"…German is really hard to learn—much harder than calculus." Afraid that her reaction might seem like protesting too much, Lin Qin added another sentence. But afterward, she thought that being suspicious of shadows was just the self-indulgence of a restless mind; someone as open and upright as Meng Jingnian wouldn't read too much into it.
Meng Jingnian nodded in deep agreement. "My German wasn't very good either. When I first arrived, I couldn't understand half of what was said, and I didn't dare speak up rashly. Once, at a meal with a classmate from my study group, he asked me, 'Meng, why do you never initiate conversation with me? Do you have a problem with me?'" As he spoke, he took out a bottle of purified water and handed it to Lin Qin.
Lin Qin's lips curved slightly as she listened. "Was Hamburg fun?"
She twisted the cap, but to her surprise, it wouldn't budge. She wiped her palm on her sleeve, then tried again with more force—still immovable.
Meng Jingnian reached out his hand toward her.
"No need, I can…" A third attempt, and still defeated.
Embarrassed, Lin Qin handed the bottle over. "I don't know what's wrong today… I'm usually the one who changes the water jug in the dorm."
Meng Jingnian gripped the cap. The veins on the back of his hand stood out from the effort, his knuckles turning white. After a moment, the tightly sealed cap finally gave way. He handed the bottle back to Lin Qin with a smile. "It's not your fault—this one is a bit tight."
Lin Qin took the bottle, drank a sip of water, and averted her gaze, her expression still uneasy.
Kids are stubborn—they don't want to show even a hint of awkwardness in front of others. Meng Jingnian understood her personality well.
Standing before the refrigerator, the scene naturally reminded him of something that had happened when she first came to live with Meng Yingnian and Lin Zhengjun.
At that time, Lin Zhengjun was still working on his PhD, and Meng Yingnian had just finished her master's and was interning at a law firm. The young couple, two years into their marriage, had no savings to speak of. They hadn't bought a house—just rented a two-bedroom apartment in the university's faculty housing complex.
Meng Jingnian was a sophomore in high school then. On weekends, he'd sometimes go to his sister's place for dinner, and if the weather turned bad, he'd crash on the living room sofa for the night.
That night, he woke in the middle of the night to a faint rustling sound. He thought it was a mouse and didn't pay it much mind—until something seemed to trip, and a soft "ah" escaped in the darkness.
He cracked his eyes open a slit and caught a shadow standing frozen in front of the coffee table. She was staring intently at him, as if observing whether she had woken him.
He didn't move. The shadow paused for a moment, then tiptoed toward the kitchen.
A moment later, a wedge of light spilled from the kitchen—he guessed the refrigerator door had been opened.
Then came the sound of chewing and swallowing. At dinner, Lin Zhengjun had suddenly needed to rush out, and perhaps afraid of delaying him, she'd put down her chopsticks without eating her fill.
Lying on the sofa, listening to the sound, he felt a pang of sympathy. This little girl—who by family rank should be his niece—had been devastated by her parents' death and had lost her ability to speak for some time. His sister and brother-in-law had quietly consulted a psychologist, who advised observing her for a while first, and only intervening if it persisted.
He remembered that at the dinner table, she had glanced at Lin Zhengjun once, as if wanting to say something. But something seemed to stop her from speaking—her face flushed for a moment, and she just lowered her head and shoveled rice into her mouth without saying a word.
At eight or nine years old, kids are in the middle of a growth spurt. Given her personality, if she hadn't been so hungry she couldn't sleep, she would never have snuck into the kitchen in the middle of the night to steal food.
The little girl was wolfing down her food and even choked a little.
He let out an amused sigh, got up from the sofa, and walked quietly to the kitchen doorway.
The person inside whirled around, frozen in place, half a slice of toast still in her mouth, her eyes full of terror.
He said unhurriedly, "When that toast went into the fridge, the bag was still sealed."
She looked down at the opened toast bag in her hand, her expression growing even more panicked.
He walked up beside her, reached over her shoulder, pulled out a slice from the bag, and took a bite.
She turned back, blinked, and stared at him.
"If my sister asks, just say I ate it."
She froze.
"Did you hear me?"
She hesitated, then nodded.
"You're supposed to say, 'I heard you.'"
She bit her lip, still refusing to speak.
He didn't push it. Reaching into the fridge, he took out a half-empty carton of fresh milk. "Want some?"
She shook her head.
"Won't you choke eating it dry?" He chuckled, walked over to the stove, and took two clean glasses from the cabinet. With the toast slice still in his mouth, he poured two glasses of milk and held one out to her.
After a standoff, she finally took the glass. Her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say "thank you."
He spoke first. "No need to thank me."
The two of them stood in front of the stove, eating toast and drinking milk by the light of the refrigerator. Fortunately, it was an old model—the kind that wouldn't sound an alarm no matter how long the door stayed open.
She finished the last slice of toast, and the milk in her glass was nearly gone.
He said softly, "Go to bed first. I'll wash the cups."
She nodded.
"Rinse your mouth before sleeping, or you'll get cavities."
She nodded again.
This memory from over a decade ago made Meng Jingnian chuckle softly.
Lin Qin was a little puzzled and looked up at him.
He didn't say anything, just raised his wrist to check his watch. "Any plans tonight? I'll treat you to dinner."
"I've already arranged to have dinner and discuss with my team."
"What time? I dragged you over here for half a day of hard work—hope I didn't hold you up."
"No, not at all." Lin Qin shook her head. "We're meeting at six. If I stay a little longer, it'll be just right to head over."
Not being able to have dinner with Meng Jingnian didn't make Lin Qin feel particularly regretful. She never overextended anything, including the few opportunities she had to spend time with him.
/
After the conversation with Meng Jingnian, the group reconvened for a meeting and quickly settled on the subsequent development direction—the school competition was next month, and they had no spare time to keep deliberating.
Yan Mingxuan had initially gone to the School of Artificial Intelligence to find someone, clearly not expecting that the top student in the year wasn't just a girl, but a girl so beautiful that even looking at her directly made people blush. People always tend to judge by appearances; if someone is too striking, those unaware of the facts will significantly underestimate their abilities.
But after several interactions, Yan Mingxuan absolutely believed in the substance of Lin Qin's top ranking. Her calmness and rationality could rank in the top three of his social network.
She was very… Yan Mingxuan tried to find a precise word to describe Lin Qin, but found it difficult. He had never dealt with someone like her. If he had to find a metaphor, she was a bit like a character from a martial arts novel—a female assassin with no emotional fluctuations. Cold, no wasted words, rarely making a move, but when she did, one strike was fatal.
Thursday morning, the four of them went to the tea lounge on the first floor of Yan Mingxuan's School of Atmospheric Sciences for a discussion—the location was chosen by Lin Qin. Yan Mingxuan had no idea how someone from the School of Artificial Intelligence could know the layout of another school's building so well. But he didn't raise any objections. Although he was the initiator of the whole project, he basically accommodated his team members' requests. If another one ran off, there really would be no game left to play.
Lin Qin opened her laptop, and the three team members gathered around her, watching her demonstrate the basic framework she had built after several consecutive nights of work.
With simple explanations accompanying the operations, Lin Qin ran through the functions, then said, "If you have any questions or opinions, feel free to raise them."
The functional requirements Yan Mingxuan had proposed were basically all implemented, so he naturally had no objections, only suggesting some directions for optimization.
There was also a male student from the computer science department in the team, mainly responsible for data crawling, visualization, and the overall framework. His name was Peng Fei—average height, average looks. After the group meeting dispersed, if they ran into each other on the street, Lin Qin couldn't be sure she'd recognize him at a glance. But he had a decent personality and was hardworking without complaint.
Peng Fei asked Lin Qin, "Can I take a look at the code?"
Lin Qin nodded.
Peng Fei propped his chin and scrolled for a while, then said involuntarily, "Your code is beautifully written."
Lin Qin: "I know."
Yan Mingxuan laughed out loud. The remaining team member, a girl from digital media who wore glasses and had a dimple when she smiled, named Xu Shirui, laughed along too.
Peng Fei scratched his head. "You're using the PyTorch framework?"
"Yeah."
"Your school teaches PyTorch in sophomore year?"
"No, I learned it on my own when I was bored."
Peng Fei gave a thumbs up. "Impressive."
No one had any objections, and the meeting smoothly moved to the next item—discussing the direction for further refinement and the division of labor for the school competition.
"…Okay, let me summarize. I'll make the PPT, Xu Shirui will do the presentation on stage, and Peng Fei and Lin Qin—if the judges ask computer-related professional questions during the defense, you two will answer them."
Peng Fei said, "Got it."
No response from Lin Qin.
Yan Mingxuan looked over and found Lin Qin staring at the other end of the corridor.
He followed her gaze and saw a group of people walking over, among them someone he recognized—a legendary figure in the school who had once proctored a pop quiz for the dean during freshman year: Senior Meng Jingnian.
The group walked up to the tea lounge. Meng Jingnian glanced over and suddenly paused. "Having a meeting here?"
Yan Mingxuan was baffled, then heard Lin Qin say, "Yeah."
He looked at Lin Qin in surprise, then at Meng Jingnian.
Lin Qin pushed her laptop aside and stood up, walking over to Meng Jingnian. "Is the defense over?"
"Just finished."
The moment Meng Jingnian came down the stairs and stepped into the corridor, Lin Qin had seen him.
Today he was dressed in formal attire—a white shirt in a formal cut, perfectly fitted, accentuating broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He looked refined, elegant, and effortlessly outshone everyone else around him.
When he reached her, her gaze lingered on him for a moment before she casually looked away. Her heart skipped a beat.
At this moment, the person who had arrived with Meng Jingnian—apparently a teacher from the department—patted Meng Jingnian on the shoulder. "Jingnian, I'll be heading off now. So we're settled on the matter I asked you to help with?"
Meng Jingnian nodded. "No problem, Teacher Li."
The man called Teacher Li hurried away, and the few others following behind Meng Jingnian appeared to be his fellow classmates or labmates.
One of them—a tall, lean guy with black-rimmed glasses, dressed and groomed neatly—seemed to be on good terms with Meng Jingnian. He nudged him with his elbow. "Your undergrad junior?"
"Mm… not from our department."
The guy, with a teasing tone, looked at Lin Qin. "Which department are you from, junior?"
"Artificial Intelligence."
"Artificial Intelligence? Then why are you here? Waiting for Old Meng?"
Meng Jingnian shot the guy a look, as if telling him not to joke around, then turned to Lin Qin. "I'm having a meal with my labmates. If you need anything, contact me on WeChat."
Lin Qin nodded.
Meng Jingnian gave a final slight nod and turned to leave.
Only then did Yan Mingxuan snap back to reality, realizing he hadn't even greeted his senior yet. "Classmate Lin, you know Senior Meng from our department?"
"Mm." Lin Qin sat back down.
"How did you two meet?"
Lin Qin didn't answer. She yawned, feeling everything had become dull and tedious, and propped her chin on her hand with a weary air.