Qin Yue set down the screwdriver and switched to a pair of pointed tweezers. “No. He said he was sick of hearing pie-in-the-sky promises and told me to prove it with real action.”
“How are you going to prove it?”
“I’ll organize all the projects I’ve done over the years and print them out. Also, I can only register for the grad entrance exam after I get my bachelor’s diploma next year, so the interview stage would be around March or April the year after. I should be able to apply for two patents before the interview: one invention patent and one utility model.”
Guan Xiangchen’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got so much going on at the factory, and you’ve been prepping for exams all these years. Where do you find the energy for all this every day??”
Qin Yue said, “Once you get used to the pace, you never run out of energy.”
“Badass, badass, still badass.” Guan Xiangchen was floored with admiration. “And with just that, he agreed?”
Qin Yue shook her head. “He also asked me to give a reason why I was set on being his graduate student.” Right there at the restroom entrance. By the time Shen Jianqing came hurrying over with the ointment, she had just finished.
At tonight’s dinner, beyond keeping an eye on Shen Jianqing, Qin Yue had also been watching Ke Liangping. He went to the restroom very frequently. So after Shen Jianqing went to buy the medicine, Qin Yue immediately went to wait at the restroom closest to the private room on a whim, and sure enough, Ke Liangping turned up.
From her goals to her personal situation, she laid things out concisely, neither humble nor overbearing, hiding nothing simply because her circumstances weren’t good.
Ke Liangping admired this about her. Coupled with Chen Wei’s earlier praise, he barely hesitated before pointing her to a clear path: prove it with real action. Then he asked, “Why are you so set on being my graduate student?”
She said, “I admire Teacher Shen. I want to work on projects with her in the future.”
“You two are so close. You could just apply to be her student and spare yourself my grilling.”
“Teacher Shen can’t supervise doctoral students yet, but I want to pursue a doctorate. I want to discuss problems with her as an equal, with the same breadth of vision and depth.”
Ke Liangping seemed moved by her words. He studied her with deep, heavy eyes for a long moment, then suddenly laughed loudly. “Now I can’t tell whether taking you on would be my good fortune, or Little Shen’s.”
“It’s hers, isn’t it?” Ke Liangping asked.
Qin Yue said, “Yes.”
Guan Xiangchen wanted to say “yes” too. Her best friend really knew how to play the game. Superbly! She wished she could fall for someone like that too. A lasting one. One she could shatter herself for. Forget it. Better to marry Yue’er off first. She needed someone to cherish her more than I did.
Guan Xiangchen shook her head, scattering the jumbled thoughts, and stuffed her mouth with watermelon.
In the small space, silence began to spread. After a few bites of watermelon, Guan Xiangchen couldn’t stand the atmosphere. She stuck out a foot and nudged the leg of Qin Yue’s chair, grasping for something to say. “How come you didn’t ask why I’m not at the factory?”
Qin Yue said, “Someone swapped shifts with you.”
“Well, another question with zero suspense.” Guan Xiangchen hugged the watermelon and sighed. “I don’t know when it started, but everyone around me has gradually gotten families and kids. With all the little things piling up, it’s constant shift swaps and leave requests. They’re all run ragged.”
“Seems like it’s just the two of us who’ve stayed all alone?” Guan Xiangchen raised her voice to ask, then immediately dropped it. “You’re about to get hitched too. Looks like I’ll be the only one dying alone from here on. So melancholy.”
Clack. Qin Yue set down the tweezers and began reassembling the phone. “Shen Jianqing and I aren’t moving that fast.”
Guan Xiangchen looked puzzled. “Why not? Don’t tell me you still haven’t told her about those twenty-one years?”
“No.”
“Why not? Deep feeling cuts like a knife, and every cut is fatal. The moment you open your mouth, you’ll have your Teacher Shen moved to tears, guaranteed.”
Qin Yue placed the vibration sensor and pressed the clip into place. “If some stranger suddenly came up and told you that you were one of the two most important turning points in her life, the person she had liked for many years, and that she couldn’t live without you, what would you think?”
Guan Xiangchen answered without hesitation. “I’d dodge her and run as far away as possible, obviously. Best if we never met again in this lifetime! That’s way too intense. So creepy. Uh, I don’t mean it like that. You and that person already know each other, so it’s different, yeah, different.”
Guan Xiangchen ducked her head guiltily and attacked the watermelon.
Qin Yue paid Guan Xiangchen’s words no mind. She gently pressed the power button and watched the boot animation flow across the screen. “We only really started getting to know each other recently.”
Guan Xiangchen said “oh,” not quite understanding.
Soon the phone connected to the network and the system chimed with a new message notification. Qin Yue reached out to tap WeChat. Just as her fingertip was about to touch the screen, there came a knock from outside, urgent and heavy, startling both her and Guan Xiangchen into stillness.
They had no acquaintances in the area, and the landlord never came by. Whoever was knocking had to be a stranger. At half past ten at night.
Guan Xiangchen’s expression darkened. She stood immediately, pressed down on Qin Yue’s shoulder to stop her from speaking, and called out, “Who is it?”
The person outside said, “UU delivery.”
Guan Xiangchen looked down and silently asked Qin Yue whether she had ordered a delivery. Qin Yue shook her head.
Guan Xiangchen grew even warier. She quickly snatched the screwdriver off the table, walked toward the door, and called out, “You must have the wrong address. I didn’t order a delivery.”
Delivery person: “That can’t be right.”
The voice outside dropped, as though the courier were checking the address. A few seconds later, the voice returned. “This is the place. The item is for Ms. Qin Yue. The person who placed the order is Teacher Shen.”
“Huh?” Guan Xiangchen stumbled and accidentally pressed the door lock.
The door opened a crack. The courier in his work uniform took one look at the screwdriver in Guan Xiangchen’s hand, then at her icy expression, and leaped back a full step before daring to lift the bag in his hand. “I really am the courier. Teacher Shen said your phone was broken and you couldn’t take calls, so she told me to come straight up and knock.”
Guan Xiangchen took two seconds to process, then let out a couple of “haha”s, hid the screwdriver behind her back, and greeted him warmly. “Heeey, all a misunderstanding! Don’t be scared. Where did you come from?”
Courier: “The tea market.”
“Good lord, that’s half the city away, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, really far.”
“The delivery fee must have been pretty steep, huh?”
“Ah, well. Teacher Shen also paid for express.”
Guan Xiangchen sucked in a breath through her teeth, wincing at the thought of the money.
The courier took advantage of her silence to thrust the items forward. “Please inspect and sign for it. This order has been on the road for over forty minutes.”
“I’m not the addressee. Give me a second,” Guan Xiangchen explained, and turned to get Qin Yue. But before she had even finished turning, Qin Yue’s hand was already reaching out to take the bag. “I don’t seem to have received a confirmation code,” Qin Yue said.
Courier: “Right, exactly. Since your phone was broken, Teacher Shen left her own number when placing the order. Once you’ve inspected the goods, I’ll call Teacher Shen for the code.”
Qin Yue: “All right. One moment.”
Qin Yue had Guan Xiangchen hold the bag while she pulled out a still-steaming cup of sweet soup and a brocade box.
The sweet soup had been packed tightly, not a drop spilled. The brocade box… had a combination lock on it. Shen Jianqing must have locked it.
Qin Yue looked up. “Everything checks out. Thank you for your trouble.”
“You’re too kind.” The courier dialed Shen Jianqing’s number right in front of Qin Yue. “Ma’am, the items have been delivered. Please read out the confirmation code.”
Shen Jianqing’s slightly low voice came through the receiver. “Have the recipient say something to me first.”
“Ah, okay.” The courier turned on the speakerphone and held it out to Qin Yue. “Please confirm your identity.”
Qin Yue tucked her fallen hair behind her ear and said into the phone in a slow, unhurried voice, “Teacher Shen, it’s me.”
Shen Jianqing gave a light “Mm.” “The confirmation code is 7391.”
“Got it.” The courier quickly entered the code, closed out the order, and turned to leave.
After a few steps he suddenly remembered something and spun around. “Wait!”
Qin Yue froze in the middle of closing the door.
The courier hurried back and pulled from his pocket a blue sticky note folded to the size of a one-yuan coin. “Teacher Shen wrote this for you. It was so tiny I was afraid of losing it, so I kept it in my pocket. Can’t believe I almost forgot to give it to you.”
Qin Yue reached out and took it, thanking him again.
Qin Yue stood at the door for a while. Once she was sure nothing else would happen, she closed the door and walked back to the table to unfold the note.
She had seen this color of sticky note in Shen Jianqing’s bag many times. It seemed to be something she kept on her at all times. The moment the note unfolded and a familiar perfume drifted out, she was completely certain.
What could it say?
Qin Yue focused her gaze. The next second, a smile spread quickly across her lips.
Qin Yue sat right under the lamp, and the smile was so bright that Guan Xiangchen couldn’t help asking, “What did Teacher Shen write you? You’re grinning so hard.”
Qin Yue said, “Nothing much.”
Guan Xiangchen rolled her eyes. “Keep hiding it then. Let’s see if you can hide a flower out of it.”
Qin Yue said, “I can’t.” But I can hide sunlight in the dark.
She lowered her eyes to the small note and read the words over and over.
【Got you a small cup. No leftovers.】
Signed: a stick-figure orange.
Was that a reminder about not finishing her orange juice before? But if it was a reminder wrapped in an order, why add the line after it?
【Unless it’s gone cold.】
![After the Cannon Fodder Awakened, She Married the Female Lead! [Quick Transmigration]](https://i1.wp.com/dobytranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/quick.png?resize=151,215 "After the Cannon Fodder Awakened, She Married the Female Lead! [Quick Transmigration]")
