Chapter 22#
Starry River#
Du Minsheng followed Mo Xuzhi back to the hotel.
When they returned, the others had already finished eating and gone back to their respective rooms; only Luo Wenyun was still sitting in the lobby.
He was looking down at a small card in his hand. Hearing movement at the door, he looked up and saw Mo Xuzhi. His lips moved slightly, but then he saw Du Minsheng following behind Mo Xuzhi. He lowered his eyes and ultimately said nothing, standing up and heading toward the stairs.
His back inexplicably exuded a sense of exhaustion.
Seeing Luo Wenyun leave, a staff member greeted Mo Xuzhi and Du Minsheng, saying, “We saved some food for you, come and eat quickly.”
The two thanked them, had a quick dinner, and prepared to go upstairs.
Just as they reached the middle of the stairs, the director called out to them, saying, “Is the camera in your room broken? We’ve been seeing a black image on our end.”
He spoke very implicitly and tactfully.
Du Minsheng didn’t understand what he meant, but Mo Xuzhi did.
He smiled, equally expressionless: “It might have been covered by something. I’ll check when I get back.”
The director gave him a similarly hypocritical smile.
Du Minsheng followed Mo Xuzhi back to the room.
Mo Xuzhi sat on a stool by the door, took off his shoes, and changed into slippers. He asked, “Is there anything you need to tidy up—things that aren’t convenient to be filmed by the camera?”
Since the room door closed, Du Minsheng had been a bit unnatural, his eyes darting around and never looking toward Mo Xuzhi. Hearing this, he finally looked at Mo Xuzhi, then as if blinded by something, quickly looked away and replied, “No.”
Mo Xuzhi then put on his slippers and removed the cloth covering the camera, his movements natural and smooth.
Clearly, he did this often.
“How is your sleep quality?” Mo Xuzhi moved his laptop onto the bed and said, “I might… play games until quite late.”
“I’m thinking about new songs, so I’ll stay up late too.”
A consensus was successfully reached.
Du Minsheng still had to organize his luggage, while Mo Xuzhi went straight to wash up, then quickly got on the bed and opened his laptop.
He didn’t have much left to do today, but he had to do some of tomorrow’s tasks.
After the rooms were assigned tomorrow night, he would have to find a way to crawl into Luo Wenyun’s bed. The time available for work would be much less, so he could only finish part of it today to avoid dragging down the team.
After Du Minsheng organized his luggage, he went to the bathroom to shower, leaving Mo Xuzhi alone in the room.
After reading just a few lines, the phone placed aside began to vibrate; a call was coming in.
Mo Xuzhi glanced at the name and found it was from Wang Zhifeng, so he conveniently clicked to answer.
Wang Zhifeng’s voice through the phone was a bit distorted, but it still carried his usual gentle tone.
He first asked Mo Xuzhi if his work was going smoothly and how his day was, made a few jokes, and then directed the topic toward engineering research.
“The materials are basically in place. We discussed the casing mentioned before, and ultimately tentatively decided on nickel. I wanted to ask for your opinion.”
“Nickel?”
Mo Xuzhi was about to continue speaking when he looked down and suddenly saw the small microphone still pinned to his collar through the laptop screen.
His movement paused, and his expression finally had a slight change.
There was silence on the other end of the phone. Wang Zhifeng waved away several researchers who were winking and making faces, and asked, “Is something wrong?”
Mo Xuzhi took off the microphone and set it aside, covered his face, and replied, “Nothing.”
“Nickel is theoretically feasible. Make a model first to try it out. Be careful during the operation; Xiao Chen hasn’t participated in many actual experiments, so remind him more. I’ve organized a rough process flowchart here; the details will be sent to you tom—no, the day after tomorrow.”
“Okay. So when can you come back?”
Wang Zhifeng toyed with a glass tube and said, “I want to determine a rough date to facilitate applying for equipment.”
“The day after tomorrow or the day after that. I’ll negotiate with Human Resources then, and I’ll tell you once there’s a result.”
“Alright, I—” Wang Zhifeng paused and said, “We’ll wait for you to come back.”
Mo Xuzhi also smiled, stopped his hands that were still typing on the keyboard, and leaned against the back of the bed, his posture becoming a bit more relaxed. “And the lithography machine, has it been applied for?”
“Applied, no reply yet.”
“Did the first review pass?”
“It’s still stuck.”
Mo Xuzhi frowned.
Knock knock.
A knock sounded outside the door, appearing particularly abrupt in the quiet space.
Mo Xuzhi put on his slippers and opened the door.
“In short, we must get the lithography machine approved as soon as possible. If not, I’ll contact Minister Li again and have him step in to urge them…”
Mo Xuzhi had the phone pressed to his ear, and he stopped halfway through opening the door.
It was Luo Wenyun standing outside.
He was still wearing the clothes he arrived in today, but two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned, and he didn’t look as energetic as usual.
He looked down over here.
“Let’s leave it at that for now. I have something to do; I’ll hang up first.”
Meeting Luo Wenyun’s gaze, Mo Xuzhi hung up the phone. He still maintained his previous movement and didn’t seem to have any intention of opening the door further.
“Is there something?” Mo Xuzhi asked.
Perhaps amused by his attitude, Luo Wenyun bent down, one hand against the door frame, his eyes looking directly at Mo Xuzhi.
His eyes were light gray, very special; as long as they were tinged with a bit of emotion, they would appear different.
Mo Xuzhi watched his eyes change from dark to bright.
Something was a bit off.
He asked again: “What are you here for?”
Luo Wenyun smiled, didn’t answer, and asked back: “Won’t you let me in to sit for a while?”
“If there’s anything, just say it here.” Mo Xuzhi tilted his head slightly inward. “Du Minsheng is still showering. This is our shared space; it’s not good to unilaterally agree to let someone in.”
Luo Wenyun’s expression remained unchanged, but his smile faded slightly. He also realized the inappropriateness of talking about things here, and ultimately stuffed the thing he had already taken into his hand back into his pant pocket.
“We’ll talk after arriving at the villa tomorrow night.”
Mo Xuzhi casually said: “You’re quite confident in Shen Le.”
Saying they’d stay in the villa before the competition even started—if he weren’t extremely confident in Shen Le, he really wouldn’t be able to say it.
This time, Luo Wenyun’s face was completely expressionless. He gave a hum, his voice very faint.
Mo Xuzhi waved his hand. “If there’s nothing else, then I won’t see you off.”
The wooden door closed tightly in front of Luo Wenyun’s eyes, and then there was no sound.
Just as Mo Xuzhi closed the door, Du Minsheng had just come out of the bathroom.
“Did someone come by just now?”
Mo Xuzhi shook his head: “No, someone just knocked on the wrong door. They’ve already left.”
Du Minsheng moved his gaze away, but inadvertently saw the computer screen continuously flashing code. The letters and numbers scrolled rapidly, quickly filling several pages, making one’s eyes hurt from the flashing.
Is this… a game?
Mo Xuzhi inconspicuously blocked the computer screen.
Institute of Science
The phone was unexpectedly hung up. Wang Zhifeng was momentarily stunned, then smiled and put the phone aside.
“Smiling so radiantly just from taking a call,” several team members leaned over. One of them, through his own strength, successfully squeezed out the others and asked, “When is the Big Boss coming back?”
He called him “Big Boss” naturally, and no one refuted it.
They usually called him that privately when Mo Xuzhi wasn’t around.
Mainly because Mo Xuzhi was a bit too terrifying.
They all entered the school around the same time. While they were still struggling not to fail their finals, he had already entered the Institute of Science. By the time they entered the Institute, he had already become a core researcher recognized and appointed by the central government.
If they were to really talk about it, they would even have to call him “Group Leader.”
—This question indeed hit the mark.
The others were also looking at Wang Zhifeng.
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Wang Zhifeng placed the test tube in his hand onto the test tube rack, his eyes looking at the extremely beautiful blue flocculent substance gradually spreading inside. “The day after tomorrow or the day after that. Specifically, Xuzhi still needs to negotiate with Human Resources over there.”
“What kind of work is the Big Boss actually doing? He hasn’t mentioned it before.”
Several team members were a bit curious.
They only knew that Mo Xuzhi had another job and left the Institute every now and then for that job, but not a single person in the entire Institute actually knew what he did.
Someone had asked boldly before, but only received an ambiguous answer like “You’ll naturally know when you’re supposed to know.”
He spoke, but didn’t tell everything.
Thus, the entire Institute of Science was even more curious about Mo Xuzhi’s profession.
“I don’t know either,” Wang Zhifeng said. “If he didn’t say, then don’t pry. You guys go to work first; I’ll go ask when the lithography machine approval will be secured.”
Speaking of serious business, the several team members who were originally full of interest resignedly picked up a large stack of materials and went to their respective workstations.
Wang Zhifeng took another look at the copper hydroxide solution that had already precipitated, tucked the folder under his arm, and left the laboratory.
Early the next morning, before Du Minsheng woke up, Mo Xuzhi finished washing up quietly, moved his somewhat stiff shoulders, pushed open the door, and left the hotel.
At this hour, the cameramen hadn’t started work yet, so he could take this time to go for a walk.
It was not yet seven o’clock, and the surroundings were still quiet. The white clouds on the horizon faintly showed a trace of brightness.
The scenery of Wanwan Town was nice, and the morning air carried the fresh scent of earth and grass.
Coming out from the side door of the hotel, there was a tree-lined path. The trees and leaves weren’t dense, so they didn’t block much light. The leaves were sparse and well-spaced.
Mo Xuzhi walked slowly along this path.
The tree-lined path wasn’t long. At the end, there was a small path on a field bank.
Early-planted vegetables had already sprouted, and the field was a patch of green.
He just heard two insect chirps, but before he could hear them clearly, footsteps suddenly sounded from another part of the field bank.
The sound moved from far to near. Mo Xuzhi happened to see a man who should be a production crew staff member carrying a camera, running out of breath. He must have been tired from running, and his face was flushed with an abnormal red glow.
Mo Xuzhi stood in place, watching him run far away, then turned his head to look in the direction the man came from.
It seemed he came from the direction of the instrument shop.