Jiang Yubai missed Lin Zhixia's voice, breath, temperature, the way she looked at him, the soft laugh in his ear, the fingers that stroked his neck and shoulders... He could not clearly reproduce the past scenes in his mind. The fragmented fragments were enough to bind him with longing.
At six o'clock in the evening, the plane landed at Boston Airport.
Jiang Yubai took a car from Boston, passed the Longfellow Bridge, and soon arrived in Cambridge. The driver stopped the car on the side of the road, and Jiang Yubai called Lin Zhixia again. She hurried down from upstairs and ran to Jiang Yubai with joy: "I miss you so much!"
In the biting cold wind, Lin Zhixia's face was slightly red from the cold. Her eyes were surprisingly bright, as if there were stars twinkling in the sky. The white light of the street lamps lengthened her reflection. She said again: "I miss you so much."
Lin Zhixia only used four words to break through Jiang Yubai's defense. He stretched out his hand to her, and she grabbed it. She asked softly, "Did you miss me?"
Jiang Yubai sighed: "How could I not want to?"
He took Lin Zhixia into the car.
The headlights broke through the night, and the car was still moving forward.
During the trip, Lin Zhixia was discussing her recent research progress with Jiang Yubai. She worked fourteen hours a day, getting up at six in the morning and going to bed at eleven at night. During lunch time, she would catch up with her colleagues to talk about the research project. Jiang Yubai asked her, "Are your colleagues working hard?"
Lin Zhixia summarized: "Most of my colleagues in the group have a hard time, because the boss has a very high admission threshold and high job requirements... I came to this group just to enter their laboratory, and now I have basically used all their equipment."
Speaking of experimental equipment, Jiang Yubai turned the topic to the "ptsic" quantum programming language platform founded by Lin Zhixia.
At present, the entire platform is affiliated with senior Wei Ruoxing's laboratory. However, Wei Ruoxing has her own research projects, and her laboratory cannot fully meet Lin Zhixia's development needs.
Jiang Yubai plans to establish a quantum technology company for Lin Zhixia in the name of an Internet company to fully support the future development of "ptsic" and no longer have to trouble Wei Ruoxing to use her laboratory resources.
Jiang Yubai took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Lin Zhixia: "This is the first version of the business plan for the 'Quantum Technology Laboratory'. Take some time to flip through it. We will discuss the specific content of the cooperation in detail when you return to China."
Lin Zhixia stared at Jiang Yubai closely: "You..."
Jiang Yubai looked at her: "Me?"
Lin Zhixia said solemnly: "Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Yubai leaned close to her ear and said, "I'm not a kid anymore."
Lin Zhixia's breathing stagnated.
Yes.
Jiang Yubai is not young anymore.
Many years ago, whenever Lin Zhixia called him "Little Jiang Zong", he would be extremely ashamed and embarrassed, avoiding her and not daring to look her in the eye. But now, his reaction was beyond Lin Zhixia's expectations.
Jiang Yubai booked a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, which cost more than 4,000 US dollars a night, which was more than Lin Zhixia's monthly rent. Lin Zhixia had long been accustomed to this economic gap. She carried her schoolbag and walked into the room openly, walked to the master bedroom, and pressed the mattress with both hands.
Jiang Yubai took off his coat and said casually, "I'm going to take a shower."
Lin Zhixia turned around and looked at him: "I'm going too."
Lin Zhixia meant that she was going to take a shower in another bathroom. Jiang Yubai, however, unbuttoned a button of his shirt, deliberately exposing his collarbone, and left the bathroom door wide open, welcoming Lin Zhixia to come in and visit at any time.
Why is this happening
After just a few months of not seeing each other, Lin Zhixia felt that Jiang Yubai was using more and more tricks to hook her.
Jiang Yubai does have his own considerations.
Jiang Yubai guessed that the reason why Lin Zhixia was willing to meet him on Christmas was because most of the research group's projects were suspended during Christmas and the researchers went home to celebrate the holiday. It was a rare opportunity for Jiang Yubai to be alone with Lin Zhixia, so he decided to relax his self-restraint appropriately.
Jiang Yubai prepared himself mentally and turned on the faucet of the bathtub. The sound of water was roaring and warm mist filled the air. He sat in the rippling pool and heard Lin Zhixia ask him, "Are you taking a bath?"
He said nothing.
Lin Zhixia sneaked in.
Jiang Yubai leaned back.
Lin Zhixia was wearing a nightgown, kneeling on the edge of the bathtub. She looked at him from head to toe through the clear mirror-like water. She was stunned for a moment, then cautiously reached out to touch him: "I... This is the first time I saw you..."
Jiang Yubai grabbed her wrist and kissed the back of her hand. Then he let her go and moved to another place to sit quietly. Lin Zhixia looked at his profile and was deeply bewitched by him. She followed him into the water. When the water level reached Lin Zhixia's thighs, she retreated to the shore as if she had just woken up from a dream.
Jiang Yubai was Lin Zhixia's swimming coach. She clearly remembered how he looked in swimming trunks, but she had not yet reached the final step in her exploration of him. Even though they had lived together for a year, Lin Zhixia had not crossed the most dangerous line.
Those short dozen seconds just now left a deep impression on Lin Zhixia.
A strong curiosity drove her to follow Jiang Yubai, but reason told her to stay where she was. She was in a state of confusion, and finally, she fled the scene at a high speed.
Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai stayed in the hotel during the Christmas period. They went out for a walk during the day, and played some games that only the two of them understood at night. At night, they slept in the same bed as usual, but Lin Zhixia became particularly honest, and she never asked Jiang Yubai to unbutton her clothes for her to study.
Boston's winter was cold and damp, but the room was bright and warm. On the last day of the Christmas holiday, Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia kissed goodbye at the bedroom door, and Lin Zhixia gave Jiang Yubai a bag of golden camellia seeds. She said that when Jiang Yubai returned home, he would plant the golden camellia in a flowerpot, and next autumn, when the golden camellia bloomed, Lin Zhixia would return home.
The flower language of Camellia chrysantha is "ideal love".
That pot of Camellia chrysantha became the first plant that Jiang Yubai planted with his own hands.
Jiang Yubai placed the flower pot on the windowsill of his office, took good care of it every day, and also took time to read two books on "flower gardening".
He and Lin Zhixia were very busy with their daily work, and they maintained a weekly call record. Lin Zhixia published papers faster than when she was a doctoral student. Jiang Yubai watched her growth, just like waiting for a golden camellia to bloom.
Senior Wei Ruoxing taught Lin Zhixia how to apply for the Young Thousand Talents Program. With Lin Zhixia's academic record to date, she quickly passed the university's resume screening and submitted her application materials in June 2015.
Lin Zhixia didn't know how fierce the competition was for this year's "Young Thousand Talents" program. She didn't ask anyone about it, and simply told Professor Shen Zhaohua about her plan - if she was lucky enough, she would become Professor Shen Zhaohua's colleague.
Professor Shen Zhaohua responded to her quickly and asked her whether her scientific research in the United States was going well.
Lin Zhixia said truthfully that during her year in the United States, she got up early and went to bed late every day, closed off from social circles, focused on scientific research, and lived an extremely peaceful life. But she learned a lot of new concepts and knowledge, and she couldn't wait to return to China.
The next second, the mailbox notification sounded "ding".
Lin Zhixia opened an email from Jiang Yubai. She saw a golden camellia in full bloom in a flowerpot, and saw Jiang Yubai wrote in the letter: "The flowers are blooming, it's time to go home."