As a teaching assistant for the “Quantum Computing” course, Lin Zhixia had a total of four undergraduate students this semester, and Wu Pinyan was one of them.

Wu Pinyan’s goal was very clear: she wanted to pursue her PhD under Lin Zhixia’s advisor.

Lin Zhixia’s advisor enjoyed high prestige in academia, had impressive personal achievements, and maintained high standards for his students. The doctoral students in his group were all exceptional. For instance, Aishwarya was like a paper-producing machine, successfully publishing at least two papers annually in top international academic journals.

Aishwarya spoke to Wu Pinyan with the tone of an experienced senior, saying that to publish an excellent paper, the first step was to find an innovation point, and to find that innovation point, Wu Pinyan must read a large amount of literature.

Wu Pinyan nodded.

Lin Zhixia enthusiastically encouraged her: “Actually, you’ve already found an innovation point, which is why I invited you to work in our group. Come with me, I’ll show you the experimental equipment.”

Wu Pinyan smiled: “Thank you.”

Lin Zhixia walked ahead and pushed open the laboratory door: “I’ve sent your resume and paper to our advisor and discussed it with him. I’ll teach you the experimental operation methods, and once you’re familiar with the process, you can implement the model and collect data yourself.”

“Thank you, senior sister!” Wu Pinyan exclaimed gratefully.

In their small classroom, Wu Pinyan often addressed Lin Zhixia as “Teacher Lin,” but now she changed to calling her “senior sister,” which reminded Lin Zhixia of Zhu Chan, Luo Ying, Wei Ruoxing… those gentle and kind senior sisters.

Lin Zhixia sincerely said, “If you encounter any problems in the lab, contact me anytime, and I’ll do my best to help you solve them.”

In the spacious “Quantum Circuit” laboratory, various large machines were arranged. Wu Pinyan looked around and quietly asked: “Will you still be a teaching assistant next semester?”

Lin Zhixia understood her implied meaning. She answered: “Whether I’m a teaching assistant or not, I’ll still help you. When you finish writing your paper, before submitting it to our advisor, I can review it first. Your research direction is very innovative, and our entire group welcomes you.”

Wu Pinyan and Lin Zhixia had almost no personal connection.

Their communication was limited to once-a-week classroom interactions.

Wu Pinyan clasped her hands together, squeezing her fingers, and thanked Lin Zhixia again: “Okay, thank you.”

“Don’t be so formal,” Lin Zhixia said generously. “Keep up the good work; you’re excellent.”

While Lin Zhixia was chatting with Wu Pinyan, Wen Qi happened to pass behind them. His footsteps were silent, like a ghost, and Wu Pinyan called out to him: “Senior Wen Qi!”

That voice was like a hidden arrow piercing Wen Qi’s forehead. He froze in place and nervously responded: “Huh?”

Wen Qi had a premonition that Wu Pinyan had a very outgoing personality, even more enthusiastic and extroverted than Lin Zhixia. Miao Danyi, whom he had met last year, was also this type of girl. Such girls were almost his nemesis, making it impossible for him to maintain even basic social etiquette.

Sure enough, Wu Pinyan took out her phone: “Your phone number?”

Wen Qi said, “I don’t have a phone.”

Wu Pinyan’s expression froze slightly. She looked toward Lin Zhixia.

Lin Zhixia could probably guess why Wen Qi was lying. Even though she had a good impression of Wu Pinyan, she couldn’t force Wen Qi to give his phone number to her. While she was pondering deeply, Wu Pinyan asked again: “Do you have QQ or WeChat?”

Wen Qi shook his head.

Wu Pinyan pressed: “Facebook or P?”

Facebook and P were social media platforms commonly used by international students.

But Wen Qi denied having any social media accounts. He coldly said, “I’m going to experiment,” and then walked into a small room nearby, which wasn’t a place for conducting experiments.

Wu Pinyan moved closer to Lin Zhixia and carefully said: “Senior Wen Qi…”

“He’s not good at socializing,” Lin Zhixia quickly explained to Wen Qi. “He doesn’t mean any harm; don’t be nervous. He’s like this with everyone. I’ve known him for over seven months, and he speaks at most ten sentences to me each day—that’s his limit.”

“Really?” Wu Pinyan was incredibly surprised. “How does he manage? Hasn’t he consulted a psychologist?”

A psychologist?

Lin Zhixia pondered: “I don’t think so.”

Wu Pinyan seemed to realize something. She stopped commenting on Wen Qi. She followed Lin Zhixia around the entire laboratory. Lin Zhixia handed her a printed document and asked her to do some simple exercises according to the guidance steps in the document. She couldn’t help but ask: “You prepared these in advance?”

“Yes,” Lin Zhixia admitted frankly. “When I was revising your article, based on the computational model you proposed, I designed some simple experiments and wrote an experimental guide as well.”

Lin Zhixia’s selfless kindness exceeded Wu Pinyan’s previous expectations.

Wu Pinyan held the thick stack of documents, feeling a continuous warmth flowing through her heart. She couldn’t help but consider Lin Zhixia’s situation in return. After hesitating repeatedly, she asked: “When you mentor students like this, do you still have time for your research?”

They were standing beside a writing desk. Lin Zhixia pulled open a drawer and found two more printed papers, handing them to Wu Pinyan.

Hearing Wu Pinyan’s question, Lin Zhixia honestly answered: “Yes, I spend most of my time doing research. After graduation, I want to return to China and become a university professor. I prepare these materials not only for you but also for myself. In the future, I’ll be supervising graduate students, and I want to be a good advisor.”

Wu Pinyan clutched the documents in her hand, feeling their substantial weight.

To lighten the atmosphere, Wu Pinyan joked: “Haven’t you considered working at a research institute? The students you train… might not be as strong as you.”

Lin Zhixia looked at her: “No one is born knowing everything. Many times, students aren’t unintelligent; they just don’t know. We give students a lamp, and as they carry it on their path, they can illuminate a broader world.”

Wu Pinyan was moved to say: “Is this ‘universal benefit’?”

Lin Zhixia’s attitude became increasingly serious: “Yes, ‘Meditations’ mentions that ‘humans have three relationships: between people and external things, between people and other people, and between people and faith or reason’…”

Before Lin Zhixia could finish, Wu Pinyan interjected: “I understand your faith now.”

Lin Zhixia smiled brightly.

At this moment, senior sister Aishwarya walked into the laboratory carrying a cup of coffee.

Lin Zhixia lowered her voice and quietly told Wu Pinyan, “Senior Aishwarya is currently looking for a faculty position. She has contacted the Indian Institute of Technology… I heard her say that when she becomes a professor, she wants to accept more female students.”

“What about you?” Wu Pinyan was more interested in Lin Zhixia. “In the future, will you accept more female students?”

Lin Zhixia admitted: “Of course.”

She cited data: “In mathematics, physics, and computer science fields, the number of male scholars is six times that of female scholars[1]. Machine learning is an important branch of artificial intelligence. In the field of machine learning, top female scholars globally account for only two percent of the total, which I feel is a bit low…”

Senior Aishwarya was approaching them, seemingly to introduce the experimental equipment to Wu Pinyan.

Lin Zhixia suddenly remembered that on their first day joining the group, it was also senior Aishwarya who explained the laboratory rules and various operational procedures to her and Wen Qi.

Lin Zhixia extended a hand to Wu Pinyan: “Keep going; we will all grow up.”

Wu Pinyan high-fived her.

Lin Zhixia vaguely recalled that years ago, in Professor Shen Zhaohua’s laboratory, she and Shen Zhaohua had made a pinky promise—that was nine years ago. Until now, she had always kept that promise.

*

Wu Pinyan was a very diligent person.

Since that day, she has often come to report to the laboratory.

Gradually, she could also chat with Wen Qi for a sentence or two.

Wen Qi was collaborating with Lin Zhixia on a new paper.

During the month without their advisor’s guidance, they still maintained steady progress. On the first day after the advisor returned from vacation, Lin Zhixia brought a stack of documents to find him in his office.

The advisor had just brewed a cup of red tea and was leisurely savoring it. Seeing Lin Zhixia suddenly appear, he showed a slightly surprised expression on his face.

“Good morning, today is office hours.” Lin Zhixia pointed to the schedule on the doorframe.

At their school, university professors generally had “office hours.” During this period, any student could come directly to the office to find them. He certainly knew this. He exchanged a few pleasantries with Lin Zhixia and then began to review Lin Zhixia’s new paper.

The progress of this paper was very evident, almost ready to be submitted to a journal.

Therefore, at the end of the month, Lin Zhixia submitted this article. She waited for about two months before receiving news that the paper had been accepted.

Meanwhile, Lin Zhixia also passed the first stage of her doctoral defense. Her first year of doctoral studies was about to end. In her last undergraduate teaching assistant class, she bid farewell to her four students, who all seemed quite moved. Han Guang even shook hands with her.

Everything was progressing smoothly.

The only problem was that Lin Zhixia had not been allocated a dormitory for her second year of the PhD program. Dormitories were randomly assigned, and she had unfortunately missed out.

Lin Zhixia checked her emails, confirming repeatedly…

Her connection with student dormitories had, unfortunately, come to an end.

After brief consideration, Lin Zhixia picked up her phone and sent a message to Jiang Yubai: “I don’t have a dormitory for next semester. I work as a teaching assistant at school, and I have money to pay rent.”

Jiang Yubai called her. His first words were: “We’ve signed a rental contract, so let’s follow the contract terms. When are you moving? I’ll come pick you up.”

Lin Zhixia didn’t decline. She said, “I’m moving at the end of the month.”

“Alright,” Jiang Yubai was exceptionally calm, “I’ll get your room ready.”

Lin Zhixia was even being polite with him: “Mm, thank you.”

Jiang Yubai felt that Lin Zhixia was playing a “landlord and tenant” role-playing game with him.

After the call ended, Jiang Yubai immediately left the study and walked toward the room he had prepared for Lin Zhixia. He checked the wardrobe, desk, dressing table, and bathroom once more, ensuring all facilities were clean, tidy, and in perfect condition. He thought that with Lin Zhixia living with him, she wouldn’t have to cook for herself anymore; her three meals a day would be fully guaranteed.