June in Huizhou was as muggy as a giant, poorly sealed steamer basket.
A breeze blew in from the balcony, but it offered no relief from the heat, carrying only the scent of a plastic track baked hot by the sun.
The doors to dorm rooms 215 and 216 were both wide open, an attempt to catch a bit of a cross-breeze.
Across the hall in Room 216, a shirtless Chu Ge, a towel draped around his neck, was furiously hammering away at his keyboard. The keys clattered noisily, and code scrolled down the screen like a waterfall.
His forehead was beaded with sweat that trickled down his cheeks. Just as it was about to run into his eyes, he jerked a hand free and hastily wiped his face with the towel.
In Room 215, just across the hall, Chen Zhuo was sitting in his chair.
Holding a can of soda that was no longer cold, he wasn’t tense like Chu Ge. He was simply leaning back, relaxed, gazing at the French sycamore outside the window, which was starting to wilt in the sun.
Across from him, Wang Dayong sat on a small stool, slowly sanding a chunk of metal he’d picked up from some workshop.
Aside from the clatter of the keyboard and the rasp of sandpaper on metal, no one in the dorms on either side of the hall spoke.
This silence lasted for more than ten minutes.
CLACK.
The sound of an Enter key being slammed came from across the hall.
Chu Ge let out a long sigh, as if he’d just completed a massive project. He slumped back into his chair.
"Done."
Chu Ge muttered.
He snatched the thin "Gifted Youth Program Major Selection Form" from his desk, slipped on his flip-flops, and sauntered across the hall into Room 215.
Lu Jia followed him over from the room across the hall.
Holding the hardcover notebook she used for copying WhatsApp chat logs and her own major selection form, Lu Jia pulled over an empty chair from in front of Dayong’s desk and sat down primly. Pen in hand, she didn’t move for a long time.
Chu Ge slapped the form onto a corner of Chen Zhuo’s desk, picked up a ballpoint pen, and without a moment’s hesitation, wrote down his first choice.
Computer Science and Technology.
After writing, he tossed the pen on the desk, grabbed the water bottle he’d brought with him, and chugged more than half of the cool water inside.
Wang Dayong stopped sanding and looked up at him.
"All filled out?"
"All filled out."
Chu Ge wiped his mouth.
"What’s there to hesitate about? I’ve known what I wanted to do since my first day at Keda."
Wang Dayong gave a simple, honest smile.
"True. You’re a big boss worth a hundred grand now. If you’re not doing computers, what else would you do?"
Chu Ge waved his hand dismissively.
"Dayong, you can say that in the dorm, but don’t go shouting it around outside. Boss this, boss that... it’s just the final payment for some foundational architecture work."
Though he said that, the excitement in his eyes was impossible to hide.
He plopped down on the empty ladder next to him, turned to face the others in the room, and crossed his legs.
"Let me tell you guys, Wang Xing called me last night. After we got the database’s foundational layer running, their website’s concurrent traffic tripled without crashing. Now he wants to give me more funding to lead a team dedicated to back-end maintenance and upgrades."
At this, Chu Ge sighed and pointed to the hot computer case on his desk across the hall.
"But these crappy computers I have now don’t have nearly enough processing power. They’re fine for running small data sets, but if I want to build a large-scale distributed architecture, this junker case will start smoking in minutes."
Chu Ge pointed to the form he had just filled out.
"That’s why I have to get into the Department of Computer Science."
Chu Ge broke into a wide grin.
"The Department of Computer Science has the best server room on campus. It’s full of air-conditioned, temperature-controlled rooms, and they even have a few new mainframes. Once I’m in the department, with my skills, getting into the server room as an admin or a project assistant is a sure thing. And when that happens..."
Chu Ge lowered his voice as if sharing a trade secret.
"...I’ll sneak in at night to run my own side projects, borrowing some of the school’s computing power to support my database. It’s called ’making rational use of idle resources.’"
Wang Dayong was completely stunned.
"Isn’t that... taking advantage of the university?"
"Can you call it ’taking advantage’ when a scholar is involved?"
Chu Ge said self-righteously.
"It’s called the integration of industry, academia, and research."
Chen Zhuo sat by the window, quietly listening to Chu Ge’s grandstanding.
He took a sip of his soda, the warm, sweet flavor spreading through his mouth.
Chen Zhuo turned his head and looked at Chu Ge.
He didn’t pass any moral judgment on Chu Ge’s extremely pragmatic, almost mercenary logic.
On the contrary, he admired this frankness—knowing exactly what you want and unabashedly going after it.
Chen Zhuo tapped his fingers lightly on the rim of the soda can.
He looked at Chu Ge, the corners of his mouth slowly turning up in a faint smile.
"Sounds good."
Chen Zhuo’s voice was calm and even, with a gentle, casual tone.
Hearing Chen Zhuo’s approval, Chu Ge grew even more animated.
"Right, Brother Zhuo? You think my plan is flawless, don’t you?"
Chen Zhuo nodded.
"The plan’s not bad."
Chen Zhuo straightened up slightly, resting one hand on the armrest of his chair. A barely perceptible glint of mischief flashed in his eyes.
"However, Boss Chu."
Chen Zhuo deliberately stressed the word "Boss."
Chu Ge’s face stiffened, and he quickly waved his hands.
"No, no, no, Brother Zhuo. When you call me ’Boss,’ I get a chill down my spine. If you need something, just say the word."

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