Lu Ze glanced at Lucy. "What are you asking that for? Are you going to Great Xia?"
He helplessly set down his coffee. He really could not stand the bitterness; it felt as though even the top of his head was filled with it.
"Yes, I'm planning to visit Great Xia during summer break." Lucy lifted her pretty face slightly, her eyes full of anticipation.
She had always been intensely curious about Great Xia.
After all, people had always said she looked very much like someone from Great Xia, yet she had never visited it in her life. That was hard to justify, wasn't it?
"There are countless attractions in Great Xia. We only have two or three weeks off during summer break."
Lu Ze continued, "You'd better plan things out in advance and choose the important places. Otherwise, you probably won't even finish touring a single province..."
"I will."
"Oh, right." Lucy wore a faint smile. "I learned a little Chinese before. Listen and tell me whether my pronunciation is standard."
"You actually know Chinese?" Lucy's words genuinely surprised Lu Ze.
He had never heard her speak even a single sentence in Chinese before, and his interest was immediately piqued.
"Go ahead. Let me hear your pronunciation."
Just as Lu Ze assumed Lucy would sound like most foreigners, speaking Chinese with a stiff, awkward accent that only knew how to use the fourth tone...
However.
"I'll count to three—get down here and kneel for me!"
Lucy suddenly blurted out a line of Chinese with a heavy accent. Not only was it standard, there was even a trace of authority in her tone.
After saying that, she looked up at him. "Lu Ze, is my Chinese pronunciation standard?"
Standard? How did she have the nerve to ask that? It had absolutely nothing to do with being standard.
"Who taught you that? That's the Chinese accent from our Sichuan region. How did you learn that too?" Lu Ze frowned.
How had Lucy learned this?
This was clearly the nightmare of every Sichuan man. Even Lu Ze felt a chill down his spine upon hearing those words.
"A female tourist from Great Xia I met before said it. Every time the wife said, 'I'll count to three,' her husband would stand there like he'd been hit by magic!" Lucy muttered a few more words.
"I think it must be some kind of magic. Lu Ze, do you know any magic spells that can summon pandas? I want to learn!"
Apparently, that couple was from Sichuan, the hometown of pandas, which was why Lucy had studied those phrases so diligently.
For example, saying, "Panda, I'll count to three," could immediately freeze a panda in place.
Good grief, Sichuan men's reputation has spread overseas now? Lu Ze grumbled inwardly.
"I'm not from the Sichuan region." Lu Ze shook his head. "Next time, I'll ask around for you and see whether there are any even more magical spells."
"Okay!"
Lucy's eyes lit up.
Who would not want to learn a magic spell that could summon pandas?
Who could resist pandas? They were white and black, Asian, animals, and vegetarians, yet they possessed great strength. As national treasures, they also perfectly fit the definition of an "ethnic minority."
With that combination, what foreigner would dare say they did not like them? Careful, or they might revoke your humanity!
They chatted for quite a while and ate several pastries.
Lucy raised her wrist and checked her watch. It was already past eleven in the morning. "Come on, Lu Ze. Let's go eat."
"Th-That wouldn't be appropriate, would it?"
Lu Ze hesitated.
It was not that he did not want to go. It was just that he really could not afford Lucy's appetite. She would probably eat away every cent of his plane ticket home for summer break.
"Don't worry. This time, it's my treat." Lucy burst into laughter.
A little later.
They were once again at the Italian restaurant where they had eaten the night before. Mainly because there were only a few restaurants in this small town anyway.
"Two servings of pasta, two servings of wet-aged beef, and one Margherita pizza. That'll be all for now."
Lucy skillfully ordered several dishes. "Lu Ze, I'm done ordering. What do you want?"
Everything she had just ordered was only enough for herself.
"One serving of aged beef is enough for me, along with a glass of ice water." Lu Ze was already accustomed to it. That amount was only enough to make Lucy half full.
All of a sudden.
He spotted a shiny bald head inside the restaurant, glowing like a light bulb and illuminating the surroundings.
"Professor Hasen, are you eating here too?" Lu Ze walked over and asked.
This man was their advisor, Michael Hasen, who clocked out exactly at nine every morning.
Lu Ze had quite a favorable impression of Professor Hasen.
Although he was mediocre and held no status whatsoever in the laboratory, he treated his two students well.
"Lucy, Lu, it's you two?" Professor Hasen pointed at the chairs beside him. "Then sit down and eat together."
He was not particularly surprised. The entire town was tiny, and there were only a few dozen restaurants in total. It was perfectly normal to run into each other.
This Italian restaurant was not some upscale establishment either, so there was no need to fuss over etiquette when they ate together.
It was just an ordinary place to eat. Why would there be so many rules?
The food was soon served.
The three of them began eating at the same time, though the food on Lucy's plate disappeared several times faster than that on Lu Ze's and Professor Hasen's.
Just then.
Michael Hasen took a sip of ice water and looked at Lu Ze. "Lu, I heard that you've been slacking off at LLNL Laboratory lately?"
"Professor Hasen, I..." Lu Ze was about to defend himself.
"I don't think slacking off is necessarily a bad thing. Your method is simply wrong."
Hasen chewed his pasta and continued indistinctly, "Do you know why people from India are more welcome in Eagle Sauce?"
"Because I'm from Great Xia?"
"That's only one reason. The more fundamental reason is that you people are too practical and too capable!" Hasen swallowed, a helpless smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "But people from India never do that."
Rather than fearing practicality, it would be more accurate to say they feared Great Xia's refusal to fall behind.
Great Xia always believed that the day of its ultimate rise would come, and that was something Eagle Sauce and others were unwilling to accept.
In contrast, people like those from India, who only bragged and did half-baked work, could easily be entrusted with important tasks because everyone knew they could never truly accomplish anything.
"In a place like this, how others perceive your identity is far more important than your actual abilities." Professor Hasen did not care whether Lu Ze understood.
"If you want to slack off, merely clocking in and muddling through won't do."
Michael Hasen stood up. As he turned to leave, he said faintly, "You have to make them understand that your abilities are insufficient before you can truly earn their trust."
"Only then can you slack off openly, and no one will find anything strange about it."
In his view, Lu Ze had been using the wrong method entirely.
This was the art of slacking off. Learn it, young man.
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