Jiang Yubai’s reply made Lin Zhixia’s heart bloom with joy.

Lin Zhixia put away her phone, turned on the desktop computer, and concentrated on her work.

She quickly browsed the arXiv (preprint paper site) page to ensure her research approach hadn’t been taken by others. Then, she directly used LaTeX (a paper typesetting system) to write out a paper’s abstract, background, and framework.

Brand new calculation formulas occupied her mind. She was immersed in the virtual world created by “quantum computing.” Occasionally, people passed by outside her office, but she didn’t even turn her head. It wasn’t until 6:30 in the afternoon, when almost all her group members had gone home, that Lin Zhixia packed up her things and hurriedly set off for home.

On her way home, Lin Zhixia bought a small bag of vegetables and fruits at the supermarket. Around seven in the evening, she cooked a bowl of tomato and egg noodles in the dormitory kitchen. This was the first time in her life she had cooked for herself.

Lin Zhixia didn’t perform very well.

She used too much water, the noodles were overcooked, and even the eggs stuck to the bottom of the pot. The meal didn’t taste good, and she felt somewhat frustrated. She opened a bag of Fuling pickled vegetables she had brought from China, mixed them into the bowl, and barely improved the taste a little.

After dinner, she reminisced about her undergraduate university’s cafeteria while recalling today’s research progress.

It had already grown dark, and there had been a shower of rain. The raindrops were driven by the wind, watering a glass window, making light “pitter-patter” sounds.

Lin Zhixia went over to close the window. Humid moisture permeated the air, and the entire dormitory building seemed to have been moved to the edge of a pond. Mist entered her trachea through her nose, making her shudder. A chill arose suddenly, and the room remained silent. In her daze, she thought of her undergraduate roommates again.

The feelings of loss and melancholy lasted less than two seconds before Lin Zhixia rallied her spirits, organized her resume and research introduction, and sent them to the relevant person in charge at the school. She had already planned that she would become a teaching assistant.

There were many benefits to being a teaching assistant.

First, Lin Zhixia had just turned eighteen, making her an adult in the legal sense. She was qualified to serve as a teaching assistant and receive remuneration from the school. Second, her goal was to become a university teacher, guiding students, delving into academics, applying for funding projects… Being a teaching assistant now was preparation for her future career development.

After finishing these trivial matters, Lin Zhixia took a shower, wrapped herself in a bath towel, and lay on the bed to call Jiang Yubai. Hearing his voice, her mood suddenly brightened, and she asked softly: “Jiang Yubai, what are you doing?”

She heard a fleeting, slight swallowing sound, and she thought he had taken a sip of water. He replied: “I’m reading a book.”

Lin Zhixia pointed out a coincidence: “I just finished reading too.”

Jiang Yubai put aside the political economy paper in his hand and asked her, “How was your day?”

“Not bad,” Lin Zhixia recounted. “I confirmed my research direction, submitted my teaching assistant application, cooked dinner for the first time…”

“What dinner?”

“Burnt tomato and egg noodles.”

Poor thing, Jiang Yubai thought.

Lin Zhixia bypassed the dinner issue and directly asked him: “By the way, you don’t have class tomorrow afternoon, do you want to come to my office and study together?”

Lin Zhixia treated the office as a private space. In her view, that desk was long and wide, no different from a library table.

Jiang Yubai only asked her: “What time do you usually go to the office?”

“Eight in the morning,” Lin Zhixia answered.

Jiang Yubai said, “Tomorrow morning at 7:30, I’ll wait for you downstairs at your dormitory.”

Lin Zhixia belatedly asked: “Do you need to see me about something?”

The voice from the phone was particularly deep and magnetic. She heard him admit: “I want to see you.”

Every word was like a bewitching enchantment, making her left ear, pressed against the phone, tingle slightly. She managed to respond calmly: “See you tomorrow.” After hanging up, she hugged her pillow lying in bed, turning over and over, thinking about him, about every word he had spoken from his heart.

On this cold and damp rainy night, her extraordinary memory helped her relive every scene they had shared. Present emotions blended with memories, making her helplessly engrossed.

*

Last night’s rain never stopped. The mist was like smoke, the early morning light was hazy, and the weather had grown colder.

At 7:20 in the morning, Jiang Yubai stepped out of a car, carrying two bags. Lin Zhixia saw him through the window, ran downstairs in her slippers, and greeted him joyfully.

His bags contained insulated food containers, as well as various snacks, pastries, and frozen foods. He went to Lin Zhixia’s communal kitchen and asked her: “How many people share one refrigerator?”

Lin Zhixia opened the refrigerator’s cool storage door and gestured: “This area is mine.”

Jiang Yubai took out several boxes from his bag and filled that space. He also tucked in a layer of frozen dumplings, prompting Lin Zhixia to ask: “Are these dumplings sold at the Chinese supermarket?”

“Shrimp and corn dumplings,” Jiang Yubai explained. “Made by my family’s chef, the flavor you like.”

Jiang Yubai carefully followed the chef’s instructions. He used Lin Zhixia’s small pot to boil half a pot of water, poured in a bowl of dumplings, cooked them until done, then took them out, drained the hot water, and sprinkled on two spoonfuls of vinegar.

This morning, Lin Zhixia had only eaten a slice of bread. She was too weak to resist the charm of shrimp dumplings. She followed Jiang Yubai closely as they walked into her room.

Jiang Yubai placed the bowl and chopsticks on the table.

Lin Zhixia walked behind him: “You came specially to bring me food, I feel a bit embarrassed.”

Jiang Yubai turned to look into her eyes: “I’m visiting your home, bringing you something to eat—this is very normal. Even if I weren’t your boyfriend, just an ordinary friend…”

Lin Zhixia gently corrected him: “I’ve known you for less than a week, but I already feel you’re my best friend.”

He casually put his arm around her waist: “For the sake of our friendship, eat more.”

Lin Zhixia nestled in his embrace, her left hand touching the buttons of his shirt. The material of those buttons was special, feeling cool to the touch. She curiously played with them for a moment before Jiang Yubai grabbed her hand, preventing her from making any other movements.

Lin Zhixia couldn’t fathom his state of mind.

Jiang Yubai now stood at 1.88 meters tall, considerably taller than Lin Zhixia. She simply placed her hands on his shoulders, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him directly on the face. She was satisfied to see him standing there, dazed and speechless—after many years, her “Human Observation Diary” had found novel and interesting material again.

Since she couldn’t discern his thoughts, she decided to use random sampling methods to collect Jiang Yubai’s reaction types. Jiang Yubai’s reactions had a certain degree of randomness, and she could infer his behavioral patterns through multiple experiments and statistical samples.

This was a simple application model of the Monte Carlo algorithm.

Kissing just once was certainly not enough.

From the perspective of perfecting the model, Lin Zhixia gave him another “smack” on the face. She tilted her head, her rosy lips pressing against the side of his ear, her raised tiptoes no longer stable, standing wobblingly. Jiang Yubai even caught her wrists, pinning them behind her back, bending down to lightly kiss the corner of her rosy lips, like a dragonfly touching water, barely tasting before stopping.

This time, it was her turn to be dazed.

Jiang Yubai released her hands, and in less than two seconds, he embraced her waist again, using her to calm his mind while avoiding looking at her directly. His fantasies about her had escaped his self-control. He would never speak his thoughts aloud, only gently reminding her: “Breakfast is getting cold, and you need to go to the office at eight.”

Lin Zhixia vaguely agreed: “Yes.”

She picked up the bowl and ate two shrimp dumplings in succession. Those dumplings were so delicious that they reminded her of the taste of home.

Jiang Yubai placed a bottle of orange juice in front of her, and her eyes suddenly misted over. He paused in his movements, and she quickly explained: “I think you’re too good.”

Jiang Yubai recalled her tenth birthday when he gave her a set of physics problems that made her cry with emotion. Eight years had passed in the blink of an eye, and her essence seemed not to have changed much.

*

With Jiang Yubai’s support, at noon that day, Lin Zhixia gave up fast food and Western food, returning to the warm embrace of traditional Chinese cuisine. She carried her backpack and a lunchbox to the laboratory building. After a busy morning, she ate with a group of doctoral students in the laboratory’s rest area.

The Indian senior bought a Japanese boxed meal from a fast-food restaurant called Itsu. She would say something to Lin Zhixia between each bite of her meal. Lin Zhixia found that the Indian senior was cheerful and talkative, frank and forthcoming, a sincere and friendly person. So why would she be complained about by undergraduates?

Lin Zhixia decided to establish a good relationship with the Indian senior first, and then directly ask her when the time was right.

The senior told her that their supervisor’s requirements were especially high, and it was almost impossible to graduate without meeting the supervisor’s paper standards. Their supervisor liked to smile, never argued, never spoke harshly, and rarely criticized students. However, once the supervisor determined that a student was making no progress, he would directly fail the student, terminate their studies, remove them from the research group, and absolutely would not give the student even the slightest chance to appeal.

That harsh?

Lin Zhixia was stunned.

Almost all the doctoral students in the entire group were eating here, sitting several to a table, talking in low voices. Lin Zhixia glanced around and saw that the group included Chinese, Germans, Russians, Koreans… these hardworking nationalities. Especially that Russian fellow, whose hairline was worrisome. Only in his twenties, the center of his head showed a ring of blonde hair with a visible trend toward baldness.

Lin Zhixia comforted herself that her family had no baldness genes, so she probably wouldn’t go bald.

There was also a Korean girl in the group named Yun Xiuen. Yun Xiuen sat down beside Lin Zhixia and asked about her paper content. It turned out she had read the paper Lin Zhixia had published during her undergraduate years.

Lin Zhixia chatted with Yun Xiuen for a while, then saw Wen Qi approach. In their research group, among so many students, only Lin Zhixia and Wen Qi were Chinese. Lin Zhixia’s attitude toward Wen Qi was quite friendly—after all, they were fellow countrymen, and one should help when possible while away from home.