A jar of mint leaves (Part 1)
He Yinxin stood at the entrance of Huaxing University Library, wearing another cream-colored scarf, his slightly curly hair neatly styled before he left.
A gentle spring breeze brushed across his forehead, revealing his smooth brow.
His gaze remained fixed on the path leading to the library entrance until that familiar figure came into view.
Jiang Yichun, wearing a white cotton-padded jacket and jeans, strode towards him with a backpack.
She wore her hair in a bun today, which made her features stand out even more.
He Yinxin always felt that she had a dignified and graceful appearance, with a hint of stubbornness in her eyes.
He looked at her face, at the bun on her head, his thoughts wandering, until Jiang Yichun stood in front of him and met his gaze.
He Yinxin's heart skipped a beat. He turned his head and said, "Jiang, Xiaochun, good afternoon."
Jiang Yichun stood still, her fingertips twirling in her falling black hair: "Senior He, oh no, Lao He, good afternoon."
An eerie silence fell between the two.
He Yinxin coughed lightly: "Then Xiaochun, let's... let's go to the library for tutoring."
He lifted his leg, turned to leave, and kept glancing at the girl in front of him out of the corner of his eye.
Jiang Yichun reached out, but stopped in mid-air just as he was about to grab the corner of his clothes: "Wait, Lao He."
He Yinxin turned around, her voice trembling, "Is there anything else?"
His fingertips were tugging at the strap of his backpack, where several blue veins bulged.
His heart pounded even faster when he thought of his alternate account.
She won't...
Jiang Yichun took a small step back, pulled a small jar from his pocket, and waved it at him:
"This is mint. My dad grew it, dried it, and then sent it over."
"These dried mints can be used to make tea."
"That old man said this stuff is good for your mind, I think..."
She looked up, her gaze falling on the dark circles under He Yinxin's eyes: "Old He, you'll find this useful. After all, I imagine you're always staying up late."
He Yinxin pulled her scarf up, took a deep breath, and tried her best to control the surging emotions in her heart before taking the small jar of mint.
His voice was a little hoarse: "Thank you, Xiaochun."
"I...really like this gift."
When he took the jar, their fingertips touched for a fleeting moment.
She didn't pull her hand away as if she'd been electrocuted; her fingertips holding the bottle trembled slightly, and her ears turned a little red.
"I'm glad I like it. My dad also told me to give my friends more thoughtful gifts. He planted mint for me so that every time I drink mint water, I'll think of the taste of home and think of home." Jiang Yichun withdrew his hand, his fingertips rubbing against his side.
She subconsciously recounted bits and pieces of her family life.
Upon seeing so many of her subtle movements, He Yinxin's sophisticated brain momentarily shut down, and she subconsciously asked, "Then your father must be a very good father, right?"
Jiang Yichun pursed his lips and sighed, "I don't know. Maybe."
He Yinxin noticed a strange emotion stirring in her eyes, which had previously held a hint of stubbornness. He twitched his lips but said nothing.
Silence fell between them again.
"Hey, isn't this Jiang Yichun? What's up, here to study at the library?" A woman's voice, tinged with laughter, rang out beside the two of them.
"Ah, isn't this the incredibly outstanding graduate student, He Yinxin?"
The woman's voice became shrill.
Jiang Yichun turned his head, his face still flushed, and saw a girl with phoenix eyes looking at the two of them.
“Qiao Maizi?” She frowned, as if she had seen a wild cat pouncing at her.
Qiao Maizi snorted coldly: "Hmm, so surprised that the top student in the major is seeing the second-best student?"
"They're all bookworms who spend all their time in the library, what are they pretending to be relaxed about? And they're still pulling and tugging at He Yinxin here."
"If you can't even outperform me in the exams and can't get into A University, you might as well marry him."
"It's a perfect ending for a romance novel."
"No! We're just friends!" The two were completely stunned by Qiao Maizi's earth-shattering statement.
Both of them blushed and spoke in unison.
"Oh, just be a friend? Just a regular friend." Qiao Maizi chuckled.
"Ha, Jiang Yichun, don't be in a hurry. I'm not interested in He Yinxin. I'm only interested in you... You wait, by the end of this semester, I'll be ahead of you."
"It's right in front of you, openly and honestly."
She took a step toward Jiang Yichun and pointed at the coffee vending machine behind him: "So, in order to keep your number one spot, could you please stop standing at the library entrance? You're blocking my way from buying coffee!"
Jiang Yichun met her assertive phoenix eyes and turned away, saying, "Oh, sorry."
"There are so many coffees on this shelf, there's no need to specifically pick one to buy."
Qiao Maizi strode past her, raised her chin and glanced at her: "You really like having other people pay for your coffee."
Her gaze fell on He Yinxin: "But I'm not afraid, Jiang Yichun, we'll see."
"She says she won't get close to men, but doesn't she still end up hooking up with one?"
"You rely on men, I rely on myself."
"What?!" Jiang Yichun's face turned bright red. She strode over and glared at Qiao Maizi. "You're twenty years old already, can you stop acting like a middle school student?"
"The postgraduate recommendation system is not like the college entrance examination. It is not a zero-sum game or a life-or-death struggle. It can be mutually beneficial!"
Seeing Qiao Maizi's increasingly stiff expression, Jiang Yichun continued:
"I, Jiang Yichun, achieved my GPA in my first three years of university entirely on my own merits; I never relied on anyone else!"
She pointed to the boy behind her: "I only recently met Lao He, I just asked him for help!"
"No matter what the future holds, at least we're still friends now."
He Yinxin was taken aback. He pushed up his glasses, his blood boiling, and seized the opportunity between the two to interject a sentence:
"Yes. Humans are social animals; they cannot exist outside of their social relationships. Humans are never isolated individuals."
"Well?"
"ah?"
The tension between the two was completely dispelled by his illogical philosophical remarks.
Qiao Maizi laughed first: "Jiang Yichun, forget it, I really believe you now."
"You'd be a genius if you could actually date someone like that."
She laughed heartily, her twin ponytails trembling with each laugh.
Qiao Maizi waved her hand, picked up her canned coffee, and strode into the library: "Alright, alright, you and your BBK e-reader genius can keep arguing, I'm going to study."
Jiang Yichun watched helplessly as Qiao Maizi disappeared into the library entrance.
She turned her head and met He Yinxin's eyes.
Most of his face was covered by a scarf, and the upper half of his face was also covered by glasses.
His eyes quickly looked away the moment they met hers.
"Was what I just did... strange?"
His brows furrowed slightly, like a child who had done something wrong.
Jiang Yichun's lips twitched, and he smiled as well: "Hmm, it is a bit strange. But... thank you."
"It was a lucky accident that I was able to use this philosophical approach to stop her from bothering me."
He Yinxin nodded, her voice coming from under her scarf, becoming lighter: "Okay. Then, let's go in. We wasted some time at the door."
Jiang Yichun still had a smile on his face: "Okay, let's go."
She raised her hand, reaching for the hem of his shirt, but withdrew it just before touching him.
Her racing heartbeat surged again, and she froze on the spot.
How could I...
He Yinxin stopped halfway through his turn, glanced at her, and his hand trembled: "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, hehe." Jiang Yichun forced a smile.
The two walked in silence into the public library.
Unable to book a study room in the library, the two had to make do in a public library.
Although they couldn't communicate face-to-face, this little problem was no challenge for Jiang Yichun's clever mind.
She decided to communicate with He Yinxin via text message on her phone, and would send him messages whenever she had a problem.
He Yinxin provided Jiang Yichun with a research topic to train her ability to find and analyze data.
Jiang Yichun accepted the task and began searching for data on the computer screen in front of him.
The data search process was smooth; she quickly found the data she wanted from public websites and databases and downloaded it all.
She imported the data into the software and started typing code into the input boxes.
However, the sheer volume of code made her dizzy, and what was even more terrifying was that the software had no undo button.
If you type one wrong code, you have to start all over again.
After struggling for a while, she raised her head and looked at He Yinxin sitting in front of her.
His eyes were fixed on the computer screen, while he rubbed the desktop with one hand.
She knew she could easily find the answer using a search engine, but she just wanted to ask him a couple of questions.
This AI tool is a must-have.
Everything's easy: [Hey He, Hey, why is this Stata input box so complicated? How do I open a .do file?]
. : [doedit]
This is code.
Jiang Yichun entered the code as instructed, and sure enough, a blank screen appeared.
She can enter other required codes in the interface.
Everything was easy: [Thanks, Lao He! It worked!]
You're welcome. But you can find this kind of code online.
[Link: xxx]
These are the basic code operations I've compiled and posted online; you can use them as a reference.
Feel free to ask me if you have any questions about data debugging, but it's best to learn these basic things on your own.
Jiang Yichun's eyes lit up. He clicked on the link and casually copied all the code he had compiled into his Word document.
Everything was easy: [Thank you, Lao He!]
Don't worry, I'll try out the data I found online first, analyze it as you suggested, and then contact you again if there are any problems.
She casually sent a bunny making a heart shape emoji.
He Yinxin looked up and stole a glance at the smile on her face; the corners of his mouth also unconsciously turned up.
He lowered his head and continued searching for data on his thesis topic online.
However, the scuffle at the library entrance and that jar of mint leaves that smelled of her hometown still lingered in his mind.
He Yinxin tried her best to calm her inexplicably rapid heartbeat, gritted her teeth, and worked even harder to search for data in the database and to look through papers similar to her research topic.
His fingertips lightly tapped on the keyboard, and before he knew it, he had typed "mint" into the search box.
On a whim, he pressed the search button.
Many papers related to "mint" quickly popped up on the page.
His gaze swept over the documents, and then a surge of heat rushed to his brain:
What am I doing?
He thought this, but his body said otherwise.
His fingertips trembled as he opened a document.
[...The meaning of mint flowers: I wish to meet you again.]
The electric shock sensation traveled from his fingertips to his entire body.
He had already placed the scarf on the chair to the side, and could only cover his mouth to suppress the ever-growing corners of his mouth and his flushed cheeks.
Reunion, a reunion once again.
Xiaochun, we really do keep getting together.
His mind went blank, and the details of his time with her flashed through his mind.
Until the computer displayed a message.
Everything was easy: "Old He, I'm thirsty, go get me some water."
He Yinxin looked up at her. She was standing up, and two mint leaves were floating in the transparent glass.
His eyes darkened, and he stood up, meeting her gaze.
He said to her silently, "I'll join you too."
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