In the blink of an eye, it was already Friday .

After finis.h.i.+ng her morning cla.s.ses and having a meal in the canteen, s.h.i.+ Yao took a look at the blinding sunlight outside and decided to wait until evening, when the sun had set, before heading back home .

As soon as she returned to her dormitory room, a new message arrived on her phone .

It was an invitation from asking her to play .

s.h.i.+ Yao wasn't tired, and she didn't feel an urge to take an afternoon nap . Seeing that there were still a few good hours before the weather was good enough for her to make the long journey back home, she decided to accept Mister Numbers' request . She logged into the game and entered the room he had shared with her .

Juice and Expert weren't around .

This was also something peculiar s.h.i.+ Yao had noticed . Recently, when they were playing, the two of them would often not be around . When she asked them about this in the group chat, they replied that they were busy revising for their exams .

So, when s.h.i.+ Yao plugged in her earphones, she casually asked, "Are Juice and Expert still busy revising?"

Mister Numbers replied with an "Un" before falling silent .

Even though the time they spent playing together had increased substantially as compared to before, Mister Numbers' reticent personality still remained the same as ever .

Nevertheless, there was still a significant improvement when compared to his completely shut-off att.i.tude stage in the past . At the very least, whenever he played with her nowadays, his microphone would be switched on . Even if they didn't chat with each other, they could still hear vague sounds from the other party's side .

When they were playing the third round, a feminine voice suddenly sounded from Mister Numbers' side, "I'll place the fruits here . "

Mister Numbers didn't respond to the remark, and the feminine voice didn't speak anymore either .

Solely because the word 'fruits' were spoken, s.h.i.+ Yao asked: "You're at home?"

: "Un . "

s.h.i.+ Yao: "Is the person who brought you fruits your mother?"

: "She's a maid in my house . "

s.h.i.+ Yao replied with an "Oh", and roughly five seconds later, she asked once more, "You live in Beijing?"

first replied with an "Un" before following up with a "Yeah, that's right" . As he spoke, he managed to kill a player in the game .

s.h.i.+ Yao casually remarked, "What a coincidence, I live in Beijing too, though my house is in the suburbs . What about you?"

reported a rough location .

s.h.i.+ Yao's eyebrows shot up in astonishment . Mister Numbers' house was actually in the vicinity of where Lin Jiage stayed too . . .

. . .

At roughly five o'clock, s.h.i.+ Yao went offline, and Lin Jiage didn't continue playing either .

He closed his eyes and rested for a while before getting on his laptop to continue his incomplete project .

At roughly seven o'clock, when the maid called for him to head down for dinner, he closed his laptop . As he headed down the stairs, he casually sent a message to s.h.i.+ Yao, asking: [Have you arrived home yet?]

There was no response from s.h.i.+ Yao, and he didn't pay any mind to it either .

After dinner, Lin Jiage went to the courtyard to take a quick stroll, and when he returned, he sent another message to s.h.i.+ Yao: [Have you finished eating yet? Play?]

There was still no response from s.h.i.+ Yao .

So, he switched on the TV and surfed through the channels in boredom for a while before whipping out his phone to send s.h.i.+ Yao another WeChat message: [Remember to call me to play after you're done with your work . ]

Still, there was no response from s.h.i.+ Yao's part .

At this point, Lin Jiage wasn't in the mood to find activities to fill in his time anymore . Thus, he logged onto the game, and he realized that s.h.i.+ Yao was actually online as well!

So, he sent s.h.i.+ Yao a message: [Pull me into your squad after you're done . ]

He didn't back out of the game but waited patiently until s.h.i.+ Yao was done with her game, and he proactively applied to join her squad .

It was a while before s.h.i.+ Yao finally accepted his request . He quickly put on his earpiece and greeted her with a casual "Hey" .

Following which, the microphone symbol lit up next to s.h.i.+ Yao's name, but what reached his ears was a male's voice instead: "Hey . "

 -The university is in Beijing, but when s.h.i.+ Yao asked the question, what she meant was whether he was a local in Beijing, or to be more exact, whether he had a hukou in Beijing . To give a very rough idea of what a hukou is, it's something like further citizens.h.i.+p within a country divided by your province . Those who have a hukou in Beijing will be able to reside permanently in Beijing and will be able to buy a house here, so on and so forth . On the other hand, those who don't have a hukou in Beijing are still able to enter Beijing, but they wouldn't be able to stay there for too long, and they might face problems getting a job, buying a house, and such .

In the blink of an eye, it was already Friday . After finis.h.i.+ng her morning cla.s.ses and having a meal in the canteen, s.h.i.+ Yao took a look at the blinding sunlight outside and decided to wait until evening, when the sun had set, before heading back home . As soon as she returned to her dormitory room, a new message arrived on her phone . It was an invitation from asking her to play . s.h.i.+ Yao wasnt tired, and she didnt feel an urge to take an afternoon nap . Seeing that there were still a few good hours before the weather was good enough for her to make the long journey back home, she decided to accept Mister Numbers request . She logged into the game and entered the room he had shared with her . Juice and Expert werent around . This was also something peculiar s.h.i.+ Yao had noticed . Recently, when they were playing, the two of them would often not be around . When she asked them about this in the group chat, they replied that they were busy revising for their exams . So, when s.h.i.+ Yao plugged in her earphones, she casually asked, Are Juice and Expert still busy revising? Mister Numbers replied with an Un before falling silent . Even though the time they spent playing together had increased substantially as compared to before, Mister Numbers reticent personality still remained the same as ever . Nevertheless, there was still a significant improvement when compared to his completely shut-off att.i.tude stage in the past . At the very least, whenever he played with her nowadays, his microphone would be switched on . Even if they didnt chat with each other, they could still hear vague sounds from the other partys side . When they were playing the third round, a feminine voice suddenly sounded from Mister Numbers side, Ill place the fruits here . Mister Numbers didnt respond to the remark, and the feminine voice didnt speak anymore either . Solely because the word fruits were spoken, s.h.i.+ Yao asked: Youre at home? : Un . s.h.i.+ Yao: Is the person who brought you fruits your mother? : Shes a maid in my house . s.h.i.+ Yao replied with an Oh, and roughly five seconds later, she asked once more, You live in Beijing? first replied with an Un before following up with a Yeah, thats right . As he spoke, he managed to kill a player in the game . s.h.i.+ Yao casually remarked, What a coincidence, I live in Beijing too, though my house is in the suburbs . What about you? reported a rough location . s.h.i.+ Yaos eyebrows shot up in astonishment . Mister Numbers house was actually in the vicinity of where Lin Jiage stayed too At roughly five oclock, s.h.i.+ Yao went offline, and Lin Jiage didnt continue playing either . He closed his eyes and rested for a while before getting on his laptop to continue his incomplete project . At roughly seven oclock, when the maid called for him to head down for dinner, he closed his laptop . As he headed down the stairs, he casually sent a message to s.h.i.+ Yao, asking: [Have you arrived home yet?] . There was no response from s.h.i.+ Yao, and he didnt pay any mind to it either . After dinner, Lin Jiage went to the courtyard to take a quick stroll, and when he returned, he sent another message to s.h.i.+ Yao: [Have you finished eating yet? Play?] There was still no response from s.h.i.+ Yao . So, he switched on the TV and surfed through the channels in boredom for a while before whipping out his phone to send s.h.i.+ Yao another WeChat message: [Remember to call me to play after youre done with your work . ] Still, there was no response from s.h.i.+ Yaos part . At this point, Lin Jiage wasnt in the mood to find activities to fill in his time anymore . Thus, he logged onto the game, and he realized that s.h.i.+ Yao was actually online as well! So, he sent s.h.i.+ Yao a message: [Pull me into your squad after youre done . ] He didnt back out of the game but waited patiently until s.h.i.+ Yao was done with her game, and he proactively applied to join her squad . It was a while before s.h.i.+ Yao finally accepted his request . He quickly put on his earpiece and greeted her with a casual Hey . Following which, the microphone symbol lit up next to s.h.i.+ Yaos name, but what reached his ears was a males voice instead: Hey .  -The university is in Beijing, but when s.h.i.+ Yao asked the question, what she meant was whether he was a local in Beijing, or to be more exact, whether he had a hukou in Beijing . To give a very rough idea of what a hukou is, its something like further citizens.h.i.+p within a country divided by your province . Those who have a hukou in Beijing will be able to reside permanently in Beijing and will be able to buy a house here, so on and so forth . On the other hand, those who dont have a hukou in Beijing are still able to enter Beijing, but they wouldnt be able to stay there for too long, and they might face problems getting a job, buying a house, and such .