Close Enough To Pluck the Stars” (GL) - Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Liang Ke’s small face turned beet red. Her mind was swirling with cynical retorts, but she didn’t dare unleash them. Instead, she pointed out humbly, “Is this the kind of thing you just don’t mention as long as I don’t ask?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?” Shu Qingchen asked back with a smile.

Liang Ke took a deep breath. She was unwilling to let it go, but she couldn’t exactly get physical with her boss. Swallowing her pride, she asked, “Then who did it?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“…”

Liang Ke stood frozen, her expression gradually turning complex.

Shu Qingchen said, “What are you staring at? You aren’t suspecting me, are you?”

“It’s not impossible,” Liang Ke said huffily.

Shu Qingchen’s face darkened slightly. Gazing into Liang Ke’s eyes, she said, “You little loser. Without evidence, you aren’t allowed to go around making wild accusations.”

Liang Ke inhaled sharply, wishing she could howl at the moon.

“Your lab’s internal management is loose; it even reeks of the atmosphere of a small family workshop. On the surface, the researchers are close as kin, but underneath, there are undercurrents. Some comrades lost their psychological balance and took a wrong turn—it’s not a big deal. We should give them a chance to turn over a new leaf and let them redeem themselves by contributing their strength to the new project,” Shu Qingchen said.

Liang Ke snorted. “So I was framed for nothing, then?”

“Of course not.” Shu Qingchen finished making her coffee and sipped it leisurely. “The reason I gave you time to investigate was for you to streamline the workflow and patch the loopholes. Reflection is a means, not the end. If a similar accident happens again, please pick up your little bucket.”

“Wh-what bucket?” Liang Ke asked, confused.

“Resignation.”

“Me?” Liang Ke pointed at her own nose, looking incredulous.

“Scientific research speaks through strength. If you don’t want to leave, you can start over as an intern and yield your position to someone more suitable.”

Liang Ke grabbed Shu Qingchen’s hand, explaining fawningly, “No need, no need! Why bring up a bucket? I’ll reflect, I’ll patch things up, but there’s nothing wrong with my strength!”

She regretted it the moment she said it, because Shu Qingchen was smiling at her.

Stop smiling!

What a sin, getting stuck with a leader like this.

Strength is relative. While she was a standout among her colleagues, one should remain humble when facing a Big Shot.

Liang Ke asked, “Is there a big move coming up?”

“Nothing too massive,” Shu Qingchen said, picking up a book at random and sitting on the sofa. “But your Director takes it very seriously. ITU/3GPP has deployed evaluation and testing environments for several key communication technologies ahead of schedule. They have a bird’s-eye view; they see every country racing against time to seize the technological lead. Zhang Zhang wants me to organize a team, collaborating with four domestic universities, to design an on-demand elastic aggregation wireless networking architecture by the end of the year and test the waters in the international organization’s environment.”

“That’s a good thing!” Liang Ke clapped. “Displaying our national prestige.”

“It is a good thing,” Shu Qingchen said. “But grand narratives aren’t necessary. The specific plan is still being built. I’ve organized three major technical difficulties; tackling them one by one is the fastest way. I’ll give you a chance to show your strength.”

Liang Ke stood up excitedly and said, “Great, great! Which part is the Leader putting me in charge of?”

Shu Qingchen signaled with a hand for her to sit down. “Professor Wang and I have made a preliminary decision. The current arrangement is that Luo Han and Lü Qiang will be the leaders of the first tier. Why the raised eyebrows? Believe me, she is capable. At her age, I was already handling projects independently.”

Liang Ke said, “Did I ask about that? Please don’t talk about your own experiences, okay? Geniuses can’t be replicated. Can you leave us mortals a path to survive? I was talking about Lü Qiang.”

“What about Lü Qiang?” Shu Qingchen smiled, then took a stack of documents from her bag. “Take a look. These will eventually be public materials; there’s nothing shameful about them.”

Liang Ke flipped through them and found that the first few pages were Lü Qiang’s application for the internal competition, the registration form, and finally, supporting materials. These were things he had accumulated over the years—highly valuable and very specific. They were a far cry from his usual mediocre research level. He was a classic case of “the pig that eats the tiger”—pretending to be stupid to avoid work.

“Leader, can I kill him?” Liang Ke picked up her coat in a rage, heading for the door.

“No, that would count as a workplace injury,” Shu Qingchen said, unmoved as she continued flipping through her book. “The compensation and consolation for the family would be a hassle; I don’t want to deal with such pointless things. Besides, I’ve already criticized him severely. He promised not to use his ‘cleverness’ for the wrong reasons anymore and to dedicate his fading youth wholeheartedly to the lab.”

Liang Ke threw her coat aside and sat at Shu Qingchen’s feet. “Is that fair?”

“It’s fair, and it maximizes the benefits,” Shu Qingchen said. “This comrade still has the potential to be saved; I don’t have the heart to give up on him.”

“This… this, this, this.” Liang Ke said bluntly, “For three years, I’ve been doing the work of three people, taking the fall, bearing the blame, and receiving disciplinary actions. So my youth isn’t ‘youth,’ right?”

Shu Qingchen finally looked up from her book, gazing at the Calico with a soft look in her eyes. “How could it not count? You’ve been tempered, you’ve forged a faith, and you’ve increased your ability to handle pressure. Ah, youth. Last time, you lied to the Leader’s face about getting married to scam some money. What about now? Why aren’t you getting married? I’ve already prepared the gift money.”

Liang Ke was nervous and embarrassed. After a long pause, she rubbed her hands and said, “It’s not about the money.”

“Then what is it about?”

Liang Ke plucked up her courage and asked back, “Have you ever seen someone get married alone? I at least need a lover first. Right, Object-Oriented—that’s not just the core foundation of Java, it’s the essence and prerequisite of romance!”

Shu Qingchen said, “Your personal issues seem quite thorny?”

“Extremely thorny,” Liang Ke said.

“Oh,” Shu Qingchen acted as if she were deep in thought. “In that case, I’ll temporarily remove you from the third-tier list. I was originally planning to put you in charge, but now I have to reconsider.”

Liang Ke lunged forward, her “paws” pinning down the Leader’s legs, babbling incoherently to save her job opportunity: “Don’t! It’s just a partner; how hard can that be? At worst, I’ll go on a blind date tomorrow!”

Shu Qingchen leaned back against the sofa, narrowing her eyes as she offered a gentle opinion: “I dare you.”

Liang Ke asked, “Huh?”

Shu Qingchen let out a breath and sat up straight. She closed the hardcover book on her knees and placed it on the Calico’s big head, signaling her to keep it balanced and not let it drop from excitement. Then she spoke: “Until the project is finished, keep your roots planted in the lab. Don’t even think about blind dates. Otherwise, you’ll quickly feel the ‘inclination’ of my opinion through your workload.”

“…”

Liang Ke remained still with the book on her head. She was furious but didn’t dare speak—and even if she did, she didn’t know what to say. So Shu Qingchen continued: “That’s right. Sometimes I am just and stern, but sometimes I am willfully unable to separate public and private matters—including crudely interfering in a subordinate’s personal life.”

Liang Ke sucked in a breath. “That’s not what you said during the day! You said you were seriously studying romance examples, the right ones and the wrong ones. How did you go astray so quickly?”

“The ‘astray’ path is steep but effective.” Shu Qingchen leaned back on the sofa. “Originally, I was obsessed with research and kept my feet on the ground; I didn’t want to be a Director. Now I’ve realized: while the path of seeking knowledge has been smooth sailing, pursuing a girl isn’t my specialty. So, I might as well use my official position to my advantage. Anyway, the victim seems to be enjoying it quite a bit. Professionally and personally, I have a clear conscience.”

“So there really are people this beautiful who are actually devils…” Liang Ke blushed, muttering under her breath.

“Praising my looks won’t improve your situation,” Shu Qingchen evaluated objectively. “In short, do you accept or refuse?”