The moon was covered by dark clouds, and the air was chilly. Miao Danyi shivered as if it penetrated her skin. She folded her arms, coughed, and walked away from Sun David.
Sun David stopped her. A very bold guess popped into his mind. He didn't want that guess to be true.
The lush shade of the trees fell on Sun David's head, and the light and shadow around him became dimmer.
Sun David raised his head, looked at Wen Qi, and thought: Damn, this guy is too handsome.
Sun David suddenly wanted to put himself in Jiang Yubai's life. If he were Jiang Yubai, his appearance and height would be better than the handsome guy in front of him whose origins were unknown. Unfortunately, he was Sun David. He was wealthy and well-educated, but he was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of loss. He said uneasily: "My name is Sun David. I have lived with Miaomiao for a year. I am her boyfriend. Who are you?"
As soon as these words came out, Lin Zhixia grasped the corner of Jiang Yubai's clothes tightly.
She had never seen anything like it.
A few years ago, when Lin Zhixia was in middle school, as the class monitor, she successfully handled some disputes among classmates - the prerequisite for success was that her middle school classmates were willing to give her face and let her play the role of "peacemaker".
The scene before our eyes was not just a minor fight between classmates.
Lin Zhixia secretly glanced at Wen Qi, and saw that his face was as pale as paper. She asked him softly, "Are you okay?"
Wen Qi shook his head. He walked closer to Sun David and said, "Sorry, I don't know."
Sun David's eyes turned red: "What did you two do?"
Wen Qi said, "I didn't do anything. I'm going home. Don't come over. I want to be alone."
Sun David was confused: "Huh?"
Wen Qi walked straight ahead with his back straight. Miao Danyi, on the other hand, became frank: "I just kissed him and told him that I like him."
Miao Danyi guessed that if she didn't tell the truth, Jiang Yubai would remind Sun David.
One day last year, Miao Danyi ran to Wen Qi's dormitory and ran into Jiang Yubai. She was thinking that if Jiang Yubai dared to frame her in front of Sun David, she would cry and make a scene in front of Sun David to prove her innocence and ruin the friendship between Sun David and Jiang Yubai. Sun David obviously believed her more than Jiang Yubai. But she didn't expect that Jiang Yubai didn't say anything - his social skills were better than she thought.
This time, Miao Danyi couldn't hide. She simply confessed herself, which also made her look open-minded.
At this point, Miao Danyi had no way out, and her long-suppressed emotions suddenly burst out: "We are no longer in a relationship, let's break up. It's too much trouble for me to pretend every day. You always take me with you wherever you go. When you have group discussions with your classmates, you always call me over to show off to others for a half-hour discussion. You are always showing off..."
Lin Zhixia asked Jiang Yubai in a low voice: "What do you mean, Yang La Er Zheng?"
Jiang Yubai explained to her: "Not doing your job properly."
Lin Zhixia nodded: "I understand."
Miao Danyi was still talking: "I will pay you back the money I owe you later, and we are done with each other."
After she finished the last sentence, she seemed to have used up all her strength.
In her first year of college, her father's company went bankrupt. Her younger brothers and sisters were all in school, so her father asked her to work part-time to earn tuition. She happened to meet Sun David at that time. However, there was a hurdle in her heart that she could never get over. She always felt that such a stable and comfortable life did not belong to her, like a clown wearing a diamond crown, extravagant and ridiculous.
She took off the diamond bracelet and put it into Sun David's pocket.
She ran away into the night.
Sun David called her full name: "Miao Danyi!"
Miao Danyi yelled, "Miao Danyi is the name you gave me! The name my parents gave me is not pronounced like that!"
Sun David sat down on the ground.
It rained last night, and the soil was soaked with a layer of moisture that was not easy to evaporate. The mist soaked his pants. He held a diamond bracelet in his hand, and it seemed that someone had emptied all the thoughts in his mind. He temporarily lost the ability to think, and didn't know where he was.
After a while, his eyes became moist.
Tears flowed like a river, rolling down from the corners of his eyes.
It turns out that the Internet term "wide noodle tears" is real, and David Sun's face was covered with "wide noodle tears". Because his good brother Jiang Yubai was still there, he held back and refused to make a sound until Jiang Yubai squatted in front of him and handed him a napkin.
He burst into tears: "Xiao Jiang, I feel so miserable, so miserable! Wuu ...
Jiang Yubai comforted him: "It's okay, calm down first and don't cry."
Sun David burst into tears, his voice unsteady: "How could she do this to me? I'm so sincere to her..."
Sun David's sadness came from the bottom of his heart. He finally understood that "sadness" is a physical labor. He couldn't stand up straight anymore, and he fell backwards. He leaned against the solid and rough tree trunk, and the lush leaves formed a protective umbrella over his head, blocking the dark and boundless night sky.
He sat under the tree in a daze.
As if he had seen through the mundane world, he recited a passage from the Diamond Sutra: "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows; like dew and lightning, they should be viewed in this way."
Then, he shared a life experience: "Love hurts me too much."
Jiang Yubai advised: "It's okay not to be in a relationship. Family, studies and career are more important."
Sun David followed Jiang Yubai's thoughts and thought of their Sun family's French winery, the fishery in the South China Sea, the horse farm in the northwest, and the pharmaceutical factory in the northeast. He felt a little calm, wiped his nose, and asked again: "If Lin Zhixia dumped you and didn't care about you at all, what would you do?"
Before she finished speaking, Lin Zhixia squatted next to Jiang Yubai.
Lin Zhixia stared at Sun David intently. She asked, "Don't be sad, don't cry, do you like reading Buddhist scriptures?"
Sun David muttered to himself, "Ah, my grandparents always donate money to the temple, and every year there are monks visiting my home."
Lin Zhixia told him about the Avatamsaka Sutra: "Knowing all phenomena as they really are, they are false and deceitful, they only last for a moment, deceiving ordinary people." She paused and said, "My understanding is very superficial... I think it's better for you to see through the illusion now than to discover it later."
For David Sun, this matter was very complicated, not as easy to figure out as Lin Zhixia said. He couldn't tell his relatives and friends about the whole story - it was too difficult to talk about. Therefore, in this world, only Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia were most likely to understand him.
He was silent for a moment, then asked Lin Zhixia, "What would you do if Xiao Jiang changed his mind?"
Lin Zhixia thought seriously for a while before saying, "All relationships have a time limit, whether it's friendship or love. The environment will change a person, and sometimes you will miss someone. What you miss may not necessarily be the person himself, but certain experiences related to that person in a specific environment."
Sun David took a deep breath.
Lin Zhixia continued: "If Xiao Jiang changes his mind..."
Jiang Yubai held her wrist.
Even to comfort Sun David, Jiang Yubai rejected this assumption.
Lin Zhixia said, "I will probably be very sad, cry my eyes out, and have sleepless nights. But if you give me some time, I will be able to adjust. The past and the present are established facts, and the future can be changed. You have to cheer up and look forward... You can maintain the current state, or you can determine the probability distribution of the next state. This is the Markov chain..."
Sun David said nothing.
Lin Zhixia reached into Jiang Yubai's shirt pocket and found a pack of napkins. She left the napkins to Sun David and staggered away. Jiang Yubai then remembered that Lin Zhixia had drunk too much tonight and was still half drunk and half awake. Although she spoke clearly and looked calm, she was not actually sober.
Jiang Yubai said to Sun David, "Take care."
Sun David also said: "Miao Miao just wanted my money..."
Jiang Yubai didn't respond.
Jiang Yubai called Sun David's good friend and asked him to take Sun David home tonight. When the friend heard that Sun David was in a bad condition, he rushed over in a hurry. Sun David caught up with his friend and just said that something happened at home and he was in a bad mood. The two of them went to a nearby bar together and drank happily.
Jiang Yubai's birthday party was also over.
The guests left one after another, and Jiang Yubai received a variety of gifts - none of which were from Lin Zhixia.
Lin Zhixia pulled Jiang Yubai's sleeve and planned in detail: "I left your birthday present at home. I want to show it to you in the evening... I'll show it to you in bed."
In bed
These four words triggered many associations in Jiang Yubai's mind.
He also remembered what Lin Zhixia said to Sun David tonight.
To some extent, Lin Zhixia was quite rational. If you gave her a hypothetical condition, she could infer the corresponding result. Jiang Yubai compared himself to this - he couldn't do this, and couldn't assume that Lin Zhixia had lost interest in him. In his life, most of his deep memories were related to Lin Zhixia, and she was in his dreams.
At around ten o'clock in the evening, Jiang Yubai brought Lin Zhixia home.
There was a continuous drizzle in the sky, and the cold wind made the curtains flutter. Jiang Yubai walked back to his bedroom, took a shower, and changed into pajamas. He buttoned his pajamas tightly, with his collarbone hidden in the collar. He was more abstinent and steadfast than ever before, clinging to his innocence.
Then, he passed by the door of Lin Zhixia's room, and Lin Zhixia really called him: "Jiang Jiang Jiang Jiang Yu Bai!"
Lin Zhixia ran out barefoot: "I have a gift for you."
Jiang Yubai asked her: "What gift?"
Lin Zhixia said: "You'll know once you take a look."
She extended a hand to Jiang Yubai.
Jiang Yubai held her wrist. Her wrist bones were slender and her skin was smooth, so he didn't even dare to use force. He always felt that if he pinched her a little, it would hurt her and leave a red mark.
Lin Zhixia used a lot of strength to pull him. She dragged Jiang Yubai to the bed.
Lin Zhixia's nightgown was turned up, revealing her slender, snow-white legs, like a work of art carved from jade. Jiang Yubai covered her with a quilt, hugged her tightly, and asked her in a low voice: "Are you sober? Are you still dizzy?"
Lin Zhixia declared: "I'm not drunk at all. I'm not dizzy."
Jiang Yubai turned off the bedroom light and said, "It's eleven o'clock, go to bed early."
Lin Zhixia frowned slightly. Then, she lifted the quilt and covered Jiang Yubai. The fluffy quilt formed a dark and stuffy world. Lin Zhixia came to Jiang Yubai and asked him, "You seem to be worried?"
Jiang Yubai said, "No."
Lin Zhixia guessed, "Did the incident with Sun David, Miao Danyi, and Wen Qi cause you to have mixed feelings? Don't worry, I just sent a WeChat message to Wen Qi, and he said he's fine and can go to the lab as usual tomorrow... He's grown up, figured it out, and can face the ups and downs of life."
"Very good, they are all adults and can take care of themselves." Jiang Yubai commented briefly.
Lin Zhixia leaned on his shoulder, and he suddenly said, "It's impossible for me to change my mind."
"Hmm?" Lin Zhixia raised the last line of her voice.
Actually, Lin Zhixia was very sleepy. Alcohol had permeated her mind, and she was confused and in a fog, but she still had a birthday gift to give away. So she forced herself to sit up straight and said seriously, "Okay, I understand."
Jiang Yubai suspected that she didn't hear what he just said. So he said it again. Lin Zhixia's eyes lit up, and she hugged his neck and kissed him again and again. She opened the bedside table and took out a flashlight and a thick picture book.
She flicked on the flashlight and turned the pages of the album.
Jiang Yubai saw the legendary "hand-flip animation". There were only two characters in the animation - obviously Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia.
Lin Zhixia started painting from the year they met. The two little people were gradually growing up, and the distance between them was getting closer and closer. In the end, they successfully held hands, and the background of the picture changed from campus to bedroom.
"This is for you," Lin Zhixia solemnly handed over the album, "Happy 19th birthday."
Jiang Yubai accepted this valuable gift. He placed his finger on the cover and asked, "How long did it take you to draw this?"
Lin Zhixia said honestly, "For more than two years, I was too busy and painted very slowly." She yawned and patted the pillow with both hands: "You sleep with me tonight."
Jiang Yubai did not respond.
Lin Zhixia pestered him and said, "Sleep with me."
Jiang Yubai lay silently on her bed. He put his arms around her, and she twisted and turned in his arms, finding the most comfortable position. She pushed further and said, "From today on, you have to sleep with me every night."
Jiang Yubai knew she was talking drunkenly, but her voice sounded very sincere, so he reluctantly agreed to her request: "It's not impossible."
"Is it possible?" Lin Zhixia asked aggressively.
"Okay." Jiang Yubai said concisely.
Lin Zhixia was finally satisfied.
She turned over, her back facing him. She grabbed one of his hands and pressed it against her waist. The wind and rain outside the window were endless, and Jiang Yubai's voice floated into her ears: "Tomorrow morning, will you still remember what you said?"
"Of course," Lin Zhixia vowed, "I remember every word I said clearly."
Jiang Yubai lowered his tone: "Very good."
Lin Zhixia's back was pressed tightly against Jiang Yubai's chest. She was so sleepy that she couldn't open her eyes. Before falling asleep, she murmured, "You're so hot, like a stove..." She heard Jiang Yubai's response in a half-awake state. She thought to herself, I'm going to dream about him again tonight.
The next morning, after Lin Zhixia got up, she was confused for a moment.
Jiang Yubai lay beside her, seemingly still asleep. His face was still as handsome as ever, with some suspicious red marks on his neck, which seemed to be the marks left by Lin Zhixia's kiss.
Lin Zhixia nervously recalled her memories.
She replayed last night's experience exactly as it happened. Fortunately, nothing serious happened between her and Jiang Yubai. However, Jiang Yubai had promised her that he would sleep with her every night.
A feeling of shame surged in Lin Zhixia's heart.
She dove back into the quilt.
Jiang Yubai reached out a hand and placed it on her waist. She said, "Don't pretend. I know you woke up a long time ago."
"Did you just wake up?" Jiang Yubai responded.
Lin Zhixia avoided his question and just said, "Let's get up."
Jiang Yubai looked at her red ears and said without hesitation: "Let's sleep together tonight."
Lin Zhixia escaped from the bed and ran barefoot into the bathroom. She quickly adjusted her mindset, and that morning, she went to the laboratory with her schoolbag on her back as if nothing had happened.
Everything is normal in the laboratory.
Wen Qi arrived earlier than Lin Zhixia.
In the following days, Wen Qi showed up at eight in the morning and returned home at five in the afternoon just like before, and there seemed to be nothing wrong.
However, just one week later, Lin Zhixia discovered Wen Qi's abnormality.
Lin Zhixia and Wen Qi are working together on a paper. Wen Qi is always very fast in doing experiments, and is very professional and sophisticated in collecting and processing data. However, in the past week, Wen Qi has not produced any results, and has not sent the experimental results to Lin Zhixia on time.
At the Monday morning meeting, as usual, each student had to introduce his or her research progress of the week. When it was Wen Qi's turn, he only mentioned a few papers - these were all papers he had read before. Other students might not be aware of this, but Lin Zhixia knew the ins and outs of it very well.
Wen Qi not only temporarily put aside his studies, but also stopped participating in the construction of their "ptsic" quantum programming language.
So far, "ptsic" has only realized the simplest prototype, and there is still a lot of content to be filled in. It's like everyone is working together to sew a piece of clothing. Just as the pattern is made, Wen Qi, one of the important designers, quit the team.
Lin Zhixia wrote a long email to Wen Qi, appealing to his emotions and reasoning with him. She comforted him with patience, but he read it but did not reply. She knocked on his office door, but he sat inside and never answered.
Lin Zhixia thought that Wen Qi needed private space.
So she waited for him for another two weeks.
There was zero progress on the paper they collaborated on.
Lin Zhixia can be an independent author, but she doesn't want to delete Wen Qi's work content.
Time passed day by day, and the message Lin Zhixia sent to Wen Qi fell into the sea without any response.
She stopped contacting him electronically.
One day in September, Wen Qi opened the door of his office, and just as he stepped in, Lin Zhixia rushed in.
It was a sunny morning, Wen Qi was holding a copy of Story Club magazine in his hand, a leisure reading material he bought from a flea market. He hid Story Club behind his back, and Lin Zhixia threw a stack of papers on his desk.
"Wen Qi," Lin Zhixia addressed him very formally, "Don't be like this now."
Wen Qi asked: "What is it like?"
Lin Zhixia began to praise him: "You are very smart, have a good memory, strong comprehension, and super solid basic skills."
Wen Qi sat down on the chair: "I plan to... take a month off."
"You promised me," Lin Zhixia tried to encourage him, "this paper on quantum recursive model must be completed before October. Also, in the ptsic quantum programming language project, you have studied quantum program semantic models and used quantum Markov chains. My undergraduate classmate Feng Yuan specializes in Markov chains. I have discussed with her that we can spare some time to discuss the new graph theory problem of Hilbert space. If we succeed, it will be a meaningful thing! Cheer up, your time is precious."
Wen Qi didn't quite understand why Lin Zhixia always looked so energetic.
Wen Qi said: "I want..."
What to do
Lin Zhixia waited for a long time, but Wen Qi didn't respond.
Wen Qi sat on a swivel ergonomic chair, his toes on the floor, facing the other direction.
Lin Zhixia ran to him and asked him again: "Are you feeling uncomfortable? I'll help you contact a psychologist. We have a professional psychologist in our school."
Wen Qi said truthfully: "I have seen a doctor."
"How is it?" Lin Zhixia was very concerned about him.
Wen Qi said, "I need to rest."
Lin Zhixia sat on another bench.
She sighed and said softly, "I understand. You should have a good rest. You can ask your tutor for leave and stay at home for a few more days to adjust your mentality."
Lin Zhixia has done very little research on psychology. She cannot give any professional advice. She sincerely hopes that Wen Qi will recover soon. As for the paper they collaborated on, Wen Qi asked Lin Zhixia to delete his name. He also said that he would only be an independent author when doing research in the future.
This situation was beyond Lin Zhixia's expectations.
In the WeChat group "New System Team" created by Lin Zhixia, Feng Yuan was still urging Lin Zhixia to find help as soon as possible so that they could plan the graph theory problems of Hilbert space together.
Feng Yuan was Lin Zhixia's undergraduate roommate. Feng Yuan participated in various competitions since she was young. Her father was a mathematics professor at a 985 key university. She was very intelligent and well-read, and she had a lot in common with Lin Zhixia.
Feng Yuan originally thought that Wen Qi would be happy to join their research, but unfortunately Lin Zhixia brought her bad news.
Lin Zhixia said that Wen Qi needed a rest and they had to change a partner.
Who should we replace
Feng Yuan found two of her doctoral classmates.
Lin Zhixia opened Google Scholar, entered a few key words, and quickly browsed the authors of related papers line by line. Soon, she found a familiar name: Sergei Alexander.
Lin Zhixia participated in the 2007 Romanian Mathematics Masters Competition.
In this competition, Lin Zhixia met the Russian genius Alexander Rov. She remembered that Alexander Rov was best at solving graph theory problems, and he had published several graph theory mathematics books in Russian when he was young.
Lin Zhixia hasn't paid attention to him for a long time.
She opened the web page and searched for his resume.
His academic career went smoothly. He completed his undergraduate and doctoral studies in Germany. Several of his supervisors were experts in the field, and he himself was also a striking emerging scholar. Shortly after graduating with a doctorate, he returned to Moscow State University to teach.
After some consideration, Lin Zhixia sent him an email in Russian.
Lin Zhixia wrote in the letter: "Hello, Mr. Sergei Alexandrov, before writing to you, I guessed that you might have some impression of me. I am the individual gold medalist of the 2007 Romanian Mathematics Masters, tied with you for first place that year. I am currently a second-year doctoral student. In order to improve a quantum programming language platform, my friends and I are studying quantum program semantics models based on Markov chains and the new graph theory of Hilbert space derived from them. We were deeply impressed by your 45-minute report at the International Congress of Mathematicians. The attachment is my exploration of the extended part of your paper and our recent research results..."
After writing these things, Lin Zhixia pressed the "Send" button.
Sergei Alexander is busy at work.
Lin Zhixia guessed that the possibility of him replying was not high.
She never expected that after she sent the email in the morning, she received a reply in the afternoon.
Alexandrov's wording in the letter was also very polite and courteous.
He said that he remembered Lin Zhixia and had followed her academic progress. He thought she was now focusing on physics and computer science. Finally, he asked, did Lin Zhixia ask someone to translate her Russian or did she write it herself? She made two grammatical errors.
Lin Zhixia blushed.
She only learned Russian for seven months.
During those seven months, she was busy studying programming and learned Russian in her spare time.
It is normal that the basic skills are not solid.
It is impossible for Lin Zhixia to be perfect in everything.
Lin Zhixia humbly accepted his advice. After a while, the two of them became email pals. She extended an olive branch to him, inviting him to join the team, and he did not refuse and quickly agreed.
Alexander's arrival surprised Feng Yuan.
When Feng Yuan chatted privately with Lin Zhixia, he couldn't help but say, "A blessing in disguise. This Russian is much more capable than Wen Qi. He is less than 25 years old. In the field we want to study, he is the person standing at the top of the pyramid."
Lin Zhixia tried to smooth things over by saying, "Everyone has their own strengths."
Feng Yuan opened the webpage on his phone and searched for photos of Sergei Alexandrov. He was more and more surprised and said, "Huh? He has blond hair and blue eyes, what a handsome guy. Deng Shasha must like him."
Deng Shasha was also Lin Zhixia's undergraduate roommate. One of Deng Shasha's lifelong wishes is to pick up a handsome guy in person.
Lin Zhixia helped Deng Shasha explain: "Deng Shasha appreciates all beautiful things."
At this moment, they are having a WeChat video chat.
Feng Yuan stopped talking about Deng Shasha. She turned the topic back to academics. She and Lin Zhixia jointly set phased goals and shared their respective thinking results. Lin Zhixia sighed, "It's great to have a friend like you."
Feng Yuan felt sweet inside and immediately replied, "I think so too."