When Cheng Che left Star City, he did not return to the Capital City.
He glanced at his schedule and discovered that the next few days were an unusually quiet period.
Filming for " Easter Egg " won't start until September, and the promotion for " The Realm and Old Friends " hasn't officially started yet. The Porsche and Apple commercials have already been filmed, and the other business collaborations are progressing, but the legal department and team are handling them, so he doesn't need to appear in person.
Qin Lie glanced at the schedule and said, "Go back and rest for a few days." Cheng Che thought for a moment and booked a flight to Spring City.
When he flew back to Spring City from Star City, he unusually did not use the VIP channel.
He opened [ Fade into the Bustle ] and walked through the arrival hall.
There were quite a few people waiting to pick up passengers, holding up light boards and cell phones, crowding outside the railings.
Cheng Che walked past them at a slow pace, even glancing sideways at the girl holding up a sign that read "Welcome Home Che Baby ".
She did not respond.
His gaze was still fixed on the exit, waiting for someone who wouldn't come out from there.
Cheng Che exited the airport, he saw the familiar Audi A6L parked by the roadside.
Cheng Jianguo sat in the driver's seat, the window rolled down halfway, looking towards the exit.
Jiang Xue was in the passenger seat, clutching her phone as if she were about to make a call at any moment.
Cheng Che walked over and opened the back door of the car.
"You're back."
Cheng Jianguo glanced at him in the rearview mirror with a look of surprise and started the car.
Before he could finish speaking, a figure squeezed in from the other side of the car and pounced on Cheng Che.
"Elder brother!"
Xu Qian threw herself into his arms, her head hitting his chest, her ponytail flicking across his face.
Cheng Che was knocked back by her bump, then steadied himself and looked down at his cousin in his arms.
The girl is about to enter her first year of high school. She's grown taller than last year, with her hair tied in a ponytail, a round face, and unusually bright eyes.
"Brother, how many wives do you have?"
Cheng Che was taken aback.
Cheng Jianguo, who was drinking water while waiting at a red light, suddenly spat the water out the window.
An elderly man riding by on an electric scooter turned his head, glanced at him, frowned, muttered something, and rode away.
Cheng Jianguo awkwardly wiped his mouth and started the car.
Jiang Xue turned around from the passenger seat, smiled, and patted Xu Qian on the shoulder. "You can only marry one wife these days, how can you have several?"
Xu Qian pouted and stepped out of Cheng Che's embrace, but her hand was still tugging at his sleeve:
"My brother is surrounded by so many beautiful girls. If I were to take them all and hand them over to other people, I couldn't stand it."
"Alright, alright." Cheng Jianguo coughed, his tone a little stiff, clearly trying to change the subject. "How many days are you coming back to rest?"
"Three or four days," Cheng Che said, "And then I have other things to do."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xue turned around from the passenger seat, her expression showing a hint of heartache.
"Three or four days, what can you do in that time? Have you been eating poorly again? Your face has gotten so thin."
"Mom, my face hasn't gotten thinner."
"You always say you haven't lost weight, but I can tell you have."
Cheng Che smiled and didn't argue further.
When I got home, my aunt Cheng Yulan and uncle Xu Chengjun were already there.
The two looked very well and were chatting with Cheng Qingshan and Zhou Lan in the living room.
My aunt was wearing a new coat and had her hair permed; she looked much more energetic.
Her uncle poured tea for Zhou Lan, his movements natural, as if he did it often.
Now that their cultural and creative store business has stabilized, they've partnered with Cheng Jianguo to open a restaurant nearby.
It's not big, but it's in a good location, surrounded by office buildings, and it's very busy at lunchtime.
My aunt is in charge of the front desk, and my uncle is in charge of the kitchen. They are both quite busy, but they smile much more often than when they were working in the factory.
" Cheche's back." Aunt stood up and looked him up and down. "You've lost weight. Didn't you eat properly again?"
Cheng Che smiled. Why does everyone say he's lost weight?
Jiang Xue and her aunt cooked dinner together, and a whole table was set out.
Cheng Qingshan sat in the main seat, placed a piece of braised pork on Cheng Che's plate, and asked a few questions about tennis.
Zhou Lan kept saying "Eat more, eat more" while her bowl was piled high.
After finishing his meal, Cheng Che returned to his study.
His high school textbooks and several math competition books were on the bookshelf.
He opened his laptop, spread out his Scratch Paper, and continued writing "Explicit Optimization of Effective Constants in the Baker's Method and Its Application in Specific Equations".
He had been writing this paper for a long time, and the drafts were over forty pages long.
I write a little bit every night when I have free time, polishing it bit by bit, like slowly chiseling a stone into shape.
The derivation path has been successfully established; all that remains are the details and layout.
He spent most of those three days in his study.
I go for a run every morning, have breakfast, and then go to my study to write until noon.
I continued writing in the afternoon, occasionally taking a break to get some fresh air.
Xu Qian came to him twice: once to ask if he could teach her math, and once simply to chat.
Cheng Che taught her two problems, then sent her away.
On the third night, he pressed the last Enter key.
The screen displays a complete paper, complete with introduction, prerequisites, main results, proofs, applications, and references.
He turned to the first page, read it from beginning to end, corrected a few typos, and added two more reference formatting corrections.
Then he opened the submission system for the Annals of Mathematics.
He had already registered an account; he submitted his last paper through this system.
He filled in the title, abstract, and author information, uploaded the paper attachments, and then clicked submit.
A message popped up on the screen. "Submission successful."
Cheng Che leaned back in his chair and glanced out the window.
The night in Spring City was quiet, with a few buildings still lit up in the distance.
He picked up his phone and sent a message to Professor Liu: " Professor Liu, the second paper has been submitted."
Professor Liu replied quickly, "Okay. I'll wait to see the reviewers' comments."
Cheng Che put his phone on the table and stretched.