Just as the two of them stood facing each other in silence, a nurse pushed the door open. When she saw Xie Dingyuan, her steps paused for a moment, then she put on a smile—
“Here to see your girlfriend?”
“……”
“Don’t worry, she’s recovering very well. This illness is called… maladjustment to the local climate and conditions, right? So amazing, its early symptoms are actually exactly the same as a Schankwo virus infection.”
The nurse handed the pills to Jiang Fuyue: “This is today’s dosage. Remember to take it.”
After speaking, she pushed the medication cart away and headed for the next ward.
With this interruption, the tense atmosphere dissipated, and both of them calmed down.
Xie Dingyuan: “Take the medicine first.”
As he spoke, he turned his back to get water.
Then he handed it to Jiang Fuyue.
“You have to promise me first,” she said.
“Alright.” The man sighed. “I promise. I won’t do that again in the future.”
Jiang Fuyue pounced over and quickly kissed him. Xie Dingyuan stiffened while holding the cup, still having to be careful not to spill the water.
“You, honestly…”
“Give me the cup.” She reached out, only now was she finally willing to behave and listen.
The pill was a bit big and got stuck in her throat, neither up nor down.
Jiang Fuyue drank another cup of water before finally swallowing it completely.
She stayed in the medical room for three days, and Xie Dingyuan stayed with her for three days.
And by this time, gossip outside was already flying everywhere.
Old Huang insisted that he hadn’t seen it wrong that day, Xie Dingyuan really had been carrying Jiang Fuyue.
Everyone had been quite astonished at the time, with most people not believing it.
After all, Professor Xie’s image as an aloof, unattainable flower on a high peak was far too deeply ingrained.
And Jiang Fuyue was just a little yellow-haired girl, how could she possibly shake an iceberg?
But as she failed to appear for several consecutive days, and faint rumors also began to circulate from the neighboring experimental area where Professor Xie worked, saying that he had basically not been around these past few days, and even when he occasionally showed up, it was only to briefly arrange follow-up work before disappearing again—
Jiang Fuyue vanished, and Professor Xie also stopped showing his face. Could there really be such a coincidence in this world?
“There’s a problem! There’s definitely a problem!”
“I’m suddenly a little inclined to believe Old Huang.”
“Do you all remember Professor Xie coming straight over to our side to ask where Jiang Fuyue was?”
“Of course I remember. Why?”
“It was just really strange! Why would Professor Xie specially come over to ask about a university student’s whereabouts? Is Jiang Fuyue some kind of important figure?”
“Maybe they knew each other before? Judging by age, Professor Xie could even be some kind of elder of Jiang Fuyue?”
“Don’t say it, there really is that possibility! Jiang Fuyue has a grandfather from a wealthy family background, and behind Professor Xie is the Xie family. Both are in the Imperial Capital circle, so the two families must have connections.”
“Then how do you explain the ‘carrying’?”
“Didn’t Old Huang say they went to the medical room? Jiang Fuyue’s condition must not have been very good.”
“You’re all overanalyzing this! For an action like carrying someone, shouldn’t the first thing you associate it with be a romantic relationship?”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.
After a long while, “…A couple? To be honest, I still don’t really believe it.”
“Me neither.”
“Don’t blame me for being innocent, mainly, if something like this happened to Professor Xie, why do I feel like… everything about it feels wrong?”
“Bro, you’re not alone. Me too.”
“……”
Next door, in the experimental area where Xie Dingyuan worked, the team members were even more shocked.
Working together for so long, they had never once seen Professor Xie abandon his work and stay out of the lab for several consecutive days.
Although the actual progress hadn’t been affected, this was completely unlike his usual style!
That legendary “workaholic,” the “big demon king” in everyone’s eyes, actually knew how to rest?
“Not normal!”
“I’m more curious what kind of thing could make Professor Xie drop his work?”
“Or maybe it’s ‘what kind of person.’”
“I heard rumors next door about the professor having an affair with a girl? Is it true?”
“Ah! I heard it too! It’s being spread quite convincingly, apparently our professor even carried her!”
“Pfft—Professor Xie? Carrying a woman? What kind of international joke is this?”
“I also think it’s unlikely. Carrying experimental equipment would make more sense. In the professor’s eyes, women probably aren’t even as pleasing to look at as the little white mice used in experiments.”
“Hahahaha you’ve taken all the bamboo shoots under heaven for yourself!”
“That’s just how it is!”
“Even if it’s all rumors, looking at it from another angle, being rumored with Professor Xie—ah, life would be complete!”
“……”
All in all, the matter was being spread with great detail, and the two of them did indeed have cleverly coinciding whereabouts. But because of Professor Xie’s long-standing cold, abstinent image, most people still didn’t really believe it.
……
On the fourth day, Jiang Fuyue recovered. Xie Dingyuan handled the procedures for her and signed as a family member.
Finally, they could leave the medical room.
That very afternoon, she appeared in the experimental area.
As soon as she stepped through the door, everyone’s gaze turned toward her in unison.
Shock, surprise, scrutiny, dissatisfaction, disdain… all kinds of looks.
But Jiang Fuyue paid them no mind. She walked in openly and confidently, looked around, and only found one vacant experimental station.
The spot was far from everyone else, in a dead corner.
There was nothing at all—
No experimental equipment, no computer, no paper or pen, not even a chair to sit on.
If one had to name an advantage, it was probably that it was remote enough, so privacy was good.
In fact, with such a large area, how could there really be no other spots?
It was simply that some people occupied more than their share.
For example, Dan Pinghua, he alone took up three connected experimental stations.
Then there were Xin Hongcheng and Old Huang, also three.
Of the extra two experimental stations, one was used by them to pile up miscellaneous items, such as coats, bags, cigarette packs, lighters, and so on; the other was used to place used experimental vessels.
But in biological research, especially in virology, piling up used experimental vessels in large quantities without proper treatment is an extremely non-standard operating practice.
Essentially no different from eating in the lab.
Both are considered violations!
By comparison, Bai Chuanhao’s team was much more well-behaved.
Each person had a fixed experimental station and never occupied more.
Ahem… even if they wanted to occupy more, they couldn’t, all of them had already been carved up by Dan Pinghua’s team.
Their operating methods were also relatively standardized, though there were still areas that weren’t rigorous enough.
But the impact wasn’t great, it could be overlooked.
Put nicely, it was called not sweating the small stuff; but in Jiang Fuyue’s view, it was simply unprofessional.
In an experiment, if one cannot achieve precision and perfection, scrutinizing every detail, then the final result is very likely to contain errors.
A single small error might not be obvious, but when all the errors from every step add up, the difference becomes vast.
Jiang Fuyue firmly believed: a tiny deviation can lead to a thousand-mile mistake!
What she didn’t know was that while she was sizing this group of people up, they were also quietly scrutinizing her.
“She really is very pretty. No wonder even Professor Xie—d*mn it! Xu Kuan, why did you bump into my stomach?”
“Don’t f*cking talk nonsense. It’s all rumors.”
“Tch, like you know? What if it’s real?”
Xu Kuan swept a cold glance over. “You said it yourself—‘what if.’ Do you know what a low-probability event is?”
“Then it’s still possible…”
“Shut up already! The culture dish has been exposed, hurry up and redo it.”
“Ao!” That person wailed. “Why is it like this again? It’s already the fifth time, d*mn it…”
“Hehe… Brother Kuan, you’re protecting Jiang Fuyue this much, don’t tell me you’re interested in her?”
Xu Kuan shot him a sideways glance. “If you’ve got a mouth, then use it to talk properly. Don’t f*cking use it for two purposes and use it to fart too!”
That person awkwardly pursed his lips. “If you’re not, then you’re not, why curse at me…”
“I’m cursing you exactly! You’re useless at research, but number one at gossip, why don’t you go be a paparazzo?”
“……”
Xu Kuan snapped back at two people in a row, speaking without the slightest restraint. Very quickly, no one in Bai Chuanhao’s team dared to gossip anymore.
Bai Chuanhao leaned over, lowered his head to glance at the microscope, and while recording the relevant data, spoke: “No wonder Wei Yuan misunderstood. Even I almost thought you had some ideas about Jiang Fuyue.”
“Cough…” Xu Kuan cleared his throat. “To be honest with you, I really am quite curious about her.”
Bai Chuanhao raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t think crookedly. I’ve read the three CNS papers she published, honestly, the degree of completion is extremely high. The logic is smooth from start to finish. After reading them, there’s only one feeling.”
Bai Chuanhao: “What feeling?”
“Done in one go.” When Xu Kuan said this, his eyes lit up. “I re-verified the conclusions in that Science paper, ‘Structural analysis of the active human histone pre-mRNA 3′ end processing complex.’”
The pen in Bai Chuanhao’s hand stopped. “And then?”
“The precision of the data was too high. Almost every key datum kept the margin of error within an extremely small range, so the final results I obtained differed a lot from the results she published.”
“You’re saying her experimental skills are very strong?”
Xu Kuan shook his head. “Not just experimentation, her ability to build logical frameworks is also very strong. Our team has always lacked someone who can take a high-level view and make accurate predictions about experiments.”
Bai Chuanhao was slightly startled. “You mean… you want her to join us?”
“Yes. What do you think?”
“Listening to you like this, it doesn’t seem impossible but she might not agree.”
Xu Kuan: “Whether she agrees or not is her business. Whether we try to win her over is ours. What if it works?”
Bai Chuanhao fell into thought.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the people in Dan Pinghua’s team were far less friendly—
“Everyone’s already been working for three days, and she only shows up now. Why not just drag it out until the aid mission ends and go straight back home?”
“Young people nowadays are just too impetuous. With a little bit of achievement, they start congratulating themselves, their tails almost wagging up to the sky. They don’t know what dedication and humility mean at all.”
“If we’re talking about both virtue and talent, you still have to look at Professor Dan. That’s a real example and role model.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The flattery was laid on smoothly, clearly they were already used to this mode.
Xu Kuan saw it from afar. “Great. That bunch of old guys has started again.”
Even Bai Chuanhao couldn’t help but shake his head. This kind of academic atmosphere… just thinking about it was terrifying.
At that moment, Jiang Fuyue suddenly walked up to Xin Hongcheng and Old Huang.
The two were in the middle of lavishly praising Dan Pinghua. Catching sight of her out of the corner of their eyes, it was as if their throats were blocked, they couldn’t make a single sound anymore.
The others also belatedly shut their mouths.
Jiang Fuyue didn’t waste words and went straight to the point: “The two of you are occupying three stations. I need to use the equipment from these vacant experimental stations.”
Xin Hongcheng and Old Huang exchanged a look and laughed. “Sorry about that. All experimental stations are first come, first served. I came early and occupied them, so they’re mine. As for you, you came late, so you can only pick from what’s left. Very fair, isn’t it?”
Jiang Fuyue nodded. “Indeed, it’s fair. Then may I ask, which two of these three experimental stations belong to you two? I’ll use the equipment from the remaining one. That’s not excessive, right?”
Xin Hongcheng snorted coldly. “Which two? All three are ours!”
“So you’re saying you’re each occupying multiple stations?”
Xin Hongcheng immediately argued back. “I didn’t mean that. There’s too much stuff, we need somewhere to put it, right?”
Old Huang nodded. “I’ve got a lot of stuff too!”
But when he met Jiang Fuyue’s clear, cool eyes, he instinctively shrank his neck and showed a bit of fear.
Jiang Fuyue narrowed her eyes slightly, a flash of cold light passing through them. “So that means you’re not letting me, then?”
The atmosphere gradually grew tense.
Old Huang swallowed, a bit unable to hold up, thinking: making things difficult verbally is enough. In the first place, it was wrong for them to occupy an extra experimental station.
Just as he was about to soften, Xin Hongcheng blurted out, “I just won’t let you. What can you do? Hit me?”
Jiang Fuyue was amused by his hooligan-like manner. “Very good.”
She ignored Xin Hongcheng after that, stepped past him, and walked straight toward Dan Pinghua. “Teacher Dan, since your subordinates are unwilling, then I’ll have to ask you to give up the equipment from one experimental station for me.”
This time, Xin Hongcheng was dumbfounded.
Old Huang was also stunned.
Even Bai Chuanhao and Xu Kuan, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly widened their eyes.
And Dan Pinghua’s old eyes were filled with astonishment, his expression frozen, even carrying a trace of confusion.
What was she saying?
Was she talking to me?
“D*mn! This Jiang Fuyue is too wild!” Xu Kuan clicked his tongue. The next second, his tone sharply changed: “But I like it so much!”
Bai Chuanhao nodded. “Indeed, wild.”
This chaotic flurry of punches directly knocked out the seasoned master: brilliant, truly brilliant!
Xin Hongcheng couldn’t even speak properly anymore, stammering: “You, you, how can you make Professor Dan give up a station?”
Jiang Fuyue shrugged. “If you don’t move, then I can only make him move. Any problem with that?”
Of course there was a problem!
Xin Hongcheng was so anxious that his face flushed red. If because he didn’t give Jiang Fuyue a station, it led to Jiang Fuyue directly embarrassing Dan Pinghua, then this debt would most likely be pinned on him. Th-this wouldn’t do!
Jiang Fuyue wasn’t under Dan Pinghua’s control, so she could act without restraint.
But he was different. He still had to work under Dan Pinghua, he absolutely couldn’t offend him even a little!
Old Huang’s face also changed. He inched little by little behind Xin Hongcheng, silently chanting: can’t see me, can’t see me…
In his heart, he couldn’t help but resent Xin Hongcheng.
This Old Xin, honestly, he remembers grudges but not pain, and still went to provoke Jiang Fuyue.
Why did you have to provoke her?
This is clearly an ancestor!
The atmosphere was stiff, the air seemed to stop flowing, and the huge experimental area was deathly silent.
Only Jiang Fuyue, as if nothing was wrong, wore a smiling expression.
Seeing that no one spoke, her gaze returned to Dan Pinghua.
The latter’s heart suddenly jolted for no reason, afraid she might pull out some other wild move. At his age, he really couldn’t handle it.
Fortunately, Jiang Fuyue didn’t say anything earth-shattering. She simply repeated the question once more: “Does Professor Dan think there’s a problem?”
Dan Pinghua immediately reacted, putting on a benevolent smile. “Of course not. It was also my oversight, occupying three experimental stations by myself really was inappropriate.”
As he spoke, he shook his head with a look of guilt.
Not only did he vacate the equipment from one experimental station, he also cleared out the items from another station, leaving only one in the end.
Jiang Fuyue sighed with feeling: “Professor Dan truly understands the bigger picture!”
The not-so-understanding Xin Hongcheng: “?” What the h*ll?
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