Reborn not to be a beast of burden, I set the rules.

"Ye Ming," Xu Wei said.

Ye Ming turned to look at her.

Xu Wei pointed to the events on the screen: "Did you write this event database all by yourself?"

"Yes, mostly."

"How long will that take to write?"

Ye Ming thought for a moment: "I started filling it out before National Day. I had been thinking about it for a long time, and I wrote it quite quickly. There are probably more than two hundred entries now."

Xu Wei stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly said, "Let me fill it out for you."

Ye Ming was taken aback.

Before he could answer, Xu Wei had already dragged the keyboard over and created a new text document on the desktop.

"What's the format? Event name, condition, result... anything else?"

Ye Ming looked at her and remained silent for a second.

They are quite self-aware.

"There are templates." He opened a folder containing several pre-written example events.

Xu Wei leaned over to look, nodded, then minimized the window and created a new document of her own.

"I'll write my own, you go about yours."

After she finished speaking, she started typing on the keyboard.

The crackling sound echoed in the quiet computer room.

Ye Ming glanced at her, said nothing, and turned back to continue looking at the code.

After a while, Xu Wei finished typing and nudged Ye Ming's arm: "Take a look and see if this one will work."

Ye Ming leaned closer to look at the screen—

[Event] The boy you had a crush on in high school wrote you a love letter.

[Conditions] Appearance > 7, Intelligence < 5

[Result] Three years of sweet romance, broke up upon graduation, memories +20, stress +10.

He looked up at her.

Xu Wei blinked: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Ye Ming said, lowering his head. "This is fine."

Xu Wei smiled slightly and continued typing.

Over the next hour, she wrote down more than twenty incidents.

My college roommate plays video games late at night and it's so noisy I can't sleep.

"I was so nervous during my first interview that I couldn't speak."

"Having hit a career plateau after five years of work"

"Met a weirdo on a blind date"

I lost half a year's salary in the stock market.

……

After writing a few lines, she would nudge Ye Ming and show them to him.

After reading it, Ye Ming would occasionally say, "Let's adjust this trigger condition again," and occasionally nod and say, "Okay."

The two chatted back and forth, and time flew by.

The sunlight outside the window continued to slant westward, and the patches of light falling on the table grew fainter and fainter.

After finishing another message, Xu Wei stretched and rubbed her wrists.

"I'm exhausted," she said, her voice clear as spring water. "Don't your hands get sore from writing this every day?"

Ye Ming flexed his fingers: "I'm used to it."

Xu Wei stared at him for a while, then suddenly asked, "Ye Ming, why did you want to make this game?"

Ye Ming paused for a moment.

"Because... if life could be lived again, many people would want to try."

Xu Wei tilted her head and looked at him: "Do you want to start over too?"

Ye Ming did not answer.

I've started over, but I can't tell you.

Xu Wei waited a few seconds, but didn't get an answer, so she didn't ask any further questions.

She turned back, looked at the events she had written on the screen, remained silent for a moment, and then said softly, "I think you're pretty amazing."

Ye Ming turned to look at her.

Xu Wei didn't look at him, staring at the screen, her voice soft: "If you want to do something, just do it. Spending every day in the computer lab, studying those books you can't understand, trying and failing again and again... If it were me, I probably wouldn't have been able to stick with it."

Sunlight fell on her profile, and the shadows of her eyelashes trembled gently.

Ye Ming looked at her and remained silent for two seconds.

Is this girl's mouth all sweet?

Should I reciprocate?

"Thank you for helping me," he said.

Xu Wei paused for a moment, then turned her head.

Their eyes met.

Xu Wei's ears turned slightly red, and she quickly looked away.

"You're welcome," she said softly. "Anyway... I'm just killing time anyway."

She turned back and continued staring at the screen.

Ye Ming turned back and continued looking at the code.

The sunlight shifted a little further west, landing on the table between the two of them.

Time just slipped by little by little.

When Gu Zhengrong arrived at Dongda University, it was already past three o'clock.

The bus ride from the city center nearly shook him to pieces.

He thought to himself that he needed to learn to drive quickly, and once he did, he could drive the old Passat at home.

He arrived at the North Gate of Southeast University, got out of the car, and stood at the gate for a few seconds, stunned.

The school was too big; he didn't even know where to go.

He took out his phone and called Zhou Di, Xu Wei's best friend from high school and also his junior at Nanjing Audit University.

"Senior Gu?" Zhou Di's voice sounded a little surprised on the other end of the phone.

"Zhou Di, is Xu Wei at school today?"

"She should be here, right? She went out this morning and seemed to be back this afternoon."

Where does she usually go?

Zhou Di thought for a moment: "I wouldn't know about that..."

After hanging up the phone, Gu Zhengrong randomly picked a direction and started walking.

After walking for about ten minutes, he passed a dormitory building and saw a boy standing at the entrance.

The boy leaned against the wall, his backpack slung over one shoulder, one hand in his pocket, and the other holding an unlit cigarette.

He has well-defined eyebrows and eyes, and his features are even considered handsome, but there is a carefree and roguish air about him.

His mouth was habitually crooked, and when he looked at people, his eyes held a scrutinizing and appraising gaze, as if he were plotting something.

Gu Zhengrong walked over and was about to speak when the boy looked up.

"Who are you looking for?" The voice sounded a little lazy.

"Where are the Humanities Class 3 held?"

The boy didn't reply, but looked him up and down, then suddenly smiled: "Looking for Xu Wei?"

Gu Zhengrong's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't show it on his face.

The boy put the cigarette back in the pack and took a half step forward: "I share a dorm with Ye Ming. If you want to know something, ask me; I'll know the answer best."

He extended his hand: "Wang Chao."

Gu Zhengrong paused for a second, then grasped his hand: "Gu Zhengrong."

Wang Chao pointed west: "Ye Ming is in the computer room right now, in that gray building of the Computer Association. Xu Wei should be there too."

As he spoke, he suddenly lowered his voice and took a half step closer: "Gu Zhengrong, let me tell you something, Ye Ming isn't a good person. He seems honest on the surface, but he's actually quite adept at getting ahead, always flirting with girls. Some of his classmates already have boyfriends, but he's still sending them messages."

Gu Zhengrong frowned slightly.

It wasn't a matter of whether he believed these words or not, but rather that the way this person spoke made him uncomfortable.

That calculating tone, that shrewd glint in his eyes, it was as if he was testing something.

But he didn't show it, he just nodded and said, "Thank you."

Before Wang Chao could say anything more, Gu Zhengrong suddenly pulled out his phone: "Let's add each other on QQ."

Wang Chao was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up and he quickly took out his phone.

After adding each other as friends, Gu Zhengrong put her phone back in her pocket, said a brief goodbye to Wang Chao, and headed west.

After walking a few steps, he looked back.

Wang Chao didn't go upstairs. He leaned against the wall, head down, replying to messages, glancing at the road every now and then, as if waiting for someone.

Gu Zhengrong withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.

After walking for seven or eight minutes, I could see the gray building in the distance.

He didn't approach, but slowed down about twenty or thirty meters away from the server room, found a sturdy sycamore tree, and stood in its shade.

Through the window, he saw the situation inside the server room.

Two people.

Xu Wei sat in front of the computer, facing the window, her off-white cardigan standing out in the light.

She looked at the person next to her, a smile playing on her lips.

The person next to him was probably quite tall, with a straight posture and ordinary features.

As the two were talking, Xu Wei suddenly smiled, her eyes crinkling like sunshine.

Gu Zhengrong clenched his fists.

He stood there for a long time.

It was long before the sunlight moved out of the shade of the trees and fell on his shoulders.

He wanted to rush in, took a step forward, and then stopped.

No, going in now will only make Xu Wei more disgusted.

He took a deep breath, turned and left.

After walking a few steps, he looked back again and saw Xu Wei still smiling through the window.

He looked away and continued walking forward, his pace much slower than when he came.

As I reached the end of the path and was about to turn, a person walked towards me.

A girl.

She had long, flowing hair with the ends slightly curled up, fair skin, and cool, aloof eyes.

She walked slowly, her head down, as if she was thinking about something.

Gu Zhengrong paused for a moment.

The face emerged from the afternoon light and shadow, cool and gentle, like moonlight falling on frost.

The girl seemed to sense something, raised her eyes, and glanced at him.

Just one glance.

It was indifferent, devoid of any emotion.

Then she lowered her eyes and walked past him sideways.

A faint, delicate fragrance wafted by.

Gu Zhengrong stood there, stunned for a few seconds.

He turned around and watched her figure disappear at the end of the road.

After a long while, he finally came to his senses and muttered, "Are all the girls at Tokyo University this high-quality?"