Jiang Yubai's words struck a chord deep within Lin Zhixia.
She eagerly told him: "Next January, I'll be giving a presentation at an academic seminar to introduce the content of my first paper and research direction."
Jiang Yubai concealed his surprise and nodded as if accepting this naturally. He asked: "When is the seminar?"
Lin Zhixia said: "January 10th, 2009, at 10 AM."
January 10th, 2009 happened to be the day after Jiang Yubai's final exams ended. He could return to the provincial capital on January 9th and go to the university town the next day to attend Lin Zhixia's first academic presentation.
Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia agreed to meet on January 10th, 2009.
Before ending their QQ video call, Jiang Yubai typed a message: "Someday, you will achieve your dreams."
Lin Zhixia's mood became absolutely wonderful. She immediately opened PowerPoint software and started creating slides for her academic presentation.
Joy flowed through her heart like a sweet, babbling stream, filling her with immense patience. After finishing her PowerPoint, she even wrote a Word version of her speech script, revising it several times before sending the final version to Professor Shen.
Lin Zhixia took her first presentation very seriously. She wanted to communicate with more scholars and hear more professional opinions.
That Saturday morning, Lin Zhixia excitedly stopped her Mom and Brother. She had them sit in the living room and announced with some pride: "Next January, I'll be participating in a university seminar, and I'll be giving an academic presentation. Can you help me rehearse? If my speaking pace or voice doesn't sound good, just tell me, and I can improve."
Mom hesitated slightly, but Lin Zhixia immediately resorted to coaxing: "Mom, Mom, please?"
Lin Zhixia's coaxing skills were truly exceptional. Her mother couldn't refuse and had to agree.
Meanwhile, Lin Zeqiu remained silent. His back was ramrod straight without any sign of relaxation. He uncomfortably pressed his legs together, then irritably stepped on the crossbar beneath the coffee table.
Lin Zhixia began speaking on her own: "Hello everyone, I'm Lin Zhixia from Professor Shen Zhaohua's team. My research focuses on mixed parameterization analysis when applying the Ocean General Circulation Model to the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea. The Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea are all China's maritime territories. I believe everyone present can understand the internal wave mixing parameterization method, as the deep-sea mixing dynamics generated by the breaking of oceanic internal waves..."
"Are the people listening to your presentation all professors? Are there any undergraduates?" her Brother suddenly asked.
Lin Zhixia answered honestly: "The seminar is an open exchange forum - of course undergraduates can attend."
Lin Zeqiu said impatiently: "You have to explain those technical terms, like that... wave parameterization method, otherwise no one will understand what you're talking about."
"Really?" Lin Zhixia questioned. "Do I need to explain every technical term?"
Lin Zeqiu stood up from his seat and headed toward his bedroom: "Suit yourself. I'm going to study - I haven't finished my homework yet."
"Brother, Brother..." Lin Zhixia grabbed the corner of his clothes.
Without turning back, he said coldly: "Let go."Lin Zhixia negotiated with him, "Just listen to me for ten more minutes."
"I won't," Lin Zeqiu stubbornly refused.
Lin Zhixia remained undaunted: "Brother, if you're willing to help me rehearse, I'll tutor you with your homework."
This trade was quite fair, and Lin Zeqiu felt slightly swayed.
Lin Zhixia pressed on: "Brother, the competition in your class is so intense, isn't the homework super difficult? I saw two math test papers on your desk, and you haven't written a single word... It's okay, Teacher Lin can tutor you."
"Teacher Lin?" her brother scoffed mockingly.
Lin Zhixia conceded: "Alright, I'm not Teacher Lin, I'm Teacher Xiao Lin."
"Teacher Xiao Lin?" Her brother mercilessly left Lin Zhixia behind, striding swiftly into his room.
Lin Zhixia turned to look at Mom—Mom was busy in the kitchen, the aroma of braised crucian carp wafting through the living room, with a faint hint of sweet and sour pork ribs.
Lin Zhixia took a deep breath, anticipating today's lunch as she entered her brother's room. She tiptoed forward, stealthily standing behind her brother.
Her brother had been racking his brains for several minutes but still couldn't solve a multiple-choice question. Lin Zhixia enlightened him with one sentence: "Connect points a and c, substitute them into the relationship given in the question, and the answer is c."
Lin Zeqiu was startled by her.
"What are you doing?" Lin Zeqiu reacted as if facing a formidable enemy.
Lin Zhixia lowered her head, her hair covering her cheeks: "Brother, why don't you want to hear me describe my paper? I'm going to Beijing for university next September... We don't have much time left together."
At these words, Lin Zeqiu turned pale: "You're going to Beijing for university next year? Why haven't you mentioned it at home?"
"I was afraid Mom and Dad would worry about me," Lin Zhixia explained. "Mom always says I'm too young, she's afraid I'll get bullied outside."
Lin Zeqiu's feelings were complicated. He didn't believe Lin Zhixia could take care of herself. He tightly grasped her wrist: "Starting university next year... you'll only be fourteen next year."
Lin Zhixia's wrist was slender, her skin as white as jade. Lin Zeqiu momentarily forgot to be careful and used a bit too much force, reddening her skin, which frightened him into letting go immediately. Girls were really too delicate, unlike his own rough and thick skin.
But Lin Zhixia said: "I've grown up. I can go to Beijing for school alone."
Lin Zeqiu fell silent. After a long while, he whispered as if murmuring to himself: "I'll help you rehearse."
"Okay, okay!" Lin Zhixia instantly became happy.
Lin Zhixia rehearsed twice, growing more enthusiastic as she spoke. When she mentioned the llor-yaa second-order turbulent mixing scheme, her eyes shone with bright brilliance, and her speaking pace became very fast without her realizing it. Lin Zeqiu reminded her: "Lin Zhixia, don't get excited. Don't get excited on stage, stick to your initial pace."
Lin Zhixia remembered Lin Zeqiu's advice.
On January 10, 2009, Lin Zhixia woke up early.
She tied her hair into a ponytail, changed into a dark-toned outfit, and found a pair of black leather shoes.
Lin Zhixia was surprised to discover that some kind soul had already polished the shoes with shoe polish in advance. She immediately ran to her mother: "Mom, Mom, thank you for polishing my shoes."Mom, however, said, "Your brother did this last night."
"Brother?" Lin Zhixia murmured to herself.
While stirring the porridge, Mom continued, "Yes, Xia Xia. Your brother knew you had a meeting at the university today, so last night... around ten o'clock, he cleaned those shoes until they were spotless."
Lin Zhixia rushed energetically into Lin Zeqiu's room.
It was exactly 6:20 in the morning. The sun had just risen, and the sky was faintly lit, but Lin Zeqiu was still lying in bed.
Winter break had just begun, and Lin Zeqiu wanted to sleep in. Unexpectedly, his door was suddenly pushed open, and Lin Zhixia crouched by his bed, exclaiming in surprise, "Brother, you're not up yet? You usually wake up at six."
Lin Zeqiu slapped a hand over his own face. "Lin Zhixia, are you crazy? Barging in without knocking so early in the morning?"
"Thank you, Brother!" Lin Zhixia stated her purpose. "Those leather shoes of mine..."
Lin Zeqiu rolled over to the other side of the bed. "What's there to thank? It's not the first time I've washed your clothes or cleaned your shoes. If you have any conscience, let me sleep a little longer."
"Mm-hmm!" Lin Zhixia agreed. She dashed out of his bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her.
After eating breakfast, getting ready, and saying goodbye to Mom and Dad, Lin Zhixia set off on the road to the university town.
She had arranged to meet Jiang Yubai at 7:30.
At 7:20 in the morning, Lin Zhixia emerged from the subway station and spotted Jiang Yubai in the distance—he had actually arrived earlier than her.
After three months apart, he seemed to have grown taller again, his figure even more straight and upright, like a robust poplar tree standing quietly within her view.
Lin Zhixia walked with light, brisk steps. She followed a straight path and ran right up to Jiang Yubai.
"Jiang Yubai," she called softly.
Jiang Yubai responded, "Lin Zhixia."
Lin Zhixia circled around him twice.
Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia didn't enter the campus. Instead, they walked out from the south gate and wandered around the area.
Outside the south gate was a snack street, where many students were queuing up for breakfast. The steaming heat from stir-fried rice noodles, soup dumplings, pan-fried dumplings, and beef vermicelli soup turned into white mist, blending with the cold wind of deep winter in January. The rich, intense aroma of the food carried far and wide.
Before leaving home, Lin Zhixia had been too excited and had only drunk a bowl of porridge. Now, as she watched a student holding a plate of pan-fried dumplings, her eyes revealed a look of envy.
Noticing her expression, Jiang Yubai asked, "What would you like to eat?"
"Pan-fried dumplings," Lin Zhixia answered honestly.
Jiang Yubai found the shop selling them and joined the long queue. He stood quietly in line, with Lin Zhixia beside him. She gestured to measure his height and said thoughtfully, "Are you 1.8 meters tall now?"
"Yes," he replied.
She asked again, "What's your ideal height?"
He answered candidly, "1.88 meters. I'm still 8 centimeters short."
Lin Zhixia revealed, "I want to grow to 1.7 meters."
An undergraduate student behind Jiang Yubai suddenly interjected, "You stop growing after eighteen. Give up."
Lin Zhixia turned her head and stared at him. Only then did the undergraduate notice—the girl before him looked very young, as if she hadn't even turned eighteen yet. She declared, "I'm thirteen and a half right now. I will definitely keep growing taller."Jiang Yubai snapped his fingers to catch Lin Zhixia's attention. Lin Zhixia indeed stopped focusing on that undergraduate student. Like a kitten chasing the source of a sound, she curiously stared at Jiang Yubai's left hand.
Jiang Yubai's fingers were slender, his wrist muscles taut, with veins faintly visible on the back of his hand, creating a visual impression of perfect harmony between strength and form. His uncle, Jiang Shaoqi, had been ranked first in the "World's Most Beautiful Male Hands" list by the media years earlier. Jiang Yubai had clearly inherited the same genes. But he himself was completely unaware of this, never considering his hands anything out of the ordinary.
Lin Zhixia's mind wandered for a moment before she casually asked, "How's your preparation going for the North American Economics Challenge?"
The line was moving forward quickly.
Jiang Yubai glanced at the shop window while answering Lin Zhixia's question: "I'll first pass three written tests, then lead my teammates in the team competition."
Lin Zhixia asked further, "Do you get along well with your teammates?"
"Fairly well," Jiang Yubai replied briefly.
Lin Zhixia confided in him: "Back in December two years ago, during my competition in Moscow... you know, that time I didn't even get a bronze medal. I ended up arguing with my teammates during the competition. Normally I get along quite well with them."
Jiang Yubai analyzed: "During competitions, you're mentally tense, highly alert, and under significant psychological pressure. Programming competitions are collaborative projects - if one person makes a mistake, misunderstandings easily arise within the team, and teammates tend to blame each other."
"Exactly!" Lin Zhixia nodded repeatedly. "When one person makes a mistake, the whole rhythm gets disrupted."
A few days earlier, heavy snow had fallen, breaking a branch from a large tree by the roadside. The broken branch lay on the ground right in front of the pan-fried dumpling shop.
Lin Zhixia accidentally stepped on the branch, producing a crisp "crack" sound. She took a step back and continued asking: "Jiang Yubai, if you were in our team, what would you do?"
Jiang Yubai had brought fifty yuan in small change - the smallest denomination notes he carried. He ordered meat-filled dumplings and red bean soy milk.
The freshly made savory dumplings were packed in a special food paper bag. Lin Zhixia held the bag, feeling warm inside.
Jiang Yubai and Lin Zhixia walked back to the university campus. They sat on a bench, maintaining some distance between them. Lin Zhixia happily ate her dumplings while Jiang Yubai held the soy milk for her. Whenever Lin Zhixia wanted to drink the soy milk, she would lean over and quietly take small sips.
Jiang Yubai was like her personal drink holder.
At this point, Jiang Yubai began sharing his team collaboration techniques.
He told Lin Zhixia: "If I were in your team, I would discuss things with my teammates beforehand and establish protocols for various situations, mainly focusing on three aspects. First, if we have disagreements, whether we follow the majority or defer to the team leader. Second, everyone should have specific responsibilities - we can't have two people doing the same task simultaneously. Third, what's the contingency plan when a teammate makes a mistake..."
Inspired by his words, Lin Zhixia exclaimed: "I understand now."
Holding the paper bag in her left hand, she tore open the seal with her right hand and squeezed out a dumpling. Amid the aroma of food, Lin Zhixia contemplated seriously: "Actually, I always thought I could handle everything alone. Before team collaborations, I never gave it sufficient consideration."Jiang Yubai remarked, "You truly can carry the weight alone."
He raised that cup of soy milk, its lid level with his chest.
Lin Zhixia moved closer to him again and took a sip of soy milk from the cup. He handed her a napkin, and she wiped her mouth with it, saying optimistically, "It's alright, I'll have experience next time I form a team."
Jiang Yubai agreed, "Exactly."
Lin Zhixia beamed with a smile, "Thank you, Teacher Jiang."
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