Jiang Yubai firmly held Lin Zhixia’s hand and asked in a particularly subtle way: “Do you want to go home?”

Lin Zhixia suddenly remembered that before her first kiss with Jiang Yubai, he had also asked for her opinion. At that time, he had asked very nervously yet solemnly, “May I kiss you?” She hadn’t even answered him when he had already started to back down.

That year, he had just turned eighteen.

Lin Zhixia fell into a brief reminiscence, the fragmented memories triggering a sense of delight. She deliberately tested Jiang Yubai: “I’d rather go to the company to see how the Quantum Technology Laboratory is coming along.”

She raised her head and quietly gazed at him.

To her surprise, he directly said, “Let’s go.”

Jiang Yubai walked a few steps along the sidewalk, passing under the shade of the street trees. Falling raindrops dampened his suit jacket. Lin Zhixia asked again: “You agreed to me?”

He smiled: “When have I ever refused you?”

“Several times,” Lin Zhixia brought up old accounts. “You used to be a very restrained and conservative person. When I gave you things, you would symbolically decline at first…”

The autumn wind swept through the lush branches, and Lin Zhixia’s voice was lighter than the sound of the wind: “Also, the first time you unbuttoned your shirt and let me see you… You only allowed me to look for ten seconds.”

Jiang Yubai vaguely remembered the scene from that day. He raised his left hand, adjusted his collar, then tightened his tie even more before saying: “Tonight, you can look as long as you want.”

Because of this statement, Lin Zhixia’s imagination ran wild. She couldn’t help but reach for his hand again, actively intertwining their fingers, her palm gently rubbing against his for a moment, as if she could discern the lines of his palm through just a few seconds of exploration.

Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia slowed their steps with perfect synchronization. University town students were still coming and going on the sidewalk, with silhouettes interweaving and voices abuzz nearby. Xu Lingbo suddenly reacted: “Where’s Professor Lin?”

Fang Yiwen glanced at him: “Professor Lin left with Master’s Husband.”

“Where are they going?”

“I don’t know. Ask the professor on WeChat.”

Instead, Xu Lingbo stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He carried a plastic bag in his left hand, with his right hand in his clothing pocket, fingertips lightly tapping the plastic case of his phone. He asked: “For next week’s group meeting, senior and junior, are you both prepared?”

Senior sister Fang Yiwen, needless to say, was certainly full of knowledge, accomplished with ease, and able to converse pleasantly with Lin Zhixia.

Xu Lingbo’s question was mainly directed at Zhan Rui.

Xu Lingbo hadn’t expected that as soon as he finished speaking, Zhan Rui would stutter about his research progress. It turned out that Lin Zhixia had already prepared data sets and example code for Zhan Rui. During this year’s summer vacation, Zhan Rui had completed one-third of the experimental work, and now he was diligently implementing the remaining two-thirds of the experimental content.

Xu Lingbo’s heart skipped a beat.

It wasn’t even half a month into the semester…

He keenly sensed that Lin Zhixia had extremely high expectations for her students.

Lin Zhixia not only set super difficult homework for undergraduates but also invisibly intensified the competition among graduate students within the research group.

*

That afternoon, after returning to his dormitory, Xu Lingbo placed the lamb skewers and leftover food on the table, inviting his roommate to join him. This roommate was also a big shot who, despite having just entered his second year of graduate studies, was already called “Brother Qiang” by a group of classmates.

Xu Lingbo sat on a chair, his hands resting on his thighs, and called out: “Brother Qiang?”

Brother Qiang was playing a game. Wearing headphones and facing a laptop, he only replied after a long while: “Brother Bo, what’s up?”

Xu Lingbo scratched his hair: “It’s not anything important. My advisor treated us to lunch today, and I was very happy. On the way back, I asked my senior and junior about their research progress. I had no idea until I asked, and when I did, I was shocked…”

Brother Qiang closed his laptop, removed his headphones, turned his body, and said to Xu Lingbo, “What shocked you?”

Xu Lingbo spoke frankly: “My junior can publish a paper by the end of this year at the latest. Can you believe it?”

Brother Qiang picked up a lamb skewer, took a couple of bites, and advised: “You, don’t panic. Listen to me, show your face more in your advisor’s office, ask her for projects, for research topics. Aren’t you quite good at getting along with people?”

“I’ve already approached her,” Xu Lingbo said. “She gave me a pile of papers.”

Brother Qiang raised his right hand and even pulled up his sleeve: “Brother Bo, if you’ve already approached your advisor, what is there to panic about?”

Xu Lingbo leaned sideways against a cushion: “Brother Qiang, we have a group meeting next week. Compared to my seniors and juniors, won’t I look like an idiot? My previous advisor didn’t manage his students and rarely held meetings. There were two or three students in the group who weren’t as good as me. Now, it’s all good—I’ve become the last in our group…”

Brother Qiang frowned, considered for a moment, and then imparted his set of “Graduate Student Group Meeting Slacking Techniques” to Xu Lingbo.

Brother Qiang also said that once you master this set of “Graduate Student Group Meeting Slacking Techniques,” you can deal with ninety percent of university advisors worldwide, making your advisor unable to guess what you did during the week, thinking instead that you read many papers, produced many results, and spent a great deal of time and energy.

Xu Lingbo hurriedly expressed his gratitude.

With a grateful heart, he humbly learned the “Graduate Student Group Meeting Slacking Techniques”—the trick of this method lay in striving to talk about things your advisor doesn’t understand, extracting complex terms from newly published high-level journal papers, then throwing the topic to senior and junior colleagues, going back and forth several rounds, consuming time until the advisor forgets the student’s specific work for the week.

“Master, truly a master,” Xu Lingbo was deeply moved. “Brother Qiang, you’ve saved so many graduate students from deep waters and raging fires. With this excellent method, I no longer need to worry about speaking at group meetings!”

Brother Qiang smiled, concealing his merits and fame: “Being a graduate student means knowing how to get by. Look at me—after publishing papers last semester, my advisor stopped assigning me work. This semester, I’ll cover for you, ensuring you live comfortably under Professor Lin’s guidance. Your advisor and Master’s Husband are both good people. Your days will be easier than mine.”

Xu Lingbo enthusiastically applauded this speech.

*

Meanwhile, Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai took a private car to the main building entrance of the internet company. This area was a high-tech software company park. Their “Quantum Technology Laboratory” office building was beside the main building. Lin Zhixia followed Jiang Yubai around two buildings, and looking ahead, she immediately saw five prominent English letters: “PTSIC.”

PTSIC was the initial code name for their quantum programming platform, representing the first letters of the English name of the undergraduate alma mater of all members of their team.

Lin Zhixia looked up at the “PTSIC” sign and remarked with emotion: “When I was young, I never imagined I would have such an opportunity.”

Jiang Yubai followed her thought and asked: “The opportunity to run a company?”

Lin Zhixia shook her head and said, “I never imagined there would be someone like you accompanying me through every important stage of my life.”