Ding-dong!
【Student Lu: I have arrived.】
On the second floor, He Yu was using a magnifying glass on a set of equipment. “Adjust it. It is crooked.” He was conducting a small experiment to measure the voltage or current produced by crystal resonance.
Cheng Shixu wore light-shielding sunglasses and used tweezers to carefully move the crystal carrier a fraction. “Why are you doing this?”
“This energy conservation experiment requires accurate values. You can make a watch that does not need a battery.” He Yu pushed up his light-shielding glasses and stared at the current generated between the three crystals. It shone for a moment and then dissipated. “Alas, it is not working. Let us try two more.”
Cheng Shixu said, “It is unstable. It will explode. Let us add another one.” After dinner, Fu Chenming had left, saying something had happened at the venue below. He Yu had pulled him to the laboratory to conduct this experiment.
He had done this in his past life, too, but he had forgotten some of it. Back then, they had done it in the chemistry lab at No. 1 High School. He Yu had been the one driving the project afterward, so he was not really clear on the specific process.
“Did I achieve any real results with this in the future? How much money did I make?” He Yu walked to a cabinet, opened a glass jar, and carefully used tweezers to take out a crystal and place it on a dish.
“Um…” Cheng Shixu thought for a long time and said, “You made a lot of money.” As for what the specific core technology was, how would he know? That was company secret.
He Yu placed the crystal and looked at him upon hearing this, rolling his eyes. “I do not believe you did not participate in my experiments.” He had just seen that Cheng Shixu’s hands were not clumsy at all. “Tell me, what is your job in the future?”
Cheng Shixu shrugged. “Clerical work. Drafting documents and the like.”
“You are a science student; why are you doing that?” He Yu was quite surprised. Before Cheng Shixu transferred to Experimental High School, they had always been the proud protégés of their physics and chemistry teachers, often taken by them to do experiments. He had not expected that he would not be in a related industry in the future.
Cheng Shixu said, “It is relatively easy.” He grabbed He Yu’s shoulder and said, “I do not have your grand ambitions, Master He. I have been drifting through life since I was little.” In his past life, he had indeed participated in the experiment for this technology of He Yu’s, but only in the early stages. Halfway through, his brain would stop working; he would get a headache as soon as he entered the lab and had even fainted several times.
There were many test subjects in the lab, and it was inevitable that there would be radiation, but they all wore radiation-proof clothing, and the items were well-isolated. The safety of the laboratory was guaranteed. Everyone else was fine, but he was the one who frequently experienced dizziness.
One time, while He Yu was abroad negotiating business, he was alone in the Xida laboratory. He was halfway through a synthesis experiment for a conductive coating material when he fainted.
In a haze, he felt as if someone had pushed open the lab door and called out anxiously, “Cheng Shixu! You wake up!” He could not open his eyes at all. After his body was lifted, he did not have the strength to raise his hand again, but he dimly caught a glimpse of a vague silhouette.
When he opened his eyes again, a fragrance filled the air.
He was lying in a single-patient room with only a nurse helping him change his IV drip. “Excuse me, who sent me to the hospital?”
Nurse: “It was a young man.”
“Has he left?”
Nurse: “He received a call and left in a hurry. He told me to watch over you. You should call your family.”
After the nurse left, Cheng Shixu followed the scent and found a thermal container next to the table. He picked it up, opened it, and found a bowl of hot beef noodles; the green onions sprinkled on top were still fresh. Who was it? Could it be that He Yu had returned and found him?
He called He Yu, and He Yu said he was abroad. Upon learning he had fainted in the lab, he rushed back to China. His mother did not say much after learning about it, but she would send him several text messages asking about it every time he did an experiment. He thought that it was fine to change professions; nothing was as important as his health.
After that incident, he had undergone several check-ups, but they could not find any problems, so it was left unsettled. The experiment regarding the “holographic device to awaken brain cells” also came to an abrupt end, strangled in its cradle. It was a pity, but there was nothing to be done.
Although he had been reborn and his brain was younger, he could not keep up with his own clever self from his past life. He could not even keep up with the tutoring, let alone conduct experiments. He was truly willing but unable.
“Alright. I will not force you if you do not want to say.” He Yu could see that he was hiding something from him, but he usually would not pry into these things. “Hurry up and come help.”
“Okay.” Cheng Shixu put on insulated white gloves and connected the conduits one by one. During the process, he thought about the experiment from his past life. If he had not participated, He Yu would not have stopped because of his fainting. Would he have been able to make the “holographic device to awaken brain cells”? If it could be made, He Yu’s company would definitely have jumped to become the industry leader—something no one achieved before he died.
“A-Yu, do you want to try discovering a coating material?”
He Yu made a “shh” sound. “Careful not to blow out the current. I worked on this for a long time.”
Cheng Shixu: “…” What kind of current gets blown out!
He was still not willing to give up. “Did you hear what I said just now?”
“Heard it, heard it. You make it sound so easy. To discover a new substance, you have to publish a paper, right? Do you know what the first author of a paper on a new substance gets?” He Yu stared with focused attention as the four crystals circled in mid-air on the rack. “They get an exceptional admission into a research institute. You make it sound so easy.”
Cheng Shixu’s eyes curved. It was not that it was easy; in his past life, it was He Yu who discovered it, which led him to propose that combining this new substance with others could serve as a surface coating material for holographic device conductors. “You can do it, A-Yu. I believe in you.”
Suddenly, his phone went ding-dong. Cheng Shixu realized it was already very late. After connecting all the conduits, he said, “I am leaving now. Do you want me to help you call A-Chi over to help you with the chores?”
He Yu looked at him with an expression of “iron failing to become steel.” “Running off at the sight of a text message.” He waved his hand. “Forget it. A-Chi is better off not coming. Every time he comes, it is a guaranteed disaster.”
“Then I am off.”
“Bye.”
“Bye-bye.”
Taking off the protective suit and hanging it on the rack by the door, Cheng Shixu left with his phone. As he went out, Housekeeper Qin asked him if dinner was good today, when he would come next, and if there was anything he wanted to eat, he should let her know in advance so she could prepare it. He shook his head and said he did not know when he would come next; probably not until after the next monthly exam.
The entrance exam for Experimental High School had already passed, and Lu Jian had not taken it at all. He had been too wishful in his thinking; Lu Jian looked like he loved to learn, but he was not the type to do whatever he was told.
A bicycle was parked on the side of the road, and a silhouette leaned against it. The moonlight tonight was clear and bright, falling from the top of the trees and casting dappled shadows on Lu Jian’s profile. He was chewing on a “cigarette” and looking down, fiddling with his phone; the faint light of the screen shone on his face.
From a distance, Cheng Shixu slowed his pace. When he got closer, he realized that what Lu Jian was chewing on was a sugar stick that looked very much like a cigarette. He remembered that the small shop sold them for 50 cents a pack; they looked exactly like cigarettes and actually sold quite well.
He saw that Lu Jian had a deep frown, looking as if he were facing a formidable enemy, as if the phone in his palm were a ticking bomb.
“Student Lu.” He called out.
Lu Jian raised his eyes, saw him, and put away his phone. “Let us go. Student Cheng.” He mounted the bike and waited for a while, only to realize there was no movement in the back seat. He turned his head and saw Student Cheng looking at him with a smile. “What? Do you not want to ride a bike?”
“Nothing.” Cheng Shixu hugged his arms and walked two steps toward him, lowering his head and turning his face to the side. “Student Lu, who is chewing on a cigarette, is very handsome and very well-behaved. You know that as a minor, you cannot smoke real cigarettes.”
Lu Jian made a crunch sound, crushing the sugar stick. “Are you getting on or not?” He had bought it specially before coming. Jin Yi had come to find him at the stall, nagging and exaggerating about meeting Cheng Shixu at the dormitory entrance this morning.
He figured Cheng Shixu must really despise smoking, and he put his benefactor’s feelings first.
“Coming.” Cheng Shixu sat cross-legged on the small pedals, supporting his hands on the front seat. “What did Student Lu eat today?”
Lu Jian: “Two big steamed buns.”
Cheng Shixu put his hand on his back and gave a cold laugh. “You threw away the meal I ordered for you? Wasting food?” It was finally his turn to say this line!
In his past life, every time he ate with Lu Jian, if he could not finish his food, Lu Jian would always silently eat it for him. Sometimes he would ask, “Our President Lu has quite the appetite, huh?” and he would say sternly, “I do not want to waste food.”
“Cough, cough, cough…” Lu Jian gave a dry, awkward cough. “I ate it all.” He had never eaten such a delicious dinner; it was filling, large in portion, and also very fragrant.
“That is good. From now on, I will send you three meals a day as before. Your body is the capital of revolution; if it collapses, you have nothing. It is important to take good care of your health.” A breeze blew by, carrying the dampness of the night air. Cheng Shixu wrapped his coat tighter. “As for the exams and whatnot, arrange it yourself. As long as you write those test papers, I will definitely teach you. Also…”
The sound of Cheng Shixu’s endless chatter came from behind. Lu Jian pedaled, thinking to himself that Cheng Shixu was a bit too light—was it because he was not tall?
“I will participate in the next exam.”
“Like the vocational school students I met before… wait…” Cheng Shixu thought he had misheard. “What did you say?” He lifted his bottom slightly, leaning on Lu Jian’s broad back. “You just said you would participate in the next entrance exam for Experimental High School, right?”
Lu Jian felt the warmth coming from his back. “Yes.”
Cheng Shixu poked his head out from Lu Jian’s shoulder and looked up at him. From his angle, he could see that Lu Jian’s jawline was not as strong and sharp as it was in his past life; it currently carried a touch of youthful innocence. “Really?” As he looked, why did it feel a bit familiar?
That was normal, right? He was definitely familiar with Lu Jian. Even with this current tin-foil-perm, dark-green-haired look, he would still recognize him.
Mentioning this, he was still very puzzled about how Lu Jian’s tattoo had been removed so neatly; lasers leave scars, and he could not have had a skin graft.
Lu Jian was not that foolish; skin grafts were not only painful, but there was also no need for them.
And he did not care if Lu Jian had a tattoo or not anyway.
“Student Lu, under what circumstances would you go to get a tattoo removed?”
Lu Jian said, “Student Cheng has a lot of questions. That is my own business.”
Cheng Shixu sat back in the back seat, clutching the clothes at his waist with both hands. “Tell me. Is it for someone?”
Lu Jian: “Heh… I must repeat again, I do not like men.” He pedaled the bicycle down the slope; the ride was steady and fast, just as if there was no one on the back.
“Yes, yes, yes, Student Lu does not like men, and neither do I. So, why would you go to get a tattoo removed in the future?”
Lu Jian thought to himself that he was not stupid; getting a tattoo removed was so painful, why would he go get it removed for no reason? He was not full and bored, spending money to look for pain.