TIL - 3

Qiu Mingyun bought Wen Huo a cup of coffee. She noticed Wen Huo didn’t look well: “Do you still like yourself this autumn?”

Wen Huo smiled, took the coffee, and took a deep breath: “Yes.”

Qiu Mingyun glanced at her: “Then why are you still exhausting yourself like this? Were you in the lab all night again? You have dark circles under your eyes.”

Wen Huo always told Qiu Mingyun when she was going to Shen Cheng’s place that she wouldn’t be back at night, but she never said where she was going. Qiu Mingyun, based on her understanding of Wen Huo, only thought she had gone somewhere to work on formulas.

Wen Huo said, “But it was still fruitful.”

Qiu Mingyun raised an eyebrow: “Really?”

She knew Wen Huo had been stuck in a bottleneck for a long time, and her supervisor was known for being strict, offering almost no encouragement. Her situation wasn’t exactly difficult, but it wasn’t comfortable either.

When Wen Huo didn’t come back all night, she just assumed she was pushing herself again.

“Staying up late was worth it.” Wen Huo looked exhausted because she had been working with Shen Cheng to refine directions all night.

Shen Cheng was excellent at managing his physical fitness. In his houses in Qin and Beijing, he had dedicated an open room with various fitness areas for cardio, weights, and stretching. He spent at least two afternoons a week there.

He was in good physical condition, so staying up late wasn’t a problem, and he looked like he hadn’t stayed up all night even in the morning. Wen Huo truly envied that. Perhaps he was also tired, his eyes weary, but he wouldn’t show it. This was probably characteristic of someone who always demanded strict discipline from himself.

Every time Wen Huo thought of Shen Cheng’s self-discipline, she felt it was perfectly normal for someone of his status. Born with every superior condition, including perfect genes, people like him seemed to be inherently different from ordinary folks. Yet, besides golf, he also enjoyed table football, could eat a thousand-unit lunch, and also enjoyed “Xiao Chang Chen” and “Bao Du Feng” that cost mere dozens of yuan to fill up on.

Thinking of this, Wen Huo gently closed her eyes. She had known him for so long, and it felt like she still didn’t understand him very well. But that was normal, wasn’t it? Without love, how could one have the heart to understand?

Qiu Mingyun sat across from her: “That amazing? Staying up all night like you’ve unblocked your Ren and Du meridians?”

Wen Huo nodded. She hadn’t seen Shen Cheng for over two months. This time, she thought she’d inevitably be stuck in bed all night, but unexpectedly, he let her off the hook and even helped her. She was a bit surprised.

Speaking of which, he was truly brilliant, almost like a non-human brain.

She called him Professor Shen. When listening to him open up new avenues of thought, they seemed less like an upper-class man and his mistress, and more like colleagues.

Qiu Mingyun shook her head and sighed: “When will I have your loyalty to academia? Dating recently has drained me.”

She had a boyfriend from the film academy who had already signed with an agency but had no works yet, but already had the demeanor of an artist. This was mainly reflected in not being able to hold hands with her in public and not being able to disclose their relationship on any social media platforms.

Wen Huo remembered her saying she broke up last time: “Didn’t you say before...”

Qiu Mingyun knew what she was going to say and didn’t let her finish: “Well, he told me it was because he was hurt when he was little, by his parents.”

Normally, after Qiu Mingyun defended him, Wen Huo wouldn’t say anything more. If she could defend him, it meant she believed him, and if she believed him, there was no convincing her otherwise. But this time, she suddenly wanted to say something: “Have you read the book The Courage to Be Disliked?”

Qiu Mingyun nodded: “The one by Kishimi Ichiro?”

“Yes.”

“What about it?”

Wen Huo said: “The book mentions a quote by Adler, and the author’s own interpretation. ‘It’s not the experience itself that determines us, but the meaning we give to the experience.’ It means that harm during the growth process can have a great impact on a person, but this impact mainly comes from the meaning the injured person gives to that experience. The experience itself has no value; only the reflection after the experience does.”

Qiu Mingyun understood what Wen Huo meant: “You’re trying to tell me that he’s using his childhood experiences to emotionally manipulate me?”

Wen Huo never had to be too explicit when talking to Qiu Mingyun; they were both intelligent people. She didn’t continue the topic: “Suffering doesn’t need to be mentioned too many times. The purpose of mentioning it too many times is definitely no longer just to confide.”

Qiu Mingyun stretched, sighing twice: “So what can I do? He’s handsome, and he’s my type. I’m in pain but happy. Though it’s mostly pain.”

After saying that, she gave a self-deprecating smile: “We’re technically boyfriend and girlfriend, but he seems to only treat me as a fuck buddy.”

Wen Huo thought of Shen Cheng again. As a married man and his mistress, they had always done their part, except for not loving each other.

Qiu Mingyun stopped pondering, shook her head, and said, “Shall we go hiking this weekend?”

Wen Huo looked over: “Isn’t this weekend Professor Shen’s public lecture?”

Qiu Mingyun looked at her, clearly surprised she didn’t know: “His grandmother died. It was trending yesterday. Never mind whether we can even get tickets, just personally, he probably isn’t in the mood to give a lecture, right?”

Wen Huo frowned slightly. No wonder he drank.

Qiu Mingyun laughed twice after speaking: “Honestly, I really want to see a melancholic Professor Shen; he’d definitely be super alluring! You know that Korean actor Lee Soo-hyuk? Oh, really, when he plays those refined, reserved characters, that vibe is exactly like Professor Shen, you know?”

Wen Huo imagined it in her mind.

Qiu Mingyun smacked her lips: “It’s like a TV drama character has jumped out of the screen! When will my little brother evolve to Professor Shen’s level? Ugh, it’s so annoying.”

Wen Huo thought it had to do with age. “When you reach thirty, people become desolate. Desolation means neither joy nor sorrow, and when a man is neither joyful nor sorrowful, maintaining his composure, he becomes very charming.”

Qiu Mingyun knew where the first half of her sentence came from: “Lu Nei’s Compassion.”

Wen Huo nodded.

Qiu Mingyun agreed and disagreed: “It’s not that thirty-year-old men are charming; it’s that thirty-year-old Shen Cheng is charming.”

Wen Huo smiled: “Okay.”

Qiu Mingyun sat next to her and put her arm around her shoulder: “Someone like you, who lives for physics, dies for physics, and bangs your head against walls for physics, can’t appreciate the beauty of fantasizing about a man. It’s a kind of freedom that gives you a brain orgasm.”

“Is that why you look for handsome boyfriends?”

“You don’t understand, a man must be handsome, he must have a beautiful body, only then can I forgive him endlessly when he enters me.”

Wen Huo nodded: “Impressive, great.”

Qiu Mingyun laughed: “Maybe I should study gender relations in the future? You win the Nobel Prize in Physics, and I’ll win the Nobel Prize in Literature. We won’t interfere with each other, but we’ll fulfill each other.”

Wen Huo reached out her hand and cooperated with her: “Thank you for the fulfillment, Professor Qiu.”

Qiu Mingyun squeezed her face while holding her hand: “Oh, our soft and tender Huo Huo, still a virgin, I wonder which scoundrel will get to her.”

Wen Huo thought for a moment. Hmm, Shen Cheng was a scoundrel.