The CEO is domineering, the devil Boss is addicted to pampering

Chapter 1242: Yun Rui's sincerity: Campus gossip

When the dusk cast a warm golden hue on the bell tower of Hunan University, Gu Yunxi had just locked the last stack of lab reports into the safe.

The phone screen lit up, and it was a message from Gu Yunqian: "I'm in the parking lot east of the Chemistry Building."

She looked at the falling ginkgo leaves outside the window, and her fingertips unconsciously brushed across the glass jar of copper sulfate desiccant. Lin Xu had quietly placed it on her desk this morning, with a note on the jar that read: "Dry inspiration to prevent rust."

As the elevator descended, the mirror reflected her slightly upturned mouth. As she walked out of the building, the cold wind blew the dead leaves in her face, and the headlights of the black car in the distance were particularly conspicuous in the twilight.

Gu Yunqian rolled down the car window and glanced at the folder she was holding: "Are you still busy so late? Is it because Li Bo won another award so... you still can't let it go?"

Gu Yunxi opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat. His cashmere coat rubbed against the leather seat, making a slight sound. "He is indeed talented."

She paused while fastening her seatbelt, thinking of Lin Xu's focused profile as he debugged the instruments in the lab, and the experimental models he overturned and rebuilt. "There's an old saying that goes, 'There are always better people than you.'"

The car slowly drove out of the campus, and the blue light of the dashboard reflected on Gu Yunqian's face.

He observed his sister through the rearview mirror and noticed that she took off her glasses and rubbed her brows, looking a little more relaxed than when she was working in the laboratory.

This detail made him tighten his grip on the steering wheel - it was the first time he saw Gu Yunxi looking so relaxed since she left the laboratory.

"How are you getting along with your students lately?" Gu Yunqian asked casually. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Gu Yunxi taking out a mint from her bag. That was her habit when she was under a lot of pressure, but now she was just playing with it between her fingertips.

"There's a sophomore student who's very special." Gu Yunxi's voice softened unconsciously, remembering Lin Xu's clear voice when answering questions, and the fantastic sketches he always drew when everyone's thinking was deadlocked. "His name is Lin Xu, he majors in materials science, and his insights into the field of catalysis are more unique than many graduate students."

While Gu Yunqian was waiting for the red light, he stepped on the brake and turned to look at his sister.

The street lights cast alternating light and dark shadows on her face through the car window. The gleam in her eyes when she described her students was very similar to the look in her eyes when she was solving difficult problems in the laboratory.

He suddenly realized that this topic made her whole body come alive.

"So special that you are willing to spend time to train him?" Gu Yunqian teased deliberately, with a meaningful smile on his face, "In the past, you always said that students were too immature and it was a waste of time to train them."

Gu Yunxi snorted softly, and the mint candy made a crisp sound between his teeth: "He is different. Other students always try to avoid risks when they encounter problems, but he is like a fire that can ignite everyone's enthusiasm."

She looked at the street lights speeding by outside the car window, and remembered that Lin Xu stayed up in the laboratory until three in the morning yesterday to verify a hypothesis. "I even thought that maybe I could let him take the lead in continuing the research on the improvement of Reactor No. 3."

These words made Gu Yunqian's fingers suddenly tighten on the steering wheel.

He looked at the traffic jam ahead, remembered Qi Ruixiang's recent frequent inquiries about Gu Yunxi's whereabouts, and also remembered the capital behind Li Bo's award. Suddenly, he felt that the expectation in his sister's eyes was dazzling.

"Research projects are not a joke," he lowered his voice, "Are you sure you want to entrust your hard work to a sophomore?"

"Why not?" Gu Yunxi turned to look at her brother, the light of the street lamp dancing in her pupils, "When I took over the project, I was just a freshly graduated student. Besides, I didn't ask him to take over right away!"

Her tone was unquestionably firm, but when she thought of the burn scar on Lin Xu's wrist, her voice softened unconsciously, "And he is braver than me. He dared to draw a new reaction path when everyone said it was impossible."

The car fell into a brief silence, with only the faint sound of music from the car radio playing.

Gu Yunqian saw from the rearview mirror that his sister was leaning her head against the car window, her hair blown up and down by the night wind.

He chose his words carefully: "I heard he asked you out for dinner?"

This sentence made Gu Yunxi sit up straight suddenly, with a flash of discomfort on his face: "How do you know? It shouldn't be..."

Has the news spread throughout the school?

"I just asked casually why you are so nervous?" Gu Yunqian found it funny to see his sister looking so flustered.

He just happened to hear a passing student mention this and remembered it. He didn't take it seriously at first, but with Gu Yunfei's current state...

She hurriedly tidied up her scattered hair, but she didn't realize that she unconsciously clenched the glass jar containing desiccant. "It's just a thank you from my students. I refused it. There are some boundaries between teachers and students that must be maintained."

Gu Yunqian didn't ask any more questions, but while waiting for the next red light, he saw his sister staring at the screen of her mobile phone in a daze.

The lock screen interface displays the latest group photo of the laboratory. Lin Xu is standing in the back row, smiling brightly and flamboyantly.

He suddenly had a strong premonition that a certain young man was quietly surpassing the status of scientific research in Gu Yunxi's heart.

"Are you planning to make that boy your successor?" Gu Yunqian suddenly spoke, staring ahead with burning eyes.

He could feel his sister's body tense up instantly, but he almost stepped on the wrong pedal when he heard the answer.

"I admire his attitude, but..." Gu Yunxi's voice was very soft, with a hint of melancholy that she herself didn't even notice, "I always feel that one day, he will start to weigh the pros and cons and learn to be smooth and worldly. What a pity that would be..."

The car drove into the underground garage, and the headlights illuminated the mottled reflections on the wall...

In the dormitory late at night, the blue light of the computer screen illuminated Lin Xu's profile. He was helping his roommate revise an experimental report, the tip of his pen rustling on the paper, when he suddenly heard the sound of someone turning over on the upper bunk.

"Ah Xu, you're staying up late to do research again?" The roommate wearing glasses rubbed his eyes and sat up. "I have a calculus test tomorrow. Can you lend me your notes?"

Lin Xu stopped writing and raised his eyebrows: "What's the benefit for me to lend it to you?"

However, the other party showed another kind of sly smile when he saw him like this, and there was even a brief stalemate in the atmosphere between the two of them!

"I heard you're going to have dinner with Professor Gu?" After a while, the man continued, his gossipy eyes piercing the darkness, "I'll bet with you on her, what do you think?"

Lin Xu paused for a moment, and although he still had a smile on his face, his throbbing temples betrayed his emotions at the moment: "I advise you not to do this. After all, I originally just wanted to thank her for her guidance."

He turned around and took out his organized calculus notes from his schoolbag, and handed them over along with the key summary table. "Here are the notes. I'll pretend I didn't hear what you said just now."

The roommate took the notes and joked, "Come on, everyone knows that you have become Professor Gu's favorite in just a few days. What method did you use? It couldn't be a beauty trap!"

"Stop talking nonsense." Lin Xu's face was completely dark now. "I always get what I want based on my own ability. Instead of making trouble in front of me, you should memorize my notes well."

Seeing that the atmosphere between the two people was becoming increasingly tense, the others who had been silent quickly stopped this inappropriate joke.

Although the boy who was scolded by Lin Xu was not very convinced, he could only swallow his anger temporarily for the sake of the notes...