I’ve Got this Cannon Fodder’s Back

Chapter Ch28.1 - I’ve got this Scholar’s back (10)

Chapter 28: I’ve got this Scholar’s back

Under the strict supervision of Assistant Professor Gu, Professor Lu, who was aware that he had already recovered, still remained in the hospital bed until the very last moment. He was finally allowed to get out of bed and walk around by himself once he guaranteed that he would personally look through the fifty questions.

His fever had just subsided and he’d been sleeping for so long, it was hard to avoid feeling tired. Lu Jingmo’s knees buckled. Gu Chuanbai, sharp-eyed and deft-handed, grabbed him into his arms and patted his back worriedly. “You should eat to get back your strength. I’ll go back and cook you some porridge, okay?”

The body in his arms was cold, and the heartbeat he could feel against his chest was also running a bit fast. Gu Chuanbai couldn’t help tightening his embrace. He took down the coat hanging to the side and put it on him.

With warmth covering his shoulders, Lu Jingmo raised his head and shook his head gently. “I’m fine.”

He had to setup and regulate the laboratory, the project plan needed to be improved and revised and he had to prepare for his classes and draw up the test papers. Sooner or later, he will have to accompany Gu Chuanbai to do the experiments. Instead of letting the system do the work for him, he refreshed his studies and he thought that he might as well do these tasks himself.

His original specialty had been studies related to plants. The level of scientific research in this world was about a hundred years behind the plane from which he was born. It wasn’t difficult for him to personally do these things. Lu Jingmo was also determined to be personally responsible. The only task he handed over to the industrious and conscientious system was the non-technical work of correcting the students’ homework.

The workload was originally meant to be completed in one to two years but he had compressed it to half a year. Naturally, it was impossible not to be busy.

It’s easy for him to forget the time when he’s busy. He doesn’t feel sleepy by himself and he also doesn’t feel tired. He simply never thinks to stop to rest.

In fact, he himself didn’t know how long he’s been working. So long as the hidden dangers to his body doesn’t cause substantial impact, they won’t be monitored by the system. Unexpectedly, after being subjected to the cold night wind, he really had collapsed.

Looking into his still somewhat dizzy eyes, Gu Chuanbai’s arms tightened. He carefully supported him to sit back and half-squatted beside his bed.

“Jingmo, have you been living in the office and haven’t been going home?”

Occasionally staying in the office was fine but the quality of rest couldn’t be guaranteed. The doctor said that Lu Jingmo hadn’t had a good rest for at least one or two months. His little professor forgets to eat. When he was alone, he also probably forgets to sleep.

Lu Jingmo almost forgot that he still has a place to live outside of the school. He was startled by his question. After thinking about it for a while, he hesitated and shook his head.

He wasn’t a character in the original plot. The outside world setting might not be unlocked unless he comes into contact with it. Lu Deng urgently knocked on the system in his mind, “Do I have a place to live?”

System:”&#k2026;&#k2026;”

System: “Building it now! The host must delay the mission target for two hours!”

During the preliminary preparations the system had been busy building a laboratory that could make ice cream. The high-end laboratory cost nearly 100 million yuan to build. It had all the instruments and reagents he could ever need. Culture dishes were discarded once a colony was grown in it. Pipettes were only single use. All the equipment had automatic cleaning, drying and UV disinfection. It was a pity that the host hadn’t put forward higher requirements except for it being able to make ice cream.

It wasn’t difficult to generate a residence but it needs to be fine-tuned so as to appear the most realistic. It would take at least two hours.

He wouldn’t be able to finish checking all fifty questions in two hours. Lu Deng wasn’t worried at all. He comforted it in his mind. “I see, don’t worry.”

If it didn’t go to build the residence, it would have been sent to check over the homework. They system didn’t dare delay. It put a red busy sign and, with a buzzing sound, it cut off contact.

Seeing him muttering to himself irresolutely, Gu Chuanbai only took it to mean that he was still in a daze. He worriedly let out a soundless chuckle. It seems that the little professor who raised his hand and rubbed his head only had space for scientific research in his head. “Jingmo, people need to eat, sleep and rest.”

These past days, he’s always been at the laboratory, Lu Jingmo was the only one in the office. If he hadn’t accidentally gotten a fever from being exposed to the cold night wind, he had no idea until when Lu Jingmo would have persisted with being this busy.

Although Gu Chuanbai himself was busy, there was always a limit to how much exhaustion he could take. However, Lu Jingmo didn’t seem to feel tired at all. He would only realize that he’s exhausted once his body signals the warning.

In the future, he’s going to have to closely keep an eyes on him until he can develop good sleeping habits.

Gu Chuanbai raised the back of his hand and put it against Lu Jingmo’s cheek. He spoke gently and tentatively asked, “You’ve just recovered from your illness. You need a good rest. Can I take you home?”

Lu Jingmo was startled and took his hand. “Shouldn’t I look over your homework?”

“You can take your time to look over it. The conditions here are limited. There are also a lot of people who’ve caught colds these days. It will be troublesome if you get re-infected.”

Gu Chuanbai smiled. He leaned forward to support the person to stand. Once he was steady on his feet, he then patiently lowered his head and asked, “Are you still feeling dizzy?”

Although he wasn’t feeling dizzy, he still needed to delay him for two hours.

Lu Jingmo blinked, thinking of a way to stall for time. “I want to go to the laboratory first.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Gu Chuanbai knew that all of Lu Jingmo’s recent hard work had been poured into the Botany laboratory. He nodded and helped him put on his coat. He then took the other person to the sink and patiently adjusted the temperature of the water.

The reputation of a laboratory came from the papers they produce. Zhan Pei was an abominable person. It was because of the easy results of his laboratory that year after year, graduate student after graduate student jumped into the fire pit.

Lu Jingmo was new to the job. His laboratory was now at the critical stage of its rise. It needed to publish at least a dozen or so studies in mid-level publications to build its reputation.

He soaked the towel with warm water and then used it to cover his slightly aching eyes. Under the cover of the towel, Lu Jingmo took a deep breath. The lingering muddle-headedness he was feeling from sleeping so long finally dispersed completely.

The water slid down his jaw and dripped down, hitting his collar and making it slightly wet.

Gu Chuanbai raised his sleeve to wipe it for him. Lu Jingmo didn’t try to avoid him. He stood there obediently and let him wipe off the droplets of water. His eyes turned towards Gu Chuanbai’s face. After a long while, a happy smile appeared on his face.

He truly no longer felt unwell.

The little professor stood under the sunlight, obedient and quiet. Gu Chuanbai suddenly felt some impulse in his heart. He was inexplicably nervous. He grabbed a dry towel and handed it over: “Professor.”

“En?”

Already used to Gu Chuanbai addressing him by all sorts of names when he teased him, Lu Jingmo responded with a nasally sound of agreement. He wiped off the water droplets and squeezed some toothpaste onto his toothbrush, brushing his teeth while waiting for his next words.

The figure beside him stood tall and straight. Sunlight fell on his lofty appearance. Those dark eyes stared fixedly at his body from start to finish. It seemed that that haze from the other night, the haze that seemed as though it could almost crush Gu Chuanbai had completely disappeared long ago.

Seeing that Gu Chuanbai hadn’t said anything, Lu Jingmo simply rinsed his mouth, put down his toothbrush and turned around to look at him. But then suddenly, he found himself pulled in and covered.

One hand lay steadily against the back of his waist, stopping him from hitting against the sink. The fragrance of the Ning Shenmu pressed close. Gu Chuanbai gently rubbed his cheek, and his voice softened.

“Are your graduate students…provided with off-campus accommodation?”

The arm behind him clearly went rigid. The breath against his ear went unsteady. Lu Jingmo blinked, turned his head sideways and blew a breath on his prospective disrespectful-to-one’s-elders graduate student. He immediately saw that the base of his ears turn red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

If he had the system look into Gu Chuanbai’s internet search records, it would probably find searches such as “Is flirting with your professor against the law?” And afterwards, “Concrete steps on how to flirt with your professor” and those types of searches.

Lu Deng himself remembered more than the other.

Lu Deng’s lips curled up. In his heart, he was quietly very pleased with himself.

The system has always been worried that it would be very tough on Lu Deng, given that he was the only one who could remember what happened in the previous worlds. Based on how things were now, it seemed that he wasn’t the one who had it tough.

Soon, Gu Chuanbai wouldn’t be able to remain standing.

Professor Lu didn’t rush. He pressed his hand to the other’s waist, which was probably soon to give way. He turned over the other hand and supported himself against the sink. “No, they’re not.”

Gu Chuanbai wasn’t expecting this response and was slightly startled. The light in his eyes deepened. He already had both arms around his little professor, the gentle and warm sensation stuck to his neck softly.

“But the teaching assistant is provided with board and lodging. In addition to three meals, you can also have one more meal.”

He’ll have a lot of graduate students but he plans to accept only one teaching assistant.

The system had already built a dedicated subsidiary laboratory for food engineering or one could say, molecular gastronomy. With that, Gu Chuanbai certainly wouldn’t just be limited to making ice cream. When the time comes, he would be able to create meals and snacks from even more types of ingredients.

Without noticing that his teaching assistant had momentarily stopped breathing, Professor Lu pursed the corners of his lips and thought so confidently.