Chapter 61 Graduation Project
"What time is it?!" I suddenly jumped up from Lin Yan's arms and frantically fumbled for my phone, "Results! Are the retest results out?!"
Lin Yan was woken up by me. He yawned lazily, stretched out his long arms and pulled me back into his arms. His voice was hoarse with the morning wake-up call: "What's the hurry? We won't leave until the afternoon. Get up first, I'll take you to eat something delicious. Only when you're full will you have the energy to wait."
Waiting, it is another agonizing wait.
Waiting for registration for the preliminary exam, waiting for the preliminary exam, waiting for the preliminary exam results, waiting for the re-examination... Now, it's the last node.
It feels like this year has been spent in endless waiting and anxiety.
Finally, it was time to announce the results in the afternoon.
My fingers were so cold from nervousness that I barely dared to open the official website. Lin Yan held my hand and led me to open the final list of candidates admitted through the re-examination.
He searched the list eagerly, and when he saw the three clear words "to be admitted" after his name, his heart, which had been hanging in his throat, finally fell back heavily, leaving a solid and sour dust.
"It's over..." I murmured, my body seemed to have been drained of strength, and as if a heavy burden had been lifted off, and I leaned softly on Lin Yan.
This year, the long journey of postgraduate entrance examination, which was full of chaos and ups and downs, finally came to a successful conclusion.
In order to celebrate this complete victory and to let me get familiar with the city where I will live in the next few years, Lin Yan decided not to rush back and take me for a good walk.
He was like a most competent tour guide, taking me through this strange yet vibrant city.
We visited the ruins of the ancient city wall with a heavy sense of history and touched the mottled bricks and stones; we visited the creative park full of literary and artistic atmosphere and spent time in the cafe; we also went to the modern commercial center and felt the prosperous pulse of the metropolis.
The convenient subway, the tree-lined streets, the people leisurely strolling in the park... In just one day, I was captured by the charm of this city.
"This place... is really great." Standing on an observation deck overlooking the city's night view, I exclaimed sincerely.
The transportation is convenient, the environment is beautiful, and the pace of life seems just right.
More importantly, the school is located in a huge university town that is home to many well-known universities and has a strong academic atmosphere.
Thinking about the advanced equipment in the future laboratory, and even hearing that the graduate student dormitory conditions are not bad (although Lin Yan and I will probably still rent a house), I am full of expectations and longing for my future graduate student life.
"Do you like it?" Lin Yan hugged me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder, and his warm breath brushed past my ears.
"Yeah!" I nodded vigorously, my heart feeling like it was filled with honey.
When we returned to the hotel that night, the great joy and anticipation for the future turned into the most immediate enthusiasm.
We hugged and kissed, as if we wanted to merge into each other's bones and blood. When our passion reached its peak, Lin Yan suddenly picked me up and walked towards the huge floor-to-ceiling mirror in the room.
"Lin Yan! What are you doing?!" I had a bad feeling and started struggling.
He gently placed me on the soft carpet, facing the mirror that reflected everything clearly, and then hugged me tightly from behind. The scene in the mirror was so shocking that my toes curled up in shame, my cheeks burned, and I wished I could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. "Don't... don't look..."
"Ruirui," Lin Yan's hot lips pressed against my red ears, his voice low and hoarse, with an almost obsessive temptation, "I have wanted to do this a long time ago..."
His kiss slid down my neck, his movements filled with irresistible tenderness, "I want you to see...how cute you are when I possess you..."
The mirror clearly reflected his infatuated gaze, my dazed expression, and our closely connected bodies.
The visual stimulation amplified the sensory experience, and the sense of shame and overwhelming pleasure intertwined together almost drove me crazy.
"Pervert...pervert!" I cursed out loud in shame and anger, but my voice was fragmented, more like a weak moan.
Lin Yan laughed softly, the vibration of his chest was clearly transmitted to my back, and the kiss became deeper and more lingering.
High in the sky of this strange city, in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror, we celebrated our victory in the most primitive and intimate way.
After having fun with Lin Yan for just a few days in the city where we would live in the future, we were hit back to square one by the cruel reality - the graduation project group meeting!
In fact, it should have been opened a long time ago, but I was overwhelmed by the pressure of the re-examination and had to shamelessly ask for leave from my supervisor several times.
Now that the dust has settled on the re-examination, the instructor's gentle but unquestionable voice, "Chen Rui, it's time to focus on preparing for your graduation project," came to him like a death warrant.
Back to the familiar university city, Lin Yan was calm and relaxed.
This guy, a candidate for postgraduate study, had the experimental data for his graduation thesis completed 800 years ago. Now all he needs to do is elegantly bang out his paper and wait for his defense. Comparing yourself to others is infuriating!
I walked into the laboratory conference room I hadn’t seen for a long time and listened to my classmates report on their progress.
Things like "Design of greenhouse environment monitoring system based on STM32 and LabVIEW", "Upper computer data acquisition and lower computer execution control", "MATLAB simulation results are good"... one noun after another hit my ears like hieroglyphics.
I sat in the corner, and the more I listened, the colder my heart became, and I was almost sweating.
Why the hell is he even designing something based on something and something?!
What is the upper computer and the lower computer? It makes me feel dizzy just by hearing it!
MATLAB? I did learn it last semester, but at that time I was so focused on the postgraduate entrance exam that I gave the teacher the basics I learned a long time ago!
The most annoying thing is that the topic my tutor assigned me requires the use of a simulation software called "Proteus".
I checked secretly and found a lot of complaints online. People said that this thing is an "old antique" and very few people use it now. It is even difficult to find tutorials!
My head was buzzing and I felt like it was going to explode in the next second.
There is never a moment of peace!
Just when I thought I had passed the Himalayas of the re-examination and could take a breath and wait for my graduation trip, the Mount Everest of my graduation thesis stood in front of me!
My colleagues in the same group have already finished a quarter of the progress, but I haven’t even finished downloading the Proteus installation package!
Although my instructor is very kind and responsible, I can't be like a giant baby and ask him questions about every little thing, right? Do I have any dignity left?
When I got home, I threw my schoolbag to the floor, collapsed on the sofa, and wailed desperately at the ceiling: "Lin Yan! I'm done! I'm a half-baked person! I can't graduate! What's the point of doing scientific research? A heavy rain of graduation thesis can completely extinguish the little flame of my scientific research!"
Lin Yan was sitting at the dining table, elegantly typing away on his paper. Upon hearing this, he turned around with a smile on his face. "So exaggerated? If it really doesn't work... I can help you do it?"
I struggled to sit up and waved my hands weakly. "Forget it... I can't always rely on you. If a graduate student enters the lab and doesn't know anything, relying solely on his partner for survival, won't my advisor be so mad at me that he'll have a heart attack? I don't want to be a slave in the lab, but I don't want to be a pig teammate who drags us down, either!"
Accept your fate! Be self-reliant!
I got up and started to use the underground software on the Savior (gaming laptop) that I bought at a "huge expense".
Proteus, Keil, a bunch of drivers, and reference documents sent by the tutor... The desktop was instantly filled with various installation packages, compressed files and tutorial PDFs, and it was so messy as if it had just been bombed.
Me? Organize? No way! Just use it!
The most urgent task is to finish the proposal report and an English literature translation.
English translation? No problem! DeepL, Google Translate, and my broken English made it passable.
A research proposal? What the heck is that? How do I write one?!
I gritted my teeth and opened Bilibili, searched for "how to write a research proposal", and read a bunch of tutorials, but was still completely confused.
Finally, we decided to use the ultimate magic weapon - HowNet!
Dive into the ocean of CNKI, search for keywords, and relevant documents will pop up in a flash.
As I was flipping through the papers, I saw several papers published by teachers in my school (even the leaders of our department). The titles, contents, and even experimental methods were highly "similar" to the reference directions given by my supervisor... I realized it!
The so-called graduation thesis is a large-scale, legal, academic...rehash!
What a shame! I can’t even reheat cold rice! I can’t even hold the spatula steady!
After much persuasion and piecing together, I finally found 20 Chinese papers and 5 English papers (3 of which I had to force myself to make up the number).
When it came time to write the report, word choice and sentence structure became a hurdle. As a pure science student, my liberal arts skills had long since degenerated from the intense practice of test questions and memorizing political science for the postgraduate entrance exam to... goblin-level?
The sentences I wrote were dry and the logic was confusing. I felt so uncomfortable reading them.
The most terrible part is the experimental plan.
What modules are needed? How do I build a circuit? How do I simulate the software? How do I set the parameters? What are the specific steps for each step?
I was completely in the dark when looking at the reference materials and felt like I was reading a book written in a foreign language.
In the end, she had no choice but to hold the notebook and rub against Lin Yan, looking at him pitifully: "Teacher Lin... help..."
Lin Yan put down his paper, took my information, glanced at it, and didn't frown.
He picked up a pen and quickly drew a block diagram on my draft paper, clearly marking the connections and functions of each module, and listing the experimental steps and key parameter settings in an orderly manner.
He spoke patiently and explained things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, showing his professional qualities to the fullest.
Looking at his focused profile under the light and listening to his clear and steady voice, the anxiety and inferiority in my heart were miraculously soothed away, and replaced by full admiration and dependence.
"Done!" Lin Yan put down his pen and pushed the paper full of ideas to me, with a little pride on his face.
"It has to be you!" I gave a thumbs up sincerely, and felt that everything in front of me suddenly became clear.
Lin Yan raised his eyebrows, a mischievous smile playing on the corner of his mouth. He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice: "Teacher Chen, how much do you charge for the tutoring fee?" He glanced at me, hinting, "Here... do you suggest sexual compensation?"
I:"……"
Instantly fell back to reality from academic admiration!
I held my forehead and let out a cry of justice: "Lin Yan! Academic chauvinism is unacceptable! You are corrupting the future scientific research seedlings of our motherland!"
All the laughter aside, under his "academic guidance", I finally managed to finish the proposal and translation and submitted them on time.
I just breathed a sigh of relief, and before I could catch my breath, the tutor's correction email came back.
When I clicked it, everything went dark!
The dense red comments in the document are like death warrants!
Formatting errors: misaligned reference numbers, incorrectly positioned figure captions, inconsistent line spacing...
Content issues: The literature cited is not new enough, some articles are not relevant and need to be replaced, and the experimental protocol is vague and needs to be refined...
There were over twenty errors! My instructor's comments were quite gentle: "Just revise and submit." But I felt like my soul had just "clicked" and died on the spot.
"Ah——!" I held my head and wailed in the room, "Does the instructor have a keen eye?! So many details!"
Lin Yan came over after hearing the voice, took a look at the ocean of comments on the screen, and sighed helplessly: "Why don't you let me check it for you before handing it in?"
I was filled with grief and indignation, and I took my anger out on him: "It's all because of you! You were always thinking about earning your illicit 'tutoring fees'! I got so carried away that I was so focused on getting the job done that I forgot about this!"
Lin Yan knew he was in the wrong and rubbed his nose. "Okay, okay, it's my fault. Come on, Teacher Chen, this time I'll give you free guidance, and I guarantee after-sales service and that the modifications will be in place!"
Under his "supervision", I was like an exploited laborer, revising the comments one by one: adjusting the format, looking for literature again, polishing the sentences, refining the plan... It took another day and night.
After submitting again, the instructor finally replied with a concise "OK".
However, looking at the old software icons on the computer screen - Proteus, Keil... I didn't feel relieved at all, but even heavier.
The proposal report is just the first step in a long journey. There are still simulations, debugging, coding, writing papers, and defense...
Is the beginning the hardest? No, I think it’s after the beginning that every step becomes harder!
I sighed deeply and resigned myself to the Proteus tutorial video. The light from the screen reflected on my face, which looked hopeless.
Oh! This damn graduation project!
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