However, after that incident, every time Li Ke approached Chen Luzhou to discuss the mathematical modeling competition, he would sarcastically ask, “Will your girlfriend be upset if you go to the library alone with me?”
Chen Luzhou, seeing his provocative expression, would respond just as sarcastically, “Yes, she would. Should we form separate teams then?”
It was during the free team formation period for the mathematical modeling competition. Li Ke knew that many people were seeking Chen Luzhou as a teammate. The competition typically required teams of three, plus a supervising teacher. Team members could be from different majors, and it was common to form teams with students from various disciplines for a clear division of labor and specialized roles.
The competition didn’t require highly specialized mathematical knowledge, as it involved applying models across various fields. While the calculations were extensive, anyone with a solid foundation in advanced mathematics could participate. For competitions like the American Mathematical Contest in Modeling, someone needed to be responsible for data integration, paper writing, and English translation in the later stages. This part of the work was quite complex.
Chen Luzhou was excellent in English; back in high school, he used to record the listening comprehension tests for their teacher. Li Ke himself was also good at English. It wasn’t that he wanted to slack off; mainly, both he and Chen Luzhou were Jiang Changwei’s star pupils. Their advantage lies in their years of tacit understanding from solving competition problems together, eliminating the need for a breaking-in period.
As the two were walking towards the library, Li Ke, hugging his books, got back to the point: “Old Jiang called me yesterday.”
“What did he say?” Chen Luzhou asked, hands in his pockets as he walked.
“Just chatting nonsense. He probably had another argument with his wife and was looking for someone to vent to,” Li Ke sighed and said, “He scolded me for no reason, saying there’s always someone better out there, telling us to take it easy and not to embarrass him. I didn’t dare tell him you’re in a relationship now.”
“He’ll find out sooner or later,” Chen Luzhou laughed, “He’ll probably know when we go back after the competition during the winter break.”
Li Ke was stunned, unconsciously slowing his pace. “You’ve decided to go back again? Didn’t you say you weren’t going back?”
“It’s different now. I have a family to consider.”
“And I don’t?” Li Ke rolled his eyes at him. “My mom calls me eight hundred times a day, threatening to disown me if I don’t go back for the New Year.”
Chen Luzhou smugly hooked his arm around Li Ke’s shoulder, leaning in to say mischievously, “You’re a provincial top scorer. Don’t you understand what ‘family’ means?”
Pft. Li Ke gave him a cool side-eye. “Then do you know what score your ‘family’ got on her midterm calculus exam?”
Chen Luzhou realized he hadn’t asked about that. “What score?”
“You didn’t even ask?”
Chen Luzhou removed his hand and put it back in his pocket, sighing, “I’ve been talking about other things with her lately. I just found out that she didn’t choose architecture because she liked it, but because she’s holding a grudge against her mom. It’s purely out of spite.” Chen Luzhou briefly explained about her mother’s situation. After listening, Li Ke’s expression became serious.
“Why don’t you persuade her to change her major? It’s still early, she’s only a freshman.”
“I can’t do that. Xu Zhi is quite proud. Anyone else could persuade her, but not me. I’m afraid she’ll start doubting herself.”
As the two approached the library entrance, a peaceful atmosphere immediately enveloped them. Especially on this snowy day, with the drooping grass quietly buried in the snow, their voices instinctively lowered. Chen Luzhou shook his head and said, “Besides, that’s not the issue. Don’t underestimate her. She managed to get into Ruijun University, so she must have some ability. She just has low empathy. But that kind of personality is good too; she won’t be easily influenced by others.”
Li Ke smiled mysteriously.
“What do you mean?”
Li Ke patted his shoulder and said meaningfully, “Worry about her? You should worry about yourself. She got a perfect score on her calculus exam. She’s the only one in the architecture department with a perfect score. What do you think that means? Is your charm not enough? Her relationship doesn’t seem to have affected her studies at all. You, on the other hand, seem to have less energy than before. You’re slipping a bit.”
Xu Zhi rarely dreamed of Ms. Lin Qiudie these days. She hadn’t dreamed of her since her senior year of high school. In the dream, it seemed to be raining, but when she looked up, the sky was bright.
Dreams are illogical, but Ms. Lin Qiudie in her dream spoke very logically, her words forceful, as if each word was dissecting Xu Zhi’s heart. She felt like a roast duck being carved.
Behind Lin Qiudie was a vast whiteness, like a heavenly paradise. Xu Zhi couldn’t see Lin Qiudie’s face clearly, but she felt that she must be quite happy there. She said, “You never try to understand your mother.”
That world seemed so peaceful and inviting that Xu Zhi felt she might be disturbing her. Her voice unconsciously became softer as she said, “I’m trying to understand you.”
Lin Qiudie wasn’t appreciative. Her voice was clear: “Is that so? When you were little, I asked you to draw an egg, and you cried and couldn’t even finish it. Don’t waste your time, Xu Zhi. You have no talent in this area, and you’re not suited for architecture. I sent you a model once, and you smashed it to pieces, saying you hated houses the most.”
She said, “That time, you broke your promise. I was just venting.”
Lin Qiudie: “Xu Zhi, can’t you be sensible?”
Xu Zhi’s eyes grew hot, but the tears wouldn’t fall: “Then what do you want me to do? Die like you did?”
Lin Qiudie laughed at her: “Look at you, you can’t even cry. Think about it, how long has it been since you last cried? You used to cry so easily when you were little. You’d cry if the moon wasn’t full, you’d be sad if a flower didn’t grow well.”
Perhaps because it was a dream, Xu Zhi blurted out: “That sounds more like Zhu Yangqi.”
Lin Qiudie: “Who’s that?”
Xu Zhi: “My boyfriend’s good friend.”
Lin Qiudie’s face turned cold as she scolded, just like when Xu Zhi used to steal candy as a child: “You’re only nineteen, what boyfriend? Break up with him right now!”
Xu Zhi: “That’s none of your business.”
Lin Qiudie stopped talking, her figure becoming increasingly blurry. After a while, she said one more thing: “Move forward, Xu Zhi.”
Xu Zhi: “I want to see you.”
Lin Qiudie: “Move forward bravely.”
Later, Lin Qiudie turned into a broken record, repeating this phrase over and over, buzzing in her ear as if someone was whispering next to her. It felt so real that it frightened Xu Zhi, and she woke up with a start.
It turned out to be Xu Gongzhu’s phone alarm blaring —
“Sister, move forward bravely… Move forward bravely!”
Xu Zhi: “…”
The other three in the dorm were all woken up, except for Xu Gongzhu, who remained sound asleep.
Liu Yisi, half-asleep, blindly threw a pillow at her, screaming, “Xu Gongzhu!! You set your alarm wrong again!!”
Xu Gongzhu was suddenly awakened by the pillow, looking confused. Hearing the noise, she finally reacted, tumbling out of bed to grab her phone. “…Sorry, sorry, I set it wrong for my nap.”
The ringtone abruptly stopped, and the dorm returned to silence. Xu Zhi couldn’t sleep anymore. She pulled out her phone from under her pillow and saw it was only two o’clock.
During that time, Chen Luzhou was preparing for the mathematical modeling competition with Li Ke. Li Ke had also roped in a guy from the computer science department. Although they both knew some basic programming, Li Ke felt they needed a professional for this task, so he somehow managed to lure one from the esteemed department. The guy didn’t talk much, very quiet, barely uttering a few words in half a day, making communication with him quite challenging. But he was a good person, just very shy. While Chen Luzhou and Li Ke chatted away, he would quietly lower his head and write programs. However, due to the difficult communication, they often worked until midnight, with no team chemistry at all.
Li Ke tended to get stuck on academic points, while Chen Luzhou had a good temper and generally wouldn’t argue with him. But this guy, though quiet, was very stubborn. The two of them often started discussing and their voices would rise: “Let’s talk about a simple model, forest firefighting. How many firefighters should be dispatched within a limited time? Let t be the time when the fire starts, t1 the time for firefighting to begin, t2 the time of extinguishing… The coefficient beta for the fire spread rate, it’s linearized…”
“The extinguishing speed should be faster than the fire spread, right?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Then we need to calculate the area.”
“I’m calculating that, why are you in such a rush? This is just a problem of finding the extreme value of a function. If you want to put it that way, we should also consider whether the trees are evenly distributed, if there’s wind, if there are birds in the trees.”
The guy chimed in, “In that case, we should also consider if there are any first-class protected animals in the forest.”
Chen Luzhou leaned back in his chair, looking up exasperatedly. He had just taken a shower, with a towel hanging around his neck. He sighed lazily: “It’s two o’clock. Can’t you two communicate properly? Let’s not do variable changes. Just assume the trees are evenly distributed, there’s no wind, no birds in the trees, and no protected animals. Forget it, give it to me, and I’ll calculate. I’m tired.”
Li Ke: “I’ve already finished calculating.”
Just then, Chen Luzhou’s phone buzzed.
racatsanddogs: [… I have an unreasonable request.]
Cr: [You’re not asleep yet?]
cr: [Missing me?]
racatsanddogs: [I woke up… Chen Luzhou, can you make me cry?]
Cr: [Did you have a wet dream?]
racatsanddogs: [No, I dreamed about my mom. I want to cry but I can’t.]
Chen Luzhou immediately stood up from his chair. “You guys continue calculating.”
Li Ke was startled and looked up at him. “What’s wrong? Why so serious? Aren’t you tired anymore?”
The guy next to them was also surprised. Chen Luzhou had a much better temper than Li Ke. Although he looked cool, when playing basketball or chatting casually, he would lean back with a smile on his face, not cold or seeming serious.
“Xu Zhi had a nightmare. I’m going to comfort her for a bit. You guys keep calculating,” Chen Luzhou said, picking up his phone and walking out.