We agreed not to date, so why are you crying now that I've become the richest man?

Ye Chen pushed open the door to dormitory 417, and a wrinkled shirt came into view.

Sun Haoyu stood shirtless in front of Lu Wenbo's bed, holding up his shirt to his body.

Chen Zhiqiang sat below, occasionally offering a serious comment.

"This makes you look slimmer."

"The collar is a little wrinkled."

The National Day holiday is over, and 417 has finally been reunited.

"Old Ye is back!"

Sun Haoyu casually tossed his shirt onto the bed and quickly approached.

"Old Lu was just saying whether we should call you; we were discussing where to go for a meal tonight."

Ye Chen hung his shoulder bag on the headboard and pulled over a chair to sit down.

"There's no need to discuss it anymore."

He gestured with his chin toward the door, laughing heartily.

"It's my treat today, Fatty's food stall on the back street, order whatever you like."

"The boss is so generous!"

Sun Haoyu immediately cheered and turned around to put on his clothes.

Lu Wenbo smiled and patted Chen Zhiqiang on the shoulder.

"Let's go, let's try to bankrupt Old Ye today."

Ye Chen was amused.

"You three eat as much as you want. You'll be the ones who make me go bankrupt."

A dozen minutes later, the four of them walked out of the school gate arm in arm.

Fatty's food stall is still doing booming business.

The sounds of stir-frying and shouting mingled together, and the air was filled with the aroma of cumin and chili.

The four of them found an empty table in the corner, passed the menu around, ordered a few main dishes, and brought over a case of ice-cold beer.

The food and drinks were served, and the four glasses clinked together.

After a few drinks, Lu Wenbo seemed to suddenly remember something and pointed at Ye Chen with his chopsticks.

"By the way, Lao Ye, Director Xu said today that you developed some kind of 'computer room resource management program'? What exactly is this all about? Why didn't you mention it at all in the dorm before?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhiqiang, who was eating lamb skewers, and Sun Haoyu, who was about to pour drinks, were both stunned and looked over at each other.

"We're all freshmen, and military training just ended. We can't even write basic C code yet, so how come you can build such a complete system?"

At this point, Lu Wenbo sighed, half with emotion and half with a joke, and shook his head.

"And from now on, you'll be the most special one in our class. Zhao Qiang won't be able to get your attendance card anymore."

Ye Chen smiled, raised his glass and clinked it against Lu Wenbo's, then spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Do you remember the time I skipped class before the holiday?"

Upon hearing this, the other three exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

They thought Ye Chen was going to be in big trouble that time, but he came back as if nothing had happened.

"Professor Zhou called me into his office at the time." Ye Chen took a sip of wine, his tone casual. "The old professor didn't give me a demerit directly, but used this as a test question, which was a special test for me."

He paused, then added casually.

"I rebuilt the original system and made some underlying optimizations and improvements. After Professor Zhou reviewed it, I was finally able to get away with skipping class."

After hearing this, there was a two-second silence on the table.

Sun Haoyu gasped, his hand holding the bottle stopping in his tracks.

"Using an independently developed system as a get-out-of-jail-free card for skipping class... Old Ye, that's too much!"

"Cheers! Cheers! Boss, you're carrying us!" Lu Wenbo quickly raised his glass in agreement.

Seeing Ye Chen accomplish such a great feat without making a sound, Sun Haoyu's desire to show off was also aroused.

Everyone is making progress, so I can't fall behind.

So the conversation naturally turned to the girl.

Sun Haoyu put down his wine glass, took out his Nokia phone, and slammed it onto the middle of the table.

He couldn't hide the smugness on his face.

"Brothers, to be honest, I didn't waste my seven-day National Day holiday."

Sun Haoyu cleared his throat and leaned forward.

"Li Meng and I talked for six and a half days straight!"

"Except when she's sleeping, we've basically never stopped communicating."

He patted his chest, exuding an air of heroic pride.

"At this rate, I'll definitely win her over before the end of this semester!"

Lu Wenbo was peeling peanuts without even lifting his eyelids.

Forget it.

"It's already a good thing if they even bother to talk to you."

"Why don't you believe me!"

Sun Haoyu immediately became anxious.

He turned on his phone and skillfully accessed his text message inbox.

"If you don't believe me, look for yourselves; we have the chat history!"

The phone was handed to Chen Zhiqiang first.

Lu Wenbo flipped through a few messages, his expression gradually becoming strange, before silently handing the document to Ye Chen.

Ye Chen leaned back in his chair and took the phone with one hand.

Nokia's screens were small, so a long text message could take several pages to read.

He scrolled up a few times using the arrow keys and quickly figured out the pattern.

The chat history was indeed very long.

However, most of the output was from Li Meng.

Staying on campus during the National Day holiday, most of the cafeterias were closed, making it inconvenient to get food.

My roommates have all gone home, and I'm a little scared to be alone in the dorm at night.

While browsing Renren.com, she saw other people going on trips, while she could only lie in bed watching TV dramas, getting more and more bored.

Sun Haoyu replied to every single message.

It can be as few as a few dozen words or as many as a whole page.

He also interspersed jokes and anecdotes that he had painstakingly found, for fear of upsetting the other person.

Li Meng's replies, however, were quite consistent.

"Ha ha."

"Uh-huh."

"You understand me best."

Then it was quiet for a few hours.

When the next problem arises, a new round of venting begins.

Ye Chen pushed the phone back and pulled out a tissue to wipe his hands.

"Is this what you call flirting and scheming?"

Sun Haoyu was stunned for a moment, then quickly took his phone back.

"What's it called?"

"She said I'm the one who understands her best!"

"This is at best a free emotional dumping ground."

Ye Chen picked up his glass, took a sip of beer, and slowly added insult to injury.

"To put it nicely, you're a 24/7 chat customer service representative, plus a fully automated like-giving machine."

Sun Haoyu's smug expression froze on the spot.

Lu Wenbo stopped peeling the peanuts and eagerly came over.

Ye Chen put down his cup and extended one finger.

"The first question."

"During those six and a half days, did she ever proactively ask you what you were doing during the National Day holiday?"

"Did the two of them go out to eat together, or even ask you if you've eaten or how you're feeling?"

Sun Haoyu looked down and started scrolling through the text messages.

The more he flipped through it, the more his expression changed.

Chen Zhiqiang also leaned over to take a look and whispered a comment.

"It seems... there really isn't."

Sun Haoyu's lips twitched.

Ye Chen then extended his second finger.

"The second question."

"Every time she throws a tantrum, you spend a long time writing a long paragraph to comfort her."

After she replied with "haha," did she ignore you for a long time?

Sun Haoyu nodded with difficulty.

"Yes."

"That's right."

Ye Chen leaned back in his chair, his tone still relaxed.

"Based on the chat history over these six days, she doesn't dislike you, but it's not to the point of being ambiguous either."

"She's using you as an outlet for her emotions right now."

"When I'm feeling down, I come to you. After I've vented, I naturally go do something else."

Ye Chen shrugged.

"It's perfect that you're always available, reply quickly, and can even tell her jokes and offer her some advice."

"If I don't go to you, who else should I go to?"

There was a two-second silence at the table.

Sun Haoyu was still somewhat unwilling to give up.

"But she said that I understand her best."

Ye Chen glanced at him.

"That proves you really provided good service."

"But this isn't about dating."

"puff……"

Lu Wenbo was the first to burst out laughing, slapping the table.

Chen Zhiqiang quickly lowered his head, but his shoulders were trembling, and his ears turned red from holding back his sobs.

Sun Haoyu's defenses were completely breached.

Looking at the row of "haha" and "uh-huh" on the screen, he suddenly felt that the lamb skewers in his hand didn't taste good anymore.

"Old Ye, you've got a really sharp tongue."

Sun Haoyu angrily shoved his phone back into his pocket, picked up his glass of wine, and took a big gulp.

"drink wine!"

"I'll get angry at anyone who mentions customer service to me tonight!"

The glasses clinked together again.

Lu Wenbo laughed so hard he slapped the table, and Chen Zhiqiang couldn't help but join in the commotion.

The food stall was noisy, but the laughter from table 417 was still particularly clear.

Just then.

Ye Chen's phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.