Duan Qiyan's face turned pale, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
In order to avoid talking to Jin Baihui, Duan Qiyan picked up a piece of hot dish with chopsticks and took a mouthful of rice from the bowl. The sour and spicy soup made his throat dry. He coughed three times, but before he could say a word, Jin Baihui turned around and left.
Jin Baihui's first choice was originally the Yao class at Tsinghua University. The Yao class was full of talents and the competition was fierce. Unfortunately, Jin Baihui failed to win. She settled for the next best thing and became Duan Qiyan's college alumnus.
Even if Jin Baihui lowered her attitude and apologized to Duan Qiyan in person, Duan Qiyan still had a bad impression of her. Duan Qiyan has now graduated from high school, so he naturally won't bother with Jin Baihui anymore. However, that winter five years ago, he was sentenced to death by Jin Baihui's words and was framed for no reason. In just ten minutes, he experienced difficulty breathing, numbness in his hands, slight tinnitus... He even had a nightmare - if Lin Zhixia, Jiang Yubai, and Shen Fuxuan were not there at noon that day, who would believe him? How could he save himself?
The answer is no.
Duan Qiyan sighed and said, "Forget it, let the past be the past."
Lin Zhixia handed him a pig's trotter: "Want some pig's trotters? The halved pig's trotters in this cafeteria are the best in the school."
Duan Qiyan's spirits instantly perked up.
As he savored the salted pig's trotters that Lin Zhixia had personally brought him, he could feel Jiang Yubai's gaze on him. He turned his head and looked at Jiang Yubai on the screen.
"You also want to eat halved pig's trotters?" Duan Qiyan came to this conclusion.
Jiang Yubai said, "You are eating very deliciously." He paused and asked, "Is it really that delicious?"
Duan Qiyan tapped the bowl with his chopsticks: "It's much better than my parents' cooking." Speaking of his parents, Duan Qiyan also revealed: "Did your parents send you abroad? My parents took the train back home this afternoon..."
Duan Qiyan took out his cell phone from his pocket while talking.
He opened QQ on his phone and wanted to send a message to his parents, but he accidentally saw the tourist photos of the Great Wall uploaded by his father at 4 pm today through his QQ space dynamics - the facts proved that his parents did not take the train home. His parents really left him in school and went to travel around without any psychological burden.
Alas, his family affection is so fragile.
Duan Qiyan ate two big bowls of rice as compensation for himself.
After dinner, Duan Qiyan and Lin Zhixia said goodbye.
The sunset glow faded away, and everything melted into the night. Duan Qiyan looked at Lin Zhixia's back, recalled all the details, and said with emotion: "Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai...are there any signs?"
"Did you just realize it?" Tang Tingting asked.
Shen Fuxuan said, "He is a bit slow."
Tang Tingting asked again: "Hey, Jin Baihui apologized to you, do you feel good?"
Duan Qiyan replied unhappily: "Which eye of yours saw me happy?"
When Tang Tingting reminded him of this, he remembered another thing: "You didn't apologize for touching my thigh today? You are not as docile as Jin Baihui. You saw it with your own eyes. Jin Baihui even said sorry to me."
Tang Tingting completely lost her patience: "Are you upset? I accidentally touched you, and you complained so much? Boys should behave like boys, and don't wear such short pants when going out. If someone touches you, look for the reason in yourself first. Were you sitting too close to me? Why didn't I touch Shen Fuxuan, but only you? You should reflect on yourself."
Duan Qiyan frowned: "You took advantage and you still think you're right... You can't say that. Hey, you're even more unreasonable than a middle school student."
Tang Tingting walked away with her head held high, saying, "Okay, go find Jin Baihui. She's much more reasonable than me."
Her light grey dress fluttered in the night breeze, and her pair of high-heeled leather sandals hit the ground, making a "click-click" sound that slowly drifted away.
"What's wrong with her?" Duan Qiyan asked Shen Fuxuan.
Shen Qixuan smiled: "I don't know either."
"You know everything," Duan Qiyan exposed him, "but you just won't tell me."
Shen Fuxuan put his hands in his pockets, half lowered his head, and seemed a little sad: "How can you think of me as that kind of person? You said this morning that I was your best friend."
Duan Qiyan quickly changed his words: "I didn't scold you, I was praising your high emotional intelligence..."
Duan Qiyan followed Shen Fuxuan back to the boys' dormitory.
Compared to Shen Fuxuan, Duan Qiyan adapted to dormitory life more quickly. In less than an hour, he became familiar with the other two roommates. His roommate asked him who the pretty girl he brought with him during the day was. He thought for a long time before realizing, "Are you talking about Lin Zhixia? She was my classmate in middle school, and I know her well."
The roommate asked, "Which college is she from?"
Shen Fuxuan suddenly said, "She is a junior this year and has applied for early graduation. She will graduate next year and go abroad to study for a doctorate... You can't catch up with her."
Duan Qiyan finally responded: "Our class teacher said that the best in science and engineering usually don't study for a master's degree, unless they want to change their major. After graduating from undergraduate school, the best either work or study for a doctorate... We just entered college, and Lin Zhixia is about to graduate. What papers has she published?"
Shen Fuxuan's grandmother is Professor Shen Zhaohua. Shen Zhaohua and Lin Zhixia have always been in contact. Through this relationship, Shen Fuxuan knows a lot of accurate information about Lin Zhixia.
He told Duan Qiyan: "Lin Zhixia submitted two papers to Physical Review Letters."
"Physical Review Letters?" Duan Qiyan sat up from the bed in surprise.
Their roommate said: "Several undergraduates in the Department of Physics have submitted their papers to Physical Review Letters. There are so many talented people in the Department of Physics."
Duan Qiyan corrected him, "Lin Zhixia is not in the Physics Department. She is from our Mathematics Department."
The roommate's romantic thoughts vanished, and he only commented: "She is not a human being."
At the same time, Lin Zhixia sneezed.
She was sitting in the library, preparing her application materials. The paper she submitted to Physical Review Letters had not yet been published, but she was full of confidence in herself.
Lin Zhixia chose a very prestigious professor as her doctoral advisor. She knew that the professor was very busy and it would take some time before she could receive a reply from him.
However, just one day later, the professor wrote back, his words revealing appreciation and affirmation.
Lin Zhixia quickly agreed with him on an interview date - there were two rounds of interviews, both completed online. Lin Zhixia performed very well, and a postdoctoral fellow in the professor's group said to her directly: "I look forward to working with you next year."
In early December of that year, Lin Zhixia received two pieces of good news: first, her thesis was officially accepted by Physical Review Letters, and second, she received a doctoral acceptance letter from Cambridge.
Lin Zhixia immediately forwarded the admission notice to Jiang Yubai.
At that time, Jiang Yubai was studying hard.
The final exam is coming soon. In order to get a good score, Jiang Yubai reviews seriously and carefully sorts out the knowledge points. The full score of each exam is 100 points. As long as you get more than 70 points, you can be considered excellent. However, the average score of many courses is between 50 and 60, and the difficulty of the test questions is even far beyond the teaching scope.
Jiang Yubai's goal is 80 points.
Lin Zhixia is about to come to Cambridge to study. Although Jiang Yubai cannot surpass her in study, he cannot act too mediocre either - just as this thought flashed through Jiang Yubai's mind, he received a new email.
He saw Lin Zhixia's acceptance letter for her doctoral program.
He picked up his phone and sent her a QQ message: "Congratulations, you have captured a new planet."
Before this, they hadn't mentioned the plot of "Exploring the Universe" for a long time.
Along with that text message, countless memories flooded into Lin Zhixia's mind like a tide.
She felt as if elementary school, middle school, and high school were just yesterday. She still remembered the summer vacation in the fourth grade of elementary school, when she lay on a small bed covered with a bamboo mat, with the old-fashioned fan spinning. The TV in the living room was playing the theme song of a TV series, and she was reading the comic book series "Exploring the Universe" drawn by Jiang Yubai.
In a blink of an eye, many years have passed.
She is about to graduate from college.
So she replied simply: "I miss you."
Jiang Yubai was eager to return home.
In mid-December, the exams were over, and Jiang Yubai's classmates invited him to stay in the city to celebrate Christmas, but Jiang Yubai politely declined. Jiang Yubai didn't even pack his luggage and flew back to Beijing.
He rested for two days at his home in Beijing. Then, under the pretext of "giving you a New Year's gift", he asked Lin Zhixia out.
It was December, the dead of winter. The sky was gloomy and the air was freezing. Lin Zhixia was very afraid of the cold and didn't want to do any outdoor activities, so Jiang Yubai took her to his home.
It was a quiet and peaceful Saturday. Jiang Yubai's grandparents went to Hainan Island for vacation, his uncle was rehearsing for a performance at the National Grand Theatre, and his aunt was doing year-end settlement in the studio - in other words, Jiang Yubai's elders were not at home.
Jiang Yubai suggested: "Let's celebrate Christmas together."
"But I've never celebrated Christmas." Lin Zhixia replied.
Jiang Yubai just wanted a holiday to provide him with a good reason to ensure that he and Lin Zhixia could spend some time alone. He took out a menu for Christmas dinner: "Are you interested in trying these dishes?"
Lin Zhixia glanced around and saw oyster soup, pan-fried steak, honey ham, strawberry cake, and persimmon pudding. She nodded quickly, "Okay, okay, let's celebrate."
What this sentence really means is - let's eat quickly.
According to the chef's feedback, the meal can be ready before noon. Now, it is 9:30 in the morning, three hours before lunch, Jiang Yubai asked Lin Zhixia what she wanted to do. She said, "I want to see your undergraduate life. Have you taken any photos?"
Jiang Yubai replied: "The photos are all in my computer."
"Where's your computer?"
"In the bedroom."
Lin Zhixia urged: "Take me to your bedroom quickly."
Jiang Yubai said, "Wait for me in the study. I'll bring the computer over."
Jiang Yubai has his own principles and insistence. Up to now, Lin Zhixia and he are still good friends, and he can't let her step into his bedroom, which may exceed the boundaries of dating.
Lin Zhixia asked a question: "When you came to my house, you played in my room. Why can't I go to your room? Is there anything I can't see?"
The kitten named "Strawberry" that Jiang Yubai had raised at home had grown into a big cat, with a pair of eyes that looked like the purest sapphires in the world. The cat passed by Lin Zhixia's feet and meowed. Lin Zhixia bent down and held the cat in her arms.
Jiang Yubai glanced at the cat and whispered, "Put the cat down and follow me."
Lin Zhixia didn't hesitate at all. She let Strawberry run away and followed him closely.
They took an indoor elevator and went straight to the third floor.
The elevator door opened, and the floor was covered with a layer of dark blue wool carpet. Jiang Yubai walked silently in front. He pushed open a door and disappeared into the room. Lin Zhixia stepped in and bumped into his back.
He leaned over and held her up with his hands.
Lin Zhixia looked around: "I've seen this place before when I was chatting with you on QQ. Your bed is always this big, and can accommodate five or six people. Do you roll around on the bed when you sleep at night?"
Rolling around in bed?
Jiang Yubai immediately denied: "No."
"Then why do you want such a big bed?" Lin Zhixia asked again.
Jiang Yubai said casually, "Just try lying down on it. It's spacious and easy to fall asleep."
Lin Zhixia blushed: "This is not good..." Yu Bai also considered the impact of all aspects. He began to change the subject: "I printed out your new paper and put it on my desk."
The room was warm. Jiang Yubai was not wearing a coat, only a thin shirt and trousers. Lin Zhixia was still wrapped tightly. She unbuttoned her down jacket and asked him softly, "Where can I put my clothes?"
Jiang Yubai was still thinking about his bed subconsciously. After hearing Lin Zhixia's question, he blurted out: "You can put it on the bed."
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