Chapter 80: Smoke from the Kitchen Part 4

I hadn't slept well for two days straight. The roar of the trams passing outside the window, the slightest rustle of leaves against the window lattice, was a terrifying sound. Even though I fell asleep in the second half of the night, I still couldn't sleep well. At dawn, I heard a noise outside, and I immediately jumped up, threw on my clothes, and rushed out.

Xie Zeyi arrived at dawn as usual, cleaned up the kitchen waste, and put away all the miscellaneous items she had thrown around.

He showed up on time Monday morning and bought her meat-filled pancakes on the way in—she didn't know the name.

It was rare to see Xie Zeyi in full military uniform. His black British uniform was somehow several shades darker than the average black suit, so black you could almost see ink dripping out of it. It was the pitch black of a cold night, dotted with double-breasted buttons that shone with a golden hue, like the constellation Leo without one of the Five Emperors. It made his complexion seem even paler, giving him a sinister aura. His already well-built figure, perfectly fitted with the uniform, and a formal leather belt cinched around his waist, gave him an imposing presence.

"Pierogie, see if it suits your taste." Before he could praise him, Xie Zeyi, with his extraordinary aura, pointed at the shop sign on the paper bag and asked, "How do you pronounce these three words... Chang Da Lao, or Lao Da Chang?"

She was also a little puzzled. These days, many store signs in Shanghai are read from left to right, while many are still read from right to left.

"It should be Lao Dachang, right?" She thought about it, but was a little unsure. "Chang Da Lao, it sounds quite impressive, like a shop run by someone from Guangdong."

Xie Zeyi drove slowly with a mysterious smile on his face, as if to say, "It seems that even you, a native, don't understand. Then I feel relieved."

Therefore, the crispy golden fried yet not at all greasy meat pancakes couldn't stop her from talking. "Is being an inspector so idle? He studied in America and got the golden key of the Febeda, but back in the concession he has nothing to do but buy groceries, cook, bring breakfast for me, and even act as a rickshaw driver. It's really a waste of talent... No wonder Sir Xie is angry."

"What else could I do? My life is worth a few bucks. Are you asking me to sell everything I have to the British? After what you've seen of the British in Hong Kong, would you be willing to do that?"

"But you are meeting an Englishman in England."

"What's the difference? Many patrol officers today, when we first met them in England, all looked like decent gentlemen. But when they come to this extraterritorial concession, they still beat up rickshaw drivers for no reason and play tricks on others..." He paused and changed the subject, "There are 3.5 million people in Shanghai, and less than 100,000 foreigners. British? Even fewer. How can patrol officers be so busy?"

She smiled bitterly after hearing this. In this world, where is there any personal future to speak of?

The car turned the corner of the road under construction and stopped. The Jewish young man walked up quickly and knocked on the window. She smiled out the window, turned around and asked, "What time do you meet today?"

Xie Zeyi said without hesitation: "Five fifteen in the afternoon."

She was a little confused. The first thing she said to Oppenheimer when she got out of the car was: "When do we get off work?"

"A quarter past five."

Looking back, she saw several lower-ranking British soldiers on patrol warmly greeting Xie Zeyi. Seeing this, she was not surprised that this person knew the working hours before her.

Robert said gossipingly, "Your boyfriend is very handsome."

"Not a boyfriend."

"Oh," he thought for a moment, then concluded without mercy: "Then he's the rumored boyfriend."

“…”

The two of them turned the corner into the lab building. Downstairs, they saw the four capital letters "INFT" written in English. As they climbed the stairs to the fifth floor, where the i-Team was located, they couldn't help but quip about the project's name. Many new faces passed them, and one of them said, "They say someone important is coming today. Guess who it is?"

Another said: "I heard that letters were sent to the Paris Institute of Physics and Chemistry and the Royal Academy of Sciences in Italy."

"Isn't there Copenhagen?"

"Oh no! I heard Bohr was a paranoid mathematician who couldn't play football! I hope it's Ihlen and his wife, not Bohr!"

Just as he finished speaking, a man in a suit with a stern face, big eyes, and a hooked nose walked up from behind Chu Wang and Robert. With his impressive height, the man in the suit silently walked up to the group and glanced at the new faces with a casual glance.

The whole world was quiet in an instant.

Bohr asked quietly, "Which group are you from?"

"From Group G!" The group of people flattered happily.

"Oh, Geiger Counting Team. If you'd like to come to Group i to do differential calculus, I'd welcome you anytime. But right now, Group i is the most elite group in this building, and it's clear that your abilities are inadequate—even worse than a paranoid mathematician."

This situation was as if the Gryffindors who had just arrived at Hogwarts encountered Snape, and the Gryffindors were severely ridiculed for their school's confidence and nobility.

Oppenheimer chuckled. Chu Wang pinched him, but it was too late.

Bohr turned his head and looked down at the two of them: "Which group are you from?"

"I." Auburn said simply, "I wouldn't mind playing differentials or football with you."

Chu Wang couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The group of young men behind them scattered like birds and beasts. Bohr's gaze darted coldly between the two men. "What articles have you published?"

"Nature, frequency and intensity of molecular band spectra; Physica, Born-Oppenheimer approximation."

"Oh," Bohr said, dragging out the last word, "I'm sorry I haven't cited your paper."

Oppenheimer smiled. "No rush. I look forward to that day."

Bohr ignored the cute and rather provocative smile of Big Eyes and turned to ask Chu Wang: "What about you?"

"I'm unknown."

Oppen added, "There's a good chance her work will win her the 20th Nobel Prize this year."

"Linzy." He chuckled. "The third author."

"No matter the high or low."

After three rounds of fighting, Bohr reluctantly let the two go and said, "Go upstairs, familiarize yourself with the place, and start working."

The i-Team office was on the fifth floor. It had three layers of security, and the thickened walls probably had multiple layers of sound insulation added between them. The lab contained only three hand-cranked computers and two scramblers, along with data and calculation paper.

There were ten people in Group i. Five of them had PhDs in mathematics, four in physics, and she was the only uneducated undergraduate. She wasn't particularly familiar with the most famous mathematicians in modern history, so after glancing around, no one looked particularly familiar. However, there was one physicist who was incredibly handsome, with a raised smile even when not smiling, giving him a very kind look. She couldn't help but take a few more glances.

After closing the doors and windows, Bohr got to the point concisely: "What is ignite?"

The sparse responses below were: "Boom!"

Everyone laughed. Bohr, still sullen, continued, "So, here, whether physicists or mathematicians, for a long time to come, we will remain at the stage of force calculations and conceptualization. This is a city, and our only available space is the football field downstairs—you can see it—to ensure that this first experiment is foolproof, no matter what, before it attracts unnecessary attention."

The benevolent physicist replied, "But there's a huge discrepancy between theory and reality. No matter how precise our calculations are, there will still be many variances."

"Then reduce those differences." Bohr said without question, and then distributed all the first-hand information currently sent from the Hong Kong University Research Institute to everyone.

Of the four physicists, except for Bohr and Chu Wang, none of the others were insiders. She spent the entire afternoon bored, surrounded by the exclamations of physicists, the rapid calculations of mathematicians on scratch paper, and the hum of hand-cranked calculators.

For the entire afternoon, no one had progressed beyond the word "boom" to figure out how to prevent neutrons from escaping during fission. Only the handsome young man sketched a piston coffee percolator on his proofreading paper. When he submitted his work for the day, Bohr inevitably berated him, scolding him in front of everyone: "I suspect Xu hired an artist. Tomorrow, if you don't give me a double set of assumptions and force calculations, please don't come back."

Chu Wang was afraid that he would give up on this idea that might lead to a gun-like detonation, so he hurried forward to comfort him: "I know your idea: under high pressure, the density increases instantly. Is that correct?"

Oppenheimer saw it all and said, "You don't need to comfort him. My senior, Professor Fermi, knows better than anyone. He just doesn't like Bohr."

Chu Wang was horrified: "What professor?!"

Professor Qingxiu shook her hand in a friendly manner. "Enrique Fermi. Lin Zhi, I have read your paper."

Chu Wang could hardly contain his ecstasy, and reluctantly let go of his hand. "It's just the third author. Academician Fermi! I've heard of you for a long time! I heard that your experiments are also first-rate. You're really amazing!"

Oppenheimer stared at her dirty hands silently from the side: "The fourth rumored target."

Fermi still had a friendly smile on his face, but he was probably frightened by the oriental girl's enthusiasm.

She was afraid that her crazy fan status would damage the country's already not-so-good image, so she quickly restrained her arrogance.

The three of them were the last to leave the lab. As they walked downstairs to the second floor, a beautiful woman in a white gown pushed open a door. Inside, more than a dozen women sat in front of wireless monitoring devices, wearing headphones and monitoring their work.

"Who are they monitoring?" she asked curiously.

"Who knows? That must include us who have memorized the confidentiality agreement." Auburn curled his lips.

"Anytime, anywhere?" Fermi asked.

"Tune in anytime, anywhere. It's not comprehensive coverage, but it's comprehensive psychological coverage," Auburn said.

She laughed and said, "Then I guess they deliberately opened the door for us to see, in order to - scare us."

"I think this is really stupid. No information is allowed to be taken out of the laboratory, so can the brain be taken out? Eavesdropping, can't I write with a pen?" said Orben.

As soon as he finished speaking, a plainclothes guard in black clothes and a black hat suddenly appeared behind the two men. The man in black easily tackled Auburn to the ground. The crowd around him screamed and scattered.

Oppenheimer seemed to have known that someone was following him. He couldn't help but shout, "Of course I know there's multi-to-one real-time tracking. I'm not stupid—"

The plainclothes guard showed no mercy and kneed him in the back.

He was pinned to the ground and cried out in pain: "I won't talk nonsense next time, I swear."

The man in black finally let him go, walked away in three or two steps, and disappeared into the crowd.

Chu Wang was shocked. It turned out that in addition to the real-time monitoring project, there was also real-time tracking that was synchronized with the monitoring.

Fermi patted him on the shoulder and, having a good memory, repeated Bohr's words: "'Make sure that the first experiment is foolproof at all costs before it attracts unnecessary attention.'"

——

My first week at the institute was spent watching and participating in the bickering between these two future atomic bomb masters. Group i's sole achievement during that week was proposing a concept for a transient high-density uranium nucleus, based on neutron escape.

Although the progress is a small step, it is a big step forward in the history of mankind.

She is very satisfied.

Xie Zeyi drove her to the institute early every morning and picked her up at 5:15 to have dinner, then take her home or have dinner afterward. He was never late. At first, Xie Zeyi would ask about her tastes, but within a week, he had a complete understanding of her lifestyle and eating habits. Almost every restaurant he booked in advance was surprisingly suitable.

At one point, she refused to eat fish, shrimp, or crab. Initially, Xie Zeyi thought she was allergic to high-protein foods or simply hated seafood. But after discovering her preference for tropical fruits and disliking grapes, pomegranates, and apples, fish, shrimp, and crab—shelled or boneless—reappeared on the dinner table.

In reality, she simply wasn't bothered to put the energy into preparing demanding foods. Although she loved to eat, she never bothered anyone else, nor did she invest the time and effort to prepare them herself, automatically chalking them up to dishes she didn't like. But without her even asking, there were peeled apples, peeled and seeded grapes, shelled shrimp, and whole pieces of crab meat in front of her, and she loved them all—food, life, and everything else. She had never realized this trait of hers, but within a week, Xie Zeyi had noticed it and understood it thoroughly.

Without the Ge Mansion's host of maids and renowned chefs, the quality of life on Fukaisen Road remained undiminished. She was deeply perplexed: Xie Zeyi, from childhood, had never lacked for anything. Now, with everything severed by Sir Xie, he was juggling several roles: punctual coachman, mysophobic servant, and picky cook—all of them; yet, the elegant yet fussy young master was still Mr. Xie.

Suddenly down on his luck, she had assumed he was living a miserable life, and out of a touch of sympathy, invited him to live on Fok Kaisen Road. Then, suddenly, she discovered he was still living like a noble, not at all desolate. After a little inquiry, he readily revealed, "The monthly salary of a patrol officer in the Municipal Council is 300 taels of silver. I can earn a little more than they do."

She was ashamed. Although they lived in the same land, the standards were indeed quite different whether their salary was paid in pounds or silver dollars.

He is a person with a strong sense of presence. With him around, you will never have to worry about having nothing to talk about. Chatting is always fun, and after the chat, you will never remember what you talked about. When it is time to disappear, he comes and goes like the wind, without staying for a moment, and even makes you deeply doubt whether this person has ever been there.

He was taking good care of her, as if he was just doing a perfunctory job. And he was so perfunctory and thoughtful that it made people feel as if he was really pursuing a woman with all his heart. Except for the person involved, no one could see the slightest flaw.

She could sense Xie Zeyi had a slight fondness for her. This level of affection was universally shared by any gentleman in this world upon meeting any reasonably attractive woman of marriageable age. After all, the prerequisite for most high-quality men to fall in love at first sight was a beautiful woman, nothing more. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. If there's a little embarrassment, it's simply because we're both so beautiful." But this slight embarrassment wasn't enough to make either of them want to interfere in each other's lives.

For Xie Zeyi, in addition to the most commonly applicable "a beautiful lady is a good match for a gentleman", what is more important is that he keeps his promise. He is committed to fulfilling Mrs. Ge's trust and will do his best to serve her, and will not allow her to make any mistakes; therefore, he is particularly attentive and careful.

She had given him other options. He had chosen to be more gentlemanly and more hardworking, and she had no reason to feel guilty about it. She felt that the current level of their relationship was fine.

Xie Zeyi's presence undoubtedly brought her a great deal of security, yet also a certain unease. She considered herself an observant person, but her knowledge of Xie Zeyi so far was superficial: he possessed an animalistic nature. He possessed a powerful presence, yet he knew how to act with discretion and conceal himself when necessary. Without you realizing it, he had already grasped your temperament and character to a complete 80%. The remaining 20% ​​he found interesting, he kept for his own leisure time, to explore slowly, as a pastime. He followed your nature, naturally and effortlessly coaxing you into a state of joy.

In other words, he hides his true self deep inside, and only shows his most flashy appearance to others, so you can't figure him out; but you don't need to feel guilty, because his meticulous nature is always telling you considerately: It doesn't matter if you don't understand me, and you don't need to understand me.

So, please let your guard down.

Sneaking into the night with the wind is probably the scariest thing about this person.

Thankfully, she wasn't the frog that was boiled.

——

Fuxing Road has always been a quiet but not boring place, but when that Friday afternoon finally arrived, it brought real excitement.

That day, Xie Zeyi had planned to take her to a Hungarian orange foie gras restaurant. They arrived hungry, but they found out the restaurant had been completely destroyed the previous night in a brawl between two factions, so they couldn't eat there. Instead, he decided to go home and cook the pork tenderloin himself. After buying groceries, he went downstairs to the apartment building and happened to run into Zhenzhen and Lin Zitong asking the doorman about her address.

Lin Zitong, who was becoming more and more handsome and arrogant, was followed by a fair and pretty girl named Xue Zhenzhen, who was wearing a white gauze cheongsam and a mink-haired girl; she was wearing a ginger coat over a light gray woolen skirt, and was following Xie Zeyi, who was wearing a black military uniform and holding vegetables in his hands; the four of them suddenly met each other, Chu Wang and Xie Zeyi were still calm, but the two opposite were really scared.

The four of them sat in silence for a moment, and Xie Zeyi said first, "You guys chat, I'll go cook first."

He showed everyone the chicken, duck and fish in his hand, turned around and strode away, leaving the other three people speechless.

"Why are you here?"

She had originally intended to ask Zhenzhen why she had returned to Shanghai so quickly, but Lin Zitong unexpectedly rushed to explain why she had come here: "Third sister, I've been tied up in many matters since we last left, and my identity makes going to Hong Kong a very difficult process... I rushed over a few days ago, but Mrs. Ge said you'd already returned to Shanghai. She wouldn't tell me where you were living, and since you had nowhere to stay in Shanghai, I asked Miss Xue to bring me here."

"Thanks."

"I saw all the news in my father's newspaper..."

Seeing the awkwardness between the two, Xue Zhenzhen tried to smooth things over, saying, "Our government has accomplished countless great things in the past two years. Everyone in the country knows about this. It's understandable that Lieutenant Lin was a bit busy, especially since the military suffered a major downsizing two years ago."

Two years ago, the ** carried out a major purge and laid off 380,000 employees, but Lin Zitong stayed tenaciously. His military rank rose faster and faster. I guess he was really busy.

She didn't bother to care about Lin Zitong and turned to ask Zhenzhen: "Why are you here so early?"

"I came straight here right after the exam. A class surnamed Ye failed and needs to be retaken after the new year. If it weren't for Lieutenant Lin escorting me all the way, I wouldn't have seen you so soon." She spoke as she walked into the apartment building, looking around. "It's a bit old and not very impressive, but it has an elevator." Seeing the doorman constantly sizing up the three of them, Zhenzhen walked over aggressively, staring at him from head to toe, staring until he had no place to put his hands. Then she concluded, "...This doorman looks a bit shabby. How much did you pay him? Replace him! He won't ruin the reputation of the residents of your building."

After that, she pressed the elevator bell without permission, and turned to ask Chu Wang, "Which floor?"

"Third floor."

They got on the elevator together and waited in silence for the elevator to take them to the third floor. After getting out of the elevator, Zhenzhen asked with a smile, "Why are you so silent?"

Chu Wang opened the door, and Zhenzhen scurried in. Her first words were, "Plum loin, smells so good!" Then she looked around familiarly, "Devonshire cream! Thank you, Young Master, for your taste."

Chu Wang pointed at himself and said with a helpless smile: "How do you know it's not me?"

Zhenzhen pushed her: "Go! Go! Who are you?"

Lin Zitong still stood awkwardly at the door. Without Chu Wang's instructions, he didn't know whether to go in or retreat.

Xie Zeyi turned down the heat, washed his hands, and came out to see Xue Zhenzhen.

"Ms. Xue, long time no see." Before she could even begin the pleasantries, his next words were startling: "There's a new branch of McMahon downstairs. Every day at 6:30, the freshly baked bread sounds like a sky-high alarm. Want to check it out?"

Zhenzhen sniffed the air and said, "Where's the scent of wheat? I only smell white orchids."

Xie Zeyi was a skilled man, and he took her out without saying anything, leaving all his private space to the unfamiliar brother and sister.

"Please sit down." She sat at the dining table and asked Lin Zitong to sit opposite her.

"San San, have you read the latest "New Moon" and "Yu Si"? " He called her in a strange way and felt a little awkward facing her.

"Brother," she said, finding it rare that she had the heart to confess herself to him, "I write terrible poems, and I'm grateful that you're so kind as to support me. I don't understand poetry, so I find it hard to read."

Hearing her talk about poetry, Lin Zitong smiled a rare smile: "... recently there was a large-scale suppression campaign. Although I didn't go to the two lakes, I was sent to organize the 'suppression' of Xinyue and Hu Shi, so I know more about it."

"Oh, that's not a chore."

"The writers on both sides of the "New Moon" and "Yusi" disagreed, but neither of them was very optimistic about Yan Sang, saying that he had 'left his homeland for a long time and was immersed in the English context, making it difficult for him to grasp the vividness of his mother tongue.'"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I also heard that Yan Sang participated in the anti-fascist march and encountered many obstacles in his speech and actions abroad. And now that the domestic intellectuals are led by Xinyue Yusi, if he returns, his future may not be smooth sailing. Uncle Si has become less and less favored by the Sixth Young Master this year, I'm afraid that without this engagement, it would not be a bad thing for you..."

Chu Wang smiled. "You're here to lobby Lin Yu? If you've read that revelation, you should understand. No matter what his purpose was in issuing it, it was to cut off my escape route and let the whole country see how shameless his third daughter is. What good would that do to me?"

"I'm not here to lobby for him. I'm only here to advise you to think carefully about the Si family marriage, not to ask for your forgiveness on his behalf."

Hearing his disrespectful words towards Lin Yu, she suddenly asked, "What do you mean?"

"We received a telegram a few days ago saying they will be returning to Shanghai by ship and will arrive on March 27th."

"Hmm. So what?"

"He brought Zhou back."

"Oh. A family reunion, that's nice."

Lin Zitong lowered his eyes and said, "Whatever you want to do to this family, please feel free to do so. They deserve it." After a pause,

"I won't plead for Yunyan either."

Chu Wang was stunned.

"A son pays his father's debts," he said. (m.)138TXT