Chapter 43 The Apartment Lease "You win, you bastard..."
"Where's Ada?" Cohen, looking travel-worn, put down his backpack and looked around. In this round of experiments, they would provide real-time motion feedback, so Ada should be present.
Liang Siyu was checking the various connections. He explained softly, "She hasn't fully recovered yet. I let her take a nap next door and come over when the formal experiment starts."
“Oh, of course.” Cohen hesitated for a moment, then asked, “What happened?” Ada had basically recovered the day he left.
"It's nothing. She still gets dizzy and has headaches occasionally. Maybe she was too tired from coding recently."
Liang Siyu tried to downplay the incident; the day she fainted, he told the public that it was just a sudden migraine.
Although the cause of her fainting was most likely PTSD, a physical examination was still necessary, as it would be very dangerous to miss a diagnosis if there were any brain or cardiovascular lesions.
She recovered considerably by Sunday, so he took her directly to see a doctor in New York.
Brain imaging, thyroid function tests, blood tests, and echocardiography all came back normal, but during the electrocardiogram, her heart rate remained above 100 beats per minute.
The doctor suspected premature beats, SVT (supraventricular tachycardia), and IST (inappropriate sinus tachycardia), and prescribed seven days of Holter monitoring. She will have to wear a patch-type Holter monitor for this week.
Cohen shrugged: "Yeah, she always thinks she's a research robot and loves working overtime."
Liang Siyu's expression was serious, as if he hadn't heard his joke.
“Ned,” Cohen patted him on the shoulder, “you’ve been the one who was worried, haven’t you? Don’t worry, she may look small, but she’s a mini-bomb, incredibly powerful. She’ll be fine.”
Suddenly, a voice came from behind, "BOOM!"
Cohen almost jumped up. He turned around and saw that Ada was unusually wearing a loose ginger-yellow silk shirt, her hair was tied up, and she had bright eyes and red lips. She didn't look sick at all.
He glared at Liang Siyu. He shouldn't have trusted this guy who was obsessed with love and had a professional obsession with relationships.
This guy is practically a melancholy Hamlet, imagining his girl to be as fragile as Ophelia.
When Xu Aida asked Cohen how his vacation was, Cohen happily talked about the various theme parks in Orlando, which was his third time visiting them.
She was intrigued and looked up at Liang Siyu across from her. Perhaps they could relax a bit after the experiment?
Liang Siyu met her gaze and shook his head seriously. In her current state, how could she possibly spend a whole day strolling around a theme park in this sweltering heat?
He recalled a trip to Disneyland with his mother when he was in junior high school. Even though there was no queue, the park was still incredibly crowded, which was very annoying.
Xu Aida recalled their vacation in her previous life and felt deflated, rolling her eyes at him.
She wasn't exactly a Disney or Universal fan, but those projects sounded really interesting. She casually mentioned them twice, and was rejected both times.
He resolutely avoids crowded places, believing that it is suffering rather than a vacation.
Cohen saw that the two of them were exchanging thoughts again, got up to check the prosthetic limb, and didn't want to get involved.
Forty minutes later, the participants arrived and got to work.
On the way back, Cohen remained silent for the first time and did not argue with Xu Aida. She seemed to be feeling unwell starting around four or five in the afternoon, rubbing her temples from time to time, which he noticed, of course.
Hsu Aida removed her makeup, took a shower, and lay motionless on the bed. Her head felt heavy, as if she were wearing an extremely heavy hat.
Liang Siyu sighed and carefully dried her hair.
After he finished blowing, he couldn't help but rub the back of her head: "I told you to take a nap, but you didn't. Are you feeling dizzy?"
She didn't speak. The doctor had clearly said to try to live as normally as possible, as this would make the examination most accurate.
"Do you record the time when you feel dizzy?"
"I've got it, it's on my phone." Her voice was muffled and unclear, muffled by the pillow.
He then massaged her shoulders and back: "Why don't you have dinner in the room later? Go to bed early after you finish eating."
She turned to look at him and said, "I want to eat your onion soup."
"No, a bad girl who doesn't take naps."
But seeing the look in her eyes, he added, "Tomorrow, I'll have the chef make some stock. Freshly made stock tastes better."
She smiled.
The next evening, she had onion soup, and it tasted much better than the frozen broth from the supermarket that she had used in the apartment last time; it was rich and flavorful.
Her phone rang, and when she looked at the email, she couldn't smile. The apartment manager had sent a message reminding her that her lease expired at the end of September and asking her to confirm within a week whether she wanted to renew.
How could she forget about this? Of course she wanted to renew the lease and keep this little haven for herself.
If he drops out of school and leaves again next year, she'll have to go back to her own place since she's never married him.
Before she went home for summer vacation, Ned had mentioned that she should move in with him completely. At the time, she casually brushed it off, thinking she would deal with it later.
But with so many things happening lately, she finds it even harder to speak.
He had been so gentle and considerate, restraining himself even amidst his doubts, giving her space, and not asking about her secrets. Yet she insisted on keeping an empty apartment. What would he think?
"Ada, is there any important email? Anyway, let's talk about it after we finish eating," Liang Siyu reminded her when she saw her standing still.
"Oh, oh, of course." She put down her phone and sipped the soup spoonful by spoonful. The originally sweet and delicious onion soup suddenly felt a little unfamiliar.
I went back to my room, washed up, and lay down. The air conditioner brought a gentle breeze, accompanied by a slight white noise.
Even though the mattress was soft and comfortable, she felt as if she were sitting between two chairs, which was uncomfortable, and she kept changing her position.
"Ada?" In the darkness, Liang Siyu finally couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Can't you sleep? Maybe you'd like to talk to me?"
She was kicking off the blanket when she suddenly froze, as if her prosthetic limb had suddenly lost power and the linear motor was stuck there.
She tried to brush it off with a casual remark, but the blanket became so heavy that she couldn't speak.
Not hearing any sound or answer from her, he became a little worried and immediately got up to turn on the bedside lamp. "Ada, are you alright?"
She slowly got up, feeling her palms getting cold: "Ned, there's something... I want to renew my lease on the Baltimore apartment."
Unable to bear the slow torture any longer, she finally blurted it out in one go.
She didn't dare look at his expression, she just held her breath and waited.
"Why?" She heard a low voice, even one that trembled with disbelief.
"I'm sorry, I don't know, I just... I just can't do it." She clutched the corner of the blanket, feeling the dampness there.
The voice sounded a little tired, as if it were coming from behind a distant pane of glass.
“I admit, I’m really looking forward to you moving in completely. Last semester, you didn’t even go back to stay for a single night, so I thought it would be a natural thing to do.”
“Actually, Ada, if you want to renew the lease, that’s perfectly fine.”
“But I’d rather you say you’re not ready. Can’t do it? That sounds like…” He paused, the brief silence like an invisible wall of air.
"...It's as if I'm forcing you to do something. I didn't mean that..."
It's like I'm forcing you to do something.
The sweetness of the onion suddenly turned cloyingly sweet in my throat, and a nauseating taste came back up.
She gagged twice, threw off the covers and rushed to the bathroom, vomited up a mouthful of stomach acid, and quickly began rinsing her mouth.
Liang Siyu quickly caught up with her and helped her up, feeling a wave of fear wash over him.
He never expected that even though he didn't say anything harsh, tried his best to keep a calm tone, and even expressed his willingness to compromise and respect her decision, she would still react so strongly.
Xu Aida rinsed her mouth, but even after rinsing repeatedly with water, a strange taste still lingered in her throat.
Then she started hiccuping, once, twice, and she helplessly covered her mouth, her eyes red.
He carried her back to bed: "Don't lie down yet, or you'll get acid reflux. I'll go make you a cup of hot tea."
Soon, he returned with a cup of warm lemon ginger tea. "Here, have some, it will help relieve the nausea."
She sipped slowly, and the hiccups gradually stopped. The raging gas in her body dissipated, leaving behind a mess.
He stroked her back; she had lost weight recently, and her spinous processes and ribs were a bit rough to the touch.
"Ada, did I say something wrong just now? Don't take it to heart, I understand what you mean..."
Dr. Finch said that it is very common for people with complex traumas to move forward and backward in intimate relationships.
It's not that she doesn't love, but that she's plagued by fear—the fear of getting close only to lose.
She screamed, "Stop, stop, don't do this, don't do this, you're scaring me."
You make me feel like it's all my fault, that I'm a bad woman who doesn't understand love.
She threw herself onto her pillow and silently shed two lines of tears.
“Ada?” He hesitated before reaching out and gently touching her shoulder.
She suddenly looked up: "You win, you jerk."
She grabbed her phone and quickly typed: "Thank you for the notification, I've decided not to renew my lease."
Her finger trembled slightly as she clicked the send button. With a "whoosh," the email flew away, and tears still lingered in the corners of her eyes.
Almost simultaneously, she began to regret her impulsive decision. Hadn't she been determined to tell him she would renew the lease? How did things turn out this way?
Exhausted and angry, she took a breath and kicked him again: "Are you satisfied now? I'm not renewing the lease! You're so annoying! You're so annoying!"
Liang Siyu was first stunned, then overwhelmed with joy. He hugged her and pressed down on her legs.
"Ada, Ada, what did you say? I can't believe it, are you serious?"
"You're so heavy, get up!" She was out of breath. "If you don't get up, I'm going to rent a new apartment right now, and I mean it."
He immediately straightened himself up, holding her firmly without crushing her.
He kissed her gently, repeating "Ada, I love you, I love you" with each kiss.
She quickly forgot about the new apartment. She felt as if her soul was floating away again.
However, he did not go any further. He looked at the electrode patch on her left breast, straightened her pajamas, stroked her hair, and whispered in her ear.
"I really hope you get better soon, Babe, you're driving me crazy."
Damn it, wasn't she already exhausted from his torment? She prided herself on having the best CPU, but he always made her overclock it and then inexplicably output bizarre results.
She snatched the blanket and wrapped herself tightly: "Go to sleep! Don't bother me, or I'll go on strike tomorrow and see how you do your experiments."
He chuckled softly and silently wrapped his arms around her.
Half an hour later, she fell asleep, but he checked her radial artery at the wrist. Was it because she was too emotional just now? Why hasn't her heart rate come down yet?
He quietly got up, picked up the iPad from the bedside table, and checked the medical database.
"...Comorbidities of PTSD...IST (inappropriate sinus tachycardia) is very common in PTSD patients because long-term stress and pressure can continuously affect the autonomic nervous system..."
The further he looked down, the more his brows furrowed.
The next day, it wasn't their algorithm expert who went on strike, but the steel-armed man.
Participant number 4, the 19-year-old boy, looked at his suddenly stuck prosthetic limb with some agitation.
“This isn’t your problem,” Liang Siyu explained to him promptly. “It’s precisely because our algorithm is still a naive elementary school student and often misjudges people’s intentions that we need your help.”
"Come on, let's change direction."
Liang Siyu stepped forward and guided the participant to turn around. Then he moved the chair and support frame so that the other person was completely facing away from the prosthesis.
“From now on, we won’t look at that iron hand anymore. I need you to focus only on your own imagination, okay?”
His tone was calm and firm, already showing signs of a doctor's demeanor.
The boy nodded.
Xu Aida and Cohen breathed a sigh of relief and quickly checked the algorithm and equipment.
She stared at the waveform with its fine jagged edges, pulled up the participant's first data, and it was clear that the waveform was smoother that time.
She looked up and met Cohen's gaze; clearly, Cohen had also confirmed that the equipment was working properly.
As the experiment was nearing its end, the lights in the conference room suddenly went out, and then the desktop computer and signal adapter stopped working.
"The power's out," Cohen realized quickly.
They confirmed with the front desk that it was a problem with the power company; several blocks had suddenly lost power.
Although the rehabilitation center has backup power, it can only prioritize power supply to core wards and treatment areas.
Due to a sudden power outage, the data for the last 10 minutes was not saved, so Liang Siyu could only apologize to the participants and ask if they would like to try again.
“F**K, one more time? Are you kidding me?” He turned to look at the steel arm. “I shouldn’t have expected this pile of junk! You guys are a complete waste of my time!”
He was impatient and wanted to rip off the electrodes himself.
"Don't worry, I'll help you." Liang Siyu stepped forward.
"Don't touch me." The boy tried to push him away with his good left hand, but he was so agitated that he almost fell backward.
“Okay, okay.” Liang Siyu immediately stepped back.
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
Two or three seconds later, a soft female voice rang out, with a very obvious bubbly sound, as soft as lemon soda.
"Hi, Dude, perhaps you'd like me to help you sort out that tangled mess of wires?"
The boy paused for a moment, and a girl in a light blue shirt was smiling gently at him.
He hesitated, nodded, then paused, unsure how to answer.
She came over lightly, quickly removed the electrodes, carefully wiped off the medical adhesive with an alcohol wipe, and even tidied up his cuffs.
"I'm sorry, my algorithm performed poorly this time, but would you be willing to give it another chance to learn? Believe me, your data can help more young people like you."
She looked up and gave a delicate smile.
"Oh, of course, I'm sorry about what happened earlier." The boy practically fled.
Liang Siyu chased after him, but stopped when he saw the other person's back as he hurriedly went downstairs.
He had intended to remind him that they offered participants one free psychological support session, but after some consideration, he decided to let the liaison officer follow up.
Today's experience was unpleasant for this participant. Wouldn't this kind of news sound better over the phone?
He returned to the conference room, and Cohen put his arm around his shoulder. "Hi, Dude, does she usually talk to you like that?"
He deliberately imitated Ada's tone, with her lazy, bubbly voice and slightly rising intonation at the end, and he learned it perfectly.
"Shut up!" Xu Aida exploded instantly. She had been speaking in a slightly strained voice, hoping to sound gentler.
"You two, get out of here!"
“Of course I can leave.” Cohen winked knowingly with a wicked grin. “But you’ll have to keep Ned here to check on the signal problem.”
He pushed Liang Siyu toward her, saying, "I'm not going back today, so as not to affect your...cooperation."
He laughed and went outside, ready to explore the surrounding bars.
Liang Siyu shook his head with a smile. After impulsively canceling the lease last night, Ada was a little uncomfortable today and kept avoiding him, which Cohen noticed.
"Ignore him, let's go home first." He put his arm around her shoulder.
She immediately dodged away, her cheeks flushed and a few beads of sweat on the tip of her nose.
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Author's Note: After seeing some of the feedback, I thought I should make an explanation for the following chapters to give everyone some expectations and to provide an explanation for readers who are following the serialization.
The latter half of the book is almost entirely driven by Ada's internal psychology, rather than by external plot.
Aside from the part that reveals the truth behind Ned's career change, all other plot points will focus on Ada's psychological transformation. This is the outline I planned from the beginning, and it won't change.
Regarding the pace, I personally prefer a more detailed approach, and I also appreciate Ada's subtle movements as she gets closer to me.
Of course, I completely understand that many readers like the "decisive and ruthless" female protagonist. They like Ada, who "flattens the world," and think it's easy to fall in love with her. She's cool and sassy, and they expect her to handle emotional problems swiftly and decisively in that way.
I like it too; it's more refreshing and less burdensome to read. When reality is already so frustrating, isn't that the joy of reading novels? I completely understand.
However, what I wanted to write about in this book from the very beginning was another side of Ada, one that wasn't glamorous or carefree, but which, to me, was very worthy of being seen and loved.
This story is not an "effortless and elegant rebirth," but a "struggling new life." Of course, it may be poorly written and degenerate into "affected sentimentality," but that's my problem, not that Ada isn't good enough.
I was slacking off at lunchtime today and just rambled on a bit. Love you all.
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