I See You

"Shen Qi, I feel the gap between us is widening."

Zhou Yu'an said with some melancholy, "Yan University's pond is too small to contain your true dragon. One day you will soar through the clouds and fly away."

"You can do it too." Shen Qi patted Zhou Yu'an on the shoulder, encouraging him, "Besides me, you're the one I have the most faith in in our class, Zhou Yu'an."

"Against your will." Zhou Yu'an shook her head, disbelieving.

"Have some confidence, Zhou Yu'an. Only two of us from our class have been selected for the Olympic Math national team. In our year, only six people from all of China represented the country in the World Mathematical Olympiad. You are among the top six in the country, or at least you were once," Shen Qi said.

"How are the other four doing lately? Shen Qi, are you still in contact with them?" Zhou Yu'an asked.

Shen Qi: "Yes, of the other four teammates from our national Olympic Math national team, one switched to biology, one writes online fantasy novels, one runs a math Olympiad training class with a partner, and the last one went abroad and spends his days researching how to make contact with aliens."

Zhou Yu'an: "I feel like they're all pretty smart, and the two of us are the dumbest."

"I don't think so. Everyone has their own ambitions." Shen Qi slung his shoulder bag over his shoulder and left the dormitory.

Shen Qi randomly found a stone bench on campus and sat down to review his thesis, "Analysis of Generalized Nonlinear Complementary Problems with Linear Inequality Constraints," as well as related references, in preparation for his upcoming defense.

This paper is not actually the work of Shen Qi alone. Sun Erxiong helped him revise it, the reviewers gave three versions of review comments, Nian Ruiming also gave Shen Qi guidance.

After several months of integrating and sorting through a large amount of information, both affirmative and negative, Shen Qi finally synthesized it into this paper.

Of course, Ou Ye also contributed; she was the lead writer for the second draft of the authors' feedback for this paper.

With Nian Ruiming's guidance, Shen Qi's final draft of the paper abandoned Ou Ye's algorithm. It wasn't that Ou Ye's calculation was wrong, but that Shen Qi had refined a better algorithm and core argument logic.

"By the way, why isn't Ou Ye back yet? It's been over a month since school started." Shen Qi took out his phone and called Ou Ye.

The phone rang for a long time before being answered, "Hello."

"Hey, Ou Ye, how are you feeling? When are you going back to school?"

"I have arrived."

"Where are you? In the capital? Which station, or the airport? Do you need me to pick you up?"

"I see you," Ou Ye said on the phone.

"Huh?" Shen Qi stood up and looked around. "Where are you? Are you nearby? There's no one around."

Ou Ye: "I'm in the car."

"A car?" Shen Qi stared intently and saw a powerful-looking pickup truck slowly driving towards them.

The Ford F-150, the Raptor of automobiles.

This F-150 has undergone significant modifications; the already high ground clearance has been increased by at least ten inches by the owner.

From Shen Qi's perspective, the front bumper, grille, headlights, tires, and wheels of this F-150 had all been replaced.

The original F-150 was already quite rugged, but the owner wanted it to be even tougher, modifying it with every possible part to take off-road capability to the extreme.

Shen Qi has been around cars since he was a child, his family owns a car, and he knows a lot about cars.

Imported pickup trucks are classified as agricultural machinery in China, similar to tractors, and are generally not allowed to enter the city center.

In broad daylight, this F-150 brazenly drove into the campus of Yenching University. How arrogant! This is the capital city, after all.

The F-150 pulled up beside Shen Qi and stopped, its window rolling down.

Shen Qi leaned slightly over and peeked into the car. There were two people inside, a man and a woman.

The woman was Ou Ye. She sat in the passenger seat and waved awkwardly to Shen Qi as a greeting.

The driver in the driver's seat was a man with a buzz cut, a sharply defined face, very sharp eyes, and stubble on his chin. He looked incredibly manly and had a strong masculine presence.

"Ou Ye, you're here." Shen Qi said to Ou Ye from outside the car, but didn't know how to address the male driver.

"You, Ou Ye's classmate?" The male driver stared intently at Shen Qi and asked.

Shen Qi nodded. "Yes, my name is Shen Qi, and I'm in the same class as Ou Ye."

"Shen Qi?" The male driver couldn't help but glance at Shen Qi a few more times, then waved his hand and said, "Get in the car."

You think I'll just get in the car just because you tell me to? Who do you think you are, driving a farm vehicle into the city like that? Shen Qi didn't get in the car and looked at Ou Ye again, seeking an answer.

Ou Ye became increasingly embarrassed, her face turning pale.

Of course, she was already very fair-skinned, and now she looked even fairer.

Ou Ye pointed to the male driver beside her and said, "My dad."

"You... your dad?" Shen Qi was so frightened that he backed away. The male driver looked to be in his late thirties, not yet forty, and didn't look old at all.

Shen Qi knew that Ou Ye was 19 years old this year, so Ou Ye, your father married and had children early? Isn't the legal marriage age for men 22?

"Is there a problem?" Ou Ye's father asked.

"No, no, no." Shen Qi quickly regained his composure and politely said, "Hello Uncle Ou!"

"Get in the car," Ou's Dad urged.

This time, Shen Qi obediently got into the car and sat in the back seat.

Ou's Dad started the car and drove towards the girls' dormitory.

"Uncle Ou, you look so young! Calling you 'Uncle' makes you sound so old," Shen Qi said, trying to start a conversation.

"I'm forty-three years old this year," said Ou's Dad.

"Uncle Ou is well-preserved." Shen Qi thought to himself, "That makes sense. 43-19=24. Ou Ye's father became a father at the age of 24, which is normal."

"Uncle Ou's Ford Raptor is so cool, a real man's choice." Shen Qi patted the back seat, he liked the car. "By the way, can this car be driven into the city during the day?"

"I have a pass."

"So Uncle Ou and Ou Ye drove all the way from their hometown?"

"Not far, just a few stops away."

"A few stops, you mean the high-speed rail station, right?"

Shen Qi and Ou's Dad chatted about this and that, while Ou Ye became an outsider, listening quietly without saying a word.

"By the way Ou Ye, how have you been lately?" Shen Qi glanced at Ou Ye through the rearview mirror and asked with concern.

Ou Ye: "Hmm."

At this moment, Ou's Dad drove the car to the girls' dormitory building, put it in park, got out of the car, walked to the back of the truck, and took out two suitcases from the truck bed.

"Hey, your dad's so manly and cool," Shen Qi whispered to Ou Ye, who was still in the car.

"Hmm." Ou Ye got out of the car, and Shen Qi followed suit.

Ou's Dad was wearing a brown leather jacket over a tight T-shirt, which revealed his well-developed chest muscles and muscular physique, suggesting he exercises regularly.

Carrying a large suitcase in each hand, Ou's Dad walked towards the girls' dormitory without batting an eye, preparing to go up the stairs. Ou Ye lived on the sixth floor.

Old Ou is as strong as an ox, while Ou Ye is frail and sickly. Are they really father and daughter?

I think so. Ou Ye looks quite like her Old Ou, but her aura and personality are completely different from his.

Shen Qi quickly caught up with Old Ou and took a box from him. "Let me do it, I'm the class monitor."