Massachusetts Institute of Technology is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

The United States and the United Kingdom share many city names, with “Cambridge” being one of them. Lin Zhixia found it interesting that she had moved from one Cambridge to another. However, rent in Cambridge, USA, was also very expensive, and Lin Zhixia felt quite pained after paying it.

Lin Zhixia’s residence was only two kilometers from school, a studio apartment with its bathroom, desk, wardrobe, and single bed.

On her first day at the apartment, Lin Zhixia video called her family through WeChat to show them her new room. Her brother was the first to speak: “This place is too small, the layout is impractical. The stove is right across from your bed—how will you cook at home?”

Lin Zhixia countered, “Why wouldn’t I be able to cook? This is called an open kitchen.”

Her brother insisted, “When you stir-fry something, the cooking fumes will spread throughout the entire room.”

Lin Zhixia frowned slightly.

Her father quickly interjected, “Qiuqiu, stop criticizing your sister. She’s struggling abroad on her own. Ah, she’s always reluctant to spend money…”

Lin Zhixia protested, “This type of apartment is quite good. If I wanted to save money, I wouldn’t have looked for a place near campus.”

Lin Zeqiu reminded her again: “Make sure you eat well and sleep properly. If you need money, just tell me. Don’t live so frugally.”

Lin Zhixia muttered, “I’m not being frugal.”

Lin Zeqiu sat on the old, worn-out sofa at home, with their parents seated on either side of him. He pressed his lips together, and after a moment, said: “I’m earning money too. Don’t overwork yourself.”

Lin Zeqiu graduated with his bachelor’s degree this past June. Because of Beijing’s high cost of living, he hadn’t stayed there. He had returned to the provincial capital, participated in the fall campus recruitment of 2014, and successfully became an algorithm engineer at an internet company in the provincial capital. He often worked overtime, earning over ten thousand yuan after tax each month, with room for future growth.

Lin Zeqiu believed their family’s life would only get better.

*

After ending the call with her family, Lin Zhixia initiated a video chat request with Jiang Yubai. It was just past nine in the evening in Beijing, and Jiang Yubai had just finished showering. Wearing a thin robe, he sat on his bedroom bed and answered Lin Zhixia’s call.

Jiang Yubai’s collar was half-exposed, revealing his firm, robust physique with a healthy luster, though he seemed unaware of it himself. Lin Zhixia’s eyes widened as her gaze swept over his chest and abs, at which point he began buttoning up his shirt without any change in expression.

Lin Zhixia quickly tried to stop him: “Don’t button up!”

Jiang Yubai buttoned it completely anyway.

Lin Zhixia flopped onto her single bed: “You used to let me look before.”

Jiang Yubai replied: “Looking through a phone isn’t very interesting. When we meet in person…” he guided her in a low voice, “you can examine me as much as you want.”

Lin Zhixia suddenly realized: “Are you trying to bait me?”

Jiang Yubai firmly denied it. He then mentioned that at the end of the month, he wanted to visit Lin Zhixia in America.

Lin Zhixia rolled over on her bed: “But I’m so busy!”

Even before heading to America, Lin Zhixia had created a plan for herself with various tasks to complete each month. She only intended to stay at MIT for one year, and during this year, she wanted to observe, learn, and innovate as much as possible. Besides physics and computer science, she was also very interested in neuroscience—MIT had several research groups specifically exploring the relationship between the human brain and artificial intelligence, and Lin Zhixia was eager to meet the students and professors in these groups.

Therefore, Lin Zhixia politely declined Jiang Yubai’s visit.

Jiang Yubai remained silent for several seconds. He pulled up his blanket to cover his face, his tone still calm: “Fine, we’ll see each other next October.”

“Why are you covering your face?” Lin Zhixia asked in surprise.

Lin Zhixia suddenly remembered that when he was young, Jiang Yubai would cover his head with a hat when he had nothing to say, a gesture expressing his helplessness and embarrassment. She quickly tried to remedy the situation: “I’ll be free at Christmas! Come visit me during Christmas.”

Based on Lin Zhixia’s experience studying in the UK, during Christmas, all the students and professors in the entire experimental building would disappear. Even the most diligent students would vanish, leaving the entire campus empty, peaceful, quiet, and desolate… Lin Zhixia could also take a break and find time to go out with Jiang Yubai.

As soon as Lin Zhixia finished speaking, Jiang Yubai pulled away the blanket.

The phone screen once again displayed his face.

“You’re so handsome,” Lin Zhixia remarked for the ten-thousandth time.

“It’s okay,” Jiang Yubai said very modestly. He was more concerned about another issue: “How’s your living situation?”

Lin Zhixia flipped the camera and clearly captured every corner of her room. Jiang Yubai seemed to want to say something, but hesitated. After preparing his words for a while, he finally told Lin Zhixia, rather tactfully, that he wanted to provide her with some housing subsidy.

Lin Zhixia firmly refused. She was also somewhat surprised: “Why are you thinking the same as my brother…”

“What did your brother say?” Jiang Yubai asked.

Lin Zhixia recounted her brother’s words: “He said if I stir-fry something at home, the cooking fumes will spread everywhere.” She paused, then added, “This apartment is quite good, you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll adapt quickly. I need to go to the lab this afternoon, so I’ll rest for a bit now. We’ll talk more when I have time.”

Jiang Yubai held his phone, his thumb resting lightly on the screen. The video call had long ended, but he was still thinking about Lin Zhixia. She was more independent than he had anticipated. In the past, whenever she entered an unfamiliar environment, she always needed his encouragement and support. He remembered how Lin Zhixia used to call him before participating in the National Olympiad, how she would chat with him while staying in hotels, how he had comforted her with stories about “the universe’s big bang bringing eternal night” until she was no longer afraid of the dark… Thinking of this, Jiang Yubai put down his phone.

Jiang Yubai leaned against the headboard and began to contemplate “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.”

“Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” also known as “Maslow’s Pyramid,” articulates human survival needs and is used to explain human behavioral motivations.

“Maslow’s Pyramid” has five levels. The bottom level represents “physiological needs,” including food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and sex—these are the most basic and universal life pursuits. Moving upward, the fourth level is security, the third is belonging, the second is respect, and the highest level is “self-actualization.”

“Self-actualization” means fully leveraging one’s talents and ultimately achieving one’s grand ideals.

Jiang Yubai deeply analyzed his relationship with Lin Zhixia.

In that moment, he realized that no matter how hard he tried, he could only provide Lin Zhixia with satisfaction from the second to the fifth levels of “Maslow’s Pyramid.” As for the highest level of “self-actualization,” that would inevitably be Lin Zhixia’s solitary path.

Jiang Yubai had once told Lin Zhixia that they were carrying out different tasks separately, but would ultimately reconvene on the same planet. Now it seemed that Lin Zhixia’s description was more accurate—she had said long ago that she and Jiang Yubai were a binary star system, born with different orbits but forever maintaining the same center.

*

Just as Jiang Yubai had predicted, the research groups at MIT gave Lin Zhixia completely new thoughts and experiences, and she was once again fully immersed in the world of scientific research.

Their laboratory possessed the world’s most cutting-edge equipment. Besides working in her group, Lin Zhixia often participated in interdisciplinary discussion forums and occasionally visited the “Brain and Cognitive Sciences” experimental building to exchange ideas with professors and doctoral students there. She had never described her unusual memory ability to anyone, as she was unsure if she would be treated as a research subject.

Lin Zhixia’s life was busy and fulfilling.

She seemed to have forgotten about Jiang Yubai once again.

Fortunately, Jiang Yubai was used to it. His work was also very demanding.

His father had entrusted him with two investment companies, invested hundreds of millions, and assigned him secretaries and assistants. When his father’s friends groomed their successors, they typically had their children start from entry-level positions. Since Jiang Yubai had been interning at his family’s company since he was sixteen, his father skipped the entry-level training stage and directly put him in charge of investment operations.

Additionally, Jiang Yubai’s mother had also released partial management rights of her businesses to him.

Every Monday through Friday, Jiang Yubai had to attend morning meetings at the company. After the meetings, there was a pile of documents waiting for his processing.

It was currently October, and his secretary had delivered the first three quarters’ analysis reports, fixed asset investment reports from subsidiaries, stage results reports for new product development… Jiang Yubai spent the entire morning reviewing them. He separated the subsidiaries that were operating at a loss. At this time, his secretary called him on the internal line, saying that Jiang Shaoqi had appeared at the company and wanted to have lunch with “President Jiang.”

President Jiang?

His uncle referred to Jiang Yubai as “President Jiang.”

Jiang Yubai thought his uncle wanted to discuss business matters with him.

Unexpectedly, after entering the office, his uncle happily said, “I was driving past your building and remembered you work here, so I came to see you. Where shall we have lunch? You in your suit and tie, with a desk full of documents—truly worthy of being my elder brother’s son.”

One of Jiang Yubai’s secretaries poured a cup of Longjing tea for his uncle.

The central air conditioning maintained a constant room temperature, the fragrance of tea permeated the cups, and his uncle sat down on a black leather sofa.

After the secretary left the office and everything became completely quiet, his uncle took a sip of tea before revealing, “I heard that one of your mother’s good friends wants to introduce her daughter to you. Tonight, that girl will be visiting your home. Your father doesn’t support it, your mother hasn’t expressed an opinion, but that girl… is quite favored by your grandparents, just like your aunt. Jessica and I were introduced by the family, as were your parents. They probably think that matching social status is most important. I can’t say too much, but you should be careful.”

“You came today for this matter?” Jiang Yubai further inquired.

His uncle sighed: “What else? I’m not that idle.”

Jiang Yubai politely responded, “Thank you for the reminder.”

His uncle looked displeased: “You child, why are you so formal with your uncle?” He put down his teacup and asked, “How are things between you and Lin Zhixia?”

Jiang Yubai honestly replied, “She’s been quite busy lately.”

“How busy?” his uncle asked, not understanding. “Busier than you?”

Jiang Yubai said with slight resentment: “Much busier than me.”

His uncle caught his implication: “Lin Zhixia doesn’t contact you regularly?”

Jiang Yubai leaned back in his chair: “This past month, she called four times.”

“Once a week.” His uncle shook his head and sighed.

Jiang Yubai didn’t know that Jiang Shaoqi had a very good impression of Lin Zhixia and already considered her his future niece-in-law.

Although Jiang Shaoqi didn’t have much dating experience himself—he had only dated once—he was still trying to help his nephew: “What does Lin Zhixia like?”

“She likes strawberries,” Jiang Yubai described truthfully, “and has almost no material demands.”

“Oh?” Jiang Shaoqi was somewhat surprised.

Jiang Yubai tapped his finger on the desk once, murmuring as if to himself: “She has no flaws.”

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Shaoqi gave his nephew advice: “Little Jiang, finish your current work, take a vacation at the end of the year, and go to America to find her.”

This was exactly what Jiang Yubai had planned. In order to maintain stable performance and secure time off at the end of the year, Jiang Yubai had been working diligently for more than two consecutive months. His mother’s friend wanted to introduce her daughter to him, but could never find an opportunity. Jiang Yubai never stayed at home on weekends; his office became his new home. He also frequently went on business trips, his whereabouts elusive and unpredictable.

By mid-December, a subsidiary company that Jiang Yubai was monitoring showed an upward trend in its fourth-quarter performance. Jiang Yubai brought the fourth-quarter operations report with him on the plane. This flight departed from the provincial capital and flew directly to Boston, USA Christmas was approaching, and Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai had agreed to meet during the holiday.

Jiang Yubai was working in the first-class cabin when Lin Zhixia sent him a message: “When will you be landing?”

Jiang Yubai answered: “Six in the evening, Boston airport.”

Lin Zhixia happily replied: “Then I’ll come pick you up. Where will you be staying, a hotel?”

Jiang Yubai sent her an address: “The hotel next to your place,” then asked: “Tonight, could you… Not go home?”

Lin Zhixia responded frankly: “Do you want to sleep together? Sure, we’ve slept together many times before.”