Chapter 37

Ji Wei said with a flushed face, “I really do have to study.”

The man lowered his eyes and said no more.

Ji Wei breathed a sigh of relief.

The elevator arrived at that moment. He pushed Lu Shenxing out of the elevator and into the apartment. A huge floor-to-ceiling window came into view. It was a large, flat apartment of about three hundred square meters, with no steps or raised thresholds anywhere. It was likely designed for his idol’s convenience. The decoration style was a mix of white and beige, appearing warm and bright under the warm lighting. But he clearly remembered that his idol preferred dark colors.

He couldn’t help but ask, “Have your favorite colors changed?”

The man didn’t answer immediately, but asked in return, “Do you like it?”

“I like it.”

He looked around and then nodded. The decoration style was surprisingly similar to his own home, even the layout was very similar. It didn’t have the sense of unfamiliarity he had imagined before coming.

Lu Shenxing lowered his gaze. “I like it too.”

The moving company had left everything in the living room. Since he had class the next morning, Ji Wei only unpacked his clothes and toiletries from the boxes. By the time he finished, it was already ten o’clock at night. He read in the study until eleven-thirty. When he went to the bathroom to wash up and get ready for bed, he discovered a serious problem.

—There was no place to sleep.

The house had one master bedroom and four guest rooms, so in theory, there should be no shortage of rooms. But when he randomly chose a guest room and walked in, it was completely empty, without a single blanket. He walked into the second room… the third… the fourth… still nothing.

He had no choice but to go to the master bedroom door. Warm yellow light leaked out from the ajar door, casting a shadow with a strong contrast of brightness. His idol was still awake. Ji Wei knocked on the door. “May I come in?”

He heard the man give a soft “mhm.” He pushed the door open and entered the bedroom, seeing the man half-lying on the bed, flipping through a thick book. He asked embarrassedly, “I was wondering if there are any extra blankets. I couldn’t find any in the closets of the other rooms.”

The man’s hand, which was turning a page, paused. “They’re still being custom-made.”

Ji Wei turned to leave the room, but the thought of the cold mattress made him turn back. He asked in a very quiet voice, “Can I sleep with you?”

His tone was somewhat apprehensive. His request shouldn’t be too difficult for his idol, right? They had slept in the same bed before while filming the show.

Lu Shenxing raised his eyes. “No kicking the blankets.”

Ji Wei promised, “I definitely won’t.”

He had always been a good sleeper. Every time he woke up, the blanket was still tucked securely around him. How could he possibly kick the blankets?

Lu Shenxing picked up the phone by his bed.

[Lu Shenxing] There’s no rush to deliver the custom-made blankets.

[Assistant He] Understood, Mr. Lu.

After sending the message, he turned off the lights. The thick curtains were drawn over the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the room was instantly plunged into darkness. Not a single glimmer of light could be found, as if it had been completely swallowed by the darkness. The sound also seemed to be swallowed by it, so quiet that one could almost hear the slow flow of air, each breath more suppressed than the last.

Ji Wei couldn’t help but feel a little panicked. Suddenly, a cool hand unexpectedly touched his waist. He instinctively tried to push it away but couldn’t move it. Instead, the man pulled him into his arms.

“To prevent you from kicking the blankets.”

The man said in a low voice.

That seemed to make some sense… Ji Wei couldn’t think of a rebuttal for a moment, so he let him hold him. Whether it was the fatigue from studying or the man’s cool, scented embrace, he soon felt drowsy and slowly closed his eyes. In a daze, he felt the man kissing him, but the sensation was not very real, and his consciousness drifted into darkness.

***

The next day, Ji Wei woke up very early. He didn’t wake up naturally; he was woken up by his idol.

“I was born on this ship. The whole world walked with me, but it only carried two thousand people at a time. There are desires here, but they are not so illusory as to extend beyond the hull of the ship.”

—It was a line from The Legend of 1900.

Ji Wei rubbed his eyes and pushed open the bedroom door. His idol was by the window, practicing his lines, expressing the same line with different vocalizations, each sentence conveying a completely different feeling. His idol’s line delivery had been questioned before. Compared to the standard articulation and consistent tone of professionally trained actors, his idol’s lines were not so perfectly enunciated. His idol, however, believed that in real life, people’s speech was often non-standard, and few people spoke their lines like actors. His versatile acting, which allowed him to portray a thousand different faces, also benefited from this. In Wind of Qin, his voice was deep to the point of hoarseness. In The Silent, his voice was frivolous and unrestrained. Some people even suspected he used a voice actor.

But it really wasn’t a voice actor. Ji Wei watched his idol silently. Lu Shenxing seemed to be born for acting. Off-screen, he was low-key and reserved, but once he was in character, he shone so brightly that even the sun would pale in comparison.

As he watched, he suddenly remembered he had class in the morning and needed to pack up the rest of his things and go to the university. He had to tear his eyes away, picked up the box by the sofa, and walked towards the study.

“Why didn’t you wake me when you woke up?”

Suddenly, his idol’s voice came from behind him.

Ji Wei was startled, and the box in his hands fell to the floor, scattering its contents everywhere. He bent down and started picking things up, saying cautiously, “I was afraid of disturbing you.”

The man rubbed his temples. “I don’t consider it a disturbance.”

Ji Wei “mhm-ed.”

Lu Shenxing pushed his wheelchair over and also helped Ji Wei pick up a stack of letters. His gaze fell on a light pink envelope. “What’s this?”

Hearing this, Ji Wei looked over at the man. Seeing the envelope, his fair face turned slightly red. “Those are… love letters someone gave me in college.”

Lu Shenxing said thoughtfully, “Our Weiwei is very popular.”

Ji Wei lowered his head in embarrassment.

The man handed him the thick stack of letters. Just as he was about to take them, the man didn’t let go. His long, narrow eyes stared at him without moving. “Why did you keep them?”

Ji Wei didn’t notice the look in the man’s eyes and said naturally, “They’re all someone’s feelings. If I threw them away, they would be sad, right?”

After speaking, he tried to pull again. This time, he was able to pull it free. Ji Wei put the envelopes back into the box and tried to change the subject. “You must have received a lot of love letters when you were in school.”

Definitely more than him. Unexpectedly, Lu Shenxing shook his head.

Ji Wei thought that perhaps everyone was too intimidated to give him love letters. The younger Lu Shenxing was even colder than he was now, with a “do not approach” air about him. Even actors who had worked with him said they were afraid to speak loudly in his presence.

As he packed up the box and prepared to move it into the study, he asked, on a whim, “Then have you ever given anyone a love letter?”

He regretted it as soon as he asked. This seemed to have crossed the line of their contractual relationship. His idol must think he was being presumptuous. After a moment of silence, just as he was about to explain, he saw his idol’s ears turn red. He softly uttered two words, “I have.”

“You didn’t send it?”

“It was written too sentimentally,” Lu Shenxing said after a pause. “I couldn’t bring myself to give it.”

Ji Wei roughly understood. For a long time, his idol had been fond of ornate poetry with lengthy parallelisms. He had even self-published a collection of poems, but only his fans could force themselves to praise what he wrote. However, that must have been someone his idol cared about very much. That’s why he didn’t dare to send it.

Ji Wei pursed his lips. Reason told him he shouldn’t ask any more questions. He picked up the box and went into the study, said goodbye to Lu Shenxing, and then hurriedly left for class with his backpack. He himself couldn’t explain why he was in such a hurry. He didn’t see the man in the wheelchair staring at his back for a long time before sighing.

***

As soon as Ji Wei entered the classroom, he sensed that the atmosphere was off. No one looked relaxed; in fact, they all looked serious.

He nudged Chen Yan’s arm and whispered, “What’s going on?”

Chen Yan’s expression was grim. “Luo Na just had a fight with Cui Jiu.”

Ji Wei was a little surprised. His roommate, Cui Jiu, was usually quiet, sticking to a routine of the library, classroom, and dormitory. How could he get into an argument with someone from the physics department?

The vice class president adjusted his glasses. “Luo Na was standing at the classroom door telling her friends how great the apartments at Hua Ting are. Cui Jiu told her to be quiet because she was disturbing his reading.”

That did sound like something Cui Jiu would do.

Chen Yan pointed at the blackboard. “So Luo Na said, ‘What’s the use of studying art if you can’t even solve a physics problem?’ and wrote a problem on the blackboard before leaving.”

Ji Wei looked at the blackboard.

—Calculate the maximum amount of electric charge a single drop of Coke can carry.

Not a single person went up to solve it.

“Can’t you search for it online?”

He asked.

“We’ve checked Baidu and CNKI,” the vice class president said with a headache. “We couldn’t find it.”

“Everyone has their strengths. Luo Na probably doesn’t know Xie He’s Six Principles either,” Ji Wei comforted.

“She actually does,” Chen Yan said with a “tsk.” “She studied traditional Chinese painting when she was a child. Cui Jiu asked her several questions and couldn’t stump her. No, I have to go to the forum and offer a reward.”

Ji Wei said, “…Is that really necessary?”

Chen Yan retorted, “How can we not? Luo Na is wiping the floor with our Chinese Painting Department. How can we tolerate this? We have to get our reputation back.”

A classmate in front of them turned around and added, “And our Watercolor Department too.”

Ji Wei sighed. “Then I’ll ask my mom.”

Chen Yan smiled. “Your dad is a high school Chinese teacher, right? Is your mom a physics teacher?”

“Something like that.”

Ji Wei said after thinking for a moment.

Doing scientific research and being in education should count as being in a related field, right?

The vice class president immediately shook his head. “My cousin is also a high school teacher. He said this problem is not easy. A university professor might be able to solve it.”

Ji Wei didn’t say much and sent the problem to Ms. Ye Zhi.

[Ji Wei] Can you solve this problem?

Not long after he sent it, class started. After class, still no one had gone up to solve the problem, and Ms. Ye Zhi hadn’t replied. Ms. Ye Zhi was probably too busy.

Ji Wei packed his things and was about to leave the classroom with Chen Yan. As he reached the door, his phone suddenly rang. He looked at his phone for a moment, then looked up at Chen Yan and said, “Wait, I know how to solve that problem now.”

Although Ms. Ye Zhi hadn’t replied… she had sent the answer directly.

Chen Yan said, “Are you kidding me?”

Not long after he posted on the school forum, a great student from the physics department replied. The problem could be solved, but the calculations were quite large and couldn’t be done in a short amount of time. One class period was definitely not enough.

Ji Wei walked up to the podium and picked up a piece of chalk. The students who were about to leave the classroom all stopped in their tracks. Some even took out their phones to record a video.

Ji Wei recalled the answer Ms. Ye Zhi had sent and began to write on the blackboard. It took him ten minutes to write out the result.

The vice class president put his arm around Chen Yan’s shoulder. “Ji Wei is so amazing. I can’t even understand all these formulas.”

Actually, Ji Wei didn’t understand either. He was just copying it down from memory. At some point, Luo Na had also appeared at the classroom door. She said to her friend, “His physics is not bad.”

She was about to turn and leave when her friend suddenly grabbed her arm. “He’s still writing.”

Hasn’t he already solved it? Luo Na looked back in confusion and saw Ji Wei starting a new line to write another formula. The method he had used before was the principle of least action. This time, he was using the principle of virtual work. By now, some people in the classroom had started to exclaim in amazement, but Ji Wei paid no attention and continued to write down the third type of force analysis. When he wrote down the fourth method, the perturbation method, Luo Na’s expression changed completely.

To come up with four different solutions in such a short amount of time, not even her advisor could do that.

Chen Yan walked up to Luo Na. “It’s solved.”

Luo Na left without a word.

When Ji Wei stepped down from the stage, a round of enthusiastic applause erupted. The vice class president proudly grabbed his hand and introduced, “Look! This is from Class 2 of our Chinese Painting Department.”

Chen Yan sighed with emotion. “I never realized you were so good at physics before.”

“Didn’t I tell you? I asked my mom.”

No one believed him.

“Stop joking. How could you remember such a long answer if you didn’t think of it yourself?”

“Hahahahaha, ‘my mom helped me do it’ is so mocking. It’s a pity Luo Na left too early.”

“Why didn’t someone hold her back?”

Ji Wei was speechless. “…”

He just had a particularly good memory.

When they went to the cafeteria for lunch, Cui Jiu gave him a small chicken drumstick. He had thought the matter was over, but after eating, he found that he… was trending on social media.

[YanchengLocalNews]Who says art students can’t do physics? Ji Wei shows you four ways to solve one problem [Video]

The comments below quickly surpassed a thousand.

[AirConRepair]Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! This is too damn impressive. As a liberal arts student, I can’t understand a single formula.

[NightGlowGrass]Isn’t this little brother Ji Wei! I thought he was just good-looking, but who knew he could also paint. I thought he could only paint, but I didn’t expect him to also be good at calligraphy, and now physics too? I’m so envious.

[ZhouBlackDuck]As a physics graduate student, this problem is really difficult. The comments say it was solved in one class period. That’s truly amazing.

[EmperorMandarin]I just want to ask, is there anything Weiwei can’t do! He probably even knows how to play a musical instrument.

Seeing his Weibo followers increasing, Ji Wei posted a clarification.

[Ji Wei Who Plays Games]My mom solved it. I personally don’t know physics.

Who knew that the comments under his Weibo post were all…

[Vitamin]Weiwei is so humble. If you can’t solve it, how can you remember so many answers? Sigh, if it were someone else, they would have started marketing themselves already.

[LuWeiKSWL]Hmm, I think I know who you’re talking about.

[OldYogurt]Finals are coming up. I’m here to worship the academic god. Please bless me so I can pass my university physics exam.

After he posted on Weibo… his follower count grew even faster, soon surpassing three and a half million.

Ji Wei gave up, feeling that no amount of clarification would work. Seeing how much praise he was getting on Weibo, it must not have been easy to solve that problem. He sent a message of condolence to Ms. Ye Zhi.

[Ji Wei] You’ve worked hard.

[Ms. Ye Zhi] Writing is harder.

Ji Wei was speechless. “…”

[Ji Wei] You’ve worked hard writing.

He could probably imagine it. Ms. Ye Zhi must have written down the answer furiously, without even needing to think.

***

Lu Shenxing quietly watched the video of the young man. It reminded him of something. He slowly pushed his wheelchair to the study. He opened the innermost drawer. Only a single, aged letter lay inside, its corners slightly yellowed.

He took out the letter. Pushing his wheelchair, he placed the letter in the box where the young man kept his love letters. He lowered his eyes and murmured, “I’ll just pretend you’ve received it.”