Chapter 150 - Learning Makes Me Happy
Qu Hui walked up beside Su Yuanshan and blinked mischievously. "Where did this girl come from?"
Su Yuanshan withdrew his gaze from Ye Rudai and chuckled, "She's here for an internship."
Qu Hui gave him a disdainful look. "Was that what I was asking?"
Su Yuanshan looked baffled, "Then what were you asking?"
"Don't play dumb. The way you look at her isn't normal," Qu Hui said, tilting her head. Although she was already twenty-six, she liked to say that because she rarely did manual labor, she still looked "fresh" — definitely not like an "old lady."
The way she tilted her head made her look somewhat adorable.
Su Yuanshan could only laugh helplessly, "You can tell just by looking at my eyes?"
"A woman's intuition," Qu Hui giggled. "The girl is cute. Don't miss your chance."
At that moment, Ye Rudai returned with some data. When she saw Qu Hui, she hesitated for a second, then shyly called out, "Senior Sister Qu."
"You know me?" Qu Hui was a bit surprised.
"Yes, I saw your photo in Professor Xi's office."
"Ah, that explains it." Qu Hui smiled, patted Ye Rudai lightly on the shoulder, and said warmly, "Study hard. Maybe you'll end up at Yuanchip or Zhiyuan someday."
"Thank you, Senior Sister Qu! I'll definitely work hard!" Ye Rudai said earnestly.
Satisfied, Qu Hui gave her a little shove toward Su Yuanshan. "Go on now."
After leaving the lab building, Ye Rudai let out a soft sigh and smiled sideways at Su Yuanshan. "Senior Sister Qu is so cool."
"Yeah, but a bit shameless too," Su Yuanshan quipped.
"Huh?"
"She's now an executive at Zhiyuan but keeps hanging around here, claiming the cafeteria food is better."
"But aren't they still family?"
"Uh, let's just say they're not outsiders," Su Yuanshan said, noticing a patch of wild foxtail grass by the roadside. He plucked a few stalks and started weaving them as they walked. By the time they reached the elevator lobby, he had crafted a small foxtail bunny.
"Here, a gift," he said, handing it to her.
Ye Rudai couldn't help bursting out laughing but quickly suppressed it. She had noticed Su Yuanshan picking the foxtail grass earlier, and she had been curious. She hadn't expected him to weave something and give it to her.
"Isn't this gift a little too casual?" she teased, twirling the fuzzy foxtail bunny in her fingers, smiling.
"Would you prefer a snippet of code instead?" Su Yuanshan joked — after all, it had been Ye Rudai who had taught him how to weave foxtail crafts.
"Haha! No thanks," she said, putting away the little bunny and blinking mischievously. She then sighed, "I saw some of the code you wrote before. I feel like no matter how hard I try, I'll never catch up."
"Depends on what you're chasing," Su Yuanshan said slyly.
"You mean flattery?"
"Smart girl."
"Ha!" Ye Rudai was about to laugh aloud when she noticed the elevator arriving. She quickly straightened her expression, adopting the obedient demeanor of a proper intern.
The elevator doors opened, and a few employees stepped out. They greeted Su Yuanshan on their way past.
Inside the elevator, Ye Rudai exhaled softly. She glanced at Su Yuanshan and found him smiling at her.
After a few seconds of silent eye contact, Su Yuanshan asked softly, "What's wrong?"
"…Nothing," Ye Rudai replied with a gentle smile.
In truth, she wanted to ask: did Su Yuanshan really think of her as some "long-lost little sister"?
She wasn't stupid.
Even during their letter exchanges, and certainly after entering Yuanchip, she noticed that Su Yuanshan's attitude toward her was unusually natural — as if he had known her for a long time. It was a comfortingly familiar feeling.
For instance, when they randomly met in the cafeteria, he would casually come over and even ask people to make room for her. He could guess what she liked to eat without asking and would even serve her food — all so naturally, without any hint of awkwardness.
Or when they walked together, he always matched her pace exactly. If a vehicle approached, he would instinctively pull her to the side — all movements as smooth as if they'd been practiced countless times.
Because of these subtle gestures, everyone who saw them together often assumed that Su Yuanshan liked her, or even that they were already a couple.
But Ye Rudai knew it wasn't like that.
She admitted that Su Yuanshan was her type — she loved his side profile. But the social gap between them always made her suppress her feelings.
Not because she thought she wasn't good enough for him, but because she didn't want to get entangled in a world like his — a world of wealth and power.
Besides, Su Yuanshan had never said he liked her. Why complicate things? Being friends was good enough.
More importantly, the way Su Yuanshan looked at her wasn't the way a man looks at a woman he desires. It was… the way someone looks at the most familiar person — a family member.
Which was why she often thought: maybe Su Yuanshan just wanted a little sister.
Seeing Su Yuanshan lost in thought, Ye Rudai couldn't help asking, "Brother Xiaoshan, what are you thinking?"
Su Yuanshan smiled lightly. "I was wondering if you still don't have a boyfriend."
Ye Rudai's heart skipped a beat, but she quickly steadied herself and answered with the standard Yuanchip catchphrase, "Learning makes me happy."
Su Yuanshan blinked — and then burst out laughing.
They parted ways in the hallway, and Su Yuanshan turned toward Xi Xiaoding's office.
Now that Xi Xiaoding had accepted Su Yuanshan's advice, he had stepped back from frontline programming work and moved into project evaluation and management. As a result, he had a lot more free time. When Su Yuanshan entered, Xi was lazily sipping coffee, snacking, and casually reviewing code.
After the last big campus recruitment drive, Xi's project team had expanded from just him and a few graduate students to a group of more than twenty people, most of them with master's degrees. Since he was working on mathematical software, the team was primarily composed of math specialists.
The increase in manpower had significantly sped up progress. In just a few months, several key modules had been added to the YXLAB toolbox — including signal processing and wireless communication simulation modules, developed in collaboration with Tian Yaoming's team.
"Senior Brother, we're planning a software expo in November. Will you have a beta version ready by then?" Su Yuanshan asked as he pulled open Xi's desk drawer and began rummaging through his snacks.
"No problem," Xi replied, watching Su Yuanshan with amusement. "Are you raiding my village, or what?"
"Borrowing flowers to offer to the Buddha. Senior Brother, next time buy more dried bananas and pistachios," Su Yuanshan said with a grin.
"..." Xi Xiaoding could only shake his head.
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