"Of course!" Yuan Xu agreed without hesitation, her tone full of excitement.
"I can also call on a few members of the biology club. We've been researching the bioluminescent genes of fireflies lately, and maybe we can design a bioluminescent holographic effect..."
He kept talking, and Yu Jiuyuan listened quietly. The warmth of the ginger milk curd was transmitted through the insulated box to her palms, making her feel cozy.
The two walked side by side toward the biology club, their footprints leaving two lines of varying depths in the snow, which were quickly covered by newly fallen snowflakes.
As she passed the astronomy club activity room, Yu Jiuyuan subconsciously glanced inside.
Xie Zhecheng was standing in front of the astronomical telescope adjusting the focus, his profile appearing even more defined under the cool white light.
On the computer screen in front of him was a spectrum of the Orion constellation observed from Changbai Mountain, the dense data resembling some kind of mysterious code.
"President Xie, are you still busy?" Yu Jiuyuan pushed open the door, bringing with her a gust of cold wind.
Xie Zhecheng turned around at the sound of her voice, and when his gaze fell on the insulated box in her hand, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly: "Is something wrong?"
“Let’s ask about the spectral data,” Yu Jiuyuan walked to his side, her gaze falling on the computer screen. “We want to use holographic projection for the New Year’s Eve party, and Yuan Xu said we might need to borrow your company’s spectrometer to calibrate the wavelength of the light source.”
Xie Zhecheng shifted his gaze from the screen to her face, his tone flat: "The spectrometer is a precision instrument and cannot be lent out."
“It’s not a loan,” Yu Jiuyuan explained. “It’s just for one use. Yuan Xu can handle it. You should trust his expertise, right? The last time you two analyzed the star orbit data together, the error rate was less than 0.3%.”
Xie Zhecheng was silent for a few seconds, then typed a series of commands on the keyboard, and the spectrum on the screen instantly switched to another set of data. "Wednesday afternoon at three o'clock," he finally spoke, "You only have two hours."
Yu Jiuyuan's eyes crinkled into a smile: "Thank you, President Xie."
She noticed that his thermos on the table was empty, so she took out a small bag of freeze-dried lemon slices from her bag and handed it to him. "These are good for your throat if you soak them in warm water. You were shouting all night in Changbai Mountain adjusting the equipment, and your voice is hoarse."
Xie Zhecheng looked at the bag of lemon slices, then at her smiling face, his fingertips hovering in mid-air for a few seconds before finally taking it. "...Thank you." His voice did have a slightly husky quality.
Yu Jiuyuan silently noted in her mind that Xie Zhecheng's favorability rating remained at 10, but his neutral emotion value increased from 10 to 15.
As she turned to leave, she heard the soft sound of a cup being placed on the table behind her, and the sound of keyboard typing resumed, half a beat faster than before.
When I left the astronomy club, the snow had stopped. The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, casting a silvery glow on the snow-covered ground.
Yu Jiuyuan glanced at the time; it was exactly 8 p.m. Lin Yanran should still be in the student union office checking expense reports at this time.
She turned and walked briskly toward the student council. A little over half a box of ginger milk curd remained in the insulated box, its sweet, warm aroma lingering in the air, much like the chess game she was playing with complete confidence in her mind at that moment.
Pushing open the door to the student council office, I saw Lin Yanran slumped over the table, her hair disheveled, with a pile of expense reports spread out in front of her.
Hearing the noise, he suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot. When he saw that it was Yu Jiuyuan, his face instantly darkened.
"What are you doing here again?" he asked irritably, slamming the calculator on the table.
Yu Jiuyuan ignored his attitude, walked straight up to him, picked up a reimbursement form and looked at it: "The format is wrong, the amount is missing a 'zero' in capital letters."
She pointed to one of the lines and said, "The finance director hates this kind of basic mistake the most. If you submit it like this, it will only be sent back to be filled out again."
Lin Yanran's face flushed red, half from anger and half from embarrassment.
He grabbed the sheet and crumpled it into a ball, then realized it wasn't right and unfolded it; it was already wrinkled.
“If you don’t know how to fill it out, just ask,” Yu Jiuyuan pulled a pen from the pen holder and wrote the correct format on the draft paper, “or…”
She drew out her words, looking at his obviously tense profile, "Why don't you ask President Xie to take a look? He's the most sensitive to numbers."
"Who wants to see him!" Lin Yanran immediately bristled, grabbing a pen and scribbling haphazardly on the expense report. "I can manage on my own!"
Yu Jiuyuan looked at him, who was clearly flustered but insisted on being stubborn, and a smile flashed in her eyes.
She placed half a box of ginger milk curd next to him: "Fill it out and go home early. Staying up late is bad for your skin, although you may not care about that."
Lin Yanran paused, neither turning around nor speaking, but the fingers gripping the pen visibly relaxed.
As Yu Jiuyuan turned to leave, she heard a soft sound of an insulated box being opened behind her.
She walked to the door, glanced back, and saw Lin Yanran with her back to her, her shoulders swaying slightly, whether she was eating or struggling with the pile of expense reports, she couldn't tell.
She gently closed the office door; the corridor was quiet, only the echo of her own footsteps reverberating. Her pinky ring flashed—a real-time data pop-up from the system.
Hsieh Che-cheng: Favorability rating 10, Emotional fluctuations (Negative 0/Neutral 15/Positive 100)
Yuan Xu: Favorability 85, Emotional fluctuations (Negative 0/Neutral 10/Positive 99)
Lin Yanran: Favorability rating 3, Emotional fluctuations (Negative 18/Neutral 7/Positive 0)
Rong Shenghan: Favorability 64, Emotional fluctuations (Negative 0/Neutral 5/Positive 92)
Yu Jiuyuan looked at the string of numbers, a faint smile curving her lips.
The night sky after the snow was exceptionally clear, and the stars shone brightly as if they had been washed clean.
She pulled her scarf tighter and walked briskly toward the dormitory. The soles of her boots crunched softly on the snow, like a light prelude to this carefully choreographed game.
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