As soon as Xie Dingyuan entered the lab, he saw Old Bai leaning halfway over Jiang Fuyue’s desk.
“You absolutely can’t help Old Jin and Ding Yu with their stuff!”
After lunch, Old Jin had figured out that Old Bai’s sudden speed-up was thanks to Jiang Fuyue’s help. So now he wanted her to write a support program for him to boost efficiency too.
Everything had been discussed and agreed upon—until Old Bai suddenly barged in, kicked Old Jin out, and sneakily made this request.
“Why not?” Jiang Fuyue asked.
Old Bai said, “If you help them, we’ll all be back on the same level again. Then what advantage do I have?”
Jiang Fuyue’s mouth twitched. “Your ‘advantage’ is based on slowing others down?”
“I—I didn’t drag them down!”
“Stopping me from helping them, isn’t that exactly what you’re doing?”
Old Bai stammered, “I’m not saying you can’t help at all… just delay it a few days. Let me enjoy this lead for a bit…”
“…”
“Little Yueyue~ I don’t ask for much. Just three days—no, two days! Take your time writing it, no rush, no pressure, okay? Slow and steady wins the race, yeah?”
That last “okay?” came out with such a whiny tone that it gave Jiang Fuyue instant goosebumps.
“Could you act normal? Please.”
“I am normal! Super normal! Extra normal!” He blinked dramatically to prove he was still lucid.
But Jiang Fuyue still wouldn’t agree.
Seeing Old Jin about to come back, Old Bai panicked. He grabbed her hand and declared, “If you agree, from now on I’ll be your little lackey—you’ll be the boss!”
“I’m not running a gang. What would I do with a lackey?”
“I’m telling you, lackeys are so useful! Serving tea, massaging shoulders, warming your hands, saving your seat in the cafeteria, feeding your cat, keeping you warm at night—”
“Deal.”
“…Huh?” Old Bai froze in shock.
Jiang Fuyue: “I agree, Little Bai.”
“Really? You’re the best, Boss! I’ll give you a big kiss—” He puckered up and leaned in.
The next second, he felt a tight grip at the back of his neck. His collar yanked him backward a good three meters, his face turning red from lack of oxygen. Stunned, he turned around—
“Who the h*ll—” His hand was already raised, but it froze mid-air as he met Xie Dingyuan’s cold, deep eyes.
Old Bai instantly deflated. “P-Professor Xie…”
“Got time to mess around?”
“N-no…”
“Then what are you doing, goofing off and talking nonsense?”
“…My bad.”
“Then get back to work.”
“Oh.” Old Bai trudged away like a scolded puppy.
But he was baffled. Usually, he and the guys joked around even more and Professor Xie never said a word. Why the sudden scolding today?
Weird.
Once Old Bai was gone, Xie Dingyuan’s eyes flicked to Jiang Fuyue’s wrist—the same spot Old Bai had grabbed.
“What?” she asked, noticing his intense stare. She flipped her wrist in front of her eyes. “Why are you staring at my hand?”
Suddenly, Xie Dingyuan stepped forward and gently took her wrist. His grip wasn’t tight, but she couldn’t pull away easily.
“There’s a little smudge here.” He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her wrist. “There. All clean.”
Then he let go and calmly returned to his seat, sitting like nothing happened.
No sign of anything out of the ordinary.
But only Xie Dingyuan knew how hard his heart was pounding, especially the moment his hand touched her wrist.
Jiang Fuyue blinked, puzzled. “?”
Was her wrist actually dirty? Looked clean to her.
Then what the h*ll was he wiping…?
***
That afternoon, work resumed, and the whole team entered high-efficiency mode.
The lab was filled only with the sounds of machines beeping and fingers flying across keyboards.
Xie Dingyuan: “How much has the model been optimized?”
Jiang Fuyue: “No hard data yet.”
“Estimate?”
“About thirty percent.”
“Can you speed it up?”
“No problem on my end.”
The only issue was the data supply rate. If that could improve, then the optimization would go even faster.
Naturally, Xie Dingyuan was already on it. Now it all hinged on Old Bai’s section, and how well he could sync with Old Jin and Ding Yu’s processes.
The trio instantly straightened up, too scared to slack off.
Even with the assist program (his cheat code), Old Bai was struggling to keep up.
He snuck a glance at Jiang Fuyue—good grief, her keyboard was basically flying. The data they’d spent hours filtering through? She made it flow like water through a sieve.
D*mn, she’s a machine!
Then that low, cold voice came again—magnetic but clearly displeased: “Old Bai, what are you looking at? Your speed keeping up?”
Another death sentence.
Old Bai: “?” Who am I? Where am I? What did I do this time?
Did he accidentally piss off Xie Dingyuan again today?
—
Xie 99: Gives you a look—figure it out yourself.
Jiang Fuyue: Not my problem. (shrugs)
Thanks for the updates!