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

Ruan Xing returned to her dormitory, washed up in the dark, and lay down on her bed.

Xu Wei was still awake. She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. The dormitory was quiet.

Her mind was still replaying what had just happened. Ye Ming kept his head down, typing away at his code, without looking at her.

She stood next to him, and he didn't even notice. She left, and he didn't even realize it.

She knew she shouldn't have done that.

He's busy, and she knows that perfectly well.

But if he spends all his time in the computer lab, does that mean she has to do the same every day?

She always initiates contact with him, and she always speaks first. When he's not busy, he never seems to say anything.

She remembered that when she left, she paused for a moment as she passed by him.

What was she thinking? Did she want him to look up at her? Did she want him to say "wait a minute"? Or did she want him to realize she was gone?

She didn't know. All she knew was that she didn't call out to him, and he didn't look at her.

She took out her phone and scrolled to Ye Ming's chat window.

It was blank; there was nothing there.

She typed a line, stared at it for a few seconds, and then deleted it.

I typed another line, but it felt like I was giving a work report, so I deleted it.

She rolled over and placed her phone face down on the pillow. Never mind, I won't send it.

A few seconds later, he flipped it over again and stared at the screen.

One moment, the image of the girl in the white dress, as pure and aloof as snow, flashed through my mind, and the next, Lin Zhixia's words flashed through my mind: "Aren't you going to say hello to him?"

Xu Wei bit her lip and started typing again.

"I left early today and didn't have time to tell you. The manuscript is finished, and I sent it to Brother Zhang Yuan for testing. Get some sleep."

After sending the message, she put her phone next to her pillow, her heart beating a little fast.

A few minutes later, the screen lit up. She picked it up and saw that Ye Ming had replied with a single word: "Hmm."

She stared at the word for a few seconds, then turned her phone face down. The unease she felt then seemed to intensify.

She placed her phone on the bedside table, turned over, closed her eyes, and didn't hear the phone suddenly vibrate.

Ye Ming returned to his dorm room, sat on his bed, and took out his phone. Three unread messages.

He stared at Xu Wei's post for a few seconds. He hadn't noticed it when she left today.

After reviewing the manuscript for a whole day, she sent it to Zhang Yuan and then left alone.

He replied with an "Mm". After thinking for a moment, he added, "You've been working hard lately."

Why do my hands always seem to have their own ideas?

Shen Zhiyi asked, "Did you apply the ointment?" He replied, "Yes. Thank you for your concern."

Ruan Xing's question: "Of the points I wrote today, which one do you think is the best?"

He replied, "The 'Heiress' series is all good."

After replying, he leaned against the headboard and mentally reviewed the expenses of the past few days.

I can't help but sigh at how quickly money flows into starting a business. After buying computers, servers, Li Yue and Zhang Yuan's salaries, domain names, and UI design, our savings are almost gone.

I still need to pay the article fee for writing about the event, and I also need to settle accounts with Lin Ting for the UI design.

Before the game was released, it was basically all there was left.

He placed his phone beside his pillow and closed his eyes.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains and fell on the edge of the bed.

In the School of Information Science and Technology's laboratory, Shen Zhiyi was debugging the SEP6200 development board.

The power indicator light is on, and the data in the serial port debugging assistant is still being refreshed, all showing memory initialization failure errors.

She modified a few register parameters according to the datasheet, recompiled, flashed the firmware, and powered it on. The serial port assistant was silent for two seconds, then a line of text popped up: Starting kernel... The screen lit up.

The next day, Xu Wei was woken up by the sunlight.

The curtains weren't fully drawn, and a ray of light squeezed in through the gap, landing right on her eyelids.

She rolled over, buried her face in the pillow, then rolled back over a few seconds later, staring at the ceiling.

I didn't sleep well last night; my mind was filled with all sorts of chaotic images.

A white dress brushed past me in the corridor.

The lemon tea on the table.

The red mark on Ye Ming's neck when he was typing code.

And then there was the message she sent, and his reply with just a simple "Mmm." Just one word.

She reached for her phone on the pillow, and the screen lit up.

Ye Ming's chat window was still open, so she scrolled up.

Her last message: "I left early today and didn't have time to tell you. The manuscript is finished, and I sent it to Brother Zhang Yuan for testing. Get some sleep."

His reply was: "Mm".

She stared at the word for two seconds, and was about to close the phone when she suddenly noticed there was another message below it.

"You've been working hard lately."

She froze for a moment.

Scrolling up, I saw that the message was sent about a minute later than her "hmm".

She stared at those four words for a long time.

"You've been working hard lately." It's not "I know" or "Okay," it's "You've been working hard lately."

She couldn't quite describe the feeling, but the tightness in her heart felt like something had gently poked it, creating a small opening that eased the tension.

You do have some conscience.

She hugged her phone to her chest, turned over, and smiled slightly.

Then she remembered that white dress. Her smile returned.

She sat up in bed, and sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, falling at her feet.

She glanced at the clothes hanging on the back of the chair—a light pink cardigan, the one she wore yesterday.

She reached out and picked it up, then put it down again.

I don't want to wear that.

She pulled a loose gray sweatshirt from the closet, put it on, and casually tied her long, wavy hair into a ponytail.

Her hair was curly and sticking up, all messy and tousled.

The person in the mirror looked a bit listless, with faint dark circles under their eyes.

She glanced at herself in the mirror, then turned and left.

Lin Zhixia had finished washing up and was sitting on the edge of the bed tying her shoelaces.

"So early?" She looked up at Xu Wei. "Going to the computer lab?"

"Um."

"Wait for me." Lin Zhixia stood up, picked up her schoolbag, and said, "Let's go together."

The two went downstairs together.

As Ruan Xing approached the dormitory building entrance, she jogged over from the other side.

She was carrying a plastic bag containing several steamed buns, and steam was rising from the bag.

"Sister Xu Wei! Zhi Xia!" she gasped, "Are you going to the computer lab too?"

"You bought so many steamed buns?" Lin Zhixia glanced at the bag in her hand.

"I brought these for everyone," Ruan Xing said with a grin. "I was worried the people in the computer room hadn't eaten breakfast."

She glanced at Xu Wei, then looked at her again, and asked softly, "Sister Xu Wei, you have some dark circles under your eyes. Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Before Xu Wei could speak, Ruan Xing had already handed her the bag: "Have a steamed bun, it's hot."

Xu Wei paused for a moment, then took it: "Thank you."

The three of them walked towards the cafeteria together.

Ruan Xing walked beside her, a steamed bun in her mouth, her words mumbled but never stopping: "I wrote a lot yesterday, and Ye Ming said it could be developed into a series called the 'Heiress Series.' Do you think he named it that way on purpose?"

Xu Wei took a bite of her steamed bun without saying a word. Lin Zhixia smiled and said, "The 'rich girl' type? That requires a very wealthy family."

"That's right!" Ruan Xing said with a grin, not feeling anything was wrong. "What I wrote was about my family: traveling to Paris, the aunt who collects rent, the small terrace of the old house. Ye Ming read it and said, 'The conditions are well set.'"

Xu Wei listened, finished her steamed bun, and drank a few sips of soy milk.

Ruan Xing added, "However, he saved my contact information for that scammer's story as 'Ruan Xing,' and I don't know what that means."

Xu Wei threw the soy milk cup into the trash can and wiped her hands: "Maybe they think you write well."

"Really?" Ruan Xing's eyes lit up. "Sister Xu Wei, you saw it?"

"I've seen it."

Ruan Xing smiled, her eyes crinkling, and took another bite of the steamed bun.