Unattainable

Ke Yan hung up the phone and said to Zhao Yizhuo, “Xiao Zhao, why don’t you go ahead? My friend is coming to see me for something, I have to wait a while.”

Zhao Yizhuo said worriedly, “Then how will you get back?”

Ke Yan said: “I’ll probably ask my friend to send me back. Anyway, it’s not too far away.”

Zhao Yizhuo glanced at the men’s jacket on her: “Then I’ll accompany you to wait for your friend. I’ll cancel the ride first.”

“No, you go ahead. I’ll go back inside the office and wait.” But before Ke Yan could stop him, he had already canceled the ordered ride.

Zhao Yizhuo didn’t speak and just stood silently to the side to accompany her. Seeing that he isn’t leaving, Ke Yan didn’t bother going back into the office to wait anymore. She wasn’t good at chatting with people but just standing like this was boring so she chatted with Zhao Yizhuo about work.

Their research direction is a relatively new topic in astrophysics—dark matter and dark energy. According to scientists of recent years, dark matter and dark energy are the main body of matter that constitutes the universe. However, humans are currently unable to detect it using known methods. An invisible and intangible existence. Therefore, it’s called dark matter and dark energy.

What human scientists have to do right now is capture dark matter particles to confirm its existence, understand its properties, and uncover the mysteries of the universe. The liquid argon detector that Ke Yan is currently designing is an instrument used to detect dark matter particles.

Astrophysics has always been an advanced natural subject. Ke Yan doesn’t know whether she can discover anything within her lifetime, but she is full of love and yearning for the mysteries of the universe. So even though it’s like viewing things through rose-tinted glasses, she still wants to wholly devote herself to it. She’s willing to become a small stepping stone for mankind to explore the mysteries of the universe.

Zhao Yizhuo finished his Ph.D. at the age of 27 and just joined the post-doctoral mobile station of the Institute last year. He is regarded as an outstanding talent among his colleagues. Ke Yan, who is similar in age to him, became the project leader as soon as she returned to China. He was unconvinced at first but in less than two months, he was convinced. She was definitely on a higher level and he even regretted that he did not study abroad.

The Institute is such a place. You think that you are very good, but there are a lot of people who are better than you. Therefore, Zhao Yizhuo sincerely admires Ke Yan and silently pays attention to everything about her. Ke Yan may be a scientific geek but she also has a very pure and simple heart, and is beautiful but does not flaunt it. It’s difficult to not have a good impression of her.

Zhao Yizhuo admired Ke Yan, cared for her silently, and planned to gather enough courage to confess to her. Ke Yan’s lifestyle is extremely simple. She has very few friends and is always either at home or in the research institute. Moreover, they work in the same office where it is easy to fall in love over time. Zhao Yizhuo thought that he had a chance to capture Ke Yan’s heart.

But who would have thought that such an incident would happen so soon, where Ke Yan came to work today wearing a man’s suit jacket. Does it belong to the man who is coming to pick her up? With the intention of scouting out the enemy, Zhao Yizhuo wants to personally see who the other party is.

In less than ten minutes, a black Maybach turned into the gate of the institute. Ke Yan turned to Zhao Yizhuo and said, “My friend is here, I’ll go first.”

Men have a natural love for machinery. Zhao Yizhuo naturally recognized that it was a Maybach. Although he did not recognize the model, he could guess that the car was definitely worth a lot of money. The car door opened and a tall man came down, wearing a simple white shirt and black trousers, and no sunglasses.

Although the street lights at the entrance of the research institute were not particularly bright, Zhao Yizhuo recognized the other party and couldn’t help but be stunned. City B has a high concentration of celebrities, but he never expected to meet one at the entrance of the institute. The probability of meeting national leaders here is greater than the probability of meeting stars.

Before he got out of the car, Zeng Xiaoqi saw Ke Yan standing under the street light. She was wearing his suit jacket, which made him happy. However, when he saw the figure next to her, he couldn’t help frowning and he pushed the car’s door open as soon as it stopped. He got down and said, “Ke Yan, are you off work?”

Ke Yan nodded: “Yeah.”

“Then I’ll take you back.” Zeng Xiaoqi glanced at Zhao Yizhuo then bent down slightly, put his hand above the car door, and let Ke Yan get in the car.

“Okay, thank you!” Ke Yan thanked him and waved to Zhao Yizhuo, “Xiao Zhao, I’m leaving first, goodbye!”

Zhao Yizhuo raised his hand and waved back, looking gloomily at Ke Yan being locked inside the car by Zeng Xiaoqi. He couldn’t understand how Ke Yan and Zeng Xiaoqi could be friends—they are not from the same world at all, not to mention that Zeng Xiaoqi had countless scandals.

After asking for Ke Yan’s address, Zeng Xiaoqi opened the car’s storage box; there were two invitation cards inside. He thought for a while and only pulled out one card: “There will be quite a lot of people at the premiere so I can only give you one, I hope you enjoy. I’ll have to walk the red carpet so I’ll ask my assistant Xiao Xia to pick you up.”

The driver in front turned his head and said, “Hello, Sister Ke, I’m Xia Wei. You can just call me Xiao Xia. Later on, I’ll get your WeChat details from Brother Qi, then I’ll contact you when the time comes.”

Xia Wei has been Zeng Xiaoqi’s personal assistant for three or four years now and thus knows Zeng Xiaoqi’s temperament very well. He has never seen the boss care so much for a young lady, even specially making two trips for her in one night. As his right-hand man, he naturally also has to perform well to help his boss with these matters.

“That would be too much trouble.” Ke Yan has never attended a premiere and knew that there would definitely be a lot of people there, so it would be good for someone to bring her around, “I will contact you when I get there.”

Zeng Xiaoqi asked, “Was the one with you just now your colleague?”

“Yes, a colleague from one of my research groups.” Ke Yan said.

Zeng Xiaoqi asked, “Are there fewer women in your Institute of Physics?”

“Yes. Among the ten people in our group, only I and one of my graduate students are women. The rest are all male. There are even fewer in other groups, with some having none at all. ” Ke Yan explained.

There are few women in the scientific world. In the world’s fixed thinking mode, it has always been believed that women’s scientific research level is generally inferior to men’s. In fact, in the Nordic region, where gender equality is the best, women and men are equally represented in science, and women are no worse than men in scientific research. It can be seen that the difference in ability is not due to gender. For a long time, female scientists have been rare just because of the unfair treatment and unequal opportunities for women.

“You’re really amazing! You’re already mentoring graduate students.” Zeng Xiaoqi praised, “Physicists are generally older, right?”

Ke Yan didn’t know why the line of questioning arrived at age: “Of course, anyone who can be considered an expert in something is definitely no longer young.”

After hearing this, Zeng Xiaoqi’s expression instantly became lighter: “Then you should spend more time with us old classmates, otherwise you have nothing in common with a group of older colleagues other than work, which will make people age faster.”

Ke Yan laughed out loud: “No. Except for my leader, the colleagues in my group are all about the same age as me, with some even younger.”

Zeng Xiaoqi: “!” He said incredulously: “Astrophysicists are all young people?”

Ke Yan explained: “Not exactly. My research is on dark matter and dark energy, which is a relatively new topic. Many predecessors in the physics community have long set their own research directions, and not many have changed their direction since. So in my topic, researchers are generally younger.” Especially since the project she’s heading is still in the initial stage of development, the staff are even younger.

Zeng Xiaoqi was silent for a moment before asking, “Do you usually allow outsiders to visit your institute?”

“I’m not quite sure about this, but it should be possible. It would have to be approved.” Ke Yan said.

Zeng Xiaoqi nodded and said nothing.

Soon, Ke Yan pointed to the community in front and said, “I live in the opposite community, just turn left at the intersection ahead.”

Ke Yan held onto Zeng Xiaoqi’s suit jacket: “Thank you for your jacket, do you want me to wash it for you before giving it back?”

Zeng Xiaoqi reached out and took it: “No need, I’ll wash it myself. Xiao Xia, let’s drive into the community.”

Ke Yan wanted to get off at the gate of the community, but Zeng Xiaoqi insisted on sending her up to her building door. He looked up at the high-rise apartment: “What floor do you live in?”

“12th floor. Okay, thank you for sending me back, and for this ticket.” Ke Yan shook the ticket in her hand.

Zeng Xiaoqi looked up at the dark window on the 12th floor and said, “Go up first, I’ll leave when I see your lights turn on.”

Ke Yan smiled and rolled her eyes: “I didn’t expect the big actor to be so considerate. If a fan was to find out, they’d definitely be screaming. Goodbye!” She didn’t ask him to go upstairs for a cup of tea, it was too late, it wasn’t that appropriate to entertain.

Zeng Xiaoqi also didn’t mention going upstairs to sit. He just stood there and watched her enter the corridor. He waited until the light on the west side of the 12th floor came on before he got into the car and sent Ke Yan a WeChat message: “Are you there? I saw the lights turn on. Rest early, good night! Goodbye!”

As soon as Ke Yan entered the house, she heard her phone vibrate. After reading the message, she ran to the window and saw the black Maybach leaving. She tilted her head and looked for a while, feeling indescribably happy in her heart. She sent a message back: “En, I’m here. Be careful on the way back, goodbye!”

After taking a shower, she saw several messages on WeChat, all from Zhao Yizhuo. When he asked her if she had arrived home, Ke Yan laughed. This guy was quite attentive. She replied that she had arrived home safely.

Zhao Yizhuo’s message quickly replied: “I want to ask you a relatively private question, how did you and Zeng Xiaoqi meet?”

Ke Yan replied: “We were high school classmates.”

Zhao Yizhuo sent over a surprised emoji. Ke Yan smiled. Having a famous classmate would probably entail this kind of experience, everyone around her would be amazed. She stopped replying to the messages and turned on the computer to continue working. She slept quite a bit during the day and is not sleepy now, so she can work for a while.

The next morning, Ke Yan was writing a dissertation at home when she received a WeChat video invitation from Luan Xuan. Ke Yan sighed, saved her document, and accepted the video call.

Luan Xuan was wearing pajamas, holding a stuffed ragdoll cat. As soon as she was connected, she raised her cat’s paw and waved to the camera: “Yuanbao, say hello to Auntie.”

Ke Yan propped her phone up beside the computer: “Yuanbao is so cute. Do you need something from me? I’m doing something.” After speaking, she typed a few English words on the computer. Over the years, she developed the habit of directly writing her papers in English, saving her the trouble of translating them later.

“Why are you so busy? You don’t rest even on the weekend. You have to learn to combine work and rest. Your body is the capital of the revolution.” Luan Xuan advised her.

Ke Yan smiled bitterly: “I don’t have a choice. I just took over this job. I have to produce some results to prove myself to others. So, just tell me, why are you looking for me?”

“I asked you out for dinner yesterday but because there were so many people and you left early, I didn’t even get to talk to you much. So I wanted to chat with you today. How about we go shopping? I also have to get my hair done.” Luan Xuan said.

Ke Yan was most afraid of having her hair done. One session meant a few hours, with time passing like running water. She found little meaning in it, so she quickly refused: “I won’t get my hair done.”

“Then let’s go shopping or go to a spa. You stay up all night and your pores are getting so much larger. I know that you are a natural beauty but I can’t stand it. Let’s go! Let’s go!” Luan Xuan started to wheedle.

Ke Yan is a person who usually doesn’t even bother putting on a sheet mask, in what world would she want to go to a spa: “Is this all you have to say? I still have a paper to finish writing.”

“Take half the day off, write it tomorrow.” Luan Xuan continued to cajole.

Ke Yan didn’t even lift her head: “I have something to do tomorrow.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

Ke Yan said casually, “I’m going to watch a movie tomorrow afternoon.”

Luan Xuan came back to life: “What movie are you going to watch? Who are you going to watch it with?”

“Suspicious City. Myself.” Although Zeng Xiaoqi gave her a ticket, Ke Yan knew that he didn’t intend to watch the movie with her. Since he’s the main character, he would definitely be sitting with the other stars.

Luan Xuan sat up straight: “That’s a movie starring Zeng Xiaoqi, won’t it be released next Friday? Oh I get it. Is it the premiere? He gave you a ticket?”

“Yes, he gave it to me.”

Luan Xuan had a strange and excited expression on her face: “Zeng Xiaoqi is really partial, why did he give only you a ticket and not us.”

Ke Yan thought for a while and said, “He said that there were very few tickets for the premiere, so he only gave me one, otherwise I would ask you to go with me.”

“I’m not going. I’ve already bought the pre-sale tickets and I’ll watch it with my husband when it’s released. This Zeng Xiaoqi is quite interesting. He actually gave you tickets for the premiere. Did he tell you anything else??” Luan Xuan’s face was full of curiosity.

“No.”

“Oh heh. Ke Yan, what do you think of Zeng Xiaoqi?” Luan Xuan asked.
​​
“Quite good.” Ke Yan replied casually without raising her head as she typed.
​​
Luan Xuan asked again, “What about as your boyfriend?”
​​
Ke Yan stopped typing on the keyboard and looked up with a strange expression on her face: “Do you have a fever? What nonsense are you talking about.” Herself and Zeng Xiaoqi? Where is this going? Except for being old classmates, they exist in two completely different worlds.
​​
Luan Xuan raised her eyebrows and shrugged: “Yes, the difference between the two of you is too great.”

Alex’s Random Thoughts:

Sorry for the long wait! I’ve been busy with job applications and the looming threat of unemployment 

Let me know how are you guys liking the story? And what can be improved about the site/translations?