Chapter 78.2

Jiang Zhihuo: I don’t believe it. Yan-ge, is everyone in your family so good-looking and never ages?

Not long after, Jiang Zhihuo received a voice message. When he played it, it was He Miaomiao’s voice, as she had forcibly grabbed the phone.

“Yes, we’re all good-looking and never age. Little handsome, don’t worry about seniority. Just call me Miaomiao-jie.”

Jiang Zhihuo: Miaomiao-jie.

Jiang Zhihuo: [Well-behaved.jpg]

Jiang Zhihuo: Am I taking advantage of Yan-ge like this?

Yan Mu chatted briefly with him, but Jiang Zhihuo disliked looking at his phone while riding the bus. After notifying Yan Mu, he put away his phone, plugged in his earphones, and started listening to music. By the time he took it out again, he had already reached the research institute where Li Muhe worked. Yan Mu had asked if he had arrived yet, and Jiang Zhihuo replied simply, “I’ve arrived.”

He had informed Li Muhe in advance, and Li Muhe had already notified the security guard at the entrance. After registering at the gate, Jiang Zhihuo went directly inside.

It was mealtime, and around a dozen people in the lab had ordered a large table of dishes. They had arranged the bowls and chopsticks neatly, waiting for Jiang Zhihuo to arrive.

Li Muhe had just taken off his white lab coat after finishing an experiment. Underneath, he wore a light brown sweater with the sleeves rolled halfway up. Gold-rimmed glasses rested on his nose, and he had a gentle smile on his face. He waved at Jiang Zhihuo, signaling him to sit beside him.

At the table, everyone chatted as they ate.

The project was basically complete, and all that remained was waiting for the professor to review the results and sign off. There wasn’t much work these days, so things were quite relaxed.

The graduate seniors began discussing the entire project and first raised their glasses to celebrate. Finally, one of them put a hand on Li Muhe’s shoulder. “I truly admire you. Honestly, when the professor said he was bringing Muhe, a sophomore junior, onto the team, I didn’t expect you’d perform so outstandingly.”

“The professor told me this back then.” The senior imitated the professor’s tone, patting the table. “Don’t underestimate your junior. His name appears in academic journals no less often than yours.”

The senior’s imitation was so vivid that everyone could clearly picture the professor’s demeanor, and they all burst into laughter.

“No, it wasn’t like that,” Li Muhe said with a smile. “I was just tagging along. It was thanks to all the seniors looking after me.”

These words were genuinely humble.

Jiang Zhihuo had known about Li-ge‘s talent since childhood. “Li-ge has always been exceptional. He even took a year off to compete in the OI, won first place in the province, and then returned to take the college entrance exam.”

Securing a provincial first prize in the OI competition was no easy feat. Thousands of participants competed for roughly a hundred spots. At that time, Li Muhe ranked in the top ten, directly entering the provincial training camp. From there, he was practically guaranteed independent admissions to a 985 or 211 university, or even a recommendation, avoiding the agony of the college entrance exam altogether.

One of the top five universities even offered Li Muhe an unprecedented score concession. With results as excellent as his, no school would willingly let go of such a promising student. But in the end, Li Muhe didn’t choose any university. After finishing the provincial finals, he returned to school, continued his senior year, and prepared for the college entrance exam.

“Why?” Another senior at the table asked in surprise.

The personal reasons were too embarrassing to explain clearly, so Li Muhe subtly signaled Jiang Zhihuo to stop. Jiang Zhihuo pretended not to see and grinned, saying, “I asked him the same question. Li-ge told me he didn’t want to miss out on his high school life. He wanted to experience the feeling of the entire class striving together for the college entrance exam, creating memories that he could cherish deeply one day.”

“Clearly a guy in science and engineering, yet deep inside, he has poetry and dreams of distant places.”

“That’s enough, Xiao Huo,” Li Muhe said with a faintly embarrassed smile, reaching out to gently ruffle Jiang Zhihuo’s hair.

The meal continued pleasantly.

After finishing the casual small talk, the seniors at the research institute began discussing their current projects, particularly the interactive processor and the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser.

One of the seniors was involved in this topic and spoke with great enthusiasm, throwing out technical terms one after another. Jiang Zhihuo listened quietly on the side, occasionally sending messages to Yan Mu.

Jiang Zhihuo: Accidentally walked into an academic seminar.

Jiang Zhihuo: Now I’m struggling even more with choosing a major.

Jiang Zhihuo: Yan-ge, what do you think?

Jiang Zhihuo: If you’re going the competition route, it’ll probably be math, right?

Yan Mu didn’t reply immediately, probably hadn’t checked his phone yet. Jiang Zhihuo wasn’t in a hurry, quietly continuing to listen as the senior shared his research results.

It was quite interesting to listen to someone talk about a field he didn’t understand. However, halfway through his explanation of vertical-cavity lasers, the senior suddenly stopped and began eyeing Jiang Zhihuo from head to toe. Turning to Li Muhe, he said, “Muhe, I just noticed your younger brother is pretty handsome. Does he have someone yet? What’s he planning to do later? I want to introduce my younger sister to him. What do you think?”

“Sorry, senior,” Jiang Zhihuo said with a smile, “I’m already taken.”

The graduate seniors at the table responded with a collective “Oh~”.

No one said anything to spoil the atmosphere.

Everyone felt nostalgic. High school was the purest, most innocent time, when love didn’t need complexity. Later in life, it would be hard to find feelings so genuine again.

But Li Muhe paused and turned his gaze towards Jiang Zhihuo.

“Yan Mu?”

Jiang Zhihuo nodded.

Li Muhe smiled. “That’s good.”

Jiang Zhihuo lifted his head proudly, more confident than anyone else. “He’s my boyfriend, of course, he’s the best!”

Whenever Yan Mu was mentioned, Jiang Zhihuo always became visibly energized.

He couldn’t stay too long at the research institute, since there was too much specialized equipment around. After chatting a bit more, it was about time to end. The others still had their final tasks to complete.

After finishing things with He Miaomiao, Yan Mu had asked for the address twenty minutes earlier, saying he would come to pick up Jiang Zhihuo.

Li Muhe walked Jiang Zhihuo to the entrance of the research institute. Yan Mu was already there, casually leaning against the railing by the street, with traffic continuously passing behind him.

Jiang Zhihuo quickly ran over to Yan Mu and hugged him. Seeing Li Muhe approach slowly, Jiang Zhihuo waved his phone and said, “Li-ge, Yan-ge, wait for me a bit. I ordered something and need to pick it up.”

Only when he arrived did Jiang Zhihuo realize that a popular dessert shop was right beside the research institute.

The shop used scarcity marketing—opening only from 2 to 5 p.m. daily, offering limited quantities of each item, and accepting only in-store pickup.

It had many appealing features, and the desserts were excellent, drawing long lines every day.

Before heading out, Jiang Zhihuo had ordered two servings, one for Yan Mu and one for Li Muhe.

“Wait for me a moment,” Jiang Zhihuo said before quickly running into the shop.

For a while, only Yan Mu and Li Muhe remained standing there.

They didn’t usually talk much, as they constantly encountered each other at the hospital. Yan Mu had always felt somewhat jealous of Li Muhe, carrying some darker thoughts inside. Although their last conversation at the hospital had eased the tension slightly, suddenly meeting again made things awkward for both.

Yan Mu took the initiative to say, “Li-ge.” Li Muhe responded softly, “Mhm.” After that, neither spoke again.

The dessert shop was packed with people. Jiang Zhihuo had been inside for almost ten minutes, yet he still hadn’t come out.

Li Muhe raised his head slightly.

The winter sky wasn’t blue; it always seemed to be covered by a thick layer of haze.

He suddenly asked Yan Mu, “What does Xiao Huo’s pheromone smell like?”

“What?”

“Pheromones.” Li Muhe looked at Yan Mu, pointing at his own nose. “I can’t smell them.”

Li Muhe continued smiling the whole time. Even when he said this, his expression didn’t change much, only the corners of his mouth drooped slightly.

Li Muhe had asked Jiang Zhihuo about pheromones before, but Jiang Zhihuo said he couldn’t explain them clearly and needed to ask someone who could actually smell them.

Yan Mu, on the other hand, could smell them.

“It smells like alcohol.” Yan Mu thought for a moment before answering seriously. “Sometimes it’s fruit wine, sweet. Other times… perhaps red wine? It’s hard to describe. The scent changes depending on the situation.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhm.”

Li Muhe’s eyes curved slightly in a gentle smile. “That’s nice.”

While they were speaking, Jiang Zhihuo finally came out of the dessert shop nearby, holding two bags in his arms. Before Jiang Zhihuo reached them, Li Muhe turned towards Yan Mu and said softly, “Thank you for telling me.”

*

The project Li Muhe participated in came to an end, and three days later, the team left Lincheng to return to school. Li Muhe had told Jiang Zhihuo there was no need to see him off, but on the day of departure, Jiang Zhihuo and Yan Mu still showed up.

The timing was perfect, right during lunch break, so it didn’t interfere with classes.

Two handsome boys rushed in through the gate, with Yan Mu being dragged by Jiang Zhihuo straight over to Li Muhe.

Suddenly, two people appeared, startling the senior who was sitting with Li Muhe, waiting to check in.

Looking closer, the guy Jiang Zhihuo brought was surprisingly handsome!

“Hello, Junior. Do you have a partner? Where do you plan to go in the future? I want to introduce my sister to you. Don’t know if that’s alright for you?”

Li Muhe: “……”

Yan Mu: “……”

Jiang Zhihuo pulled Yan Mu behind him. “That won’t do. Yan-ge is my boyfriend.”

The senior’s eyes widened slightly, momentarily shocked.

Two really handsome guys actually together?!

Yet the surprise lasted only a moment. They were all people pursuing higher education, so their thinking couldn’t be that narrow. One of them said, “Congratulations, congratulations. If you have a partner, you have to work hard for the college entrance exam. Keep it up, juniors.”

The check-in process was completed quickly. Before passing security, Li Muhe gave Jiang Zhihuo a hug.

The year he first met Xiao Huo, the boy was a head shorter than him, thin and small. Now he was the same height, handsome and good-looking, always smiling with the right amount of sunshine.

“About Dad, I’m sorry,” Li Muhe said softly.

“What are you talking about?” Jiang Zhihuo patted Li Muhe on the back. In their brotherly embrace, he said, “I chose this myself. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have met you, Li-ge.”

Jiang Zhihuo said, “Thank you for taking care of me all these years. I’m really happy to have met you, Li-ge.”

Li Muhe smiled softly and released his grip. He didn’t need to say anything more. He shifted his gaze to Yan Mu. “Take good care of Xiao Huo.”

“Okay.” Yan Mu said.

Li Muhe went through security, then turned back to wave at the two. He sent Jiang Zhihuo a message telling them to hurry back to class.

Until they completely lost sight of him, Jiang Zhihuo and Yan Mu walked out of the hall. The other exit was open, where passengers who had just landed and picked up their luggage were coming out. Many people were gathered beyond the red line waiting to pick up arrivals.

The crowd streams merged, and the surroundings abruptly became noisy.

Jiang Zhihuo held Yan Mu’s hand and said, “Two years ago, I sent Li-ge off like this, too. Every semester, I had to see him off once. Back then, it was just me; today, I dragged you along as well.”

“Saying goodbye at stations or airports is hard. I know he’s going to study in another city, not that he’s not coming back or that we won’t see each other.”

“But it still hurts. Saying it out loud sounds so cheesy.”

After hearing him, Yan Mu squeezed Jiang Zhihuo’s hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb, and said, “We’ll leave together in September.”

Yan-ge‘s words were always concise and powerful, gently leaving a mark on the heart.

Jiang Zhihuo unconsciously tightened his grip, too. Yan-ge‘s palm was so warm. Once held, he didn’t want to let go.

People came and went all around; the airport was always full of hurried footsteps.

Someone pushed a luggage that was almost as tall as a person past them, the wheels rattling loudly. Overhead, the broadcast announced the latest flight updates.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind.

“Young Master Yan?”

It was a male voice. The owner sounded unsure as he hurried forward, dragging his luggage. Looking at Yan Mu, he asked hesitantly, “You’re Young Master Yan, right? I’m not mistaken, am I?”