Why it never ends

"What are you studying?" Hesta asked.

Ksenia smiled and pointed to the sky, "Clouds."

It rained harder.

Hesta followed Ksenia, and the rain soaked them both. The two walked slowly through the forest, and Ksenia might stop at any time - a line of ants on the roadside, a sparrow caught in the rain, or a group of strangely colored flowers might cause her to stop. . Occasionally when she encounters those fleeting scenery, she will pull Hesta to her side and watch them.

When the two of them stared at one place with bated breath, the world became quiet.

"Ksenia."

"Ok?"

"Tell me more about your research," Hesta said softly, "What do you study about clouds?"

"The formation of clouds," Ksenia answered.

Hesta's expression became a little confused, "Haven't humans figured this out yet?"

Ksenia laughed, "What do you think the answer is?"

"...The water on the ground, the water on the sea surface, evaporates into the air?"

"Yes, that's roughly it," Ksenia nodded, "But this answer is meaningless. The more important question is: What kind of clouds will water vapor form under what meteorological conditions? What kind of conditions will it form?" The formation of rainfall and the impact of various atmospheric pollutants on the formation process of clouds... At present, humans do not have enough understanding of the nature of clouds. Issues like this may seem simple but are not actually understood. There are a lot more.

"The experiment I am currently doing is to use an aircraft to slice huge clouds in the sky. The pilot flies the aircraft into the clouds and passes through various heights of the clouds one by one. On the one hand, we can directly observe various phenomena in the clouds; On the other hand, the various equipment we hang on the aircraft will collect the temperature, humidity, wind speed inside the clouds at different altitudes, and the particle size distribution of fog droplets... These data can be used to test whether our models in the laboratory are correct.

"All these efforts will give us a deeper understanding of cloud changes."

"Sounds very romantic," Hesta said softly.

"Don't say that, it's not just romantic, it has a huge impact on human beings." Ksenia said, "A deeper understanding of clouds will allow us to predict the weather more accurately. This alone involves a wide range of things." : Agricultural production, water resources management, aviation flight...not to mention its military value - the battlefield is the place where weather forecast is most needed, and the weather often determines victory or defeat...You have been on the battlefield, do you agree with this?"

Hesta nodded, "Indeed."

"But it's a pity," Ksenia sighed, "This experiment has been done one after another since the 1960s, but the results have never been ideal."

"why?"

"Because in the past, an airplane flew alone, the data in time and space could not be separated at all, and they were all coupled together - when the airplane flew to the top of the clouds, a period of time had often passed since it first entered the clouds. For two hours, we could not confirm whether the changes in the data were due to changes in altitude or because the clouds as a whole had changed over time.

"We just recently thought of a solution to this problem - just rent two planes at the same time, one enters the clouds, and the other hangs on the top of the clouds, keeping the horizontal position synchronized with the planes in the clouds, and at the same time using laser radar to look down In this way, we can obtain the physical data of the vertical direction of the entire cloud layer in real time during the entire flight..." Hesta looked at Ksenia, and her silhouette was covered with a layer of hazy light in the rain curtain. Such Ksenia made Hesta feel strange and novel.

"I really want to come here once a week," Ksenia said. "I love it here."

"Come on then, if you'd like next week—"

"But I don't have time next week," Ksenia sighed with a smile, wiping the wet hair from her cheeks to her ears. "I'm going on a short trip next week to meet with a research team over at Songxueyuan... … If all goes well, I’ll be in that lab all next year.”

"The flight experiment was conducted in Songxueyuan?"

"Yes," Ksenia nodded. "My boss just negotiated the aircraft and pilot for the experiment this week. The experiment can start next spring at the latest... What's the matter, Jane, you look surprised?"

"I'm not surprised," Hesta said softly, "I always thought that you were also a freshman this year."

"That's right," Ksenia said playfully, opening her hands as if stepping on an invisible tightrope. She looked down at her feet, trying to maintain her balance, and said, "After all, this is my first time coming to Orange Town, even though I registered at the University of Technology very early..."

“Have you been homeschooling?”

"No, I have been following the class progress of the college teacher. At that time, the teacher arranged for some classmates to help me record the screen in class. We communicated most of the issues online, including submitting homework." Kseniya said with a smile, " Because I haven’t been in good health in the past few years, I can’t travel long distances, so I can only stay at home.”

Just when Hesta was about to continue asking, Ksenia looked at her and said, "Why did you always guess that I was in the direction of literature, history and philosophy before? Did you think I didn't look like someone in this field, or were you trying to impress me professionally?" Are you biased against women?"

"Of course not," Hesta said quickly, "because you join the drama club and are always with Teacher Chen -"

"The drama club does not stipulate the majors of its members," Ksenia jumped over a larger puddle and stopped on a solid rock. She turned around again, "and Teacher Chen's class is not only for Students majoring in literature, history and philosophy.”

"I'm sorry." In order to avoid making things worse, Hesta decided to apologize directly, "I was one-sided."

Ksenia laughed heartily again. She didn't expect that Hesta could not help teasing her so much. After just one or two casual jokes, she immediately surrendered.

"There are two reasons why I always follow Teacher Chen," Kseniya continued. "First, I really like Teacher Chen's class. Second, the reason why I was able to complete my undergraduate degree in a small village in the past few years is The four years of study were all because of Teacher Chen’s persistence. She helped me solve equipment problems and school procedures..."

"Really," Hesta frowned slightly, "Did you take the initiative to find her and ask her for help, or -?"

"She came to the north to climb mountains," Ksenia answered. "She comes here almost every summer. I happened to meet her that time... She is really a very good person."

Hesta didn't answer. She suddenly remembered the class last Friday and looked away noncommittally.