Cosmic Love Affair

Chapter 10 Oort Cloud II

Xie Li was very reluctant and dragged his feet as he walked over to the opposite sofa and sat down.

Tan Ke picked up the cola that had been thrown on the adjacent sofa, walked over to Xie Li, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to him, "Professor Fang calls you Little Xie, what do you call yourself?"

Xie Li took the cola, but didn't drink it, just held it upright in his hands as if he were holding some kind of sacred edict. After hesitating for a moment, he said in a small but firm voice, "I don't want to tell you my name."

Tan Ke thought this young guy was just too amusing and couldn't help but tease him, "Even if you don't tell me, I can ask Professor Fang, and she will definitely tell me."

Xie Li immediately shook his head, still very resolute, "Then I don't want to tell you either."

Tan Ke pressed on, "Why?"

Xie Li held the bottle of cola, sitting up straight, frowning as he pondered what to say to get out of this situation.

Tan Ke was too close to him, and the air around them was filled with the scent of lemongrass aftershave, making it difficult for him to even think clearly.

"Because of Song Yi, right?" Tan Ke suddenly added.

Xie Li looked up at Tan Ke in a start, his eyes wide like black grapes.

He had the words of denial on the tip of his tongue, but couldn't bring himself to speak.

Because Tan Ke's gaze was sharp and profound, as if seeing right through to his soul.

He was silent, staring straight at Tan Ke.

Tan Ke didn't avoid his gaze, instead, he was very open, spreading his hands and letting Xie Li look at him.

The room fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of the air conditioner blowing from the vents.

Xie Li felt like his mind had been rinsed back and forth by something, washing his rationality down the drain along with the wastewater.

He knew he should keep his distance from this person in front of him. After all, the relationship between him and Song Yi, and Song Yi and him, was just too annoying to others.

But somehow, at some point, a tiny bit of secret regret had begun to grow in his heart.

Maybe it was when he saw this person being the center of attention at the cocktail party, or when this person stood in front of the telescope engraved with his name, hands in pockets, gazing at the sky, casually talking about his past.

This person was good-looking, and his smile was charming too; he had studied at Princeton, had been a scholar, had been to those famous laboratories, perhaps had even been a student of some renowned scientist, then plunged into the financial district, playing with numbers and models as if they were toys, and casually throwing away tens of millions without a care.

The people he had seen came and went, all with blurred faces. Only a few had left a deep impression on Xie Li. Shen Zhichuan was the first, and now Tan Ke was one of them.

He felt a great sense of regret in his heart, how could this person be a zero, how could he be associated with Song Yi.

In the lemongrass-scented aftershave, he became a little dazed and asked the question involuntarily, "Do you not like Song Yi?"

Tan Ke adjusted his sitting posture, interlaced his fingers on his knees, and even thought very seriously for a few seconds before speaking solemnly, "You just said you're twenty-one years old, right? How many times have you been in love, once? Twice?"

Xie Li pursed his lips and remained silent.

Tan Ke could tell from his expression, "Song Yi is your first love?"

Xie Li didn't speak, which was an admission.

Tan Ke nodded, "Whether you like her or not is not important, what's more important is that I think it's not suitable." He looked at Xie Li and asked in return, "Do you think Song Yi is suitable for you?"

Xie Li shook his head, imitating the other's response, "Whether it's suitable or not is not important, what's important is that I like her, period."

He emphasized the last word with effort.

Tan Ke curled up one corner of his mouth, suppressing the faint flutter in his heart, and thought with a hint of regret, this is truly a student of Shen Zhichuan.

He checked his watch; it was already eight o'clock. He was supposed to be in the trading room tonight to watch the night session, opening at nine and closing at four. At this time, he should have been catching up on sleep.

So he stood up, casually picked up the cola bottle cap from the coffee table and handed it over, while getting up, "Go back and apply the medicine properly."

This was a clear hint to leave.

Xie Li lowered his head, screwed the cola cap back on, put it back on the table, picked up his school bag, and walked out.

He stopped at the door, holding the doorknob, turned back, and said to the person on the sofa, enunciating each word, "My name is Xie Li, as in the chestnut."

After Xie Li returned to school, he had a meal in the cafeteria. On his way back to the dormitory, he passed by the office building, where lights were still on sporadically on the upper floors.

He stood downstairs and counted, one of the lights was from their office.

He guessed it must be Cheng Guang still in the office, hesitated for a few seconds, and then went upstairs.

Apart from being difficult to please and having high demands, Shen Zhichuan was also a very good mentor. He had numerous articles of his own, unlike some mentors who constantly focused on their students' minor achievements. He didn't hold back the money for his students, nor did he encourage excessive overtime.

Since Xie Li started his Ph.D., Shen Zhichuan hadn't even urged him to settle on a research direction, just let him rotate through the projects under his supervision.

When Xie Li entered the office, Cheng Guang was still fixing bugs.

The project in Cheng Guang's hands was related to his graduation thesis, and there seemed to be no hope in sight, which made him so anxious that he had mouth ulcers.

The big promises Shen Zhichuan had made before might have been intended to encourage Cheng Guang.

Outsiders might think that working in astrophysics is all about looking at stars through a telescope, which seems very romantic.

But that's not the case.

In Cheng Guang's current research direction, the theory of dark matter evolution has advanced too quickly, and actual observations can't keep up at all. Both the observation methods and equipment are at least decades behind. So most of the researchers' time is spent in front of the computer, endlessly writing code, deriving formulas, and reading literature.

The tedium of it all is hard to persist in without a passion for it.

Upon hearing the noise, Cheng Guang looked up and seeing Xie Li, quickly called him over to take a look.

The algorithm module was running halfway when Xie Li left in the afternoon, but as soon as he left, the program started to malfunction.

Cheng Guang had been struggling with it for hours on the chair without finding the problem.

Upon hearing this, Xie Li dropped his school bag and came over to help, while Cheng Guang took the opportunity to catch his breath, leaning back on the chair.

"Li, have you ever thought about the future?" Cheng Guang suddenly asked out of the blue.

Xie Li was busy debugging and calling out the standard library line by line to check again. Hearing this, he didn't even turn his head and casually replied, "The future? I might still develop towards astrophysical evolution. Although the pulsating variable star project the teacher is handling now is also quite interesting. By the way, I took a look at their collaboration with Canada last time..."

"No," Cheng Guang interrupted him, "I mean after graduation, your career plan, what do you intend to do?"

Cheng Guang's tone sounded very anxious. Xie Li couldn't help but stop what he was doing and looked back at his senior.

Cheng Guang was leaning back in the chair, staring at the ceiling with a vacant look in his eyes, "According to the regulations, I can't go to the postdoctoral********* of our school, so I was thinking of asking the boss for a recommendation. If I could go to the capital, that would be great. If not, staying for two years as a postdoc at the astronomical observatory in Dianan or Yecheng would also be acceptable."

Xie Li didn't expect that Cheng Guang, a second-year Ph.D. student, was already considering postdoctoral matters.

"But the boss said that everywhere in the country is saturated these days. If I want to continue in academia, it's best to consider going abroad," Cheng Guang combed his hair, looking very annoyed.

Xie Li caught the crux of the contradiction, "So if you go abroad, will your wife go with you?"

Cheng Guang shook his head, "If I go abroad by myself, I'll have to leave her here in the country. She has to work and take care of our child all by herself, but our son is only one year old, and neither set of parents can help out. What is she supposed to do?"

Xie Li thought for a moment and said, "I've heard that postdocs generally can bring their families. If your wife and son go with you, then it would be..."

Cheng Guang shook his head again, "That's not the issue. Even if I could get a postdoc position abroad and do it for two years, what about after those two years? If I can't find a teaching position and have to do another two years of postdoc, and then another two years, not to mention anything else, I just can't keep moving my wife and son every two or three years, can I?"

He looked back at Xie Li.

Xie Li was also squatting on a stool, his fair face even showing a naive kind of worry.

Cheng Guang sighed, "I was just thinking out loud, telling you casually. I'm thinking of looking for a job after graduation."

Xie Li let out a soft "ah."

"At least we have some skills in this field, we can code, our math is decent, and our brains are sharp enough," Cheng Guang pointed at the computer, "going out to help people with trading models is also a way out. I heard that a Ph.D. in atmospheric physics went to Changjing two years ago, did a year of quant, and has already bought a house this year."

"But then I think about it, and I feel very unwilling," Cheng Guang paused, his tone turning somewhat desolate, "I've been in astrophysics since my undergraduate, three years of graduate school and another three years of Ph.D., ten years, all gone. And what? Now I've achieved nothing. These past few days, I've been pondering, is it that I'm just not suited for this and should quit early, or maybe if I persist a bit more, I could make something out of it and see some hope?"

Xie Li didn't speak for a while, he thought of Tan Ke.

Tan Ke had mentioned that he used to be in high-energy physics, and Xie Li couldn't help but speculate in his heart, did he leave the academic circle back then also because he couldn't see a future?

It was really hard for him to imagine that someone like him would also have moments of dimness and powerlessness.

But upon careful consideration, this was indeed an unavoidable possibility.

Who could guarantee that the research in their hands would definitely yield results?

After talking for so long, Cheng Guang felt it was rather meaningless, waved his hand, got up, and continued working.

The two master-apprentice pairs worked head-to-head until midnight and finally got a clue.

Xie Li, holding the mouse all night, had a sore and numb wrist. He shook his hand while saying, "It's definitely the fault of the standard library. Tomorrow, I'll re-import it and optimize the data access. It should be fine by next Monday. Senior, you take a break this weekend. Anyway, I don't have anything else to do, so I'll just treat it as a way to pass the time."

Cheng Guang, with his family responsibilities, was very grateful to Xie Li for having a weekend free from these worries.

Xie Li and Cheng Guang said goodbye in front of the office building, and he walked alone along Maple Forest Road towards the dormitory with his bag on his back.

The words Cheng Guang had spoken earlier were like a bone stuck in his throat.

Xie Li hadn't really considered what to do after graduation before, as if the academic path was a matter of course. After getting a Ph.D., one would do a postdoc, and then find a teaching position at a school, just like Shen Zhichuan, doing research while teaching students, and living a smooth life like that.

It was only after Cheng Guang mentioned it today that he suddenly realized that Shen Zhichuan might be the exception, one of the few who could smoothly walk this path all the way through.

Maple Forest Road at Lanzhou University is a scenic spot loved by students and tourists during the day, but it becomes a bit eerie at night.

The maple trees, whose canopies blocked out the sky, formed a continuous expanse, shading the streetlights and the sky completely. When the wind blew, the leaves rubbed against each other, making a rustling sound as if someone was whispering right by the ear.

Xie Li, holding his school bag, was lost in thought, sometimes thinking about how to fix the bug tomorrow, sometimes pondering Cheng Guang's situation, and then his thoughts would drift to Tan Ke.

He thought that if he could ask Tan Ke how he left the academic circle back then, maybe he could give Cheng Guang some advice.

He was almost at the entrance of the dormitory building when he suddenly heard a voice calling his name faintly in the wind.

Xie Li stopped in his tracks and listened carefully, almost getting goosebumps, instantly associating it with those baseless campus legends, and immediately sprinted towards the dormitory building.

The voice still wouldn't let him go, persistently chasing after him, calling out intermittently, "Xie Li—Xie—Li—"

Frightened almost to tears, Xie Li saw two people standing in front of the doctoral building and screamed as he ran over, "Aaaaah—There's a ghost—"

The two people standing in front of the doctoral building were none other than the itinerant doctor Xiao Wu who had applied Yunnan Baiyao for him. Xiao Wu was startled by him, "A ghost? Where's the ghost?"

Xie Li pointed randomly with his head covered, and took the opportunity to hide behind Xiao Wu, "R-right over there."

Xiao Wu stretched his neck, "Where—Ah, isn't that Song Yi?"

Xie Li poked his head out from behind Xiao Wu and saw that it was indeed Song Yi, walking this way with a face as pale and ugly as a female ghost.