Jiang Yubai's reply made Lin Zhixia delighted.
Lin Zhixia put away her phone, turned on her desktop computer, and concentrated on her work.
She quickly browsed the arxiv (paper preprint website) page to make sure that her research ideas did not collide with others. Then, she directly used latex (paper typesetting system) to write the abstract, background and framework of a paper.
The new calculation formula occupied her mind. She was immersed in the virtual world created by "quantum computing". She didn't even turn her head when someone occasionally passed by the door of her office. It was not until 6:30 in the afternoon that almost all the students in the group went home. Lin Zhixia packed up her things and hurriedly set off on the way home.
On the way home, Lin Zhixia bought a small bag of vegetables and fruits at the supermarket. At about seven o'clock in the evening, she cooked a bowl of tomato and egg noodles for herself in the dormitory kitchen. This was the first time in her life that she cooked for herself.
Lin Zhixia didn't perform very well.
Too much water was added, the noodles were stewed and even the eggs were stuck to the bottom of the pot. The meal was not delicious, and she felt a little frustrated. She opened a bag of Fuling pickled mustard tuber brought from China and mixed it into the bowl, barely improving the taste a little.
After dinner, she missed the cafeteria of her undergraduate alma mater while recalling the progress of her research today.
It was already dark and it was raining for a while. The raindrops were blown by the wind and poured onto a glass window, making a soft "sizzling" sound.
Lin Zhixia walked over and closed the window. The air was filled with humid water vapor, and the entire dormitory building seemed to have been moved to the edge of a pond. The water mist went into her trachea through her nose, and she shivered, feeling a chill. The dormitory was still silent, and in a trance, she thought of her undergraduate roommate again.
The feeling of loss and disappointment lasted less than two seconds, and Lin Zhixia cheered up, sorted out her resume and research introduction, and sent them to the relevant person in charge of the school. She had already planned that she would definitely be a teaching assistant.
There are many benefits to being a teaching assistant.
First, Lin Zhixia had just turned 18 and was an adult in the legal sense. She was eligible to be a teaching assistant and receive compensation from the school. Secondly, her goal was to be a university teacher, to guide students, to study academics, to apply for funding projects... Being a teaching assistant now was a preparation for future career development.
After finishing these trivial matters, Lin Zhixia took a bath, wrapped herself in a bath towel, and lay on the bed to call Jiang Yubai. When she heard his voice, her mood suddenly brightened, and she asked him softly, "Jiang Yubai, what are you doing?"
She heard a slight swallowing sound, and she thought he took a sip of water. He replied, "I'm reading a book."
Lin Zhixia pointed out a coincidence: "I just finished reading the book."
Jiang Yubai put aside the political economics paper in his hand and asked her, "How was your day?"
"Fortunately," Lin Zhixia took stock, "I decided on my research direction, submitted an application for a teaching assistantship, and made dinner for the first time..."
"What's for dinner?"
"Mushy tomato and egg noodles."
How pitiful, Jiang Yubai thought.
Lin Zhixia bypassed the question of dinner and asked him directly: "By the way, you don't have class tomorrow afternoon, do you want to come to my office and study with me?"
Lin Zhixia treated the office as a private place. In her opinion, the desk was very long and wide, and was no different from the desk in the library.
Jiang Yubai only asked her: "What time do you usually go to the office?"
"Eight o'clock in the morning." Lin Zhixia replied.
Jiang Yubai said: "I'll wait for you downstairs of your dormitory at 7:30 tomorrow morning."
Lin Zhixia realized belatedly: "Do you have something to ask me?"
The voice coming from the phone was particularly low and magnetic, and she heard him admit, "I want to see you."
Every word was like a bewitching magic sound, and her left ear, which was pressed against the phone, felt numb. She managed to stay calm and responded, "See you tomorrow." After hanging up the phone, she hugged her pillow and lay on the bed, thinking about him over and over again, thinking about every word he had said.
On this cold, wet rainy night, her extraordinary memory helped her relive every scene she had with him. The emotions of the moment blended with the memories of that time, making her unable to extricate herself from it.
The rain never stopped last night. The water mist was like smoke. The early morning light was hazy and the weather became colder.
At 7:20 in the morning, Jiang Yubai walked out of a car, carrying two bags in his hands. Lin Zhixia saw him through the window, and she ran downstairs in her slippers to greet him joyfully.
His bag contained an insulated lunch box, as well as various snacks, desserts, and frozen foods. He went to Lin Zhixia's public kitchen and asked her, "How many of you share a refrigerator?"
Lin Zhixia opened the refrigerator door and gestured, "This area is mine."
Jiang Yubai took out a few boxes from the bag and filled that part of the space. He also stuffed a layer of frozen dumplings. Lin Zhixia couldn't help asking, "Are these dumplings sold in the Chinese Super League?"
"Shrimp and corn dumplings," Jiang Yubai introduced. "My chef made them. The flavor you like."
Jiang Yubai remembered the chef's instructions. He used Lin Zhixia's small pot to boil half a pot of water, poured a bowl of dumplings into it, and after they were cooked, he took the dumplings out, drained the hot water, and sprinkled two spoons of vinegar on them.
This morning, Lin Zhixia only ate a piece of bread. She was too disappointing to resist the charm of shrimp dumplings. She followed Jiang Yubai closely and walked into her dormitory with him.
Jiang Yubai put the bowl and chopsticks on the table.
Lin Zhixia walked around behind him and said, "I feel a little embarrassed that you came all the way to bring me food."
Jiang Yubai turned around and looked into her eyes: "It's normal for me to come to your house as a guest and bring you some food. Even if I'm not your boyfriend, but just an ordinary friend of yours..."
Lin Zhixia gently corrected him: "I've only known you for less than a week, and I feel like you're my best friend."
He put his arm around her waist and said, "For the sake of our friendship, eat more."
Lin Zhixia leaned against his arms, and her left hand touched his shirt button. The button was made of a special material, and it felt cool to the touch. She played with it curiously for a while, and Jiang Yubai grabbed her hand, preventing her from doing anything else.
Lin Zhixia couldn't guess what was going on in his mind.
Jiang Yubai is now 1.88 meters tall, much taller than Lin Zhixia. She simply held his shoulders, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him on the face. She looked at him with satisfaction as he stood there in a trance and silence - after many years, she found new and interesting material for her "Human Observation Diary".
Since she couldn't figure out his thoughts, she had to use random sampling to collect Jiang Yubai's reaction types. Jiang Yubai's reaction had a certain degree of randomness, and she could infer his behavior patterns through multiple experiments and statistical samples.
This is a simple application model of the Monte Carlo algorithm.
Of course, just one kiss is not enough.
From the perspective of perfecting the model, Lin Zhixia gave him another kiss on the face. She tilted her head, her rosy lips pressed against his ear, and her raised toes were no longer stable, standing shakily. Jiang Yubai actually held her wrists, twisted them behind her back, lowered his head and gently kissed the corner of her rosy lips, just like a dragonfly skimming the water.
This time, it was her turn to be confused.
Jiang Yubai let go of her, and within two seconds, he hugged her waist tightly again, using her to calm his mind, while avoiding looking at her directly. His fantasy about her had gone beyond his self-control. He would never speak out his true feelings, but just reminded her in a gentle voice: "Breakfast is getting cold, and you have to go to the office at eight o'clock."
Lin Zhixia agreed vaguely: "Yes."
She picked up the bowl and ate two shrimp dumplings in one go. The dumplings were so delicious that they reminded her of the taste of home.
Jiang Yubai placed a bottle of orange juice in front of her, and her eyes suddenly misted over. He paused, and she immediately explained: "I think you are really great."
Jiang Yubai recalled that on her tenth birthday, he gave her a set of physics questions, which moved her to tears. Eight years had passed in a flash, and her essence didn't seem to have changed much.
With Jiang Yubai's support, Lin Zhixia gave up fast food and Western food at noon and returned to the warm embrace of traditional Chinese food. She went to the laboratory building with her schoolbag and a lunch box. After a busy morning, she had lunch with a group of doctoral students in the lounge of the laboratory building.
The Indian senior bought a Japanese lunch box from a fast food restaurant called itsu. She talked to Lin Zhixia every time she took a bite of the lunch box. Lin Zhixia found that the Indian senior was cheerful and talkative, and she was sincere and friendly. So why was she complained by undergraduates
Lin Zhixia decided to build a good relationship with the Indian senior first, and then ask her directly when the time was right.
The senior student told her that their supervisor's requirements were very high, and if they did not meet the supervisor's thesis standards, it would be almost impossible to graduate. Their supervisor liked to smile, never quarreled, never spoke harshly, and rarely criticized students. However, once the supervisor determined that a student had made no progress, he would directly let the student fail, interrupt his studies, and withdraw from the research group, and would never give the student the slightest chance to appeal.
So cruel
Lin Zhixia was stunned when she heard this.
The entire group of doctoral students basically ate here, several of them sat at a table, talking in low voices. Lin Zhixia glanced around and saw that the group included Chinese, Germans, Russians, Koreans... these hardworking people. Especially the Russian guy, his hairline was worrying, he was only in his twenties, and the circle of golden hair in the middle of his head was faintly showing signs of baldness.
Lin Zhixia comforted herself that there was no baldness gene in her family, so she would not become bald.
There was another Korean girl named Yin Xiuen in the group. Yin Xiuen sat next to Lin Zhixia and asked about the content of Lin Zhixia's thesis. It turned out that she had read the thesis Lin Zhixia published during her undergraduate studies.
Lin Zhixia and Yin Xiuen chatted for a while, and then Wen Qi came over. In their research group, there were so many students, but only Lin Zhixia and Wen Qi were Chinese. Lin Zhixia was very kind to Wen Qi - after all, they were from the same hometown, and they would help each other when they were away from home.