Chapter 27

By April, Beijing’s air had lost its chilly bite. Fresh green crowned the treetops, and the sky stretched open, radiant and blue.
Hands shoved in his pockets, Jing Ming walked down the path, absently kicking a pebble all the way from the cafeteria toward the dorms.
Li Wei asked, “Now that Du Ruo can’t join us, do we need to find someone new?”
Jing Ming didn’t sound invested. “We’ll see.”
Li Wei sighed. Without Du Ruo, it’d be hard to find someone who fit their specs. “Honestly, I didn’t expect her to end up with Yi Kun’s team.”
Just their luck it was the archrivals.
Jing Ming focused on kicking his pebble, not responding.
With Yi Kun’s personality, how would he put up with a rookie like Du Ruo?
But Jing Ming didn’t care enough to dwell on it. Whether she came or not, made no difference to him.
Wan Zi’ang remembered something from the past. “Back then, what did Professor Liang Wenbang say to you?”
Li Wei replied, “Said Senior Yi Kun’s project overlapped with yours in some ways. Hoped you two could team up and make some breakthroughs faster.”
Zhu Tao burst out laughing, like he’d just heard a fairy tale. “With Jing Ming's personality, one of him is trouble enough in the lab. Can you imagine two? You’d bring the whole house down!”
Jing Ming gave him a kick, but Zhu Tao was fast, hopping out of the way. “See what I mean!”
Wan Zi’ang chimed in, “We never got along with Yi Kun’s group. If we’re not fighting, that’s already a miracle. And now they want us to collaborate? The department must be delusional. …Remind me, what’s their project again? Automatic braking?”
“Yeah,” Li Wei said, “It’s got a lot of potential. If they narrow their research to the auto industry, and tweak things to be more targeted, it basically puts them on the same track as our autonomous driving project, doesn’t it?”
Wan Zi’ang frowned at Jing Ming. “You two have been rivals since you first started building robots as kids, and now you’re butting heads in the big leagues. What a pair of destined frenemies.”
This time, Zhu Tao dropped the jokes, thoughtful. “Looks like it’s another round of direct competition between our labs.”
“Perfect,” Jing Ming grinned, eyes lighting up for a second. “Racing’s only fun when there’s someone to beat. Otherwise, what’s the point of pushing it to 240 kph?”
He said it as he aimed a kick at his pebble; it ricocheted off the stairs and vanished into a shrub.
…
Du Ruo had been working in Yi Kun’s lab for nearly two or three months, but she still hadn’t touched any core assignments. Forget automatic braking, she hadn’t even been allowed near the robots.
Not that she minded; she was perfectly happy being a gopher for now, fixing things, organizing, treating it all as valuable experience. Whenever she had a spare moment, she worked on her own research.
One day, she was hunched over a project when a figure suddenly appeared before her, asking in a cool tone, “What are you working on?”
She startled, quickly moving to shield her little components. It was Yi Kun.
He was upright, unsmiling, with a face so composed it added to his intimidating aura. Even his tone of voice carried pressure, Du Ruo never quite dared speak to him.
“I’m… working on my inertial measurement unit…” Her heart hammered. She rushed to add, “But I finished all the lab chores already!”
Translation: Boss, I’m not slacking on my side quests!
He glanced at the gizmo in her hands, then met her eyes again. “Next month, Robotics Competition. You’ll build the entry with Senior Wu Zhengbo.”
“…Huh?” She blanked. “Me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m allowed?”
“If you think you’re not, forget it.” He started to leave.
“No, I can do it! Really!”
Compared to Yi Kun, though, Du Ruo actually found Wu Zhengbo even harder to deal with. Yi Kun only cared about the work; Wu Zhengbo seemed to have a personal grudge, convinced she wasn’t qualified to step foot in the lab. Even though Yi Kun acknowledged everything she’d done, Wu Zhengbo’s attitude had never changed.
Still, Du Ruo tried hard not to clash with him. The point was to get the robot done and get the job right, period.
But in the end, a serious disagreement broke out.
One day, Du Ruo suggested adding a photosensitive sensor to the robot. Wu Zhengbo shot it down immediately, insisting it would just add unnecessary weight and burden the program.
Du Ruo argued passionately for its benefits, but Wu Zhengbo cut her off, authority dripping from his words: “Why don’t you just take over as team lead?”
With a crowd of people watching.
Du Ruo’s cheeks blazed but she stood her ground in silence.
Just then, Yi Kun dropped by to check on their progress. Hearing both sides out, he didn’t say much, just looked at Wu Zhengbo, then pointed at Du Ruo. “Do it her way.”
Everyone was dumbstruck, including Du Ruo herself.
Meanwhile, things were much simpler on Team Prime’s side.
Their competition robot, Amber, had been ready for ages. Their main focus was still the autonomous driving project.
One day, Jing Ming was in his dorm running program diagnostics on the robot’s control board, when Li Wei burst in, waving a blueprint, and slapped it down on Jing Ming’s desk.
“Solved it!”
“Solved what?”
“The sensitivity issue with the engine sensor I complained about last time, it’s finally fixed.”
Jing Ming frowned, picked up the blueprint for a quick scan. It was neatly annotated, full of sharp, elegant script, all in English, with notes and a proposed solution.
“Not bad.” He handed it back without much thought. “Which professor helped out?”
“Not a professor, a classmate from our year.” Li Wei was practically vibrating with excitement.
Jing Ming snorted, eyes on his computer, not believing it for a second. “As if anyone from your class can pull this off.”
“Seriously! Guess who?” Li Wei teased, refusing to give it up.
Jing Ming turned, snatching the paper from him again for a closer look.
He knew everyone in his class, they all lived on the same floor, saw each other constantly, and the boys played games, shot hoops, did lab work, and studied together. Tight-knit didn’t even begin to cover it.
They were all brilliant. But among the freshmen, no one else could touch this level.
He handed the paper back. "Not guessing."
"As if you could guess! I was shocked too," Li Wei dragged over a chair and dropped down, saying, "Our class beauty."
"Her??"
"Yep, her. Honestly, I’d planned on asking the teacher at break. But then the paper fell, she picked it up, glanced over it, scribbled a few lines, handed it back, and just like that, problem solved," Li Wei launched into the story, all wide-eyed. "Then she turned right back around, kept her eyes on the board, listened to the lecture. Too cool."
Jing Ming didn’t say anything, but somehow found himself glancing at that sheet again.
"She’s improving crazy fast, I told you, right? She’s top of our class now. Looks all sweet and clueless, but that IQ is the real deal. I once said we should have her do grunt work for our team, turns out she’s actually a pro. No wonder Yi Kun kept her on. Yi Kun counts as,