The girl held the student ID and ID card that David Clark had insistently handed her. She didn’t look at them, still wearing a panicked expression, her beautiful eyes full of confusion and daze. In David Clark’s seasoned otaku opinion, she wasn’t the type of princess who could be trained into a tsundere queen, but rather suited to be the sweet girl-next-door. Although David Clark felt calm inside, he couldn’t help but sweat profusely on his face—partly because he’d been pedaling so hard, treating his bicycle like a Maserati GT, but mostly out of nervousness. He didn’t even dare wipe his sweat, afraid of scaring her or making her think he had ulterior motives.

The two of them stood facing each other for several minutes, with David Clark standing perfectly still, like that bronze statue next to the bus stop.

The girl finally snapped out of it, glanced at David Clark’s student ID, looking slightly surprised but also relieved. She broke into a smile through her tears, returned both IDs to David Clark, and gently wiped her tears in a ladylike manner, softly saying, “We’re from the same school and the same department.”

David Clark felt deeply embarrassed—he hadn’t even officially started classes yet and had already left such a terrible impression on a girl from his own department. Truly, he’d failed before even setting out. He forced an awkward smile, full of guilt. He’d thought he was the only “beast” on this street, so he’d acted a bit wild, not expecting to run into such a timid, well-behaved girl.

“It’s my fault for being so timid. I watched a lot of horror movies over summer break because my friends talked me into it. Today I just left a friend from the Second Military Medical University, wandered around and bought some books. I’m terrible with directions—thought I could find my way back, but ended up lost, waiting for a bus here. My mind was full of horror movie scenes, and then you showed up,” the girl said, blushing.

“Let me take you back, then. I’m pretty good on a bike—I could ride those big bikes since first grade,” David Clark volunteered.

The girl was clearly hesitating. Although she’d crossed David Clark off her list of suspected criminals, she’d never ridden on a boy’s bike before and felt it was a bit awkward and abrupt.

“Our department meeting starts at 7. Are you just going to keep waiting here?” David Clark said with a smile, finally feeling justified in wiping his sweat.

The girl nodded and followed him toward the bike. David Clark walked very slowly.

He let her sit on the back seat and rode slowly as well. His calculation and logical thinking skills had always been good, so he kept a steady pace that made the girl feel safe without needing to hold onto his waist. It took 24 minutes to get from here to the school. He didn’t think much of it—he’d been used to giving people rides on oversized bikes since he was a kid. Ben King loved it most when he took her biking around the southern part of Luannan County during summer break. That crazy, stunningly beautiful woman, aside from her wild personality, was always egging David Clark on to catch snakes and birds. So David Clark didn’t think there was anything improper about giving a girl a ride. But when they finally got back to school, the girl sitting behind him was clearly shy about the occasional glances that took them for a couple. For a pseudo-otaku like David Clark, who could amuse himself in his own world, he actually enjoyed that kind of attention.

“Thank you, I’ll get off here,” the girl said shyly, tugging gently at David Clark’s T-shirt, looking fresh and pure.

David Clark stopped the bike, scratched his head, didn’t say anything, and even forgot to ask her name. She didn’t say it either, and they parted ways just like that. They’d been silent the whole way. David Clark pursed his lips and headed back to the dorm. He had no intention of attending that stiff, formal speech by the department leaders. When he got back, Max Taylor and the other two had already gone to the teaching building. David Clark turned on his computer, habitually checking the stock market trends. With a wireless network card, he wasn’t worried about the freshman rules against bringing computers or opening ports.

He boiled some water, took a can of tea leaves from the drawer, grabbed a cup, and brewed a cup of Anxi Tieguanyin. He liked strong tea, had no addiction to coffee or cigarettes, but was quite hooked on tea. The tea can was ordinary, but the Anxi Tieguanyin inside, made by an old tea farmer, was something even Jack Clark coveted. It was a private stash from David Clark’s grandmother, the so-called Grandma Clark, and only David Clark enjoyed this privilege. The tea was top-quality and rare, but David Clark was careless with it—he’d just toss the leaves into a cheap supermarket mug and pour in boiling water, calling it done. At home, these little chores were always handled by that “fairy sister” who’d lived in the Zhao family for 27 years as a child bride, so David Clark had always been a rather unceremonious guy.

Drinking the premium Tieguanyin, he focused intently on the computer screen. It was hard to imagine that this was a guy who found complicated, headache-inducing financial derivatives as fascinating and arousing as adult film stars. Ben King once joked that options were the “official wife” of their family’s Alan, futures were the mistress, forwards were the lover, and swaps were the concubine.