In the girls’ dormitory corridor, Lin Chu Xi walked back holding two bottles of soda water.
It’s the end of May, near the end of the semester, and the corridor was quiet with few people around.
The cute face of her roommate flashed through the girl’s mind, and she felt that something was different about her today.
In the past, when Lin Chu Xi said she played â—‹ again, Su Nuo would reply with, “Does it have anything to do with you?” or “So what if I play, it’s not like I’m playing with you.”
But today, she just lowered her head, looking ashamed and regretful.
What the heck is ‘occasional sage mode’…
As for suddenly talking about fixing computers, Lin Chu Xi was skeptical too, but just as she was about to ask, she got distracted by Su Nuo’s big white ball.
Lin Chu Xi wasn’t into girls (or so she thought).
Though she’d never dated a boyfriend, it was for other reasons…
Anyway, even if you’re a girl, seeing a pair of big white rabbits jump out up close would make you look away out of courtesy.
It was a bit strange, because after thinking about it, despite living in the same dormitory for three years, this was the first time she’d seen Su Nuo expose herself.
Why was that?
***
“See, am I right or not? Isn’t this a fanless graphics card?”
Su Nuo didn’t answer her.
Clearly, the unlucky kid had never heard of water-cooling cards, let alone liquid cooling.
At that moment, Lin Chu Xi returned, handing over a bottle of Wahaha Soda Water, and asked along the way, “How is it?”
“Looks fine on the surface,” Su Nuo took the water and countered, “What’s wrong with it?”
All the hardware was very new, almost no wear, and even the dust was minimal.
Su Xiao Nuo: “Are you really going to fix it?”
Two people, three voices.
Su Nuo almost couldn’t tell who was who.
“Sometimes it suddenly blue-screens and restarts for no reason,” Lin Chu Xi said, “Especially when opening certain games and software. It blue-screens as soon as it starts.”
Su Xiao Nuo: “Specs are too low, time to change computers.”
Su Nuo pointed at the water-cooling head: “What’s the CPU, 14900K?”
“Yes.”
With the confirmed answer, she instantly understood: “Most likely, it’s contracted.”
Lin Chu Xi was slightly stunned: “Con…tracted what?”
“Can you not be so crude when you talk,” Su Xiao Nuo huffed, “There’s a cute little girl like me listening in your head!”
“Sorry, I’m going to wash my hands. I’ll explain later.”
Su Nuo stood up, walked to the innermost bathroom in the dorm, closed the door, and looked at the cute face in the mirror, speaking each word clearly:
“If you say one more word before I finish fixing the computer, I’ll do that to you in my head. I mean it!”
“Eeek!”
This time, the world finally fell silent.
A minute later, Su Nuo came back with her phone and handed it to Lin Chu Xi:
“News from the hardware circle. Intel Processor issue caused by a process defect.”
After reading the news, Lin Chu Xi instantly felt a headache: “So it can’t be fixed?”
“Lower the frequency and use it,” Su Nuo gently patted the top of the case, “Connect it, and enter the bios.”
A repair couldn’t be simpler.
Compared to the tricky cases she encountered when working part-time at Computer City, this was much easier—just a few keyboard taps and mouse clicks did the trick.
“Okay, try using it normally.”
This time, Lin Chu Xi sat down, tried a few operations, and sure enough, the previous blue-screen issues didn’t appear again.
Su Nuo sat next to her, glancing at the sulking Su Xiao Nuo in her mind, and smiled slightly.
Poor girl, no money, huh?
Smelly outsider, huh?
Let me teach you a lesson today.
“Lin Chu Xi,” she asked, “When did you buy your computer?”
“End of last year.”
The last few months of last year.
Su Nuo did the math and said, “That must’ve cost over sixty thousand.”
At these words, Su Xiao Nuo in her head jumped up—so fast.
She wanted to say something, but was afraid Su Nuo would do that to her in her head, so she dared not speak, only making weird sounds like “Eh” and “Um”.
Meanwhile, Su Nuo pointed at the big case and started reciting the parts list:
“Creator God, thirty thousand.
Water-cooled Lionshield Dragon III, twenty-five thousand.
CPU14900K, fifty thousand.
Motherboard APEX, about one hundred thousand.
Graphics card 4090 ROG Matrix Hacker, three hundred thousand.
Power supply Leishen II, forty thousand.
The remaining memory, hard drive, and things like fans add up to just under one hundred thousand.”
Each item she listed was followed by a gulping sound in her mind.
Lin Chu Xi looked at her in surprise: “You’re a… hardware enthusiast too?”
“No, not enthusiastic,” Su Nuo suddenly stood up and walked toward her bed, “A bit tired, going to rest first.”
As soon as she climbed into bed, the finally-free Su Xiao Nuo couldn’t help but speak:
“How can you not be? You can totally be enthusiastic!”
Su Nuo pursed her lips and asked in her mind:
“How much did your laptop cost?”
“Over five thousand, why?”
“Brand premium was at least a third. Actual performance is under three thousand. You bought a computer like that, and you dare call yourself an enthusiast?”
That’s like claiming to be an athlete while leaning on a crutch—who would believe it?
Su Xiao Nuo was rendered speechless, stammering for a while before muttering softly:
“Enthusiast or not, it’s just a reason to get closer, why so strict…”
Su Nuo chuckled coldly: “Didn’t you used to say she didn’t matter?”
“That was all a misunderstanding before. Since you now have a sharp eye for heroes, it’s not too late to change your attitude.”
Su Xiao Nuo argued self-righteously, her core thought being that she hadn’t expected Lin Chu Xi to be so rich and was now planning to make her a target too.
“Then what about the rich big sister on weekends?”
Su Nuo asked, “Both sides?”
“It’s not impossible. If both work out, we can eat double portions!”
Perfect—one for the weekend, one for school days.
One in society, one on campus.
No conflict in time or space, see?
Su Nuo rolled her eyes: “Aren’t you afraid your fingers will eat double portions too?”
“Not afraid, it’s not like I’m the one eating… cough cough, I mean, we’ll face it together, and I’ll help you come up with ideas.”
Very touching words—pity they were blurted out early.
Out of adult caution, Su Nuo didn’t refuse outright: “We’ll talk about it later, sleep first.”
This body had just been through a lot, full of exhaustion, needing a sleep even deeper than playing â—‹.
Zzz
Su Xiao Nuo: “Wait for me, I’ll sleep too… snore…”
Under the bed, after confirming everything was working fine, Lin Chu Xi turned off the computer to avoid disturbing Su Nuo’s sleep.
After tidying up, she quietly climbed onto her own bed.
Both were on upper bunks, separated in the middle, gazing at each other from afar.
She looked at the cherry-haired girl’s peaceful sleeping face, a probing look in her eyes.
Under the thin summer blanket, a well-shaped curve rose and fell with her breathing, like the tip of an iceberg occasionally surfacing from the sea.
Su Nuo, just what kind of girl are you?
Three years living together, under the same roof, breathing the same air, hundreds of days and nights.
Yet it felt like she was only truly getting to know her today.
How many secrets is she still hiding?