Chapter Ch24.1 - I’ve got this Scholar’s back (6)
Chapter 24
Assigning an entire semester’s worth of homework during a single class; doing something like this once was fine but the students would be overwhelmed if this keeps up.
Teaching assistant Gu thought for two whole days and finally made up his mind that weekend evening. He took out his treasured ice cream ingredients and went straight to Lu Jingmo’s office.
Z University has allocated a special laboratory to the newly-employed distinguished professor, but they were still recruiting a sufficiently qualified laboratory assistant. Right now, only Lu Jingmo was working in the laboratory. The weather was getting hotter and hotter in recent days. It was a good time to make ice cream.
“Is this all right?”
Hearing that he was going to make ice cream, Lu Jingmo especially brought over a whole new set of high-temperature sterilized equipment. He followed behind Gu Chuanbai and enthusiastically helped stir the cream in the beaker.
“Yes, that’s it.”
Gu Chuanbai nodded and looked at the young professor beside him, a smile came unbidden on his face.
The white lab coat Lu Jingmo had on seemed to be half a size too big but he wore it properly. The collar was put up neatly, the cuffs covered a part of his palms. It was almost impossible to tell whether it was his skin or his coat that was whiter.
Like this, he seemed to completely lack the prestige of a distinguished professor.
Before the lab class, he must make sure to find another lab coat for Lu Jingmo.
Lu Jingmo didn’t know what he was planning in his head. He looked up at him slightly and raised the beaker in his hand.
Meeting his gaze, Gu Chuanbai smiled, took the beaker and added some vanilla essence. He held his wrist and helped him carefully put on the heat-resistant gloves. “Pour in the liquid nitrogen. Be careful not to get frostbite.”
An expectant light flashed in his black eyes immediately. Lu Jingmo nodded happily and according to his instructions, carefully poured liquid nitrogen into the beaker at a steady stream.
The cold white air evaporated in a flash. Gu Chuanbai stirred the ingredients in the beaker. As the resistance gradually increased, he slowed down a bit, stirring as evenly as possible to allow sufficient time for the ice crystals to freeze.
Making ice cream with liquid nitrogen didn’t require any special ingredients but the method to make it was a bit particular. The mixing technique and timing were particularly important.
Feeling that the liquid in the beaker had almost solidified, Gu Chuanbai stopped stirring, signaling Lu Jingmo to stop pouring, and placed the beaker on the test bench.
The milky white ice cream didn’t look very eye-catching. Its aroma also wasn’t strong. It’s easy for people to think it’s very ordinary and they would only know how special it is once they taste it.
Looking at the little professor still following him around with that expectant look on his face, the look in Gu Chuanbai’s eyes became warmer and he couldn’t help but curl his lips. He unhurried took a small, clean, sterilized beaker and transformed it into an ice cream scoop. He meticulously scooped the ice cream in the beaker into a complete spherical shape.
Waiting for him to finally insert a slice of yellow peach as decoration, Lu Jing’s eyes brightened. He couldn’t wait to pick it up.
The beaker wasn’t all that big, holding it with both hands, his fingers touched. Meeting the clear and luminous light in those eyes, Gu Chuanbai’s heart stirred. He didn’t know where he had gotten the courage from, he reached out with his hands and he wrapped the other’s hand together with the beaker.
Lu Jingmo blinked and looked up at him with a curious look, but Gu Chuanbai couldn’t find the slightest bit of resistance or surprise.
As expected, the ice cream really was very useful.
Gu Chuanbai raised the corners of his lips. He looked at his little professor and said patiently, “Jingmo, the amount of homework we assigned is too excessive. If this goes on, the students will be overwhelmed…”
In the beginning, when Lu Deng himself had to do homework, he had also suffered a lot. Now, that he’d been able to assign homework once, his craving had been sated. Putting himself in their shoes, after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded, “Okay, I won’t assign any next time.”
Unexpectedly, he managed to get his agreement so easily. Gu Chuanbai wasn’t able to use his the long-winded speech he’d prepared to talk Lu Jingmo around. He couldn’t help feeling a bit startled, “You won’t?”
“I won’t. And they don’t need to hand in their last homework until the end of the month.”
Professor Lu truly was open to persuasion. He smiled and nodded. He met his gaze and the corners of his lips rose quickly even higher. “As for yours, I’ll delay your deadline until tomorrow.”
…
The turn in events caught him completely unprepared. Gu Chuanbai, who was burdened with twice the amount of homework, let go of his hand, feeling very conflicted. He watched the little professor happily sit back at the table with a beaker in his hand, taking small bites of ice cream.
The ice cream made with liquid nitrogen was soft and delicate. Although only a little bit of flavoring was added, the taste was improved by several levels, appearing much more distinct.
Lu Jingmo was obviously satisfied with his food. His delicate eyebrows were slightly curved.
While his little professor was happily eating, Gu Chuanbai couldn’t help but raise his hand, tentatively setting it down on their head and gently giving it a couple of rubs.
It was the first time that he had touched his head while the other party wasn’t asleep. Gu Chuanbai felt a little nervous, but not only did Lu Jingmo not avoid him but he also took the initiative to rub against his palm. He took a scoop of ice cream and made as if to feed it to him.
Gu Chuanbai’s throat bobbed but he still had a gentle smile on his face. He rubbed the top of his head again, “You eat first, I’ll make some other flavors later.”
He also especially brought over a bottle of red wine today, intending to try making red wine ice cream. Maybe if he gave Lu Jingmo a couple of tastes, he could get half of his own homework reduced.
At that time, he had happily agreed. It took a few days of writing homework for him to realize that it wasn’t easy. After winning concessions for the students, Teaching Assistant Gu, who has to hand in his homework tomorrow, was in a complicated mood. While preparing the new ice cream ingredients, he was thinking about how to back out of the agreement while seeming like he wasn’t as much as possible.
A small beaker wasn’t bigger than the palm of his hand. After Lu Jingmo finished his share of the ice cream, he began to trail after Gu Chuanbai.
Seeing the little professor who usually didn’t like trailing after him, going this way and that, Gu Chuanbai could hardly hide his smile. He deliberately walked around the laboratory a few times, put the beaker in his hand on the table, and waited for the red wine to be thoroughly absorbed before he stopped and turned around.
Lu Jingmo’s gaze followed after the beaker. Unable to stop his feet in time, he slammed against Gu Chuanbai’s sturdy and broad chest. Gu Chuanbai’s held him in his arms to steady him.
Different from that last hug made during a hurried moment, both of their hands were empty this time. Gu Chuanbai turned his arms around him tightly, and lowered his head to meet those dark, clear eyes that made people’s hearts turn soft.
It was already dusk when he arrived. By this time, the sky had completely gone dark and the laboratory suddenly fell silent. They could almost hear the cries of insects outside the window.
Originally he wanted to tease the little professor and take advantage of the opportunity to act shamelessly, but at this moment when Gu Chuanbai really had the young man’s warm body in his arms, he found that he really couldn’t say anything.
This seemed like a dream from long, long, long ago — so long ago that he himself couldn’t remember exactly when he gave birth to such a wish.
He wanted to hold this person in his arms. He didn’t feel the need to do anything else, just hold him in his arms. He wanted to be strong enough to make promises and keep them. He wanted to have a sufficiently promising future.
The bodies were close together, separated by their clothing. His little professor quietly let him hold him. His heart was pounding through his chest, gently causing his chest to arch up.
Gu Chuanbai stared at him. He raised his hand to comb through the soft hair ends of the person in his arms. When his fingers passed through his hair, he gently pressed it against the back of the other’s head. He couldn’t help sighing lightly.
…
“You can subtract one question.”
The clear voice instantly broke the quiet and contemplative atmosphere. Gu Chuanbai came back to his senses, only to realize what he was doing. He hurriedly let him go. “Jingmo——”
“En?”
Lu Jingmo raised his eyebrows in response. He was so relaxed, he almost let out a soft and gentle nasal sound. He brought out the tablet and poke at it. He opened a page of the courseware, and pointed generously at the first question. He said to Gu Chuanbai, “You don’t need to do this question.”
Back in the previous world, when he tried to change the workbook with a kiss, he only got one question reduced. Professor Lu has always known clearly to whom to show gratitude and against whom to feel resentment. He would never deliberately retaliate for personal gain. Now he reduced one question for a hug; he was clearly being a lot more lenient.
One question though that Gu Chuanbai had already completed.
Gu Chuanbai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He didn’t know if he should be happy that the other party had at least had the good intention of reducing his homework or if he should he worried that Lu Jingmo seemed to be extremely slow to react; he was completely unaware that there was anything wrong with overly intimate contact such as this.
His original pure expression of kindly regard now suddenly appeared as though he was taking advantage of Lu Jingmo’s precarious position.
His heartbeat was still running fast. Gu Chuanbai calmed down after a while and decided to allow the person in his arms some time to grow up for now. He’ll wait until the other person fully understands the meaning of these things before he leads the other back, openly and aboveboard.
Then, looks like he’ll have to stand a little firmer.
His little professor likes to watch people do their homework so he’ll have to show him just how seriously he does his homework. Others got their homework reduced and that only meant they missed the opportunity to get closer to the professor.
Thinking about it this way, he suddenly felt a whole lot better.
Teaching Assistant Gu, who still had two whole pages worth of essays, reignited his spirits and was determined to outperform himself. He made a fine and densely fragrant red wine ice cream, which resulted in him having one more question deducted from him homework — the second one which he had also already finished.
He still didn’t know how much alcohol Lu Jingmo could tolerate. Gu Chuanbai gave him a small beaker of ice cream and told him to eat it slowly. He also filled out a cup for himself and put the rest in a thermos. He then went about tidying up the laboratory.
He washed and heat dried the beaker, put back the liquid nitrogen jug and cleaned the test bench. Gu Chuanbai was methodically busying about. Looking at the little professor who was sitting and obediently eating his ice cream, a gentle expression came unbidden into his eyes, “Who is it? Is it good?”
Lu Jingmo instantly narrow his eyes into happy crescents. He nodded without hesitation, looked at him seriously and said, “I knew that you would definitely be amazing.”
“No, I—”
Gu Chuanbai was slightly startled. Looking at the young professor’s earnest and sincere gaze, his heart stirred and he smiled lightly, “It’s you who are amazing.”
All of Zhan Pei’s graduate students had entered into the program right after they completed their undergraduate degree. He had spent an entire vacation period under Zhan Pei. He didn’t learn much of anything useful but he did become very proficient in tidying up.
In the cryo-electron microscope laboratory, they dried test tubes a bit slower. They were all trained to keep their heads down and just focus on work. Before, he used to enjoy the feeling of soaking in the laboratory but during the past few months, he had gradually began to instinctively avoid that harsh environment where he could hear the instruments beeping.
Even now, the image of that confident figure standing in front of the screen in the electron microscope laboratory, was still so clear in his mind.
If he hadn’t seen Lu Jingmo at that time, he would have almost forgotten why he’d chosen to study Biology in the first place.
Looking at the young professor who was still contentedly eating ice cream, Gu Chuanbai smiled and rubbed his hair. “I promise, I’ll work hard.”
Biology included the field of Botany. Even if it was too late for his master’s degree, he can be his little professor’s true and proper student once he studies for his Ph.D and has produced sufficiently outstanding results.
It was still much too early to have such thoughts and it wasn’t easy to bring up those things right now. In his heart, Gu Chuanbai made up his mind but he didn’t speak much of it any more. He skillfully cleaned up the laboratory until it was almost spotless and returned to the office with Lu Jingmo.
He didn’t know if maybe he’d put in too much of the red wine but the young professor was even quieter than usual as he led him back.
Gu Chuanbai opened the door and set the other up on the sofa. He let Lu Jingmo hang on to his glass of red wine ice cream as he put away all the things they brought back. When he turned back, he found nothing but an empty cup.
“Did you eat it all?”
Gu Chuanbai laughed involuntarily. He looked at the little professor who seemed to be a bit dizzy. He squatted in front of him, raised his hand and shook it in front of his face. “Jingmo?”
Hearing his voice, Lu Jingmo raised his head and looked at him. His dark eyes seemed a bit misty as they curved with a gentle smile. He stretched out both arms to hug him.
It seemed that he had added a bit too much wine.