Chapter Thirty-Four: The Love Letter
The young man slipped the letter into Zhang Mingyang’s pocket. “Mr. Zhang, this is a letter I wrote to Bai Muqing. Please deliver it to her for me.”
“A letter?” Zhang Mingyang laughed. “In this day and age, who still writes letters?”
The young man scratched his head sheepishly. “There’s no other way. The communicator at your base doesn’t connect to ours, so I had to resort to the old-fashioned method.”
Zhang Mingyang glanced at the letter, seeming to understand. “Alright, I’ll help you out. If I see her, I’ll hand it over myself.”
The young man shook Zhang Mingyang’s hand in gratitude. “Mr. Zhang, please don’t forget.”
Boarding the helicopter, Zhang Mingyang waved goodbye to those seeing him off.
...
On the helicopter, Zhang Mingyang looked at the letter in his hand. He hadn’t expected “Bamboo Pole” to be so famous in the base. She’d only been here a dozen days, yet dozens had already asked after her, and now people were sending her letters.
...
Once off the helicopter, it was nearly seven o’clock. Zhang Mingyang headed straight to the cafeteria to find his teacher, intending to hand over the information he’d recorded today.
Entering, he saw his teacher chatting with others.
“Teacher!”
Seeing him, Lin Guangming waved Zhang Mingyang over.
“How did it go today? Did you get it all down?”
Glancing around, Zhang Mingyang took out his communicator and sent the recorded information to his teacher.
“I’ve sent it. The rest is up to you.”
Lin Guangming also pulled out his communicator, reading the incoming data. “Good, I was waiting for this. I’ll send it back to the university soon.”
Their “transaction” complete, Lin Guangming continued to ask about the reactor, and Zhang Mingyang outlined the main points.
They talked until ten o’clock, and if it weren’t for the cafeteria staff urging them to leave before closing, they could have chatted all night.
Leaving the cafeteria, the teacher and student headed toward the dormitory, ready to continue discussing their field.
“Mingyang, you’re saying their reactor is the same as ours?”
Zhang Mingyang nodded. “I saw it with my own eyes. No mistake. Their deputy chief engineer mentioned they’d read our group’s paper and made improvements based on our reactor.”
“I knew our design was sound,” Lin Guangming stroked his beard thoughtfully. “So it really is a materials issue.”
Zhang Mingyang showed him the photo he’d taken of “moon gold” metal. “They got this material from the moon. We don’t have those connections, so we can’t access it.”
Lin Guangming considered. “Alright, I’ll talk to Wang Bowen soon. He said he’d help solve our materials problem, so there must be a way.”
...
“It seems that’s our only option.”
Arriving at the dormitory, Zhang Mingyang let his teacher in first, as he had some matters to attend to.
After watching his teacher enter, Zhang Mingyang turned to look at the dorm opposite—Bai Muqing lived there.
How should he call her out? Zhang Mingyang paced back and forth. “If I shout, people might misunderstand. If I call her, I don’t know what to say. What should I do?”
Just as Zhang Mingyang was caught in indecision, Bai Muqing stepped out of her dormitory.
She saw Zhang Mingyang pacing back and forth. “What’s this fool up to?”
“Hey, fool, what are you doing?” Bai Muqing called out, but Zhang Mingyang didn’t hear.
“Zhang Mingyang,” she called again.
Still no response.
“Is he really a fool?” Bai Muqing walked over and tapped his shoulder.
“Who’s there!”
“Damn.” Turning around, Zhang Mingyang saw Bai Muqing standing right in front of him and was startled.
“You… When did you get here? How… how come you made no sound?” Zhang Mingyang stepped back, wary of being kicked.
Seeing his silly demeanor, Bai Muqing laughed. “Are you a fool? I called your name several times just now and you didn’t hear?”
“You… You called me?”
Zhang Mingyang stammered, feeling oddly nervous around her lately.
“Why are you downstairs—waiting for me?”
She took small steps, edging closer to Zhang Mingyang.
“You… What are you doing…?”
As Bai Muqing drew nearer, Zhang Mingyang stepped back, always keeping a safe distance.
“I… I have something to give you.”
“Something?” Bai Muqing stopped. “Go on, what do you want?”
“How did you know… I was looking for you?”
Bai Muqing glanced back at her dorm. “You usually avoid me, but now you’re downstairs. What else could you be here for?”
Since she’d guessed, Zhang Mingyang didn’t conceal it. He reached into his pocket and handed her the letter.
...
Looking at the envelope, Bai Muqing pointed at herself in confusion. “Is this for me?”
Zhang Mingyang nodded.
“This is…”
“Boom…”
A sudden, tremendous noise interrupted Zhang Mingyang. Both were stunned by the shockwave.
In an instant, the dormitory lights blazed, and everyone rushed out.
Teacher Lin Guangming came running from his dorm, immediately spotting Zhang Mingyang outside. He hurried over to check him.
“Mingyang, are you alright?”
Zhang Mingyang shook his head, indicating he was fine—just his ear drums rattled by the noise.
Beside him, Bai Muqing’s face was pale with fright, legs weak, barely able to raise her right hand to point toward the source of the sound. “It’s from the northern mountain.”
Others gathered, following Bai Muqing’s gesture.
“Old Lin, there’s nothing up north but your laboratory.”
Hearing “laboratory,” teacher and student exchanged a look of alarm.
“This is bad!”
They rushed toward the laboratory, calling as they ran. Lin Guangming contacted the base leadership, Zhang Mingyang tried to reach the lab staff.
“Mingyang, hurry and contact the duty staff, find out what happened.”
Zhang Mingyang tried the communicator, but couldn’t get through. He switched to the radio, anxiously calling, “Duty room! Duty room! If you hear me, respond!”
No answer.
“Teacher, could something really have happened in the lab?”
Wang Bowen carefully recalled the massive sound, and realized it didn’t feel like a lab accident—he had only heard it, not felt it physically.
Since the lab was underground, had that sound’s energy reached the surface, the ground would have trembled, and he would have felt it.
“Duty room here, duty room here.”
The reply from the duty room over the radio let Wang Bowen breathe a sigh of relief. He took the radio and asked, “Duty room, this is Wang Bowen. This is Wang Bowen. Was that loud noise just now from the lab? Please respond if you hear me.”
Having spoken, the two rushed into the cave, as the blaring alarm echoed throughout the valley.