The day of discharge was busier than the previous days Ji Wenyu had spent in the hospital.
After the department head reviewed all the medical indicators, discharge was approved, followed by running up and down for various procedures, processing paperwork, and refunding the deposit.
Zhu Hong was still very weak, lying in her hospital bed waiting for him. Ji Zhiming was still on the way, and Uncle Zhang helped pack up the luggage in the hospital room.
The packing wasn’t finished before noon, so the three of them had lunch together in the hospital cafeteria. Right after lunch, Ji Zhiming arrived. After getting the medical records printed out, the four of them took a taxi to the railway station.
Even though they bought business-class tickets, the father and son of the Ji family were still worried that Mom might feel uncomfortable along the way. Fortunately, it went without a hitch; Zhu Hong slept all the way and safely returned to Beijing just like that.
Instead of returning to the villa in the suburbs, Ji Zhiming had his assistant pick them up at the station and delivered the keys to a large flat in the city center. Although Ji Wenyu asked several times for his mother to stay near Zijing University, Zhu Hong didn’t want to affect her son’s schooling, so she didn’t agree. Dad promised to arrange a dedicated nutritionist before going on a business trip, and only then was the young man forced to compromise, taking a taxi from the station back to school.
Dinner was the boxed meal eaten on the train, and when he returned to the downstairs of the dormitory building, it was already late at night.
Ji Wenyu was almost getting used to the six-to-two routine.
The lights were still on in the dormitory. As the young man pushed the door open and entered, Xu Yuanzhe and Huang Bin were both lying on their beds upstairs, while Pan Lejia was still sitting at the computer with headphones on, his muted mouse and keyboard making rustling sounds.
Ji Wenyu quietly put his things down and headed to the hallway carrying his toiletries. When he came back, he silently turned off the dormitory’s overhead light.
Huang Bin tossed his phone into the storage basket, turned over, and closed his eyes. Pan Lejia didn’t notice at all, still engrossed in his computer.
Instead, Xu Yuanzhe on the bed by the window got up and climbed down: “You’re back.”
Xu Yuanzhe stood under the bed, stopping right beside him.
“Yeah.” Ji Wenyu nodded. “Still not sleeping?”
He hadn’t mentioned the family matters in detail when asking Huang Bin for leave, and to Xu Yuanzhe and Pan Lejia, he hadn’t said a single word about it.
In his impression, Xu Yuanzhe usually went to bed around eleven, sleeping early and rising early, rarely staying up late.
“Going to sleep now.” Xu Yuanzhe looked at him again before walking toward the door, presumably heading to the restroom before bed.
Ji Wenyu didn’t think much of it, climbed onto his bed, and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
He was simply too exhausted.
Originally, he wanted to ask about Mom’s condition before sleeping, but the moment Ji Wenyu touched the pillow, it was as if he had been knocked unconscious with a blunt club, instantly losing consciousness and even failing to set an alarm for the next morning.
Not setting an alarm naturally led to missing things, and he slept straight through this time until noon the next day.
The morning professional class was naturally slept through. In the past, besides his own alarm in the morning, he could also hear Huang Bin and the others’. But today, whether it was the alarm sound or the sound of his roommates getting out of bed and walking around below, Ji Wenyu didn’t hear any of it. Even waking up at noon felt like it relied entirely on his stubborn willpower struggling in his dreams to get up and go to class.
[ICE: No roll call]
This was the first message that greeted Ji Wenyu when he swiped open his phone screen.
The young man breathed a sigh of relief, blinked, and almost passed out again on the spot.
[ICE: There’s an assignment]
This was the second one sent by Huang Bin.
Ji Wenyu curled his lips.
Just as he saw off one assignment, another one comes along. Oh well, time to write it. The midterms were approaching fast, so it was also time to catch up on progress.
Exiting the chat box with Huang Bin, he opened the family chat group with his mom and dad.
[Little Fish: How are you feeling today? No fever, right?]
He mentioned his mother.
Zhu Hong’s message came back very quickly.
[Hong: Much better, focus on your classes]
That’s good then. The thing he was worried about didn’t happen, so the young man relaxed, picked a cute sticker, and sent it back.
[Little Fish: OK.GIF]
Getting up, he first took a shower, put on his clothes, and headed out to the cafeteria.
Beijing’s winter was drawing closer day by day.
Despite the blazing sun, the wind blowing against his face still carried a chill, unable to shake off the desolate vibe.
He vaguely remembered that on the day he went to Qingcheng, the campus was still full of green everywhere. How was it that after just a few days, some trees had bare branches and the grass color had turned dull?
When riding his bike fast, his hands already felt a bit frozen. Going back tonight, he would have to dig out last year’s gloves, the young man thought while finally riding to the cafeteria to lock his bike, blowing warm air into his hands.
After eating, he went straight to the Zhizhi Building for his professional class. Class ended at just past three, still early, so Ji Wenyu suddenly had an inspiration and wanted to pass by Chen Wang’s office.
The test answers were handed in on Monday, and today was already Wednesday. Aside from showing up more in front of Chen Wang to remind him about the recommendation letter, he had entrusted Huang Bin to ask for leave previously, so he should drop by anyway to explain to the professor why the deadline was delayed.
Wednesday afternoon wasn’t Chen Wang’s office hours, but holding a mindset of trying anyway whether it hits or misses, Ji Wenyu took the elevator upstairs and went to the artificial intelligence department’s faculty office area.
Unlike the quietness last time, the twelfth floor today was exceptionally bustling. In the small meeting room near the elevator entrance, about a dozen people were sitting, looking at the projection screen and chatting about something amidst a relaxed and joyful atmosphere.
The young man only swept a sideways glance inside before heading straight to Chen Wang’s independent office.
Professor Chen’s office door was wide open, but there was no one inside.
Puzzled, Ji Wenyu walked to the doorway, just as he was about to send a message to ask, the man walked out from the small meeting room by the elevator entrance.
“Hey, you’re here.” Recognizing him, Chen Wang took the initiative to greet him.
“Professor Chen.” The young man greeted politely and obediently, then began explaining, “Something happened at my family a few days ago, my mom was hospitalized out of town, and I went there to accompany her, only returning today for class. I’m very sorry for handing in those questions a day late.”
Explaining the family matters all at once avoided any misunderstandings on the other side. If he still failed to pass Chen Wang’s assessment, then he could at least consider himself as having done his best.
However, Chen Wang didn’t look like he minded too much: “It’s fine, it’s just a day late, no big deal, you had special circumstances. How is your mom recovering?”
Ji Wenyu nodded: “Much better, thank you, Professor Chen.”
Chen Wang pointed toward the inside of the office: “Come on, come in and sit.”
“Your foundation knowledge is quite solid, and you answered all the questions pretty well. I was actually thinking of calling you over today to talk more about your winter camp application, and you just came right over.” The man said with a smile.
Does this mean passing the assessment? Ji Wenyu’s eyes lit up, holding his breath as he continued to listen.
“Draft a version of the recommendation letter first and email it to me so I can revise it. The application channel officially opens next week, right? How are the materials preparation going?” Probably truly approving of Ji Wenyu and treating him as his future student, Chen Wang asked with concern.
The young man answered truthfully, pulling out the small notebook he carried with him to record the precautions.
The professor gave a few instructions, then stood up as if remembering something: “Wait a moment, I’m going next door.”
“Oh, oh, alright.” Ji Wenyu obediently sat on the small stool in the office without moving.
A few minutes later, the man returned holding a small bottle of green lime drink.
“My graduate students are having a group meeting in the meeting room next door this afternoon, one of the students’ papers was accepted by a top journal, so I bought these for them to celebrate.” Chen Wang said as he shoved the drink into Ji Wenyu’s hands, “Here, have one too.”
“Thank you, professor!” The young man hurriedly received it with both hands.
What Chen Wang bought was bottled fruit juice from a large chain supermarket; besides juice, he probably bought plenty of other food and drinks. No wonder the atmosphere in the meeting room was so cheerful, even passing by he could feel it.
Regarding the winter camp application and the materials required to upload for the application, Chen Wang gave some more precautions, and then gave the young man an affirmative nod: “Keep it up, I’m rooting for you. I have a few students who participated in the graduate recommendation winter camp, they are also Zijing undergrads staying for grad school, your senior brothers and sisters. I’ll take you over to meet them, add each other on contacts or whatever. If you don’t understand anything about materials or procedures, you can consult with them.”
Ji Wenyu followed him through another transfer to the meeting room next door, pulled along by Chen Wang to add three senior brothers and sisters on WeChat.
“Alright, you guys can contact each other afterwards. Little Ji, you head back first, we’ll continue our meeting here. Prepare well.” The professor gave him an encouraging smile and said.
Ji Wenyu thanked him repeatedly and walked out of the meeting room.
Happiness came too suddenly, everything going smoothly like an illusion.
Taking the elevator down to the first floor, the hallway was empty and deserted, and the young man ran out of the Zhizhi Building skipping and jumping.
Good news should of course be shared at the first moment.
Ji Wenyu opened Qinghe.
[Little Fish: The professor agreed to write me a recommendation letter!]
Typing five exclamation marks in one breath, the young man pressed send.
After sending it, he suddenly realized that something seemed wrong.
Since when did the target he wanted to share things with become an internet netizen in the first place?
Whenever a problem arose, the first person he thought of was X; whenever he was overjoyed, the first person he thought of was X; even when the weather was nice or he saw pretty clouds, he would also think of X.
But Chen Wang could be considered as having been won over thanks to X’s help anyway, so thinking of X first when succeeding wasn’t too much, right?
Finding a reasonable explanation for his actions, Ji Wenyu felt it was a matter of course.
Yet there was still some subtle wrongness to it, like how whenever he messaged X now, he would get inexplicably nervous. He would hesitate before sending a message, and after sending it, he would feel restless because X didn’t reply immediately, while also feeling excited and joyful when X replied.
And the last time he showed symptoms like this,
It seemed to still be with Xu Yuanzhe.
Back when he liked Xu Yuanzhe, every time he faced that person, he had to deliberate over all his dialogues and actions. He worried about coming across as too enthusiastic and annoying the other party, and he also feared focusing too much on other roommates and accidentally giving the cold shoulder to him.
He didn’t dare show he liked him too much, yet he worried the other party wouldn’t see his affection.
Although such entanglements and twists and turns ultimately turned into nothingness.
Mounting his bike and zoning out at his phone screen, Ji Wenyu stopped in place and didn’t move for a long time.
The phone screen lit up, and X replied with a message.
[X: Keep it up]
Followed by a sticker of Pink Loopy showing a very happy expression, looking a bit cute.
Ji Wenyu long-pressed to save it.
He replied to X with the exact same sticker.
Thinking the conversation was over, he was just about to shove his phone back into his pocket when X’s message came in again.
[X: Why are you stealing my sticker]
As if caught doing something wrong, Ji Wenyu’s guilty conscience made his heart beat faster.
[Little Fish: Because it’s cute]
[Little Fish: I don’t chat with people much on Qinghe and don’t have many stickers, just filling up the inventory]
The more he explained, the more it felt like trying to cover up a mistake.
His phone and both cheeks were burning just as hot, and the young man didn’t dare look at the message interface anymore, hurriedly stashing his phone away and pedaling his bike to escape.
So why was it?
Why would chatting with X make him inexplicably nervous?
Why would even being asked about the sticker make him feel guilty, terrified that the other person might discover something?
What on earth was he afraid of X discovering?
Is this like?