After Zhang Lei finished speaking, Yu Yi and the woman looked at Jiang Chen. The woman’s eyes lit up, and there was a hint of hope in her eyes. She really wanted to say something immediately, but she didn’t know Jiang Chen well, so even though the corners of her mouth twitched she was still unable to open her mouth.
Yu Yi didn’t know about the relationship between Jiang Chen and Shi Fengyue. Hearing what Zhang Lei said suddenly, the first thing she did was not to think that her friend’s research might be saved, but to question whether Shi Fengyue was really close to someone enough to help just because they asked him to. She was a few years older than Shi Fengyue, but graduated a few years later than him. When Shi Fengyue submitted the patent, she was still in college. After Shi Fengyue went abroad, she entered the research institute and logically speaking the two shouldn’t have any interaction.
However, her postgraduate mentor was a student of Professor Xiang, and she had heard about Shi Fengyue several times from her mentor, hearing a lot of his deeds after entering the research institute. Later she also met Shi Fengyue by chance, so she could be said to know a little bit about Shi Fengyue.
A man who was so indifferent that he didn’t care about his former teacher or his own research achievements, how could he come here just because someone asked him to? It was simply a dream.
“Yiyi.” The girl looked at Yu Yi, hoping that she could speak for her.
Yu Yi frowned slightly, looked at her friend reassuringly, and turned to Zhang Lei, this time with a more aggressive tone: “The matters of the navigation team are handled by the navigation team, and Jiang Chen’s interpersonal relationship is also Jiang Chen’s own business. Why are you minding things that have nothing to do with you? And even also clearly arranging everything, don’t you think you’re reaching too far?”
Zhang Lei didn’t expect Yu Yi to become angry. Being made to lose face with just a few sharp words, a hint of annoyance flashed in his eyes, but after all, they were colleagues of many years. Although he refused to accept Jiang Chen, he didn’t want to destroy his relationship with other colleagues. Compared with the mocking tone he had when speaking to Jiang Chen before, his tone now was a little more familiar and friendly: “I didn’t mean that, isn’t it because the navigation team is in a quandary? They’ve been working on such a big project for so long, and we all know how awful it feels to have such hard work suddenly ending up in vain. We are all colleagues here, since Jiang Chen has the connections, let him help.”
“Then how are you sure that Jiang Chen is familiar with Shi Fengyue?” Yu Yi knew Zhang Lei’s intentions, which was why she didn’t believe Zhang Lei’s words at first. She knew how many underhanded things have been done by him ever since Jiang Chen became the head of the project. If it wasn’t for seeing that Jiang Chen didn’t take it seriously, and his behavior didn’t slow down the progress of the research, she would have said something long ago.
She didn’t say anything before, but now she said: “We’ve been in the same team for so long, you’ve been making trouble for Jiang Chen this whole time, can’t you just be more open-minded? Even if he’s younger than you, and he’s more capable than you, if you’re a man then be jealous blatantly, instead of pulling these juvenile schemes.”
There were researchers coming and going in the cafeteria, not just ordinary researchers, but also the heads of various laboratories or project leaders, and the leaders of the research institute. Usually, even if there were many people, it couldn’t be called noisy, so even if one spoke at a normal volume, a few words could still be heard at the next table.
When Yu Yi spoke just now, she didn’t control her volume, but her voice wasn’t too loud either. However, the movement here had already attracted the attention of the two tables next to them and now that she was speaking, some from the table next to them looked over.
The environment of the research institute was simpler than that out in society. It was not that complicated. Everyone had their own projects, and they all worked in the top research institute in the country. Everything depended on one’s abilities. Even if they were in the same group, there was not much competition. Such a peaceful environment naturally lacked the nourishment of gossip, and it was precisely because of this that Shi Fengyue, who had barely been to the research institute a few times, would be mentioned many times, because there was no hot topic other than academic discussions for them to chat about.
At this time, smelling gossip, the people at the next table pretended to be eating seriously, but actually scooted over, and secretly prepared to squat down and witness the showdown.
“Juvenile schemes?” Zhang Lei didn’t expect Yu Yi to be so merciless to him. He just took a step back and handed her a ladder to go down. But she not only did not appreciate it but went even further: “Which of your eyes see that I am pulling juvenile schemes on him? And jealousy, what a joke, why should I be jealous of him, jealous of his good looks?” At the end, he sneered to express his disdain.
Jiang Chen did not speak from the beginning to the end, but as the protagonist at the center of the topic, he could feel the eyes of his surroundings.
“You know what you’re jealous of.” Yu Yi withdrew her gaze, looked at Jiang Chen, and said comfortingly, “Don’t worry about it.”
“It’s okay.” Jiang Chen knew that Zhang Lei was dissatisfied with him, and he didn’t take his dissatisfaction to heart. When he was in the Imperial Research Institute in his last life, he was a thorn in the eyes of many people. In fact, because of his research project and the political situation, many assassination attempts had been made on him. In contrast, Zhang Lei, who only babbled a few words and didn’t deliberately make mistakes at work, was a colleague who he could get along with in his eyes.
However, it was always inappropriate to cooperate in a project team and maintain such a hostile attitude forever.
Jiang Chen thought for a while, and said to the woman next to Yu Yi: “I’ll go and ask Shi Fengyue for you, but I can’t guarantee whether he will help, is that okay?”
The woman was taken aback, and nodded again and again: “Yes, yes, of course, please.”
“It’s no problem.” Jiang Chen put down his chopsticks, picked up the tray and said, “I’ve finished eating, and I’ll tell you the result in the afternoon.”
“Thank you.”
Looking at Jiang Chen’s back as he walked away, Zhang Lei snorted coldly: “Not very old, but he could put on airs.”
Yu Yi was used to Zhang Lei picking at every little fault, and even if there was no fault he would still come up with one. So she ignored him and turned around. Seeing her friend who looked much calmer, she sighed slightly in her heart. If Shi Fengyue was that easy to be invited over, how could the navigation department make such slow progress? It seemed that her friend was destined to be disappointed.
When Jiang Chen called Shi Fengyue, Shi Fengyue had just finished an operation.
His voice was a little sleepy and also a little hoarse, as if he hadn’t drank water for a long time: “What’s wrong?”
Knowing that Shi Fengyue might not be resting yet, Jiang Chen cut to the chase and said, “I want to ask you for a favor.”
“What favor?” Probably because he was sleepy, Shi Fengyue’s voice was lazy and a little dazed, even so he did not forget to fight for his rights: “How many meals?”
Jiang Chen remembered how many meals he still owed Shi Fengyue, paused for a while, and suddenly laughed. When the debt was a lot, just one more was no longer overwhelming. In any case, he owed the other so much, so why not begin to pay it off in person now.
“When are you off?”
“There will be no surgery tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”
“There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“When?”
“You decide.”
“It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s in the afternoon.” With the sound of fabric rubbing, Shi Fengyue seemed to be nestling in the sofa, and his voice became even lazier: “I need to catch up on sleep in the morning.”
“Then tomorrow afternoon.” Jiang Chen thought for a while, and before hanging up the phone, he said, “Remember to eat before going to bed.”
Shi Fengyue seemed to laugh, “Understood.”
The next day.
The place that Jiang Chen and Shi Fengyue made an appointment at was a club, which was opened by Li Nanfeng. Shi Fengyue had a suite here exclusively for him, and he slept here last night. Because he had notified the front desk, as soon as Jiang Chen entered, he was led directly to the door of Shi Fengyue’s suite.
He knocked on the door, and about a minute later, the still sleepy man with disheveled hair falling into his eyes opened the door. He casually turned sideways to let him in, poured himself a glass of water and after he finished drinking, his eyes were a little more awake.
“What do you want to drink?”
“I’m not thirsty.” Jiang Chen looked at him, wondering if it was the fluffy hair or the soft cotton pajamas. At this moment, Shi Fengyue didn’t seem to possess the same aggressive aura when he was awake at all, and that overly good-looking face became particularly eye-catching without the sharpness of his aura, “What time did you sleep yesterday?”
“Forgot.” Shi Fengyue yawned, gulped down the hot water in the cup. As if he hadn’t woken up yet, his long eyelashes were half drooping, and the steam from the hot water blurred his features a bit, unexpectedly making him appear endearing and youthful, the aura surrounding him becoming soft and gentle. After slowly drinking a glass of water, he seemed to finally wake up with the hot water in his stomach, and when he raised his eyes, the light in his eyes became different, “The research institute is so busy and you still came to find me, what do you want me to help you with? “
“You should know about the navigation team of our institute.” Jiang Chen also threw away the momentary feeling of weirdness just now, and began to talk business. After relaying the things about the navigation team, he said: “They want you to go and have a look and help analyze where it went wrong.”
Shi Fengyue didn’t even think about it, flatly refusing: “I’m not going.”
Jiang Chen was not surprised. In his impression, Shi Fengyue was not someone who would easily agree to other people’s requests, but he still asked, “Why?”
“They want to ask me to help, so how come it’s you coming to make the request?” Shi Fengyue put down his cup and sat down opposite Jiang Chen, “I remember you are not from the navigation team, right?”
“A member of my team has a good relationship with a researcher in their team, so I want to ask you for help.”
“Male or female?”
“Ah?” Jiang Chen caught up with Shi Fengyue’s sudden jump in the topic: “They’re both women.”
“The one in your group.” Shi Fengyue only thought for a moment, and said, “Yu Yi?”
“Yes.” Jiang Chen nodded subconsciously, and then realized: “Do you know her?”
Shi Fengyue: “Professor Xiang’s student’s student, I met her once.”
This was the first time he heard Shi Fengyue mention old Mr. Xiang. Jiang Chen raised his eyes to look at him, and Shi Fengyue said: “I’m free tomorrow, I can go and see.”
This was unexpected. Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows: “Didn’t you say you won’t go before, so why are you planning to go all of a sudden now?”
“I changed my mind.” Shi Fengyue didn’t show the slightest embarrassment at all at going back on his decision, and was even very righteous: “You owe me so many meals, when will you pay them back?”
Jiang Chen looked around: “How about I treat you to have a meal in this clubhouse?”
Shi Fengyue snorted: “You are really perfunctory.”
“What is not perfunctory?”
“Do you know how to cook?”
Jiang Chen said truthfully, “Yes.”
Shi Fengyue looked at him in surprise: “You do?”
Jiang Chen smiled and nodded. If he was at this time in the previous life, he would definitely not be able to. Even if his family situation changed dramatically, his parents never let him worry about food and clothing. But for a long time afterwards, he had no family and could only search for the feeling of home by replicating the taste of his parents’ home-cooked food.
Like this, over two lifetimes, he had thirty years to practice.
So, of course he knew how to cook.
Shi Fengyue stood up and made a decision without giving Jiang Chen a chance to refuse: “Let’s go grocery shopping.”
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