Chapter 762

As the two discussed, Xu Qingzhou was also pondering the modification of the divertor.

Xu Qingzhou’s gaze rested on his current sketches; over these past days, he’d developed a few ideas—spraying the divertor surface with silicon carbide nanofiber-reinforced tungsten-based composite material to form a micrometer-scale protective layer.

“Surface hot spot dispersion efficiency improves threefold, but it’s still only treating symptoms, not the root cause—not the optimal choice.”

“The traditional divertor simply can’t meet the device’s demands anymore.”

Xu Qingzhou rubbed his temples in frustration, at a loss; he leaned back in his chair, letting his thoughts drift further.

“Last month’s experiment on EAST was just a trial run; by the latest, the end of September, they’ll definitely proceed to the next phase to prove the upgraded device isn’t inferior to HL-3.”

“From Klinger’s email, it seems the W7-X stellarator is about to make a major move.”

“The Americans are probably holding back something big too.”

“The Jinxi northwest region has truly become a mess.”

Time slipped away; at 5:30 p.m., Xu Qingzhou packed up and headed home.

These past two months had been exhausting; finally, he had some free time and decided to go for a run to exercise.

It was 8 p.m.

The two had returned from their run and already showered.

Song Yao brought out a bowl of grapes from the kitchen and saw Xu Qingzhou sitting stiffly on the sofa, eyes fixed on the TV but his mind clearly elsewhere.

After setting down the fruit tray, she reached over and patted Xu Qingzhou’s head. “Professor Xu, stop thinking. Thinking this much every day will turn you bald.”

She knew he was thinking about the divertor.

With shifting international circumstances and rapid advances in fusion research, the pressure on Xu Qingzhou was indeed heavy.

“If you keep patting like that, I really will go bald.”

Xu Qingzhou snapped back to reality and grumbled.

Song Yao snorted, plopped down beside him, and grabbed the remote to find a show.

Soon, she settled on Friends.

As she watched TV, one hand rested on Xu Qingzhou’s lower abdomen, gently stroking.

Warm, soft, pleasant to touch.

Watching TV, touching Xu Qingzhou—content.

Xu Qingzhou kept his eyes closed, ignoring Song Yao’s small gestures—he was used to them; whenever they were together, her little actions outnumbered his.

Pfft, big flirt.

One episode passed.

“Lulu says a guy wants to date her.”

Song Yao told Xu Qingzhou gossip about Song Lulu.

“It’d be weird if no one chased her. What’s she thinking?”

Xu Qingzhou remained languid; the Song family had high looks, and Song Lulu was at least campus-goddess level.

His gaze dropped, landing on the raised fabric of his pajama top.

The girl’s hand was slowly moving upward, reaching his chest.

“She turned him down. Said she wants to focus all her energy on studying during college.”

“Not dating is fine. She can focus on her own goals.”

Xu Qingzhou smiled. Though Song Lulu acted carefree and giggly, she had clear direction.

“So you’re saying dating me is holding you back?”

“.”

“Of course. If I hadn’t dated you, I’d probably have hand-built a spaceship and started heading for Mars by now.”

Over these years, Song Yao had filled most of his life—unlike his past life, when he’d focused solely on research and experiments.

“Without me, you’d probably have dropped dead from overwork long ago.”

Song Yao chuckled dryly, muttering, “You tricked me into becoming your wife, made me worry my guts out for you every day, played the maid—do you even know how much you’ve gained?”

“Must be karma from my past life.”