Perhaps Su Yunbai had been thinking about something that day, and that night, she had a dream.

Few people know, and even Huo Qinian himself may not remember, that she had known him long before they were introduced to each other by Dean Tan.

That happened in her third year of doctoral studies.

The university where Dr. Su Yunbai works is famous all over the world for its excellence in engineering physics. Because it is a top major, the Department of Engineering Physics occupies a building alone. An observatory was built on the roof of the building, which is exclusively used by the school's astronomy club and interested students.

That year, there was an observation event that astronomy enthusiasts could not miss: a comet was approaching, and the brightness conditions were excellent.

The astronomy club began to promote this comet observation activity a month in advance. Fortunately, when the best observation date came, the comet was still large, did not disintegrate prematurely, and its brightness did not dim.

Su Yunbai is not a member of the astronomy club. But people who study physics have more or less some understanding of astrophysics. She knows that the arrival of a comet with excellent brightness and observation conditions is a very rare thing.

Because of this rarity, she became interested.

In order to facilitate the participation of other interested students, the astronomy club opened the observatory that night, and any students who were willing could come to participate in this event.

There was also coffee, small cakes... It was a lively and noisy event, like an alternative open-air party.

The best time to observe is eleven o'clock at night. It was the end of October, and there had been several light snowfalls, and the temperature at night dropped to nearly ten degrees below zero. The observatory is high up, and when the wind blows, the chill penetrates right into people's bones.

Although the temperature conditions are not good, there are unexpectedly many people coming. The astronomical club has only two telescopes, and people who want to join in the fun come in waves, and many people don't even get a turn.

Su Yunbai stood on the edge of the crowd, looking at the group of people crowded near the telescope, and she already regretted joining in the fun.

Huo Qinian appeared at this time. To be precise, he has always been there, but Su Yunbai didn't notice it, and accidentally bumped into him when she retreated.

She subconsciously apologized, "I'm sorry..." Halfway through her words, she hurriedly changed her language, "I am so sorry. Are you OK?"

Astronomical observation has requirements for the surrounding lighting and brightness. The only light on the scene was a dim red one, which was not so dim that she could not see her hand in front of her, but it was still dim all around.

Su Yunbai only knew that she had bumped into someone, but she could not see who it was.

Then, she heard a very low reply with a smile: "Chinese?"

Su Yunbai said "ah" and smiled, "Yes. I'm really sorry."

The voice added: "We are one family, it's no big deal."

The voice was lazy.

Su Yunbai was not a person who was keen on socializing, but the conditions were special tonight. It was dim all around her, and she leaned on the railings surrounding the top floor. She could not see the faces and expressions of the people around her, but she was unexpectedly relaxed.

The people around her seemed to think so too, and only chatted with her intermittently.

"Are you here alone?" he asked.

"No, I came here with my roommate. She met someone she likes, so..."

Su Yunbai did come with her American roommate. This white girl was a tough person. When she met the object of her secret crush, she immediately changed camps and soon disappeared.

The man laughed again, "What a coincidence? I came here with someone too."

He shrugged, "He said to let me experience the rich academic atmosphere. But after only ten minutes here, he disappeared."

The two said a few words and fell silent again.

They were strangers and couldn't see each other. Su Yunbai didn't feel the pressure to speak and was quiet with peace of mind.

After a long while, the men and women surrounding the telescope exclaimed.

Obviously, the comet was observed.

Su Yunbai was hesitating whether to go forward and join in the fun, when the man suddenly asked, "Do you want to take a look? That comet. Since you're here anyway."

Su Yunbai was a little surprised, "Can I?"

Of course she wanted to see it, otherwise she wouldn't have come tonight.

But the problem is, with so many people, how can they squeeze in?

The man laughed again.

It was strange, he seemed to love laughing, and when he laughed, he had a lazy and casual energy, with a sense of being free and careless, and he seemed to be unexpectedly at ease.

This is a very special temperament, but Su Yunbai didn't think much about it at the time.

The man stood up from the railing he was leaning on.

In the dim light, Su Yunbai could only vaguely see a tall and upright shadow.

The shadow said, "Can you see me? Come with me, I'll take you to see the comet."

Su Yunbai followed him around the crowds of people on the rooftop and stopped in another corner of the rooftop. There, a large storage box that was almost as high as her calf was lying quietly on the ground.

The man half-crouched and opened the storage box, "Although the telescope belongs to my friend, I happen to know how to assemble it. This one is a little smaller, and the effect may not be as good as the one in your school..."

A new red light came on.

The dim red light swept out a vague outline. Su Yunbai couldn't see too many facial details at a glance, but only vaguely felt that the man's facial features were upright and majestic, and he looked particularly energetic.

She didn't think much, or even look at it, her whole mind was on the telescope that was gradually taking shape in the man's hands.

Assembling the lens, calibrating, adjusting the axis, adjusting the focus...

Several people gradually gathered here and discussed the newly completed telescope.

The man was not disturbed at all. After operating it for a few minutes, he raised his head from the eyepiece and waved at Su Yunbai, "Come."

Su Yunbai approached.

In the narrow field of vision, a small comet appeared quietly. The blue-white ion tail stretched out a long tail, like a ball of light coming from afar, desperately approaching them.

This is a spectacular mixture of static and dynamic. The static one is the picture, the dynamic one is reality and imagination.

Su Yunbai subconsciously held her breath.

She was so absorbed in the scene that she almost forgot to react.

The man looked at her and laughed muffledly, looking very happy: "Do you like it very much?"

Su Yunbai thought for a moment, "Not really, I just think it's magical. But if you think about it, it's a little scary."

"Scary?" The man was surprised, "Why?"

Su Yunbai said, "It's not just the comet. In fact, I have always felt that the universe is scary. It is too big, compared to our time scale, it is so big that it is beyond our imagination.

"Just thinking about it, I can't help but imagine that if one day I get lost in the universe, I can't help but cry out to the sky or the earth... I always think that the world after death is like this."

Su Yunbai's voice suddenly lowered when she said this.

She felt that she had raised a not very good topic, and the other party might not understand it, and might even find it inexplicable.

But the man said, "This idea is very interesting. "

He looked up at the sky, his voice was low but very clear in Su Yunbai's ears," The universe is full of strange lights and the most beautiful sights may be beyond the time scale we can understand. Maybe the starlight you see comes from millions or even hundreds of millions of light years away.

"What we see is actually it from millions or even hundreds of millions of years ago. So much time has passed, it may have passed its prime among stars, is getting old, or even collapsed and died...

"But in our cognition, it is still the it from long, long ago.

"We can't see its present, we can only see its past.

"For it, it may take a lifetime to send a message, and there will never be a chance to receive feedback. So crying to the heavens and the earth will not work, right? "

Su Yunbai was a little surprised, "You also study physics?"

The man said seriously, "No. In fact, I study literature."

Su Yunbai was a little surprised.

"Literature can also be very physical." The man said, "Have you heard of a poem called "The Past Was Slow."

"'The days in the past were slow. Cars, horses, and mail were all slow. There was only one person I could love in my lifetime'

"Think about it, 'Cars, horses, and mail were all slow', does it sound like this scene?" His voice was low and deep, as if he was telling something that was difficult to tell to outsiders, "You can only send a message once in your lifetime, so 'There is only one person I can love in my lifetime'..."

Su Yunbai felt that her heartbeat was a little unbalanced.

She thought, this is really a poem that is both physical and romantic.

Seeing that she was listening intently, the man suddenly said, "I made it up. "

He laughed muffledly, very happy, and did not hide the fact that he was teasing people: "I'm sorry, I'm not studying literature. In fact, this is a poem that a foreign friend of mine copied for his Chinese girlfriend. He recited it 'affectionately' every day, and I memorized two lines..."

Su Yunbai was not angry at all, "I think it makes sense. But, what exactly did you study?"

"Me? What I studied is more vulgar." He said, "I don't care about the size of the universe, I only fight for the short term.

"For example, this one." He pointed to the standing telescope, "The relevant property rights are basically in the hands of foreign companies. What I want to do is to put our own labels on those areas that are firmly occupied by foreigners..."

Su Yunbai was impressed by the strong confidence revealed in these words, and subconsciously looked up at him.

In the dim light, she could only see a vague silhouette, tall and straight. The man stood steadily in the temperature of nearly ten degrees below zero, with a relaxed posture, giving people a sense of calm and firmness.

In that observatory, Su Yunbai had never seen Huo Qinian's face clearly.

But in the dream, his appearance became clear from the dim night. The straight nose, deep eye sockets, serious and sincere eyes...

His existence to Su Yunbai was like the boy in a white shirt hidden in the heart of every girl during adolescence.

It was like a dream.

Su Yunbai's heart was filled with a lingering sadness.

She immediately distinguished between memories and reality, and slowly woke up.

The room was dark and the night was getting dark.

Su Yunbai's mobile phone, which was placed on the bedside, was ringing - someone was looking for her.