WebNovels

Chapter 169 - Chapter 168 In This Lifetime

Chapter 168 In This Lifetime

"Did your professor bully you? Or did an experiment go wrong? Or did someone steal your results?" Su Yuanshan looked at Li Xiao, seeing her hugging her arms tightly. She seemed a little cold, or maybe she was just trying to protect herself.

Li Xiao glared at him.

Su Yuanshan immediately realized he was worrying unnecessarily—who was Li Xiao? The daughter of Li Gaoliang, the first Dean of the School of Electronic Engineering at Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technology. A typical second-generation scholar. Who would dare bully her? More likely, she'd be the one bullying others.

"Typical engineering guy, all clueless," Li Xiao muttered.

Su Yuanshan wasn't pleased. "Hey, you're studying engineering too!"

"I'm not a guy, though," Li Xiao said, kicking a small stone. She lifted her leg high, tracing a graceful arc in the air.

Su Yuanshan thought for a moment, then asked cautiously, "So what happened? Heartbreak? Caught in a love triangle?"

"Met a scumbag! Damn it..." Li Xiao said angrily. "A two-timer who almost made me the other woman!"

"..."

They continued walking side by side.

Li Xiao stood just over 1.6 meters tall—not very tall, but her figure was petite and her face, inherited from her parents, was delicate and beautiful. Though she was small, her legs were long and well-proportioned. Combined with her prestigious family background and her identity as a Peking University student, she had long been known as a campus beauty—though not officially a "school flower," since there were some stunning girls in the foreign language department too.

Still, even compared to those girls, Li Xiao's looks were very competitive.

A girl like her would never lack suitors.

Yet Su Yuanshan just shook his head with a smile. "It's only been a month since we last met... and you've already gotten into another relationship?"

"So what?" Li Xiao rolled her eyes at him. "I've been single for almost a year. Finally met someone who looked decent, and it turns out he had a girlfriend."

"Who chased who?"

"Obviously, he chased me!" she said indignantly.

"If it was only a month, you probably don't need that much comforting," Su Yuanshan said, hands in his pockets, strolling casually. "How far did it go?"

Li Xiao stopped, glaring at him. "Shouldn't you be more worried about how upset I am? Not how far it went?"

"I don't see you looking particularly upset," Su Yuanshan shrugged.

"..."

"But really, Li Xiao, you're such an outstanding girl. You should be more cautious. Don't let yourself be sweet-talked so easily... Let's keep walking," he added with a smile.

Li Xiao glared at him again. "Feelings don't work that way. Who can tell good from bad right away?"

Su Yuanshan laughed and shook his head. "Who says you can't tell? Appreciation begins with appearance, admiration deepens with talent, compatibility comes with personality, respect endures with kindness, and loyalty stands with integrity."

"Wow," Li Xiao paused, genuinely impressed. "You sound like you know what you're talking about."

"Just a little," Su Yuanshan grinned. "Next time, pick your boyfriend more carefully."

"Then I can only hope," Li Xiao said wistfully, "that in this lifetime, I'll meet a good man."

...

Ahead, a small crowd had gathered around a pavilion. Several guys were playing guitars and singing "Xiao Fang," a popular song. People chatted and laughed, filling the area with lively energy.

Li Xiao hugged herself tighter against the cool night air, marveling aloud, "Feels like we're back at Weiming Lake."

"The Science Park is still young. The employees are young too. It's good to have passion," Su Yuanshan said, smiling.

That had been his goal from the beginning—to create a place where technical talents could work and live freely and happily, with no worries.

Thus, Yuanxin's administration often organized entertainment activities, ensuring that everyone stayed passionate and energetic.

At that moment, one of the guitar players spotted Su Yuanshan and immediately stood up, shouting, "President Shan is here! Sing something for us!"

Su Yuanshan recognized the man—it was Zhou Xingwen, a graduate from his father's cohort at UESTC.

"Not today," Su Yuanshan waved him off.

"Come on! You sang so well at the annual party!"

Li Xiao nudged Su Yuanshan, curious. "What did you sing at the annual party?"

Su Yuanshan smiled and shook his head. Ever since he was reborn, he rarely sang in public. He was worried that he might accidentally hum songs that hadn't even been released yet.

Later, because Chen Jing liked listening to music, she gave him some cassette tapes. He only listened casually and sometimes hummed a little. Besides, he had been too busy, and the guitar skills he learned while studying abroad had mostly been forgotten.

Last year, he couldn't refuse everyone's requests during the company's year-end party, so he sang "Glorious Years," unexpectedly gaining quite a few fans.

"Sing one for me! Comfort this heartbroken little girl!" Li Xiao teased, pushing him toward the pavilion.

The crowd cheered and made way. Zhou Xingwen quickly handed the guitar to Su Yuanshan.

"Can you play?"

"He can't," Li Xiao answered for him.

Su Yuanshan was annoyed. Grabbing the guitar, he said, "Who says I can't?"

Then he casually played a 53231323 chord progression.

"You really can?" Li Xiao's eyes widened. She grabbed his left hand and touched his fingertips, feeling the smoothness. "Liar."

Everyone around them laughed.

They had all been at Yuanxin for over a year and knew how crazy busy Su Yuanshan was—there was no way he had time to practice guitar. Besides, musical instruments really did require constant practice.

"Watch carefully..." Su Yuanshan said, sitting down on a bench.

After the initial awkwardness, he adjusted his fingers, and his chords were accurate enough.

His fingers hurt a little from the strain, but it was manageable.

Suddenly, from outside the pavilion, there was a soft gasp, followed by a cheerful voice: "Xiaoshan, I can't believe I lived to see you play guitar!"

Qu Hui squeezed through the crowd.

Spotting Li Xiao, she patted her affectionately, then stood in front of Su Yuanshan, hands on her hips, smiling mischievously.

"You're planning to sing too?"

"Forget it, I'll just strum a little," Su Yuanshan said, giving up on trying to recover his long-lost skills.

He didn't bother using a capo either. Smiling warmly, he added,

"Since you guys are talking about once-in-a-lifetime moments... I'll give you a song for this lifetime."

He started picking out arpeggios, and as the music flowed, he sang softly:

"In this lifetime, may you have no regrets.

In this lifetime, may your smile shine brightly.

May your winters be warm, your springs gentle,

May you be brave, and may you find peace."

"May you live free from suffering, and live simply.

May love lead you to the one your heart truly desires."

...

All the background noise disappeared.

Only Su Yuanshan's gentle voice remained, like a soft breeze weaving through the crowd.

Li Xiao stared at him, covering her mouth in astonishment, her eyes shining.

Su Yuanshan lifted his gaze, giving her a small smile.

"May you remain young, despite the passage of time," he sang.

...

"May you journey far and find your dreams fulfilled."

As the final note faded, Su Yuanshan looked around at the crowd and said,

"This song is for everyone.

May you all find happiness in this lifetime at Yuanxin."

He returned the guitar to Zhou Xingwen and, while the crowd was still frozen in amazement, quietly left the pavilion, leaving the applause and cheers behind him.

Li Xiao quickly chased after him, catching up at the foot of the experimental building.

Due to the limited number of laboratories, Su Yuanshan had to wait until nighttime to get a slot for experiments—

even then, there were people fighting for the same time.

Luckily, new equipment would be arriving soon, and Yuanxin would soon have several high-end physics labs, not only meeting internal needs but also offering facilities for nearby universities to borrow.

"Xiaoshan! Wait!"

Li Xiao jogged over, stopping in front of him, her cheeks flushed red from running.

"What's wrong?"

"That song you sang... did you write it?"

"...Can I say it was written by a friend who prefers to stay anonymous?" Su Yuanshan teased, smiling at her.

"Do I look like an idiot to you?"

"...Alright, alright. No more questions. No next time either."

Su Yuanshan raised a hand solemnly.

"Just listen and enjoy it. I'm not interested in playing music seriously, nor do I have the time."

"You!"

Li Xiao glared at him, frustrated.

"Hehe."

Su Yuanshan shook his head, laughing.

"Xiao-jie, be careful with your heart from now on.

I'm heading upstairs to work on my experiment—you wanna come?"

"What experiment?"

"Physics experiment."

"No way!"

Li Xiao stuck out her tongue. Seeing Su Yuanshan wave casually and head upstairs, she hesitated, opened her mouth to say something, but finally just sighed and walked away.

 

Without Li Xiao tagging along, Su Yuanshan enjoyed some rare peace.

He stayed in the lab almost until midnight, finally finishing his data collection and organizing the results.

Since the Spring Festival, he had been trying to isolate graphene, but his experiments had been delayed endlessly.

Mainly because he had to work alone—and also because he had to give up lab space for others.

Right now, he was stuck on the Hall Effect experiments.

He had already measured graphene's resistance properties and recorded the occasional strange resistance changes in his notes.

Next, he was preparing to fabricate proper Hall devices on single-layer graphene.

It was tedious work—but necessary to make everything look legitimate.

However, there was one big problem:

making Hall devices required electron beam lithography—fortunately, Yuanxin's labs had an etching machine.

In his previous life, the discovery of the Hall Effect in graphene was one of the main reasons its discoverers won the Nobel Prize.

Su Yuanshan knew that back then, the main reason graphene research progressed so fast was because silicon-based materials were already reaching theoretical bottlenecks.

Now, although there were some signs of limitations, existing technologies were still far from truly hitting the wall.

If he wanted to win prizes based on graphene now, he would need something truly groundbreaking.

Like the "magic angle."

If you twisted two layers of graphene slightly—about 1.1 degrees—

under low temperatures and a weak electric field,

graphene would transition from an insulator to a superconductor.

That discovery had rocked the entire condensed matter physics community.

It had opened a new door to superconductivity, just when that field was considered stagnant and hopeless.

But for now, Su Yuanshan was still a long way from achieving that.

First, he had to wait until their CVD technology matured...

Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.

Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1

 

 

More Chapters