At six in the morning, the alarm clock began to buzz.
Jiang Ye rolled over in bed and reached out to slap the alarm clock on the nightstand into silence.
Fumbling around, he felt beside him and then his senses cleared. Where was his wife?
Looking up, he saw a beautiful woman with delicate skin sprawled on the windowsill. She was only wearing her underwear, and the curve from her back to her waist to her perky buttocks was clearly defined, without a trace of excess fat or blemish, as perfect as a white sculpture.
Jiang Ye got up and sat on the windowsill, gently stroking Cen Yemeng's head.
"Why are you lying here?" Jiang Ye asked.
"It's a bit cooler by the window, helps me wake up." Cen Yemeng's cheeks were flushed. "The bed was too hot. You're like a human furnace, and even the air conditioning felt warm. It woke me up at five."
Jiang Ye touched his neck, feeling a fine sheen of sweat.
"If you were hot, why didn't you turn down the air conditioning?"
"I didn't know if you were hot, and I was afraid you'd catch a cold. It's winter, after all," Cen Yemeng pouted.
"Are you hungry? I'll make you breakfast." Cen Yemeng sat up and stretched, her spine making a slight cracking sound.
"I'm going to eat at the city library's cafeteria. If you want to come, you can. If not, make something yourself, or I can have someone deliver food to you."
"What are you going to the library for?"
"I need to look up some information for a few questions I have. It's a rare moment of leisure today, so I'm going to pick out some books in related fields to bring back and read." Jiang Ye reached out and touched his wife's shoulder, gently squeezing her arm.
"What kind of questions require you to personally go out?" Cen Yemeng asked curiously.
"It's about hibernation and estivation." Jiang Ye said. "Animals on Earth basically hibernate. Many creatures on Jiang Ye Star and Bi Rong Star collectively estivate. I want to know why this difference exists. I'm in charge of these two planets, so I need to understand some of the basic principles of the planets."
"Why go to the library? I know," Cen Yemeng smiled.
"You know?" Jiang Ye was taken aback.
"Want me to give you a lesson?" Cen Yemeng looked at him provocatively, her finger lightly tracing his neck. "First, you need to honor your teacher. If you make me comfortable, then your teacher will answer your questions."
Without another word, Jiang Ye scooped up his wife and tossed her onto the bed, then pounced on her with a tiger's leap.
...
"Answering your questions," Jiang Ye said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Cen Yemeng buried her face in the pillow, her eyes barely open, looking utterly exhausted and limp, groaning.
"Esteemed teacher, please answer my questions." Jiang Ye shook her shoulder.
"Let your teacher catch her breath, you wicked disciple. Are you trying to wear out your teacher's wife completely?" Cen Yemeng's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "Damn it... I've been exercising regularly, why do I feel so weak?"
Jiang Ye smiled without comment.
After a long while, Cen Yemeng rolled over and looked at her husband. "Ask away. What was the question again?"
"Hibernation and estivation." Jiang Ye adopted the demeanor of a humble student seeking knowledge. "I can understand hibernation. In winter, the temperature is low, plants must shed their water and wither, and animals lack food, so they simply dig a hole and sleep. But what's the principle behind estivation? The temperature is high, life is vibrant, shouldn't everything be flourishing? How can they dig a hole and sleep for a long time?"
"The reasons for estivation vary across different planets. I know of over ten theories, I'll tell you a few of the more mainstream ones," Cen Yemeng said.
"I'm all ears for your teachings, master." Jiang Ye nodded.
"The first theory is the bacterial influence theory. There are some extremely destructive bacteria that reproduce rapidly at summer temperatures. When animals and plants enter summer, they are infected by these bacteria and die in large numbers. To avoid the summer plague, many animals and plants choose to feign death or hide during the summer, reducing the probability of infection. After all, although winter is difficult, at least you don't die." Cen Yemeng said. "It's worth noting that due to the collective estivation of animals and plants, these summer bacteria have a high probability of extinction. However, even after the bacteria are wiped out, the local animals and plants will still maintain their estivation habits, making it difficult to correct. This is a case of 'once bitten, twice shy' in biological evolution. There are even more tragic cases where bacteria evolve alongside the habits of animals and plants, becoming rampant in winter."
"I have a question," Jiang Ye said.
"Go on."
"Isn't hibernation and estivation something ingrained in a creature's genes? Can it be changed just like that?"
"Of course, it's not a sudden change. It's a slow alteration over thousands or even tens of thousands of years," Cen Yemeng said. "There are also cases of rapid changes in a short period. For example, on a vast grassland, there are a hundred million winter-dormant grasses that grow in summer and wither in winter. Only one grass, a mutation, is a summer-dormant grass that grows in winter and wilts in summer. If a summer grassland plague sweeps through, it would quickly kill those hundred million winter-dormant grasses, leaving only the single summer-dormant grass. When the summer-dormant grass germinates in winter, the plague has already ended, and the surrounding fertile land is all unclaimed."
"So the summer-dormant grass grows unchecked, and soon the entire grassland is filled with summer-dormant grass?" Jiang Ye understood. "Can it really be reversed so completely?"
"Why not? You must know about Earth's biology. The earliest Earth organisms were anaerobic; they died when exposed to oxygen. Later, almost all organisms required oxygen. It was a complete reversal," Cen Yemeng said. "For billions of years of evolution, anything is possible."
Jiang Ye pondered this.
"The second theory is the evolutionary accident hypothesis. This is actually a catch-all hypothesis. It suggests that neither summer nor winter temperatures are suitable for growth, but creatures cannot hibernate and estivate simultaneously. What's the difference between sleeping all year round and being dead? When life evolved, some creatures accidentally selected genes for hibernation, and others for estivation, and they went their separate ways from then on." Cen Yemeng said.
"What kind of coin-toss theory is this? Is this some third-rate scholar scamming for research funds?" Jiang Ye was shocked. "Or perhaps 'academic fraud' is more fitting?"
"No, no, no. Although it sounds absurd, there's actually a possibility. In current evolutionary research, accidental factors are indeed numerous," Cen Yemeng said. "The most basic example is the helical direction of DNA. Most are right-handed helices, B-DNA. Z-DNA, the left-handed helix, is equally functional. The reason why it's all right-handed is simply that the initial evolution accidentally selected this direction."
Jiang Ye nodded, accepting this explanation.
"The third theory is the advantage-becomes-a-shackle hypothesis," Cen Yemeng said. "On some planets, the winter environment is far harsher than the summer environment, yet most creatures still choose to estivate because the planet's climate was different in the past. Tens of millions of years ago, the situation was the exact opposite, with the summer environment being harsher than the winter environment. Thus, estivators were victorious, and hibernators were eliminated. Later, the climate changed, but the organisms hadn't yet adapted. This resulted in the original advantage becoming a shackle or disadvantage in the new environment. This hypothesis suggests that if development had proceeded normally, this situation would reverse again. In other words, estivation is merely a transitional phase of incomplete evolution. The reason it seems illogical is that it's not the ultimate form."