Wen Qi asked straight to the point: "Where did you buy lunch, a Chinese restaurant?"
Lin Zhixia's lunch box contained white rice, crispy duck, Biluo shrimp, and Wensi tofu. The duck meat was crispy and tender, and was cut into thin slices. The fragrance wafted out, smelling appetizing and satisfying.
In comparison, the clay pot rice in Wen Qi's hand didn't taste as good.
This morning, Wen Qi went to St. John's College and bought a clay pot rice from a restaurant called "Hong Kong Style Kitchen" next to the college and brought it to the office to eat. He grabbed the slightly hot plastic lunch box and glanced at Lin Zhixia's meal. Lin Zhixia said, "This is not sold in the restaurant, it's made at home."
Lin Zhixia did not mention Jiang Yubai's name at all and only gave a vague explanation.
After hearing what she said, Wen Qi thought that those dishes were made by Lin Zhixia herself. He sat on another chair, buried his head in his food, and stopped chatting with his classmates. He had a noble and proud spirit in his bones, which reminded Lin Zhixia of Jin Baihui, but he was more outgoing than Jin Baihui. At least, when the Korean senior talked to him, he was willing to answer.
The Korean senior is named Yoon Soo-eun. She has slightly long hair dyed chestnut brown. She has a pretty face and a nice voice.
Yin Xiuen carefully read the papers of every student present and extensively studied the research directions of everyone in the same group. She is truly an amazing person.
Lin Zhixia took two bites of food and tried to speak to her in Korean. After just two sentences, she showed a surprised expression.
She completely forgot about Wen Qi, turned her head to look at Lin Zhixia, and spoke a long string of Korean quickly.
Lin Zhixia understood everything. She continued to respond in Korean, speaking fluently and laughing. Several classmates around her were stunned for a moment.
The Indian senior remembered that Lin Zhixia mentioned that she was a mathematics major.
The Indian senior also graduated from a university in the United States with a major in mathematics. She confirmed again and again: "Did you graduate with a double major in mathematics and Korean?"
Lin Zhixia thought for a moment and answered in Hindi. She knew very little Hindi, but it was enough to shock her Indian senior. Several doctoral students in the group gathered around, and Lin Zhixia spoke to them in German, French, and Russian. Her German and French were obviously smoother, reaching the same level as English.
Yin Xiuen secretly asked her in Korean whether her talents were reflected in mathematics, physics and linguistics
Lin Zhixia seemed to be thinking about something.
When she was over two years old, she found that she was different from others. Her talent depended on her memory, understanding and observation, but other than that, there seemed to be nothing special about her.
Lin Zhixia deliberately avoided Yin Xiuen's question. She picked up a few pieces of duck meat and generously shared them with Yin Xiuen.
Yin Xiuen brought a bowl of soy sauce and chili fried rice. She scooped a few spoonfuls into Lin Zhixia's bowl. They tasted each other's food, and their relationship became closer in an instant. Yin Xiuen directly invited Lin Zhixia to a dinner party next Friday, but Lin Zhixia politely declined her because, according to convention, Lin Zhixia would meditate on Friday night to sort out her scientific research gains from Monday to Friday.
Yoon Soo Eun didn't expect Lin Zhixia to refuse.
There were intermittent conversations in the lounge area. In such a spacious and bright environment, Yin Xiuen pursed her lips, turned sideways, and invited Wen Qi to attend the dinner.
Wen Qi was thinking about his experimental data results. He didn't hear Yin Xiuen's question clearly, and just said, "Okay."
Yin Xiuen told the time and place of the party.
Wen Qi finally realized what was going on. But he did not regret it. He put down his lunch box, temporarily left the laboratory building, and went to the door to smoke a cigarette.
It was a little after 1:00 p.m., and Jiang Yubai had just finished today's class. He and several classmates walked through a wide corridor, discussing the homework assigned by the teacher and talking about the new tutor for this semester.
The autumn semester at Cambridge University is generally called "Michaelmas Term", which starts in October and ends in December. During this period, students have a heavy academic burden. They will be divided into different groups and meet with their tutors every week. The tutors will write their own evaluations of the students based on their performance after each meeting.
For undergraduate students, mentors are also witnesses of their learning journey.
Jiang Yubai couldn't help but think of Lin Zhixia's application to be a mentor again.
As far as he knew, Lin Zhixia specialized in "quantum physics." She contacted the director of the quantum physics course.
Jiang Yubai was distracted for a moment.
His classmate asked again: "Hey, Jiang Yubai, is your girlfriend a doctoral student in the same group?"
The classmate who was speaking was named Sun David. He was from the north, had a generous personality, was especially loyal to his friends, and rarely beat around the bush when speaking.
Jiang Yubai told him the truth: "Yes, her teacher is very famous."
David Sun had heard of Lin Zhixia's name a long time ago. He also took a quick look at all the papers Lin Zhixia had published so far on the Internet. He was worried about a question: "Will your girlfriend be a mentor?"
Jiang Yubai said with a hint of meaning: "She probably doesn't teach economics."
David Sun hypothesized: "My girlfriend is going to study quantum physics next semester. Will your girlfriend be her mentor?"
Jiang Yubai wanted to laugh, but he held it back. He deliberately changed the subject and asked Sun David if he had done any research on quantum physics. Then, he mentioned a business dinner next Friday. Jiang Yubai helped to organize that dinner. Jiang Yubai was a member of the Cambridge Finance and Business Association and knew managers of major European investment banks. He had successfully invited many important guests and hoped that more students would attend the dinner.
Sun David checked his email on his phone and said, "I saw your email the day before yesterday. Is the dinner next Friday? I'll bring my girlfriend there and introduce her to you."
Sun Dawei just met his girlfriend this summer. In his eyes, his girlfriend is an angel. Although his family is very rich and has a listed company, his height after putting on shoes is just over 1.64 meters - this is the good result of taking growth hormone since he was a child.
Others can only see Sun David's lavish spending and glamorous side, but they don't know how difficult and bitter life is for a man less than 1.65 meters tall in the north.
When he was in junior high school, Sun David stood among a group of boys, just like a lost lamb falling into a herd of adult alpacas.
The girl he had a crush on in middle school once told him that she would only fall in love with a man who was over 1.67 meters tall. In their northern region, there were plenty of such men.
He had been confused and melancholy, and even made a wish to God, willing to give up 1 billion yuan in assets in exchange for his height growing to 1.67 meters.
However, the merciful and forgiving God protected Sun David's fortune. Sun David's family assets did not decrease, and his height did not increase.
The brief adolescence passed by in a flash, and he longed for a true and sincere love from the bottom of his heart, and longed to see the fiery and strong love in the eyes of girls, just like the poem titled "Love" written by the famous poet Roy Clift: "I love you, not only because of the way you look, but also because of the way I look when I am with you..."
Most of the girls he had liked before treated him as an ordinary friend.
When he was about to give up, he finally met his current girlfriend.
His girlfriend is about the same height as him, they have a good relationship, and they are already living together off-campus.
This is what we call “there is always a way out”.
Sun David was quietly thinking about his life journey. Jiang Yubai lowered his head and spoke to him: "Have you ever looked at the homework requirements for the course Mathematics and Statistics for Economists?"
David Sun responded: "You need to learn new software."
Jiang Yubai asked him: "Do you think the math content is difficult?"
"It's difficult." Sun David said frankly.
The grass nearby was green and there was a rippling river. They walked across a bridge and passed a stone with a famous Chinese line from Xu Zhimo's poem "A Farewell to Cambridge" engraved on it.
Jiang Yubai parted ways with Sun David and the others at a fork in the road. He walked straight to the laboratory building where Lin Zhixia was. Lin Zhixia ran downstairs to pick him up and took him back to her office.
In this office, Jiang Yubai was doing his business homework while Lin Zhixia was deriving her physics formulas. They spent an entire afternoon together in silence. When the sun was setting, Lin Zhixia asked him, "Have you encountered any difficulties studying recently? You said that sophomore classes are not easy."
Jiang Yubai took out a stack of reading materials for the course "Mathematics and Statistics for Economists" from his schoolbag.
"Mathematics is difficult." Jiang Yubai said.
Lin Zhixia took a quick look and was half-believing and half-doubting.
Jiang Yubai asked again: "You want to be a mentor for undergraduates, shouldn't you find someone to practice with first?"
"It seems so." Lin Zhixia agreed with his idea.
Jiang Yubai introduced himself to her: "I'm an undergraduate. I know you very well."
Lin Zhixia held her chin with one hand, thought for a few seconds, and then said, "Okay, I'll teach you the mathematical theories of these papers. When are you free?"
Jiang Yubai is very busy from Monday to Friday. He and Lin Zhixia have an appointment to meet this weekend.
On a sunny weekend morning, Jiang Yubai sent a text message to Lin Zhixia, calling her Teacher Lin and asking her what she wanted to eat for lunch. He would wait for her downstairs of her dormitory at eight o'clock this morning.
After Lin Zhixia received his text message, she wrote in Human Observation Diary: "Today is the second weekend after my 18th birthday. Jiang Yubai asked me to go to his house to tutor him. He took the initiative to call me Teacher Lin, and I suspected he had a conspiracy. But after he grew up, I found that his thoughts were hard to guess."