Chapter 266 The Real World (Part 5) What exactly is reality? ...
When she got home, Song Yuanshuang was just bringing out a bowl of soup from the kitchen.
"Xiao Ce is back? Go wash your hands quickly, Mom specially made your favorite corn and pork rib soup today!"
After changing his shoes, Song Ce smiled faintly and said, "Yes, thank you, Mom."
"You silly child, why are you thanking your own mother?" Song Yuanshuang turned around and immediately noticed that her son's expression was a little off. She paused, took off her apron and put it away, and asked with concern, "Xiao Ce, what's wrong? You don't look well. Did you feel unwell at school?"
Song Ce shook his head. "No, Mom, I'm fine. Hmm... this pork rib soup smells so good. I'm going to wash my hands now."
Seeing that her son was deliberately changing the subject and seemed unwilling to talk more, Song Yuanshuang didn't press him. She just turned around and went to the kitchen to ladle the soup into a small bowl.
During dinner, Song Yuanshuang told funny stories about her workplace with a smile. Song Ce listened quietly to her, occasionally responding to show that he was listening, but in reality, he was thinking about Fang Xiwen.
He didn't know what to do. Should he tell Fang Xiwen about her future directly? Or should he advise her to rebel? Or should he stay out of it? No, he couldn't let things develop like this and stand by and watch her die.
"Xiao Ce, what are you spacing out for? If you keep staring like that, the soup will get cold."
"Oh, oh, okay." Song Ce snapped out of his daze and quickly scooped up a spoonful of soup and put it in his mouth.
"How is it? Is it good?"
"Mmm, it tastes good."
"As long as it tastes good, you've just recovered, drink more."
Song Ce put down his spoon, looked up at Song Yuanshuang, and suddenly asked, "Mom, if someone is going to run into trouble in the future, and I find out about it beforehand for some reason, what do you think I should do?"
Song Yuanshuang paused for a moment, then smiled and patted his shoulder. "Xiao Ce, if it were Mom, I would choose to help. Maybe this small act can help that person get through their difficulties? Of course, the premise of what Mom is saying is that you must protect yourself and not get yourself into trouble while trying to help others, understand?"
Song Ce felt a warmth in his heart and nodded gently, "Yes, thank you, Mom, I understand."
"Good to know, hurry up and eat!"
The next morning, Song Ce got up early and, after having breakfast at home, made sure to put two steamed buns and a carton of milk in his schoolbag. A few days ago, Chen Dingyu had mentioned that Fang Xiwen's mother almost never made her breakfast, let alone gave her pocket money. As a result, she had to go to school hungry, which led to her developing a serious stomach ailment during high school.
As Song Ce approached the door of Class 4, Grade 8, he ran into Fang Xiwen. He walked up to her, took out a steamed bun and a bottle of milk from his bag, and handed them to her: "You haven't had breakfast yet, have you? Here, take this."
Fang Xiwen was taken aback, and when she looked up and saw it was Song Ce, her cheeks instantly turned red. She quickly waved her hand, saying very embarrassedly, "No need, Song Ce, I've already eaten..."
Before she could finish speaking, her stomach rumbled twice.
"Don't be shy, consider this a return gift for the milk tea you treated me to." Song Ce stuffed the things into her hands and smiled gently, "Eat up, we have to start morning reading soon."
"Hmm..." Fang Xiwen held the warm steamed bun and milk, gently bit her lip, and quickly followed Song Ce into the classroom.
Before he knew it, it was break time. Seeing that all the classmates around him had left, Chen Dingyu quickly went up to Song Ce and whispered, "Did you go to Tianhui Plaza with Fang Xiwen yesterday? I heard from a classmate in the next class that he saw you two drinking milk tea together!"
Song Ce nodded slightly. "Mm."
"You, you shouldn't be too nice to her," Chen Dingyu said in a low voice, his face full of disapproval. "My mom said Fang Xiwen's family situation is very complicated, and her mother is very difficult to deal with! If her mother sees that you two are getting close, she might come and cause you trouble!"
Song Ce frowned. "What does her mother's difficult nature have to do with her?"
Chen Dingyu was taken aback, scratched his head, clearly not expecting Song Ce to ask such a question.
"I...I didn't say she was bad, I was just reminding you."
Song Ce didn't say anything more, just quietly looked at the English book in his hands. Seeing this, Chen Dingyu quickly sat up straight and wisely shut his mouth.
The first class in the afternoon was computer class. After the students lined up and sat down, the computer teacher, Lu Zhelan, clapped her hands to signal everyone to be quiet.
"Class, today we'll have a self-study period. You're free to do whatever you want, but please maintain classroom discipline, understand?"
"Yes, Teacher Lu!"
After Lu Zelan left with her lesson plan, the classroom was soon filled with gasps of surprise and whispers.
Although the computers only had basic games like Minesweeper, Solitaire, Frog in the River, and Whack-a-Mole, everyone was having a great time. Song Ce noticed that all the computers were connected to the internet.
He opened his browser, searched for the information he wanted to know, and then quickly memorized it.
Fang Xiwen sat behind Song Ce and started playing the Four-Color Spider Solitaire game as well. After she finally finished the game, she found Song Ce staring intently at the screen, browsing pages that she couldn't understand at all.
She pursed her lips, quietly approached Song Ce's seat, and whispered, "Song Ce, what are you looking at?"
Song Ce smiled faintly, "It's nothing, just browsing."
Fang Xiwen followed his gaze to the computer screen, which was filled with strange symbols and graphics that left her completely bewildered. She blinked. "These things... look so hard to understand!"
Song Ce turned his head and saw her blank expression. After thinking for a moment, he didn't explain further. "I'm fine!"
Fang Xiwen stared blankly for a while, then, realizing she couldn't understand it, turned back to her seat and continued playing cards. This scene was witnessed by Chen Dingyu, who was sitting opposite her. He lowered his head slightly, seemingly lost in thought.
For the next two weeks, Song Ce was extremely busy.
He stumbled upon a physics post online, and for some reason, the seemingly incomprehensible text appeared remarkably simple to him; he could even figure out how to solve it after just a few glances. Sensing something amiss, he printed out the entire manuscript posted by the user "MOON林," carefully adding his own solutions and answers, and mailed it to the address left at the end of the post.
A week later, the Beijing Institute of Physical Science.
Du Xidun frowned as he looked at the manuscript left by Mr. Huang. His hands didn't stop moving as he muttered to himself and took notes in his notebook, then crossed them out repeatedly. He was extremely irritable.
"What exactly does Old Huang mean by writing all this? Is it &#@￥%? Or...&%￥#@*?" Du Xidun grabbed his hair, staring intently at the complex formulas and messy annotations on the manuscript, feeling like his head was about to explode.
It's no wonder he was so impatient. Mr. Huang was a leading figure at the Institute of Physics, and he devoted his life to studying physics, mechanics and engineering control theory. However, the manuscript he left behind on his deathbed was either vague or contained strange symbols. The entire Institute of Physics studied it for almost half a year, but still couldn't figure it out.
At this moment, a young researcher named Lin Anliang walked over with a cup of hot tea. Looking at the bloodshot eyes of Du Xidun, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Professor Du, what do you think? Perhaps we could gather everyone together again for another discussion?"
Du Xidun took the tea and sighed, "What's the point of further discussion? Every time, everyone just talks their own story, and there's never a consensus. If we can't decipher Elder Huang's manuscript, then the project he researched for nearly ten years before his death will probably be..."
As the two were talking, there was a knock on the office door.
"Dr. Lin, there's a package for you, sent from Qing City."
Lin Anliang was stunned. Qing City? He had never been to Qing City since he was a child, and he didn't know anyone there. How could something be sent from Qing City?
"Old Zhang, what's this?"
"Hmm...it looks like some kind of document."
material?
He took the package and opened it to find a thick stack of manuscripts inside. He frowned and casually picked up the top two sheets of paper to look at. But the more he read, the brighter his eyes became, and his casual flipping through the pages slowed down.
A few minutes later, Lin Anliang's eyes widened suddenly, and his breathing became rapid.
"Professor Du, please take a look at this!"
Du Xidun was taken aback at first, then quickly got up and took the manuscript.
More than half an hour later, Du Xidun slowly raised his head, his previously agitated and anxious expression replaced by shock and excitement. He excitedly slammed his hand on the table, startling several researchers who were passing by.
"Xiao Lin, these problem-solving approaches and methods, along with the annotations of those symbols in Huang Lao's manuscript, have solved all the difficult points at once! What we've been studying for over half a year and still can't understand, he's directly provided a complete derivation process! And here, he not only understood Huang Lao's ideas, but even added more reasonable theoretical support! This level is definitely not something an ordinary person can achieve! Tell me quickly, when exactly did you meet such a hidden master?"
Lin Anliang was also confused after hearing this. He took the manuscript and studied it for a while before he seemed to suddenly remember something and asked uncertainly, "Could it be that this person saw the post I made online?"
"Post? What post?"
Lin Anliang quickly recounted in detail how he posted on the website, “...I didn’t think too much about it at the time. After all, as the saying goes, three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang. Maybe some talented people in the public can solve what the researchers at the Institute of Physics can’t. Anyway, it won’t be a loss for us.” As he spoke, he quickly opened the interactive website and showed Du Xidun the post he had made.
The post had hundreds of replies, most of which were just filler comments like "The Heavenly Rank Technique is here, why don't you all learn it?", "I am a military general who cannot read", "The only thing I can understand in the whole notebook is the six characters 'Engineering Control Manuscript'", and "Even if I copied it, I would still make mistakes". It was quite amusing.
After turning to the last page and confirming that he hadn't found any useful comments, Du Xidun closed the page, his tone urgent: "This mysterious person's insights and abilities are absolutely those of a top genius in the field of physics! Xiaolin, we must personally go and invite him to our physics research institute!"
Lin Anliang also knew the importance of this person, so he quickly searched for the detailed information on the express package—only to find that the sender's address and name were clearly written on the slip: Qing City Third Middle School, Song Ce.
Du Xidun took the shipping label, glanced at it, and after a moment of contemplation, said, "This Song Ce not only understands Elder Huang's manuscript, but also provides such professional answers. He must be a senior teacher at the school. Xiao Lin, contact the person in charge of Qingshi No. 3 Middle School as soon as possible so that we can prepare in advance."
"Okay, Professor Du, I'll take care of it right away!" Lin Anliang nodded, picked up the express package, and walked out quickly.
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Author's Note: [Covering face and peeking] Under revision
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