Chapter 147 Whale Fall
1
Snowday arrived unexpectedly. Almost all colleges and universities along the Charles River in the Greater Boston area have suspended classes, and most stores are closed.
The notice of school suspension due to the blizzard was sent a day in advance. Lin Zhi still had not finished his Latin translation homework and continued to stay up late until now. When he read the notice, it was snowing.
I stayed at home for three consecutive days, and there was nothing in the refrigerator to fill my stomach except two bottles of Yakult and a bag of snail noodles.
The two pounds of lobsters I ordered from Boston Lobster King a day ago were also delayed due to the blizzard.
She was so hungry that she felt dizzy.
Looking out the window, the snow accumulation in the garden and on the road has exceeded the ten inches warned by the warning. Occasionally, a few middle school students with chuunibyou syndrome would run past screaming in short-sleeved shirts.
Planning to drive to the nearest Star Market to buy some vegetables and fruit, she looked out the window and saw the car parked in the garden buried up to the windows. She picked up a shovel and went downstairs to shovel snow. Halfway through, the snow started falling again, creeping down her jeans and into her calf-length snow boots. Soon, even her socks were soaked.
Her face was numb from the cold, her hands red and shivering. She shoveled the snow away from her car door and scrambled into it, but spent ten minutes trying to start the engine. Her message asking her roommate when he'd be back and if he could bring her some food remained unread.
She sat quietly in the car, spending five minutes reminiscing about Europe's extensive intercity transportation, then gave up her travel plans and went back to her room.
Fortunately there is heating.
The villa she rented belonged to an elderly Chinese man. She had just arrived two months ago and had missed the application for school housing due to some personal reasons. While busy with her studies, she was dragging two 28-inch suitcases back and forth between the hotel and the campus. Suddenly, a rental contract came to her and solved her biggest problem.
Two houses stood side by side, a neatly manicured garden between them. The landlord kept the larger one for himself, while she rented the smaller one to a half-American woman from Seattle whose mother was Cantonese. The room wasn't large, but sharing it with a tidy roommate was perfectly adequate, and everything was more beautiful than she expected. The only drawback was that it was a bit far from the city center on foot; a twenty-minute drive was all she had, so she gritted her teeth and used half her savings to buy a Bumblebee.
Apart from the busy academic schedule and some initial discomfort with the school's interpersonal atmosphere, everything went pretty smoothly.
2
Because of a competition, the professor of biophysics wrote her a personal invitation. After her defense, she immediately checked out of her London apartment without even attending the graduation ceremony, and rushed across seven time zones to Cambridge, Boston to start her new journey.
The new life did not come happily.
When she arrived in Boston, it was already past the start of the school year and approaching January.
There is almost no chance to apply for school dormitories unless you hope that someone will move out midway.
The rules of the master's program are: graduation with 30 credits, but according to the normal regulations of the course selection system, theoretically the number of credits taken in one semester cannot exceed nine.
But the professor gave her a special privilege. He provided her with what he considered the best course schedule and let her choose as many credits as she wanted, as long as her exams didn't conflict. She immediately chose a full fifteen credits of courses.
All the messy little things she hadn't yet gotten to grips with, and the tight schedule was driving her crazy. She could barely finish her homework, but her attendance was a struggle. She tried her best not to be late; if she was, she would review other lessons outside the classroom and wait until after class to ask familiar classmates for her notes and take photos.
She'd done her best to be as perfect as possible, but until she could understand all the instructors' personalities, she couldn't escape some of their preconceived notions. Two weeks earlier, the virgin in the natural ethics class had announced in class the formatting of all the failed essays, without even teaching them the correct writing methods. He then mercilessly sent them back for rewrites, and Lin Zhi was among them.
She raised her hand and asked him for some formatting guidance. Franz, a philosophy professor known for his harshness, immediately dug out her essay and found some sentences that were not academically sound and mocked them. She did make some small mistakes, but she knew they were not that serious.
She immediately argued with Franz in fluent English, causing an uproar in the biology department and instantly becoming a celebrity in the school.
She felt relieved, but she also knew that from now on, she had to ensure that all tests for this course were flawless. She gritted her teeth and, for weeks, managed to keep the ever-critical professor from finding any faults. But two weeks ago, Franz suddenly started answering questions in class, covering topics such as the proficiency of using Latin terms. Only students who had studied at MIT since college had experienced Latin class tests. Many people failed, including Lin Zhi, and...
Franz gave all those who failed the test a 300-page self-printed treatise on natural ethics written entirely in Latin, and asked everyone to translate it into English and hand it in to him within four days during the class the following week.
The library's Latin dictionary was borrowed out within two hours.
After confirming that no one had developed a Latin translator as of today, Lin Zhi was so upset that she couldn't even cry while holding the handwritten cursive characters. Three days was barely enough for her to recognize all the words.
She's not superhuman, nor is she incapable of resisting this challenge. She doesn't feel inferior because of her nationality or academic qualifications, nor does she think her actions will be misinterpreted as those of Chinese students. She simply fears whether alumni will complain about her actions at some point. She doesn't want to be burdened by this. But this isn't her country; she can't afford to act recklessly here.
It really has nothing to do with discrimination, it's just living under someone else's roof.
3
The screen of the phone on the dining table lit up. She swiped it two or three times but couldn't get it to unlock. She held it over the boiler to warm it up before she was able to unlock it.
A message from my roommate appeared on WhatsApp: "Playing with Alex at the club. I forgot there was a blizzard warning. I'll be back after midnight. Alex can't get back to Harvard, so he might have to stay the night."
She sent an OK emoji back, and as she locked her phone, she caught a glimpse of a very familiar month and date. Her birthday.
On my 22nd birthday, I couldn’t travel due to a snowstorm and had only a packet of snail noodles to fill my stomach.
Turn on the induction cooker, boil water and cook the noodles.
She hesitated as she tore open the packaging, turned off the heat, and opened all the windows in the restaurant kitchen.
She threw her phone aside and casually poured the rice noodles and pickled bamboo shoots into the pot. At the same time, an incomparably rich, indescribable aroma emanated from the air.
Ten seconds later, she faintly heard a man coughing outside the window. The kitchen window seemed to face the landlord's study, but he seldom came home, and Lin Zhi had never seen that window open.
She paused and listened for a moment longer, but heard no more sound. She walked to the window and looked, but saw no one in sight. So she turned and went into the bathroom.
After a while, before I could even rinse the conditioner out, the bathroom light suddenly went out. I left the room wrapped in a towel, only to find it was completely dark.
The power outage occurred.
The powder has not been boiled yet.
She took off the towel on her head and covered her face. When she was on the verge of collapse, the phone suddenly rang.
When she picked up, it was the landlord's housekeeper, who told her the circuit breaker was broken and someone would come fix it later. If she had any urgent matters, she could come to the other room. She then added, "There's mushroom soup, fried potatoes with butter, and some Cantonese snacks."
She couldn't resist the temptation of the last sentence. After asking the landlady if she could use the bathroom, she grabbed her laptop and translation textbook, and brought a giant panda doll and a folding fan as small gifts to pay her a visit.
4
After using the bathroom to rinse her hair and dry it, the housekeeper took her straight to the small living room.
As soon as you enter the door, you will see several calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall, including pictures of horses, simple single-piece large characters with unique style, and dense official script with twists and turns; the same ink is in the lower right corner, and you can tell at a glance that it is undoubtedly the landlord's own calligraphy.
She hurriedly hid the printed folding fan she bought for a dozen yuan on Taobao into her backpack, and gave the remaining panda doll to the housekeeper.
The housekeeper didn't notice her little action. He thanked her on behalf of his master, told her that she could use anything in the house as she pleased, and then turned and left.
She let out a long sigh.
There was a fire in the fireplace in the corner, and the room was warm but not dry, but cozy and comfortable.
There was a carpet in the room, a set of desk and chairs, and two low wooden cabinets behind it filled with neatly stacked books, all of which were very old.
I walked to the desk to eat something. I carefully closed the open book, wondering why the butler hadn't thought to clear away the food before placing it on the table. When I looked up, I caught a glimpse of the handwritten words on the thick stack of old books.
She turned to the title page, and saw the same powerful penmanship, written in both English and traditional Chinese characters - "A Complete Collection of Latin Vocabulary for Science".
She was startled and her heart was pounding.
She quickly completed all the translations before nightfall.
The landlord still hadn't returned, so the housekeeper reheated the snacks for her and watched her eat them before letting her go.
The power switch hadn't been repaired yet, and the room was completely dark. She put her computer and draft aside and went straight back inside.
It was still warm, with the scent of wood from the hearth room.
It was still snowing heavily outside, and the street lights were all yellow.
The phone on the table lit up, and a message popped up: "I never knew our nerdy Linzy had become so popular! Ask Alex where to buy hot food to bring to Chinese girls, and immediately two handsome men offered to visit you with food. Of course, they might prefer to be the 'food' themselves."
"We're privileged students taking fifteen credits in our first term. We heard some gossip at the gathering tonight: it turns out your CIL classmates all hate Franz. You're practically their hero! Look, Linzy, I told you a long time ago, be more outgoing and talk more, only then will you get a boyfriend!"
She leaned against the window and looked at the heavy snow outside, and suddenly remembered her childhood.
5
She was a premature baby.
When she was in elementary school, she accidentally discovered in the "Little Newton Library" that she was in the high-risk group for "low IQ," "possible epilepsy," "cerebral palsy," "indigestion," and "short growth." From then on, she always had a sense of awe towards the world. She would not speak unless she was observing from a corner.
Her parents thought her speech impediment was a bad omen. When encouraging her to speak boldly in front of strangers, they would always bring up a story about her birth: "When you were a red, ugly baby the size of a palm, you clutched the nurse's hand tightly and wouldn't let go. Even a passing elderly gentleman from Guangdong stopped to look and smiled, saying, 'You'll be a fighter in the future.'"
When she graduated from high school, her height exceeded 1.7 meters, and she had normal intelligence and was full of energy.
She always thought that she liked to hide in an unknown and safe corner, and at most complain about the surrounding environment to show that she didn't have the heart and courage to be a fighter.
But every time she was pushed to the limit, the courage and quick wit that emerged from the pressure often surprised herself.
She thought the old man's "fighter" encouragement had worked. If he were still alive, she would definitely visit him in person to thank him. If possible, she hoped to receive his praise again, which might even change her lonely nature that had kept her single for twenty-two years.
Thinking about this, I suddenly remembered that my roommate always joked that she couldn't find a boyfriend, but yesterday she actually gave her a Lelo as a birthday present.
Opening the drawer and staring at the pink object, Lin Zhi suddenly laughed.
Typed reply: "Are they as good as the Lelo classic you gave me?"
After delivering the message, I thought to myself: Probably not. So why would I constantly force myself to do unhappy things just for a creature that understands me less than my own?
Thinking of this, the dark clouds in his heart immediately disappeared. Lin Zhi leaned his head against the cool window and smiled, then turned the heater to level three, closed the curtains, and fell asleep peacefully under the quilt.
6
My roommate and her boyfriend drove back in the early morning.
Lin Zhi was in a light sleep when he vaguely heard the voices of two people talking to a strange man outside the house while parking in the garden.
She seemed to hear her roommate take something: "A book? Oh, it's a Latin dictionary. Take it to Linzy? Okay... Oh, it's a heavy book. Linzy will be very happy. She's been anxiously looking for it these past few days. When do you need her to return it to you?"
The man smiled and said, "No need, I'm giving it to her on behalf of someone else."
My roommate exclaimed, "Oh my God! She'll be so happy! You're so kind!"
The few of them didn't say much and went back to their rooms. There was a sound of a door opening downstairs, and she heard Alex say, "This Oriental guy looks familiar."
"Looks very respectable, not like an Americanized Chinese. Where did you see him, a TV series?"
Alex pondered for a moment. "A physics textbook. What's your landlord's name?"
"yorktsui..."
"Do you remember Chinese?"
"I barely speak Chinese. How about waiting for Linzy to wake up and ask her?"
"No...wait, I think I know who he is," Alex said, seemingly flipping through the pages of a dictionary. "Laitsui is the founder of modern astronomy. He compiled our astrophysics textbooks and many physics dictionaries in the library. But he died two years ago. What's his name?"
"Who knows? A relative or something?"
"The handwriting is so beautiful. This handwritten book must be worth a lot of money..."
"When Linzy wakes up, I'll ask for a copy for you."
"It's worth collecting. Otherwise, why wouldn't I borrow it from the library? Hey, what does this line of Chinese say?"
"God knows."
Lin Zhi scratched his head, put on his coat and came out. At the entrance, he saw the two people standing far away in the corner of the dining table, facing the stack of dictionaries, as if they were doing archaeology.
Her roommate caught sight of her and waved, "Linzy, have you eaten yet? We brought sandwiches! Come on, you must be dying to see this!"
She walked over and saw the traditional Chinese signature "Xu Lai" on the last page. Suddenly she remembered and said with a smile, "Oh, it's Professor Xu?"
"How do you know him?"
She shook her head. "I don't know him. Back in high school, I was a poor student and wanted to use my physics competition scores to apply to his university. He wrote me a personal letter asking, 'You've learned everything I could from you, what are your plans for the future?' I wrote back with some rather naive plans for my future, and he immediately rejected me."
Alex asked again, "What's written here?"
She looked down.
There was a line of words written there. Although it was still in traditional Chinese, the handwriting was different from that in the dictionary.
It says:
Ms. Lin Zhi, have you rethought the questions I raised in recent years?
It doesn't matter.
Study your Latin. Eat more healthy food. Instant snail noodles aren't very healthy and are a bit smelly.
And, happy birthday.
The date of birth on all her documents is in the lunar calendar. How does the landlord know when her birthday is?
She scratched her head and was about to ask her roommate for a signature from the landlord when she suddenly heard Alex recall something and exclaimed, "I remember! He's a professor of experimental physics at our school. His Chinese name is - Wankwan, Tsui."
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