Lin Zhixia ran towards Miao Danyi and chatted with her in a friendly manner: "Hello, my name is Lin Zhixia, and I am Wen Qi's classmate."
Miao Danyi took Lin Zhixia's hand and wrote the three words "Miao Danyi" directly on Lin Zhixia's palm as her self-introduction.
Miao Danyi also said: "I know you. You are a young genius girl. I have seen many genius boys..."
Lin Zhixia smiled.
Wen Qi had his back to the two girls. He didn't even say hello to Lin Zhixia. He and Lin Zhixia had known each other for less than half a month, and they had spoken no more than twenty sentences. Their WeChat chat records combined couldn't even fill up a mobile phone screen.
On the night when Wen Qi made the mistake in sending the email, Lin Zhixia sent him a message: "Do you want to talk to the senior?"
This message, in essence, was a call for his life.
So, he didn't reply.
From Monday to Friday this week, he took a leave and did not go to the laboratory. Lin Zhixia asked him again: "Are you feeling well?"
He answered irrelevantly: "I'm reading at home."
Lin Zhixia gave a thumbs-up emoji in return. Wen Qi didn't know how to respond. So, they both fell into silence, and no one spoke a word.
This afternoon, Lin Zhixia, Jiang Yubai, and Miao Danyi came to visit Wen Qi's home as if they had made an appointment. This made Wen Qi anxious like an ant on a hot pot. He brought the three classmates into the dormitory and accepted a lunch that Jiang Yubai gave him. Only then did he remember that he hadn't had lunch yet.
Feeling extremely hungry, Wen Qi sat down on a chair. The air was as dull as death. He tried to tell a physics joke: "Are Lagrangian mechanics and Hamiltonian mechanics better than Newtonian mechanics? No, they are equivalent. Hahahahahahahahaha..."
Lin Zhixia also found it funny and laughed out loud “hahahaha” as well.
Miao Danyi forced a move of the corners of her mouth.
Jiang Yubai was very calm and quiet, as if no joke in the world could impress him. He chatted with Wen Qi for a while and always found a way to start a conversation. Wen Qi felt very uncomfortable and had to say, "You guys chat first, I'll go cook."
Miao Danyi hurriedly said, "I'll help you."
Lin Zhixia continued, "Jiang Yubai and I will also help you. I can wash and cut vegetables... By the way, I also want to talk to you about Aishwarya. It seems that you didn't receive my email."
"Maybe he didn't see it," Jiang Yubai seemed to be trying to smooth things over for Wen Qi, "The school mailbox is full of all kinds of mail."
Wen Qi said nothing. He walked towards the kitchen.
The communal kitchen in the dormitory is not very large.
Four people stood in the kitchen, and the space was a bit crowded.
Wen Qi took out a box of vegetables and beef. Lin Zhixia was washing vegetables quickly while Wen Qi was cutting them. Jiang Yubai was standing not far away, wiping a dining table with a rag, while Miao Danyi was sitting on a chair, looking down and replying to messages on her phone.
Miao Danyi's boyfriend Sun David sent a message: "Miao Miao, are you still shopping with your friends?"
Miao Danyi tilted her phone screen. Jiang Yubai had excellent eyesight and happened to catch a glimpse of her chat box. He said nothing, so Miao Danyi asked him, "How are you going to tell Sun David?"
Jiang Yubai whispered: "You should talk to him first."
"What are you talking about?" Miao Danyi propped up her chin with one hand.
She looked mocking and said nonchalantly, "You told Sun David what he meant by finding me a group of tutors? I am completely confused. I stayed at home all day to study and it took me a lot of effort to finish the homework assigned by the teacher. But you are really something, a handsome guy, but your heart is blacker than a crow."
"If tutoring is not suitable for you," Jiang Yubai suggested, "you can also bring it up. If you keep it to yourself, it will do more harm than good to you and him."
Jiang Yubai's mood and temperament are as peaceful as a deep pool, giving people a very reliable and trustworthy feeling - this special quality is not common in young boys.
What's more, Jiang Yubai was still wiping the table diligently.
Jiang Yubai was very fond of cleanliness. He left no corner untouched and cleaned the table more attentively than a waiter in a restaurant.
While Miao Danyi and Jiang Yubai were chatting, Lin Zhixia was also talking to Wen Qi.
Lin Zhixia asked softly: "Wen Qi, I find it strange, why are you always unwilling to answer my questions? You rarely reply to my WeChat. I talk to you ten times, and you only respond to me once at most..."
Wen Qi wiped his face vigorously with an oily rag.
His face suddenly became very dirty.
Lin Zhixia frowned slightly, finding it even more difficult to understand Wen Qi's inner world.
What is going on
Lin Zhixia originally thought that she was very close to normal people, but unexpectedly, after entering the doctoral stage, she was once again confused about the behavior of normal people.
She put aside her doubts for the time being and said straight to the point: "From what I have observed, our instructor is very busy with work and he doesn't care about the email at all. Aishwarya is really angry. You can apologize to her at the group meeting... In fact, I should bear the main responsibility. If I hadn't asked you, you wouldn't have written the email."
Wen Qi doesn't think so.
Thinking back, he was the first to mention the complaint against Aishwarya to Lin Zhixia. If he hadn't said it, Lin Zhixia wouldn't have known about it. If he hadn't sent the wrong email, Aishwarya wouldn't have been so angry.
He is the main person responsible.
Lin Zhixia washed a basin of cabbage and said, "Your contribution to the paper has been deleted. I'm trying to remedy it. I have a paper that is almost finished. Are you willing to cooperate with me? I can also publish this paper in Nature, and you can be the second author."
Wen Qi sternly refused, “No, don’t use the second author to compensate me.”
His tone was very hurried and embarrassed, and Lin Zhixia misunderstood what he meant: "Do you have any other solutions? I will continue to follow up with senior sister Aishwarya. When I was a child, people often called me a freak. I can understand how uncomfortable senior sister felt when she saw the word "evil witch"... You quoted the undergraduate's words and were just describing an objective fact. I believe you, you have no subjective malice, are you willing to talk to senior sister Aishwarya with me?"
Wen Qi let out a low sigh.
Bright red blood gushed out from between his fingers and stained the snow-white plastic chopping board, staining the emerald green cabbage red.
Wen Qi was distracted while cutting vegetables and accidentally cut his finger. He quickly turned on the faucet to wash away the blood. Lin Zhixia shouted, "Wen Qi's hand was cut by a knife."
Wen Qi lied inexplicably: "It was just a small cut, but it's not bleeding anymore."
Lin Zhixia said casually: "That's good."
Wen Qi turned his head away, not daring to look at her: "I have a band-aid in my room."
Lin Zhixia said seriously: "I'll go with you to the dormitory to get the band-aid."
Wen Qi waved his hand: "There is a fish in the pot, you watch the fire in the kitchen."
Finally, Jiang Yubai accompanied Wen Qi back to the dormitory, leaving only Lin Zhixia and Miao Danyi in the public kitchen.
Lin Zhixia added some seasoning to the braised fish. Miao Danyi came to her and asked, "Do you often cook at home?"
"Yes," Lin Zhixia said with a hint of pride, half lowering her head, "I can cook a lot of dishes now."
Lin Zhixia's skin was well-maintained, white and translucent, and it seemed as if there were no pores if you looked closely. Her facial features were very delicate, especially her eyes, which were bright and beautiful, and her eyelashes were thick and curled, like black butterfly wings, and her lips were rosy and tender, like delicate rose petals.
When she was talking to Miao Danyi, she was very close to the stove. The heat was evaporating, and her face turned slightly pink. Her white and pink cheeks made her even more lovable. Miao Danyi asked, "Did Jiang Yubai ask you to cook for him at home? How could he be like this?"
"No," Lin Zhixia argued, "Jiang Yubai and I don't live together."
Miao Danyi quickly explained that she was living with her boyfriend, so she was overthinking. She introduced her background in detail, which instantly brought her and Lin Zhixia closer.
Lin Zhixia nodded and asked again: "What is Malaysia like? Do you speak Burmese?"
Miao Danyi described it very honestly: "My mother is Burmese. She left when I was a child. I live in Malaysia. My father runs a company. I have four half-siblings. I went to a private school when I was six years old..."
"Four brothers and sisters?" Lin Zhixia said assumingly, "It will be very lively."
The corners of Miao Danyi's lips curved up.
Lin Zhixia held the spatula and turned the braised fish over again.
The smell of cooking oil drifted outside, and the kitchen windows were covered with a layer of fog. Miao Danyi stirred a bowl of eggs, saying that she was going to cook a special dish. She hadn't cooked for a long time, and when she heated the pan, the splashing oil dripped onto the back of her hand.
"It splashed on you," Lin Zhixia asked hurriedly, "Does it hurt?"
Miao Danyi said for no reason: "You are a very special and smart person."
Lin Zhixia blinked.
Miao Danyi pursed her lips and smiled: "You and Jiang Yubai have a very good relationship."
Lin Zhixia and she flattered each other: "You and your boyfriend must have a very good relationship."
Miao Danyi curled her lips: "He doesn't like me, but I don't hate him."
"What do you mean?" Lin Zhixia asked humbly.
This complicated situation reminded Lin Zhixia of senior Tan Qianche.
Lin Zhixia acted gentle, cute and considerate. In front of her, Miao Danyi's long-repressed words suddenly opened up: "He is rich, but my father is poor. My classmates are smart, but I am stupid. I can't get a scholarship, and my tuition and living expenses are tens of thousands of pounds a year..."
Lin Zhixia sorted out the cause and effect: "Do you let your boyfriend pay for your tuition and living expenses?"
"Have you heard of the sugar daddy website?" Miao Danyi's voice gradually became low, "There is a sentence that can summarize it... ah, I remember it, see the essence through the phenomenon, and each takes what he needs."
Miao Danyi's words shocked Lin Zhixia greatly, even surpassing the romantic history of Tan Qianche that she had witnessed that year. Her "Human Observation Diary" had new material.
Lin Zhixia couldn't help but ask: "What major are you studying?"
Miao Danyi lied: "Philosophy."
Lin Zhixia grabbed the kitchen knife and cut a tomato: "What you just said is in line with the definition of 'logocentrism'. Logocentrism uses words and language as the fundamental description to replace external reality..."
Miao Danyi casually talked about "philosophy", but she never expected that Lin Zhixia would start talking to her about professional terms.
The braised fish was sizzling in the pot. Miao Danyi held her breath and asked, "Are you going to scold me?"
Lin Zhixia shook her head: "I hardly ever curse."
Their conversation did not continue.
Because Jiang Yubai and Wen Qi are back.
Lin Zhixia had almost finished preparing lunch. She served all the food on the table, heated up the clay pot rice, put it in a porcelain bowl and handed it to Wen Qi. The four of them sat around the table, just like a classmate gathering, and had a particularly harmonious meal.
During this time, Lin Zhixia repeatedly asked Wen Qi: "When are you free? Let's go talk to the senior sister."
Wen Qi covered his mouth and said nothing.
Jiang Yubai seemed to be thinking about something. After a moment, he said, "Next Friday, your instructor will treat you to a meal. You, Lin Zhixia, and your senior sister can arrive early and find a chance to chat. Even if the conversation doesn't go well, when your instructor arrives..."
Before Jiang Yubai finished speaking, Lin Zhixia understood what he meant. She slapped the table and said proudly, "Good plan! That's it."