When Qi Yan woke up, he closed his eyes and asked in a hoarse voice: "What time is it now?"
The electronic voice of the personal terminal announced: "It is now 10:41 am."
After a while, Qi Yan buried half of his face in the pillow and slowly opened his eyes.
Focusing his eyes, he saw a neatly tied bow on his right arm near his wrist. For a moment, Qi Yan suspected that his memory was confused again, but when he looked at his left hand again—
Yes, there are.
In both hands
Qi Yan sat up, the collar of his robe opened, revealing most of his shoulders. His skin looked even more frosty against the black fabric. He raised his arm, looked left and right, and a smile gradually appeared in his eyes.
It was raining outside, with the sound of raindrops never stopping. Qi Yan was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with the cuffs covering his wrists, leaving only the corners of his bandages exposed.
Putting set A on the table, Lu Fenghan glanced at Qi Yan and pretended nothing had happened.
He was not in a very peaceful mood the whole morning, and he wondered if he was too free in Leto and was paying too much attention to Qi Yan, so he simply extended his morning exercise time, cleared his mind, and did a few more sets of strength training.
Lu Fenghan must have just taken a shower, his hair was slightly damp, and his breath was filled with the lingering smell of hormones, which was extremely strong.
Qi Yan felt very comfortable subconsciously under the influence of this breath, and his tone became relaxed: "Is set A almost gone?" He held the spoon and thought for a while, "I remember there were still a lot when I went to check yesterday, but judging by the time, there shouldn't be much left."
Lu Fenghan corrected him: "You didn't go into the kitchen yesterday. When I took it just now, I saw that there were still two servings left."
"Yeah, I think I remembered it wrong."
This is one of the ways Qi Yan determines whether a certain memory of his is true—using logical inferences to compare with the content of memory to see if they match.
But this method may not be useful. For example, this time, he was not sure whether he had been to the kitchen yesterday, nor was he sure whether his memory of the "purchase time" was true.
However, Qi Yan tried to avoid delving too deeply into this issue, as it would serve no purpose other than bringing himself further confusion.
Lu Fenghan's eating speed has never slowed down since he entered the First Military Academy. Even now that he is not on the front line, he has not slowed down. The biggest contrast is that he has put down his chopsticks, while Qi Yan has only eaten less than ten spoonfuls.
When Qi Yan's fingertips holding the spoon swept over him, Lu Fenghan asked directly: "Not angry anymore?"
Qi Yan shook his head: "I'm not angry anymore."
With the same rigor as when holding a strategic meeting on the expeditionary command ship, Lu Fenghan asked Qi Yan, "Why were you angry yesterday?"
He reviewed the conversation between him and Qi Yan yesterday. Qi Yan only said, "That's my bandage." Is the focus of this sentence on "mine" or on "bandage"
Lu Fenghan felt it necessary to identify the specific factors to avoid the same problem from happening again next time.
Qi Yan was very cooperative.
"My bandages are not allowed to be tied with bows for others."
This time Lu Fenghan grasped the key point. He leaned back, relaxed, and smiled: "I understand. I can only tie the bow for Xiao Mihu."
Qi Yan did not deny it.
The smile on Lu Fenghan's lips deepened, thinking, with this little temper that can be easily calmed down by coaxing, looking into those clear and bright eyes, it is really hard to say "no".
So, it’s no wonder that he always indulges in prayers.
Ye Pei and Mondrian were still in the equipment room of ISCO, so Qi Yan did not go to Turan for classes and continued to study the infrastructure of "Po Jun" at home.
When they met in the public class classroom the next day, Ye Pei and Mondrian had dark shadows under their eyes and spoke weakly.
Seeing this, Xia Zhiyang sighed and said, "This is probably why I like being a bad student. I can get by every semester without being noticed by professors or staying up late to work on projects!"
Ye Pei gestured: "Yes, every time I feel so sleepy that I want to vomit, I just want to give up and not care about anything else."
Seeing that Ye Pei was about to fall down, Xia Zhiyang quickly offered his snacks: "Take care!"
Ye Pei didn't expect there would be such a benefit. He thanked her twice, opened the package and just smelled the scent, he felt like he was alive again.
The holographic projection was off, and the teacher had not yet arrived. Mondrian and Ye Pei stood beside the prayer table. Ye Pei laid the groundwork first: "Our progress this time is faster than other groups. Professor Fu gave us a week, and we have completed it all in two days. The research group's tasks have not yet been assigned, which means that we have five days free!"
Xia Zhiyang, who was listening in, was shocked again: the daily workload was so heavy, and if he didn't understand the content of the previous class in his spare time, he would be confused when listening to the next class. Such a tight rhythm, in Ye Pei's mouth, became - free time
Maybe this is the difference between people.
The design ideas for the basic architecture of "Po Jun" had been perfected yesterday, and the rest of the things could be handled with one mind and two minds, without having to set aside time for them, so Qi Yan nodded: "Yes."
Mondrian replied: "Do you know the 'Roentgen Prize'?"
Seeing Qi Yan shaking his head, he explained, "The 'Roentgen Award' is an award established by the Roentgen Foundation for all first to fourth grade students in Leto. It starts in mid-to-late September every year and ends on October 10th. The jury will select one first prize, two second prizes, and two third prizes from the works received during this period. The prizes are 500,000 star coins, 400,000 star coins, and 300,000 star coins respectively."
Xia Zhiyang looked at Mondrian, then at Ye Pei: "Are you planning to participate in the Roentgen Prize?"
Ye Pei held the snacks in his arms and spoke with a little more energy: "I didn't think about it before. There were too many things to do in the research group and I couldn't spare the time, so Mondrian and I gave up directly. But now it's different. We have five days free, and the deadline for the Roentgen Award is also on the 10th, which is just right!"
"You mean you didn't prepare at all before, and now you want to finish the work in five days?" Xia Zhiyang turned to Qi Yan, "Qi Yan, they are too unreliable! Who doesn't start preparing for the Roentgen Prize one or two months in advance? Five days? How can you possibly win?"
Ye Pei said seriously: "We are going to win the first prize."
Xia Zhiyang: "Dream faster!"
Mondrian continued to persuade Qi Yan: "While we were waiting for the data sequence to be imported into the artificial chip last night, we had already decided on the topic. But the Roentgen Prize requires a team of at least three and at most five people. Those who are interested in participating have already formed a team, and we don't have enough people."
Ye Pei's eyes were burning: "So we thought of you."
Mondrian was afraid that Qi Yan would disagree: "Not only the topic selection, we have also thought of the structure. If you are sure to join, you will only be responsible for basic data. When the time comes, we will split the 500,000 star coins prize money equally."
Qi Yan's focus was not on the content and bonus that he needed to be responsible for: "Is this award important to you?"
Ye Pei swallowed the snack in his mouth and answered, "It's about the same, slightly above average. Mondrian and I both plan to go into scientific research after graduation. If I want to join the space research station in the future, the more awards like this, the better. It can make my resume more impressive and competitive."
After understanding the significance of this award, Qi Yan did not hesitate: "I will join."
At this time, Xia Zhiyang winked at Qi Yan and asked him to look to the side.
Qi Yan turned his head and saw Jiang Qi walking towards him.
"Brother - No, Qi Yan, are you guys going to participate in the Roentgen Prize as well?" Jiang Qi looked at Ye Pei and Mondrian next to him, "Although the deadline is approaching, you will definitely be fine."
He mentioned it a little shyly, "Speaking of which, I and a few classmates also signed up, but I'm a freshman and didn't know about this award until I entered the school, so I only prepared for half a month, which was a bit hasty. I might be rejected soon."
Ye Peicai overused his brain and had a straightforward mind. He originally wanted to say a few words of encouragement, "The important thing is to participate and accumulate experience." But he always felt that there was something strange about Jiang Qi's expression or tone, so he simply kept his mouth shut.
After all these words, no one paid attention to them, but Jiang Qi seemed unaffected, and smiled and said to Qi Yan: "I believe you can definitely win the award, I'm waiting for your good news!"
After Jiang Qi left, Xia Zhiyang couldn't help but say, "Why do I always feel that what Jiang Qi wanted to say was not 'You can definitely win the award', but 'I hope you can never even touch the edge of the Roentgen Prize'?"
Ye Pei thought about it for a moment and agreed with Xia Zhiyang's statement: "To be honest, I feel the same way."
At this time, the teacher's holographic projection appeared on the podium, and everyone sat in their respective seats.
Xia Zhiyang took out a clipboard and prepared to take notes. While listening to the lecture, he thought, why do I always feel like I have missed something
After the afternoon class, Jiang Qi was sent home by the driver. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Jiang Yunyue in a light blue dress, learning flower arrangement with the flower art teacher.
Seeing that Jiang Qi obviously had something to say to her, Jiang Yunyue said gently to the flower arrangement teacher: "Let's stop here for today's class. I'll ask the driver to take you back."
The flower arrangement teacher was very tactful. She exchanged a few brief words with Jiang Yunyue and then left.
Jiang Yunyue poured a cup of scented tea for Jiang Qi and waved at him: "What's going on?"
Jiang Qi sat down on the sofa and took a sip of tea. He put it down without tasting anything and told Jiang Yunyue nervously, "Mom, I heard Qi Yan say today that he is going to participate in the Roentgen Award."
Jiang Yunyue's fingers were delicately maintained. She slowly poured herself half a cup of tea and said leisurely, "Didn't you say he wouldn't participate?"
"Qi Yan came from a remote place and didn't know about the Roentgen Prize at all. There were two sophomores who didn't want to participate before, but now changed their minds. However, the temporary group didn't have enough people, so they asked Qi Yan to join." Jiang Qi's words were a little disdainful, and he asked, "But since the start of the school, Qi Yan seems to be quite good. Mom, will he get the first prize this time?"
"So, that's what you're worried about?" Jiang Yunyue smiled, "Jiang Qi, this is just a small matter."
"Mom, I know, but I can't help but think about it." Jiang Qi said seriously, "No matter what, Qi Yan must not get the first prize. The accelerator he made only attracted attention in school, and Dad didn't know about it. But if he won the first prize, Dad would definitely notice it!"
Qi Yan's existence has always made Jiang Qi feel wary and terrified.
On the one hand, he was worried that Qi Yan would tell his secret to others, and on the other hand, he was worried that Qi Yan would do something amazing and show his face in front of Qi Wenshao.
Jiang Yunyue drank a sip of flower tea, picked up the flower scissors, and trimmed the thorns on the branches. She said in a gentle voice, "Don't worry. Have you forgotten that mom injects a large amount of star coins into the Roentgen Foundation every year?"
In addition to being keen on charity, people from Leto's upper class also often donate to various foundations, and the Qi family is no exception.
All projects related to the Qi family, charity and foundation have always been managed by Jiang Yunyue.
"You, just prepare your acceptance speech for the award ceremony and choose the dress you want to wear that day. Mom will do the rest."
Jiang Yunyue removed all the thorns from the flower branches and put them into the vase. "As an elder, mom has this opportunity to give him a lesson and teach him that in Leto, real talent and knowledge are not that important sometimes.
If he doesn't have someone to rely on, anyone can trip him up, and the road will be very difficult to walk. In the end, the only one he can rely on is the Qi family."
Ye Pei and Mondrian were both very efficient. When they gathered in the laboratory after class that day, Ye Pei had already written out a detailed task schedule.
Qi Yan took a quick look and realized that it could indeed be completed in five days, but the price was that Ye Pei and Mondrian's sleep time would be compressed to three to four hours a day. As for Qi Yan, he had already started thinking about how to upgrade the processing model so that he could sleep earlier.
When Ye Pei talked about his idea, his eyes lit up: "Mondrian and I got the inspiration from the task we did two days ago! In order to form the correct data sequence so that artificial intelligence can interpret it, we need to embed a logical chain. The conventional practice now is that we preset different logical chains in advance and use whichever one is needed. But Mondrian and I found that this approach is very cumbersome."
She gave an analogy: "Data is like metal balls placed in a box, and different logical chains are like different magnetic bars. I use magnetic bar A to probe into the box, which will attract metal balls that meet the requirements of type A. I then use magnetic bar B to probe into the box, which will attract metal balls that meet the requirements of type B. Once all the metal balls that meet the requirements are attracted, I will integrate them and make them form the correct sequence."
Qi Yan understood what she meant: "You and Mondrian want to simplify the process. You can use only a magnetic bar to make all the metal balls form the correct sequence."
This is why Mondrian likes to discuss ideas with Qi Yan. In Qi Yan's eyes, nothing seems impossible: "Yes, this can shorten the time required for the whole process, but Ye Pei and I only have preliminary ideas."
"It can reduce the number of magnetic bars needed from ten to seven." Ye Pei made a number seven and said with a smile, "I think this is the joy of doing scientific research. Every time I make a little progress, I can be happy for a long time!"
Qi Yan was looking at the schedule made by Ye Pei and asked, "What did you use for the third embedding?"
Ye Pei quickly replied: "GPD connection!"
Prayer: "You can use Haidup Link instead."
"I thought about it, but I couldn't reconcile it in the first stage, so I gave up decisively." Ye Pei wrote it down, "Then I'll try again later!"
As there were only five days left, Qi Yan, Ye Pei and the other two did not go to class. Professor Fu knew that the courses at this stage were of limited significance to them, so he left it to them to arrange their own arrangements.
Most of the people in the research group were still stuck in the tasks assigned by Professor Fu. The entire laboratory almost became the territory of Qi Yan and the other two. Ye Pei and Mondrian thought going home was a waste of time, so they slept in the laboratory directly, relying on nutritional supplements to fill their stomachs. Only Qi Yan went home as usual.
Half an hour before the deadline for the Röntgen Prize, Ye Pei finally uploaded the entire work successfully, and Mondrian wrote the architectural ideas and submitted them successfully as well.
Ye Pei slumped down on the table: "No, I'm going to die. How many hours have I slept in the past few days? Twenty hours? Mondrian, can you calculate? Mondrian?"
Qi Yan lowered his voice: "He fell asleep."
Ye Pei stood up and turned his head to see that Mondrian was lying on the table and was actually asleep.
"What kind of superluminal sleeping speed is this?" Ye Pei couldn't bear it anymore, and asked Qi Yan with the last bit of energy he had, "Are you going home soon?"
Qi Yan nodded: "Yes."
Ye Pei closed his eyes, waved his hands casually, and moved his lips, but no sound came out. When he looked again, he had fallen asleep.
It was early in the morning, and no one was seen in the school. Lu Fenghan was half a step away from Qi Yan, thinking of Ye Pei and Mondrian who fell asleep in seconds: "Are you guys who do scientific research masters of staying up late?"
Qi Yan recalled the people he knew and concluded, "Most of them are."
Lu Fenghan was curious: "What about you? How long did you endure the most?"
Qi Yan: "Three years ago, something I was working on reached its final stage, so I started sleeping in different time periods."
"By time periods?"
"Well, I worked twelve hours straight and slept three hours for 27 days. But after it was over, I got sick and stayed in the treatment cabin for most of a week."
Lu Fenghan couldn't explain what he felt in his heart: "Why are you so anxious?"
"Because if the product is completed and put into use earlier, it can prevent many people from dying." Qi Yan thought it was a good deal. "I just sleep less."
"Are you not afraid of sudden death?"
Qi Yan reminded him: "There is a treatment cabin."
Thinking of the Type VI treatment cabin that Qi Yan placed in the bedroom, Lu Fenghan was silent - so, this was one of its uses
The next day, after Professor Fu reviewed the results of the tasks submitted by each group, he asked a few more questions about Ye Pei and his team's participation in the Roentgen Prize.
Ye Pei had recovered successfully after a good sleep, and he explained the specific idea to Professor Fu with gestures.
Professor Fu nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, both the idea and the approach are worthy of praise."
Ye Pei lowered his voice and blinked: "Then Professor, do you think we can win the award?"
Professor Fu did not answer directly, but kept the question in suspense: "It depends on what level of award you want."
Hearing the implication, Ye Pei smiled a little deeper, and said without any modesty: "Of course we want the Roentgen First Prize!" He was a little nervous, "Professor, do you think... is it likely?"
This time, Professor Fu did not keep the secret: "Based on the performance of previous years, if there is no dark horse this time, the first prize should be yours." Looking at the shadow under Ye Pei's eyes, "Okay, okay, calm down and have a good sleep. Your eyes are so dark that you can't even look at them."
After Professor Fu left, Ye Pei poked the table with a metal pen and said, "I didn't want to participate in the competition before, but now, my desire to win has risen."
Mondrian: "After trying your best, everyone wants to get a good result."
Ye Pei laughed out loud: "Yes, you gave a perfect explanation for my desire to win!"
She casually flipped through Turan's communication area. "Many people from our school participated in this Roentgen Award. Hey, there are two freshmen in the school? When I was in the first grade, the seniors thought I was useless and took up a spot, so they didn't want to take me out to play."
Lu Fenghan heard this and asked: "Are all the first-year students led by seniors?"
"That's right. How long has it been since the first grade was enrolled? One or two months? Except for those who are self-taught, the others have only scratched the surface of the basics and can't produce anything, let alone participate in the Roentgen Prize. So most of those who participate join the teams of higher grades."
Ye Pei thought, "Jiang Qi should have joined the senior team, but I don't know how they agreed to let him join the team. After all, if they really won the prize, Jiang Qi would also have a share."
Lu Fenghan kept it in mind.
The results of the Röntgen Prize selection were announced a week later.
The first to be announced was the third prize, with both winning teams coming from Tulane’s fourth grade.
Gathering in the laboratory, Ye Pei joked: "Some people used to say that the Roentgen Prize is a competition within Turan. The five prizes each year are basically taken by Turan."
Two minutes later, the list of second prize winners was announced, and Ye Pei hurriedly took back what he had just said: "Just pretend I didn't say that!"
The second prize winning teams were, one from the First Military Academy on the other side of the river, and the other from a school on a planet not far from Leto - Ye Pei had only heard of their names, and they should be the dark horse players that have emerged.
What surprised Ye Pei the most was: "No, what's going on this year? Why are people from across the river also participating? Didn't they disdain to participate in this kind of competition in the past?"
Lu Fenghan glanced in the direction of the First Military Academy and thought, their previous disdain might be because they didn't know the prize money was so high, but this year they might have known about it.
First prize is announced last.
Ye Pei twisted the long hair that was resting on her shoulders around her fingers again and again. Although Professor Fu said that they should be able to take first place, that was under the premise that there were no unexpected events.
The result hasn't come out yet, but I can't let it go.
Another minute later, the first prize information was announced.
After seeing clearly, Ye Pei frowned at first, then smiled and said easily: "You are happy for nothing, it's not us."
Although they wanted to win first place, they could accept not getting it. Ye Pei even joked, "Professor Fu was right. This is the real dark horse team! There are five people in this team, two fourth-year students, two third-year students, and one is—" She paused, "first-year student Jiang Qi."
After leaving the lab and going home, Qi Yan stood at the school gate waiting for the hovercraft to arrive. He heard a strange female voice calling his name: "Qi Yan."
Qi Yan looked over.
Lu Fenghan recognized the person at a glance—the hostess of the Qi family who had sung the same tune with Jiang Qi at the celebration party of the Qi family and tried to slander Qi Yan for stealing.
His eyes were slightly sharp and a little defensive.
Jiang Yunyue adjusted her hair and said, "I didn't expect such a coincidence that we met here."
Seeing that Qi Yan ignored her, Jiang Yunyue kept smiling: "Jiang Qi won the first place in the Roentgen Award, so I came here specially to pick him up to celebrate at the restaurant. His father was anxious and has already arrived. By the way, I heard that you also participated? You must have won a prize, so congratulations first."
Lu Fenghan stood beside Qi Yan, saying with an ambiguous tone: "It's been less than half an hour since the results were announced, and you've already arrived in Turan. It seems like you're very well-informed."
Jiang Yunyue said modestly: "I have some connections in Leto, so I got the news a little earlier."
It should be more than just "a little earlier".
Lu Fenghan subconsciously looked at Qi Yan.
Jiang Yunyue was graceful and smiled as she spoke to Qi Yan: "You have been back to Leto for so long and have not eaten at home yet. Come back when you are free. Or, if you encounter any difficulties, come back and your family will naturally help you solve them."
Qi Yan's pair of eyes, which were curved inward and outward, showed a bit of nonchalant coldness, and he only replied with four words: "Don't bother."