I’m Dating My Big Brother’s Roommate Online and I’m Way Too Cute! - Chapter 24

Ji Yan was walking along the edge of the path, but the other party slammed straight into him.

“This is, I am sorry! I was walking in a great hurry, I am,”

The man hurriedly picked up the phone. Seeing the screen shattered into a spiderweb of cracks with the inner screen showing distorted vertical lines, he could barely speak coherently. “I, you, what do you think we should do?”

Ji Yan was wearing a large mask that covered half of his face, but his furrowed brows clearly showed his displeasure.

“I still have a lot of things I need to use in my phone. It has to be repaired.”

“We can do that, we can do that,” the man sighed in relief, hearing that it was a repair rather than a demand for a brand new replacement. “Let us find a repair shop. If it can be fixed, I will pay the repair fee. If it cannot, I will compensate you based on the depreciated value of the phone. Does that work for you?”

Ji Yan was straightforward. “Fine.”

The two of them arrived at Fenghe Street.

This street was located just north of the Yuehua Residential Area where Ji Yan lived. It was known as Little Hong Kong because of the variety of shops available, covering the four major categories: food, clothing, housing, and transportation. There were at least five or six specialty mobile phone stores, if not ten.

The repair technician asked for the phone model and checked it against his computer. “It can be repaired. A set for the inner and outer screens will be 1,500 yuan.”

The man felt the sting in his wallet. He had entered the pharmacy to buy medicine specifically to save on hospital examination fees; he never expected to have such bad luck as to shatter someone’s phone today. He asked, “Master, can it be any cheaper? I just checked online, and the inner and outer screen components for this model combined are only about 800 yuan.”

“The quality is different, and you cannot repair it yourself for 800 yuan,” the technician replied, handing the phone back. “You can try asking elsewhere.”

“Uh,” the man looked at Ji Yan.

Losing contact with Zhuo Yu’ang due to a broken phone was a minor issue; he could just get another phone. However, Ji Yan’s usual creative inspirations were recorded in that phone. If he replaced it, his previous work would be lost, which would be a true pity.

But as long as it could be repaired, he was not in a hurry.

Due to his cold, he had a severe physiological headache. He directly opened a packet of Quake and swallowed a pill dry.

The man was speechless.

Ji Yan said, “Let us look at other shops.”

They visited four shops and finally settled on one with an asking price of 1,200 yuan.

Ji Yan asked the technician, “Do you have spare phones here?”

The technician gestured toward three other equally battered phones on the repair table. “Including you, four people came to repair phones today. All the spare phones have been taken.”

Ji Yan gave a soft “oh.”

The inner and outer screen components needed to be ordered, and with the labor, the repair would take five or six days.

Five or six days was not five or six years; he could wait.

The man who hit him quickly paid the money, settling the matter properly. He bid Ji Yan farewell, apologized once more, and left.

Ji Yan left his father’s phone number with the repair shop to be contacted when it was fixed, then he walked home.

By the time he reached home, his eyelids began to fight; even a jack could not keep them propped open. Before sleeping, he did not dare set the air conditioner to 18 degrees Celsius again. He adjusted it to 25 degrees Celsius, wrapped himself in a thin quilt, and buried his head in the pillow. His long eyelashes slowly lowered, and he fell asleep in no time.

Third Party Testing Base

The experimental vehicle sat quietly under the scorching sun. Zhuo Yu’ang and Ji Han were checking the GMSL data cable interface. Once the inspection was complete, it would be time for the Nth actual vehicle test.

“Water,” Zhang Shuo said, handing out two bags of mineral water to them.

“Thanks,” Zhuo Yu’ang replied, reaching out to take a bottle.

Ji Han wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “I wonder who chose this day. With such a strong sun, we will be dried like jerky by the time the experiment is over.”

Ge Jiarui, who was holding a laptop nearby, said, “I did.”

Ji Han immediately shut his mouth, though he felt uncomfortable if he did not speak for a while. “Hey, I checked, and today is actually an auspicious day on the lunar calendar. A good day! Sister, how are you so good at choosing?”

“You talk too much. Are you two finished with the inspection?” Ge Jiarui asked.

Zhuo Yu’ang leaned an arm against the car door and said, “Finished.”

“Good. Zhang Shuo, what about your side?” Ge Jiarui called out.

Zhang Shuo looked up from the mobile debugging workstation and gave an OK sign. “Ready.”

The experiment continued for more than three hours.

As the sun began to dip in the west, the light gradually faded from the cold contours of Zhuo Yu’ang’s face. However, his expression had not brightened once today. For the Nth time, he took out his phone to check for messages. Aside from group chats for the club and the dormitory, there was nothing.

Ge Jiarui, standing beside him, asked casually, “What time is it?”

Zhuo Yu’ang said, “A little past four.”

Ge Jiarui nodded and looked at Professor Li, who was talking to a partner not far away. “We increased the weight of the timing information. This way, the system does not just analyze single frame images but builds a dynamic memory of the scene. However, this increased the computational load by 40 percent. Automotive grade chips have strict power consumption limits. This increase will certainly cause problems for mass production.”

“This is the gap between academia and industry,” Zhuo Yu’ang stated coldly, putting away his phone. “Experiments pursue the limits of performance, while they must consider cost and reliability.”

“That is why this is only the first stage, right?” Ji Han came up behind them. He wanted to naturally place a hand on the senior sister’s shoulder, but he ultimately lacked the courage; he raised his hand slightly and then withdrew it.

Over there, the professor and the partner finished their conversation and called everyone over, saying they would have dinner together that evening.

Zhuo Yu’ang was the first to refuse. “I am sorry, Professor. I have something to do tonight and cannot go.”

“What important matter could you possibly have that you do not even have time for dinner?” Professor Li feigned dissatisfaction, but remembering Zhuo Yu’ang had been hospitalized recently, he could not help but worry. “Is it that your body has not fully recovered and you cannot hold out? If you cannot handle it, just say so.”

“My body is fine; I truly have something to do,” Zhuo Yu’ang said.

His Little Cat had lost contact, and he wanted to wait for his call in peace.

Professor Li stopped insisting and patted his arm. “Fine, then you should head back early.”

The group packed up their things to leave.

Zhuo Yu’ang walked to the side to dial a number, but the response was still: “The phone you have dialed is powered off.”

Ge Jiarui glanced over while packing, nudged Ji Han with her elbow, and whispered, “What is wrong with Zhuo Yu’ang today?”

“What is wrong?” Ji Han asked back, his head full of confusion. He looked in the direction where Zhuo Yu’ang was standing, observing him from head to toe and back again, but could not see a problem. “What is wrong with him? I did not notice anything wrong.”

Ge Jiarui rolled her eyes speechlessly.

He truly possessed a high level of insensitivity.

Ji Han was even more puzzled. “Sister, do not keep me in suspense.”

“It is nothing. I cannot explain it clearly either,” Ge Jiarui continued packing.

She just felt that Zhuo Yu’ang was different from usual today. He was still doing the same tasks and speaking the same words, but there was an added sense of hostility, even though he was already a person who was not close to others.

It was like an ice sculpture standing under the sun; very cold.

Ji Han did not realize Zhuo Yu’ang was in a bad mood until the third night.

At 9:00 PM that night, he and a few members of the basketball team came out of the school gymnasium and parted ways in front of the dormitory building.

Ji Han entered the Engineering Building and walked toward the eighth building. He vaguely saw a flickering red light in the dark shadows at the base of the wall outside the building. He guessed someone was secretly smoking.

He walked closer, intending to give the person a fright, but he was the one who ended up startled.

Zhuo Yu’ang was leaning against the wall in the shadows. He cast a casual glance over, his eyes like those of a leopard glowing coldly in a dark forest; it was very intimidating.

“Holy crap! Are you not afraid of being caught by the dormitory manager? Do you not care about your glorious reputation as the great school hunk Zhuo anymore?” Ji Han was astonished. “Did you not say you were going to quit smoking? What are you doing now?”

Zhuo Yu’ang’s expression was gloomy as he spat out two words. “Heart is irritated.”

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