Chereads / I'm a toad / Chapter 19 - The man with the erhu.

Chapter 19 - The man with the erhu.

Mu Hongli first took Zhao Jiadi to look for books in the school bookstore. She had thought that she could get some hints while picking books. However, after Zhao Jiadi's amazing performance in class, he seemed to have withdrawn and resumed his role as an unknown person. Actually, it wasn't that Zhao Jiadi deliberately hid his strength in front of Mu Hongli. It was simply that in terms of the breadth of reading, he couldn't compare with Mu Hongli, who came from a family of scholars. Since the day he started reading books, he hadn't intended to be a learned and versatile scholar. He only focused on what he was interested in, getting into it like a stubborn mule and not getting out. He had a pretty good memory, but he still wasn't able to remember everything at a glance or read ten lines at a time. Unluckily but also luckily, his grandfather, who was a country doctor and a geomancer, gave him two old yellow - bound thread books. One was "Compendium of Materia Medica", and the other was "Qing Nang Jing". Once Zhao Jiadi got into them, he couldn't get out, especially in the field of feng shui. Whether it was about the form, the principle of qi, or the theory of destiny, all three aspects placed great emphasis on calculation and deduction. Zhao Jiadi's grandfather claimed that he had met an expert when he was young and had been diligent all his life. Relying on the four words "diligence makes up for clumsiness", he finally managed to achieve a certain level of proficiency. His knowledge was neither too deep nor too shallow. Of course, Zhao Jiadi had always scoffed at this. However, the headache was that his grandfather would give him a book like "Xue Fa" or "Xun Long Ru Shi Ge" from time to time. At that time, Zhao Jiadi was just a little kid, but he still read them with great interest. Thanks to this "hasty" grandfather, otherwise Zhao Jiadi's mind wouldn't have been so sharp in science when he grew up. So in some fields that Zhao Jiadi was familiar with and good at, his confidence was almost conceit. But when Mu Hongli talked to him about classical music, poetry, or literature, it was like casting pearls before swine. Moreover, Zhao Jiadi was an honest person. He never pretended to know something he didn't. He simply kept his mouth shut. So when Mu Hongli was picking books, he didn't give any advice. Finally, when the cafeteria opened, originally Mu Hongli wanted to invite him to a private room for ordering special dishes, but Zhao Jiadi didn't agree. He ordered a 9 - yuan lunch. There was no wine, but he compensated with two meat dishes. He wasn't polite at all in this regard. Mu Hongli's diet was light, and since she was on her period, she didn't dare to eat randomly. Zhao Jiadi asked for five liang of rice in one go, while Mu Hongli only asked for one liang. The two of them formed a sharp contrast. After sitting down, Zhao Jiadi started to deal with the mountain - like pile of rice. Mu Hongli had seen many guys who tried their best to show off their magnificent sides in front of her. Zhao Jiadi was so different. The most important thing was that he wasn't pretentious at all. What was rare was that even when he was gobbling up the food, he wasn't too rough. Mu Hongli, sitting opposite Zhao Jiadi, smiled and said, "Couldn't you hold on a bit more to leave a good impression?"

"Since we're going to be together for a lifetime, it's better to expose our flaws early. Otherwise, it'll be like some couples who suddenly realize that they don't know each other well when they're already lying in the same bed." Zhao Jiadi smiled. Actually, he didn't do much physical activity today. Mu Hongli probably weighed just a little over 90 catties. Carrying her and running around the foreign language department once wouldn't make Zhao Jiadi so hungry that he had to eat half a catty of rice. It's just that his longing for Wang Ban Jin was aroused. During times like this, Zhao Jiadi would always eat half a catty of rice. It was also a suggestion made by Wang Ban Jin back then, and she even made Zhao Jiadi hook his little finger to promise.

"For a lifetime?"

Mu Hongli smiled and stared hard at Zhao Jiadi. "The last time we met, you said you'd give me happiness. Zhao Jiadi, can you stop being so unconventional when you talk?"

"I'm not being eccentric either. This is truly what I mean in my heart." Zhao Jiadi said with a smile.

"Didn't I already tell you that 'The Child' was written by me for my boyfriend?" Mu Hongli didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"People get divorced even after they get married. What does just being in a relationship mean?" Zhao Jiadi said with a smile, looking simple - minded and naive.

"Your spirit is admirable, but you're just wasting your efforts." Mu Hongli had a look of helplessness on her face.

"In the junior high school physics textbook, it is clearly defined that the work that has no practical value but has to be done is called extra work, and extra work is what is commonly known as useless work. From this, it can be seen that useless work is a necessary condition for useful work. After all, I'm still doing useful work." Zhao Jiadi said with a smile. After eating three liang of rice, he ate the remaining two liang slowly, as if his momentum had waned after the initial burst. Actually, this was also his habit. He was used to starting things with great force and then enjoying the process slowly like a cat playing with a mouse. Isn't this the same devious principle when dealing with Mu Hongli?

"Quibbling." Mu Hongli, who was gradually falling into the trap, said with a smile.

"I was the physics class representative in junior high school, and also the chemistry class representative. Am I awesome or not?" Zhao Jiadi said half - jokingly and half - seriously. Now, he is virtually the only bold one in this school who can observe Mu Hongli's beautiful face up close.

"Awesome." Mu Hongli said with a smile. She didn't think deeply about it because she knew very well what score her younger brother got to enter university. He barely caught the last bus of the second - tier university admission line. So in her impression, Zhao Jiadi's academic performance wouldn't be too outstanding. She had no prejudice about this. On the contrary, it was this kind of "weakness" that set off Zhao Jiadi's extraordinary strength in the Russian language field. So one can hardly imagine how shocked Mu Hongli would be if she knew the truth that this guy in front of her could recite every detailed definition in physics and chemistry.

"Tell me about my rival in love so that I can make a study and formulate tactics and strategies earlier." Zhao Jiadi blinked.

"He's a little taller than you, a little more handsome than you, and a little better in grades than you. That's it." Mu Hongli also blinked her eyes.

"There's no way to grow taller, and one's face is determined at birth. As for grades, I've tried my best. It seems there's little hope of defeating that rival in love." Zhao Jiadi said in all seriousness.

"You're better at Russian than he is." Mu Hongli said with a smile. Deep down in her heart, she liked Zhao Jiadi's consistent "frankness and simplicity".

"Being good at Russian doesn't mean I can live off a woman." Zhao Jiadi said with a bitter smile.

Mu Hongli gave him a hard stare.

"I probably won't be able to come to the foreign languages institute very often in the future." Zhao Jia said regretfully.

Mu Hongli remained silent on this topic.

"Probably only once every three days." Zhao Jiadi dropped a huge bombshell, almost making Mu Hongli break down. She put down her chopsticks and said helplessly, "Zhao Jiadi, we can be friends, definitely not the kind of perfunctory friends. Isn't that good?"

"It's good, but not the best." Zhao Jiadi also successfully finished the last bit of rice.

"Stubborn guy!" Mu Hongli said resentfully, but it was not menacing at all. Instead, it just added to her charm.

When Mu Hongli went to the Russian oral training class this afternoon, she had some books unrelated to Russian in her hands. They were math textbooks that someone asked her to obtain through connections from math majors in Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and other institutions, such as discrete mathematics and mathematical physics equations. There were about five or six books in total. After entering the classroom, she had an internal struggle for a while, and finally chose to sit beside that guy. This was the first time since she entered university that she didn't sit in the front row. It was an unprecedented feat. Of course, the only crazy person who could start to study spatial analysis and complex variable functions not long after entering school was Zhao Jiadi. Brother Eight - liang took the books that Mu Hongli helped him find. There were still seven or eight minutes before class, so he started to casually flip through a book called "Fundamentals of Abstract Algebra". Mu Hongli saw a notebook placed in the corner of the desk, the kind that could be bought for two or three yuan. She picked it up. As soon as she opened it, her scalp tingled. There were dense formulas and data. Mu Hongli, who was weak in math during high school, was dumbfounded. She couldn't even understand a small section of the information. Zhao Jiadi's handwriting was very beautiful, running script, and the strokes were extremely vigorous. However, he didn't deliberately pursue the artistic conception of penetrating the paper. It seemed light and faint, and there was a bit of the flavor that her grandfather described as being able to cause a sudden thunderclap on flat ground after being able to operate freely. In the end, since she didn't understand the formulas at all, she settled for the second - best option and began to concentrate on studying Zhao Jiadi's handwriting. She was almost reluctant to put it down. Zhao Jiadi was contentedly chewing on the Galois extension at the end of the "Abstract" book. After the class bell rang, Mu Hongli, who had flipped through the notebook with more than twenty pages of dense, detailed and imposing content like a dark cloud pressing down on the city, couldn't help asking, "What is this?"

"Starting from page 7 are the lecture notes from this morning. The front part is about the weighted estimates of singular integral operators, which I got from a free academic report at Fudan University. There are also some formulaic data on minimal submanifolds and harmonic mappings, explained by an old professor at Tongji University. There's a lot of valuable exclusive content, and I've benefited a great deal. The one I listened to at Fudan this morning was also good. It wasn't a waste of time." Zhao Jiadi patiently explained. Since he had received favors from Mu Hongli, he was also willing to tell her some professional stuff, lest she mistake him for someone who was just pretending to be capable and playing some stupid trick of saving the situation in a roundabout way.

"Algorithm of the two - phase flow calculation model for the energy - absorbing effect of sand - wall wave attenuation?" Mu Hongli specifically turned to page 7 and managed to report a very tongue - twisting term. This notebook was no different from a book of heaven scriptures to her.

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand." Zhao Jiadi chuckled and continued to study his Galois extension. There wasn't any look of disdain or contempt on his face, but the smile at the corner of his mouth was definitely maddening.

"Then explain it to me in the simplest and most understandable terms, or else don't even think about me treating you to dinner." Mu Hongli threatened in a soft voice, her weak point having been touched.

"Do you really want me to explain?" Zhao Jiadi put down the "Fundamentals of Abstract Algebra" in his hand and turned slightly to stare at Mu Hongli. Since this girl was "hooked up" by him, she has begun to fall involuntarily. Now she even dares to be inattentive in class. It's really a great pity for the male teachers and male students.

"Just tell me!" Mu Hongli said with a fearless look, but in fact she was very nervous.

"Are you sure you want me to explain?" Zhao Jiadi said with a smile.

"Of course you have to explain." Mu Hongli said resentfully.

"To put it simply, it is to study a solution algorithm for a two - phase flow equation with a strong source term. You can transform the problem into a conservation law problem and an ordinary differential equation problem through the splitting method and the R - transformation. For the conservation law, use the finite - volume scheme for discrete solution; for the ordinary differential equation problem, based on the particularity of the high energy level of the problem and starting from the physical background of the problem, divide the right - hand term into two parts, kinetic energy and internal energy. For the kinetic energy part, solve it analytically through the kinetic energy equation. Thus, good overall numerical calculation results are achieved. Well, the explanation is completed. I believe you know every word. As for whether you understand it or not, I don't know." Zhao Jiadi gave a simple and in - depth explanation in all seriousness, but he didn't hide the mischievous meaning in his eyes at all. The meaning was all too obvious: little beauty, don't play the fool in front of your uncle.

"Understood." Mu Hongli closed the notebook and said with a smile, as if infected by Zhao Jiadi's thick - skinnedness.

"The young is worthy to be taught." Zhao Jiadi didn't expose the lie that both of them knew well. He quietly accompanied Mu Hongli through two oral training classes. The lecturer was very kind and privately regarded Mu Hongli as a favorite pupil. So he also liked Zhao Jiadi for Mu Hongli's sake and let this guy hide in the corner, staying away from worldly affairs, listening to Russian and looking at math.

After class, following the usual routine and the tacit understanding developed by the two of them, they walked to the cafeteria. Mu Hongli used her meal card to treat him to a meal. Now, in Shanghai International Studies University, rumors about Zhao Jiadi, who had risen to become a mysterious figure, were spreading. In the college forums or some small circles, the gossip was raging. Mu Hongli didn't care much about this. Perhaps it was because she stood out too much, and with her rather cold personality, the three girls in her dormitory were more envious and jealous of her than affectionate. The public opinion gradually shifted to the idea that Mu Hongli was in a relationship with a rich second - generation playboy who was hiding his true abilities. There were also a very few people who muttered sourly that the guy never paid when having a meal with Mu Hongli each time, so how could he be a rich second - generation? If he was still a playboy, he would be really despicable. Amid all this hubbub, Mu Hongli remained calm and composed. She was a girl who was used to sticking to her bottom line. From the very beginning, she planned to be friends with Zhao Jiadi. More than that was unlikely, and less than that would never happen either.

For Mu Hongli at present, the greatest expectation is to listen to Zhao Baliang play the erhu. Because he once joked that he had been playing the erhu for more than ten years and that if he was down and out in the future, he would carry the erhu on the street and play "Qinqiang Pai Zi Qu" to make a living. Maybe he could even be kept by a rich lady with discerning eyes.

After the lights were out in the dormitory, Mu Hongli lay on the bed, took off her earplugs, turned off the headphones that were playing Russian recitation, and pursed her lips. Playing the erhu was much cooler than her playing the guitar.