Signal
On the day the project concluded, Su Yi experienced her first freezing rain of the year. When Luo Yan sent the final report of the "Tennis Motion Recognition System V2.0" to her supervisor, the lab heating was broken, and her fingertips felt stiff and cold as she typed. Outside the window, the camphor trees had shed all their leaves, their bare branches stretching out against the gray sky like an unfinished sketch.
"You really aren't going to the celebration banquet?" Zhang Qi held the certificate she had just received and waved the invitation in her hand. "The sports academy said that Senior Qi specially reserved a seat for you."
Luo Yan paused in packing her backpack, her fingertips touching the silver bookmark in her pocket, its edges warm from her body heat. "No," she said, zipping up her bag. "My mom just texted me saying the wintersweet in Lin'an is blooming and she wants me to go back and see it this week."
This is not an excuse. Ren Qin did post photos last night; the wintersweet in the yard was in full bloom, covered in a thin layer of frost, its golden petals dusted with snowflakes, like a handful of scattered stars. But she didn't mention that when she saw the photos, the first thing that came to her mind was Qi Sheng's words: "The fragrance of wintersweet in Lin'an can fill an entire street."
Zhang Qi smiled knowingly: "That's true, you haven't been home for almost half a year. By the way, the city sports school just called, saying they want to introduce our system for daily training, and they've asked the technical team to send someone to coordinate, you..."
“I’ll go.” Luo Yan interrupted before she could finish, her voice a little tense, “I’ll get this sorted out before I go home.”
Zhang Qi raised an eyebrow: "The sports academy said they'll send someone to help out. Guess who?"
Luo Yan didn't reply, but just grabbed her backpack and walked towards the door. The freezing rain hit the glass windows of the corridor, making a soft, crackling sound, as if it were knocking on some kind of expectation.
The meeting with the city sports school was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Luo Yan arrived at the training hall half an hour early. The heating inside was on full blast, and the smell of sweat and rubber filled the air; it was much warmer than the laboratory. As she was adjusting the equipment, she heard familiar footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw Qi Sheng standing at the entrance, wearing a black windbreaker with a section of his white turtleneck sweater showing. He looked completely different from when she saw him at the exhibition match last week.
"I'm here." He nodded, his voice carrying a crisp quality filtered through the freezing rain. "I was stuck in traffic and am ten minutes late."
"I just installed the system." Luo Yan moved aside to make room for him. "The coach from the sports school said he wants to test the motion recognition accuracy of the adult athletes first."
As Qi Sheng bent down to inspect the connecting cable, the hood of his windbreaker slipped down, revealing slightly damp hair, indicating he had gotten caught in the rain. His fingers paused at the connector, and he suddenly said, "Your scarf is crooked."
Luo Yan subconsciously touched her neck; the scarf was indeed loose, one end hanging down to her chest, the other still wrapped around the back of her neck. Just as she was about to adjust it, Qi Sheng reached out, his fingertips carrying the chill of his windbreaker, and gently pulled the two ends of the scarf together, his movements as natural as adjusting the wiring of equipment.
"This is warmer." His fingertips brushed against her earlobe, like touching a feather, so light it sent shivers down her spine.
Luo Yan took a half step back, her ear tips burning uncontrollably: "Thank you."
He didn't speak, but turned and walked towards the team members who were warming up. His black windbreaker silhouette in the bright training hall looked like a meticulously cut obsidian. Luo Yan watched his profile as he talked with the coach, and suddenly remembered the bookmark he had given her on the day the competition ended. It was still tucked inside her notebook, the tennis racket pattern worn even brighter by the pages.
The test went smoothly. The system's accuracy in recognizing the movements of adult athletes remained stable at 96%, even accurately marking the most tricky "non-standard backhand" as an "effective personalized movement." The sports school coach patted Qi Sheng on the shoulder and laughed: "Little Qi is really knowledgeable. He knows that we veteran athletes have many 'unorthodox' movements, and he made arrangements with the computer science students in advance."
Qi Sheng glanced at Luo Yan and smiled slightly: "It's because the system is well done."
It was past five o'clock when it ended, and the freezing rain turned into light snow, which fluttered down on the glass windows of the training hall, quickly accumulating into a thin layer. As Luo Yan was packing up the equipment, Qi Sheng came in from outside, carrying two cups of hot milk tea, with fine water droplets condensing on the cups.
“I bought this at the entrance of the sports school,” he handed her one of the cups. “Hot cocoa, with double the sugar.”
Luo Yan took it, and the warmth of the hot cocoa wafted through the paper cup, making her fingertips feel soothed.
"Going back to Lin'an next week?" Qi Sheng leaned against the wall, drinking milk tea, the white steam blurring his features.
"Yeah, I bought a ticket for Saturday." Luo Yan took a sip of hot cocoa, the sweet warmth sliding down her throat. "My mom said the winter plum blossoms are in full bloom, and she wants me to go back and take some pictures."
“We can try using the system’s image recognition module,” he suddenly said. “It can automatically label the number of petals and the degree of openness, which is more interesting than taking pictures with a mobile phone.”
Luo Yan laughed: "Are you looking for new application scenarios for the system?"
"I guess so." He looked down at the hot cocoa in his cup, stirring it gently with a spoon. "Actually... I also have some business to attend to in Lin'an."
Luo Yan's heart skipped a beat: "What's wrong?"
“Hmm,” he nodded, his tone flat. “The old coach from the provincial team retired and held a tennis alumni reunion in Lin’an.” He paused, looked up, and the sunlight streaming through the window fell into his eyes like falling stars. “However, I still have some things to do with the sports school system, so I probably can’t go.”
Luo Yan's throat tightened a little. Just as she was about to speak, her phone rang. It was Ren Qin calling.
“Yanyan, your dad’s colleague’s son is in Suzhou, named Zhou Yuan. I heard he’s in the same school as you, majoring in computer science,” Ren Qin’s voice came through the receiver, with a hint of deliberate enthusiasm. “I gave him your WeChat. You young people can get to know each other and have someone to look after you in the future.”
Luo Yan's grip on her phone tightened. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Qi Sheng pause in his act of drinking milk tea, his expression obscured by the collar of his black windbreaker. "Mom, I don't need..."
“Oh, it won’t hurt to get to know him,” Ren Qin interrupted her. “I’ve met this kid before. He’s steady and, like you, studies computer science. We’ll definitely have things in common.”
After hanging up the phone, the air in the training hall suddenly felt heavy. Luo Yan looked at the friend request that popped up on her phone screen. Before she could click "ignore," she heard Qi Sheng say, "Let's go, the snow seems to be getting heavier."
On the way back, the snow fell heavier and heavier. Qi Sheng drove his slightly worn SUV, a thin layer of ice forming on the windows, the wipers swishing back and forth with a rhythmic creak. The car was quiet, with only the car radio playing an old song, its melody as slow as falling snow.
"Auntie seems very worried about your matter." Qi Sheng suddenly spoke, his gaze fixed on the road ahead, his profile appearing particularly gentle in the dim light.
“She’s always like this.” Luo Yan looked at the street scene flashing past the window. Snow fell on the streetlights like piled-up cotton candy. “She thinks I’m too boring and wants me to meet more people.”
"That Zhou Yuan," he tapped his fingers lightly on the steering wheel, "is he from your department?"
"I don't know." Luo Yan took out her phone and ignored the friend request. "There are so many people in the Computer Science department, how could I possibly know them all?"
Qi Sheng didn't say anything more, but simply turned up the car's heater by two degrees. Luo Yan's fingertips still retained the warmth of the hot cocoa. She looked at his hands gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles distinct, and the black sports watch on his wrist gleaming faintly in the snow—exactly the same as the one he used to adjust the parameters for her in the lab last time.
When the car stopped in front of the college building, a thin layer of snow had already accumulated. Luo Yan unbuckled her seatbelt and was about to push open the door when she heard Qi Sheng say, "The alumni association meeting is on Sunday morning at the Lin'an City Gymnasium."
She turned around and saw him holding a small brown paper envelope. As he handed it to her, his fingertips were covered with snowflakes: "The old coach likes plum blossoms. I've prepared some wintersweet seeds from Su Yi. If you'd like to attend the alumni association, could you please bring them to him for me?"
The envelope was thin; there probably weren't many seeds inside. When Luo Yan took it, her fingers touched his; they were icy cold, as if just pulled from the snow. "Okay," she said softly, as if afraid to disturb the falling snow outside the car window.
"Be careful on the road," he said.
"The same to you."
The moment she opened the car door, snowflakes covered her face, cool and refreshing. Luo Yan glanced back; Qi Sheng's car was still parked there, its black body like a silent reef in the snow. It wasn't until she entered the building and looked through the glass door that the car slowly merged into the traffic, its taillights shrinking into two small red dots in the snow before finally disappearing from sight.
The high-speed train was nearly empty on Saturday morning. Luo Yan leaned against the window watching the snow. The snow in Su Yi had turned into rain by the time it reached Lin'an, pattering against the window and blurring the outside world into a watercolor painting. As she opened her backpack to get her books, she saw the kraft paper envelope, suddenly remembered something, and took out her phone to send Zhang Qi a message: "Does the city sports school's system need maintenance next week?"
Zhang Qi replied quickly: "No need. Senior Qi said he's going to Lin'an this week and will also stop by the sports school's branch. Their system is linked to the main campus, so it'll be more convenient for him to go."
Luo Yan stared at the word "by the way" on the screen and suddenly laughed. It turned out that the so-called "alumni association" was just an excuse he made up, like when he said "Zhang Qi asked me to bring you some porridge" in the lab last time, and like how he always left a "backdoor" in the system parameters that only she could understand.
The rain stopped when the high-speed train arrived at the station. Ren Qin was waiting for her at the exit, wearing a red down jacket. She waved when she saw her: "Yanyan! Over here!"
On the way home, Ren Qin brought up Zhou Yuan again: "That kid asked me yesterday when you're going back to Suyi, saying he wanted to invite you to dinner. What a nice kid..."
Luo Yan didn't reply, but just looked at the wintersweet trees passing by outside the window. The wintersweet in Lin'an truly lived up to its reputation; the golden petals bloomed vibrantly in the damp air, and the fragrance was so strong it seemed it could waft down the street.
“Oh, right,” Ren Qin suddenly said, “there’s a friendly tennis match at the gymnasium on Sunday. They say it’s a reunion of veteran provincial team members. I bought two tickets. Shall we go check it out?”
The gymnasium was bustling with activity on Sunday morning. When Luo Yan followed Ren Qin to their seats, the match had already begun. Two veteran players with graying hair were playing; their movements were slower, but they exuded a professional tenacity. Ren Qin watched with great interest, but Luo Yan's gaze involuntarily drifted towards the coach's bench—Qi Sheng had said the alumni association was here, but she had searched around and couldn't find that familiar figure in black.
Ren Qin nudged her arm. "Look at that girl in the white tracksuit, she used to be the provincial team's ace, she won the national championship back then."
Luo Yan looked in the direction she pointed.
On the sidelines, a young man in a white tracksuit stood on the coach's bench, bending down to hand water to a veteran player. It wasn't a black windbreaker or a white shirt; the simple tracksuit made his figure appear exceptionally tall and straight. As he looked up, his gaze swept towards the stands, and upon seeing Luo Yan, he paused, then gave a very faint smile, like the sunshine after a snowfall.
It is a prayer for prosperity.
He clearly hadn't expected to run into her here; a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes before he approached, holding an unopened bottle of mineral water. "Hello, Auntie," he greeted Ren Qin first, his voice louder than usual, "I'm Qi Sheng, from the Sports Academy."
"Oh! You must be Xiao Qi!" Ren Qin's eyes lit up. "I've heard Yan Yan mention you two worked on a project together. You're so talented and promising!"
Luo Yan's face flushed. Just as she was about to explain, Qi Sheng interrupted her, "You flatter me. It's mainly because Luo Yan's system is so good." He handed Luo Yan a bottle of mineral water, still covered in ice crystals, "Just bought it, to quench your thirst."
Ren Qin watched their interaction and suddenly smiled: "You two chat, I'll go over there and say hello to your Uncle Zhang." After saying that, she tactfully walked away, and before leaving, she winked at Luo Yan.
"Didn't you say there were still some things to do with the sports school system?" Luo Yan unscrewed the mineral water bottle, the icy liquid sliding down her throat, suppressing the heat in her heart.
“Hmm,” Qi Sheng leaned against the railing, his gaze fixed on the game on the field, “but since it’s an alumni reunion, I thought I’d come back to take a look.” He paused, then turned his head, “You’re here too.”
"My mom gave me the ticket." Luo Yan's gaze returned to the field, where two veteran players were playing a long ball, going back and forth for more than ten rounds, drawing cheers from the audience.
Luo Yan suddenly remembered something and took out the brown paper envelope from her backpack: "Where is your wintersweet seed? I'll give it to him for you."
"No need," Qi Sheng smiled. "Actually... it's for you."
Luo Yan was stunned.
“When I mentioned going to Lin’an last time, I actually wanted to ask you,” his voice was soft, muffled by the cheers from the crowd, but it clearly reached her ears, “when the winter plum blossoms are in bloom, could we… take some photos together? Using your system, and my camera too.”
The match had just ended, and the entire stadium erupted in enthusiastic applause. Luo Yan looked into Qi Sheng's eyes, which reflected the stadium lights like countless stars. She remembered the hot cocoa in the lab late at night, the bookmark he gave her when the project was completed, and his words, "Maybe we'll run into each other," on that snowy day. Suddenly, she felt that the distance that had stood between them, the past that had been buried by time, had all transformed into the clearest signal before this snowfall.
She took a breath, met his gaze, and nodded gently: "Okay."
Qi Sheng's eyes lit up, like sparks ignited. Just as he was about to say something, Ren Qin walked over with a smile and gently nudged Luo Yan with her elbow: "What are you chatting about so happily? Little Qi, come home with us for lunch, Auntie will make you some plum blossom pastries from Lin'an."
Luo Yan's face instantly turned red. Qi Sheng looked at her, his smile deepening, and nodded: "Okay, thank you, Auntie."
Sunlight streamed through the glass windows of the gymnasium, falling on them with the warmth of spring. The awards ceremony began, and the veteran players posed for photos with their trophies, their smiles radiating the composure that comes with age. Luo Yan held the bottle of ice-cold mineral water, her fingertips burning with warmth.
This winter, it won't be cold anymore.
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