Chapter 41: 40 A Serious Man is the Most Handsome
In a secluded corner outside the girls' dormitory, Su Mucheng was chatting on the phone.
"With an out-of-tune dad like him, that's what you get, though hanging up directly is a bit too much."
But as long as I call back soon after, his overwhelming anger instantly evaporates.
"It never fails; when you're the favored one, you can be this bold with impunity."
"Hmph, you're still angry, I haven't even started to settle accounts with you yet! Who told you to be so eager to 'like' my post? You know the first 'like' was supposed to be reserved for that guy!"
"'Fellow patient' means that we are both too smart, get it? Who told you to be old and not understand young people's slang, blaming me for it?"
"That's not it. Although I love you a lot, dad, you're just not reliable. And you really have no idea how smart he is, the kind that could scare you—no, how can you even use yourself as a reference? The gap is so wide I don't even know how to describe it!"
"Hmph, what's so great about making money? If you're that capable, why don't you go win a Nobel Prize?"
"I'm just making a comparison, I'm telling you, even if my boyfriend doesn't win the Nobel Prize in the future, the Fields Medal would be a piece of cake for him."
"Ahhh, your dear daughter is studying math, and you don't even know what the world's number one math prize—the Fields Medal—is! I don't want to bother with you anymore!"
"Hmph… okay, but if you want me to truly forgive you, dear daddy, you have to promise me something."
"It's that he's working with a professor on a project right now, and they say that to do it thoroughly, it might need some money. If the school won't sponsor it, could you sponsor the project in the name of the company?"
"Pfft, what are you saying? How could I be fooled when I'm so clever? Qiao Ze and the professor don't even know who you are, alright! You're so narcissistic!"
"Oh, stop guessing when you don't know the situation! I'm telling you, you'll see later, Qiao Ze doesn't even care about those measly savings you've hoarded!"
"Hmph, no way! Anyway, I've made up my mind, if you aren't willing to help when the time comes, I'll just sell all those collectible figures you treasure so much during summer break. That should be enough! Who told you to be so wealthy and uncaring? This is contributing to the progress of world science, get it?"
"Alright, alright, I'm off to the library for self-study. Bye, love you, dear dad!"
...
After hanging up the phone, Su Mucheng hummed a tune as she returned to the dormitory, pushed open the door, and was instantly surrounded by three chattering roommates.
"Chengzi, you're finally back. We all saw your Moments post, you had such a radiant smile. Did you successfully charm the freshman prodigy?"
"Right, tell us, what did you do at noon? It wasn't daytime flirting, was it? And what does 'fellow patient' really mean?"
"Everyone quiet down, there's still time before class starts. Let's give Chengzi a chance to explain it to us slowly."
However, Su Mucheng just glared at her three sisters and muttered discontentedly, "I'm not telling you, today Ma caught me and you guys didn't even warn me!"
"Chengzi, that's heartless of you! Dandan was pushing the desk behind us with her elbow the whole time, and Ma noticed it and even glared at her! You were so engrossed in passing notes with Qiao Ze that you didn't even consider anyone else, okay?"
"Ah? Really? Then thank you, Dandan. Also, I'm not going to class this afternoon; I'll be studying at the library. Keep any questions to yourselves for now, I'll explain when I come back tonight!"
"It's going to be with Qiao Ze again, isn't it? You're actually skipping class for him? My god, Chengzi, do you have to?"
"Exactly, with the state you're in, I highly doubt you'll come back tonight."
"Pfft, what kind of person do you think Qiao Ze is? He's not as dirty-minded as you guys!"
Three young girls exchanged a glance before Lu Dandan spoke up with some concern, "Actually, it's not that we're worried about what Qiao Ze might do to you. We're worried that you won't be able to resist, and you'll corrupt him, considering he's still so young."
"I... never mind, I don't want to deal with you guys, I'm leaving!"
Having said that, Su Mucheng quickly packed up her laptop and walked out of the dorm room with her head held high. Before she left, she made a point to say quite seriously, "Hmph, you guys just don't understand the sweetness of love."
"Chengzi has really gone crazy!"
"Yeah! Completely hopeless! Is this what they call being lovesick?"
"That said, I don't find Qiao Ze all that handsome. Is Chengzi really going so crazy over him? Oh, by the way, you weren't in the dorm last Friday. I overheard Chengzi on the phone with her dad. She said something like congratulations to Mr. Su on the new big deal, and during an argument, something like 'Do you think it's so amazing just because you can make money?
Can you solve math problems?' Do you think Chengzi's dad could really be the chairman of some big company?"
"What? That happened?"
"Hmm!"
"Ai, that just goes to show, a chairman's daughter is always precocious!"
"Haha, Dandan, you're the meanest. But if it's true, then Qiao Ze is hitting the jackpot, isn't he?"
...
In the library, Qiao Ze first roughly asked Su Mucheng about the mathematics foundation courses she was currently taking, the electives she had chosen, and how far she had gotten in her studies. After thinking it over, he copied fifteen videos covering five courses from his computer and sent them to Su Mucheng.
Then, he gave her a serious instruction, "This is your self-study material for this afternoon."
"What? So much? How am I supposed to finish watching all these in one afternoon?" Su Mucheng said sullenly as she looked at the videos sent by Qiao Ze, noticing the shortest of them was half an hour long.
She was just a young girl; what harm could she possibly intend?
All she wanted was to experience a proper romance!
Why did she need so much knowledge to arm her lovesick brain?
"You can finish them. Basically, each video's key point is around ten minutes, just focus on that, and jot down anything you don't understand to ask me later," Qiao Ze, already immersed in his work, said without even looking up.
"Oh..." Su Mucheng muttered dejectedly, but the next moment, when she realized she could watch Qiao Ze intently reading his papers while she viewed the videos, her spirits lifted instantly.
Wow... That serious expression, isn't it just the coolest?
As for Qiao Ze, he truly paid no attention to Su Mucheng's little thoughts.
Because he unexpectedly discovered that there were already some thoughts on this topic, though still imperfect.
They did, however, give him some inspiration.
Of course, the most important thing was that this was the first time he delved deeply into a serious topic. All the related knowledge he had previously seen flooded into his mind like a tide, and then began to automatically sort itself into specific categories according to a decision tree.
Feature decoupling, orbit stabilizer, feature test set...
If someone had been scanning Qiao Ze's brainwaves with an instrument at that moment, they would likely have come to some astonishing conclusions.
Unfortunately, only a pair of bright eyes were there to witness this near-miraculous scene, eyes that could see but not record.