Lin Zhixia wore a moon-white long-sleeved dress today. The hem of the dress was like a lotus leaf and the collar had petal buttons. The style was fresh and elegant, which perfectly matched her temperament.
She also specially made a hairstyle. She took a strand of long hair from each side of her temples, braided it into a pigtail, gently fixed it to the back of her head, and tied a dark blue satin bow. Her hair was thick and smooth, and under the sun, it showed a black luster.
Lin Zhixia has fair skin and delicate features, and looks very beautiful and pure. She stood on the side of the road for a while. Passersby often looked back at her, but she didn't mind at all. She was thinking about the stable sub-coding and surface coding of quantum error correction.
Stabilon coding is limited by its simple structure similar to “classical linear coding” and requires high-precision quantum logic gates [1]. Surface coding has lower precision requirements than stabilon coding and is probably the best choice for the current evolution of quantum computing. Therefore, Professor Gu’s laboratory focuses on the research related to surface coding—this is a completely new field for Lin Zhixia, because her experimental experience in this area is basically zero.
There were several sturdy sycamore trees growing on the roadside, their shadows swaying in the wind. Lin Zhixia stepped on the shadows and walked back and forth a few steps. Suddenly, she heard someone say to her, "Hey? Hello, can we be friends?"
Lin Zhixia turned around and saw a dark-skinned boy. The boy was about 16 or 17 years old, wearing the uniform of an international high school. His hair was piled high on top, with styling gel applied, and he smelled of a men's perfume that smelled like gin.
He got too close and Lin Zhixia sneezed because of him.
He smiled and said, "My name is Liu Pu, the Pu in dandelion."
There were two male classmates standing behind Liu Pu. The two called out to Liu Pu, but Liu Pu waved at them and said, "Can't you see I'm chatting here?"
Lin Zhixia frowned: "I don't know you."
Many students walked out of the school gate one after another, and noisy conversations could be heard nearby, mixed with English, Korean, Thai and Chinese. Liu Pu looked around, took a step back, rubbed his palms, and asked again: "Are you waiting for someone? Are you from our school? Why haven't I seen you before?"
Liu Pu secretly guessed that Lin Zhixia was a freshman who had just enrolled. Her Mandarin was very standard, without the slightest local accent, and she was probably from another place. He put one hand into his school uniform pants and suggested in a friendly way: "You just transferred here, right? Leave me your phone number, and call me if you have anything to ask..."
Before Liu Pu finished speaking, Jiang Yubai's voice came from behind him: "Liu Pu."
Liu Pu was wearing a school uniform shirt, with his jacket on his arm. When he saw Jiang Yubai, he stepped aside and put his school uniform on his shoulders. He asked, "Do you know each other?"
Jiang Yubai walked right past him.
To be honest, Liu Pu is two years older than Jiang Yubai, but he is not as tall as Jiang Yubai. Jiang Yubai is 1.81 meters tall, while Liu Pu is about 1.68 meters tall. Liu Pu raised his chin stubbornly and looked up at Jiang Yubai silently.
Jiang Yubai told Lin Zhixia: "Liu Pu is my classmate in the class next door."
Lin Zhixia did not respond.
Liu Pu asked, "Is she your relative? She's so beautiful. Is she studying in our school?"
Jiang Yubai looked normal, but he spoke impatiently: "She is the same age as me, just turned fourteen. Please be respectful and don't make any plans."
Liu Pu showed a surprised expression: "Fourteen years old? Your cousin?" Then he chuckled and said: "Can you introduce her formally?"
Jiang Yubai suddenly approached Liu Pu, and the two were 20 centimeters apart. Jiang Yubai lowered his voice and asked him, "Wasn't what I said just now clear enough?"
Anyone with ears could tell that there was a threat hidden in every word Jiang Yubai said.
Liu Pu sighed awkwardly. He stretched out his thumbs, put the base of his palms on the edge of his trouser pockets, and took a step back. He and Jiang Yubai looked at each other for a moment, and then took another step back.
Lin Zhixia watched their stalemate with curiosity. She noticed that Liu Pu had no fighting spirit at all. He gradually blended into the surging crowd. He opened his arms and hugged the shoulders of the two boys, and the three of them left the place talking and laughing.
At this time, Jiang Yubai grabbed Lin Zhixia's schoolbag strap. After less than two seconds, he let go and whispered, "Follow me."
Lin Zhixia followed Jiang Yubai happily. She tugged at Jiang Yubai's sleeve, but he didn't turn around. She thought it was funny, so she tugged at him again, and he said, "The driver called me and said the car is parked on the other side. Let's cross the road first."
"Can you look back at me?" Lin Zhixia asked him, "Do I look good today?"
Just as she expected, Jiang Yubai remained silent.
Lin Zhixia added: "This morning, I spent half an hour braiding my hair."
Jiang Yubai had his back to Lin Zhixia, so she couldn't see his expression. She could only speculate his mental activities based on the details. For example, she found that his hands were originally in a completely relaxed state, but now, his fingers were clenched in his palms, revealing the blue veins on the back of his hands.
Lin Zhixia lowered her head and examined his left hand.
She stretched out her fingertips and pressed the raised knuckles on the top of his fist.
This time, Jiang Yubai finally stopped being silent. He stretched out his sleeves to cover the back of his hands, and then said, "Lin Zhixia..."
Lin Zhixia asked him confidently: "What's wrong with me?"
Jiang Yubai seemed to have just achieved a breakthrough. He overcame all sense of restraint and bravely declared: "You are very beautiful."
Lin Zhixia was stunned for a moment. She lowered her head and stared at the ground, her cheeks flushed, and her mind went blank. In order to calm down as quickly as possible, she began to think about quantum field theory. However, Jiang Yubai's words "You are very beautiful" kept floating in her mind, which made her unable to get rid of Jiang Yubai's voice no matter what.
Jiang Yubai also reminded her: "The light is green, let's go."
Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai walked along the zebra crossing to the other side. They got into the same car, and the driver greeted Lin Zhixia: "Hello, classmate Lin."
Lin Zhixia put her schoolbag on her lap. She hugged the bag tightly and responded, "Hello, driver uncle."
The driver held the steering wheel and worked diligently.
The car drove steadily on the wide road and arrived near the Beijing Palace Museum. It was the first time that Lin Zhixia saw the famous Forbidden City in person. She saw the towering palaces rising from the ground, with red walls and yellow tiles, magnificent and spectacular. She couldn't help but urge, "Hurry up, let's get off the car, I want to go in and play."
Jiang Yubai took out two tickets and handed one of them to Lin Zhixia.
Lin Zhixia immediately said, "I brought some change. Wait for me and I'll return the ticket money to you."
Lin Zhixia showed Jiang Yubai her pink plastic wallet. There were two strawberries printed on the side of the wallet. The strawberries were bright in color, plump in shape, and had emerald green sepals. Jiang Yubai asked her, "How much do you like strawberries?"
Lin Zhixia briefly summarized it: "I like it very much."
Jiang Yubai dug deeper into her preferences: "Why?"
Before she answered, Jiang Yubai helped her come up with an excuse: "Strawberries taste pretty good."
"Maybe it's not just this reason," Lin Zhixia thought, "When I was four or five years old, my parents worked the hardest. My supermarket sold fruit... Sometimes, my mother would buy more goods and set up a stall at the entrance of the community, so that she could sell faster. If business was good that day and my mother made more money, she would buy strawberries for me."
Jiang Yubai looked at her: "So that's how it is."
Lin Zhixia recalled the past: "My mother would wash the strawberries very clean, pluck off the sepals of each strawberry, and then bring the whole plate to me. My brother always said that he hated strawberries. I didn't understand it before, but later, I found out. From childhood to adulthood, he always gave in to me. Whatever I liked, he would pretend not to like it."
In Jiang Yubai's opinion, Lin Zeqiu's image suddenly improved a little - but only a little, and most of it was still negative. After all, Lin Zeqiu couldn't control his temper, his personality was not mature and stable enough, and he might yell at Lin Zhixia at home.
Jiang Yubai could even imagine that Lin Zhixia, who was only four years old, came to Lin Zeqiu with a plate of strawberries and asked him in a baby voice, "Brother, do you want to eat strawberries?" Lin Zeqiu yelled at her in an angry voice, "I don't want to eat them! Get out of here! I hate strawberries!"
Scenarios like these.
Jiang Yubai was touched. He said without hesitation: "From now on, I will take care of all your strawberries."
Lin Zhixia was a little surprised: "You paid for it all?"
Jiang Yubai didn't think about it and just said what came to his mind. He felt that it was a little inappropriate, abrupt and offensive, but he was even more reluctant to take it back... He simply found an excuse: "I am your best friend forever, it's normal for me to treat you to some fruit." Then, he gave a similar example: "When I visit your home, you will treat me with a bowl of fruit."
Lin Zhixia was not fooled by him. She said, "I always feel like something is wrong."
Jiang Yubai changed the subject: "Let's go, let's go to the Forbidden City first."
Lin Zhixia didn't forget to pay back the money. The ticket to the Forbidden City in her hand was marked with a "60 yuan" sign, so she gave Jiang Yubai a 60 yuan note, but Jiang Yubai refused to take the money. He said, "Friends don't need to talk about money."
Lin Zhixia said, "Even brothers have to settle accounts clearly."
Lin Zhixia thought that she seemed to have taken advantage of Jiang Yubai. She said bluntly: "When I go out with you, you always don't let me spend money. This is not good... Of course, I'm not saying that you are bad, you are really very good. You are much richer than me, and you don't think I'm poor..."
Jiang Yubai continued: "You are much smarter than me, and you don't think I'm stupid."
Lin Zhixia suddenly realized that Jiang Yubai was actually a quick-witted and eloquent person. So, under what circumstances would Jiang Yubai remain silent
—When he was shy.
Lin Zhixia laughed “Hahahaha” and said, “You are really interesting.”
At this moment, there are many tourists coming and going and the atmosphere is bustling.
White clouds in the distance dyed the blue sky, and the blue sky enveloped the magnificent palace. Lin Zhixia said happily: "I have watched many documentaries about the Forbidden City. Today, I will be your tour guide and take you to visit the Forbidden City."
Jiang Yubai cooperated and shouted, "Guide Lin."
Tour guide Lin clapped his hands and said, "I don't know how to describe it to you. My mind contains every frame of the documentary, and I am framing it with my own eyes. The two images can overlap."
Jiang Yubai was completely immersed in the role: "Guide Lin is very dedicated. He remembers the structure of the Forbidden City so clearly."
Lin Zhixia took Jiang Yubai's sleeve and said, "Yes, I have to start working. You are my only tourist."