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Published at 13th of June 2020 12:11:13 PM
Chapter 112

Chapter 112 – Xia Menghuan x Liao Zhenyu VI (Translated and edited by Xing)

When Liao Zhenyu saw how crestfallen Xia Menghuan looked, he felt an odd drive to get this issue resolved .

He researched this for several days with Xia Menghuan . They made their way to the Department of Materials Science with a bunch of questions and also interviewed the club’s rink manager in charge of upkeeping the ice in the ice rink . Then, Liao Zhenyu discovered that not all ice in the rink was translucent . The ice used for certain important competitions were relatively transparent due to the care put into the water used and the process of the ice creation .

As for why his boss was so certain that the ice in ice rinks was translucent, it was probably because… his boss had never participated in any particularly important competition…

Sigh, his boss was too pitiful .

Liao Zhenyu forgave his boss’s ignorance and drafted a proposal . Though the ice used for the Olympics was gorgeous, the cost involved was shockingly high . Only purified water was used and the ice creation process was extremely complicated . There were even instances where people played music to the ice in order to create the best ice possible . As long as he was sane, there was no way that he would suggest the methods that burned money . After weighing through everything, he decisively decided to use the most straightforward method of using boiled water that has been cooled to form the ice at the ice rink .

As for the idea of letting the ice listen to music, there was no harm trying . After all, it wouldn’t cost much to play some music . Even if it did not affect the quality of the ice at all, at least it looked cool .

After resolving the ice’s transparency, they began to work on the renderings .

This stage posed some difficulty to Liao Zhenyu . He was bad at editing photos and had problems with even turning on a filter for himself when he took selfies . He wasn’t capable of compositing images at all . As someone who was 1 . 8 m . He was capable of taking a selfie that made him seem like he was 1 . 5 m instead .

Xia Menghuan looked at him quietly . “Why didn’t you ask me?”

Perhaps as he had yet to adjust his mindset from the initial roles of an eagle and a little chick, Liao Zhenyu was used to undertaking everything by himself when he worked with her . When he heard Xia Menghuan asked this question, he realized that he had overlooked her .

However, he had doubts about her capabilities as well . After all, in his view, photoshop was an extremely difficult skill .

Liao Zhenyu asked, “You know how to edit photos?”

Xia Menghuan nodded . “Yeah . ”

“The kind of photo editing I’m referring to is not making selfies look better . ”

“I know . ”

Liao Zhenyu said, “Then show me some photos that you’ve edited . ”

“Okey dokey . ”

That night, Liao Zhenyu paid the price for his slight . Xia Menghuan sent him a photo that she claimed was her representative work . When Liao Zhenyu opened it, he found an IOU nude .

The man in the photo had his upper body bare . His body was bloated and his two pointy bits could be seen . His hands were raised to his chest as he held an identity card . The face was Liao Zhenyu’s . The photo on the identity card was his as well . Even the name, birthday and ethnicity on the card was correct . Only the identity card number was randomized .

Liao Zhenyu was crouching next to a chair with his roommates as they ate hotpot . When he saw the photo, he collapsed onto his knees with a loud plonk .

That was… way too fricking realistic, how shocking!

When Liao Zhenyu’s roommates saw him collapsed halfway while eating, they all stuck their heads over curiously . With just one glance, all of them were amazed . “Woah, so guys can have IOU nudes as well? … Fuck, isn’t this you? Liao Zhenyu?!”

Liao Zhenyu waved his hands in embarrassment . “It’s all a misunderstanding!”

His roommates did not believe him . They sniggered, “Liao Zhenyu, where did you find this ‘nudes’ money lender from? Introduce us . Us guys don’t need to be so calculative . I’ll snap one such photo if I can borrow a hundred . ”

“It’s really a misunderstanding…”

“Tsk, how petty . Are we still brothers?”

Liao Zhenyu had no choice but to text Xia Menghuan: You there?

Xia Menghuan: Yeah .

Liao Zhenyu: My roommates really liked the photo when they saw it . They all want one as well .

Xia Menghuan: … .

Thus, under the circumstances of not being loaned even a single yuan, all three roommates found themselves with an IOU nude .

From then on, Xia Menghuan was like a witch to everyone in that dorm .

That night, Liao Zhenyu lay on his bed and thought of that IOU nude which showed no trace of being photoshopped at all .

He was a little unhappy .  This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com .

—Why had Xia Menghuan been so flippant while photoshopping his photo? His actual figure was way better than that bloated man, all right? o( ̄ヘ ̄o#)

He tossed and turned on his bed, feeling extremely bothered . Finally, he reached for his phone and opened his chat with Xia Menghuan . He typed a line into that chatbox .

I actually have a pretty good figure .

When Liao Zhenyu finished typing, his finger hovered over the send button for a long while without pressing down .

The more he looked at his message, the more depraved it seemed, especially when he was sending a girl this message at night…

He smacked his head weakly and quickly deleted those words . Then, he turned off his phone and went to sleep .

——

While working on the renderings, Xia Menghuan occurred a new problem: as the density of ice and air was different, when placing pictures or relief cravings into the ice, the images might be distorted when viewed due to refraction .

As for how distorted the images would be, it would depend on the refractive index .

For this, Liao Zhenyu began drafting another solution .

……

For this idea, they did a massive amount of prep work . Both of them belonged to majors that came with a substantial workload . After factoring in their part-time jobs, the amount of free time they had was not much at all . After this went on for a while, the proposal deadline was almost here and they were yet to be done with their presentation slides .

They had no choice but to camp in a hotel room with their laptops .

Liao Zhenyu would have never thought that the first time he opened a room with a girl in his life would be for the purpose of working on presentation slides .

As they booked it late, the hotel was out of standard twin rooms and was only left with deluxe double rooms . By right, the atmosphere should have been slightly amorous seeing how they were a girl and a boy alone in such a room . However, Liao Zhenyu and Xia Menghuan were like troops in a battle . Their brains were filled with only the slides and DDL commands . Neither of them felt awkward . When they entered the room, they turned on their laptops and headed straight into work .

Liao Zhenyu found two packets of instant coffee on the coffee table . He brewed a cup of coffee each for himself and Xia Menghuan to feel more lifted .

Then, he regretted brewing the coffee .

Around 3 am, their slides were finally done . Xia Menghuan was so exhausted that she could barely open her eyes . She pointed to the bed . “I’ll here this side while you sleep that side . ”

Liao Zhenyu began to feel a bit awkward . “I can just sprawl across the table . ”

“It’s okay . Let’s not care about such details . It’s fine as long as our intentions are pure . ”

“Ah, that’s true . ” Liao Zhenyu nodded . However, when he thought about it again, he felt that it still wasn’t right . “Aren’t you worried that I do something to you?”

Xia Menghuan thought, I’m really looking forward to it, all right!


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Of course, this was something that she could not say out loud .

They each slept on one end of the bed . Xia Menghuan drifted off as soon as her head touched the pillow . As for Liao Zhenyu, he was not sleepy at all . First, it was because he drank coffee earlier . Second, it was because the fact that a girl was lying next to him made him unable to relax . His attention was wholly on her and his senses felt extra sensitive . He could even hear her breathing .

After a while, Xia Menghuan moved and turned . Liao Zhenyu turned his face and looked at her . She lay with her back facing him . As she had turned over, her silhouette was curved . She was in a deep sleep as she hugged the blanket, her slim shoulders rising and falling rhythmically with every breath . Under the soft and muted light, she appeared both fragile and full of life .

He watched her back, his heart feeling tranquil . On second thought, his heart was not that tranquil either .

Then, Xia Menghuan moved again, her body curving even more .

After another while, she moved yet again…

All notions of sleep left Liao Zhenyu as he witnessed Xia Menghuan’s odd sleeping posture . This person could actually spin like the hands of a clock while in her sleep . She was probably a planet in her past life, wasn’t she?

Xia Menghuan turned and turned and turned . Her body turned until her head was at his feet . She slept peacefully as she pillowed on his legs .

Liao Zhenyu’s body tensed . He hurriedly pushed her head off .

After pushing off, she came back again . This happened repeatedly .  

 

Left with no better choice, he hauled her up by her arms and positioned her back properly on the bed . Though he knew that she could not hear it, he could not help instructing, “Lie properly . ”

He had no idea what Xia Menghuan was dreaming about but she suddenly thrust her head into his embrace . She hugged him reflectively and rubbed her head against his chest .

When he felt her soft and fragile limbs pressed against him, Liao Zhenyu felt a hot surge in his body . His feelings were thrown into uncontrollable chaos and his breath gradually quickened .

The culprit was oblivious to all of these . She became even worse by lifting her leg and wrapping it around his waist . Liao Zhenyu felt like he was about to explode . He pushed her away with a red face . “I’m warning you, please watch yourself!”

When he pushed her away, it caused her head to fall slightly back . Her breath landed on his neck . Light and ticklish, the scalding heat enticed him silently… Liao Zhenyu felt like his soul was about to be blown away by her .

With the soft, fragrant and warm heat in his embrace, Liao Zhenyu’s body began to go through some changes . He felt both shameful and innocent . After all, he was a normal man in his prime . How could he withstand such enticement… He was wrong . He should not have listened to how Xia Menghuan said that everything was fine as long as their intentions were pure . The fact was that all men’s intentions could not be pure at a time like this!

That legendary Liu Xiahui[2], who was said to be able to have a lady sitting on his lap without being disturbed, was probably gay .

Liao Zhenyu was greatly tormented by Xia Menghuan . He had no choice but to wrap her up tightly in the blanket and toss her to one side . “I told you to watch yourself . ”

Then, lying next to her, he listened to her breathing, having even more difficulty falling asleep than earlier .

……

Liao Zhenyu did not manage to fall asleep that night . He crawled out of bed the next morning, his face ghastly as he went to check out with Xia Menghuan . The guy at the reception counter tossed him a look of sympathy .

Liao Zhenyu: = =

Is there some misunderstanding here…

After checking out, they returned to school . They made their way over to the event office that was located in the Economics Building and submitted their proposal for the Innovation Challenge . There was another group submitting their documents as well . These people were from the School of Management . After they submitted everything, Xia Menghuan and Liao Zhenyu exited the office along with them . The business majors chattered noisily without care that their conversation could be heard by Xia Menghuan and Liao Zhenyu .

“Have you heard, it’s said that that the first prize has already been fixed . Vice-president Xing’s son, Xing Jun, joined this challenge as well . If everything proceeds as planned, Xing Jun would be the first prize winner . ”

“Huh? Seriously?”

“What do you think? Around sixty percent of the panel of judges are professors from the School of Business Management . Don’t be so naïve, kid . ”

“Ah, doesn’t this mean that we’re just cannon folder?”


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“Calm down, we’ll take this as a training experience . Besides, it’s not possible for Xing Jun to monopolize the first, second and third prize . We’ll have something to look forward to as well . ”

Blah blah blah… This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com .

Xia Menghuan and Liao Zhenyu were silent the entire trudge out of the Economics Building . When those people left, she said to him, “I think we can definitely get first prize . We’re capable of it . ”

Walking beside her, Liao Zhenyu gave a distracted “mm” . He sounded lethargic .

Xia Menghuan saw that he did not look well . She asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Didn’t sleep well last night?”

No, don’t mention last night…

Do you know how hard I’m trying to forget last night…

Liao Zhenyu massaged his head . “I’m going to catch up on sleep . ”

“Oh . ”

“Also, let’s not meet up these few days . ”

“… QAQ”

——

One week later, Xia Menghuan and Liao Zhenyu received the School of Management’s notice that they had entered the finals and needed to do a presentation at a lecture hall . The presentation was split into two parts: the presentation of their proposal and a Q&A session .

Xing Jun, the vice-president’s son that everyone had been talking about, went up earlier than Liao Zhenyu . When Liao Zhenyu watched his presentation slides from the audience, he only had one thought—how ordinary .

Xia Menghuan leaned over and whispered next to his ears, “I think it’s quite average . ”

Liao Zhenyu agreed, “Mm, it feels like a kid from the affiliated primary school next door helped him to do the slides . ”

Xia Menghuan covered her mouth with her hand and giggled .

Liao Zhenyu glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes . When she smiled, her eyes curved into crescents and her gaze shone with a warm radiance . Along with the soft fringe on her forehead, she looked way too adorable .

Though Liao Zhenyu and Xia Menghuan thought nothing much of Xing Jun, when his presentation ended, he received high marks from the judges .

When it came to Liao Zhenyu and Xia Menghuan . Xia Menghuan controlled the slides when Liao Zhenyu presented . Perhaps as Xia Menghuan’s renderings were too stunning, the venue rang with applause when they finished .

But the panel of judges did not seem impressed .

Judge A said, “It’s too expensive to use boiled water for the ice . It’s not very pragmatic . ”

Liao Zhenyu replied, “This is the cost analysis that we came up with and this is the expected returns . Though the cost is indeed raised, when we compare the profit margin for the status quo, it can be seen that the expected profit margin has increased instead of reducing . Besides, using boiled water is one of the more feasible methods . The other method is to use industrially produced transparent ice . ”

Judge B commented, “Are there any preceding examples to your method from overseas?”

Liao Zhenyu stated, “No . ”

Judge B continued, “Has it ever occurred to you that if no one from other countries has done this before, it shows that this idea is not feasible?”

Liao Zhenyu explained, “Professor, when China invented the Four Great Inventions[1], it was something that had yet to be done by people from other countries as well . To clarify, what I mean is that innovation has nothing to do with nationality . It merely needs a person’s effort to try again and again . We’ll only know if it works after trying . ”

Judge B nodded, seemingly convinced . However, the next moment, he gave them a low score .


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Out of the six judges from the School of Management, three gave them a low score . Luckily, the professors from the school committee and the representatives from the Dauntless Dragons Club gave them pretty decent marks that pulled up their score .

The results of the presentation were that Liao Zhenyu and another team both received the second prize .

The first prize naturally went to Xing Jun’s team .

Honestly speaking, Liao Zhenyu felt that the results were unfair .

It was not because he and Xia Menghuan did not win the first prize . It was because Xing Jun’s insipid and lacklustre idea was not worthy of obtaining first .

Even the younger sister of the boss’s wife was better than them .

Unfamiliar with the machinations of the world, Liao Zhenyu simply thought that this was too unfair .

……

When they exited the hall, Liao Zhenyu felt a little down . It was as if there was a grey cloud hovering over his head . Xia Menghuan seemed to be even more down than he was . Her head hung listlessly as she walked beside him without saying a word . When Liao Zhenyu saw her like this, he felt an odd ache in his heart . He tossed his own unhappiness aside and comforted her, “It’s okay . We achieved our initial goal, didn’t we? At least we got the innovation credits . ”

Xia Menghuan raised her head and looked at him . He saw two pools of tears in her eyes, glistening brightly while on the verge of falling . Liao Zhenyu felt a seizing pain in his heart . He looked at her, feeling at a loss . “Hey, don’t cry . It’s not a big deal . How about I’ll treat you to a meal? … I’ll accompany you to do whatever you want?”

Xia Menghuan shook her head and kept silent as she continued walking with a hung head . Liao Zhenyu hurried after her .

He was willing to do anything that could cheer her up at that very moment .

This was the first time in his entire life that he had this feeling—the urge to take care of a person without any reservations .

——

According to the internet, when in a bad mood, one should engage in an exciting activity in order to expand the negative energy . Therefore, the next day, Liao Zhenyu pulled Xia Menghuan to go bungee jumping off a bridge .

The scenery was great from the top of the bridge . The mountains and rivers looked magnificent under the bright sun . As Xia Menghuan was timid, Liao Zhenyu could only go first . He felt that it should be pretty fun as he watched others played . However, when it was his turn, he began shrieking pathetically the moment he leapt down . He was not in the mood to admire the scenery at all and could close his eyes throughout the entire journey as he waited for death .

The whole ride lasted for around two to three minutes . When he was pulled up, his face was pale and his eyes were unfocused . His legs were like jelly and his body shook as he sat down on the floor while leaning against the railing . He mumbled to himself, “Why did I sign up for this, I must have been insane . I almost died…”

The staff was unable to let this rest . He stated, “This is very safe, you won’t die . ”

Liao Zhenyu glared at him . “I meant die of fright, of fright! Got it?”

Xia Menghuan bent down and passed Liao Zhenyu’s phone to him . “Liao Zhenyu, you have a call . ”

Liao Zhenyu took the phone over . “Hello?”

“Hello, is this Liao Zhenyu?”

“Speaking . May I know who this is?”

“My name is Zhang Yi . I’m the operation manager for Dauntless Dragons Club . We saw your proposal with Xia Menghuan in the Innovation Challenge and felt that it’s a feasible plan . We have the intention of buying it . Is it convenient to meet and have a chat?”

When Liao Zhenyu thought of how he nearly hurtled towards death earlier, he felt hot tears welled up in his eyes . “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner!”

 

Translator’s Notes:

[1] The Four Great Inventions are inventions from ancient China that are celebrated in Chinese culture for their historical significance and are symbols of ancient China’s advanced science and technology . The four inventions are the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing . – Source: Wikipedia

[2] Zhan Huo, aka Liu Xiahui, was an ancient Chinese politician said to be a moral man of great virtue .

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