Less than 24 hours before she died, Lu Lingzi sent an exuberant email to a professor after learning she had passed part of a major final exam.
"I am so happy to get this result!" she wrote. "Thank you very much."
Lu was killed Monday during the Boston Marathon explosions, according to a statement from Boston University. She was a graduate student studying mathematics and statistics and scheduled to receive her graduate degree in 2015.
Lu was at the finish line of the race with two friends from BU. One, Danling Zhou, had surgeries Monday and Tuesday and is in stable condition at Boston Medical Center, the university's statement said. The other was unharmed.
On Monday morning, Lu put the finishing touches on a group research project she was planning to present at a statistics conference.
She also posted a photo of the breakfast ― bread chunks and fruit ― she ate the morning she died.
"My wonderful breakfast," she wrote.
Lu was a vivacious chatterbox who had lots of friends on campus, said Tasso Kaper, chair of the mathematics and statistics department, whose face lit up talking about his former student.
"The word bubbly ― that's kind of a corny word ― but that describes her very well," Kaper said.
Lu loved the springtime and kept asking when the trees would bloom in Boston.
"She was very interested in the flowers," he said. "Spring is a very important time of year for her."
Lu, 23, often shared photos of her home-prepared meals online, including a blueberry-covered waffle. They were almost always served in a shallow, blue-patterned bowl.
In September she showed off her first two-dish meal, stir-fried broccoli and scrambled eggs with tomatoes, often cooked by Chinese students learning to live on their own abroad.
She was described as an exceptional student and bright young scientist at Boston University, where she had been enrolled for about a year. She was in the process of searching for a summer internship with her adviser.
Lingzi would have had just one course left to complete in order to graduate.
Lingzi attended the Beijing Institute of Technology, where she graduated last year once got a perfect score on a differential equations exam. Her LinkedIn profile said she was awarded "excellent student" at the school and that she held jobs or internships at the Beijing offices of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu consultancy and at Dongxing Securities Co. during her undergraduate years. She also spent a semester at the University of California, Riverside.
Chinese state media said Lu was from the northeastern city of Shenyang.
Lingzi's closest friends in Boston did not learn that she had been killed until Tuesday evening, when they were informed by faculty members. Fellow graduate students are struggling to process her death.
"Many of them are still in shock and disbelief," Kaper said.
A memorial service will be held at the campus chapel Wednesday evening. There was a small, private gathering of friends and faculty at the math department early Wednesday to "begin the long grieving process," Kaper said.
Reports of her death drew comments and condolences from friends and strangers, both on Lu's Sina Weibo account ― with nearly 20,000 comments as of Wednesday ― and on their own. Her former neighbor in Shenyang, Zhang Xinbo, lamented how the news brought home the tragedy of what he considered a faraway event.
"I saw her grow up, and a few scenes from the past are flashing through my mind. Now, she's becoming a girl, a bit Westernized, but a loud bang has changed everything," he wrote in a blog. "I think of her loved ones, and I don't know how they are coping with this painful news, while still searching for any thread of hope."
Many comments reflect a growing awareness that the burgeoning number of Chinese students and elsewhere in recent years has opened them up to dangers ranging from mundane street crime to terrorist attacks.
"Nearly 12 years after Sept. 11, more and more people have realized terrorists are the global enemy. They not only attack Americans but also Chinese, regardless of nationality or race," the well-known blogger and author Li Chengpeng wrote.
在遇难前不到24小时，吕令子刚知道自己的考试成绩，并向一位教授发送了一封充满喜悦之情的邮件。
“这样的成绩真是让我太高兴了！”她写到，“非常感谢。”
波士顿大学发表声明，吕令子于4月15日在波士顿马拉松爆炸中丧生。她是该校的数学与统计学研究生，将于2015年毕业。
吕和另两名波士顿大学的朋友当时在终点线。声明称，其中一名叫周丹龄，她于15日及16日接受了手术，现在波士顿医疗中心，情况稳定。另外一人没有受伤。
15日早晨，吕完成了一项小组调查项目的最后工作，她计划在一项统计学会议上进行展示。
她还在微博上上传了一张当天的早餐照片，有面包块和水果。
“我的美妙早餐”，她写到。
数学与统计学系主任塔索•凯帕表示，吕性格活泼，是个话匣子，在学校里有很多朋友。看得出凯帕很是喜欢这位学生。
凯帕说：“活力四射这个词有些老土，但用来形容她再合适不过。”
吕酷爱春光，一直在问波士顿的树木何时开花。
“她很喜欢花儿，”他说，“春天对她来说意义非凡。”
吕，23岁，经常在网上分享她自制饭菜的图片，其中就包括一个蓝莓华夫饼。她总用一个带蓝色图案的浅口碗装盛饭菜。
9月，她在网上展示了她炒的西兰花和西红柿炒蛋，这是中国留学生在外独立生活的常备菜单。
她一年前进入波士顿大学，校方描述她为波士顿的杰出学生和一颗科学新星。她生前正在和导师一起申请暑期实习。
令子只要再修一门课程就可毕业。
令子于去年毕业于北京理工大学，在微分方程考试中曾得过满分。她在LinkedIn（一家社交网络）上的简历显示，她在本科时曾获北理工“优秀学生”称号，还在德勤会计师事务所北京办事处和东兴证券股份有限公司工作或实习。她还在美国加州大学河滨分校待过一学期。
中国媒体称吕来自东北城市沈阳。
令子在波士顿最亲密的朋友16日晚间才接到系里通知令子遇难的消息。大家都很难相信。
“许多人还在震惊中，无法相信这一切，”凯帕说。
17日晚，学校礼堂举行追悼会。凯帕说，当天上午，数学系教员及其朋友还举行了小型、私下哀悼活动，拉开了“长长的悼念活动”的序幕。
她遇难的报道在新浪微博上引来好友和陌生人的评论和追思，到17日时，吕的微博收到了近2万条评论。她之前在沈阳的邻居张新波（音）表示了深深的哀悼，他以为波士顿的爆炸只是发生在遥远他方的事件，没想到却为家乡带来了惨痛。
“我是看着她长大的，过去的场景闪现眼前。现在，她已长大成人，变得有些西化，但是一声巨响改变了一切，”他在博客中写到，“我想起了她的亲人，他们还怀有一线希望，我不知道他们会怎样面对这样痛苦的消息。”
许多评论表明，人们越发意识到这一事实：近年来，中国及别国留学生越来越多，他们置身于从普通的街头犯罪到恐怖袭击的多重危险之中。
“离911事件差不多12年后，越来越多的人明白恐怖主义者是全球公敌，他们不分国籍和种族，不仅攻击美国人，也有中国人，”知名博主、作家李承鹏写道。