Brainoid

Qi Min went to her parents' house without bringing anything.

In fact, before Qi Min went to undergraduate school, her family still lived in the city. At that time, it was mainly to make it easier for her to go to school - after all, the start times of primary and secondary schools were too early. Since she went to college, Qi Min's parents have moved to a larger house in the suburbs, which can be regarded as a slightly more comfortable life.

This also caused Qi Min to go back to his home for lunch, and he had to take the subway right after breakfast, which took nearly two hours to get there.

When she finally arrived at the station, Qi Min walked another two or three kilometers before arriving at the community where her family lived. The community is very clean, and the imitation European-style buildings look upscale. Back then, when housing prices in the outer suburbs hadn't fully risen, Qi Min's parents bought this house, intending to use it for investment. But who knew that the real estate market in the outer suburbs would gradually cool down, and the house fell into my hands. Fortunately, the community was well repaired, so it was not a loss to keep it for myself.

Similar to Qi Min's parents, many residents in this community came from the city to buy houses. Qi Min saw many middle-aged and elderly people along the way, as well as many young couples with children. However, it is obvious that this place is not like the old houses in the city before. She does not know anyone here.

Qi Min found the building where her home was based on the route in his memory, took out the access card she had not used for a long time, swiped the door open and went in and pressed the elevator button.

After Qi Min got on the elevator, he heard the sound of the door opening, so he pressed the door button and waited for a while. An old lady who looked to be in her seventies came in. The old lady looked strange to Qi Min, then saw her pressing the button on the seventh floor, and asked: "Girl, are you the daughter of the family above us on the seventh floor?"

Qi Min didn't recognize the old lady, but she sounded like a neighbor, so he replied: "Yes..."

"Are you back from studying abroad? Or are you coming back to celebrate the New Year?" the old lady asked.

"I... have returned from studying abroad and have graduated." Qi Min replied.

"That's really good. He's promising." The old lady said with a smile, "My grandson also wants to study abroad. How about it? Is it safe abroad?"

Qi Min knew that the "abroad" she meant basically meant Europe and the United States, so he replied: "Europe is relatively safe, but the United States is divided into regions."

"Ah, what?" the old lady asked, raising her voice, probably because she was hard of hearing and couldn't hear clearly.

Qi Min was about to explain carefully when the elevator had already reached the sixth floor. The door opened and the old lady walked out. She had to say goodbye to her neighbor.

The elevator went up to the seventh floor, and when the door opened, the smell of cooking wafted out. Qi Min suddenly felt truly at ease—perhaps for the first time in the past two years—at ease and peace of mind.

——

It’s not that Qi Min has never gone home since studying for his Ph.D. Before the Sino-US trade war, she would go home during every laboratory holiday. However, after the trade war began, she did not come back in her graduation year because she was afraid of being delayed by a visa refusal. So she couldn't say she was homesick.

However, before he came back as a student studying abroad, and now as a university PI with a decent job, Qi Min's mentality has undergone some subtle changes.

Although it can't be called a "return to hometown", it was still not easy for her to find a teaching position and become a PI. Therefore, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong and Mr. Qi Zhiguang are still quite proud of her, as if a large project that lasted for nearly thirty years has finally succeeded.

In order to cater to her parents' mentality of showing off their daughter, Qi Min also deliberately told the details of her current position as a PI in the Bioinformatics Laboratory of the University of Science and Technology of China, and by the way, she boasted about how important her current project is to the development of neuroscience. meaning.

In the end, she deliberately said in a particularly pretentious manner: "It's a pity that you can't make much money doing basic scientific research. There's nothing you can do about it, right?"

"Alas, making money is not the most important thing." Mr. Qi Zhiguang "comforted" her, "A person's contribution to society cannot be measured by money."

Qi Min likes to hear this kind of words. Although her family is not rich, there is not much shortage, so her parents don't care much about how much money their daughter can earn - otherwise they would not be so supportive of her studying biology.

"Anyway, we were really surprised that you got the teaching position." Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong told the truth.

Qi Min was not a child who studied hard when he was a child. She hadn't been doing much studying since junior high school, which meant she suddenly got lucky and did well in the college entrance examination, but she still struggled in college. Even if she is studying for a Ph.D., she can still graduate without publishing an article and still copy other people's articles. To a certain extent, such people are lucky enough to find a teaching position.

However, even though she knew that her own experience was not good, Qi Min still wanted to brag to her parents: "Then you underestimate me. It's easy to get this teaching position, and I will be able to publish articles soon - next year."

"Okay, you can post the article right away." Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong stopped her frustration and said, "Hurry up and eat, the stir-fry is almost cold."

Qi Min picked up a chopstick of the fried mutton with green onions made by Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong, and barely chewed it for a while before swallowing it - it was obvious that this plate of fried mutton with green onions was too old, and the mutton tasted like starched rags.

Qi Min knew that her mother didn't cook often, but she couldn't help but said, "Mom, this mutton is too old."

"It's okay if you can eat it." Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong said.

"Tch, you can still eat the boiled leather belt." Qi Min muttered in a low voice.

Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong never cooked when she was young. When she got older, she began to "pretend" to study some cooking skills. However, what she cooked was not delicious. Mr. Qi Zhiguang and Qi Min became worried when they saw her cooking, and Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong also complained that they could not be her "guinea pigs".

Sure enough, in response to Qi Min's diss, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong immediately counterattacked jokingly: "Hey, you girl, you are not diligent about your food, so it would be nice to have someone to cook for you. When you get married in the future, I think I don’t have this kind of treatment yet.”

Qi Minxin said that this was basically the same as getting married, and if she wanted to eat fried lamb with green onions, it was just a matter of words. If Anton overcooks the mutton, she won't have to taste it, and he will have to make a new portion himself - this is his professional and dedicated attitude. Of course, sometimes Qi Min also wanted to condemn this waste of food. When she lived with Anton, the Engel coefficient never dropped below 0.5.

But we can take this opportunity to test Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong. Qi Min pretended to be casual and said: "This kind of treatment is not necessarily unavailable. It is not difficult to find a partner who can cook, right?"

"Why, are you looking for someone again now?" Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong asked.

"Hey, no..." Qi Min said quickly, "I'm just stating this objective fact."

"The objective fact is that most people can find a partner, so you should hurry up and find a partner." Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong said, "If you are lazy and lazy, you should be treated."

Qi Min nodded perfunctorily, and couldn't help but defend herself: How could she be called "lazy" if she didn't cook or do housework? She couldn't complete her project and had to work in the laboratory, which was already very tiring.

Going to Leshan today~

(It feels good to travel for a while, and it feels good to travel all the time.)