Chapter 80 – Snowman
The card was placed back into Qiao Huaiyao’s palm.
Bai Jinyan propped himself up on the armrests of the chair and leaned down to kiss him. However, Qiao Huaiyao leaned back and raised his hand to block, saying, “Lu Lu might come in at any moment.”
They had no idea when Lu Lu would come back, and if he saw them…
Bai Jinyan’s kiss landed on Qiao Huaiyao’s wrist. He leaned forward to shorten the distance between them and only relented after giving him a quick peck on the lips.
Qiao Huaiyao pursed his lips, steadied the chair beside him, and gestured to his watch. “The next promotional event is in half an hour. You should hurry up and change your clothes.”
This time included not only preparation but also the time to get to the other venue.
It was very tight.
Fortunately, Bai Jinyan didn’t need to put on makeup; just changing clothes would suffice for his preparation.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough time according to Lu Lu’s schedule.
Bai Jinyan sighed, his eyes full of joy, but he didn’t rush to get up. “I’ll wait until Lu Lu gets back.”
They couldn’t leave early anyway.
Qiao Huaiyao nodded, “Alright, if there’s not enough time, you can change in the car.”
The minute hand on the watch moved slowly, but Lu Lu hadn’t returned.
Qiao Huaiyao sent a message but got no reply. He thought for a moment and said, “I’ll go see why Lu Lu hasn’t come back yet.”
As he stood up, the card on his lap slid to the floor. Before Qiao Huaiyao could reach for it, Bai Jinyan had already picked it up.
He gently blew off a bit of dust from the surface, wiped it, and handed it back.
Bai Jinyan’s smile deepened, “This fan should remember to keep the autograph safe.”
Qiao Huaiyao squinted his eyes and took the card, pinching Bai Jinyan’s cheek playfully, “Next time, just write your name for the autograph. You don’t need to write all those extra words.”
Especially since those few sentences took up most of the card, leaving only a small corner for the signature.
Bai Jinyan thought for a moment, “Next time, I can skip the signature and use all the space for writing.”
Qiao Huaiyao burst out laughing, “Who gives autographs like that…”
‘Knock, knock.’
Outside, Lu Lu knocked on the rest room door. Without barging in, he called out, “Brother Bai, Young Master! I brought the drinks. It’s almost time; shall we go?”
Qiao Huaiyao put away the card and extended his hand to Bai Jinyan, “Let’s go.”
Bai Jinyan sighed deeply, held his hand, and stood up, saying, “Let’s go.”
…
Previously, Qiao Huaiyao had accompanied Bai Jinyan to work a few times, but never with such a tight schedule.
Any delay in one part could cause the entire day’s events to collapse.
However, Bai Jinyan seemed accustomed to this intensity. He could quickly adjust during short breaks, and there was no sign of fatigue on his face when he came off stage. After a brief rest, he would continue with the next event.
The work schedule was so tight that there wasn’t even time to eat.
They could only eat some packed takeout while in the car.
Outside the car window, the sky was pitch black.
This road was quite remote, with only occasional streetlights flashing by.
The light in the back seat of the car was on, and Qiao Huaiyao was eating his late-night snack slowly.
This meal should count as dinner; it had been bought earlier and left in the car until the event ended.
Bai Jinyan touched the bottom of the bowl to check the temperature, “Next time, remember to eat on time. You don’t have to wait for me.”
The food was delivered on time to make sure Qiao Huaiyao could eat regularly, but he had waited until Bai Jinyan came off stage.
“Okay.” Qiao Huaiyao agreed without hesitation, obedient like a gentle lamb.
Bai Jinyan watched him leisurely, just about to reach over, when he saw Qiao Huaiyao put the meat from his own meal into Bai Jinyan’s.
The car was unstable, so it was hard to pack each dish separately.
The restaurant had divided the meal into boxed sets. Qiao Huaiyao didn’t eat things like burgers and fries, so this Chinese restaurant’s takeout had each dish neatly packed in the meal box.
Each boxed meal had five dishes: three meat and two vegetables.
Although the cooking was relatively light, meat still couldn’t be like vegetables no matter how it was prepared.
Qiao Huaiyao quietly transferred the pieces of meat to Bai Jinyan, eating only the vegetables and plain white rice that hadn’t been soaked in meat sauce.
Before Bai Jinyan could return the meat to him, Qiao Huaiyao put down his chopsticks first, “I’m done. You eat slowly, brother.”
He placed the closed meal box on the small table beside him.
Qiao Huaiyao picked up his constantly lit phone. Ever since he turned off the silent mode and vibration, it seemed he hadn’t adjusted it back.
This didn’t prevent him from reading messages. Qiao Huaiyao opened the group chat.
Teacher Peng was discussing the decomposition and extraction experiment of Xd-bcz3 solution with his classmates.
However, since the experimental data had not been released yet, Teacher Peng’s analysis seemed less about the experiment itself and more about addressing Qiao Huaiyao.
He emphasized the experimental time and difficulty in particular.
A sentence like [Learn from classmate Qiao Huaiyao] occupied most of the message content.
This group chat was very active, and the smaller subgroup was even more flooded with messages.
Qiu Shufeng: [The official website of the International Laboratory just released news about this experiment, and even marked Qiao Huaiyao’s name in Chinese. Who wouldn’t say ‘Study God is amazing’?]
Wang Zhan: [As a science student, my language skills might not be that elegant, but even with all the flowery words I’ve learned in my life, I can’t adequately describe the Study God.]
Qiu Shufeng: [WTF? I told you to check the official news, not to outshine me with your words!]
Qiao Huaiyao clicked on the official website, and the news was posted just three minutes ago.
Most of the content posted on the official website of the International Laboratory is usually from chemists with significant achievements in the field, and it is only released after thorough review.
This time, however, it was quite fast.
Part of the process must have been skipped.
Perhaps it was because the extremely challenging experiment was solved in a very short time, which was considered a miracle even in a place full of chemists like the International Laboratory.
For experiments of similar difficulty, those who succeed usually take two to three years at the shortest, and five to six years or more at the longest.
The time Qiao Huaiyao took was truly astonishing.
The website content was entirely in English, but considering Qiao Huaiyao, there was also a one-click language switch button.
Translator: Miao Wenxuan.
Regarding the entire webpage content of this experiment, Miao Wenxuan only credited himself as the translator and did not mention his role as an experimental assistant.
Having a mature chemical experimenter demote himself to an assistant, and producing experimental results without any other help, are two completely different things.
Miao Wenxuan being listed as an assistant was just to expedite the data review process within the International Laboratory.
For publicly released content, he voluntarily removed his name.
Qiao Huaiyao’s fingers tapped idly behind the phone.
If the website news could be released faster, the reports about the experiment should also come out quicker.
He opened the chat with his teacher, and there were no new messages.
The process at the school hadn’t been completed yet.
Once the results were out, they were sent directly to Miao Wenxuan.
The time lost in between was significantly reduced.
As Qiao Huaiyao was thinking about the experiment, he didn’t notice when the car stopped.
Seeing Bai Jinyan unbuckle his seatbelt, he came to his senses and got out of the car.
“Why don’t you go back to the hotel first?” The location of this last movie promotion event was conveniently right next to their hotel.
It was just a three-minute walk away.
Bai Jinyan said, “Go back and get some sleep early. It’ll be midnight by the time I get out.”
“No need, I’ll go with you. I can take some photos too.” Qiao Huaiyao held the seatbelt, “Oh, by the way, Lu Lu, remember to send me a copy of the photos from the camera when we get back.”
He had uploaded a few to the cloud, but uploading them all would be slow, and then transferring them to his phone would be a hassle if there were too many photos.
So he picked a few good ones to upload, but the rest still needed to be saved.
“Sure.” Lu Lu handed over the camera and said with a smile, “I’ll send them to you as soon as I process them at the studio.”
They had been running around all day. Other than being in the car, most of the time was spent in the rest room or taking pictures of Bai Jinyan from offstage.
But taking pictures of the one you love with your own hands, every photo felt like an achievement.
Qiao Huaiyao didn’t feel tired at all. When the other actors were performing on stage, he would put down the camera.
He went through his unread messages.
Amidst a bunch of greetings, he found one that was different.
Miao Wenxuan: [Do you have time tomorrow morning? We would like you to give a talk on the experiment to some researchers at the International Laboratory, my colleagues. We also want you to explain it as an experimenter. The talk will be recorded and released along with the experiment details later.]
It was an old tradition at the International Laboratory.
The person who conducted the experiment would explain it themselves. No need for someone else to do it. This way, the experimental data would be personally attributed to them.
Typically, this approach was only applied to internal staff.
Although Qiao Huaiyao wasn’t officially listed at the International Laboratory, Albert had proactively suggested that he record a related video.
Miao Wenxuan: [This is quite useful, sort of like an official certification. You can also earn some credits from it.]
Compared to the previous honors, earning credits seemed insignificant.
Moreover, Miao Wenxuan thought that Qiao Huaiyao probably didn’t lack credits. Good students often had more credits than they needed.
Qiao Huaiyao thought for a moment. He had already planned to accompany Bai Jinyan tomorrow, estimating the time needed for the experiment explanation.
He hesitated and typed: [How about 9 AM?]
Bai Jinyan’s schedule was free after 3 PM.
So, the originally scheduled midnight flight was no longer necessary. They changed the flight time to the afternoon.
This timing wouldn’t interfere with the flight.
Miao Wenxuan promptly agreed: [Sure, I’ll arrange it.]
Alberta had only asked about the timing without setting a specific time, which was quite flexible.
It’s worth noting that for the experiment video recording, all the senior experimenters had to be present, and they were all very busy.
Finding a time when everyone could gather wasn’t easy.
But Albert didn’t care about the others’ schedules and asked Miao Wenxuan to check with Qiao Huaiyao first, clearly intending to arrange it according to his availability.
Miao Wenxuan knew from Teacher Peng that Qiao Huaiyao wouldn’t be returning to China with the team and might leave early.
So, he didn’t ask about his availability later, trying to finalize the matter before Qiao Huaiyao returned to China.
Qiao Huaiyao replied to all the unread messages on his phone.
After Bai Jinyan went on stage, he turned off his phone and picked up the camera instead.
After the movie promotion event ended.
The hour hand on the watch pointed precisely to 2 AM.
If nothing else, the schedule was very precise.
“Brother, let’s walk back.” Qiao Huaiyao stood there, able to see the hotel’s courtyard.
However, this side was fenced with no gate.
To get in, they would have to go around to another entrance.
Even so, they could be back in two or three minutes.
There was no need to take a car.
Starting the car, turning, and maneuvering would take longer than walking.
By the time the car started, they would have already walked back to the hotel.
Bai Jinyan walked with him under the dappled shadows of the trees. The large trees had shed their leaves and looked somewhat like dead trees.
The streetlights shone through the gaps in the branches, casting light on the snow-covered ground.