CH 24

Having been busy for two days without touching the ground, Tang Cuo had finally brought the experiment to his satisfaction. In the morning, he and He Zhong checked the circuit one last time. Tang Cuo breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed his belly, and said to He Zhong that he wanted to have some porridge.

He Zhong immediately agreed, tidied up quickly, and waved his big hand, “Let’s go, brother, take you to have some porridge.”

The two of them went to a porridge shop near the school gate and ordered a pot of fresh shrimp porridge. After the porridge was served, He Zhong took a photo and posted it on his social media account. The picture showed Tang Cuo looking puzzled at the camera and the pot of porridge, with the caption, “Thanks to our misfortune, we’ll wait for tomorrow’s inspection~”

Tang Cuo didn’t know that He Zhong had posted the photo, and while he was enjoying his porridge, he suddenly received a text message from Tang Xu.

――”Isn’t it better not to eat seafood when you have a cold?” 

This sentence popped up on Tang Cuo’s phone’s desktop, and he was so scared that he immediately dropped his spoon and looked around suspiciously.

“What are you doing? Looking around like that?” He Zhong asked in confusion.

“It’s nothing…” Tang Cuo sniffed and picked up his phone to open WeChat.

――”My throat isn’t inflamed, so it’s okay… I suddenly want to eat porridge…”

After replying to the message, he checked his social media account and realised that it was He Zhong who had exposed him. Although he knew that He Zhong was innocent, he couldn’t help but give him a small sideways glance.

Why can’t people show off? After Tang Cuo and his group finished setting up the experiment box, they didn’t go back to the laboratory. Unexpectedly, when he and He Zhong were about to leave for rehearsal in the evening, a female member of their group suddenly called and said that many of their wires seemed to have been unplugged.

He Zhong held the phone and couldn’t believe what he was hearing: “What do you mean by unplugged? Who did it?”

“It was the second-year students! There were two classes doing experiments in Room 405 this afternoon, and they probably didn’t have enough wires, so they came to the outer room to unplug them! My roommate found their box unplugged when she came in the afternoon. Although I don’t really understand this circuit, I saw that some wires were only connected on one end. Please come and take a look with Tang Cuo!”

He Zhong often says “Oh my god” but rarely says “fuck.” He thinks it’s too crude, so if he can avoid saying it, he will.

However, after hearing what the girl said, He Zhong directly cursed, “Fuck his grandpa!”

He hung up the phone and jumped up and down in anger in the dormitory. “Can’t they see that we’re doing an experiment? Can’t they see that there are so many wires that are difficult to connect?”

Tang Cuo was also very angry, but years of habit made him still look calm. He stopped He Zhong, who was about to leave, and said, “I’ll go; you go to the orchestra. We didn’t ask for leave before, and if both of us don’t go, the teacher will notice.”

“How are you going to deal with it yourself? I’ll make a phone call to ask for leave.”

“Never mind, didn’t the teacher say last time that you shouldn’t ask for leave until it’s rehearsal time? Besides, we’re going to rehearse a new song today that we haven’t practised before. You should go and see how the teacher arranges it. I’ll go to the lab to check what’s going on; maybe it’s not as bad as we think.”

He Zhong took a deep breath and said, “Okay, I’ll go to the band; you go check it out. If it’s really bad, make sure to message me so I can talk to the teacher and then come over, got it?”

Tang Cuo nodded and went to the lab with his backpack.

When he arrived at the lab, Tang Cuo realised that he had been too optimistic about the situation. After turning on the power, the oscilloscope1an electronic instrument used to measure voltage signalsshowed nothing at all. Looking at the pile of wires, he had no idea which one was unplugged.

… He was getting a little bit angry.

As he sighed, the girl next to him asked him with a mournful face what to do.

Tang Cuo looked up and saw several girls waiting there, apparently this girl’s roommates.

“I’ll just check it out; you guys haven’t had dinner yet, so go eat first.”

The girl hesitated for a moment before nodding, saying, “Then I’ll come back after I finish eating.”

But Tang Cuo said, “It’s okay; I can handle it myself; you don’t have to come.”

This girl usually gets average grades and doesn’t seem to like this major, so she probably doesn’t really understand these circuit things. Tang Cuo felt that there was no need to let her waste her time accompanying him tonight. Maybe he could do it faster alone.

Before heading home, Tang Xu checked his phone and was surprised to see He Zhong’s angry rant on his social media, denouncing the second-year students for pulling out a few wires from the digital circuit experiment that was due to be checked the next day. Other students were also posting similar content. Tang Xu furrowed his brows and understood the general idea of what was going on. The comments below were from students he knew, with some asking what to do and He Zhong replying that Cuo Cuo was handling it alone and that their band had a rehearsal that day, so he was not going to help.

After reading the post, Tang Xu was so angry that he could crush a bug with his eyebrows. He turned off the lights in his office and went down to Room 405.

Since the experiment was due to be checked the next day, the lab was in chaos, with many students struggling desperately and shouting for help, wondering what to do and why they couldn’t make it work.

Tang Xu received many perfunctory greetings after he entered the lab, and he casually asked a male student how the experiment went.

“Not too bad, but I couldn’t get close to the ‘thighs’, so I just hope Professor Jiang will give me a passing grade.”

“Aren’t you one of the ‘thighs’?” Tang Xu joked and glanced at Tang Cuo’s back in front of him.

“Oh, Teacher Tang, I’m not even an arm. But the biggest ‘thigh’2(“thighs” a slang term for someone with power or influence)is a bit unfortunate. The weird sophomore disconnected three sets of wires from Tang Cuo’s group, while the other two groups were okay. Tang Cuo’s group was damaged the most, and they haven’t finished checking yet.”

Tang Xu immediately looked at Tang Cuo and said, “Really?”

Tang Cuo was actually very worried in his heart because if he couldn’t figure it out today, it would affect the grades of the three people in their group tomorrow. He didn’t care about himself, but he didn’t want to affect He Zhong and the girl. These second-year students didn’t know what they were thinking. If they had just unplugged it, it would have been fine, but they even randomly plugged it back in. As a result, he could only check every wire one by one. He searched for errors wire by wire and eventually felt that his eyes were blurred and his head was dizzy. He didn’t even notice Tang Xu walking up to him.

“Is it very troublesome?”

Tang Xu suddenly spoke, startling him and making his hands tremble. Although surprised, he didn’t have time to ask Tang Xu how he came over, and his heart was only filled with anxiety.

“Well, I don’t know where it’s stuck, so I can only check it bit by bit.”

Tang Cuo’s voice still had a thick nasal tone, and he hadn’t recovered from his cold. He glanced at the clock and realised it was almost 8:30.

“But today is Thursday, and the laboratory is undergoing routine maintenance. It will close at 9 o’clock…I don’t think we can finish it in time.”

Tang Xu, who usually did not use this laboratory for teaching, did not know about this situation. While he was pondering, Tang Cuo lowered his head to look at the circuit again, revealing the small pieces of hair on his neck.

Tang Cuo’s hair had always been very soft, and the broken hair on his neck was not prickly. Tang Xu actually wanted to reach out and touch him to reassure him, but there were too many people around, and they were all his students.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go find the lab teacher in charge to get the key. After the lab is closed, I’ll bring you in to continue working.”

Tang Cuo suddenly raised his head, glanced around, and asked in a low voice, “Is it okay?”

Tang Xu nodded and said, “Yes, take your time. After the lab is closed, go to my office and find me.”

So, at 9:20 in the evening, in the empty and locked laboratory, Tang Cuo experienced the feeling of using the backdoor for the first time. It was quite amazing.

Tang Xu picked up the circuit diagram and said, “Shall I help you?”

“No, I can’t cheat.”

“… ” Tang Xu felt helpless, but as a teacher, he couldn’t openly encourage cheating, so he had to withdraw his hand and stand aside, saying, “Then let me read out the connections for you to check.”

This time, Tang Cuo had no objections; he bent over and buried his head, saying, “You can read now.”

Seeing his serious expression, Tang Xu couldn’t help but smile.

The red, blue, yellow, and green wires were tangled together. To find one end of a wire, you had to peel back the others, then gently pull on the wire to see where the other end moved. It was quite troublesome.

“Ah, this one is wrong,” Tang Cuo said as he switched one end of a wire from a large capacitor to a small one. “Let’s continue.”

However, after saying “let’s continue,” he didn’t hear Tang Xu’s voice for a long time. He was a little confused and looked up to see what was going on.

Tang Xu was walking from one experimental station to another, holding two pieces of tissue paper in one hand. When he reached Tang Cuo, he didn’t say anything but put down the circuit diagram in his hand, folded the tissue paper neatly, and placed it over Tang Cuo’s nose.

“Blow hard”

With the soft tissue paper blocking his nose, Tang Cuo looked at Tang Xu’s face and blinked. Then he stared at Tang Xu and honestly blew his nose.

There were only the two of them in the room, and it was nighttime. Not to mention the laboratory, the entire fourth floor of Building 7 was silent. So this sound of him blowing his nose sounded huge, and combined with him looking at Tang Xu the whole time, it made Tang Xu laugh.

Tang Xu pinched his nose and pulled the tissue off. His finger moved slightly, he folded the tissue again, and he covered it again. “Blow harder.”

“Your nose is almost running, but you persist in conducting the experiment despite being sick. I’ll tell Professor Jiang about this and ask him to give you some extra points,” said Tang Xu as he wiped his nose and smiled.

Tang Cuo still hadn’t put down the two wires in his hands and buzzed with a blocked nose, saying, “Don’t bother; I don’t want it.”

Tang Xu laughed so hard that his eyes squinted together, and he said, “I’m just kidding; why are you taking everything seriously?”

After speaking, he turned around and threw the used tissue into the trash can.

After they finished checking for errors, Tang Cuo adjusted the performance again. Although he didn’t want to cheat, Tang Xu gave him some guidance. At first, he hesitated about whether to make the change or not. But after hearing Tang Xu describe what kind of results the improvement might lead to, Tang Cuo glanced at him with raised eyelids and silently started making the changes.

After finishing everything completely, Tang Cuo touched the two boxes and felt scared. He was a bit hesitant to leave, thinking, “Will someone come and unplug them again?…”

He leaned over and looked at the experimental tables around him, noticing that everyone had already posted notes with exclamation marks on them: “Experimental use box! Do not touch! Pull out a wire and fail the final exam!!”

Tang Cuo: “…”

It seems that he was not the only one feeling scared.

Tang Xu also saw it and thought that the students are now quite interesting. He laughed and suggested, “Why don’t you write one too?”

“…Okay, I’ll write one.”

However, Tang Cuo still did not write a note like “Pull out a wire and fail a course,” and he didn’t even use two exclamation marks. Tang Xu looked at his note and shook her head. “Yours have no deterrent power.”

Tang Cuo looked at his note, which simply says, “Experimental equipment, do not touch.”

“it’s okay…” 

He neatly placed the note and wanted to go get his backpack, but he found out that Tang Xu had already taken his backpack and gone to the front to turn off the power and lights.

The laboratory became pitch black after the lights were turned off, and his nose still didn’t feel very comfortable. Tang Cuo waited for Tang Xu in the aisle and rubbed his nose. Although it was very dark, he could still see Tang Xu walking over.

“Not feeling well?”

It’s true that darkness can make people’s senses more sensitive. At the moment, Tang Xu’s voice sounded sexy to him, enough to make him nosebleed, but his stuffy nose blocked it.

“Um… why is this cold lasting so long this time?”

Tang Xu didn’t speak, listening to his inadvertent complaint in the quiet laboratory and then crossing the short layer of darkness to look at Tang Cuo’s face. 

Tang Cuo casually complained without expecting a response from Tang Xu, so when silence descended, he felt a bit lonely but not too desolate.

He lifted his head and said to Tang Xu, “Let’s go.”

But before he could turn around, he was suddenly grabbed. Immediately, a hand pressed on his waist, and a slight force easily bent his waistline. He leaned forward with a skipped heartbeat and first touched Tang Xu’s chest. Then their feet moved slightly, and their toes touched.

The hand on his waist didn’t let go, and with a light touch at the critical moment, the two of them were glued together as if they were completely inseparable. The distance was so close that Tang Cuo thought his heart had jumped into Tang Xu’s chest.

Tang Xu placed his hand holding the backpack on Tang Cuo’s waist, and his other hand, which was originally pressing against Tang Cuo’s waist, moved up and lightly touched his cheek, tracing two strokes with his fingertips.

“After you’re done with your final exams, I’ll take you to relax a bit.”

Tang Cuo widened his eyes and snuggled in Tang Xu’s arms. The proximity was so close that when he blinked, his eyelashes could brush up and down on Tang Xu’s clothes, which was ambiguous and intimate and made his head spin.

This hug seemed to have gone through a long winter, spring, summer, and autumn. With the changing of the seasons, it had overturned the hundred flavours of life in Tang Cuo’s heart, and all kinds of flavours were raging. The emotions seemed to be overflowing from his chest, dazzlingly wanting to fill up the dark night, yet it seemed like there was only the most basic sense of existence left, and even that was only a few small details.

Until Tang Xu released him, he was unable to return to his original state, unable to regain even a moment of clarity.

Tang Xu looked at his dazed appearance and couldn’t help but lightly touch his warm face. “Let’s go.”

In the next second, Tang Cuo found himself walking uncontrollably outside. In order to figure out what was going on, he forcefully pulled his consciousness back from a daze. However, after seeing what was in front of him, he was once again plunged into a world of fog, with no sense of stepping down with each foot. Tang Xu walked in front of him, holding his backpack in one hand and his hand in the other. 

….Eh?