Chapter 28#
Reunion After a Long Absence#
Mo Xuzhi woke up and rubbed his eyes, looking out the window.
He could already see the silhouette of Jinghua University.
“We’re almost there.”
Noticing the movement of the person beside him, Wang Zhifeng closed the documents and reached out to touch Mo Xuzhi’s hair.
A touch and then apart.
He said, “Your hair is messy.”
Mo Xuzhi didn’t mind, casually ruffling his hair a few times before wiping his face.
The roof of the Institute of Science has a dedicated helipad. The helicopter’s altitude gradually decreased, and looking down, people could already be seen waiting there.
After getting off the helicopter, someone came over to take the suitcase and hand over water. The initial few newcomers had turned into a row of people.
Mo Xuzhi, wearing a white shirt and walking among a group of white lab coats, didn’t look too out of place.
“Previously, we tested using nickel for the casing. It was tested under high temperature and high pressure, and the results were good, but there’s still a gap from the expectation. It might be a dosage or purity issue. Please have a look, Group Leader.”
Mo Xuzhi had a pile of documents as soon as he got off the helicopter. He took some and flipped through them, while Wang Zhifeng and another person each held some, standing ready on the side.
As soon as the words were out, Wang Zhifeng flipped through the pile of documents, found a yellow-covered file, and handed it to Mo Xuzhi after opening it.
Mo Xuzhi looked down and flipped through it. Finding that the surroundings had become quiet, his eyes didn’t leave the document as he said in a light voice:
“Continue.”
He had little time back; only this one day this week. He had to do more in the limited time to avoid dragging down the progress.
The others were startled at first, then reacted.
“A suitable semiconductor material has been found. The fitting performance is very good, but the manufacturing process is complex and expensive. The semiconductor material used before is not very suitable for this system, but the technology is mature and can be produced faster. Which one is better to use?”
“The database has been updated. The statistics the Group Leader did before may need to be recalculated.”
“The higher-ups just came down to talk, wanting the Group Leader to select the personnel for the CI project—it can wait if you’re busy.”
“Here.”
Mo Xuzhi lowered his head and reached out to the side. Wang Zhifeng consciously handed him the pen pinned to the lapel of his white coat.
He quickly drew a line on a certain page of the material and said,
“Try nickel-aluminum alloy. If the melting point is low, try adjusting the ratio again. Theoretically, it can succeed.”
Wang Zhifeng closed the folder and handed it back to the person who sent it.
“Data later. I’ll think of a new algorithm; substituting one by one is too troublesome.”
“CI project later. Delay it for now; the candidates haven’t been decided yet.”
The group talked while walking, and before they knew it, they were on the elevator, going straight to the first floor.
Part of the business had already been handled in the elevator. For the rest, the documents were temporarily left behind, and the others returned to their respective posts after reaching the first floor.
They had arrived at the place where their group was located. Finally, only three people, including Wang Zhifeng, remained.
Taking out a white lab coat from the locker and putting it on, Mo Xuzhi put on his glasses and was tidying his collar when black rollers silently entered his field of vision.
He raised his eyes slightly.
The youth in the wheelchair was also looking up at him, his beautiful deep black pupils full of doubt and inquiry.
Mo Xuzhi’s hand tidying the collar paused.
His memory wasn’t that bad.
He remembered this person was the one he encountered in the alley and hadn’t seen again since he was discharged from the hospital.
He should be called Ji Baiwen, that’s right.
Why would he be here?
Wang Zhifeng, standing on the side, saw his confusion and introduced him at the right time: “Xuzhi, this is Ji Baiwen, the person I mentioned borrowed from the Mathematics Department.”
“Hello.”
Mo Xuzhi wasn’t sure who he was in Ji Baiwen’s eyes now, so he didn’t say much for the time being, only saying hello following Wang Zhifeng’s introduction.
“Ji Baiwen, this is Mo Xuzhi, the person in charge of the experimental project. You can find him for data problems in the future. The usual data processing will be entrusted to you.”
He really is called Mo Xuzhi.
Ji Baiwen’s expression instantly became very complicated. He said somewhat hesitantly: “…Hello.”
Compared to Mo Xuzhi, he was clearly considering something, his expression very surprised, as if something was collapsing.
“What’s wrong,” Wang Zhifeng looked at Mo Xuzhi and asked, “Do you know each other?”
Mo Xuzhi glanced at Ji Baiwen and gave a vague response, “Perhaps.”
Wang Zhifeng temporarily put this matter aside, took the folder that had just been delivered, and said, “This is the record of the first three days. If it’s confirmed to be correct, I’ll report it.”
Mo Xuzhi took the document, and along the way, put his phone on silent and locked it in the locker, pushing his glasses.
Ji Baiwen watched the newcomer walk away.
Until the newcomer’s figure disappeared around the corner, he still stared in that direction without moving.
Mo Xuzhi… why would he be here?
At noon, the “Love in Progress” production team finally rushed out the first trailer.
Since this was the variety show debut for Du Minsheng and Luo Wenyun, plus the support of the Movie King and Movie Queen, and the topic-maker Mo Xuzhi, many people had been squatting since the production team announced the guests a week ago.
Now that the trailer is out, the view count is directly in the tens of thousands.
The production team was clearly quite attentive to this trailer and knew how to whet people’s appetites.
The trailer was only a minute and a half long, but the content covered the ambiguous relationship between Shen Le and Luo Wenyun, the sweet moments between the Movie King and Movie Queen, the snippet of Du Minsheng’s song rearrangement, and some scenes of Mo Xuzhi seriously piercing hearts.
The last twenty seconds of the trailer, however, changed from the previous practice of cramming in content, and even went directly to a black screen.
A light male voice came from inside.
The voice was soothing and the accompaniment simple, yet it carried a heart-shaking vitality.
Halfway through the singing, the voice stopped abruptly, and the screen changed to a white-on-black screen 【Please Stay Tuned】.
【??? That’s it? That’s it? That’s it? It’s over? Where’s the voice? I only heard half the song!! Spit the song out for me!】
【The production team is a bunch of scoundrels, confirmed. Specifically whetting people’s appetites.】
【Brother Luo is going to fall in love?? Noooo wuwuwu】
【Li Jing and the others have something going on. Are they planning to go public?】
【Who is singing! Please! Someone come and claim him quickly! I want all his information within a minute!】
【Who is that guy named Shen Le? He looks quite good.】
【Mo-so-and-so’s skills haven’t diminished from back then; his mouth is even sharper.】
【Doing nothing and still so arrogant, as expected of Mo-so-and-so.】
【Ah? I didn’t see that he was very arrogant.】
【To be fair, for some reason, I think Mo Xuzhi looks much more pleasing to the eye.】
【Waiting for the first episode! Come out quickly!】
In just an hour, the production team was sent to the top three of the hot searches by the vast number of netizens because the trailer was too much of a tease.
Mo Xuzhi’s Weibo also saw a large influx of people because of this.
His Weibo had not been updated and was still at the last forwarded “Love in Progress” Weibo, with a wave of scolding below.
All the scolding only stayed on Weibo and was locked in the locker with his phone.
After Mo Xuzhi returned, the already busy laboratory became even busier.
Mo Xuzhi was like a stabilizing force. The researchers had a backup and felt confident to start working. When they encountered problems, they could be passed to him by Wang Zhifeng and would be solved without taking too much time.
The result of the laboratory’s high-speed operation was that the data needing processing multiplied.
Previously, some people were mindful that Ji Baiwen had just come out of the hospital and didn’t give him all the data processing. Now, everyone wished they could split themselves in half and had no time to process this data, so it could only all be given to Ji Baiwen.
Ji Baiwen was struggling a bit, sweat constantly appearing on his forehead. A pile of data needing processing was stacked by his desk, with a tendency to grow.
The Institute of Science found him because his grades were quite prominent in the Mathematics Department, and he had obtained a level certificate in computer science. He also wanted to test his own ability and see what the legendary Institute of Science was like, so he agreed.
He had originally done some mental preparation, but after truly coming, he found his own weakness and low efficiency.
“A gathering of geniuses” was not enough to describe this place.
The reality was that he couldn’t keep up with the speed of other people’s testing.
The accumulated data would slow down their progress, but he no longer had any room to speed up.
He was dragging down the entire laboratory.
“Don’t be nervous.”
With a clear sound, a glass appeared on his right.
The glass contained milk.
He looked up and met Mo Xuzhi’s downward glance.
Mo Xuzhi was still wearing glasses.
A pair of silver-framed glasses rested on his high nose bridge, partially covered by falling stray hair, adding a touch of casualness to his rational and calm demeanor.
He looked inexplicably lazy, but his eyes were still clear, carrying an aggressive sharpness.
He was holding a cup of coffee in his own hand.
“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself; everyone has a first time.”
Mo Xuzhi’s gaze moved from Ji Baiwen’s sweaty forehead to the other people still busy inside. “When they first came, they were so nervous they even forgot the most basic experimental rules. Failure, practice, failure, practice—only now are they barely presentable.”
Ji Baiwen didn’t speak.
Mo Xuzhi continued: “Not all data needs to be processed. They’re so busy they don’t have time to distinguish which is non-essential data and just stuff it all toward you. Have a look; if there’s redundant data, just pick the top one to calculate.”
“Any questions?” After speaking, he looked at his watch again. “I still have five minutes of rest time, enough to chat with you for a few sentences.”
Any questions?
In an instant, countless words flashed through Ji Baiwen’s mind, but when he actually spoke, they turned into: “Why do you drink coffee and I drink milk?”
Mo Xuzhi gestured casually above Ji Baiwen’s head and said with a smile:
“Don’t children have to drink milk?”
He meant that one grows tall only by drinking milk.
Ji Baiwen was startled at first, then realized what Mo Xuzhi meant. Whether out of anger or something else, his entire face and neck gradually turned red.
It looked quite good.
Mo Xuzhi stood there admiring for a while, then raised his hand to look at his watch. Finding it was time, he finally let Ji Baiwen go, carrying his coffee and preparing to leave. Before leaving, he added:
“Work hard, I’ll treat you to coffee then.”