The next day at the base, the heavy atmosphere had been swept clean away, replaced by something altogether more elusive — a peculiar mood that had settled over the entire room.
Most particularly emanating from a certain individual in a leadership position: a strange energy, and that intoxicating look in his eyes… which made Zhu Yun’s skin prickle from head to toe.
“My, my.”
Through a haze of cigarette smoke, Li Xun made a quiet, appreciative sound.
Zhu Yun: “…………”
He found out about the Zhang Xiaobei situation?
Judging by that expression — definitely.
Zhu Yun settled into her seat with perfect composure and opened her laptop. She had no time to spare for Li Xun. She had been out of the loop for days, and needed to get back up to speed on the project as fast as possible.
Li Xun rested his head on his hand and said, “Your Royal Highness.”
Zhu Yun glanced at him. Li Xun wore the hint of a smile, as though turning something over in his mind. “An actual royal highness, as it turns out.”
Zhu Yun said nothing. Li Xun gave a long sigh of wonder. “You’ve really opened my eyes.”
Zhu Yun treated him as though he did not exist.
Li Xun turned to Gao Jianhong and said: “This is why I don’t get along with any woman whose IQ exceeds sixty.”
Gao Jianhong shook with laughter.
If the only choices are ‘IQ below sixty’ and ‘at odds with you,’ I would choose to fight you until the end of time.
Zhu Yun set her book down on the desk with a definitive thud and looked at him with perfect calm:
“Are we working or not?”
Li Xun tilted his head, a lazy smirk spreading across his face:
“We’re working.”
Back to it. Zhu Yun pulled up the project timeline and asked Li Xun: “It doesn’t look like we’re going to make it before the break.”
Li Xun said carelessly: “Just finish the part I assigned to you. Everything else isn’t your concern.”
Zhu Yun had a feeling the next week was going to be an all-out sprint.
And not just for the base project — there were also her final examinations. Her mother’s words were still ringing in her ears: “You study properly. I’ll be checking your final results.”
This mysterious, oppressive pressure…
Zhu Yun sighed inwardly, and in an unguarded moment accidentally caught Li Xun’s eye. He gave her an amused, knowing smile, then dropped his gaze back to his code.
Infuriating.
At noon, Zhu Yun was in too much of a hurry to go to the dining hall. She buried herself in revision at her desk while Li Xun typed away beside her.
The base was quiet — nothing but the rapid percussion of keyboards. After a while the sound trailed off on his end. Li Xun closed his laptop.
“Not eating?”
Zhu Yun shook her head. “You go ahead.”
Li Xun stretched out lazily. “Working that hard?” He leaned over to glance at her page. “Fundamental Principles of Marxism…” He paused two beats, then said with a dry drawl: “The intellectual heights of a true princess.”
“……” Zhu Yun looked at him. “Don’t you have to review?”
Li Xun: “Nope.”
Zhu Yun smiled sweetly, the pleasantness going no deeper than the surface. “Of course not. Your Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought scores always land within five points above the passing line, without fail. Very consistent — no revision needed whatsoever.”
Li Xun raised an eyebrow.
What of it?
He adopted the air of someone too magnanimous to argue with her, and turned to walk out.
Left alone in the base, Zhu Yun threw herself into cramming every key point she could.
Once properly absorbed, time passes quickly. Zhu Yun was deep in thought, analyzing the characteristics of the fundamental social contradictions in present-day society and examining the means by which such contradictions might be resolved — when a projectile appeared from nowhere and struck her squarely on the head, obliterating every thought in an instant.
“Ow!” She clapped a hand to her head.
The projectile rolled twice across the desk and came to rest.
A cream-filled bread roll.
Li Xun sat down beside her, satisfied and well-fed, releasing a comfortable yawn.
Zhu Yun turned back to her book. The characteristics of the fundamental social contradictions… first of all… what were they again?
Oh no. The hit knocked it all out of her head.
Zhu Yun rallied herself urgently and tried to reconstruct.
The productive forces and relations of production; the economic base and the superstructure — these are the fundamental driving forces of social development. Class struggle, rooted in fundamental social contradictions; social —
“Go get me some water.”
……
Social revolution, as well as —