The afternoon sun, already tinged with orange-red, slanted in through the laboratory's glass windows, casting long patches of light on the floor.
Yuan Xu was squatting in front of the incubator, holding a magnifying glass, intently observing the newly blooming white bacterial strain, unaware that Yu Jiuyuan had pushed the door open and entered.
"So focused?" Yu Jiuyuan placed the incubator she brought on the lab table, making a slight sound.
Yuan Xu turned around abruptly, her face still covered in culture medium powder, looking like a hamster that had just stolen a bite: "You're here? Come and see, the edges of its petals are fluorescent!"
Yu Jiuyuan walked over and followed his gaze to the incubator.
The white strain resembles a miniature lily of the valley, with a faint blue-green fluorescence along the edges of its petals, which is especially noticeable in the dark, like it's studded with tiny diamonds.
"It's beautiful," she exclaimed sincerely. "Did your research succeed?"
"It's a preliminary result, I guess." Yuan Xu's eyes sparkled, as if they held stars. "Stability testing is still needed. By the way, why do you look a little unhappy?"
His observation skills were always so sharp that even when he was engrossed in experiments, he could still catch her subtle emotional changes.
Yu Jiuyuan smiled and picked up the notebook next to her to look through it: "No, I'm just a little busy with student council matters."
Yuan Xu didn't ask any further questions, but pointed to the strain and said, "Can you take a look at this data for me? I feel like something's not right."
The two huddled together in front of the computer and started discussing.
Yuan Xu's world is very simple, consisting only of bacterial strains, data, and experiments. This purity completely relaxes Yu Jiuyuan's tense nerves.
She temporarily forgot Rong Shenghan's concealment and the entanglement with the Su family, focusing only on the charts and formulas in front of her.
It wasn't until the sky outside the window had completely darkened that Yu Jiuyuan realized it was getting late: "I should go back."
"I'll take you." Yuan Xu immediately stood up and picked up the coat hanging on the back of the chair.
“No need, the driver is waiting for me outside.” Yu Jiuyuan smiled and patted his shoulder. “Your strain still needs to be observed, don’t wander off.”
Yuan Xu hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Then be careful on your way. Oh, by the way, here you go." He took out a small box from the drawer, inside which were several transparent test tubes. "It's a bacterial extract, which has a calming effect. You don't seem to be getting enough rest lately."
Yu Jiuyuan felt a warmth in her heart and took the box: "Thank you."
As I left the lab, it started snowing again.
It was denser than in the morning, like countless white moths flying towards the earth, and soon accumulated a thin layer on the car roof.
The driver opened the car door: "Miss, shall we go straight back to the villa?"
Yu Jiuyuan looked at the swirling snowflakes outside the window and remained silent for a few seconds: "Let's go to Xie's R&D Center first."
She wanted to see the intelligent medical data that Xie Zhecheng had compiled, and also... wanted to avoid the person in the villa who was bothering her.
The lights in Xie's R&D center were still on. Xie Zhecheng was still in the laboratory, wearing a white lab coat, adjusting a sophisticated instrument.
Hearing footsteps, he turned around and saw Yu Jiuyuan. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes: "Why are you here?"
"Here's the data you organized." Yu Jiuyuan walked to his side, her gaze falling on the screen. "Still busy?"
"We're conducting the final stress test." Xie Zhecheng pulled up a set of data. "Look, even under extreme conditions, the system's response speed is still 0.1 seconds slower."
“In clinical surgery, 0.1 seconds can mean the difference between life and death.” Yu Jiuyuan’s tone became serious. “Have you identified the cause?”
"I suspect it's a problem with the chip's heat dissipation." Xie Zhecheng pointed to a component inside the instrument. "I had the technical department redesign the heat dissipation module, and we can install it for testing tomorrow."
The two discussed the technical details for a while, and then the only sounds in the laboratory were the low hum of the instruments and the occasional conversation.
This pure communication centered around work gave Yu Jiuyuan a long-lost sense of peace.
"When is your mother's dinner party scheduled?" Yu Jiuyuan suddenly asked.
"Next Wednesday night, at 'Gentle Pavilion'." Xie Zhecheng looked at her. "Is that convenient?"
“That’s convenient.” Yu Jiuyuan smiled. “I also wanted to ask her some questions about clinical applications.”
Xie Zhecheng nodded, said nothing more, and simply lowered his head again to adjust the instrument.
His profile looked exceptionally focused under the light, his long eyelashes drooping down, obscuring the emotions in his eyes.
Looking at him, Yu Jiuyuan suddenly felt that 77's level of affection might be a kind of luck. It wouldn't be too close to make her wary, and it could maintain this equal and mutually respectful distance.
It was almost 10 o'clock when I left the R&D center.
The snow showed no signs of stopping; on the contrary, it fell even heavier, and the streetlights on both sides of the road were shrouded in snow and mist, emitting a hazy glow.
As the car entered the villa area, a familiar figure could be seen standing in front of Yu Jiuyuan's villa in the distance.
It's Rong Shenghan.
He was wearing a black overcoat, and snowflakes covered his shoulders and hair, making him look like a statue covered in snow.
He stood quietly in the wind and snow, his gaze fixed on the direction of the intersection, clearly having waited for a long time.
Yu Jiuyuan's heart skipped a beat, followed by a surge of inexplicable anger.
He's playing this trick again. Is he trying to gain her sympathy through this almost self-destructive method?
"Drive straight in, don't stop," she told the driver, her tone icy.
The driver hesitated for a moment, but then stepped on the gas.
As the car drove past Rong Shenghan, Yu Jiuyuan deliberately turned her head to look out the window, not glancing at him once.
But she still saw his reaction through the reflection in the car window.
He seemed to move slightly, as if he wanted to step forward and stop the car, but in the end he just stood there and watched the car drive into the garage.
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