Jiang Fuyue didn’t speak, still keeping her hand extended, staring fixedly at him.
The man wore a baffled expression.
After a long moment, as if he thought of something, realization dawned on him. He then leaned his face forward, his chin falling into her palm.
Jiang Fuyue looked at the suddenly enlarged handsome face: “?”
Xie Dingyuan was also very puzzled, wasn’t this right?
Those short videos on Douyin were filmed like this.
Oh~
Still missing one thing!
He immediately put on what he considered the “sweetest” smile. Add some music in post-production, throw in a special effect with pink hearts popping out—perfect!
At the instant he smiled, Jiang Fuyue had to admit she was stunned.
The man’s pupils were as dark as ink. Perhaps because he didn’t usually smile like this, there was a trace of awkwardness, and his facial muscles were somewhat stiff, but he was still good-looking.
The indifference and aloofness between his brows and eyes melted away instantly with this smile, like ice and snow disappearing.
Jiang Fuyue couldn’t help laughing, “Xie Dingyuan, are you acting cute?”
Acting cute?
The man frowned, “That’s something girls do.”
“Boys can do it too, like those cute little brothers.”
“You like little brothers?” His brows knitted even tighter.
Uh!
Jiang Fuyue moved her hand away from his chin, but still kept her palm facing upward, “Don’t change the subject, this isn’t what I want.”
“Then what do you want?” he muttered softly, “…I’ve already given myself to you.”
Jiang Fuyue: “……” Caught off guard and suddenly flirted with.
“At this time, in this place, when you’re alone, what do you usually do?”
Xie Dingyuan looked puzzled, “Usually at this hour I’m still in the lab.”
“Then after leaving the lab?”
“Go to the cafeteria to eat.”
“After eating?”
“Go back to the lab.”
Jiang Fuyue: “……”
“You never come here to watch the sunset, feel the evening breeze?”
“There have been sandstorms recently, it’s best not to stay outdoors.” The man turned serious, his expression solemn.
“Then when there’s no sandstorm? You watch the sunset here!”
“And then?”
“And then when you’re watching the sunset, you didn’t… look at anything else?”
“Like what?”
Jiang Fuyue’s patience was exhausted. A hint of annoyance surfaced as she stood up to leave, “Forget it…”
The next second, her wrist was grabbed, and in the blink of an eye she was pulled back.
Xie Dingyuan wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling her into his embrace, his chin resting on her shoulder. Warm breath brushed against the side of her neck, “That’s it? Giving up halfway, not even a bit of patience with me.”
Jiang Fuyue reacted as well, “Oh, so you’re playing dumb!”
“Clearly you wanted to ask but wouldn’t say it clearly, beating around the bush and making me guess.” Xie Dingyuan couldn’t help kissing her neck once. “Is it really that hard to directly ask whether I was looking at your photos? It’s not like I’m asking you to say some mushy sweet talk.”
“Fine, then I’ll ask you, were you looking at my photos?”
“Yes. Can’t I look at my girlfriend?” Totally righteous.
“Which photo?” Jiang Fuyue turned to face him. “Let me take a look too?”
“Ahem, I didn’t bring my phone out.”
“Then show me tomorrow.”
Xie Dingyuan: “The real person is right in front of me, what photos are there to look at?”
As he spoke, he suddenly pulled her hard into his arms, their bodies pressed tightly together.
“Who told you, hm?”
The tail end of his voice lifted, carrying a bit of coaxing and temptation.
“Kaza.” Jiang Fuyue sold someone out without the slightest pressure, and even smiled at him as if taking credit.
Xie Dingyuan gave a light snort, “I knew it was that guy…”
“He also said you have a girlfriend, that you love her very, very much, and every day you take out her photo to look at and touch…”
Xie Dingyuan’s old face flushed, “Cough!”
Jiang Fuyue: “He also warned me not to set my sights on you, told me to give up early.”
Xie Dingyuan: “……”
“So do you think I should give up, Professor Xie?”
He tightened his arms around her even more, “You dare!”
Jiang Fuyue couldn’t help laughing.
The man enunciated each word clearly, “In this lifetime, you’re not allowed to give up!”
“Hahaha…”
“Quick, promise me! If you don’t, I won’t let go.”
“Hahaha… Professor Xie, you’re so childish.”
Xie Dingyuan’s face darkened, “Don’t laugh.”
“I’ll laugh if I want, what can you do to me? Hahahaha… mm!”
The next second, Jiang Fuyue’s mouth was sealed.
The man was satisfied.
Let’s see how you can still laugh now.
“Oh my, oh my! Is this something I can watch without paying?” Kaza’s voice suddenly rang out.
The two quickly separated.
Jiang Fuyue raised her hand to wipe the corner of her mouth, pretty awkward.
Xie Dingyuan shot him a glare like a knife, “Why are you here?”
“If I weren’t here, wouldn’t I have missed a blockbuster? Tsk tsk tsk, broad daylight, under the bright sun, who would’ve thought you two would actually—”
As he spoke, he shook his head in grief and indignation, “I never thought you were this kind of Xie Dingyuan! Have you forgotten there’s still a girlfriend back at Daming Lake?”
Xie Dingyuan’s expression twitched, “Get lost!”
Kaza ignored him and turned to Jiang Fuyue instead, speaking earnestly, “Miss, didn’t I already tell you? He has a Xia Yuhu by Daming Lotus Lake. You, you, you… how can you still be so stubborn? There’s no scumbag in the world you can’t quit, believe me, you definitely can!”
Jiang Fuyue: “?”
Scumbag Xie Dingyuan: “…Surname Ka, speak properly.”
Kaza instantly blew up, “How many times have I said it? My surname is not Ka! Not Ka! My surname is Zhao, Zhao as in Zhao Qian Sun Li! First of the Hundred Surnames! Got it?”
“Oh, Zhao Kaza.”
“……” D*mn it!
“You—you’re definitely holding a grudge, blaming me for exposing your true colors. See that?” He turned to Jiang Fuyue, wearing an expression like he’d uncovered a shocking secret. “The scumbag is furious from embarrassment!”
Jiang Fuyue: “……”
Xie Dingyuan had had enough, “Zhao Kaza, you idiot!”
With that, he pulled Jiang Fuyue over by the shoulder, pressing half her body into his arms, openly intimate. “Open your titanium-alloy dog eyes wide and look clearly. This is my proper, legitimate girlfriend!”
“Huh? You broke up with Xia Yuhu and then found her?” Kaza looked shocked. “When did that happen? How come I didn’t know? You… you’re way too scummy, right? Falling for someone else, breaking up just like that! Ah—my Fat Tiger can’t take this injustice!”
Veins throbbed on Xie Dingyuan’s forehead, “Idiot! From beginning to end, there’s only been her!”
“Ha?” Kaza was a bit stunned, unable to react for a long while. “What do you mean, only her?”
If he could, Xie Dingyuan really wanted to kick him flying, “Didn’t you notice the person in the photo looks exactly the same as her?”
Kaza’s eyes went blank, his uncertain gaze landing on Jiang Fuyue’s face. Bare-faced, no makeup at all, yet those peach-blossom eyes were dark and bright, her skin whiter than the snow atop Mount Amolaka.
And in that photo, the girl wore exquisite makeup and a black dress. With on-site lighting and post-production retouching, she really did look somewhat different.
No wonder he hadn’t recognized her.
“…Besides, I barely got to look twice before you snatched it back. How could I remember that clearly?”
“So this really is your girlfriend? The one and only kind? Not a replacement?” Kaza confirmed again and again.
Xie Dingyuan really wanted to punch him, “As real as it gets!”
“My goodness…” Kaza circled Jiang Fuyue once on the left, once on the right, took a look from the front and from behind, rubbed his chin, scratched his head, looking as if he were seeing something rare. “So it’s you! No wonder Xie Dingyuan couldn’t control himself…”
“Cough!” Xie Dingyuan coughed heavily. “Aren’t you going to eat dinner?”
The unspoken meaning was: you can leave now.
But Kaza acted as if he didn’t understand at all, smiling as he reached out to shake Jiang Fuyue’s hand. “Hello, hello. About earlier and just now… sorry about that. Please don’t take it to heart!”
Then he turned to Xie Dingyuan again. “Don’t worry, I won’t call you a scumbag anymore in the future.”
“……”
Xie Dingyuan ground his teeth. “Things have already been explained clearly. Shouldn’t you be leaving now?”
“Leave? Go where? I still need to talk to my younger sister-in-law!”
“……”
“Oh, right—although you two are boyfriend and girlfriend, that kind of behavior just now is still best avoided.”
Xie Dingyuan: “?”
Kaza spoke earnestly and at length. “I know, you’re deeply in love and couldn’t help yourselves, but you still need to pay attention to the impact. Ahem—keep it low-key.”
With Kaza, this shiny, blinding third wheel present, Xie Dingyuan’s plans fell through, and in the end he still couldn’t continue what had just been going on.
What should have been a sunset for two turned into a chat among three.
No—more accurately, it was Kaza alone talking nonstop—
“Your name is Jiang Fuyue, right? That’s quite a nice name.”
“How old are you? Have you graduated? What was your major? Which school for undergrad?”
“How did you meet Xie Dingyuan?”
“Isn’t he super picky and finicky? It’s okay, tell me quietly, I promise I won’t tell him!”
Balabala……
In the end, Xie Dingyuan really couldn’t stand it anymore. “Let’s go! Eat!”
Only then did Kaza feel hungry, smacking his lips with lingering interest. “Then we’ll call it a day for now…”
Before Xie Dingyuan could even breathe a sigh of relief, he added, “When I have time, I’ll come find you again to keep chatting!”
Jiang Fuyue: “……” No, I won’t chat.
Xie Dingyuan: “……” Mm, itching for trouble.
When the three of them appeared together in the dining area, many astonished gazes were cast their way.
Kaza seemed not to notice at all, his expression calm and composed.
Jiang Fuyue likewise looked straight ahead.
As for Xie Dingyuan, needless to say, he had never cared about outside gossip or evaluations.
“Why is Jiang Fuyue eating with those two?”
“Isn’t it an open secret? From the moment Professor Xie and Officer Kaza successively ran to the experimental zone asking about Jiang Fuyue, everyone already knew.”
“I finally know how she got all that new equipment, and why it was only given to her.”
“Tsk, we can only blame ourselves for not being as good as her at social maneuvering and working all sides.”
Bai Chuanhao spoke lightly, “If you’re eating, then eat. Cut the nonsense. We still have to push progress tonight, don’t waste time.”
A chorus of groans immediately rose.
Suddenly they felt a bit envious of Jiang Fuyue having her own team alone, no one managing her, coming and going as she pleased, flexible work hours, whether to work overtime entirely up to her.
Whereas them? Waking earlier than chickens, sleeping later than dogs, working themselves to death, and sometimes still getting scolded.
Over on Dan Pinghua’s team—
“Outrageous!”
“No sense of avoiding suspicion at all.”
“Young people nowadays don’t have much ability, but they sure have plenty of schemes.”
……
Night fell, moonlight bright and clear, all was silent.
Jiang Fuyue set down her pen, closed the materials, casually turned off the light, lay down on the bed, and stared at the ceiling.
She looked like she was spacing out, but in fact her brain was rapidly replaying the contents of those materials.
Once the playback finished, she had basically memorized everything.
Not just memorizing the text, but with analysis and thinking attached.
For a moment, recombinant vaccines and inactivated vaccines drifted through her mind; after a while, attenuated live vaccines surfaced again.
All kinds of information converged in her mind, yet Jiang Fuyue didn’t show the slightest sign of strain.
On the contrary, she was used to it, completely at ease.
Just as drowsiness gradually welled up in Jiang Fuyue and her eyes slowly closed, a faint knocking sound suddenly came from the door.
She snapped her eyes open and sat up.
Lowering her voice, she sharply asked toward the door, “Who is it?”
“Me.”
Xie Dingyuan?!
Jiang Fuyue sucked in a breath of cold air and hurried to open the door for him.
“It’s so late, what are you doing here?”
The next second, she was kissed.
What for?
Of course, to continue what hadn’t been finished in the evening.
This time there wouldn’t be any third wheel.
No one knew how long passed before Xie Dingyuan finally let her go.
Their eyes met: one misty with moisture, the other satisfied and pleased.
“Professor Xie, you’ve got quite the nerve, huh? Aren’t you afraid of being discovered?” Jiang Fuyue turned and sat at the edge of the bed, her gaze teasing, her tone playful.
“Discovered for what? I was just absentminded for a moment, thinking too deeply about a problem, and walked into the wrong room.”
Jiang Fuyue’s brows and eyes shifted lightly. “You live here too? Which room?”
“1226. All members of the Aid-F team live here.”
“Aren’t there two people per room? Who do you room with?”
Xie Dingyuan shook his head. “I live alone.”
“Tsk.” The treatment of top-tier talent, special wherever they go.
The key was that everyone accepted it willingly; even if they didn’t, they absolutely wouldn’t dare say it out loud.
Jiang Fuyue being able to live in a single room was still taking advantage of her gender.
Xie Dingyuan glanced at the materials on her desk. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“I know my limits.”
“What you’re like when you get busy, it’s not like I haven’t seen it.” And you say you know your limits…
Sounds nice!
As early as their first collaborative project, Xie Dingyuan had already seen that stubborn streak in her, refusing to give up until reaching the Yellow River; cough, and even after reaching it, still not giving up.
This kind of “obsession,” for scientific research, was both good and bad.
Kept within the right bounds, it became “perseverance” and “endurance.”
But if it got out of control and was allowed to develop unchecked, it could very easily cause excessive psychological pressure.
Once the mindset collapsed, the person would collapse too.
Before leaving, Xie Dingyuan handed Jiang Fuyue a USB drive. “These are some materials I’ve collected. I hope they’ll be useful to you.”
After speaking, he walked over and bent down to kiss her forehead.
“Get some rest early. Good night.”
“Xie Dingyuan—” Just as the man was about to open the door and leave, Jiang Fuyue suddenly spoke.
He turned back, barely having time to say anything when Jiang Fuyue hugged him, rose onto her tiptoes, and placed a feather-light kiss on his eyelid.
The man’s heartbeat stuttered.
The next second, he heard her say, “Professor Xie, good night.”
……
News that Jiang Fuyue was researching attenuated live vaccines quickly spread throughout the experimental zone; almost everyone knew.
It was also filed on record with both the Soviet side and the Huaxia side.
“If she can’t research it, let’s see how she cleans this up!”
“The equipment is the best, and even the sealed lab has to be given to her first. With such a big show, let’s see if the results are worth it.”
“……”
If earlier dissatisfaction had still been limited to back-room gossip and pointing fingers, now it had already evolved into open, blatant targeting.
Want to show your support? Go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)
