The next day, he went to find Chen Ziheng. He and Chen Ziheng had disliked each other for many years. The other guy looked down on his frivolous lifestyle, and he thought this guy, who got into the university through his own efforts in the college entrance exams, was ridiculously arrogant and loved to put on airs.

Their meetings were never pleasant. But because they had to get along when Xing Ji came back for winter and summer breaks, they still showed each other some basic courtesy.

Chen Ziheng arranged to meet him at the business school's academic building. When he came out, he was still carrying that shabby laptop of his, looking at a PowerPoint. “What do you want? Let me be clear, if you failed an exam or something, I can't help you.”

Cheng Shuo rolled his eyes: “I've never failed.”

Chen Ziheng showed a surprised expression: “Oh, who would've thought.”

Normally, they would have started bickering, but Cheng Shuo couldn't be bothered to argue with him right now. “I want you to help me look up a student's information.”

“Digging up dirt on people to get revenge is illegal,” Chen Ziheng said.

“Am I that unscrupulous?” Cheng Shuo sneered. “It's always others getting revenge on me because they think I stole their partners, okay?”

“So you do know.”

“I'm not going to argue with you.” Cheng Shuo took a deep breath.

His calmness surprised Chen Ziheng.

He closed the PowerPoint, adjusted his glasses, and became a little serious: “I need to know why.”

“I want to get to know someone,” Cheng Shuo said.

“Who have you set your sights on now?”

“It's not about setting my sights on anyone. I want to help someone, but this person doesn't say a word about his own life, I don't know his friends, and I don't have that much time to pry his mouth open.”

Chen Ziheng paused. “Not that much time?”

“Don't ask so many questions.” Cheng Shuo handed him the coffee he had just bought. “Please, help me out.”

Seeing this rare display of politeness, Chen Ziheng also became a bit more serious and said, “Go ahead, I might know them.”

“Cen Zeng from the School of Medicine, do you know him? The ‘Cen’ is composed of ‘mountain’ and ‘present,’ and the ‘Zeng’ is from the word ‘increase’.”

Chen Ziheng was silent for a moment.

“The name sounds vaguely familiar. His name was on the application lists for the national student aid scholarship and their school's scholarship. The Student Council usually coordinates with the departments to publicize the results.”

“That's it? Which department is he in?”

Chen Ziheng opened the database, typed, and said, “Clinical Medicine, five-year program. He applied for the eight-year doctoral program, a joint project with our Affiliated Hospital. His grades are excellent.”

“Can you see his class schedule?”

“What are you planning to do, stalk him?” Chen Ziheng asked.

This time he was serious, unwavering. It seemed that if he couldn't provide a reason, this damn, difficult Student Council president wouldn't agree.

“I think he's under a lot of pressure.” Cheng Shuo took a deep breath. “He won't say anything no matter what I ask, and I'm worried he's in a bad state of mind.”

“I never thought you'd get involved with this type of poor but gifted student.” Chen Ziheng shook his head. “Medical students are indeed under a lot of pressure. He's a third-year. Generally, they have to attend classes and go to the hospital, so they must be incredibly busy.”

He continued searching, then sighed. “Not only did he get into the eight-year program, he also applied for a scholarship, a research assistant position, and his advisor's clinical research project. He's basically competed for everything he possibly could.”

Cheng Shuo asked, “Who is his advisor?”

Chen Ziheng snorted. “Even if I found out, you wouldn't know them. You're not in the medical department.”

Despite saying that, he still looked it up. The advisor was a professor at one of the affiliated hospitals, with a prominent reputation.

Chen Ziheng considered for a moment. “Wait a second, let me ask my friend who's a medical student if she knows anything.”

He made a call on speakerphone, and a crisp, clear female voice answered.

“Cen Zeng?” the person said. “I don't really know him, but I've heard of him. Top of the department, handsome but not very approachable, a top student.”

“What about his professor?” Cheng Shuo asked.

When the girl heard the name, she said, “Oh, of course. I heard he has a terrible temper, and doesn't take on many students. But he easily takes a disliking to people, and has rejected a lot of students.”

She was silent for a moment, then added in a low voice, “I heard this from someone else, so don't spread it around. He's a famous professor, you know, so the requirements to get into his lab are definitely high. I think a senior from three years above us jumped off a building in his fifth year.”

But it wasn't on campus, so it was suppressed. The family seemed to have come and made a scene, but in the end, it just fizzled out.”

Cheng Shuo's fingertips went slightly numb.

He and Chen Ziheng exchanged a look, seeing the worry in each other's eyes, but he continued to ask: “Then do you know any of his friends? Just a name would be fine.”

The girl was silent for a while, and finally said, “I don't know either. From what I've seen, he's always been a loner. After we were split into different tracks in the third year, I haven't really seen him around much anymore.”

“It's okay...” Chen Ziheng interjected. “Thanks, Zheng Yi.”

“You're welcome.” The girl still added, “Did something happen to Cen Zeng?”

Chen Ziheng motioned for Cheng Shuo to speak.

“No...” Cheng Shuo said. “I just saw that he's been unhappy recently, and he wouldn't say why when I asked. I was just trying anything in a desperate situation, so I bothered Chen Ziheng to help me ask around. Thank you. I'll treat you two to a meal some other day.”

Chen Ziheng exchanged a few more pleasantries, then hung up the phone.

“Give me his class schedule,” Cheng Shuo said. “Let me see.”

“If something really is wrong...” Chen Ziheng took a breath. “If you're sure, come find me. I'll give you the family contact information he left, so you can call and inform them as soon as possible.”

Cheng Shuo nodded.

Chen Ziheng thought for another moment, then grabbed his hand. “I'll give it to you now, just in case.”

Cheng Shuo offered a rare, “Thanks.”

He glanced at it, and vaguely recalled it was Cen Zeng's mother's number. He sighed.

“A person's life is important,” Chen Ziheng replied.

Cen Zeng's schedule was packed. Cheng Shuo glanced at it. He was in pathology class right now, which would end in half an hour.

He found the classroom, waited at the door for five minutes, and finally saw Cen Zeng.

Alone, a loner, desolate and calm.

“Want to have lunch together?” He reached out and grabbed him, feeling like he was forcefully dragging him back to the mortal world.

“Why are you here?” The person turned around.

“To have lunch with you.” Cheng Shuo had also learned Cen Zeng's way of speaking, stating the obvious without giving a reason.

“How did you know where my class was?”

“I asked your classmates one by one,” Cheng Shuo said. “It's not important. What do you want to eat for lunch?”

Cen Zeng frowned, clearly quite puzzled.

“The cafeteria, I guess. You probably have class this afternoon.” According to the schedule he saw, there was only an hour in between.