Chapter 317 - 178: Tonight’s Grilled Kidneys Really Were Good

Chapter 317: Chapter 178: Tonight’s Grilled Kidneys Really Were Good

"This is the same as the precision problem I encountered with a baseplate in the underground workshop—thermal expansion and uneven heat conduction. If these barbecue skewers had an aluminum rod for a core and a thin steel tube for a sleeve, the aluminum would conduct heat quickly and evenly, and the steel would give the contact surface its strength. The meat would be perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with the heat distributed evenly to every last cell!"

Wang Dayong grew more excited as he spoke, even using his chopsticks to draw a cross-section of the nested tubes on the table.

"If the owner heard your suggestion, he’d probably call the police."

Chen Zhuo glanced at the diagram sketched out in grease on the table and delivered a perfectly timed jab.

"You’re not factoring in the cost at all, are you? At this rate, the owner would be out of business next month."

Chen Zhuo’s words instantly doused Wang Dayong’s grand blueprint in cold water.

He scratched his head, admitting to himself that Chen Zhuo had a point. He could only channel his frustration into his appetite, grabbing two more handfuls of skewers and starting to wolf them down.

The night grew deeper.

The clamor from the street of food stalls didn’t die down. On the contrary, as waves of students arrived after their evening study sessions, the din only grew more intense.

The barbecue on the table was nearly gone.

Of the two cases of drinks, only a few empty bottles remained, scattered haphazardly on the ground.

Chu Ge had drunk the most, and by now his words were starting to slur.

He leaned back in his plastic chair, head tilted up toward the night sky. On a summer night in Huizhou, you could see a few stars if you were lucky.

"Awesome..."

Chu Ge let out a long burp.

It was hard to tell whether he was talking about the satisfying barbecue or the satisfying confidence that came from having a hundred thousand yuan.

Lu Jia was still hunched over his little notebook, seemingly contemplating the deeper logic behind the phrase about not having an umbrella that Chen Zhuo had taught him. He muttered under his breath, calculating some new probability.

Wang Dayong let out a loud, satisfied belch, rubbing his round belly with a look of pure contentment.

The can of soda in Chen Zhuo’s hand had long been empty.

He sat quietly in their greasy corner, listening to a group of guys nearby arguing loudly over in-game items. He watched the stall owner expertly flip the skewers over the charcoal fire, and saw the sparks dance into the night with every wave of a palm-leaf fan.

The scent of smoke and life rose into the air.

For the past half-month, his nerves had been stretched taut in office 402, battered by homology groups, fiber bundles, and the continuum Singularity. But now, at this moment, they were completely soothed by the barbecue and his roommates’ idle chatter.

He really liked this feeling.

The world of academia was one of cold, hard rights and wrongs, of absolute truths. But the real world was made of burnt lamb skewers, texts sent in error, and the sheer ecstasy of a hundred-thousand-yuan windfall.

This was the real, living world.

"Owner, the check!"

Chu Ge bellowed, staggering to his feet.

The owner ran over with a grease-stained calculator, tapping away at the keys.

"Total’s a hundred sixty-two. Let’s just call it one sixty."

Chu Ge pulled two crisp, new hundred-yuan bills from his pocket and slapped them on the table with a grand flourish.

"No need to give us change! Put the rest toward our next meal!"

Wang Dayong, who was sitting next to him, stared in awe at the bold move.

"Let’s go. Back to the dorm."

Chu Ge declared with a sweep of his hand.

Wang Dayong quickly stepped forward to grab Chu Ge’s arm, afraid he might topple headfirst into the nearby bushes.

The four of them left the street of food stalls and walked onto the Keda campus, following the dim yellow glow of the streetlights.

The summer night’s breeze blew through the plane trees on campus, their leaves rustling softly.

Chu Ge was half-draped over Wang Dayong, still muttering words like "database" and "concurrency." Lu Jia walked alongside them, occasionally pushing up his glasses, his eyes never leaving the notebook in his hands.

Chen Zhuo brought up the rear.

He walked at a slow pace, hands in his pockets, his shadow stretched long by the streetlights.

As they passed the Science Department Building, Chen Zhuo instinctively looked up in the direction of the Mathematics Building.

The office lights were out.

’Figuring in the time difference, that email to Princeton’s *Mathematical Annals* should be sitting in the editor-in-chief’s inbox right about now.’

Chen Zhuo looked away from the building and back at his three roommates walking ahead, a faint smile playing on his lips.

’The grilled kidneys tonight really were good.’

"Chu Ge, don’t crash into the tree!"

Wang Dayong’s desperate shout came from up ahead.

"That tree... its footwork is too unpredictable..."

Chu Ge slurred in reply.