Quick Wear: The paranoid beauty grabs the waist and spoils her

The recording of "The Billionth Heartbeat" came to a close at the end of summer.

The eight guests went their separate ways.

Lan Wan dragged her suitcase back to Y City in Hainan Province in the south, to her home with its salty sea breeze and bright sunshine.

Shen Ze then returned to Beijing and plunged into his research institute, which was filled with formulas and data.

At the airport, amidst several other couples bidding farewell, their conversation was brief and almost distant.

"Have a safe trip."

Shen Ze adjusted his glasses, his tone as steady as ever.

"Ah, you too."

Lan Wan smiled, exuding charm, yet also displaying just the right amount of politeness after the show had ended.

That night, their chat ended with each other saying "Goodnight".

Then, nothing was said that night.

Then, for a whole month, there was no further contact.

In mid-October, Beijing is already filled with the colors of autumn.

Lan Wan came to gather inspiration for her new book.

She needed to find a more academic environment for one of her characters, and Kyoto University was undoubtedly the best choice.

Strolling through the ancient campus, the tall ginkgo trees lining both sides of the road are now a sea of ​​golden yellow.

As the autumn wind swept by, the small, fan-shaped leaves rustled down, carpeting the ground in a thick layer that rustled underfoot.

As she was engrossed in developing a plot, two female students, carrying books and looking excited, walked quickly past her, their conversation clearly reaching her ears:

"Hurry up! Senior Shen Ze's lecture is about to start!"

"That youngest PhD in physics? My goodness, he's a legend in our department! I never expected him to come back to give a lecture!"

Shen Ze?

Lan Wan's steps suddenly stopped.

The name is like a pebble thrown into a still lake, which was thought to have sunk to the bottom, but now it easily creates ripples.

She followed the students almost instinctively, without any hesitation, and headed towards the College of Science auditorium.

The lecture hall was packed.

Lan Wan entered silently through the back door, disappearing into the shadows of the crowd.

On stage, Shen Ze wore a well-fitting light gray shirt, with the cuffs meticulously rolled up to his forearms.

He stood in front of the podium, with a complex physical model projected behind him.

His voice, coming through the microphone, carried a calmer, more penetrating quality than usual, as he explained a cutting-edge concept.

Rigorous, focused, and exuding an almost ascetic intellectual sensuality.

This subtly overlaps with, yet is completely different from, the bookish nerd she met in the Heartbeat House who would shove "A Brief History of Time" into her hands because he couldn't read the room.

The lecture moved into the Q&A session. A student stood up, but his question strayed from physics:

"Professor Shen, I heard that you recently participated in a dating reality show. Could you tell me if this experience had any... special impact on your research thinking?"

A burst of good-natured laughter erupted from the audience.

Shen Ze showed no embarrassment. He remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly deep in thought.

His gaze, calmly sweeping across the room from behind his glasses, was captivating.

"Cognitive psychology believes that any experience will affect mental models."

He paused, his voice calm and even.

"Especially when observing individuals who are accustomed to constructing fictional plots and complex interpersonal relationships, such as writers, this provides an unexpected sample for the study of emotional logic and behavioral prediction."

Lan Wan's heart skipped a beat.

Did he know? No, he only knew she wrote, but he probably didn't know her pen name.

But the phrase "individuals who construct virtual plots" was like a precise needle, gently pricking her.

The lecture ended, and the crowd gradually dispersed.

Lan Wan retreated to the golden ginkgo tree outside the lecture hall. The autumn sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, casting dappled shadows on her.

Familiar, steady footsteps stopped behind her.

She didn't look back.

"so,"

His voice sounded behind me, as cool and clear as the autumn air.

"Your new book is set in a university?"

Lan Wan slowly turned around, a graceful yet aloof smile on her face, meeting his gaze behind his glasses:

"It was just a field trip. Dr. Shen's lecture was excellent, especially his final discussion on 'writer samples'."

Shen Ze looked at her, his gaze as focused as if he were analyzing a complex equation:

"A reasonable inference based on limited data. After all, the probability of a key variable that has been discrete for a month suddenly appearing in my domain is so low that it is necessary to introduce new parameters."

An autumn breeze swept by, swirling up a few golden ginkgo leaves that then fell among them.

Lan Wan met his gaze, a slight smile playing on her lips, carrying a hint of barely perceptible provocation:

"What, is the Kyoto University campus only open to physicists? Or does Dr. Shen believe that only your research topic is worth conducting on-site observations?"

Her voice, with its characteristic softness typical of southern women, now sounded like a small hook.

Shen Ze did not answer immediately. He simply looked at her quietly, at this woman who constructed a world with words and easily disrupted his rigorous thought process.

The distance that had been deliberately maintained for a month was now completely disrupted by the full bloom of autumn colors and a barbed question.

He leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice so that only she could hear him:

"So, Miss Observer, would you be interested in verifying whether the fictional emotional logic you create conflicts with the physical rules of the real world?"

The air was filled with a tension more comforting than the autumn sun and more dangerous than any formulaic deduction.