[If Mr. Qi has already forgotten you, what will you do then?]
The words Black Swan spoke thousands of years ago had actually become reality at this moment.
At the time, she had answered that if that day truly came, it would be her own business.
It seemed that was not the case now; everyone was the same.
After staring blankly for a long time, Ruan Mei finally propped herself up, pulled over a chair, and sat down, falling into deep thought.
She was thinking about one thing.
How to start over with Qi Zhimu, how to... make his heart hold a place for her once again.
But no matter how long she thought, there was only a sense of loss in her heart.
From childhood until now, she had never had any romantic history and did not understand how to make an adult male develop feelings for her.
If they met normally, she could rely on her talent, beauty, temperament, and so on.
Unfortunately, her behavior toward Stelle had displeased Qi Zhimu, and her impression score had been significantly deducted.
It could be seen from the way Qi Zhimu left without hesitation; he had no intention of further contact with her, nor did he show any reverence because of her status as a genius.
He had changed so much...
He was no longer the student from back then who would only quietly follow behind his teacher and obey any instruction.
He was more like the uncrowned Sword Champion of his second life, who commanded hundreds of millions of Cloud Knights.
He appeared peaceful, yet he was stubborn about certain matters.
Reflecting on her impolite behavior toward Stelle, Ruan Mei realized that she could blame no one for this but herself.
Qi Zhimu was right; if she didn't trust him, why bother asking him to be her assistant?
But this was precisely the personality shaped by her past experiences; it was very difficult for her to trust anyone other than herself.
If any link went wrong, problems would arise, and she hated uncontrollable problems...
No!
Was it really hatred?
Recalling that loss of control back then, and recalling how Qi Zhimu had peacefully waited for death in his first life, only facts that Ruan Mei dared not and did not want to admit remained in her heart.
She was accustomed to solving problems in the most efficient way, but she did not consider whether that efficiency would trigger extra trouble.
To correct what she considered her student's transgressive behavior, she had handed down punishment without investigation or even a single question.
From the moment her student was plunged into darkness, she had pushed him into the shadows of Nihility.
She assumed her student would live well and wait to meet her again after her research ended.
And the result?
Before her research was finished, she learned of a future where he had been dead for hundreds of years.
Qi Zhimu was very obedient, but uncontrollable things happened one after another, causing her to lose her composure.
So, it wasn't that she hated things being out of control; she just hated her own incompetence and uselessness when facing and creating that lack of control.
What if she became a genius? In the end, she was still a mortal, and there were far too many things she could not do.
She hadn't learned her lesson and faced herself before, and as a result, she had almost repeated the same mistake and brewed a bitter fruit.
To prevent her research on the Space Station from leaking, and to hide it from Herta and Screwllum, she had trampled on Stelle's kindness and trust.
And Stelle happened to be Qi Zhimu's friend in this life.
In his second life, Qi Zhimu cared extremely deeply about those around him, even the ordinary Cloud Knight soldiers under his command.
And wasn't the first life the same?
Because he cared about his teacher, he was always well-behaved and submissive.
It was precisely because he cared about his teacher and didn't want to see her take the wrong path that he mustered the courage to break his submission and offer an admonition.
But at that time, she only thought of herself, only of completing her research, only of finding what was lost and mending the betrayals she had witnessed.
In the end, she lost even more.
It cannot be like this anymore...
Through her close observation just now, she sensed the aura of a blessing of abundance within Qi Zhimu's body.
It wasn't strong, but it was enough to support him living to over five hundred years old, similar to the blessing obtained in her hometown; he wouldn't be troubled by the fate of the Xianzhou Mara-Struck.
But even if there was mara affliction, she could erase it.
She could afford to bear the karma required to change a person's future.
But she couldn't rush.
In this life, she was no longer the teacher who saved A'Mu from the boundless darkness, nor the executioner who pushed him back into it.
Academic topics required a step-by-step approach and couldn't be achieved overnight; re-establishing bonds and emotions with A'Mu was the same.
In terms of medical knowledge, who could compare to her, a genius scientist in the field of life sciences?
Not to mention she could give A'Mu a lot of help, at the very least they had common topics to discuss.
As long as she eliminated the negative impression left in A'Mu's heart, everything would get better, and there would eventually be a day when things were fine.
Thousands of years had passed; she could be very patient, after all...
She had already found him...
Thinking of this, Ruan Mei's thoughts shifted, and the names of Yu Qingtu and several others popped into her mind, making her frown slightly.
Yu Qingtu had already agreed to join Ruan Mei's simulated universe project; as soon as her affairs there were settled, she could come to the Space Station to meet.
A miscalculation.
If she had known this would happen, she wouldn't have invited her.
Fortunately, in certain aspects of her conduct, Yu Qingtu was even more extreme than herself.
She didn't like showing her face and preferred living as a hermit.
Since she had lived for a long time, most people nowadays didn't even know what she looked like.
Even if she arrived at the Space Station, during non-working hours, she would likely find a quiet place to stay and would never wander around.
To one genius, another genius's Space Station held absolutely no attraction for casual strolling.
Geniuses could get sick, and there were those who didn't know how to treat illnesses.
Unfortunately, that did not include the two of them.
Thus, she wasn't worried about Yu Qingtu barging into the Medical Department and running into Qi Zhimu.
As for Black Swan, it was currently unknown where she had run off to collect memories.
Black Swan had encountered many troubles over the years and knew what to touch and what not to touch.
It was true that a very small number of crazy Memokeepers would target the memories of geniuses, wanting to obtain intelligence related to Nous.
But that did not include Black Swan, who had contact with two geniuses every year, so there was no need to worry about her coming to the Space Station.
Finally... Jingliu, and the sisters who were Qi Zhimu's guards in his second life.
One was chasing Abominations of Abundance across the universe to cut them down, and her recent movement was toward the Luofu, so it was even more impossible for her to appear here.
The guard sisters were Judges of the Ten-Lords Commission and did not appear in the world; even if Qi Zhimu was dispatched to the Luofu for a medical exchange, there was no need to worry too much about bumping into them.
Thinking of this, Ruan Mei calmed her mood and took a deep breath.
The situation was much better than imagined; her advantage was huge.
Next, she only needed to increase their feelings through daily interaction and, while she was at it, find out if A'Mu had any romantic history in this life.
But before that, she needed to add a new research topic.
—How to give birth to love through normal interaction with the opposite sex.
A genius is not a genius in all fields; she needed to take it slow, patiently absorbing the necessary knowledge to master it.
Thus, despite wanting to see Qi Zhimu very much, Ruan Mei forced herself to endure and flipped through a large number of samples.
Among them, she studied the romantic comedies of Genius Society #7 Bohuan, #8 Lamb, and #9 Klein particularly extensively.
These three were born on the same planet and were simultaneously glanced upon by Nous; their feelings for each other were among the few cases recorded in the Society.
Since they had long since passed away, there were no copyright disputes, and there were a large number of related fan-made works.
Most of them were quite mindless, but art comes from life, and Ruan Mei felt that the way they interacted within them should have something worth learning.
If Qi Zhimu or the others were to learn that Ruan Mei was actually looking for industrial-grade 'sweet' works to learn certain knowledge, one wonders what they would think.
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