what if he didn't come? No, she thought, even if he did come now, it would be time for him to leave.

  At 10:30, Chen Xiao Zheng ended his self-study on time, packed up his books and left. On his way back to the dormitory, he deliberately avoided the road that passed by Mao Yi Sheng's statue garden. When he arrived at the dormitory building, he suddenly thought, she was a stubborn person who wouldn't give up easily. What if she really was waiting for him somewhere? If he provoked her, his future days would be even more unbearable. And then there was her last curse from yesterday, Chen Xiao Zheng found it laughable. Only Zheng Wei could say such things, and of course, he wouldn't take it seriously. But what if he was jinxed by her unlucky words? He might as well go take a look, anyway she must have already left, and he would be back soon, so it wouldn't count as breaking his promise.

  He had never come to this small garden at night, and it was said that this was the holy land for dating people in the yard. As he walked across the lawn, he found himself a little nervous. With the dim white streetlights in front of the plastic statue, he saw the person sitting on the steps at a glance. She should have seen him too, but she didn't take the initiative to come over, so Chen Xiaozheng had to walk past with a hard scalp.

  "Are you here?" Her calmness made him inexplicably feel a chill in his heart.

  "Hmm." He didn't know what to say, "Waited for a long time? I said I'd come when I'm free."

  "It wasn't long, just two and a half hours, sitting there, it passed quickly, except for the mosquitoes." As she spoke, she stretched out her leg, clad in seven-eighth length jeans, towards him. Even in the dim light, he could see that the exposed section of her fair and tender calf was covered with tiny red marks.

  The more she remained calm and collected, the more he felt a sense of impending doom in his heart. Moreover, he discovered that he was overcome with a strange feeling of guilt, which prompted him to brush off the dust, sit down beside her on the step with a book as support, and say, "You're silly, knowing full well this place is infested with mosquitoes, yet you still wear those pants."

  Zheng Wei rolled her eyes and handed him the small box containing the cake, "You only know I'm foolish, knowing you won't keep your promise, yet still waited eagerly for a whole night."

  Chen Xiao Zheng wanted to emphasize that he wasn't saying he would come when he was free, nor was he promising to definitely come, but he didn't say it out loud because he discovered she had lowered her head, and through the scattered strands of hair, her eyes seemed to be shining with a hint of tears.

  Chen Xiao Zheng disliked tears, he thought that was just a futile and useless thing. People who cried were foolish and pitiful, he never thought that could move him. However, seeing the usually strong-willed Zheng Wei like this made him feel unprecedentedly at a loss. Had he turned a carefree and happy girl into this? He felt somewhat bewildered.

  It would be better for him to persuade her than to let him die, he sat with a headache and heard her say in a low voice, "Anyway, since you're here, you might as well have a bite of the cake."

  "Oh." He mechanically opened the box, picked up a piece with a small fork and put it in his mouth. It was too sweet, this taste made him at a loss, finally, before she shed a tear, he resignedly said, "Say it, how do you want me to be? As long as it's within my ability, just don't do this again, I'm not used to it."

  "What can I do? What can I do? You hate me so much..." Her voice changed tone.

  "Alas, don't... heaven! You'd better say what it takes to be done with this, as long as I can do it." He began to regret why he came.

  "You agreed so readily just now, but when the time comes, you'll go back on your word."

  "I will never regret."

  "Alright, this weekend on Saturday, we have to go to the Apricot Blossom Festival at Nanshan Park together."

  He was stunned in front of her smooth and swift reflection, suspiciously sizing up her face which was radiant with spring light for a moment, where was there any sign of being on the verge of tears? He couldn't help but regret it, he was really foolish, how did he not know that there were still wolves in spring...

  Until Chen Xiao Zheng stormed off in a huff, Zheng Wei finally stood up, patting her butt. She was angry, but she had said she wouldn't back down, and if he dared to go back on his word, she would dare to make things difficult for him. He wasn't a match for her in this fight. The ultimate strategy for capturing Chen Xiao Zheng's heart, step five: gaze even more pitifully, thicken your skin even further, and lengthen the bait - quickly vulgarize the relationship! Zhuge Kongming said, "Without using the 'bitter flesh plan', how can you deceive Cao Cao?" The ancients were indeed not deceiving me.

  However, Zhuge Liang did not remind them that after being bitten by countless mosquitoes for two and a half hours, it would be so itchy.

  So, on the night of her 19th birthday, she gave him a bewildered sweetness, and he gave her the longest wait since she could remember and a leg full of mosquito bites. Neither of them knew that they had given each other such feelings, nor did they know that everything was just beginning.