Chao Youye had already withdrawn her gaze and was concentrating on the podium, as if the small action just now had never happened. Only the corners of her lips slightly pursed, revealing a barely perceptible looseness.
Mu Xinrong looked at his graceful profile. The sunlight shining through the window cast a soft glow on him. Her heart felt like it was being gently scratched by a feather, making her feel warm and itchy.
The library became their most frequent destination. Mu Xinrong preferred a sunny spot by the window, while Chao Youye preferred a quieter corner near the specialized books section. They each usually occupied a table, lost in their own world.
Mu Xinrong would first do the relatively easy basic course homework. When he encountered difficult problems, he would hold the book and draft paper and carefully move to sit opposite Chao Youye.
"Youye," he would lower his voice, as if afraid of disturbing something, "I'm stuck here in the derivation of the metric of general relativity..."
Chao Youye would raise her head from the vast documents or complex model calculations and her eyes would fall on Mu Xinrong's draft.
He didn't give an answer right away. Instead, he asked in a cold voice, "Which definition of Christopher's notation did you use? Did you consider all the connection terms?"
His questions often hit home. Mu Xinrong would sometimes be stumped by a question, blushing and going back to his book. Sometimes, if he could answer it, Chao Youye would nod slightly and then, in a more concise way, point out redundant steps or blind spots in his reasoning.
His explanations were logically clear, like the most sophisticated instrument disassembling a complex structure. There was no unnecessary nonsense, yet he was always able to clear the clouds and see the light.
Mu Xinrong's eyes would light up when he heard this, as if he had discovered a new world.
He focused on watching Chao Youye's thin lips opening and closing, watching the rational light flowing in those violet eyes, watching his bony fingers occasionally writing down key formulas quickly on paper...
A mixture of admiration, infatuation and heartbeat, like warm spring water, flows silently in the chest.
Sometimes he would be so engrossed in reading that he would forget to respond until Chao Youye tapped the table lightly with her pen, or raised her eyes and looked at him with a hint of inquiry, then he would suddenly come back to his senses, lower his head with his ears burning, and continue calculating.
Every time this happened, Chao Youye's gaze would linger on Mu Xinrong's red ears for a moment, then she would look away as if nothing had happened and continue reading her book.
But under the table when no one was paying attention, his hands, placed on his knees, would have their fingertips slightly curled up.
On weekends, Mu Xinrong would drag Chao Youye off campus to find food, euphemistically calling it "Exploring the Food Map Around Campus." Chao Youye wasn't particularly interested, but usually wouldn't refuse.
He would follow Mu Xinrong quietly, watching him like a curious little animal, running around in the alleys, his eyes shining at the steaming snack stalls.
"Youye! Look! The shengjianbao from this shop is said to be super delicious! The line is so long!" Mu Xinrong pointed at the shop in front of the long queue and excitedly pulled Youye's sleeve.
The feeling of his sleeve being pulled made Chao Youye's body stiffen slightly. He lowered his eyes to look at the hand that was holding his sleeve. It was white, with distinct joints, and had the warmth unique to young people.
He didn't pull it back immediately, but said calmly: "With so many people, the probability of bacteria breeding is high, and the intake of fat is excessive..."
"Oh! Just try it once! Try something new!" Mu Xinrong interrupted the health risk assessment he was about to begin, looking at him with sparkling eyes and a hint of coquettishness, "I'll treat you!"
Looking at his expectant eyes, Chao Youye didn't say anything to refuse. He stood silently at the end of the line, as if to agree.
Mu Xinrong immediately smiled and stood beside him, chattering about the aroma of the sugar-roasted chestnuts next to her.
The warm autumn sun shone on the two of them. The white breath exhaled by Mu Xinrong when he spoke would occasionally brush past Chao Youye's ears, bringing a slightly itchy warmth.
Chao Youye's gaze fell on the front, seemingly concentrating on queuing. Only he knew that the clean and refreshing soapberry fragrance of the person next to him and the continuous and energetic voice were eroding the cold fortress he was accustomed to bit by bit.
The pan-fried buns were indeed thin-skinned, generously stuffed, and juicy. Mu Xinrong ate with such satisfaction that he didn't even notice the greasy stains on the corners of his mouth.
Chao Youye ate with a gentle manner and graceful movements, as if he were savoring a Michelin-starred meal. After finishing his portion, he picked up a tissue and naturally reached over to gently wipe away the greasy residue from the corners of Mu Xinrong's mouth.
The fingertips brushed across his lips with a slightly cool touch, and Mu Xinrong was completely stunned.
He opened his eyes wide and looked at Chao Youye who was close to him. Looking at his calm face, there seemed to be no ripples in his violet eyes, as if he had just completed a very ordinary thing.
"It's dirty." Chao Youye withdrew his hand, explained lightly, and threw the tissue into the trash can, as if the gentle touch just now was just an illusion.
Mu Xinrong felt as if the places where his fingertips touched were on fire, burning all the way to her ears and neck.
He lowered his head to hide his frantic heartbeat and burning cheeks, and replied vaguely: "Oh... thank you, thank you."
Chao Youye didn't look at him again, and turned her gaze to the ginkgo leaves falling on the street.
From an angle where no one could see, he rubbed his fingertips gently with the hand in his pocket, as if savoring the soft touch of the moment just now.
On a late autumn night, the chill deepened. In the dormitory, Zhao Lei, wearing headphones, battled in the canyon, while Liu Mo pored over a thick professional book under the desk lamp.
After washing up, Mu Xinrong put on soft cotton pajamas, sat cross-legged on his bed, frowning and thinking hard about the documents on the laptop screen.
He was preparing the proposal for a short paper on the potential applications of quantum entanglement in new types of communications, and the proof of a key lemma had stuck him.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
