Chapter 91: Researcher

Chapter 91: The Researcher

With a perception so keen even paparazzi couldn't evade it, Liu Hai instantly pinpointed the source of the gaze.

There stood a young woman.

Her hair was simply tied back, dressed casually, a coffee cup in her hand.

Liu Hai met her eyes. She blinked in apparent surprise, then hesitated before taking a few steps toward him.

Liu Hai tilted his head, waiting for her to speak first. But before she could reach him, Jiang Xun, who had just left, reappeared.

He stood behind the woman and suddenly spoke, "Do you need something from him?"

The woman jumped, whirling around, and spilled coffee down her front. "Ah—ah, Dr. Jiang Xun! So sorry! I—I need to go clean this up!"

She offered a hurried apology, dabbing at the stain on her clothes as she quickly walked away.

"Hmm?" Liu Hai asked Jiang Xun, puzzled. "Did you get our order already?"

"Just took a number first," Jiang Xun said, watching her depart. "I saw her about to approach you, so I came back."

"Oh—" Liu Hai realized, "You were looking out for me?"

Jiang Xun hesitated, then admitted honestly, "Yeah."

"You shouldn’t have had a chance to know her, so I was curious why she’d deliberately approach you when you were alone."

"No, I don't know her at all," Liu Hai said, curious. "Do you know her, Jiang Xun?"

"I do," Jiang Xun didn’t hide it. "She used to be a researcher in my lab."

"Now… she’s likely left Siren Biotech. I wrote her a recommendation letter for the lab she wanted to join. If she’s still there, she might be here for the recruitment fair."

"Got it!" Liu Hai exclaimed. "So she was just saying hello?"

"Mm." Jiang Xun frowned slightly.

"Something bothering you?" Liu Hai asked. "You think otherwise?"

"Ah, no. It’s just… if it were just a greeting, she would've waited until I was here…" Jiang Xun shook his head lightly. "Or maybe there’s some other reason I didn’t notice? Come to think of it, when she left back then, she never told me why."

"Oh—" Liu Hai’s eyes lit up. "Then she'd be perfect to question!"

"Too bad we let her slip away…"

Jiang Xun fell silent.

"Wait—didn't I give you a job to do?"

Jiang Xun sighed, glancing in the direction she’d left. "Next time we see her, we'll ask."

"Alright," Liu Hai agreed. "What’s her name?"

"Shirley Anderson." Jiang Xun collected their frozen yogurt and led Liu Hai forward. "The milk tea's going to be a wait. Let’s order something else first."

"Okay!" Liu Hai nodded eagerly. "That stall! Smells incredible!"

...

Once they'd eaten their fill, Liu Hai didn’t forget to bring back snacks for A Yu and Xiao Jin, who’d missed out on the food crawl.

The two were already in the auditorium, where some early-arriving students had taken their seats. Liu Hai rushed in carrying a considerable amount of snacks, drawing quite a few glances.

A Yu gaped. "...What’s all this?"

"Brought you some!" Liu Hai patted his satisfied stomach. "That street was amazing, Xiao Jin!"

"Right?" Xiao Jin beamed proudly. "I'll stand by that. Ah, did you get the *lang ya* potatoes? That stall’s are really good too!"

"Nope." After their trip, Liu Hai was now an expert on the food street. "I saw the cart chained up. They said the old lady only comes in the evening—she’s off playing mahjong—says it's too hot."

"Ah, she’s still as full of excuses as always," Xiao Jin sighed. "She was always like this—one day saying her daughter’s getting married so she won’t come, another day saying her son’s wedding. People would joke, ‘Granny, your kids are getting married every other week,’ and she’d say she has a lot of children..."

Liu Hai’s eyes widened in shock. "Huh? So she was lying?"

"Pure fiction," Xiao Jin giggled. "But if you buttered her up right, she'd come grumbling out eventually to make the potato sticks for us."

"What can you do? Nobody does them like her."

Liu Hai rested his chin in his palm, smiling at her. "Got more stories? Tell me more!"

Xiao Jin: "Hmm? You mean more good food nearby?"

Liu Hai shook his head. "No, I mean, do you have any more nostalgic or fun stories? I’d love to hear them."

Xiao Jin: "..."

"Oh, you." Xiao Jin gave Liu Hai a light shove. "Don’t embarrass me!"

As the group laughed and chatted, A Yu shook his head helplessly. "Wrap it up. The presentation will start soon."

"Relax," Xiao Jin waved him off. "If we don’t finish, we’ll just leave the snacks by my nameplate. It’ll make our lab seem warm and welcoming—shows we've got great snacks!"

A Yu: "...Take a look around. Do you see anyone else pigging out?"

"Wow! What’s that supposed to mean?" Xiao Jin pointed at him accusingly. "Got a problem with us eating? Then put down the snacks Liu Hai brought! Liu Hai, back me up here!"

"Hmm." Liu Hai thought for a moment, then patted A Yu’s shoulder solemnly. "A Yu, don’t worry about appearances."

A Yu: "..."

He turned to Jiang Xun wordlessly. "Boss, if you’re siding with their antics, then I give up."

"Ah." Jiang Xun looked up from his materials and smiled. "Relax. Just be ourselves."

"Even if we pretend to be serious now, once people actually join our lab, they’ll find out..."

"That between experiments, we're basically a snack club."

A Yu: "..."

He surrendered with a sigh, muttering, "If you say so..."

He gave in and opened a takeout bag. "Fruit tea's mine. Ah, there’s milk tea too—you want the milkier one?"

Xiao Jin leaned over. "Let me see? Then I’ll take this one. Oh, these fried strips are killer, but this one’s cartilage—I don’t like that."

Just as Liu Hai was looking on with amusement, he suddenly felt that same gaze land on him again.

Curious, he glanced back, actually locked eyes with Shirley from not far away.

"We're about to start." Jiang Xun signaled the others to follow him backstage to prepare. Liu Hai, seeing Shirley heading toward the audience seats, quickly turned back and said, "I’ll go watch from the stands!"

"Hmm?" Jiang Xun glanced over and also spotted Shirley. After a moment of hesitation, he didn’t stop him.

—This was inside the university, and there were campus security maintaining order at the entrance. With this crowd, nothing bad should happen.

Besides, he did know Shirley. Though he wasn’t sure why she had left the lab back then, Jiang Xun at least knew she wasn’t some violent criminal.

Thinking this, he nodded slightly and let Liu Hai go freely.

"Whoa, rare sight—Liu Hai ditching us?" Xiao Jin asked curiously. "What’s his deal, boss?"

"I teased him once, asking him to help investigate why our lab has such a low retention rate." Jiang Xun sighed helplessly. "Looks like he actually ran with it."

"With him being this eager, I couldn’t bring myself to stop him."

"He’s probably planning to interview Shirley."

"Wait, Shirley’s here too?" A Yu sounded surprised. "Is she still at that independent lab?"

"Not sure." Jiang Xun shook his head. "We’ll ask Liu Hai later. With his social skills, I’m sure he’ll find out everything—both what we should and shouldn’t know—in no time."

Xiao Jin asked curiously, "Who’s Shirley?"

"It’s normal you don’t know her," A Yu explained. "She left before you joined, going to a small but notable independent lab that publicly refuses funding from big corporations."

"No way—" Xiao Jin expressed surprise. "Someone actually left Siren Biotech Company for an independent institute? Hmm, was it… for her principles? Or maybe their pay was super high, willing to let her lead major projects right away?"

"Not sure." A Yu shook his head. "Anyway, everyone was shocked back then. As for the real reason… let’s leave it to our ‘people-savvy’ detective, Liu Hai."

"Somehow, calling Liu Hai 'empathetic' feels like it has another meaning," Xiao Jin muttered. "More like he’s weirdly good at reading people…"

Meanwhile, Liu Hai walked up to Shirley and greeted her: "Hello."

Shirley jolted, looking flustered. "Ah, hello…"

"Got this for you." Liu Hai pulled out a drink from his afternoon tea stash and handed it to her. "You spilled your coffee before, yeah? But I don’t have coffee—only milk tea."

"It’s fine." Shirley’s expression softened slightly as she smiled at him. "I just panicked earlier."

"You changed already?" Liu Hai sat down beside her very naturally. "Earlier, it seemed like you wanted to say something to me but didn’t get the chance."

"Might be imagining things, but I’m a little curious."

"Ah…" Shirley froze for a moment, her eyes flickering away as she nervously fidgeted with her hair. "I—I did wanna say something, but don’t misunderstand. I’m not—uh… I used to be a researcher at your lab, that’s all."

From backstage, Jiang Xun, who had been glancing toward Liu Hai, suddenly got a bad feeling. "...Maybe I should go over there."

"Huh? What’s wrong?" Xiao Jin curiously leaned forward, blinking with a strange expression. "Why’s the vibe between them so… Oh no, does she think Liu Hai is hitting on her?! He even gave her milk tea!"

"Oh no, is our boy about to get labeled some smooth-talking player and kicked out?"

"No." A Yu also peeked through the gap. "He doesn’t look like he’s getting kicked out, but Shirley looks ready to say ‘I do.’"

Author’s Note:

Liu Hai: ? What do you mean by "hitting on"?