But you're my senior, and I'm not.
"But you're my senior..." "I'm not anymore."
3.
On Monday morning, as soon as Meng Lanjian arrived at the lab, she heard Ma Yue grumbling to Hui, the senior student in the administrative department, about his upcoming military service next month. Hui was in charge of personnel transfers within the research group. She gave Ma Yue a form, saying that he needed to fill it out and have Xue Xiang sign it.
"An autograph? Brother Xiang abandoned us all last night and flew off to Hawaii for vacation!"
Upon hearing this, Meng Lanjian nearly flipped the chair over with the hand that was putting down her bag.
"Hey Jianjian! You're here!" Ma Yuehe finally noticed the commotion at Meng Lanjian's place and went straight to the point, asking, "Did your Han Li also receive the notice? Sending us rookies to join the army at a time like this is just sending us to our deaths!"
Meng Lanjian hated being called "Jianjian," but she couldn't reason with Ma Yue and this man, so she could only retort, "Why are you going to your death? Who said there was going to be a war?"
"Haven't you heard? News reports all over Beiluan say that if artillery shells are to be fired, our nuclear research institute will be the first one blown up!"
Meng Lanjian glared at him, "What nonsense are you spouting!"
"It's alright, it's alright! Even if there's a war, we can still cling to Lan Jian's coattails and tell the Northern Army, 'Look! We have Northern Luan people here!'" Senior Sister Hui knew that Lan Jian and Ma Yuehe often argued over the slightest disagreement, so she quickly smoothed things over. "Lan Jian, you came so early today, did your boss tell your mentor?"
Lan Jian's mentor, Xue Xiang, was Zhong Shiqing's most outstanding disciple. He spent more than ten years at the Nuclear Research Institute, from undergraduate to doctoral graduation. Afterward, he went abroad for several years of postdoctoral research. When a position became available at the Nuclear Research Institute, Zhong Shiqing quickly transferred him back to his side, where he became a pillar of the heavy particle laboratory.
“I told the teacher on Friday.”
"Did you tell Chongming? Your boss isn't here, so he's the only one who can manage things!"
The senior's full name is Chongming. Because of the similarity in pronunciation and his "genius" persona, people sometimes jokingly call him "Smart Senior." Compared to the seemingly carefree and comedic boss Xue Xiang, Chongming is a low-key and steady genius.
Unlike Lan Jian, who was nominally the director's student, Chongming was Zhong Shiqing's personally mentored last disciple.
Chongming was four years ahead of Meng Lanjian. Three years after graduating with his master's degree, he obtained his doctoral degree abroad. Because the Institute of Nuclear Energy needed him, he returned to China after obtaining his degree to become Xue Xiang's postdoctoral fellow.
Besides Chongming, Xue Xiang also has a research assistant, Ma Yuehe, a foreign master's student from a Southeast Asian country named Niga, and two new third-year students majoring in special projects at the undergraduate level.
The heavy particle lab usually uses computers to run simulations, and Xue Xiang himself is a rather irresponsible mentor, so most students don't stay in the lab. They would rather use the computer to remotely control the computer than come to the lab. The lab is usually deserted and quiet.
Before Meng Lanjian went for her internship, she was the person who spent the most time in the lab, besides Ma Yuehe, who had to clock in and out. Ma Yuehe was also a master's graduate from this lab. If it weren't for waiting for his military service certificate like Han Li, he would have found a satisfactory job and left long ago.
Lan Jian wiped the table she shared with Chongming and shook her head in response to Senior Sister Hui, "Senior Brother has an international flight on the weekend, and I didn't tell him I was coming back today because I was afraid of disturbing his rest."
Senior Sister Hui joked with Lan Jian, "What a coincidence! Your Chongming just came back from the US, and your boss flew to the US right away. Did those two settle down in the US or something? How interesting!"
Students privately refer to the lab as "X's Lab," with "X" usually replaced by the professor's surname. For example, Lan Jian's boss is surnamed Xue, and others often call her "Xue's PhD student."
When others mention Chongming to Lanjian, they usually refer to it as "your senior" or something similar.
It's a habit, not a sign of intimacy.
"Didn't Ma Yue and you send a message to your senior?" Now, whenever Chongming is mentioned, Lan Jian recalls the "SOS" she sent before being called to the director's office.
And then there was a series of events that followed.
It gave her a headache.
"Sigh, I can't possibly ask this big shot for help." Ma Yuehe said sarcastically, "When Xiang-ge and Chongming came back from their business trip to Northern Europe last time, Chongming had to play games at home for three days and three nights to recover his health. Otherwise, it would be more effective for me to make an overseas call to my senior for help, right?"
Xue Xiang wasn't there, so his seal was managed by Chong Ming, the second-in-command of the lab. They were from the same school; Xue Xiang was Chong Ming's co-advisor when he graduated with his master's degree. The two were as close as brothers. When they arrived...
Ma Yue and Chongming were both there. He returned to China during his second year of master's studies. Chongming was neither his senior nor his advisor, so they couldn't develop a close relationship.
As for Lan Jian, even though she wasn't Xue Xiang's own student, she still received good care from Chongming because of her connection with Zhong Shiqing.
The "senior" Ma Yuehe was referring to was Zheng Xuerou, Chongming's girlfriend who went to the United States to pursue a PhD. Zheng Xuerou was also Xue Xiang's master's student, one year ahead of Ma Yuehe. After graduating, Zheng Xuerou didn't immediately apply for a PhD program abroad; instead, she stayed on as a research assistant during her gap year. Ma Yuehe took over after she left, just as she graduated. In this lab, the transition from master's student to research assistant is always said to be interconnected.
Lan Jian finally wiped the table clean. The most conspicuous item on the table was the computer screen, which she and Chongming each occupied. There were no partitions on the table, only three drawers under the long table separating their positions. Looking around, there was a shared box of tissues in the center of their table. Chongming's tidy table only had one more hard drive with the name "Xue Rou" on it than Lan Jian's, while Lan Jian had a block calendar on her table, with the month still set to October.
This block calendar originally belonged to Han Li.
Before they started dating, Lan Jian would sometimes wait for Han Li in his lab after his experiments so they could walk back to their dorm together. When she got bored, she would sit on his desk and work out this calendar. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a group of students from the twelfth floor went camping. Han Li didn't go. The next morning, everyone went home, but Lan Jian bumped into him on a train heading south. So, they both stood each other up.
Lan Jian stood up the "Takeshi Kaneshiro" her friend introduced her to, and Han Li stood up her online flirting partner.
They hastily decided to try dating each other, and their building block calendar stretched from September to October, but before they could even complete December, their relationship ended.
Lan Jian ruthlessly dismantled the building blocks, intending to arrange them into twelve months, and then ask a mutual friend to return them to Han Li.
Meng Lanjian has always been a person who sees things through to the end.
The building blocks were scattered on the table, just like Lan Jian's chaotic thoughts. She mechanically adjusted the positions of the blocks, trying to piece together a complete twelve-month calendar.
"This should be left blank."
A gentle, magnetic voice pierced the chaos of Lanjian.
She hurriedly pulled the blocks back onto her desk from where they had gone over the edge.
Then, looking up, she saw a handsome and refined face. A gentle gaze, devoid of any discernible emotion, fell upon the tip of Lan Jian's nose.
Lan Jian wrinkled her nose, trying to cover up her embarrassment, then turned her face away and asked in a muffled voice, "Why did you suddenly come to the lab at this time?"
The visitor placed the sparkling water he was holding on the table near Lanjian's side, saying, "I heard someone on the twelfth floor needs me."
Lan Jian pushed the peach-flavored sparkling water back, saying, "I don't like this flavor."
The person beside her sat down without saying a word and helped Lan Jian tidy up the building blocks on the table.
The two remained silent, concentrating on assembling the block calendar into December.
The laboratory door was flung open, and Ma Yuehe, seeing the man who suddenly appeared beside Lan Jian, exclaimed, "Chongming! You've finally arrived!"
Ma Yue and this performative personality! Lan Jian sighed, shifting her gaze to the left. Seeing the person beside her motionless, she gave a helpless smirk.
A gust of wind swept by, and Ma Yuehe was already half-lying on the back of Chongming's chair, chattering like the loudest cicada in the August treetops, "You have no idea how bored I've been while you were abroad! Xiang-ge is always disappearing without a trace, Jianjian went to the Fourth Nuclear Science Department for her internship, and Senior Sister Hui is always busy outside. I'm all alone in the lab, it's so lonely!"
Chongming picked up the hard drive on the table and handed it to Ma Yuehe. "Since you're so lonely, why has your senior's hard drive been on my table for two weeks? I haven't seen you put it in the storage room."
Lan Jian, who was modifying the code, was taken aback.
"Wouldn't it be more appropriate for you to collect the things that your senior left behind?"
“You are the research assistant.” Chongming said succinctly, these miscellaneous tasks were indeed not something a postdoctoral fellow like him should be doing.
"But you're my senior—"
Before Ma Yuehe could finish speaking, Chongming interrupted him.
"I am no longer."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ma Yuehe fell silent, trembling with fear.
Even Lan Jian turned his head in surprise, and his eyes met those of Chongming, who had a calm and indifferent expression.
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