Chapter 200 How Many Have You Provoked, Ninth Master Advises
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Xie Dingyuan’s expression froze.
Hold on a second…
2 + 2 equals 4, right?
“How did it become five?”
“Because in addition to those four who already met, I just saw another one coming out of the stairwell, and he’s quite handsome,” the assistant explained.
Xie Dingyuan: “?”
“You don’t believe me, come over and see…” The assistant shifted to the side, making room for Xie Dingyuan.
Xie Dingyuan approached, but due to the low window, he had to bend down, inevitably sticking out his behind.
Assistant’s inner thoughts: Now you know how hard it is for me, right?
…
Jiang Fuyue was originally eating dinner with Ling Xuan and Zhong Ziang, standing side by side.
Compared to lunchtime, this time she was in the middle, with Ling and Zhong standing on either side.
Whenever Zhong Ziang handed her a piece of meat, Ling Xuan would give her a shrimp.
The two of them hardly took any bites themselves, all the good food ended up in Jiang Fuyue’s bowl.
At first, they would take turns every two to three minutes; then it gradually became every one to two minutes; later on, the two of them competed with each other, desperately putting delicious food in front of Jiang Fuyue.
“Enough!”
Zhong Ziang’s movements halted.
Ling Xuan’s expression suddenly stiffened.
Jiang Fuyue put down her bowl and chopsticks, collected them into a trash bag, her tone cooling, “Starting from tomorrow, you don’t need to come anymore.”
Ling Xuan moved his lips, wanting to say something, but Jiang Fuyue didn’t give him a chance, “Let’s settle the bill when we go to class the day after tomorrow.”
“…Alright.”
Zhong Ziang also wanted to speak up, but a glance from Jiang Fuyue made him retreat.
Just then, Gao Zhaoming and Huang Hui arrived, carrying large and small packages, smiling and calling out to her—
“Sister Yue!”
Jiang Fuyue stepped forward in surprise, “Why are you here?”
Huang Hui: “Not just us, Fan Ye went to buy drinks, they’ll be here soon.”
Gao Zhaoming: “There’s a power outage in the computer room today, the coach gave us half a day off, so we came to Q University to find you, and we bought a bucket of chicken, let’s all eat together.”
As the three of them chatted, Zhong Ziang and Ling Xuan exchanged a glance, both seeing the caution and wariness in each other’s eyes.
Two more guys came again?!
In that instant, the two of them unexpectedly reached a tacit understanding.
Ling Xuan stepped forward, “Who are they?”
Zhong Ziang followed closely behind, deliberately or unintentionally standing next to Jiang Fuyue.
Huang Hui and Gao Zhaoming looked at the two of them, their eyes showing varying degrees of curiosity.
Jiang Fuyue briefly introduced both sides.
Just then, Lin Shumo also arrived.
He came to find Zhong Ziang.
For a moment, in the not-so-spacious corridor, there were five boys and one girl standing.
That’s when the assistant saw the scene.
And now, Xie Dingyuan also saw it through the window.
A very inappropriate thought popped into his mind—
How many boys has she provoked?
“Professor Xie?”
Seeing him leaning for too long, the assistant cautiously called out.
Xie Dingyuan straightened up abruptly, took two steps back from the window, as if it were a petri dish with a dangerous virus, and he wasn’t wearing protective gear.
Assistant: “?”
…
Jiang Fuyue sent away Zhong Ziang and Ling Xuan.
She ate fried chicken with Gao Zhaoming, Huang Hui, and Fan Ye, who arrived later, and then went back to the laboratory.
Night fell, the moonlight was bright, and the entire campus fell into slumber.
Jiang Fuyue was sorting out her thesis while waiting for the final batch of data to come out.
At the current pace, perhaps she wouldn’t have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to complete everything.
Just then, knock, knock, knock—
The sound of knocking came.
Jiang Fuyue’s eyes suddenly sharpened, “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Xie Dingyuan.”
She glanced at the clock on the wall, raising her eyebrows slightly.
The door opened.
Jiang Fuyue looked at the man in front of her, and only up close did she realize that Xie Dingyuan was much taller than her.
“Do you need any equipment or devices?” Besides this reason, Jiang Fuyue couldn’t think of any others.
Sure enough, the man nodded, “Thermal imaging camera.”
“I just used it, the data hasn’t been cleared yet, so you might have to wait a bit,” Jiang Fuyue said.
“No rush.”
“Then, should I call you when I’m done?” In other words, you can go back for now and come back when it’s ready.
Xie Dingyuan waved his hand, “It’s okay, I can wait.”
Wait?
She couldn’t just leave someone waiting outside, especially since Xie Dingyuan was wearing a lab coat too.
After some thought, Jiang Fuyue tentatively suggested, “Do you want to come in and sit for a while?”
The man nodded, accepting graciously, “Sure.”
With that, he walked straight in.
Jiang Fuyue: “?”
She closed the door and returned to the workstation, starting to process the thermal imaging data.
“I’ll do it, your data is about to come out,” Xie Dingyuan offered.
Jiang Fuyue checked and indeed, it was.
“Thank you for your trouble.”
“Don’t be so polite, it’s what I need, so it’s only natural,” Xie Dingyuan replied.
Jiang Fuyue didn’t refuse further and sat back at the workstation to start importing the data into the computer.
Because she had to switch several ports in between and implant different analysis functions, she couldn’t get away for a moment.
By the time she finished her work, Xie Dingyuan had already completed his part.
It was then that Jiang Fuyue realized, “Sorry…”
“I understand,” the man waved it off, “When the data comes out, it’s like planting a tree for a long time, going through flowering and pollination, finally bearing fruit. Everyone wants to inspect it as soon as possible.”
Jiang Fuyue nodded, “That’s right. Is it done?”
“Almost.”
Seeing that the initial topic between them was about to end in silence, Xie Dingyuan suddenly asked, “Which journal are you planning to submit your paper to?”
“PRL,” Jiang Fuyue replied.
The man raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
“I thought you would lean more towards ‘Nature Communications’ or ‘Nature,'” he remarked.
From bachelor’s to doctoral degrees, including resident postdoctoral researchers, these two journals were generally favored.
Jiang Fuyue explained, “Regardless of ‘Science’ or ‘Nature,’ they are more comprehensive. Especially ‘Nature,’ which doesn’t publish purely theoretical articles, and its main issues rarely feature research results in the field of physics. From this perspective, I personally think ‘PRL’ is more professional, and its theoretical and review content is stronger.”
Of course, this also meant higher demands on the quality of the paper.
Xie Dingyuan said, “From what I know, the acceptance rate of ‘PRL’ in recent years is around 40%. As you said, it favors theoretical results, but if it’s an experimental article, it must emphasize its novelty and feasibility, and demonstrate that the experimental results can stimulate research in related fields.”
“Got it.” Jiang Fuyue nodded, clearly having already known.
Xie Dingyuan continued, “According to the requirements of ‘PRL,’ the paper format can use four types: REVTEX, LATEX, TEX, MS-WORD, but REVTEX is recommended.”
Jiang Fuyue raised an eyebrow, suddenly realizing that this man was deliberately or unintentionally giving her guidance, whether it was about the format requirements mentioned now or the previous points about experimental articles during the review process.
“Are you helping me?” She wasn’t one to beat around the bush. If she thought of something, she’d ask directly.
“Not really helping, just casually giving advice as someone who’s been there,” Xie Dingyuan replied.
“Why?” Under the lamplight, the girl’s dark eyes reflected light, becoming more charming.
Xie Dingyuan averted his gaze, “Like I said, just casual advice.”
Jiang Fuyue looked puzzled, “Then, may I ask if there’s anything else I need to pay attention to, from someone who’s been there?”
The man pondered for a moment, then earnestly replied, “The length of the paper should not exceed 4 pages, and the COMMENTS should not exceed 1 page.”
“New theoretical results must be specifically explained in comparison to traditional theories, and comparisons must be made with existing experiments. They cannot contradict experimental results or provide verifiable predictions. Based on past experience, mathematical and computational articles without obvious physical applications will not be accepted.”
“…”
At first, Jiang Fuyue just casually asked, wanting to see how he would respond.
But as they went on, she couldn’t help but become serious.
Xie Dingyuan continued, “…COMMENTS must address specific issues, errors, or criticisms of a particular article, language should be polite, authors of the article cannot publish COMMENTS, and COMMENTS cannot have appendices…”
“…That’s about it. If you still have any questions, you can come find me.”
This was the first time Jiang Fuyue heard him say so much.
Even after he left with the thermal imaging camera, she still couldn’t quite process it.
After fully waking up, she began to recall what Xie Dingyuan had just said, going through each point.
Then she looked back at her paper and found several places that could be revised, even though it had already been finalized.
She immediately got to work.
For a while, the only sound in the room was the clicking of the keyboard.
…
At midnight, Xie Dingyuan tidied up the workstation, locked the incubator, checked the equipment power supply one by one, took off his glasses, removed his lab coat, signed the laboratory usage logbook, turned off the lights, and left.
As he walked down the corridor, he suddenly stopped and looked towards the brightly lit window, furrowing his brows.
Why aren’t they leaving at this hour?
He thought about knocking on the door to remind her of the time, but his hand hesitated and slowly dropped.
Xie Dingyuan wondered, what does it matter to him whether Jiang Fuyue leaves or not?
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