Chapter 89 Sourness
Ever since she suffered a setback that day, Fang Qing seemed to have found an organization, or rather, a safe emotional trash can.
Whenever he had the chance, he would come over and angrily denounce to me the various "crimes" of that Senior Brother Gu.
"You have no idea! Yesterday, I finally mustered up the courage and thought, 'Is it okay to have a serious academic conversation?' So I asked him a question about the vanishing gradient on WeChat. But this guy, like a millionaire, replied with a bunch of technical terms like 'ReLU activation function saturation region' and 'improper initialization of Batch Normalization layer'... Shit! I was completely stunned!"
Fang Qing stamped her feet in anger. "I thought he was so professional! Not convinced, I searched the literature for ages, finally figuring out the basics. I sorted out the language and sent it to him, hoping to discuss it in depth..."
She took a deep breath, her face flushed. "What happened?! He just read it as 'read but didn't reply'! I waited for over an hour! I thought he might be busy or asleep, so I sent a 'good night, senior brother'. And guess what?! As soon as I sent it, his Moments updated! He just posted: 'The world is peaceful'! And he even added an emoji of himself drinking coffee! Holy crap! What does he mean?! Who's Yin Yang?!"
I almost laughed myself to death after hearing that. "Hahaha! No wonder! I was browsing my Moments last night and suddenly saw Senior Brother Gu post this nonsensical message with a picture of a peaceful coffee. It seems like he's tired of you and blocked you to find peace and quiet! Hahaha!"
"What the hell are you laughing at!" Fang Qing was so angry she wanted to hit me. "I just don't understand! Did I dig up his family's ancestral graves or do I owe him eight million? He just dislikes me so much? He's been targeting me since the first time we met!"
"Maybe he just doesn't like chatting? He's a cool and arrogant academic who only loves studying." I tried to rationalize.
"...was it really necessary to name-drop me and troll me on WeChat Moments? And!" she got even angrier. "Yesterday, on the weekend, my bestie and I went hiking and took so many beautiful photos! I even picked the most beautiful one and posted it on WeChat Moments! And what happened? He didn't even like it! He didn't even comment! He didn't react at all! He was like a dead person!"
"Pfft," I couldn't help laughing again. "If he reacted and liked your photo and commented 'Beautiful photo,' wouldn't that make him seem superficial? Wouldn't his image be ruined?"
"No!" Fang Qing seemed to have grasped something. "He still reacts! I remember! I asked him a question once, and he took a long time to reply. He said, 'I'm busy, don't go out and play anymore.' What happened to him if I went out to play?! Did it interfere with his research?!"
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. "Does he even care whether I go out or not?!"
"Hahahaha!" I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. "They're probably being tortured to death by the experimental data, completely overwhelmed, and then you post a nine-square grid on your Moments: a blue sky, white clouds, green mountains and clear water, a beauty-filtered selfie, with the caption 'Embrace nature, enjoy life~'... Tsk tsk, who wouldn't be furious? Isn't this pure hate-mongering?"
"You're still blaming me!" Fang Qing turned her attention and pointed at me. "Didn't you go to the aquarium with your Lin Yan yesterday? And that post on WeChat Moments, wow, it's almost as if the words 'passionately in love' were carved on your face! And that photo of your back stuck in front of the jellyfish tank! So corny!"
"What the hell?!" I was shocked. "How did you know?!"
Fang Qing rolled her eyes. "It was sent by Lin Yan! Oh, you're not going to ask me why I have his WeChat?"
She proudly waved her phone. "Because I'm the League Secretary of our class! It's my responsibility to collect all my classmates' contact information! Understand?"
"Who asked you this? Please ask!?" I was choked by her self-righteousness.
The two of us were in the empty corridor, one accusing the arrogant senior brother, the other fighting back against the "abuse of power", arguing so loudly that our voices echoed in the hallway, and we didn't notice that someone had quietly stood behind us.
Until I felt a chill on the back of my neck and turned my head subconsciously——
“Shit!” I was so frightened that my soul almost flew away. I stood up straight in an instant, “Gu…Senior Brother Gu!”
My heart was pounding. How long had he been standing there?! All those complaints just now... especially Fang Qing's "like a dead man"... did he hear it?!
Fang Qing's reaction was incredibly fast.
One second he was puffed up like a pufferfish, but the next second his face instantly transformed into a sunny, positive smile, and his voice was as sweet as can be: "Oh! Brother Gu! What a coincidence! How come you are in the lab building today? I just happened to have a question about yesterday's vanishing gradient that I wanted to ask you!"
Senior Brother Gu looked at the two of us expressionlessly, his gaze behind his glasses calm and composed. He said calmly, "You guys were discussing this so enthusiastically just now. Has the problem not been resolved yet?"
The air froze instantly.
Fang Qing and I were both speechless, like chickens with their necks strangled.
In the end, Fang Qing forced herself to smile even sweeter: "Oh, you're joking, Senior Brother! We were just discussing things randomly. Our abilities are limited, so how can we compare to you, Senior Brother? I still need your guidance!"
Senior Brother Gu's eyes swept back and forth between Fang Qing and me. That look made my scalp tingle.
Then, he opened his thin lips and uttered something that made me ponder for a long time but still felt that something was not right:
"If you really wanted to ask, you should have asked me on WeChat a long time ago."
What does this mean?
My mind was spinning.
On the surface, it was a statement of fact (Fang Qing indeed didn't ask him on WeChat), but combined with the complaints he might have just heard... why did it feel a bit... sour?
It was as if he was questioning Fang Qing: If you have any questions, why don't you come to me directly? Why do you have to chatter with Chen Rui in the corridor?
An absurd and bold idea came to mind:
Could it be that... this high-class beauty, Senior Brother Gu, appears to be utterly disgusted with Fang Qing, but in reality... he's a bit hypocritical? Or even... jealous of my close relationship with Fang Qing?!
To test this idea (mainly to get out of this situation quickly), I immediately went along with it and waved my hands exaggeratedly, "Right, right, right! Senior Brother is absolutely right! Fang Qing, what are you discussing with me? I don't understand a thing! It's a complete waste of your time! Let's go! I have to go back to be with my boyfriend! He's waiting for me to have dinner!"
After saying that, I wanted to run away.
"Fuck... No, haha, then... then you go." Fang Qing was so angry at the backstabbing behavior of my "pig teammate" that she almost exploded on the spot. The muscles on her face twitched and she barely maintained a smile.
I fled from that suffocating hell as fast as my feet were greased.
He ran all the way home, and as soon as he entered the door, he couldn't wait to tell Lin Yan the dramatic scene in vivid detail.
After listening to this, Lin Yan raised an eyebrow, revealing an "I see" expression, and slowly picked up his phone: "No wonder... Yesterday, after I posted the photo of our backs at the aquarium on my Moments, this Senior Brother Gu, for the first time ever, liked my post. Him and I? We added each other in the group, but we've never spoken a word or even met in person."
"Oh my! I'm dying of laughter!" I rolled over on the sofa. "Isn't the background of my Moments obvious enough? That's a photo of the two of us!" (Although it's a back view without showing our faces)
Lin Yan glanced at me, his tone carrying a subtle hint of sourness: "That's definitely not obvious enough, darling. It's just a hand-holding photo, not even a frontal shot of their faces. Who knows who that dark figure next to them is?"
"Fuck!" I jumped up, "But I remember I clearly posted a circle of friends with you in it before!" I quickly checked my phone.
Lin Yan sighed softly, leaned over, and rested his chin on my shoulder: "Baby, how long ago was that? Your Moments is set to 'visible only for six months'. In the past six months... apart from game screenshots and food, there's no trace of me at all?"
The tone was so sour that you could dip dumplings in it.
I shrank my neck guiltily.
I don’t really care about this in normal times. I think there’s no need for us, an old couple, to show off every day.
"Okay, okay! My bad, my bad!" I immediately made amends, opened the Moments settings, and quickly set the photo of Lin Yan wearing a kimono in Japan, looking incredibly handsome, as the background cover of Moments. By the way, I also pinned the photo of Lin Yan's back at the aquarium. "Isn't it obvious now? Exclusive to Lin Yan! No cheating!"
Lin Yan stared at the kimono photo of himself on the screen for a long time, his lips curved into a delighted arc: "It seems... you really like this photo?"
"So handsome!" I exclaimed sincerely, "He looks like he walked out of a comic book!"
"Aren't you usually... handsome?" He moved closer, his warm breath brushing against my ear.
"He's usually handsome! But..." I looked at his handsome face so close to me and told him the truth, "He usually wears glasses and looks like a gentle, abstinent, and serious boss Lin. People only dare to admire him from afar and not touch him..."
"Oh~" Lin Yan's tone was drawn out, his eyes instantly became dangerous and ambiguous, and his hands were no longer honest. "So... you like my frivolous appearance?"
"Hey, hey, hey!" I held down his rebellious hand. "That's not what I meant! I just wanted to say that when you wear glasses, you're the gentle, elegant, and unattainable Master Lin. Take off your glasses..." I looked into his deep, focused eyes, which only reflected me at the moment, and softened my voice. "That's Lin Yan, that's... my husband."
"It's all yours anyway." Lin Yan whispered, kissing my neck with an irresistible heat.
There was only one thought left in my mind: This "improper" Lin Yan... is really going to kill me.
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