CH 107

“Jiang Chen, do you prefer a younger brother or a younger sister?”

He Qianjian turned his head to look at Jiang Chen, and when his eyes swept over He Qianmin and He Qianyu, there was some deeper meaning in his eyes, but there was nothing wrong with his tone.

Jiang Chen raised his eyes. He saw He Qianyu’s expectant expression from the corner of his eye, and said calmly, “Our family doesn’t practice gender preferences. As long as it’s my younger brother or my younger sister, I will naturally like them.”

He Qianjian didn’t know if Jiang Chen really didn’t understand the meaning of his words or if he was just deflecting the question. The trap he threw was not stepped on and he was a bit displeased. In the tone of a friend, he asked with a smile: “That being said, biases always exist, and as long as you are human, you will have an emotional bias, so it doesn’t matter if you say it.”

He Qianmin’s face turned cold, and he wanted to explode, but recalling that this was the Jiang family, and He Qianjian’s identity was really special, he could just pull a sullen face in the end.

“Brother Qian Jian.” He Qianyu propped her hands on both sides of the sofa and leaned forward. She looked at He Qianjian, with a puzzled expression: “Do all people have emotional biases?”

He Qianjian said: “Of course.”

He Qianyu’s tone was very innocent: “Then do you like father or mother more?”

He Qianjian choked and opened his mouth, but he didn’t know how to answer.

He Yanya glanced at He Qianjian, frowned, and looked down at her watch: “It’s getting late, we should go back.”

Yang Si nodded, and didn’t keep them. She got up and said, “Then I’ll see you off.”

After He Yanya and the others left, only then did Yang Si shake her head slightly, but didn’t say anything. It was almost midnight at this time, and there were fireworks blooming outside the window in the dark night. With the sound of the Spring Festival Gala program playing on the TV, the atmosphere of the New Year celebrations was very strong.

The whole family went to the balcony on the second floor. Yang Si looked at the fireworks in the night sky and the children playing downstairs. She supported her belly and said, “The new year is about to begin.”

Jiang Zhuo put on a coat for her, and said with a smile, “Yes, this year has passed, and our family will become better and better.”

Jiang Chen raised his eyes, staring fixedly at the simple but still gorgeous fireworks in the sky, his phone buzzing and vibrating in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was messages from the small chat group and other friends on the list. Without exception, they were all “Happy New Years”.

Glancing at the time, he realized that they had missed the most exciting countdown to the New Year during the time spent watching the fireworks. Jiang Chen turned his head to look at his parents: “Dad, Mom, Happy New Year.”

Yang Si and Jiang Zhuo were also taken aback for a moment, and then they both laughed in response: “Happy New Year, son.”

Although Wugu Village was not as cold as the urban area of Yan City, the cold wind was still chilly at night, and Yang Si was still an elder pregnant woman. Both Jiang Chen and Jiang Zhuo were worried about her health. After standing on the balcony for a while, they all went back to the living room where they chatted for a while. Soon feeling sleepy, they naturally retired to their respective rooms.

Lying on the bed, Jiang Chen was chatting with Shen Xu and Huo Bo. The sound of fireworks exploding outside the window had gradually lessened, and the sound of children laughing and playing had also quieted down. He walked to the computer, but after turning on the computer, he suddenly didn’t know what to do.

He had promised his parents that he would take a good rest on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and not work, but turning on the computer before going to bed had become an instinct, and work was one of the things he must do before going to sleep.

“Changjiang.” Jiang Chen said softly, “Happy New Year.”

Changjiang quickly responded, still with a cold electronic voice, but don’t know if it was due to psychological reasons, it seemed to be a little warmer this time: “Happy New Year, Dylan.”

In a daze, Jiang Chen seemed to have returned to the heavily guarded but cold apartment in his previous life. At that time, countries no longer existed. Human beings of all nationalities and skin colors and even other races from other planets lived together, celebrating holidays from various countries.

Whenever the New Year came, only Changjiang accompanied him. He was used to working during the New Year, but he would also say Happy New Year to it on this day every year. It was like a routine, but also like a kind of nostalgia. It was not until today that he finally realized that he had returned to his family and close ones who could wish each other a happy new year. This feeling was indeed really different.

Jiang Chen smiled, opened a webpage randomly, and saw the local news reporting that someone was poisoned during the New Year’s Eve dinner, and when the whole family was admitted to the hospital, he picked up his phone for some reason and opened the chat app.

The chat app was just opened, when a caller ID showed up that happened to be exactly the person he was looking for.

Jiang Chen paused, and suddenly there was a smile in his eyes that he didn’t even notice, and he answered the phone: “Happy New Year.”

Shi Fengyue chuckled, his voice seeming to be able to cause the vibration on the other end of the line through the electric current. Jiang Chen switched hands and stood up: “What are you laughing at?”

“Laughing that you answered the phone so quickly, were you just waiting for me to say Happy New Year to you?” His voice was low and deep, as if it had been deliberately lowered, and there was a hint of huskiness in his laughter, as if he was currently completely relaxing in lazy idleness on the sofa hugging a pillow.

“I was indeed about to send you a message.” Hearing his voice, Jiang Chen paused, and asked, “You just woke up? Didn’t count down until the new year?”

“No.” Shi Fengyue said: “There were two surgeries in the afternoon, and I got home in the evening. I went to bed after eating with my grandfather and uncle.”

During the Chinese New Year holidays, most professions could take a break, but there were also many professions that could not take a holiday, and doctors were one of them.

“Why are you awake now?”

“I was woken up by the sound of fireworks in the community.” Shi Fengyue said with a smile hidden in his voice, “I closed the window and planned to continue sleeping, but recalling that I didn’t say Happy New Year to you, I picked up the phone.”

Jiang Chen smiled: “I heard it now, you can continue to sleep.”

“I haven’t said it yet, how could you hear it?” Shi Fengyue asked him with a smile.

Jiang Chen thought about it, just now Shi Fengyue said the words “Happy New Year” several times, but it seemed that he never said it to him formally.

“Happy New Year, Jiang Chen.”

Shi Fengyue’s voice was a little softer than before, and the less hoarse voice seemed to be a little more earnest, inexplicably giving people a serious feeling.

Jiang Chen paused, and curved his lips upwards: “Thank you.”

“Aren’t you going to wish me a happy new year?”

“Didn’t I say it before?” Jiang Chen could imagine Shi Fengyue’s raised eyebrows in dissatisfaction, and his smile became a little deeper, but he still said, “Happy New Year.”

After hanging up the phone, he suddenly felt that he could fall asleep without working. Jiang Chen didn’t turn off the computer, just lay back on the bed, and fell asleep not long after.

After the third day of the new year, Jiang Chen would go back to work in the research institute. After meeting several times in the past half month, Yang Si’s impression of He Qianjian dropped again and again, to the point where she would deliberately avoid bumping into He Qianjian while walking outside. But apart from He Qianjian, Yang Si unexpectedly had a good impression of He Yanya, and even said to him: “I heard that Qian Min’s aunt is also in research, and I felt it when I saw her last time. She is an intellectual, calm, polite and doesn’t talk much. If you have any questions in the future, you can ask Qian Min’s aunt.”

Jiang Chen laughed. He didn’t tell Yang Si that he and He Yanya were in completely different fields of research, and their fields had absolutely no interaction, let alone have anything to discuss with each other. He just smiled and got into the car that came to pick him up from the research institute, and continued his unfinished words: “Call me if you feel uncomfortable, I will always have my phone on. Also, I told you the function of every switch in the house before, if you think you are about to…..”

“Aiya, how is this necessary?” Yang Si complained and interrupted him, but her eyes were full of smiles: “It’s still early before the due date, don’t learn from your father, he now practically watches me without taking a step away 24 hours a day, even checking in on me a few times while I go to the toilet.”

When these words fell, Jiang Zhuo’s voice sounded: “Honey! Has our son gotten in the car yet? Have you come in yet?”

Yang Si shook her head helplessly at Jiang Chen. Jiang Chen also felt a little amused when he saw his father trotting out to check the situation. Even Qian Yi who came to pick him up couldn’t help laughing.

When they arrived at the research institute, the atmosphere of the New Year was swept away. Everyone put aside the leisure of the holidays and devoted themselves to intense research experiments.

Jiang Chen’s project team was just set up last year, and the project deadline and progress were very good, so they took a few days off for the New Year. However, there were also many research institutes that don’t rest at all during the New Year holidays, such as the navigation team.

They seemed to have encountered some difficulties. While eating in the cafeteria at noon, Jiang Chen heard Yu Yi from the same project team discussing this matter with someone: “Is there really no way to fix it?”

The man shook his head: “We haven’t found out which part is the problem. The new assistant researcher left the laboratory that day and didn’t record the data. Our efforts for more than a year are all in vain. We can only start over again.”

“Are you just going to give up like this?” Yu Yi frowned, she seemed to have a good relationship with the woman next to her, or maybe she was aware of the seriousness of this matter, and her tone, which was always unruffled, was full of worry: “The higher-ups will definitely chase after your responsibility.”

“I’m not afraid of being held accountable anymore now.” The woman lowered her head: “It’s just that this was our painstaking effort for more than a year, and it was ruined just like that. When our leader found out about it, he locked himself in the laboratory and still hasn’t come out…..”

Jiang Chen listened silently for a while, only to realize that during the New Year holidays, the navigation team had encountered a problem with some of the equipment, which led to the suspension of their project that was already in the final stage. The assistant researcher who was on duty when the problem happened was not present, so they don’t even know what caused the problem, but the chip on the equipment was the core of this research. If the chip was destroyed, their project was basically ruined.

Not only Jiang Chen was listening to their conversation, but Zhang Lei at the same table was also listening. Seeing Yu Yi gently pat the woman’s back in comfort, he glanced at Jiang Chen who was eating with his eyes downcast, and suddenly chuckled: “How can there be no solution? If I remember correctly, your project is based on the N1571 patent. The owner of the patent is Shi Fengyue and he was originally researching in this field. I heard he was Professor Xiang’s student, even if he can’t save your chip, at least you should be able to find the cause of the equipment failure.”

The woman raised her head. She hadn’t cried, but her face was very haggard: “But Shi Fengyue is so difficult to invite over, the whole research institute knows, it’s not like we haven’t thought of this method, but will he come?”

“If you guys can’t manage to invite him, it doesn’t mean others can’t manage to invite him.” Zhang Lei gestured in Jiang Chen’s direction, “Here, the leader of our project team, like Shi Fengyue, is a genius scientist that appears once in a century. The social circles of geniuses naturally overlap, and the two of them are friends, if he comes forward, he will definitely be able to invite Shi Fengyue.”

Jiang Chen raised his eyes. Zhang Lei smiled challengingly, and enunciated word by word: “Am I right, team leader?”