Chapter 36#
Finally Touched the Medal!#
“He’s busy today, so I brought some friends.”
Mo Xuzhi took the menu handed over by the lady boss and then passed it to the director, saying, “The food here is delicious and healthy, and the owner is very nice.”
The lady boss liked calling Wang Zhifeng “Teacher Wang,” and he didn’t correct her.
Previously, after he and Wang Zhifeng had become familiar with the owner and his wife, the lady boss asked them what they were doing now. Wang Zhifeng said he was a teacher. Mo Xuzhi felt that although he was a graduate, in a sense he should also count as a student, so he said he was a student.
Afterward, the lady boss liked to call Wang Zhifeng “Teacher Wang” and called him “Xuzhi.”
Wang Zhifeng seemed to quite like being called that by the lady boss.
This was the first time the others had seen Mo Xuzhi praise someone.
He looked serious, and although his words were simple, his sincerity was evident.
This kind of solemn praise was the hardest to resist.
The lady boss was flattered by his praise, covering her mouth as she laughed uncontrollably. “Old Gui and I just learned some new dishes. We don’t have the ingredients today, but when you and Teacher Wang come back another day, I’ll cook them for you.”
Mo Xuzhi agreed immediately.
The guests and staff all found seats. Several guests shared one table, while the other staff occupied two or three tables.
Du Minsheng and Luo Wenyun sat next to Mo Xuzhi. The director originally wanted to squeeze in, but after going to ask the owner if they could film there and returning, he found the seat taken. He could only pull up a stool and force himself in at the side.
After sitting down, Mo Xuzhi took out his phone and sent a message. Just as he put away his phone, the menu happened to be passed to him.
He casually checked a dish and handed the menu to Luo Wenyun.
Luo Wenyun took the menu, saying as he looked at it, “You’re very familiar with this place.”
Mo Xuzhi nodded.
There was nothing to deny about this; it would be strange to deny it.
Luo Wenyun handed the menu to Shen Le next to him, turned his head, and asked again, “Who is Teacher Wang?”
“Just a teacher.”
Mo Xuzhi said, “Teacher Wang is a teacher at my Excavator University.”
“Our relationship is pretty good, and we occasionally come over for a couple of meals.” He casually gestured in a direction and said, “Excavator University is over there, not far from here. When I don’t want to eat at the school cafeteria, I come here.”
Thanks to the lady boss calling him “Teacher Wang,” making up nonsense couldn’t be easier.
Mo Xuzhi’s expression was the same as when he praised the lady boss earlier, with a natural seriousness that made it impossible for people to tell if he was joking or stating a fact.
He didn’t care what others thought and lowered his head after speaking.
Someone sent him a message.
Lunch passed quickly.
Just as Mo Xuzhi said, the skills of the owner and his wife were impressive. Even though they were very ordinary home-cooked dishes, they had a different feel and weren’t greasy.
The director wanted to order several days’ worth of crew boxed meals here, but the owner waved his hands repeatedly, saying, “No, no. I’ll be playing mahjong these next few days; I’ll be quite busy.”
Director: “…Oh.”
After eating, the other guests had regained their strength and planned to explore the ancient town. Mo Xuzhi chose not to follow the main group. He said he was going back to play games, waved, and left.
He went back to Jingda.
Entering and exiting Jingda required a pass or student ID. Mo Xuzhi happened to have left his documents at the inn. He was just about to call Wang Zhifeng to ask him to come and pick him up when the security guard glanced at him, his eyes widening slightly, and said with a smile:
“I recognize you. No need to trouble yourself with another trip. Go on in.”
Mo Xuzhi was startled for a moment, then smiled and said thanks.
The security guard waved his hand, saying there was no need for thanks.
Mo Xuzhi carried a thermal container to the Academy of Sciences.
The exterior of the Academy looked as quiet as usual, with only a few fully-equipped security guards patrolling back and forth, and very few people seen entering or exiting.
A security guard saw him and gave a salute. Mo Xuzhi nodded and stepped into the building.
The inside of the building was a different scene altogether.
People were moving about in the square-shaped corridor. Mo Xuzhi happened to see a researcher he knew passing by. He stopped the researcher and asked if he knew where Wang Zhifeng was.
“Professor Wang…” The person thought for a while and then said, “Probably in B2-5. Group One seems unable to handle the data processing today, so he went there to borrow people from Group Two.”
Mo Xuzhi said thanks and carried the thermal container toward the second floor.
Before he even reached 2-5, the noise from inside could be heard from far away.
The door to 2-5 was not closed, and many people were peeking in at the entrance. Mo Xuzhi also took a look inside.
Wang Zhifeng was in there.
He looked the same as usual, cold and aloof. In contrast, the sturdy, middle-aged balding man standing opposite him had a flushed neck and face and looked extremely angry. He roared:
“You’re being too unreasonable! You borrow people whenever you want. Group Two wanted to borrow your Team Leader Mo before, but couldn’t even enter the laboratory door. Do you think you can do whatever you want just because you’re the direct dean!”
A grown man, his eyes even reddened as he spoke.
“Team Leader Mo is still the direct person in charge. I’ll go tell him about your appalling behavior later, and you’ll…”
Mo Xuzhi knocked on the door while standing at the entrance.
Wang Zhifeng turned his head and saw Mo Xuzhi leaning against the doorframe looking at him, his eyes filled with suppressed laughter.
He said, “What, bullying people?”
“No, I’m just borrowing someone from him.”
Wang Zhifeng was a bit surprised to see Mo Xuzhi appear, but then his expression softened. He pointed to a box on a nearby table and said, “Look, I even brought a gift.”
Mo Xuzhi was silent for a moment.
The box looked exquisite, but inside were the small cakes and cookies that the Academy of Sciences gave out for free every day.
Wang Zhifeng said, “The people in the group only ate half; all the rest were brought here.”
He meant that he was being quite considerate.
The middle-aged man’s expression became even more indignant, as if he had been greatly insulted.
Mo Xuzhi: “…”
Mo Xuzhi pulled Wang Zhifeng’s sleeve to the side, placed a hand on his shoulder, and whispered, “What’s going on? Why did you suddenly come to Group Two to borrow someone?”
Wang Zhifeng glanced at the hand on his shoulder and said, “Ji Baiwen’s foot is healed. It’s not suitable for him to sit for a long time, so he left. He’s been gone for a few days with no sign of returning. The data has piled up and can’t be handled. Group Two just finished an experiment and doesn’t need to run data for now, so I came to borrow someone.”
As he spoke, he noticed the hand on his shoulder almost slipping, so he reached out to help, slightly bending over so Mo Xuzhi’s hand could rest securely on his shoulder.
Mo Xuzhi asked again, “What about Group Two coming to find me before? Why didn’t I know?”
Wang Zhifeng paused, then said, “They were just idle and looking for trouble.”
During a previous group meal, someone had jokingly asked Mo Xuzhi what kind of person he liked.
At that time, Mo Xuzhi jokingly said he liked good-looking people. The people from Group Two were laughing at his shallowness then, but turned around and told the best-looking researcher in Group Two to tidy up, wanting to arrange a meeting for the two.
Borrowing people was just a pretense; they mainly wanted the two to meet, thinking that perhaps sparks would fly and Mo Xuzhi would move to Group Two for love.
There was no point in knowing about such things.
Mo Xuzhi nodded: “Oh.”
He handed the thermal container in his hand to Wang Zhifeng and said, “Knowing you haven’t eaten, go find a place to eat first. I’ll handle the people.”
He thought that the sturdy, balding Group Two leader kept staring at Wang Zhifeng, and if Wang stayed here any longer, he might make the man angry enough to be sent to the medical school for students to practice on.
Wang Zhifeng left with the thermal container, persuaded by Mo Xuzhi.
As he went out, he looked back and saw Mo Xuzhi waving slightly at him.
Wang Zhifeng’s figure disappeared among the onlookers outside.
Seeing that annoying back disappear, the balding leader immediately changed his expression, stepped over with his fat legs to close the door, then beckoned behind him and said, “Xiao Liu, come over. This is Team Leader Mo. Come and say hello.”
When Wang Zhifeng was here, he had stubbornly blocked him from seeing the person behind, but now he was being proactive.
The young man called Xiao Liu by the Group Two leader stepped forward, his ears turning red, looking a bit embarrassed.
He held out his hand and said, “Hello, I am Liu Jianghao. ‘Jiang’ as in ‘Dajiang’, and ‘Hao’ as in ‘Zhonghao’.”
“Just call me Mo Xuzhi.”
Mo Xuzhi shook his hand, releasing it as soon as they touched.
“Does Team Leader Mo need someone to calculate data?” The Group Two leader smiled broadly and said, “Our task here is almost complete. Xiao Liu happens to have nothing to do. If you don’t mind, he can be lent to Team Leader Mo. Right, Xiao Liu?”
Liu Jianghao touched the back of his head and nodded.
Finally, very easily and without any tug-of-war or negotiation, Mo Xuzhi returned to Group One’s laboratory with Liu Jianghao and the cakes and cookies that had been sent out and then returned.
The researchers from Group One, who were still working, heard the noise and looked up to see Mo Xuzhi standing at the door, with a tall and good-looking young man behind him.
“This is Liu Jianghao. He’ll be working with everyone for a few days.” Mo Xuzhi looked around and randomly pointed to a person, saying, “Chen Ming, you’re responsible for the hand-over. Liu Jianghao has experience; you just need to tell him what needs to be processed.”
“The people who operated the lithography machine with me before, come to the third laboratory. Don’t forget to bring the last memo. The memo is in cabinet number two of the data processing center. The laboratory will close in two minutes to start the test.”
Mo Xuzhi put on his glasses, habitually pushing the frames on his nose, took Liu Jianghao to the seat where Ji Baiwen had sat before, bent over and pointed toward the pantry, saying, “The pantry is in there. Any glasses without names have been sterilized and can be used.”
A scent similar to mountain cedar entered his nose. Liu Jianghao’s head lowered further and further, and then he gave an “um”.
Mo Xuzhi left after speaking.
It was still that gossip-loving researcher who immediately leaned over after seeing Mo Xuzhi enter the laboratory, asking while tapping the keyboard, “Is our team leader super nice?”
Liu Jianghao understood his meaning, first nodding, then shaking his head: “I don’t dare to think about it.”
“Eh, true.”
The researcher clicked his tongue, straightened his body, and continued working.
After completing a round of small tests, Wang Zhifeng happened to return.
Mo Xuzhi gave the values recorded from the experiment and the expected values to Liu Jianghao, asking him to run the data.
Liu Jianghao compared them for a moment and found that the data was obtained through layers of substitution, so he said, “Setting the parameters for this is a bit troublesome, and the process is complex. it might take one to two hours.”
Mo Xuzhi nodded, returned to his desk, sat down, and cleared his mind for a moment.
He had already planned the subsequent time.
While the data was running, he would go check the instruments to see if there was any way to make the values more precise. After the data came out, he would have a small meeting with the people involved in the test to summarize, and then write a report to see if he could ask for more funding from above.
Everything was planned, but he felt something was missing.
He remembered he had come back for a major task.
But what exactly it was, he suddenly couldn’t recall for a moment.
“Is the captain thinking about this?”
A red velvet box appeared within his field of vision.
Mo Xuzhi looked up and met Wang Zhifeng’s smiling eyes.
The box opened, and an exquisite and magnificent gold and red medal sparkled under the light.
A flash of light quickly appeared in the youth’s eyes, and his eyes widened slightly.
Clap clap clap clap
Warm applause broke out, and all the researchers in the office stood up, looking at the young man who was still a bit dazed in his seat.
Mixed in with them, Liu Jianghao was confused, completely unaware of such a ceremony, but he still followed suit and stood up to applaud.
Looking at the smile on Mo Xuzhi’s face, his mood unconsciously improved as well. The tedious boredom of repeatedly running data vanished in an instant, proving to be more invigorating than anything else.
He had also gone on the day of the award ceremony, but seeing the medal was one thing; seeing Mo Xuzhi holding the medal was another.
Those were two different feelings.
Seeing the medal at the award ceremony, he only felt pride and emotion, mixed with some other feelings—but none were like now. Seeing the smile on the youth’s face, he felt his head heating up a bit.
He wanted to put all the good things into his hands so that he could always be surprised and happy like this.
Liu Jianghao finally understood why the people in the Academy, even though they knew Mo Xuzhi was hard to pursue, still kept throwing themselves into the fire like moths.
It was hard not to be moved by such a person.
He should have been surrounded by honor and praise from the start.
Wang Zhifeng saw that Mo Xuzhi, having reacted, almost instantly reached out to try and touch the medal. He smiled and didn’t stop him, only looking down at the other’s delicate features, his gaze clear and gentle.