The snowy night in Changbai Mountain was even more intense than I had imagined.

The warm light from the observatory shone through the glass windows covered in frost flowers, casting irregular patches of light on the snow.

As soon as Yu Jiuyuan pushed open the dormitory door, she was enveloped by a warm breeze carrying the scent of formaldehyde. Yuan Xu was squatting next to the radiator, holding a dropper and dripping some transparent liquid into a petri dish.

"You're back!" Yuan Xu looked up, her glasses reflecting the light. "I just found a type of low-temperature resistant actinomycete in the snowmelt water. Maybe we can extract a new type of antibiotic."

He moved aside, revealing a neatly folded camel-colored blanket behind him. "I've warmed up your blanket, put it on quickly."

Yu Jiuyuan walked over and naturally took the blanket and wrapped it around herself.

Yuan Xu's fingertips accidentally touched the back of her hand, and she recoiled as if she had been electrocuted, her ears turning slightly red. She immediately looked down at the petri dish, her voice muffled: "What were you talking about with Rong Shenghan outside just now? For so long."

The system panel popped up at the right time: Yuan Xu's favorability is 69, the "neutral" value in the emotion fluctuation has quietly risen to 15, while the "positive" value has slightly decreased by 2.

Yu Jiuyuan smiled and reached out to brush the snowflakes off his shoulder: "We were talking about the student council. Secretary Lin clashed with President Xie again today, so we need to think about how to mediate when we get back."

She spoke lightly, her fingertips seemingly unintentionally brushing against the side of his neck, "But thank goodness you reminded me to bring hand warmers, otherwise I would be frozen solid like your experimental sample by now."

Yuan Xu's ears turned even redder, and she almost misjudged the dropper in her hand: "I...I checked the nighttime temperature in Changbai Mountain, it's minus seventeen degrees Celsius..."

He suddenly remembered something and took out a small metal box from his pocket. "Here you go. It's some antifreeze cream I just got from the observatory pharmacy. It contains the aloe vera extract I purified last time, and it's three times better than the ones on the market."

The box is made of silver and engraved with intricate spiral patterns, resembling the structure of some kind of DNA strand.

Yu Jiuyuan took it and opened it. The ointment was light green and had a refreshing herbal scent. She picked up a little and applied it to the tip of her nose, her eyes crinkling with a smile: "Yuan Xu always surprises me."

Yuan Xu's eyelashes trembled, and the "positive" value on the system panel instantly jumped back to 69, even increasing by 1 point. He lowered his head and continued fiddling with the petri dish, his voice barely audible, like a mosquito's hum: "Whatever you like."

Looking at his serious profile, Yu Jiuyuan suddenly remembered when she first entered school, this boy, who was so engrossed in the world of biology, would even stutter when he spoke to people.

Now, however, I remember that she was afraid of the cold and would secretly prepare anti-freezing cream for her. The feeling of the progress bar steadily advancing is like solving a perfect equation, precise and pleasant.

A knock came at the door, and Rong Shenghan's voice came through the door, tinged with a smile: "President, President Xie asked me to come and get the list of people returning tomorrow, saying that he needs to verify the number of people."

Yuan Xu paused, looked up at Yu Jiuyuan, and her eyes showed a hint of nervousness.

Yu Jiuyuan responded loudly, "Go in."

When Rong Shenghan pushed the door open, his gaze immediately fell on Yu Jiuyuan. He lingered on her figure wrapped in a blanket for half a second before turning to Yuan Xu.

His smile remained gentle: "Yuan, you're here too. How's your bacterial culture going? I think I heard you say you discovered a new strain outside?"

"Hmm." Yuan Xu spoke sparingly, moving the petri dish closer to herself as if protecting some precious treasure.

Rong Shenghan didn't care and walked straight to Yu Jiuyuan's table, placing the list on it.

The handwriting on the paper was neat and elegant, each line aligned as if measured with a ruler, but next to the three characters "Yu Jiuyuan" was a small sketch of an iris flower, almost identical to the pattern on her scarf.

Yu Jiuyuan traced the small flower with her fingertips and looked up at him. Rong Shenghan's peach blossom eyes curved, but there was a mischievous smile hidden in them, as if to say, "Our secret."

"What else did President Xie say?" She calmly folded the list and placed it under the notebook on the corner of the table.

"He said we're leaving at five in the morning tomorrow, and told everyone not to stay up late tonight." Rong Shenghan's gaze swept over the alcohol lamp next to Yuan Xu's hand, "especially some of the students who are going to do experiments."

Yuan Xu immediately frowned: "My strain is most active at low temperatures. If we miss tonight, it'll be too late!"

“But staying up late will affect the safety of tomorrow’s journey.” Rong Shenghan smiled innocently. “President Xie said that if anyone doesn’t listen, they can forget about participating in the next astronomy club observation activity. Those were his exact words.”

Yuan Xu's face fell instantly, and the dropper in her hand slammed onto the table.

He looked at the petri dish, then at Yu Jiuyuan, his lips pressed into a straight line, like a little animal whose food had been stolen.

Yu Jiuyuan suppressed a laugh and patted his shoulder: "Preserve the sample first, and continue culturing it in the lab's incubator when we get back. I'll talk to President Xie and ask him to make an exception."

She looked at Rong Shenghan, her tone carrying a hint of the president's authority, "What does the vice president think?"

Rong Shenghan immediately cupped his hands in greeting: "The president has the final say. However..."

He changed the subject abruptly, pulling a thermos from his pocket. "I just got you some hot ginger tea at the cafeteria. President Xie asked me to bring it along, saying it's to prevent colds."

The thermos is black and has the Astronomy Club's logo printed on it.

Yu Jiuyuan took it, her fingertips touching the warm cup, but she knew in her heart that Xie Zhecheng, who was the kind of person who even specified what he drank down to the milliliter, would never have someone bring him ginger tea.

"Please thank President Xie for me." She unscrewed the lid of the cup, and the spicy aroma of ginger tea wafted out. "Thank you too, Vice President."

Rong Shenghan's gaze fell on the tip of her nose, which was covered with antifreeze cream, and the smile in his eyes deepened: "It's only right. Then I won't disturb you any longer. Secretary Lin is still waiting outside to get his copy of the list."

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