37 It's Your Birthday Today

Shen Xue gave her Wechat number to Zhou Wen in delight. It was also her phone number. 

After the exchange of Wechat numbers, Shen Xue and her colleagues left. 

They could still hear Shen Xue's colleagues asking her about Zhou Wen in the distance and their occasional giggling. 

Sun Jing was on night shift duty today while Zhou Wen planned to burn the midnight oil conducting his experiment tonight. Therefore, the two returned to the laboratory department together after dinner. 

Along the way, Sun Jing asked, "Do you not like Doctor Shen from earlier?"

Zhou Wen replied, amused, "I'm not close with her, so I can't tell if I like her or not."

"Don't worry about not knowing her enough. You'll be close to her by meeting her more often."

Upon saying that, Sun Jing paused for a moment before she continued to speak, "I think that Doctor Shen is really pretty impressive. She is beautiful, and she appeared to be quite graceful and well-mannered. Most importantly, she has a favorable impression of you, so you must certainly seize the opportunity."

Zhou Wen said, "... Sister, I'm not planning to be involved in any relationship for the time being; I only want to devote my attention to work right now. I will think about relationships later on."

"What do you mean by thinking about it later on? Will you still stand another chance later on?"

Zhou Wen chuckled. 

Sun Jing noticed that he did not utter a word, so she turned her head to look at him and asked in an exploratory manner, "It can't be that you… are not interested in women, right?"

Zhou Wen was rendered speechless. 

Sun Jing raised her right hand and said in all apparent seriousness, "Don't worry; I won't tell anybody else. Moreover, I'm very open-minded too. If that's where your interest lies… I can set you up with someone too."

Zhou Wen kept quiet for a moment. Then, he uttered, "Sister, don't make blind conjectures anymore. I like women, of course. It's just that… I don't have money in my pocket, so I don't have what it takes to be in a relationship."

"It's fine that you like women…" Sun Jing was relieved. She chuckled and continued, "I was thinking that… There's nothing to be scared of being poor. I can lend money to you, I don't have a lot, but it's no issue to lend 10,000 to 20,000 RMB."

As she was speaking, she was about to reach for her phone. 

Zhou Wen hastily pressed on her arm to stop her. "Sister, you don't need to do that, really. I'm not planning to be involved in relationships for the moment…"

Sun Jing could tell that Zhou Wen was extremely determined, so she could only give in and answered in a piteous manner, "Doctor Shen is really quite impressive; would you like to reconsider…"

They entered the laboratory building as they chatted. 

Soon afterward, Zhou Wen headed straight into the laboratory and began his experiment. 

For the first round of experiments during the day, Zhou Wen spent the entire day putting it together. However, he had spent more than half of the time separating and spraying heavy metal chemicals while he did not have to spend much time on genetic observation and building his database. 

There was no need to separate the chemicals anymore for the night, but he needed to spray the chemicals on the paddy leaves according to the new dosage. 

He spent two hours spraying the chemicals and then picked out all the deformed rice root aphids from each mesh box and placed them on the newly-sprayed paddy leaves. 

Next, he sped up the progress of the experiment and completed the rice root aphid's second-generation reproduction test.

The second round of the experiment was completed and it was already twelve midnight. Nevertheless, the speed of carrying out the experiment had certainly increased. 

Then, it was followed by the third round of experiments. It was already five in the morning when he completed it. 

Zhou Wen was thoroughly exhausted after performing the experiment for 30 hours straight. 

In addition, he did not have any supper at night, so his stomach was growling loudly from hunger. He was tired, hungry, and sleepy. 

Then, he remembered the apple in his inventory list. 

'This is the last time…' He thought about it in his mind and retrieved an apple before he crunched the whole thing in two bites. 

"Hiss... hiss… Yikes…"

Zhou Wen's scalp felt numb. It tasted like the sourness of chewing an entire lemon in one's mouth until it turned into mush with the juice swirling in one's mouth repeatedly. It made him wish that he could stab his fingers into his brain. 

"Whoever eats it next is not a m*th*rf*ck*ng man…"

Zhou Wen confidently swore an oath in his heart. He really could not figure out why anyone would make an apple so sour. 

According to his previous experience, the sour apple was essentially meant to restore one's physical strength and relieve one's mental fatigue to a certain extent. However, it did not mean that there was no longer a need to sleep. 

Later, Zhou Wen headed to the office located on the sixth floor. It was a rest day today. Wu Yan was not working, and Jiang Hexuan was on call. He was playing games on his phone.

They chatted briefly, and soon afterward, Zhou Wen covered himself with the blanket provided for on-call staff and laid on the sofa to rest his eyes. 

It was eight in the morning when Xu Jiajia came to take over Jiang Hexuan's shift. 

Zhou Wen was woken by her loud voice as he was a light sleeper. 

"Why are you sleeping here, Zhou Wen?"

"I'm too tired, so I took a nap here."

"What did you do last night?" Xu Jiajia passed the soya milk and steamed dough in her hands to him. 

"Carrying out my experiment." Zhou Wen waved his hand to dismiss her. "I'm not hungry; you should have it."

"Take it; I still have more." Xu Jiajia insisted on stuffing the soya milk and a bag of steamed buns into his hands. 

Zhou Wen did not decline this time and helped himself to the food. 

He had a good appetite and could finish a steamed bun about the size of a girl's fist in one gulp. He made a clean sweep of the food like a typhoon. 

Xu Jiajia ate the steamed buns in small bites while she took over her duties from Jiang Hexuan. She said, "One of my classmates got married yesterday. The groom was born in the 70s, and he is almost 50 years old. He is about the age of her parents and is apparently the boss of a small company."

Jiang Hexuan laughed and added, "That's very normal, isn't it? As long as you're rich, your wife can be from a kindergarten."

Xu Jiajia asked, "Do all men like you fancy younger women?"

Zhou Wen said nonchalantly, "That's not for certain. Those that don't want to work hard fancy older aunties."

"Hah-hah-hah…"

They chatted leisurely for a while before Zhou Wen and Jiang Hexuan left together. He wanted to go back to the campus to pick up some fresh, uncontaminated paddy leaves. 

…

For the next few days, Zhou Wen spent most of his time being immersed in the laboratory. 

The rice root aphid had already completed the change of 20 generations as he finally completed his research observation. 

Judging by his productivity, it would not be an exaggeration to say that a team of ten people would not be able to complete that work in a year. 

This was because he had eyes that could compare to electron microscopes that saved him a large amount of time, and more importantly, he saved on the time taken for the aphids to reproduce. 

However, he had yet to make a breakthrough in his process, for the time being. Fortunately, he did achieve some results in discovering biochemical pesticides. In the midst of his experiments, he discovered some highly effective formula to kill rice root aphid that could be sold to pesticide companies. That was considered an unexpected surprise. 

He tidied up the related research information and parameters before he sent it to a few agricultural chemical companies in the municipality. 

On the first of May, at ten in the morning, Zhou Wen was still sleeping in the bedroom when his phone placed next to the bed began ringing. He picked it up and asked, "Hello, whos' there?

He heard his mother's voice on the phone saying, "You're still sleeping, huh?"

"Hmm, I was working the night shift yesterday and came home at 8:30 this morning. Is there anything, mother?"

"It's your birthday today, so I'm calling to remind you in fear that you might have forgotten it."

"Oh, I forgot because I've been too busy over the past few days."

"I knew it. Don't tire yourself out too much and eat at the right time. With good health comes everything else."

"I understand, mother. Don't worry; my body is healthy."

"Hmm, that's all for now. I just transferred 500 RMB to you on WeChat Pay. Get yourself a good meal and buy a set of summer clothes. The weather is turning warm soon."

"Mother, why are you transferring money to me? I'll be getting my salary in just a few days."

"Your salary is yours, and what is given to you by your mother is what it is. Alright, sleep for a while more but do remember to wake up for lunch, okay?"

"Mmhmm…"

Zhou Wen hung up the phone and looked around his room. It was empty, and not a single person was here. Zhang Wei's bed was empty too. 

Zhou Wen got used to this life that was getting lonelier and lonelier. 

100 friends in the first year of university. 

50 friends in the second year of university.

Ten friends in the third year of university.

Two friends in the fourth year of university.

The vast majority of the people faced the same situation too. 

Normally, it was not due to the change in environment, but because of the person's mentality maturing - his emotions became more reserved, and he refused to take the initiative to get close to strangers anymore.

Zhou Wen woke up, washed up, and made the decision to have a good meal in a small restaurant outside the campus. 

Then, he remembered that it was the first of May, which was International Workers' Day. Most people were either back in their hometowns or out traveling. 

Zhou Wen checked his Wechat and found that his mother transferred 500 RMB to him and wished him 'Happy Birthday' at the bottom. 

He was immensely touched and clicked to accept it. 

Soon afterward, he discovered that Shen Xue, whom he had just added a few days ago, sent him a message too. 

He tapped on it and found that it was an International Workers' Day greeting card. 

Zhou Wen seldom replied to mass-forwarded greetings in text like this, but he was in a good mood because it was his birthday. He typed a reply casually. 'Have an enjoyable holiday too.'

Shen Xue replied soon. 'Thank you. Are you on a day off today?"

It was 10:30 in the morning now. Shen Xue made the guess based on the time because, to her knowledge, the laboratory department did not permit its staff members to use their phones in the laboratories. 

Zhou Wen replied, 'That's right! Do you get a day off too?'

Shen Xue wrote, 'I'm on a rest day today. *Smiley face emoticon*'

Zhou Wen did not know what he was thinking when he typed, 'It's my birthday today; would you like to join me for a meal?'

Zhou Wen felt a little uncomfortable as soon as he sent out the text message. 

They were not very close friends, so she might assume that he bore ill intention to her when he asked her on a date recklessly like that. Even if she did not feel this way, she would not just come with empty hands to his birthday celebration, right? He just made her spend money on him for no reason. 

As a result, Zhou Wen immediately deleted the text. 

What a waste that Shen Xue read it anyway. She replied, 'Happy birthday.''*Cake emoticon*.''Where are you having the meal?'

Zhou Wen typed, '... Thank you. It's in the Szechuan Cuisine restaurant in the south of Jiangzhou University. Will you come?"

He hoped that Shen Xue would reject it with the reason of it being too far. 

Instead, Shen Xue replied, 'Alright.'

Zhou Wen felt speechless. 

If Sun Jing were to find out about this, she would certainly call him a hypocrite. He refused to ask her out when Sun Jing tried to put in a favor for him, yet he seduced the girl in the next moment. He was despicable. 

'Oh you, Shen Xue. You consider yourself a graceful woman, yet why aren' you being even a little reserved? Why are you coming just because I asked you to?"

He did not send the text message. 

Close to an hour after Zhou Wen placed his order, Shen Xue came bringing a cake. 

She was dressed in a white t-shirt, ankle blue jeans, and black canvas shoes with a canvas bag hanging on her shoulder. Her outfit was simple, refreshing, and charmingly neutral. 

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. It took some time to bake the cake."

"It's fine; it's fine. There's no need to be so courteous…"

They engaged in small talk before they took their seats separately. 

Shen Xue swept away the hair hanging loosely on her face and said smilingly, "Just you alone, huh?"

"Hmm, yes. My friends are all back in their homes." As he was speaking, Zhou Wen sized up Shen Xue in all apparent seriousness for the very first time. 

He realized that Shen Xue had a figure that appeared slim when dressed and chubby when undressed. 

She appeared to be tall and slim when she was covered by her lab coat. He had only discovered that her face was chubby, her arms were fleshy, and her thighs were flabby, now that she was dressed differently. He did not pay attention to her buttocks, but he speculated that it should be bouncy too. 

Perhaps, this was the reason why Sun Jing described her as making her husband's life prosperous. A slightly chubby woman was genuinely the best.