Old Teacher Lin took the mug and drank from it in loud, agitated gulps.
Li Xun, taking advantage of the moment Teacher Lin’s head was tilted back, unfolded his long legs and slipped out of the office. On his way out he shot Zhu Yun a look. You handle the rest.
Teacher Lin set down the mug and turned to find Li Xun had vanished. His blood pressure immediately spiked again.
“He’ll be the death of me!” He fixed Zhu Yun with a glare. “I’ve seen plenty of brilliant students in my time — but one like him is genuinely unprecedented!”
Zhu Yun stood to one side and kept offering sounds of agreement. “I’ve never encountered anyone quite like him either. It’s infuriating!”
Teacher Lin exhaled a long sigh and sat down.
“Such a good opportunity…”
Zhu Yun didn’t respond to that.
Teacher Lin composed himself somewhat, then continued: “The competition can wait, but you must attend the event. The software you built was excellent — several medical institutions have already come to the school to inquire about it. The contract you signed with the food company — what exactly did it cover in terms of further development on the core functionality? Send me the contract later and I’ll have someone look it over for you.”
Zhu Yun was surprised to hear it. It was just a small piece of software — was it really attracting that much attention?
“Don’t go getting smug!” Teacher Lin immediately doused the thought. “Zhu Yun, do not follow in that infuriating boy’s footsteps — arrogant, wilful, treating everything beneath his notice!”
“…Yes.”
Teacher Lin frowned, muttering to himself with residual indignation.
“…With that temperament of his, he’ll come a cropper sooner or later.”
Zhu Yun pushed open the workspace door, walked straight up to Li Xun, and stuck a note on his computer screen with the event schedule written on it.
The note landed directly over the compiler window. Li Xun was entirely unfazed, and without pausing for a moment began typing blind.
Blind typing complete, he moved on to blind testing.
Blind testing complete, he proceeded to set breakpoints blind.
You must be some kind of deity.
Zhu Yun admitted defeat and peeled the note off, then sat down nearby.
“It’s just a small event. They’ll present the award. Teacher Lin specifically arranged this —” Before Li Xun could object, she added pointedly, “— arranged it for you.”
Li Xun rubbed his eyes. He was visibly disinclined to pursue the subject further.
Zhu Yun tried to find a different angle.
“There’s prize money.”
Li Xun yawned. “Not enough to bother with.”
“Something is better than nothing.” Zhu Yun caught Gao Jianhong’s eye. He picked up the thread: “True — we just wrapped up the project and haven’t taken on anything new yet. Think of it as a funded trip.”
Zhu Yun had never been this persistently persuasive in her life.
“Just go. Teacher Lin is already upset.”
Li Xun gave Zhu Yun an idle sidelong look.
Zhu Yun looked back at him without a word.
Give it a rest, would you. How much has Teacher Lin done for you.
After a prolonged stare-off, the great gentleman finally crooked a finger at Zhu Yun. She put the schedule into his hand.
Li Xun narrowed his eyes and read it. Zhu Yun and Gao Jianhong waited with careful patience for his verdict.
After a moment, the top scholar looked up and asked with deep lethargy: “What’s the weather like in the capital right now?”
Despite every layer of reluctance, Li Xun ultimately agreed to attend the event. Having agreed, however, he checked out entirely — paying no attention whatsoever to any of the logistics.
Which meant the organizing fell to Zhu Yun. She got in touch with the others first — eight students from their school were attending in total; apart from the three of them, there were five more senior students, and a third-year homeroom teacher was nominally accompanying them as faculty supervisor.
To minimize disruption to their coursework, they booked the earliest morning flight on the day of the event.
Zhu Yun sat with Gao Jianhong. Li Xun was further back. Gao Jianhong had the window seat, and when Zhu Yun came and sat down beside him, he asked: “Do you want the window? I’ll swap with you.”
“No, I’m fine here.”
Because of the early hour, the passengers were falling asleep almost as soon as the plane was in the air.
Zhu Yun didn’t sleep. Neither did Gao Jianhong — he gazed out the window for a long time. Zhu Yun asked quietly: “What are you thinking about?”
Gao Jianhong came back to himself. “Nothing much… You’re not sleeping?”
“I can’t sleep during the day.”
Gao Jianhong nodded.
A short silence, and then Gao Jianhong said: “Zhu Yun, what do you think about that competition?”
“What do you mean?”
“The mid-year university student information security competition. Teacher Lin told you about it — he wants the three of us to enter as a team.”
Hmm…
Zhu Yun said hesitantly: “Li Xun… the fact that he agreed to come to this event is already something of a miracle. I don’t think he has any interest in the competition.”
Gao Jianhong smiled. “That’s probably true.”