Close Enough To Pluck the Stars” (GL) - Chapter 42

Chapter 42

“No. But it’s not that I can’t, it’s just that I’m not… especially capable…” Liang Ke twiddled her thumbs. On one hand, she felt she should remain dignified; on the other, her thoughts were shackled by a sense of inferiority.

“Alright, please take your time considering it,” Shu Qingchen said in a light, brisk imitation of Liang Ke’s usual tone. Then, she picked up her book and entered her room without looking back.

The Calico Cat was left in utter disbelief. Stunned for a moment, she returned to her own room in frustration, tossing and turning all night.

The next day, she formulated a meticulous plan. She arranged her workflow in detail to shorten her overtime hours and began sneaking off to Shu Qingchen’s expert apartment during her free time.

The apartment was filled with books—all of which she had helped carry upstairs—and the environment was quiet and secluded, making it her ideal sanctuary for study.

“This really is the perfect place for ‘closed-door’ training.” Liang Ke tied back her hair in front of the bathroom mirror and pumped a fist at her reflection.

Shu Qingchen had her own grand affairs to attend to. She was often nowhere to be found after meetings and chose to ignore Liang Ke’s secretive behavior. At first, Liang Ke felt a small sense of loss, but then she reasoned that a great hero undergoing training should be ignored by the world, so she quickly made peace with it. She often spent late nights reading by lamplight in the expert apartment, and after a few days, she unfortunately broke out in mouth sores from the stress and heat.

Luo Han, seeing the blister at the corner of Liang Ke’s mouth, couldn’t bear it. She volunteered to buy a mountain of medicine. Lü Qiang, however, advised that one shouldn’t take medicine blindly and suggested going to the hospital instead.

Only Ye Tianze, passing by cheerfully with a potted plant, pointed out that this was “internal fire of the heart” and needed “medicine for the soul” to be cured.

“Senior, how can you be so sure?” Luo Han asked.

“Because I, your big brother, once fell into a similar predicament.” Ye Tianze pointed at his bald little Money Tree plant. “But today is different from the past. After enduring many tribulations, it is finally my turn to enjoy the sweet taste of love.”

Liang Ke looked at the Money Tree, then at Ye Tianze, her eyes filled with worry and horror.

“No, what are you guys thinking? I’m not crazy enough to date a plant,” Ye Tianze said, hands on his hips excitedly. “This little tree had yellowing leaves last winter and caught a pest disease. It was on the verge of death, gasping for its last breath—a truly tragic sight.”

“Get to the point,” Lü Qiang reminded him impatiently, adjusting his green glasses.

“Hey, the point is, a goddess from the College of Agriculture suddenly descended from the heavens like a miracle. With a pair of gardening shears, she gave my little tree a buzz cut, poured in some medicinal powder, and now that the weather is warming up, new buds are about to pop out.” Ye Tianze said proudly, “She didn’t just snip off the diseased branches of the tree; she snipped away my heart too. I’ve started enjoying a sense of stability and satisfaction I’ve never known before. Before this, I was even more anxious than Liang Ke, worrying that no girl would ever look at me in this lifetime.”

The group listened to the story with gasps of cold air. Lü Qiang, rubbing his stinging eyes, was the first to bolt. Luo Han found it boring. Only Liang Ke patiently pointed out that she wasn’t worrying about that.

“Then why is your internal fire so high?” Ye Tianze became even more curious, his gossipy little eyes fixed on her.

“Inferiority,” Liang Ke answered honestly but cryptically.

“Inferiority? This… who is so powerful that they can make our ‘Dr. Liang’ feel inferior?” Ye Tianze scratched his head in confusion.

Liang Ke waved him off. “I told you not to call me that. It makes me sound cold-hearted.”

Luo Han patted her senior’s shoulder, shot a meaningful glance toward Shu Qingchen’s office, and said to Liang Ke: “I think I understand. The pressure is indeed not small.”

Ye Tianze and Luo Han locked eyes, then Ye Tianze covered his mouth in shock. Together, they flanked Liang Ke, hoisted her up, and dragged her to the rooftop for interrogation.

“Is it? Is it really?” Ye Tianze asked urgently.

Liang Ke shook him off impatiently, looking a bit embarrassed. “Is what? No.”

Luo Han wore her usual face of worry. She said sincerely to Liang Ke: “Generally speaking, the greater the gap in status, knowledge, and interests between two lovers, the higher the risk of the weaker party being abandoned. Senior, you have to be careful.”

Liang Ke waved her hands in frustration and confusion. “Can you two be normal? I’m just feeling inferior, lacking confidence, overthinking things—that’s all.”

Ye Tianze, who had been “in love” for all of three days, stood tall and said, “As expected, young people lack experience. You need to date more, accumulate more, and progress more. How about this: have lunch with my girlfriend and me today. I’ll show you the charm of love.”

Liang Ke was focused on work, but she couldn’t withstand Ye Tianze’s persistence. Combined with Luo Han’s heavy curiosity, the three of them pulled some strings and sneaked into the College of Agriculture’s cafeteria for a meal.

The moment they walked in, they were stunned by the selection. To the “Three Idiots of Intelligent Computing” who usually survived on tomato and egg stir-fry, this dazzling buffet lunch practically smelled like heaven.

Senior Sister Sun hurried over from the lab. She was happy to see Liang Ke, even happier to see Ye Tianze, and couldn’t suppress her “maiden heart” when she saw Luo Han, shouting: “What a cute little sister! She looks just like the little white rabbits we keep in the lab!”

Luo Han’s shy smile only triggered the sister’s maternal instincts further.

Liang Ke shielded Luo Han to prevent the sister from getting any weird ideas. Ye Tianze had already sat down beside the sister like a pampered bird, resting his chin on his hands and smiling beamingly at his girlfriend.

The sister remembered the white goose Liang Ke had entrusted to her and asked casually, “How is Little White? I took good care of it, didn’t I? It was two pounds heavier when it left than when it arrived, its feathers all sleek and shiny.”

Liang Ke’s face turned from white to green, and from green to purple. Luo Han quickly said to Senior Sister Sun, “Maybe we should stick to talking about rabbits.”

“Mmh? What happened to Little White?” The sister was puzzled.

Ye Tianze said, “It’s dead. Murdered by an old pervert. Our ‘Dr. Liang’ couldn’t get over it for half a month. It was only thanks to a kid calling her for half an hour every day to comfort her, plus being busy with work, that she’s gotten a bit better these past few days.”

Hearing this, the sister slammed the table and stood up in a rage. She asked for the location of the Materials Science building, ready to go avenge Liang Ke right then and there.

The “Three Idiots” were terrified and hurriedly pulled the sister back, coaxing her back into her seat with gentle words.

“So, why did you bring me here?”

Liang Ke shook her head. Ye Tianze looked at the sky shyly. Only Luo Han braved it and said, “Senior Ye said he wanted to teach Senior Liang how to date. By personal demonstration.” With that, she winked at Ye Tianze.

Ye Tianze thought to himself that he would never brag again. However, since the moment had come, he had to force himself to act like an expert. He couldn’t let Liang Ke and his junior look down on him.

After thinking for a moment, he took action. First, he said to Senior Sister Sun, “I want soup.”

The sister agreed, puzzled, and personally brought him egg drop soup from the cafeteria. Ye Tianze thanked her with a bashful, sweet expression, tasted the soup, and said it was too bland. He needed extra salt to drink it.

The sister negotiated with the chef and got some salt.

“It’s too hot.”

The sister helped blow it cool.

“There are so many fish bones.”

The sister dissected the fish, picked out all the bones, and put the meat onto Ye Tianze’s plate.

“I need sauce. It has no flavor.”

Ye Tianze’s smile began to grow increasingly arrogant. Liang Ke and Luo Han waited silently for him to be beaten to death, having already moved to the neighboring table to avoid getting splashed with blood.

Sure enough, this time the sister didn’t move. Instead, she folded her hands and leaned against the table, staring back at him.

…

On the way home, Ye Tianze said he was going to the roof for a smoke. Luo Han was still reeling from the “bloody scene” at lunch. Liang Ke snorted at the display. After they parted ways, she chose to go home early and knocked on the door to Shu Qingchen’s room.

Shu Qingchen was sitting at her computer. She said “Come in” but nothing else. Liang Ke first sat on the carpet, resting her head against the edge of the bed. She looked at Shu Qingchen and felt the distance between them was too far, so she slowly shuffled over to the desk, accidentally bumping into the leader’s chair.

“Stop fidgeting. If you move again, please leave,” Shu Qingchen said without looking away from the screen. “If you have something to say, say it.”

After a long silence from the Cat, Shu Qingchen frowned and looked down at her.

Liang Ke gripped the leg of the chair, her frustration mounting, yet she felt a sense of “do or die.” She lifted her face and asked hesitantly, “I want to drink… drink egg drop soup.”