To prepare teaching materials for “Quantum Bits and Computers,” Lin Zhixia searched online for related courses from top global universities.

Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UC Berkeley, and many other world-class institutions often publish their class notes, homework assignments, and exam questions on their official websites. These schools offered various courses related to “quantum computing,” covering quantum algorithms, simulations, communications, and practical programming.

Lin Zhixia quickly scanned through the teaching plans from various universities.

She carefully recalled books and papers she had previously read, then spent over a month writing lesson plans for “Quantum Bits and Computers,” meticulously designing weekly assignments, preparing classroom presentations, and citing all reference materials.

By March 2016, Lin Zhixia’s name was publicly announced on the national talent list, and the university published its “proposed recruitment list,” formally signing a special appointment contract with Lin Zhixia. Lin Zhixia received the title of “Associate Senior Professional,” equivalent to an associate professor. However, this special appointment contract had a time limit—within five years, if Lin Zhixia’s academic performance was unsatisfactory, the school had the right to cancel her special treatment.

On the first day the contract took effect, Lin Zhixia logged into the university’s official website using her “teacher’s account,” submitted a “new course application,” uploaded electronic versions of the “Quantum Bits and Computers” teaching plan and presentation files, and awaited review results from the academic affairs department.

At the same time, the college was actively helping her establish a research group.

A college leader suggested that Lin Zhixia begin recruiting students this year, as she was the first author or sole author of more than a dozen SCI Zone 1 papers, had special research funding, and maintained close connections with several top overseas laboratories. Graduate students studying under her would benefit from all these resources.

Lin Zhixia was very willing to recruit master’s students.

As for doctoral students…

According to Lin Zhixia’s special appointment contract, she was qualified to recruit doctoral students, but she felt she lacked experience and needed to learn more, so she temporarily didn’t have the extra energy to train doctoral students.

*

In late March 2016, Lin Zhixia’s university held “Master’s Program Reexaminations.”

In February of this year, when the preliminary exam results were announced, many students had already contacted potential advisors in advance.

Although Lin Zhixia was well-known, her faculty profile was only updated in March this year, so no students had approached her. Finally, the department chair’s assistant recommended a student to her—this student was named Zhan Rui, twenty-four years old, a graduate of a 985 science and engineering university in Beijing.

Zhan Rui was a male student, less than 180 centimeters tall, with delicate fair features and an introverted personality.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Zhan Rui worked in Beijing for a year, then resigned and returned home to prepare for graduate school entrance exams. His score exceeded the initial screening threshold, but he hadn’t actively contacted any potential advisors.

Why not?

Because he had a natural stutter.

Facing the department chair’s assistant, he stammered: “To-tomorrow’s interview, te-teacher…”

It took Zhan Rui a long time to complete one sentence.

Zhan Rui had just arrived in the provincial capital last night and wanted to visit the department chair today to prepare for tomorrow’s interview. The chair’s assistant had called him before and seemed somewhat interested in his academic background.

However, at this moment, the assistant said: “Hello, you’re Zhan, right? I remember you. I’ve seen your resume—good academic record, solid foundation. Ah, our admission quota is full. Why don’t you ask Professor Lin? Professor Lin Zhixia is a young professor specially appointed by the Interdisciplinary College, has published top-tier papers in ‘machine learning,’ and since you studied computer science in your undergraduate program, you’ll have things to discuss with Professor Lin.”

Zhan Rui remembered the name “Lin Zhixia.”

It sounded very familiar to him.

Zhan Rui took out his phone and searched for “Lin Zhixia” online. The search results startled him—such a young professor with such impressive research achievements.

*

It happened to be a rainy day.

The sky was gloomy, dark clouds surged, slanted rain drifted across the vast campus, and withered yellow and green leaves scattered on the ground in the cold wind. Zhan Rui sneezed, clutching a stack of documents, searching everywhere for Lin Zhixia’s office, and finally found it in the “Frontier Interdisciplinary College” office building.

Zhan Rui’s short black hair was wet from the rain, with a strand stuck to his forehead. He wiped away the water drops with a tissue and hurried to the second floor, wandering around like a headless fly, when he suddenly heard a man’s laughter: “Professor Lin, I’ve come to see you. I’m Professor Tan.”

Zhan Rui followed the sound and came face to face with Tan Qianche.

Tan Qianche was wearing a suit today. He was tall and straight, exceptionally handsome, with distinguished manners, particularly eye-catching. He stood at the door of Lin Zhixia’s office, and Zhan Rui passed by him, properly greeting: “Pro-pro-pro…”

“Pro-what?” Tan Qianche was amused, “We’re all still quite young.”

Zhan Rui hurriedly explained: “I-I-I stutter.”

Tan Qianche looked him up and down, easily recognizing his status: “By the looks of you, you’re one of this year’s master’s students, wanting to find Professor Lin? Good eye, you’ll be Professor Lin’s first disciple.”

The sound of rain outside grew louder.

The cold, lingering rain passed over the eaves and drifted into the room.

Lin Zhixia closed the window, picked up a glass of purified water, and invited kindly: “Please sit down. Would you like a drink?”

Tan Qianche sat down without ceremony.

Last September, Tan Qianche had secured a teaching position at the School of Physics. Now, he was not only Lin Zhixia’s senior from the same academic lineage but also her colleague at the same school. Having heard that Lin Zhixia was specially appointed as a professor in the Interdisciplinary College, Tan Qianche specifically chose a day to personally visit Lin Zhixia’s office to congratulate her.

However, Lin Zhixia said to Tan Qianche, “Do you have something to discuss with me? Next time, please email me to make an appointment first. If you need to find me urgently, I might not always be in my office.”

Tan Qianche was preparing to chat with Lin Zhixia about her quantum platform construction, but hearing her tone, which seemed unwelcoming, he didn’t feel like pushing further and found an excuse to leave.

Before leaving, his phone rang several times. He answered it, calling out “Darling,” and then said, “I’m busy today, let’s do it another time.”

Lin Zhixia reminded him: “Senior, do you remember what you said that year when you were lying in the hospital?”

He left with a straight back, responding faintly: “That’s all in the past.”

Zhan Rui stared at him for a while, then heard Lin Zhixia say: “Hello, may I take a look at your resume?”

Zhan Rui came back to his senses and handed over his resume with both hands. Although he was three years older than Lin Zhixia, he inexplicably assumed the role of a junior. He nervously rubbed his fingers, his hands damp with sweat, cursing himself for daring to approach an associate professor of the Interdisciplinary College without any preparation.

He seemed to be waiting for a judgment of fate.

The entire process took only a few seconds.

Lin Zhixia put down the resume, carefully considered for a moment, and then said: “I’d like to ask you a few questions, if that’s okay? I have paper and pen here, you can write or write formulas on the paper.”

Zhan Rui nodded and agreed: “O-okay.”

Zhan Rui’s interview thus began. Lin Zhixia posed a total of seven questions, with gradually increasing difficulty.

Initially, Zhan Rui handled them with ease, but later, he fell into a state of deep thought. He drafted on the paper while a cup of steaming tea in front of him gradually cooled. The daylight grew dimmer, dark clouds covered the sky, and a pendant lamp in the office shone brighter. He continued solving the problems steadily, and with a flash of inspiration, finally wrote down an answer.

Lin Zhixia, both surprised and pleased, earnestly encouraged him: “Your logical thinking ability is very strong, and your knowledge points are well-mastered.”

Zhan Rui shyly rubbed his hands and smiled with upturned corners of his mouth.

Lin Zhixia then asked him: “How is your English? During your master’s program, you’ll need to read many English papers…”

Zhan Rui honestly said: “I s-scored six hundred and f-forty on the CET-6.”

Lin Zhixia opened her desk drawer and took out an English paper on artificial intelligence. This paper describes the algorithmic framework of the “Go robot AlphaGo.” Zhan Rui had never read this article before, but he understood the basic principles of “Monte Carlo tree search” and “deep reinforcement learning”—both algorithms were pillars of AlphaGo.

Zhan Rui spent half an hour reading the paper and, feeling uncertain, drew an algorithm flowchart on the draft paper.

After looking at his flowchart, Lin Zhixia commented: “That’s good, very well done.”

Zhan Rui stood up, wanting to say something to Lin Zhixia, but his mind went blank, and he couldn’t find any topic, so he simply bowed to her stiffly. She laughed lightly, making Zhan Rui’s face immediately flush red.

Lin Zhixia calmly said, “You don’t need to be so formal. I hope we can communicate as equals. Your academic foundation is quite good, and you should have no problem with the college interview. Don’t be nervous, just perform normally tomorrow.”

Zhan Rui, carrying a black backpack, stepped backward.

He planned to say goodbye to Lin Zhixia and return to his lodging early to prepare for tomorrow’s graduate reexamination. So he said: “To-to-today…”

Zhan Rui wanted to say: Thank you, Professor Lin, for today.

However, Lin Zhixia misunderstood Zhan Rui’s intention.

Lin Zhixia thought Zhan Rui wanted to discuss funding issues but was too embarrassed to bring it up.

Lin Zhixia straightforwardly summarized: “Our university provides scholarships to master’s students in all majors, eight thousand yuan per person per year, reimbursing book fees, travel expenses, and medical expenses. The government will provide a monthly subsidy of six hundred yuan to master’s students. I will also pay you a salary, don’t worry… And don’t worry about papers either, I have quite a few projects and research topics. Advisors and students choose each other mutually. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime. I check my email daily.”

When Zhan Rui left the office, his steps still felt light.

The rain outside had stopped, and water slid down the eaves, hitting his head with a “plop.” He wiped his face, took out his phone, and called his undergraduate classmate Lin Zeqiu.

Lin Zeqiu was Zhan Rui’s undergraduate roommate and one of Zhan Rui’s few friends.

Lin Zeqiu asked him: “Did you find the department chair of Computer Engineering?”

Zhan Rui’s mood was as bright as the sky after the rain. He told Lin Zeqiu that he had changed to a different advisor, who was very young, had high academic achievements, was easy to get along with, didn’t mind his stuttering, was particularly cultured, and was especially respectful of students.

After hearing this, Lin Zeqiu felt a sense of foreboding.

A terrible thought flashed through his mind: Could my undergraduate roommate end up becoming my sister’s student?

*

Thinking of his sister, Lin Zeqiu’s feelings became complicated.

His sister Lin Zhixia hadn’t returned home for several days.

In the past month, Lin Zhixia had received her settlement allowance and various subsidies. She had finally saved enough for a down payment and frequently took time to look at houses near University Town, which gave Jiang Yubai an opportunity.

Every evening, Jiang Yubai would pick up Lin Zhixia and bring her to his home. He always prepared a sumptuous dinner and would say to Lin Zhixia: “After dinner, it’s still not too late to leave.”

Lin Zhixia thought his words made sense.

However, after dinner, Jiang Yubai would often plan some entertaining activities. They would splash in the outdoor swimming pool, gaze at the city’s night view and stars, or sit together in the study, chair next to chair, quietly working without disturbing each other… Lin Zhixia had to admit that she greatly enjoyed being with Jiang Yubai, even becoming a bit reluctant to leave his paradise.