After returning to the lab that afternoon, Ji Zhaoxi complained to everyone around her about her anti-fans—especially that L!
“Junior Sister, have you become so famous that people are hating on you even for eating beef noodles?” her senior fellow student asked in utter shock.
Lu Huainan, sitting nearby, listened in silence without saying a word.
Her senior sister comforted Ji Zhaoxi. “Junior Sister, you must be too perfect. Your anti-fans can’t find anything else to criticize, so all they can do is hate on you for eating beef noodles.”
Ji Zhaoxi froze at those words and looked uncertainly at her senior sister. Her senior sister nodded firmly at her, and the anger in Ji Zhaoxi’s heart dissipated at once.
That made sense. It seemed they really couldn’t find anything else to criticize her for.
Lu Huainan looked at Ji Zhaoxi as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t.
“Could he be concerned about you?”
The moment those words left his mouth, the air fell silent for a moment.
Ji Zhaoxi stared at Lu Huainan in disbelief. “He’s hating on me, and you’re saying he’s concerned about me? Are you one of my anti-fans too?!”
Seeing that Ji Zhaoxi looked ready to sever all ties with him the very next second, a flustered expression appeared on Lu Huainan’s face. “I’m not your anti-fan. I won’t say anything else.”
His senior fellow student spoke in a hollow voice. “Junior Brother, try not to say such ill-timed things in the future.”
Ji Zhaoxi nodded vigorously. “Exactly.”
She drew her brows together tightly. “L goes to the same school as me. Once I catch him, I’m definitely going to…”
Lu Huainan’s face paled slightly as he looked at her, his voice trembling a little. “Going to do what?”
Ji Zhaoxi sighed. “I haven’t decided yet.”
She frowned. If that person was an undergraduate, she would report him to his counselor. If he was a graduate student, she would report him to his supervisor.
Lu Huainan’s gaze grew unfocused. Should he delete his Weibo account now…?
But he had created that account on the very first day she began livestreaming.
Just as Lu Huainan thought Ji Zhaoxi would keep dwelling on the matter, she forgot about it after a few days.
As the vacation drew closer, their advisor assigned them more and more work.
The students in the lab went about almost every day with enormous dark circles under their eyes. Their resentment was so intense that everyone else was afraid to go near them.
One day, Ji Zhaoxi went to the cafeteria for lunch. The beef-noodle auntie had just been about to call out to her when Ji Zhaoxi’s deathly pale complexion startled her.
“What’s wrong with that girl? Why does she look like she’s floating when she walks?” another auntie asked as she came over.
The beef-noodle auntie shook her head uneasily too.
That lively girl from before—how had she turned into this?
Every day while conducting experiments, Ji Zhaoxi prayed for them to get a longer break.
“If we don’t get a vacation, I’m going to have my family call the school,” Ji Zhaoxi declared seriously as she lay on a folding bed.
Lu Huainan glanced at her from beside the bed, a hint of amusement flashing across his face.
Ji Zhaoxi looked at Lu Huainan, who was still working on his experiment, and asked in confusion, “Lu Huainan, don’t you want a vacation?”
Why did she feel as though Lu Huainan wasn’t enthusiastic about it at all?
Lu Huainan’s ears turned red. Lowering his head, he said, “Either way is fine.”
If they didn’t get a vacation, they could conduct experiments together every day. If they did get one, they would still have a chance of running into each other.
Ji Zhaoxi looked at Lu Huainan with admiration. Lu Huainan was even better suited to pursuing a PhD than her senior fellow student. His mentality was so steady.
“Senior Sister, do you want to go out for a meal this weekend?” Ji Zhaoxi asked quietly.
Wen Shuning turned around and shook her head with a smile. “Junior Sister, I have to work part-time.”
Besides covering her own expenses every month, she also had to send money home.
Sometimes she envied her fellow students, but she was already very satisfied to have made it this far.
“Senior Sister, I went to a restaurant last time that was incredibly spicy. When you have time, I’ll take you there, okay?” Ji Zhaoxi moved a little closer and lowered her voice.
Her senior sister was the person in their group who could eat the most spicy food. She looked gentle and mild, but she couldn’t live without chili.
The lab was very dark, and snores were already coming from her senior fellow student’s side.
Wen Shuning let out a soft laugh and copied Ji Zhaoxi, speaking in a breathy whisper. “Sure.”
People in City A weren’t very fond of spicy food, and Wen Shuning had found it rather difficult when she first came to A University.
After Ji Zhaoxi learned about this, she would take Wen Shuning to try any particularly spicy restaurant she discovered.
Thinking about what Ji Zhaoxi had just said, Lu Huainan felt a wave of bitterness rise in his chest.
Why had she never invited him to eat with her? Did she not want to eat with him?
Of course. She had so many people she could eat with. Why would she want to eat with a mute like him…?
Meanwhile, Ji Zhaoxi had already fallen into a deep sleep.
If she knew that Lu Huainan had overthought things so much because of this, she would probably have found it baffling.
How could Lu Huainan bear to waste his lunch break thinking about such pointless things? Shouldn’t he have simply lain down on the folding bed and gone to sleep?
During this period, by the time they returned to their dorms at night, there were hardly any people left on campus. Only the streetlights accompanied them.
Ji Zhaoxi couldn’t even smile anymore.
Just as she was about to break down, their advisor finally brought up the matter of vacation.
“First-year graduate students get a month off, according to the academic calendar.”
Ji Zhaoxi, who had been looking utterly listless just moments ago, came back to life instantly. Beside her, Lu Huainan couldn’t help letting out a muffled laugh.
He suddenly thought of the comments her fans left for her—things like “She’s adorable from the front” and “She’s adorable from the side.”
If she were livestreaming right now, her fans would probably be posting comments like that too.
Her senior fellow student gazed at the advisor eagerly.
“Professor?”
Second- and third-year graduate students needed a break too, didn’t they? Even the machines needed rest.
The advisor looked at him with a smile. “The second- and third-year students can stay behind and help me with some work.”
The sky fell in for her senior fellow student. Wen Shuning patted him on the shoulder.
She had known the advisor wouldn’t give them a vacation.
Ji Zhaoxi had already begun discussing her trip home.
“I’ll just bring my suitcase straight to the lab when the time comes.”
She didn’t want to spend another day at school!
Lu Huainan wanted to go home with her, but he didn’t know how to say it. Staring at the test tube in front of him, he suddenly spoke. “Then I’ll bring my suitcase too.”
Ji Zhaoxi’s eyes lit up. “Then let’s go home together. We’re both from City C, anyway.”
Lu Huainan hadn’t expected his goal to be achieved so quickly, and he froze for a moment.
After learning that he would be going home with Ji Zhaoxi, Lu Huainan began to feel nervous.
He should dress nicely that day… What kind of style did she like again? He remembered seeing her post about it on Weibo.
He should go buy some new clothes over the next few days. After all, they would be going home together that day. Lu Huainan felt as though even breathing had become difficult.
Watching the two of them whispering to each other, their advisor asked with a smile, “Should I give the two of you different partners next semester?”
He had heard that they didn’t get along.
Ji Zhaoxi was just about to speak when Lu Huainan immediately refused in an even tone. “No need to trouble yourself, Professor.”
His expression was calm, but his heart had already died.
Why had their advisor suddenly asked that? His breathing stopped for a moment. Could it be…?
Ji Zhaoxi met his gaze and hurriedly denied it. “It wasn’t me!”
Lu Huainan cleared his throat. “I didn’t say anything.”
Ji Zhaoxi: “…”
He hadn’t said anything, but his eyes had spoken volumes…
