Zhu Yun quickly put the young painter out of her mind.
Back at school, Zhu Yun went to the base. She had meant to find Li Xun to discuss some issues with the software functionality, but the moment she walked in, she found Li Xun’s girlfriend from the drama conservatory sitting in her chair, running lines with him.
The girlfriend gazed at him with tender devotion. “Who told you to come and find me here?”
Li Xun: “Love.”
He had glanced through the script once and already had it memorized. He set the pages aside and began performing off-book.
“Love encouraged me to discover this place. I am no sailor, yet wert thou as far as that vast shore washed by the farthest sea, I would venture for such merchandise.”
The girlfriend: “I must confess that had you not overheard my true feelings when I was unguarded, I would have been far more reserved! So forgive me — it was the night that revealed my heart’s secret. Do not think my vow to be a shameless act of wantonness!”
Li Xun: “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear—”
“No—!”
The girlfriend’s emotions surged too high; her voice cracked on the note.
“Ahem!” She cleared her throat and pressed on: “The moon is fickle and inconstant. If you swear by it, your love may prove just as changeable!”
“What shall I swear by, then?”
The girlfriend seized Li Xun’s hand with both of hers.
“If you must swear, swear by your gracious self — for you are the one I adore! The one I worship!”
“Is that true? Do you truly feel that way?”
……
How does Shakespeare’s dialogue come out sounding so vulgar the moment it passes through your two mouths.
Zhu Yun went and sat down beside Wu Mengxing. Wu Mengxing and the rest of the base had long since grown accustomed to all of this; they could face any of Li Xun’s rotating girlfriends with perfect composure.
“Your gracious self…” Zhu Yun scoffed with contempt. “Please.”
“Hm?” Wu Mengxing looked up from his computer. “Whose self?”
Zhu Yun shook her head. A few seconds later, a bolt of lightning seemed to cut through her mind — she suddenly recalled the human anatomy chart hanging in the wellness class at the Chinese medicine clinic she had visited just that afternoon.
“The body…”
Zhu Yun rose, walked over to the girlfriend, placed her hands lightly on the girl’s slender waist, and said, “Come on — why don’t you wait over here for a bit.”
The girlfriend, who had been in the full throes of passionate performance, was cut off mid-scene. Her cheeks flushed crimson with indignation; she stamped her foot.
“That’s the second time!”
Li Xun soothed her. “We’ll pick it up tomorrow.”
The girlfriend tucked away her script, gave a sharp huff, and twisted her way out the door. Li Xun watched her retreating figure, lit a cigarette, and slid a glance toward Zhu Yun.
“Is that fun for you?”
“Is finding a girlfriend your idea of entertainment?”
Li Xun leaned back in his chair and smoked. “Being in a relationship is supposed to be easy,” he said. He tilted his chin in Zhu Yun’s direction. “Didn’t I give everyone time off? Why are you still here?”
Zhu Yun reorganized her thoughts and said, “I went to the Chinese medicine clinic just now and saw a human acupuncture point diagram. You’ve always said the old interface system was too complicated — what if we just used a human body diagram directly?”
Li Xun slouched in his chair and gave a mild sound of acknowledgment. “Keep going.”
Zhu Yun took out paper and pen, sketched the outline of a human body, and said, “Using a body diagram would be far more intuitive. Let’s simulate the mouse with a pen first.” She circled and dotted areas on the drawing. “When a user sees the human body model, they can click or circle whichever area feels uncomfortable, and then we bring up a symptom selection and description screen — the guidance will be much more direct. And this way we can divide the body into major sections right from the start: head, limbs, back, abdomen, and so on. That gives the whole system a lot more internal consistency.”
Zhu Yun said all of this in a single breath, then waited for Li Xun to decide.
Li Xun was smoking heavily; the haze had narrowed his eyes to thin slits.
After a long moment, he turned and asked Gao Jianhong: “When will the motion capture system be up and running?”
Gao Jianhong: “Installation, calibration, and then training — at least another week, I’d say.”
Li Xun nodded.
When he mentioned the motion capture system, something stirred inside Zhu Yun.
He wants to use the mocap system for animation effects?
“Good timing — we can use the project as a training ground,” Li Xun said. “Learning theory in a vacuum is useless. You learn fastest when you’re thrown straight into practice.”
Zhu Yun nodded. She was deep in thought when the light in front of her suddenly dimmed. She looked up, and Li Xun’s gracious self was standing directly before her.
“Go get in touch with Liu Sisi.” He pinched out his cigarette and addressed Zhu Yun.
Zhu Yun stopped thinking.
You want me to contact your ex-girlfriend — what for exactly?
Li Xun: “Tell her to find me a few 3D specialists from the animation department. Pay them whatever they ask.”
Those words made Zhu Yun’s blood run hot with excitement.
Whatever they ask.
My, my.
With that kind of bold promise as the foundation, Liu Sisi very quickly brought in two fourth-year seniors from the animation department. When they laid eyes on the motion capture system, they were both struck speechless.