After Ai Xiang ate a bowl of mushroom and green vegetable noodles in the "hometown fast food restaurant", he returned to the experimental studio until he had completed all the remaining identification experiments, and carried out the necessary review and inspection again, and then buried himself in sorting out dozens of appraisal reports.

It was late at night after the last appraisal report was completed, and on the street outside the window, only the street lamps faithfully guarded the empty street, with sleepless eyes. Occasionally, there are people who walk in the night, perhaps hurrying through the street for some cause that cannot be delayed, and disappearing at the end of the alley.

The alleys that connect the wide streets seem a little lonely at night, and the dim street lamps at the mouth of the alleys are like the eyes of an old man who is dozing, half-open and half-closed, waiting for those who have been returning home for a long time. Some people wander leisurely into the alley, because there is their own safe home; Some people wander into the alley drunken steps, because there is a place where they belong; Some people dragged their tired steps into the alley, because there were relatives waiting for their safe return. In the residential buildings, most of the lights are gradually extinguished, and perhaps the owners have fallen asleep. Only a few windows are still lit, and some people may still be busy with work and life.

Ai Xiang stretched his somewhat numb hands and feet, and walked out of the laboratory tiredly, through the silent and unmanned aisles of the office building. In the huge office building, you can only hear your own lonely footsteps, and there is already silence around you. Ai Xiang thoughtfully stopped outside Yu Mei's office door. After thinking about it again and again, he took out the key given by Yu Mei from his pocket and opened the door of the office.

When Yu Mei was leaving, she wanted to leave the key in her hand to him, Ai Xiang said with a smile: "Sister Mei may have forgotten, you have already given me a spare key last year, and it has always been placed with me, and I usually carry it." ”

Yu Mei remembered, as if she had given Ai Xiang a key. The main reason is to consider that my office is relatively spacious, and there is a couch, which can be pulled away when needed, and can be used as a temporary bed rest when on duty or overtime at night. Ai Xiang often works overtime, Yu Mei told him: "If you work late and can't go back, it's okay to rest in my office, and there is a spare quilt in the cabinet, which you can use." ”

Yu Mei's office is arranged according to her own design, and all the office furniture is multi-functional, and the furnishings are simple and practical. A multi-functional modular desk can be used as a platform for Yu Mei to deal with daily work, and when needed, it can be divided into two or three smaller desks, or arranged into a conference table according to the requirements of small meetings. Behind the desk is a row of cabinets, consisting of two sets of iron filing cabinets and a set of wooden cabinets to form a partition wall. Outside the partition wall is the office area, and inside is a small washroom, where some simple toiletries are usually placed in case of emergency. A set of sofas is placed on the right hand side of the desk, which can be used as a single bed in addition to receiving guests.

Ai Xiang looked around at the scattered furniture in the office, which always gave him a warm feeling and made him feel a sense of home. The clean lines of the furniture are spotless, the heavy velvet floor-to-ceiling curtains isolate the hustle and bustle outside, and the warm lighting is also soft, which can make people's mood more peaceful.

Walking into the bathroom, turning on the faucet and washing his face with cold water, Ai Xiang felt a lot more relaxed and seemed to be back to his energetic state. Ai Xiang rarely socializes, he doesn't like to spend his time on meaningless activities, and his mood is at odds with the glitzy atmosphere. Even if he occasionally participates in such activities, his body and mind are detached from his own world. Therefore, in addition to doing experiments, he immerses himself in a bunch of professional books. Over time, his colleagues nicknamed him "Bookworm", and he laughed it off without care. Books are his best friends and his truest friends who know the world.

After Ai Xiang came out of the bathroom, he felt refreshed again. He took out the vase on the shelf in the middle of the filing cabinet, walked into the bathroom, poured the water in the vase into the pool, and re-poured the mineral water he brought into the vase.

On the other side of the shelves is a carved picture frame made of delicate ginkgo trees. The carved pattern lines are simple, one side resembles the shape of a flying dragon, and the other side presents the posture of a phoenix, which has a harmonious beauty that complements each other, and can also give people a space for imagination.

Everyone loves this delicate picture frame, and once, Chu Wenjuan looked curiously at this picture frame that made her reluctant to let go and asked, "Director Yu, where did you buy this handicraft, it's so beautiful." Yu Mei smiled and told everyone: "This image frame is not a handicraft that can be bought with money, it is made and carved by my eldest brother himself, and it is a pure family work." ”

In the frame, it was originally a photo of Yu Mei and her ex-husband, Ai Xiang had seen that group photo, as long as he saw that group photo, it always made him feel a little unpleasant, at first he was a little strange, because he couldn't understand why he felt this way.

That man later went to the United States, and less than half a year after he went, he couldn't wait to live with the daughter of a wealthy businessman. After Yu Mei found out, she silently flipped over the photo frame. Ai Xiang finally figured out that it was the indifference in that person's eyes that made him feel unhappy.

When Ai Xiang and Yu Mei talked about this feeling, Yu Mei smiled knowingly, she turned around and took out the photo from the frame, separated the photo of herself and that person with scissors, threw half of the photo of that person aside, looked at Ai Xiang and said calmly: "Please, help me burn him." ”

Ai Xiang took a discarded stainless steel tray from the laboratory, took out a lighter from his pocket in front of Yu Mei, lit the half of the photo, and after a wisp of smoke, the half of the photo turned to ashes. Ai Xiang grimaced and said, "Report to Teacher Yu, the student has successfully completed the glorious task you assigned, and that person has been cremated." ”

Yu Mei finally laughed happily, and she took out a magnified group photo from the cabinet, which was a commemorative group photo of all the members of the center together when the "Reading Micro Appraisal Center" was established. Yu Mei said: "Put this group photo in, this is my current home, and it can be regarded as your home, of course, if you are willing to treat this place as your home, you can really become a family, truly become a cohesive team." ”

Ai Xiang took the photo from Yu Mei's hand, and everyone in the photo had anticipation for the future and a sincere smile on their faces, and Yu Mei, who was sitting in the middle, exuded a natural affinity all over her body. Ai Xiang put the photo into a frame, put it back on the shelf, looked at Yu Mei and said, "My first home was a welfare home, and Guo's mother was my relative, and now I have a second home." Teacher Yu, I regard you as my relative, can I call you Sister Mei? ”

Yu Mei paused for a moment, she understood the loneliness in Ai Xiang's heart, and also knew that he was very eager for a family affection to comfort her, so she smiled and said, "If you like to call it that, then call it so." Since then, Ai Xiang has changed his name to Sister Mei when he was alone with Yu Mei, and only when others are present, he still calls Teacher Yu.

Ai Xiang looked at the photos on the shelves and fell into deep thought. In his eyes, Yu Mei, who used to be his mentor, was a rigorous scholar, and she never let go of any doubts about academic issues, and she often warned her students: "To engage in science, we must adhere to the original intention of pursuing the truth, science favors honest people, and any opportunistic means can only get ruined in the end." Every experiment, even the simplest one, must be fully prepared, carefully operated, carefully recorded, scientifically analyzed, and the slightest careless behavior must not be allowed. The difference is a thousand miles, this is a simple truth that has been repeatedly proven by many painful lessons. It is better to work slowly than to do wrong things quickly. ”

Under the influence of Yu Mei, Ai Xiang never dared to make the slightest sloppiness and mistake in the experimental work, and has always been conscientious and striving for perfection. Even for the simplest experiments, he will do a good job of the operation process in advance, and any subtle changes in the experimental process will be accurately recorded one by one, and carefully analyzed and studied until the correct conclusion is reached. In the experiments he has done, there has never been a single error, so he has become Yu Mei's most reassuring disciple.

After working in the appraisal center for a few years, Ai Xiang not only felt more of Yu Mei's rigor in academic research, but also felt Yu Mei's care for him outside of work, which made him feel that his mentor was a cute and amiable big sister. It also made him naturally want to get closer to her.

Sometimes, Ai Xiang looks at Yu Mei's lonely and lonely back, and an indescribable feeling will spring up in his heart, he feels that her loneliness is as lonely as the moon and stars, and he is also lonely, but his loneliness is a kind of loneliness where a tired bird has nowhere to live. Ai Xiang thought of the lonely Yu Mei, and there was an indescribable sadness in his heart, he had lost his family affection since birth, and such an encounter did not make him sad, he just had a deep loneliness, but he had never been sad.

Ai Xiang opened the velvet floor-to-ceiling curtains, and at some point, it was already raining lightly. He especially likes to sleep listening to the sound of rain, so he turned off all the lights in the office, lay quietly on the sofa, and while listening to the sound of rain in the quiet night, he thought: Is Sister Mei sleeping now, and what is she thinking about if she doesn't sleep?

(Next Notice: Chapter 62: The Pattern of Breakup)