strictlysupreme Chapter 1260 Yunrui sincerely wishes you success in your studies
Chapter 1260 Yunrui sincerely wishes you success in your studies
The late autumn sun slanted through the carved glass of the café, casting tiny spots of light on Lin Xu's knuckles as he held the coffee cup.
He adjusted the buttons of his collar for the third time and looked at his reflection in the glass door - the dark blue sweater he had put on specially, paired with a neatly ironed khaki windbreaker, and even his leather shoes were polished to a shine.
When the phone screen lit up with a new message, he sat up straight almost reflexively.
"I'm here." Gu Yunxi's message was as brief as usual.
The doorbell rang, and Gu Yunxi appeared at the door, bringing with him the chill from outside.
She took off her white lab coat, and a black sweater outlined her slender shoulders. Her long hair was casually tied up, with a few strands hanging by her ears.
When Lin Xu stood up, he knocked over the sugar jar on the table. The sound of the metal collision was particularly abrupt in the quiet coffee shop.
"Sorry." He cleaned up in a hurry, and his ears turned red.
Gu Yunxi sat down opposite him, her eyes sweeping over the almost untouched Americano in front of him: "You called me here, is it about the Cambridge matter?" Her voice was soft, but like a fine needle, it accurately pierced Lin Xu's carefully maintained composure.
Lin Xu took a deep breath and took out the invitation from the inner pocket of his windbreaker. The gold-stamped pattern flowed under the warm yellow light. "Professor Gu, I want to have a serious chat with you." He paused and looked at the shadow cast by her eyelashes under her eyes.
From the next table came the crisp sound of coffee cups tapping against plates.
Gu Yunxi's fingers unconsciously stroked the rim of the cup. "This opportunity is rare. Following the disciple of the Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry..."
"I accept." Lin Xu interrupted her, his tone filled with unquestionable certainty.
He leaned forward, the aroma of coffee mixed with the faint smell of soapberry on his body wafted over, "You know what? What I'm struggling with over and over again is not how to choose between love and future."
His gaze passed through the glass window and fell on the sycamore tree across the street. The dead leaves were swirling in the wind. "I wonder what kind of me can be worthy of standing beside you."
Gu Yunxi's movements suddenly stopped, and the bottom of the ceramic cup hit the wooden table, making a dull sound. She looked at the flames dancing in the boy's eyes - it was different from the fiery heat in the amusement park. At this moment, Lin Xu was surrounded by a calm and self-sustaining light.
"I come from an ordinary family. My parents emptied their savings to support my studies." Lin Xu spread out his palms, and the calluses and scars from the reagent burns on his palms were clearly visible. "Mr. Gu is right. If I think highly of myself based on my current grades, it will prove nothing but my superficiality!"
The sunlight was suddenly blocked by clouds, and the lights in the cafe automatically brightened.
Lin Xu gently pushed the invitation across the table. "I want to treat this as a test. When I hand in a good transcript, I hope you can give me a chance. I'm not bad either."
Gu Yunxi lowered his eyes and looked at the dark brown coffee liquid. The outline of the boy in the reflection was firm and clear.
She thought of the investigation report in Gu Yunqian's office and Lin Xu concentrating on debugging the instrument in the laboratory. Her throat suddenly tightened. "You should know that when you come back..."
"I know." Lin Xu smiled. This smile made him turn back into the reckless and courageous boy in his memory. "But no one can predict what will happen in the future, right?"
In the study room of the Gu family's old house, cigar smoke swirled into twisted shapes under the crystal chandelier. Gu Yunqian spun the whiskey glass, and the sound of ice cubes hitting each other was as crisp as a knife. "He accepted it?"
Gu Yunxi stood in front of the French window, looking at the dead leaves in the courtyard that were fluttering in the autumn wind.
Gu Yunqian's voice carried the familiar sense of control, but it inexplicably reminded her of the scar on Lin Xu's palm in the coffee shop.
"He said he wanted to be someone who could stand shoulder to shoulder with me." She heard her own voice, as if it came from far away.
The glass slammed heavily on the walnut table, and the splashed wine left a dark mark on the gold-embossed invitation.
Gu Yunqian took off his gold-rimmed glasses and wiped them. This action had once sent shivers down the spines of countless partners, but at this moment, he was showing an imperceptible irritation.
"Naive." He sneered, "Once he has seen the real academic world in Cambridge, he will understand what it means to be like an ant trying to shake a tree."
The moonlight filtered through the blinds, cutting cold, hard streaks across the ground.
Gu Yunxi stared at her brother's eyes behind the lenses and suddenly discovered that what was pulsating in them was not so much contempt for Lin Xu, but rather some kind of vigilance that she could not understand.
"Did you really give him this opportunity just for his future?" As soon as she said this, even she was shocked.
The study fell into silence, with only the sound of the clock gears turning. Gu Yunqian put on his glasses again, and the reflection of the lenses blocked his eyes. "You should go to rest."
He turned to face the bookshelf and stroked his fingers along the gilded spine of Das Kapital. “I have to fly to Switzerland to attend an academic conference tomorrow.”
Late at night on campus, Lin Xu sat on the steps of the laboratory, looking in the direction of Gu Yunxi's office under the starry sky.
The phone screen lit up, and it was an email from Gu Yunqian's assistant. Among the densely packed contract terms, the bold words "No private contact with Gu Yunxi during the study abroad period" were particularly eye-catching.
He chuckled and put his phone back into his pocket. The corners of the invitation letter on his palm were already rubbed rough.
The cry of a wild cat was heard in the distance. When Lin Xu stood up, he kicked a can. The crisp impact sound startled the night birds on the paulownia tree.
He suddenly remembered Gu Yunxi bending down to stir coffee in the coffee shop, the shadow cast by her eyelashes under her eyes like a gentle barrier.
Perhaps in this game, no one is a real winner, and everyone is making the seemingly best choice on the real chessboard.
The moment the clouds covered the moon, the emergency lights in the laboratory automatically lit up with a faint blue light.
Lin Xu looked at his elongated shadow and suddenly felt that this shadow was both a warrior and a prisoner.
And the person who made him willing to enter this predicament was now in a silent confrontation with her brother across several buildings.
Some things don't need to be said clearly, just like the swaying shadows of trees under the moonlight, hiding human nature that is more complicated than the truth...
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the airport VIP lounge, the wings of a giant passenger plane cut through the gloomy clouds.
Lin Xu's passport, the metal buckle glowed coldly under the light.
Lin Junze next to him was wearing a navy blue suit. The Gu family emblem on his tie clip appeared and disappeared as he turned the pages of the newspaper, like some kind of silent surveillance.
"Student Lin, take good care of yourself when you are alone abroad. It is different abroad than at home. Don't touch things that you shouldn't touch. Mr. Gu also spent a lot of time and effort to get this opportunity. Sometimes it is not easy to turn back after taking a wrong step." Lin Junze suddenly spoke, his voice like silk soaked in ice water.
He turned off his phone with a faint and distant smile on his face. As a thousand-year-old fox, how could he not hear what the other party wanted to express?
Lin Xu clenched his boarding pass tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. "I really haven't seen much of the outside world's glitz. Thank you for reminding me."
Lin Junze curled the corners of his mouth and slowly adjusted his cuffs; the crocodile leather cufflinks reflected tiny bits of light.
"Just like some feelings, they sprout in the wrong season and will be beaten to pieces by the rain."
He likes to communicate with smart people because it saves him a lot of trouble!
"I understand." Lin Xu forced a smile and suddenly looked very cute.
When he stood up, Lin Junze also stood up. The two were of similar height, but the cedar scent on the other's body enveloped him like an invisible wall.
"Trinity College in Cambridge is beautiful." Lin Junze straightened his crooked collar, but his fingertips lingered on his collarbone, with just enough force to make him feel uncomfortable. "But smart people know that some scenery is just for viewing."
He took a half step back and made a gesture of invitation. The tourbillon on his watch reflected a cold light. "The boarding gate is open. I wish you... success in your studies."