"110/70, your blood pressure is normal," the electronic blood pressure monitor mechanically announced the readings.
Lin Fengzi blankly put away the electronic blood pressure monitor, thinking to herself that she had been suppressing her emotions for years, and even though she knew she had mental problems, she had been reluctant to see a psychologist. Sure enough, this led to problems.
He thought that if something went wrong, it would be his own karma.
"Are you alright?" Ruan Chen lowered her voice, waving the hand adorned with gold thread in front of Lin Fengzi, and whispered, "Fengzi, is there a young lady around? Is it inconvenient to talk? Should I excuse myself?"
Although Lin Fengzi wasn't ranked very high on Ruan Chen's schedule, since they had met, Ruan Chen naturally wanted to have a good chat with this old friend and catch up. However, Lin Fengzi's absent-minded and dispirited appearance was completely different from what Ruan Chen had expected—that the two would still be very familiar with each other after many years apart.
Ruan Chen hadn't spoken properly to a living person in the past six or seven years, and he had a lot to say that he wanted to ramble on about.
Ruan Chen thought Lin Fengzi was unavailable and was about to leave when a nurse came over and teased, "Oh, no wonder Dr. Lin hasn't blossomed in a thousand years, turns out she has such a beautiful friend by her side?"
Lin Fengzi's somewhat stiff eyes moved slightly as she looked at the nurse beside her. "You can see her?"
The nurse looked puzzled. "Dr. Lin, what are you saying? She's a stunning beauty, who wouldn't see her?"
Lin Fengzi suddenly laughed.
Looking at Ruan Chen's face, which she hadn't seen for seven years but which was still young and vibrant, even more radiant and stunning, she smiled absentmindedly.
Ruan Chen thought she roughly understood what was wrong with Lin Fengzi.
At the sesame rice noodle shop on the street, Ruan Chen was eating with relish the food she had hated seven years ago, looking like she hadn't had anything good to eat in years.
Lin Fengzi probably believed that Ruan Chen had indeed gone abroad all those years ago.
She must be from some remote, small country. She's become much thinner. I remember she used to dislike sesame paste, but now she's wolfing it down.
Lin Fengzi grabbed a roll of cheaply made toilet paper and handed it to Ruan Chen, gesturing for her to wipe the sauce splattered on her collar, and asked, "Have you been living such a hard life all these years?"
Ruan Chen reached out and tore the paper in half, sending fragments flying through the air. She sneezed, slurped down her rice noodles, and said, "The main problem is the food. Resources are limited. We're basically eating nutritional paste—a meal to maintain vital signs, you know?"
Lin Fengzi nodded, her eyes fixed on Ruan Chen as if she would disappear at any moment.
Much later, he finally couldn't help but ask, "What have you been busy with all these years? Have you made any groundbreaking research?"
Ruan Chen laughed, "Busy saving the world."
Lin Fengzi thought to herself, "This sounds like nonsense. It's probably some kind of project, which is why Ruan Chen has been missing for so many years. Even if he has any research results, they are classified. I shouldn't ask too many questions."
So he followed up on Ruan Chen's words, "Then you're sure you succeeded?"
“Of course,” Ruan Chen smiled, looking quite pleased with himself. “Look, Blue Star hasn’t exploded yet.”
Lin Fengzi noticed that Ruan Chen was more humorous than before.
"What's the next plan?" Lin Fengzi asked. "Shengling Technology is now more than a hundred times larger than it was before you left. The latest estimated market capitalization is..."
Ruan Chen gave a number before Lin Fengzi could, and it was exactly the same as the estimated market value.
Lin Fengzi was somewhat surprised, "Your internet connection is always working?"
"Are they the same?" Ruan Chen asked.
"Not even the decimal point is wrong."
Ruan Chen smiled; it seemed the timeline had been successfully brought together.
"By the way, all these years you've been gone, Fu Jianzhi..."
Ruan Chen's hand trembled as she added chili oil to the bowl, causing the bottle cap to slip off and the entire bottle of chili oil to spill into the bowl.
Lin Fengzi sensed that Ruan Chen's expression seemed rather unpleasant, and the surrounding atmosphere suddenly felt oppressive.
He wisely kept quiet and didn't mention that name again.
"I'll get you another bowl," he said.
Ruan Chen smiled, put down her chopsticks, and wiped her hands with cheap toilet paper. "No need, I can't eat anymore."
Hearing that name made her lose her appetite.
My thoughts went through a thousand and one turns.
A lot has happened in the main timeline, and it's been almost seven years since she last saw Fu Jianzhi.
But I don't really want to see him.
“Let’s get my degree first. Let’s go to the South Institute and cry to him, begging him to still recognize me as his student,” Ruan Chen naturally continued the previous topic. “I’m already twenty-four and I don’t have a bachelor’s degree yet. I can’t even find a job if I go out.”
"The South Institute now also oversees the First Academy's research institutes, and holds a senior researcher position within the institutes above. It seems that its focus in recent years has been on the institute's latest projects." Lin Fengzi has been far removed from these matters in the scientific research community in recent years—he once had the opportunity to become a member of it.
“I know,” Ruan Chen said. “It’s the warp drive and fixed-point jump technology project, which is a continuation of the research conducted during the previous campus lockdown, and is led by the South Institute.”
Lin Fengzi: "...You guys really don't disconnect from the internet. Can you just casually talk about such confidential information?"
"It's not a secret, don't worry." Ruan Chen found herself becoming unusually talkative.
Lin Fengzi suddenly felt a pang of emotion. "The last time I saw you, you were still in high school. You looked like a little adult all the time, always busy with something. These years without you felt like a long time, but after seeing you again, it felt like those seven years never existed. It's as if you never left."
Looking at Ruan Chen's figure, he couldn't help but add, "The only difference seems to be that you're an adult—adult in every dimension."
Lin Fengzi's remark was not unfounded; he genuinely had this subtle feeling.
When Ruan Chen was away, he felt the world was empty; when Ruan Chen returned, the world seemed to come alive again.
The two talked for a long time in front of Lin Fengzi's hospital's charity clinic booth until Ruan Chen said that she really had to leave, because if she didn't leave soon, the people in the hospital's student registration office would all be off work for lunch. Only then did Lin Fengzi let Ruan Chen leave.
Watching Ruan Chen's departing figure, Lin Fengzi suddenly thought, whatever the Roche limit, she didn't want to regret it anymore.
-------------------------------------
After finishing lunch, Fu Jianzhi habitually went back to his room for a short nap.
He couldn't actually sleep, but he would still lean against the sofa in the living room and think about the past.
He returned to his small building and subconsciously glanced at the second floor.
With just one glance, his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of his throat.
The doorknob in the room on the second floor has changed.
Someone has touched that place.
He went upstairs and carefully pushed open the door to his room. What he saw confirmed his suspicions—the drawer on the left side of the desk was open, and the computer and cell phone inside were gone.
The person who opened the drawer was probably doing it on purpose to let him know that she was back.
Because the drawer was deliberately left open and empty.
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