To Lin Zeqiu, Lin Zhixia's words were like a bolt from the blue.
The five words "open relationship" were like a sharp knife, stabbing into Lin Zeqiu's eyes.
Open relationship!
How could there be such a vulgar and dissolute thing in the world!
This is unheard of! It's appalling!
Lin Zeqiu had just finished his shower. He covered his forehead with a towel, calmed down for a few seconds, and then his fingers "crackled" on the keyboard.
The buddy in the bed next to him was named Zhan Rui.
Zhan Rui is handsome and intelligent, but unfortunately he is born with a stutter. He stared at the computer screen and said stutteringly: "You, you, your sister..."
Lin Zeqiu didn't look back. He warned in a serious voice: "This is my family's business, don't tell anyone."
Zhan Rui quickly agreed: "I, I, I don't..."
Another roommate shouted at the top of his lungs: "What happened to Qiu's sister?"
Water drops flowed down her hair and landed on her distinct collarbone. Lin Zeqiu wiped her neck and sighed, "It's okay, you guys go to sleep, I have some housework to take care of here."
The three roommates have all met Lin Zhixia. They all know that Lin Zeqiu has a beautiful and smart sister. They can make fun of Lin Zeqiu, but not his sister. Anyone who dares to make fun of her will be killed.
This matter involved Lin Zhixia, and the roommates all pretended to be deaf and dumb.
A quiet environment is conducive to thinking. Lin Zeqiu wrote 800 words, mercilessly criticizing "open relationships" and sternly warning Lin Zhixia to stay away from her rubbish senior. If the senior dared to speak rudely to her or make a move, Lin Zeqiu would make him pay the price.
After Lin Zeqiu typed the last word, his mind gradually cleared up. He reread the message his sister sent him. He noticed that his sister said, "We discussed love before..."
Has he discussed love with Lin Zhixia
He recalled carefully that there was a time when Lin Zhixia asked him if he believed in love. To be honest, he didn't believe in the illusory "love" at all. He only believed in his own hands and feet. He wanted to earn money through labor, stay single for the rest of his life, and let his family live a good life.
Lin Zeqiu thought about it for a long time, but Lin Zhixia still didn't reply to him. He called her, but her phone was turned off.
This is not a problem for Lin Zeqiu.
When Lin Zeqiu went to visit Lin Zhixia, he happened to meet Lin Zhixia's roommate Deng Shasha. Lin Zeqiu asked for Deng Shasha's cell phone number in case Lin Zhixia encountered any accidents at school and could not answer his call.
Now, the opportunity came, and Lin Zeqiu politely sent a text message to Deng Shasha: "Deng Shasha, hello, I am Lin Zhixia's brother Lin Zeqiu. May I ask if Lin Zhixia is in the dormitory? I will wait for her at the school gate at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning."
Deng Shasha was lying on the bed eating potato chips.
The phone vibrated twice, and Deng Shasha shouted twice: "Xia Shen! Xia Shen! Your brother is looking for you!"
Lin Zhixia crawled out from under the quilt: "My brother is looking for me?"
Deng Shasha held a potato chip in her mouth and said incoherently: "Your brother asked me if you are in the dormitory. He will wait for you at the school gate at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning."
Lin Zhixia panicked: "It's over."
"Are you afraid of your brother?" Deng Shasha asked curiously, "Your brother is quite handsome, doesn't talk much, and isn't annoying."
Lin Zhixia lay flat on the bed, covering herself tightly with the quilt. Her bedsheets and quilt cover were all made of pure cotton, with a light white base and a few pink strawberries printed on them. She lay in a world woven with strawberries, holding the little penguin in her arms, and said seriously, "You have never seen my brother talk a lot. Tomorrow morning, you can go to the school gate with me."
Deng Shasha imagined Lin Zeqiu's chattering in her mind. She pinched the bag of potato chips and said with longing: "God Xia, I make a wish to you, bless me to meet a handsome guy of the same level as your brother."
Lin Zhixia said modestly: "No, my brother is not the most handsome."
"Your brother is just the right level of handsome," Deng Shasha sighed. "I can't control a more handsome man. When I'm with him, I tend to become a bootlicker and lose myself. That's not good."
It was almost eleven o'clock, and the lights in the dormitory were turned off. The dim night invaded the narrow space, and the room was pitch black. Lin Zhixia lay on her side on the bed, thinking secretly whether she had lost herself when she was with Jiang Yubai. Her consciousness became chaotic in the darkness. She gradually fell asleep.
The next morning, Deng Shasha woke Lin Zhixia up.
Lin Zhixia rubbed her eyes and got up in a daze to wash. She put on her sweater and coat and suddenly found Deng Shasha putting on her makeup in front of the mirror and Feng Yuan was braiding her hair.
Deng Shasha instructed: "Comb your hair higher. Comb it higher to look energetic."
Feng Yuan grabbed her hair with one hand, and asked impatiently with a hint of irritability: "Do you want to make a sky rocket?"
Deng Shasha asked loudly: "Xia Shen, what type of girls does brother like?"
How could Lin Zhixia know what her brother likes about the opposite sex? In her opinion, her brother should keep at least three meters away from girls. Beyond three meters, there is no distinction between men and women. She could only say, "No need to prepare specially, just be yourself."
"I understand!" Deng Shasha snapped her fingers. "Brother likes pure and natural looks. I'll put on nude makeup."
It was a cold spring in March, with chilly winds blowing in the early morning.
Deng Shasha and Lin Zhixia arrived at the school gate at nearly seven o'clock. Lin Zeqiu was already there. He also brought Lin Zhixia a breakfast. The breakfast included a cup of warm soy milk and an egg roll with grilled sausage.
Lin Zeqiu took the burrito out of the paper bag, and Lin Zhixia supported him and took a bite of the burrito. He almost fed her and asked her, "Is it delicious?"
"It's delicious, thank you brother." Lin Zhixia answered vaguely.
Deng Shasha was moved by the scene of brother and sister being so friendly and respectful, and whispered: "Brother is so good, it's hard to find him even with a lantern. I can imagine how he will take care of the children at home in the future."
"My brother is a very virtuous man." Lin Zhixia answered quietly.
After they murmured a few words, Lin Zeqiu stuffed the burrito and soy milk into Lin Zhixia's hands, and said solemnly with a serious face: "Have you read the QQ message I sent you last night? I have told you many times that you are not yet an adult, and there are adults around you. You must beware of men with bad intentions. Where did your senior come from? Did he bully you? Why haven't I heard you talk about it before? I have lunch with you every Sunday because I am afraid that you will meet that kind of guy in school. You are timid, young, easy to bully, and dare not fight back... I can't fall in love, I don't talk to girls... You can only fall in love after you are 18 years old..."
Lin Zeqiu talked nonstop for more than ten minutes.
He is old-fashioned, conservative, feudal and verbose.
His image in Deng Shasha's mind gradually became disillusioned.
Twenty minutes later, Lin Zeqiu finally finished his speech. He breathed a sigh of relief and said hello to Deng Shasha. Deng Shasha smiled and nodded at him, and the three of them parted ways outside the school gate.
The wind was strong, the weather was cold, the temperature was low, and the clouds were white.
Deng Shasha walked against the wind, her carefully made hairstyle a mess. She held the collar of her coat tightly and walked slowly forward. Lin Zhixia asked her: "Do you want to be my sister-in-law?"
“No, no,” Deng Shasha declined, “Your brother…”
"Isn't it good?" Lin Zhixia asked again.
"No, no, no," Deng Shasha said humbly, "It's not that I'm bad, it's that I don't deserve it."
Lin Zhixia hesitated to speak.
Deng Shasha changed direction: "How is Senior Tan Qianche doing recently?"
"Absolutely not," Lin Zhixia said firmly, "He absolutely can't do it."
"Why?" Deng Shasha asked in confusion, "Could it be that Tan Qianche is like you, skipping grades too quickly and not yet an adult?"
Lin Zhixia's originally clear eyes became somewhat dark: "No. Tan Qianche is very fickle, far beyond your imagination. Stay away from him."
Deng Shasha was frightened by the advice given by Lin Zhixia.
Deng Shasha is not a person who gets stronger with each setback. Since she entered college, she has become an honest person who will lie down when encountering difficulties. She was not lucky enough to enjoy the two handsome guys she liked, so she simply gave up the simple wish of "I want to have a relationship in college" and went to the library to study honestly with her schoolbag. Looking at the bright side, although she couldn't get a handsome guy, she spent her time on studying, and studying would not let her down. Studying is the best life partner.
Deng Shasha sat in the library, tears of emotion welling up in her eyes.
After Lin Zhixia finished the loving breakfast sent by her brother, she went straight to the venue of the "North American Academic Exchange Conference".
Several professors and students from North America were all present, and Senior Sister Wei Ruoxing's seat was in the fourth row. She was wearing a light-colored suit and skirt, with a slender neck and graceful figure, as noble and moving as a swan.
When Lin Zhixia passed by her, she called out, "Lin Zhixia?"
Lin Zhixia turned her head: "Senior sister?"
The auditorium was spacious and dimly lit. Lin Zhixia stood on the steps covered with red carpet and took a chair. Wei Ruoxing said softly, "Sit next to me, and let's talk about the quantum programming language you mentioned last night."
Lin Zhixia took a quick look and found that the students in their quantum computing group were relatively scattered, and only the seniors who needed to speak on stage would sit in the second and third rows.
"Okay, I'm here." Lin Zhixia happily approached Senior Wei Ruoxing.
The senior student praised her: "You used a perfume with strawberry as the top note? It smells better than the tuberose and jasmine that I used."
Lin Zhixia explained: "I don't have perfume. I use strawberry-scented shampoo, shower gel, facial cleanser... and I eat strawberries a lot."
The senior student laughed and said, "What's the little genius's hobby?"
“Not too young, not too young,” Lin Zhixia said, “I’ll be an adult soon.”
The senior student folded her hands and placed them on her legs: "Yes, you are growing up. I am ten years older than you, but I always feel that you are still very young."
Lin Zhixia praised her generously: "Senior sister is always eighteen years old, always young and beautiful." After a pause, she continued: "In fact, I think that humans share a... one-dimensional time reference system, and age is the time scalar of a person's arrival in this world..."
Wei Ruoxing was listening to Lin Zhixia's speech, but she was a little distracted. She looked sideways to the front, but didn't see Tan Qianche. She bit her lip, and the teeth marks turned slightly white. She only heard Lin Zhixia say: "So, people are equal. If I have children in the future, I will communicate with them in an equal manner. When my parents get old, I must respect them and not be impatient because of their old age and slowness. Our souls are in the same dimension..."
"Good girl, smart and kind-hearted." Wei Ruoxing commented.
Wei Ruoxing no longer looked for Tan Qianche.
She raised her chin and focused on the content of the exchange meeting.
After about an hour, the professors gave their speeches and the exchange meeting became the students' home ground.
The host announced in fluent English, loudly inviting Tan Qianche to come on stage to talk about his latest research results in quantum bit circuits. The background PPT was ready, the reporters set up the camera, and Teacher Gu Likai hurriedly appeared in the first row. He held a mobile phone, his face was not good, and he leaned over to say something to another student, but the student shook his head repeatedly.
Several Chinese students in the front row began to whisper.
Yang Shuwen walked over from the first row and stood in the third row with heavy steps, just diagonally in front of Lin Zhixia. Lin Zhixia patted Yang Shuwen on the shoulder and asked, "Senior, is Tan Qianche in trouble?"
Yang Shuwen sighed, "Tan Qianche was out in the wind for most of the night last night, and when he got back to the dormitory, he started coughing. The sound was so loud that it seemed like his lungs were pierced. The whole corridor of our male dormitory could hear it. This morning, Tan Qianche took antipyretics and cough suppressants, and told Teacher Gu that he could attend the exchange meeting... Alas, he can't come. His fever soared to 39 degrees, and he was taken to the hospital. Isn't this troublesome, don't you think? He patted his chest and promised an hour ago that he would be there on time, and begged Teacher Gu to give him a chance to perform. Teacher Gu didn't remove his PPT. He is the independent author of this paper, and no one else knows what he is doing. In the doctoral field, everyone is busy working on their own direction, so where is the time to sort out other people's work?"
Lin Zhixia said something surprising: "I have time."
Yang Shuwen suspected that he had heard it wrongly: "You?"
Lin Zhixia admitted frankly: "I have read all of Tan Qianche's papers. I spent a month studying him. I am familiar with all his experimental methods and ideas."
Yang Shuwen was extremely surprised and urged repeatedly: "Hurry up and get on stage, help our group."
Lin Zhixia stood up from her seat, and Wei Ruoxing hastily reminded her: "This is an English lecture, with a full presentation and Q&A session in English. Professors from your college and our school are here. You haven't prepared a manuscript, so don't force yourself, Lin Zhixia."
"Don't worry, senior," Lin Zhixia said confidently, "I started learning English when I was three years old."