Close Enough To Pluck the Stars” (GL) - Chapter 2

Chapter 02

Liang Ke finally got the car keys after her lunch break the next day, handed over personally by the Acting Dean, Professor Zhang Zhang.

She hurried to the Dean’s office, where two others were already seated on the guest sofas. On the wall behind the sofas hung Xu Beihong’s spirited painting of galloping horses on one side, and a vintage four-panel screen featuring plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums on the other. Next to the sofa sat a trash can that looked remarkably like Eve, the girlfriend of the robot WALL-E. The research institute’s crest was printed on its belly; when it wasn’t talking, it looked quite dignified.

Liang Ke was very familiar with this AI trash can because she had personally participated in its design and development. Its name was Nao Nao.

Nao Nao was an expert in waste sorting and recycling, equipped with various interactive functions and boasting extreme extensibility and openness. To put it mildly, it was incredibly crafty—and its temperament was a mirror image of its “mother.” If it were flesh and blood, it would definitely be the type of person who is impossible to manage. Their cute, “moe” exterior was a disguise; as the saying goes, they were little devils with the faces of angels.

Zhang Zhang had finished grooming his toupee in the lounge and returned to the office to “groom” the little devil.

First, he introduced the man and woman who had arrived earlier. It was actually a redundant gesture because Liang Ke already knew the man, Zhao Pu, who hailed from the Organization and Propaganda Department. Zhao Pu had entered the institute in the same batch as Liang Ke and had suffered his fair share of her “torment” over the past two years.

The woman, however, was someone who made Liang Ke scowl just by looking at her. Her surname was Wu, and she was slightly older than Liang Ke. As a protégé of Zhang Zhang, she had climbed the ranks quickly within the institute. She considered herself both talented and beautiful, believing she outshone everyone wherever she went, and she held lowly grunts like Liang Ke in total contempt.

Zhang Zhang said to Liang Ke and Zhao Pu, “You two accompany Section Chief Wu Chuchu to the airport. I’ve detailed all the arrangements for receiving the expert in an email.”

“Wait, didn’t we agree that you were going too?” Liang Ke asked.

“How could I possibly get away?” Zhang Zhang smiled bitterly and spread his hands. “In just this half-month, we have a tech expo, an innovation competition, and two research forums being held right here at our institute. I’m simply stretched too thin.”

“Oh, a very solid excuse.” Liang Ke nodded with a beaming smile, then offered a mock comfort: “The new expert will understand. As for old man Hu and his ‘gastroscopy’—I saw a senior post on WeChat moments that he was just at Zuifulou having morning tea today. Heh heh.”

Liang Ke let out a cold laugh, and the air grew thick with a dangerous tension. Zhang Zhang used the excuse of pacing around to slip out. Nao Nao, having finished tidying the fruit peels and paper scraps on the table, was currently idle; it rubbed its little hands together and let out a sneeze.

“Good girl,” Liang Ke patted Nao Nao’s head, then called out to Zhao Pu, “Little Jeep, you’re coming too?”

Zhao Pu patted his camera, wearing a smile that was both shy and bitter, and looked to Nao Nao for help.

The little trash can was very polite. With a beep, its screen lit up and said, “Hello, Jeep,” before turning on its PA system to mimic the sound of a high-performance SUV climbing a hill.

“Enough.”

Wu Chuchu stood up, glaring at Liang Ke with authority. The words coming from her bright red lips were as cold as a blade: “Look at the time. This is a place of work. If you want to play, go home.”

Zhao Pu quickly patted Nao Nao to quiet it down and stood up with a conciliatory smile to smooth things over. Wu Chuchu gave him a forced smile before turning back to Liang Ke: “Drive the car to the main gate and wait for me. Check the vehicle’s condition thoroughly. Don’t say I didn’t warn you—if anything goes wrong, you’re responsible.”

With that, she turned and walked out of Zhang Zhang’s office. Halfway out, she felt Nao Nao was in her way and reached out to shove it aside. Nao Nao couldn’t dodge in time; its alloy casing hit the edge of a potted Bamboo Palm with a sharp ding.

Nao Nao didn’t react at first, but by the time it processed what happened, Wu Chuchu was gone. Its display screen flashed, it let out two beeps, and then it dove into Liang Ke’s arms, whimpering.

The young “mother” of Nao Nao asked with trembling lips, “Does it hurt?”

“It hurts!” the little trash can wailed with a voice loud enough to shake the heavens.

Without a second thought, Zhao Pu grabbed Liang Ke. Her fury was written all over her face. Zhao Pu could only hold her back with all his might, winking at the trash can while trying to coax Liang Ke: “Nao Nao isn’t that smart, okay? At most, it’s a bit of chipped paint. I’ll take it to my cousin’s auto shop later. Bodywork, spray paint, and a free wash included.”

Liang Ke turned and snapped, “What auto shop? It’s just two repair stalls in a rural-urban fringe zone! The customers are mostly owners of light agricultural vehicles, and there are only three workers including the apprentice!”

“You’ve been there?” Zhao Pu slowly let go of her.

“I have.” Liang Ke pulled a VIP gold card from her pocket. “Your brother made me get a membership. He said anyone from the research institute can use it, and there’s a 20% discount on holidays.”

Zhao Pu took the card and found it was a small, gold-colored plastic card, properly embossed with a card number and date. On the back, there was a string of handwritten English.

“The World Earth Day?” Zhao Pu asked, puzzled.

“I went there on Earth Day. Your brother didn’t know much about the holiday at first, so I selflessly gave the workers a lecture on its history and origins to raise their awareness of current environmental issues.” Taking advantage of his distraction, Liang Ke immediately stood up and pulled Nao Nao toward the door.

Seeing he couldn’t stop her, Zhao Pu followed, saying, “You mainly did it for the 20% discount, didn’t you?”

“30%,” Nao Nao said, looking back at Zhao Pu while faking tears. “Because Liang Ke made me perform a folk dance on the spot. I only realized after I grew up that I’m actually a street performer.”

Zhao Pu covered Nao Nao’s speaker to stop its babbling and continued to advise Liang Ke, noting that Wu Chuchu had a powerful background and had studied martial arts—she was a rainbow-belt expert in Taekwondo (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) and even knew a bit of Mongolian wrestling and Judo. Meanwhile, Liang Ke only knew how to skateboard. A direct confrontation would only end badly for her; revenge should be planned for the long term.

“Don’t forget our mission. We have to give the new expert a warm welcome.”

“Fine, fine.” Liang Ke suddenly changed her tune. She returned to her office floor, left Nao Nao in the care of a fellow student for comfort, and went to get the car with a pleasant expression. She picked up Wu Chuchu at the institute gate without saying another word.

Zhao Pu sat in the back. Liang Ke repeatedly reminded him to fasten his seatbelt. He thanked her with a smile and leaned back comfortably. Wu Chuchu still had a dark face, professionally checking the new expert’s contact info, flight arrival time, research field, age, gender, and physical characteristics with Liang Ke.

Liang Ke was quite cooperative, driving steadily onto the main road. Before Zhao Pu could even praise her, the front right wheel hit a manhole cover pit. Wu Chuchu, in the passenger seat, was accurately jolted down and then bounced up. Because the car wasn’t going slowly, the bump gave her a real fright.

“How are you driving? Such a wide road and you drive straight into a pit!” Wu Chuchu demanded angrily.

Liang Ke didn’t answer. She just scratched her head with a silly grin—and then proceeded to repeat the exact same maneuver four or five more times.

The research institute had moved to the outskirts of the city years ago. Several architecture professors had personally scouted the location and picked this “middle of nowhere” spot. The city infrastructure hadn’t caught up yet, so ditches and bumps were unavoidable.

Zhao Pu had realized what was going on long ago. To prevent the situation from escalating, he had to “roaringly” question the legality of Liang Ke’s driver’s license and breathlessly insist on taking over the driving himself.

Liang Ke, ignoring Wu Chuchu’s face which had turned a sickly shade of green, slumped lazily into the back seat after the switch. While browsing the expert’s personal information, she let out a medium-sized “Aya!”

Zhao Pu had already seen the expert’s photo. While stopped at a red light, he turned to her: “Beautiful, right? I was pretty surprised too.”

Liang Ke sat up and patted the back of the driver’s seat, all traces of seriousness gone from her clear eyes: “And that’s just a work ID photo with a blue background! If the photo looks like that, what must the real person look like? Oh, oh, oh—look at this award history! The intro page can’t even fit it all.”

Zhao Pu blushed slightly and signaled for Liang Ke to restrain herself. Seeing Wu Chuchu’s lips pressed tightly together, and afraid of leaving her out, he tried to strike up a conversation: “Our Dean is really something, being able to invite such a heavyweight.”

Wu Chuchu knew that Zhao Pu had a deep background and strong backing, unlike the “little grass-root” Liang Ke. Liang Ke only had a grandmother—and while the old lady was also a professor, she was at a music conservatory specializing in violin. No matter her artistic achievements, she had no crossover with the heavy hitters of the research institute and thus didn’t count as “backing.”

But Zhao Pu was different. His grandfather’s generation were intellectuals; his father was a leader in party building for a sister organization; and his two aunts were scientists in the U.S. Thus, Wu Chuchu gave him the courtesy of a response, concluding with: “He’s alright. It’s just a retouched photo. There’s no reality to it. Who knows what kind of monster he’ll look like in person.”