Friendship

Jiang Ran understood:

"That shouldn't be too hard, it's just..."

He scratched his head.

It was just that the wish seemed a little too small.

It felt like going to all this trouble for such a tiny thing was letting Qin Feng down.

After all, his wish had been to bring his father back to life. Now he'd settled for a circuit control board...

And it was all because he felt guilty.

Jiang Ran kept wanting Qin Feng to make a bigger, more meaningful wish.

"Qin Feng, this is club business~"

Cheng Mengxue was quick-witted:

"Modifying the Positron Cannon should count as club business."

"Since it's club business, don't use up your personal wish on it... right?"

She looked over at Jiang Ran.

"Right, right."

Jiang Ran caught on and smiled faintly:

"Little Xue's right, Qin Feng. This wish counts as a club wish, not your own. We'll make a point of working on it later."

"Think about it some more. Do you have any wishes that are just for you? It's a rare opportunity... You should get something out of it for yourself."

However...

Qin Feng shrugged:

"Then I can't think of anything off the top of my head. I've never had much desire for material things."

But he didn't want to spoil the mood either:

"How about this?"

He glanced between Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue:

"Could you... give me two days to think about it?"

"You sprang this on me out of nowhere, so I really can't think of anything. It'd be better if you gave me a little time to consider it."

"In two days, if I can think of a better wish, I'll go with that. If I really can't, then I'll stick with the control board. How's that?"

Jiang Ran nodded:

"Sure."

Qin Feng had a point.

They could send the Spacetime Bulletin later and let him think it over.

That evening.

The art school had a performance, so Cheng Mengxue went to the venue for a rehearsal.

Only Jiang Ran and Qin Feng were left in the clubroom.

Qin Feng was still fiddling with the Positron Cannon, while Jiang Ran sat on the sofa reading.

After a while, he finished the book.

Jiang Ran set it on the coffee table and looked at Qin Feng:

"What have you been tinkering with this whole time?"

He was a little puzzled:

"The Positron Cannon is already pretty much perfect. What are you still working on?"

"Perfect?"

Qin Feng chuckled.

"Not even close."

He straightened up and stretched:

"Have you forgotten? The Positron Cannon can only run for 0.7 seconds right now. That's barely enough time to send a single bulletin—seventy characters."

"And after every use, the capacitor bursts and burns out. Replacing it is a real hassle."

"I'm trying to find a way around that. Either make it run for a few more seconds, giving us more leeway, or add a self-protection feature that cuts the power before the capacitor bursts. That'd save us some trouble."

"All right."

Jiang Ran leaned back against the sofa.

It was wise to plan ahead.

For now, a seventy-character limit was more than enough. They could handle pretty much any problem with that.

But if...

They ever really needed to send a longer message...

Then the Positron Cannon would have to hold out longer, so they could send two bulletins in a row, or even more.

In short, you might not need overwhelming firepower, but you had to have it.

"But this is too hard."

Qin Feng put down his tools.

"I don't dare take apart the imaging tube at the core. And fiddling with the external circuitry... isn't getting me anywhere."

"Honestly, I'm about ready to give up. The problem lies in the internal design. There's no way to fix it just by tinkering with the outside."

Jiang Ran nodded.

"If there's really nothing we can do, then forget it. Chinese is so expressive that seventy characters are plenty."

"Just don't get any bright ideas about taking apart the [core component], okay? It looks like an imaging tube, but who knows how it's actually built... If you take it apart, there's no way you'll get it working again. That'd be throwing the baby out with the bathwater."

"I'm not stupid."

Qin Feng snorted.

"This is the only one in the whole world. It's a fluke, cobbled together from whatever we could find. Of course we have to protect it."

"Otherwise... I'd have taken it apart long ago."

The clock ticked toward ten.

The lights in the club building gradually went out, and the two of them prepared to leave.

After packing up,

Qin Feng suddenly turned around and looked at Jiang Ran.

"Want to go grab a beer?"

"Now?" Jiang Ran asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Little Xue isn't here, and the weather's getting hot. How about we hit the night market for some barbecue? It's been ages."

He had to admit,

the idea was tempting.

What guy could say no to barbecue and a couple of beers on a cool evening?

"Let's go."

Jiang Ran waved a hand, and the two of them left the club building, heading for the campus gate.

"How about inviting Wang Hao?"

Jiang Ran suggested:

"The barbecue place is close to his school, and it's been a while since we all ate together."

"Sure."

Qin Feng agreed without hesitation.

"Let's call him. We can catch up."

Wang Hao had been the class monitor in their high school class, and he'd recently posted an announcement about a class reunion in their WeChat group.

During their two years studying in Donghai, Jiang Ran, Qin Feng, and Wang Hao had often met up for barbecue. They'd always gotten along well.

Come to think of it,

Jiang Ran had known Wang Hao even longer than he'd known Qin Feng.

They'd gone to the same middle school. Jiang Ran had been in Class 1, Wang Hao in Class 3, and as luck would have it, Cheng Mengxue had been in Class 3 as well.

Wang Hao had been a social butterfly since childhood, on friendly terms with everyone and popular with his classmates. He knew half the boys in Jiang Ran's class and always liked to run over and hang out between lessons.

Before long, the connection had brought Jiang Ran and Wang Hao together as friends.

"Don't worry. Wang Hao puts food and drink first. Invite him to eat and he'll be more enthusiastic than anyone."

Jiang Ran smiled and picked up his phone to call Wang Hao.

"No problem! I'm in! I'll be there soon!"

Wang Hao agreed at once:

"I'm broke right now, so I'll take the bus. I'll get there a little later than you two."

"Go ahead and start drinking when you get there. Save me some beer! I'll catch up when I arrive!"

Just as expected,

Wang Hao was a glutton who lived for food and drink.

Invite him, and he'd come running. Give him a drink, and he'd keep going.

After hanging up, Qin Feng hailed a taxi, and they set off.

Twenty minutes later,

the taxi arrived at a street lined with night-market stalls. Jiang Ran and Qin Feng went to their usual place and ordered drinks and food.

After a few drinks, as they clinked glasses, many heartfelt words came pouring out.

"I hope you won't hate me."

Jiang Ran set down his glass:

"I know you've always been generous, and I know I've brought this up over and over until I've started to sound like a nag."

"But Qin Feng... I still want to say this. I hope you won't hate me because of what happened. I know what I did was wrong, but—"

"What are you talking about?"

Qin Feng interrupted him with a soft laugh:

"How could I possibly hate you? You're my friend for life. I'll never hate you."

He picked up his beer and downed it, then set the glass on the table with a thunk.

"Jiang Ran."

His voice was low:

"Do you remember... how we first became friends?"