Chapter 21: Face Control
[Face control: People who attach great importance to appearance.] 】
The lunch was thrilling. Meng Chu had been away from his desk for only an hour, but when he sat back down again, it felt like a lifetime ago.
He stared at the screen for a long while and found to his dismay that he couldn't read a single character.
His brain was like a code stuck in an endless loop; no matter how he twisted his thoughts, they would eventually return to one person.
He closed his eyes, decided to succumb to his inner desire, closed the paper page and opened the video website.
Before playing "The Ink Soul Book", he glanced at the living room. Fu Guanshan had gone for a nap, leaving only the lazy sunshine.
After he put down the water cup, adjusted the volume, and placed the professional book used to cover the screen at hand, the 90-second advertisement finally ended and the opening song began. Fu Guanshan appeared in the picture, wearing black clothes, holding a silver sword, and with his long hair half tied up.
Meng Chu's hand trembled and he happened to press the pause button.
He always knew that Fu Guanshan was good-looking, but ancient costumes...
He knew he should keep reading, but his fingers were reluctant to move. His brain was like a circuit board that was overloaded with optical signals, triggering overclocking operations, causing multi-threaded crashes and cache overflows.
When he finally regained control of his muscles, his hands shook again and he just happened to hit the screenshot button.
This symptom recurred during the subsequent movie-watching process.
Whenever that face appears in the picture, my brain shuts down. Fortunately, the plot is not complicated and I can keep up with it even if I keep turning the machine on and off.
He seldom watches TV series, but this one was surprisingly good, with nice music and a smooth rhythm...it was pleasing to the eyes.
Of course, there were still some things that confused him.
What exactly is this "Heavenly Way"? Why does it always bring disaster upon us? The human world is always a replica of ancient China. How come society has not evolved at all after tens of thousands of years?
He scrolled down through the comments, hoping to find an explanation for his worldview. However, as usual, there are a lot of incomprehensible words.
He carefully browsed through a few pages, frowned, and was about to open the browser to search when a voice sounded: "Come over and help."
He was startled and turned off the screen reflexively. It felt a bit like what the comments mentioned "the feeling of stealing" - what does this mean, the feeling of burglary?
He turned his head and saw Fu Guanshan using his elbow to push open the sliding door of the kitchen, leaning against the door frame, looking at him leisurely.
The person on the screen jumped out, and Meng Chu was in a trance for a moment. He stood up and walked over, clearly feeling that the distance between them was getting closer.
Fu Guanshan raised his hand towards him, his hand stained with batter: "Help me roll up my sleeves."
The fabric of the clothes was a bit stiff, and Meng Chu carefully turned it up, his fingers occasionally touching the warm skin.
The forearm muscles are revealed little by little, with blue-gray blood vessels winding up. When pressing with the fingertips, you can feel the tight tendons.
"Okay."
Meng Chu raised his head.
"You strangled me so hard that my hands are numb."
Meng Chu lowered his head and found that his sleeves had been rolled up to his upper arms. He quickly loosened the folds and quickly withdrew his hand.
Fu Guanshan glanced at him and said, "Are you busy? If you have time, please help me get that bottle of salt and pepper."
Meng Chu followed his instructions and poured a little into the batter. He did not leave and planned to stay and help - he couldn't do any real work today anyway.
Fu Guanshan accepted his presence naturally, and in between issuing instructions, he chatted with him: "What work are you doing today?"
"Change to a vertical report, in the direction of CMOS analog and RF integrated circuits."
Fu Guanshan turned his head.
Meng Chu realized his mistake: "CMOS simulation is based on complementary metal oxide semiconductor..."
"Wait, forget about that. First tell me, what is vertical?"
Oh my God, Meng Chu realized that he had to explain much more than he had imagined.
“Vertically, they are government-related projects,” Meng Chu said, “horizontally, they are enterprise-related projects.”
Fu Guanshan said, "I understand now that you put it that way! Could you please stop inventing so many words?"
Meng Chu smiled and said, "This will help establish authority, form a common discourse within the circle, and build technical barriers."
"Oh," Fu Guanshan said, "It's to make it look high-end, so that others can't understand it, and then you can raise the threshold and ask for a higher price, right?"
Meng Chu nodded in surprise. This person sometimes uses the simplest language to hit the underlying logic.
"Okay," Fu Guanshan handed the celery to him, "besides this, did you do anything else?"
Meng Chu looked at the gurgling water, and after a while, he said, "I read the Ink Soul Book."
Fu Guanshan suddenly turned his head, raised his hand and turned off the faucet.
"Do you like it? Is it wonderful?" Fu Guanshan said, "Oh, I asked too much. How could I not like it? It's so perfect. Tell me you like it."
Meng Chu finally got in a sentence: "I like it."
The knife stopped, the fire stopped, and Fu Guanshan's bright eyes stared at him.
One drop, two drops, and the faucet finally stopped completely.
"And then?" Fu Guanshan couldn't hold it in any longer. "Just two words? What are your feelings?"
Meng Chu finally realized that this person turned off the faucet in order to appreciate the praise in silence. "Well... this drama has many traditional Chinese cultural elements, such as the Dunhuang flying fairy and oracle bone inscriptions. The story is closely linked and the imagination is also very brilliant..." He finally said, "You are very beautiful."
"Yeah," Fu Guanshan sighed, "I just said..."
"There's just one problem."
"What?"
"What does 'double clean' mean?"
Fu Guanshan was silent.
"I see a lot of people discussing this question," Meng Chu said, "Does it mean clean?"
Fu Guanshan was stunned for a moment, then he laughed: "It means no sexual experience."
Meng Chu suddenly realized, and his long-standing confusion was solved, but... "Why did you invent this word?"
“Like you said, we need terminology to build a circle.”
Meng Chu nodded, Fu Guanshan turned on the faucet, and the two of them resumed working together.
Fu Guanshan put the marinated meat into the pig's stomach and was sewing it up when the table bells started to ring.
"Help me answer it," Fu Guanshan said, "I can't free my hands."
Meng Chu followed the sound and found the phone. The page showed that it was "cousin's wife". He showed the screen to Fu Guanshan, and the other party motioned for him to answer the call. He put the phone close to the other person's ear, and Fu Guanshan tilted his head and pressed it against the screen.
"Hey, cousin, how have you been lately... Stop crying, explain things clearly first."
He became serious, and Meng Chu also became nervous.
"Okay, okay, I got it. Anyway, I'll transfer the money to you first. Don't worry, I'll try my best to find someone..." The other party seemed to have said something, and Fu Guanshan's face darkened instantly, "No, I really can't ask him... He won't help even if I ask him... Believe me, didn't I solve the problem with Second Aunt last time? I got it, I'll write you back as soon as I have any news."
He turned his head away and signaled Meng Chu to hang up the phone.
"What happened?" Meng Chu asked.
"My third grandmother's cousin came during the wedding banquet. Do you remember him? The fat one? He started a project in his hometown, but the funding chain was cut off. The workers are blocking his door."
"How much money does he need?"
"About three hundred thousand."
"Thirty..." Meng Chu suddenly remembered the fifth-degree relative who bought the car, "Then... did their family also take care of your family for a period of time?"
"Well, my mom wasn't doing well for a while, so my third grandma came to live with me for a few months to take care of me and her. That cousin even bought me some Lego when I was a kid."
Even taking inflation into account, the Lego has paid for itself.
Their family is really close.
"Where do you want me to put my phone?" Meng Chu asked.
"Whatever, just put it on the sofa."
Meng Chu nodded and was about to put the phone over when he suddenly stopped.
He stared at the lock screen, shocked and hesitant, and was at a loss for what to do.
"You..." He looked at Fu Guanshan, "Why do you use it as a lock screen?"
Fu Guanshan glanced at him and asked, "What's wrong?"
"JSSC," Meng Chu asked, "Is there a famous watch or jewelry with this name?"
Fu Guanshan gave him a strange look. "Of course not. Isn't this the journal for solid-state circuits? One of the best journals in your field, right?"
Meng Chu stared at him for a long time: "Yes. But why do you use it as a lock screen?"
"I don't use it all the time," Fu Guanshan said. "There are also ISSCC and other circuits that change every day."
Meng Chu had some idea of the answer, but he didn't quite dare to believe it.
"I just couldn't understand what you were talking about. So I decided to learn. It's impossible to really understand, but at least I know what you are talking about. I asked my aunt for a list of terms in your field, planning to make a dictionary of circuit design terms. Oh my god, it's too difficult," Fu Guanshan frowned. He didn't even study so hard for the college entrance examination. "I can't remember it after reciting it once, so I made it a lock screen so that I can remember it every time I look at my phone."
"But..." Meng Chu looked at him blankly, "Why..."
Fu Guanshan looked at him in shock for a while, then raised his hand in disappointment and knocked him on the head with his knuckles. "I want to get to know you! Your research is what's most important to you, so I want to know what it is. That way, when you come home and talk to me about your day, I'll understand what you're talking about and be able to have fun with you."
Meng Chu's hand shook again, and this time it lit up the term on the screen.
He thought back to when he was a kid, standing at the school gate, recalling what had happened that day, whether they were novel, odd, or interesting. He imagined sitting at the dining table and sharing it all with his family.
Although, in the end, he just ate in silence.
Now, there are people who are willing to listen.
Even though he was the furthest thing from him, even though they had nothing in common.
Fu Guanshan was still recounting his great journey of further study: "I also plan to print these words on toilet paper, so that I can read them when I go to the toilet. Didn't we have the kind of toilet paper with 'One Word a Day' before..." He suddenly became excited, "Have I discovered some business opportunities? It seems that I am also a genius in doing business..."
"...Given the size of the customer base, I think it will go out of business in three months."
Fu Guanshan was hit hard and was briefly discouraged. He then started to complain: "Oh, my aunt is such a bad person. She didn't put such a basic thing first, but only picked the most difficult one. She just makes things difficult for me..."
Meng Chu smiled.
After processing the ingredients, Fu Guanshan asked him to leave the battlefield as soon as possible, as the chef needed space to perform.
After washing his hands, he sat in front of the computer and opened the text editor and database software on the desktop.
He created a new project and named it: Dictionary of Audiovisual and Literary Drama.
After hesitating for a while, he added three words at the end: Second edition.
The author has something to say:
Reader: This was Teacher Meng’s fantasy before he fell into a coma while writing the book.
Me: (Pinching Fu Guanshan)
Fu Guanshan: Oh!
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