At 7 pm, as various New Year’s Eve galas were about to kick off, Sui Miao received a ssage from Zhou Xiao.
[Teacher Sui]
[Upon Li Zheng’s request, our institute approves, the joint project initiated by our two institutes titled "Theoretical Exploration of the Superconductivity Phenonon" will cease today and be terminated.]
[Thank you, Teacher Sui, and the faculty of the School of Physics for your support throughout, though aware of the difficulty in making significant achievents in this field, you still approved the collaboration. It’s a pity to conclude the project this way, but the students’ gains far outweigh the regrets.]
[The related procedural docunts have also been submitted in the system by our institute.]
[Once again, I sincerely thank your institute for the support towards our work and studies.]
[Below are the words I am conveying on behalf of Li Zheng:]
[I have received the good intentions of the teachers. This cooperative research stops here. The original key has been left at the guard’s station, thank you for the support, and we shall et again in the future.]
Reading this ssage over and over, from left to right, top to bottom, tearing it apart, and crushing it to examine, Sui Miao noted.
Between the lines, it seed to scream four big words—
Sarcasm!
Yet the literal expressions were entirely on point.
Moreover, this was the outco they had hoped for.
Sui Miao replied with sothing along the lines of "always welco to continue cooperation," then imdiately called Lu Dongsheng.
Lu Dongsheng had also received Zhou Xiao’s ssage, his tone revealing a sense of relief as if a heavy stone had finally been lifted from his chest.
However, for Sui Miao, this was not the way he wished things to fall in place. As an educator, he had to teach his students not only what not to do but also what they should do.
Just walking away like this made Sui Miao ultimately feel he owed sothing.
"Professor Lu, I think we should still get in touch with Li Zheng one more ti," Sui Miao said calmly, sharing his thoughts. "Li Zheng, Lin Yujing, and later, Gu Jianfeng—these three have been together for more than half a sester. They must have had so gains. Our purpose should not just be to halt this matter but to guide them towards more substantial thought and into feasible experintal research."
"I agree, yes, yes," Lu Dongsheng imdiately concurred.
"Then how about this, after the New Year’s Day holiday, let’s talk to Li Zheng again, discuss his findings, and you can also see if there’s a suitable project for them at the Institute of Condensed Matter."
"Um... this... after the Spring Festival, okay? It’s the end of the year, ti for project conclusions, and there are too many reports to prepare. Any new project application won’t happen until next year."
"I understand, but opportunities like this are rare. I feel that Li Zheng and his group might already hold so resentnt towards us... At the very least, we should show our interest and understand their progress. On this basis, if possible, you could give them so guidance, suggest a few collaborative projects. Whether they accept is up to them; we can’t be seen as lacking in this respect."
"Mm... You make a good point, but still, let’s wait until after Spring Festival."
"Professor Lu, with their level of intellectual activity, we don’t need to wait until after the Spring Festival. They might head over to the School of Mathematics and the Biology Institute to work on projects as early as next week... shouldn’t we try to get ahead of this?"
After musing for a mont, Lu Dongsheng sighed, "Sui Miao, are you really clueless?"
"What do you an?"
"Sigh... I only found out about it afterward, too."
In a matter of minutes, Lu Dongsheng explained the feud between Li Zheng and Chu Youhua in full detail.
By the end of it, even Lu Dongsheng was sowhat confused.
"There are many other sses involved... You know Wu Shu, right? He was supposed to go to Director Chu’s place but ended up joining that thing of Li Zheng’s... like so Brotherhood... This was pointed out to by soone else, and now when I think about it, I get scared."
Sui Miao frowned and said, "Will this conflict affect us much?"
"Anyway, last ti I t with Director Chu, he specifically ca to inquire about the progress of Li Zheng’s superconductivity research and whether they need collaboration with their Quantum Institute..."
"Director Chu is magnanimous, isn’t that a good thing then?"
"You really don’t get it, do you, Sui Miao?" Lu Dongsheng didn’t want to elaborate further, "Forget it... let’s just leave it be. I don’t want any further involvent with Li Zheng, and with their attitude, not to ntion the academic side, they’ve already learned three or four parts of Jie Qifen’s madness. Talking to them isn’t worth my ti. Yingpei too, Niu Gang really spoils him... This is how Jie Qifen was ruined..."
After a few more bits of conversation, Lu Dongsheng made it clear he wanted to end the call, and Sui Miao had no choice but to abandon the idea.
Still feeling restless after much contemplation, Sui Miao sent a ssage to Li Zheng.
[Has the project truly stopped? Theoretical research is indeed challenging to break through, but if you have experintal ideas, I can help with communication.]
After waiting for quite a while, Li Zheng did not reply, so he sent another ssage.
[I understand your dissatisfaction and frustration, but trust , everything we teachers consider starts with the students’ interests. You may think whatever you want, but if you need anything, just let know boldly, and I will respond to you tonight.]
This ti, he did not have to wait too long.
[Li Zheng: I need a research environnt for twisted angle studies of two-dinsional materials, including but not limited to graphene, molybdenum disulfide, black phosphorus, and boron nitride, etc.]
Sui Miao agreed promptly and then followed up with a call to Lu Dongsheng.
Lu Dongsheng just sighed, claid he was too busy to assist, and educated him on how precious the research on two-dinsional materials was.
Unwilling to settle, Sui Miao then reached out to an old classmate from the Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials Institute.
The classmate indicated that the only lab eting the environnt requirents was occupied by a major international project, and the consumables were extrely expensive. The experintal technology had a high barrier to entry, so it was unlikely to start a project on short notice. The only possibility was for the leaders of the School of Physics to directly contact Director Chu Youhua, then there might be a slim hope.
Sui Miao then brought up Li Zheng’s na,
Upon hearing this, the classmate quickly advised him to give up, not to look for trouble, and also not to ntion making this call.
Still unwilling to give in, Sui Miao turned to the deputy dean, the one who arranged Jie Qifen’s transfer and, in the end, ordered the locks to be changed.
The deputy dean was far less polite than the previous two when he heard of these matters. He almost scolded Sui Miao and strongly disapproved of the idea, expressing a full-fledged disappointnt that Sui Miao "couldn’t read the room or act appropriately."
After being reprimanded, it was already past eight o’clock.
He leaned back in front of the TV in the living room, not hearing the voices of his family around him, nor the noise coming from the television.
In the end, it was the old classmate from the Institute of Quantum who ca back to his senses and made a follow-up call.
"Sui Miao, I’ve given it so thought..."
"If we connect all the dots together..."
"Maybe, I an, maybe..."
"It’s quite possible that Chu Youhua snuffed this whole thing out..."
"He didn’t even need to undercut Li Zheng or tell Jie Qifen to buzz off..."
"Just by casually asking a few questions, like he did with Lu Dongsheng, dropping a hint or two, everybody got the ssage."
"Think back, have you seen Chu Youhua these days, what did he say?"
"..." Sui Miao pressed his forehead in thought, "I think I t him twice... He asked about Li Zheng’s research progress, said he was very concerned, very optimistic..."
"!!!" His classmate exclaid in surprise, "Isn’t that signalling you out, and twice at that!"
"But... how do you know he wasn’t sincere, perhaps everyone misunderstood?"
"Misunderstood? Bro, please use your brain. If he was really that hopeful, wouldn’t he have asked Li Zheng himself? If he finds it awkward, couldn’t he have simply asked any of the professors to discuss it? Just look at what he’s done, going everywhere expressing ’concern’ and ’optimism’, such a damn nuisance..."
"..."
"So, listen, we’re not young and naive anymore, don’t just listen to what people say, watch what they do, Old Sui!" His old classmate couldn’t bear to scold him and only reminded him, "Anyway, you’d better not bring this up to the school leadership anymore... Even if none of what happened before is related to Chu Youhua, you asking Chu Youhua to allocate resources for Li Zheng... that’s just asking for trouble, hatred, and death..."
"I’ve already brought it up..."
"Fuck... Well then... good luck to you."
"Thanks for the heads-up." Sui Miao sighed, "It does make sense, I just don’t understand, how can Chu Youhua have so much power?"
"How can you still not understand? Dean Zhong’s high-energy research funds are barely keeping up... the entire School of Physics relies on Chu Youhua, he’s our billboard, our Yang Zhenhua! In front of such high-level figures, do you think a dean is still a dean? Even the president of Jinghua bows and scrapes when he sees Yang Zhenhua."
"Okay... but I still think what you’re saying is a conspiracy theory."
"Conspiracy or not, that’s up to you. I’m just telling you, if Li Zheng’s status was secure, you wouldn’t need to lift a finger, people like Lu Dongsheng would co running like dogs. Until then, don’t go about doing thankless tasks."
"It doesn’t matter if it’s thankless." Sui Miao chuckled bitterly, "The key point is, it’s futile."
At 8:30 p.m., in the underground activity room of Yingpei Academy, Li Zheng’s phone rang again.
He glanced at it and walked over to Zhou Xiao.
"Alright, the School of Physics has given up the last chance." Li Zheng patted his younger brother’s shoulder and said, "This way, our conscience is clear."
Zhou Xiao nodded stiffly.
He was still sowhat dazed.
An hour ago, he had been at the "Single Teachers’ New Year’s Eve Mixer"... enjoying Japanese cuisine and telling dirty jokes with a female teacher across the table...
It was supposed to be such a lovely ti.
And then, all of a sudden... he’d been dragged down to this cold basent, filled with all sorts of strange equipnt.
And under Li Zheng’s intimidation, he’d done a lot of strange things.
It was only now, with Li Zheng patting his shoulder, that he began to realize the gravity of the situation.
"Dean Niu has replied too, in principle agreeing to the collaboration with Jinghua..." Zhou Xiao swallowed and looked helplessly at Li Zheng, "But this matter... it’s too big... I... I don’t know how to get in touch..."
"Sigh!" Li Zheng rubbed his younger brother’s shoulder, "I’m very familiar with Jinghua, just ntion my na and it’ll be effective."
Zhou Xiao, resigned to his fate, bowed to the influential figure, "Then I’ll give it a try first..."
"Hmm!" Lin Yujing, who had been frantically searching on the computer, suddenly raised her hand, "I’ve checked, Jinghua’s Departnt of Physics is completely different from ours; they’ve given up on many fields and are almost solely betting on quantum materials."
"Good, not bad at all, worthy of a technical school."
Li Zheng grabbed the coat from the back of the chair and flung it, donning the overcoat with a boss’s flourish, and then pointed outside—
"Let’s bolt to Wudaokou, no looking back!"
...
At nine ten, a white sedan pulled up in front of an old dormitory quadrant at Jinghua.
This place was actually a small courtyard, resembling an old house sunken within a garden.
About ten such houses were scattered, quietly tucked away in a secluded corner of the campus.
They appeared to be courtyard houses from the outside.
In fact.
They were indeed courtyard houses.
In the past, these hos sheltered famous professors, pre-liberation erudite college students.
It wasn’t until recent years, as most of the old professors passed away, that Jinghua managed to reclaim these courtyards from their descendants after much effort, refurbishing them and exclusively granting them to the current top-tier professors.
One could say, to reside in one of these ten courtyards is the highest privilege a scholar of this country could aspire to in modern tis.
By the courtyard gate, Fu Xuefeng got out of the driver’s seat, jogged to the front passenger side, and carefully helped his wife Tao Feifei, who was pregnant, get out of the car.
Behind them, Li Zheng hurried out of the car, robustly ran to the other side, and pulled out the hesitating Lin Yujing.
Lin Yujing let herself be pulled out, but still hunched over, wanting to crawl back in, "Wait... I need more ti... ntal preparation!!"
"If we wait any longer, the professor will be asleep!!" Li Zheng roughly wrapped his arms around Lin Yujing’s waist and cursed, "Besides, you were never this nervous eting my parents."
"But... that can’t compare to eting the professor."
"Hmm... indeed not." Li Zheng let go, allowing Lin Yujing to fall back into the car, "Well then, prepare at your own pace, I’m going in first."
"Hmm..." Lin Yujing lay on the back seat, rubbing her nose and glaring back, "No way, wait for , we go in together!"
"Hahaha." Tao Feifei, standing by the door with her belly, laughed, "It’s still the sa as before, the two of you."
"Teacher Tao is joking..." Li Zheng scratched his head and chuckled foolishly, "My dear wife is still so undisciplined."
"Alright, stop chatting..." Fu Xuefeng pressed the doorbell, looking back anxiously, "I’m really going out on a limb here, helping you contact the professor... The professor rests by ten at the latest, rember to keep it short and to the point..."
"Thanks, Teacher Fu."
"Thanks my ass, I just want to cuss you out! Who deals with this sort of thing on New Year’s Eve??" After cursing, Fu Xuefeng turned to protect Tao Feifei’s belly, "It’s only because you found a wife... otherwise, it’d be insane to help you with this kind of stuff..."
"No, co on, be clear, Li Zheng." Tao Feifei demanded of Fu Xuefeng, "It was who forced him to help you guys, it’s all because of my face."
"Haha, we’re all family." Li Zheng laughed, "Teacher’s family has helped threefold, I rember it all."
As they were speaking, the front door opened, a maid appeared, and Lin Yujing hurriedly squeezed out of the car and snuck behind Li Zheng to peer inside.
After confirmation, the maid led them into the yard.
In the study, Yang Zhenhua was video chatting with his family abroad. Hearing the noise, he quickly said his goodbyes.
As they all entered, he was just pushing himself up from the desk to greet them.
Everyone busily exchanged greetings, helping the professor to his seat.
Along with them, Li Zheng presented the thirteen-page draft of the paper he had just organized.
A long wait began.
No one spoke in the room; only occasionally could one hear the sound of the professor wetting his fingers to turn the pages.
About twenty minutes later, Fu Xuefeng exchanged a glance with Li Zheng. Not daring to interrupt, he and Tao Feifei quietly left.
Another ten minutes passed, and Lin Yujing, hiding behind Li Zheng, couldn’t help but poke him.
"The professor is so serious..."
"Yeah," Li Zheng sighed, "I only hope that when I’m his age, I can also concentrate on such complex material..."
"You’ll be even more focused..."
"Mm, I think so too."
As they were talking, the professor, who had been earnestly reading, suddenly made a hoarse noise.
"Water..." He was holding the papers with one hand, and raised the other.
The maid outside seed to be familiar with this request; in a mont, she brought a cup filled with warm water to the professor’s hand.
After taking a few sips, the professor finally set the paper down, rubbed his forehead, and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.
"Confused, confused... I’ve only read this far, and I already have a headache..."
"You’re not confused, you’re just used to going to bed early." The maid glanced at Li Zheng and Lin Yujing before suggesting, "How about resting today and continuing tomorrow?"
"Yes." Li Zheng quickly stood up, "Whenever you finish, you can find us at any ti, we’re at your call."
"It’s not that, Li Zheng." The professor slowly opened his eyes, squinted, and smiled, "I can’t finish it. During this ti, the only thing I’m certain of is—I’ve grown so old that I completely can’t understand it anymore."
"..." Li Zheng’s head dropped, suddenly feeling a bit sour.
"Um..." Lin Yujing also tugged at Li Zheng’s hand, bowing her head.
The professor certainly wasn’t unable to understand... 20 years ago, no... even 10 years ago, he definitely could have understood it, and much faster than most others.
But now, for a man nearing a hundred years of age, to make his brain follow along with the thoughts in the paper and do these calculations was perhaps a true tornt.
"It’s nothing, we all reach this day." The professor looked forward calmly, raising his hand as he spoke, "Though I can’t understand it, that doesn’t hinder my feeling towards it; I may not be able to comprehend it, but my experience and intuition are still present... This paper, on the surface, discusses condensed matter, quantum materials, and superconductivity... but I can feel it, its soul is field theory..."
"!" Li Zheng’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t help but smack Lin Yujing’s thigh and exclaid, "Brilliant!"
"I can feel the thrill that you felt at its discovery, just like... just like the first ti I used nonlinear partial differential equations..." The professor turned around, gesticulating animatedly as he spoke, "Suddenly a whole new perspective opened up, a world I had never seen before. I believe you felt it..."
Li Zheng and Lin Yujing nodded frantically.
"Ah." Yang Zhenhua saw Lin Yujing and was montarily stunned, "You’re really beautiful..."
Li Zheng intervened in a fluster, "Just average, average..."
"Sorry... sotis I say things or do things like a child..." Yang Zhenhua waved it off and picked up the paper again, "But I have to tell you cruelly that in physics, there have been countless people who thought they had discovered sothing, only to find that in the end they had difficulty convincing even themselves. This paper has value, but it’s not necessarily correct, and it’s probably mistaken, yet that doesn’t take away from its value."
"Of course, everything needs experintal verification." Li Zheng nodded, "Considering the complexity of the related experints, we had no choice but to disturb you."
"Are you thinking of starting experintal verification right away?" Yang Zhenhua’s brow tightened, "There’s no need to rush. In most cases, theory precedes experint. Three to five years is fast; it’s not unusual for it to take thirty to fifty years."
"I can wait, but my teacher is already 46 years old." Li Zheng said earnestly, "The teacher who guided us to this point is still just a lecturer. As you know, for theoretical scientists, this age is already twilight... but I 100% believe he has things that are dozens of tis more impressive than this..."
"Who?"
"Lecturer Jie Qifen."
"I haven’t heard of him." Yang Zhenhua slowly bowed his head back down to the paper, "But that’s alright... Let think..."
Another ten minutes passed, and he put down the paper again.
It was evident in his eyes that he felt a sense of unwillingness toward the passing of ti.
All along, the professor seed to take everything in stride, but during this fleeting mont, he truly displayed his unwillingness.
However, in the end, he laughed.
"To be honest, Li Zheng." The professor patted the papers and said to Li Zheng, "I hope it’s wrong. That way, there’s no need for to regret not understanding it."
Li Zheng and Lin Yujing both laughed along with him.
This level of asured humor also smoothed out the fluctuations in their hearts unknowingly.
"Alright, bring the phone." Yang Zhenhua gestured with his hand.
The maid quickly brought over a cellphone, but still reminded him, "Professor, it’s very late..."
"Don’t worry, everyone under the age of 60 is certainly still awake." The professor smiled as he scrolled through the contact list, "I’ll help you get in touch, but I won’t voice any personal stance, I won’t judge, and I cannot guarantee I’ll be of help. It’ll be up to the people at our low-dinsional quantum lab."
"Thank you, Professor, that’s enough," Li Zheng replied gratefully.
After a phone call, Yang Zhenhua handwrote an address for Li Zheng.
"Their director is still in the lab; you can go there right now." The professor handed the address to Li Zheng, patting his hand, "Can I keep this paper with ?"
"Of course, I also have the electronic version."
"Then you should go now." Yang Zhenhua waved him off, "Even if it’s successful, there’s no need to co back to thank . If you absolutely must show gratitude..."
He said with a laugh as he picked up the paper, "Papers like this...bring more next ti, and make sure to co with her."
"......"
"Hahaha." Yang Zhenhua looked at Li Zheng’s unease and Lin Yujing’s embarrassnt and couldn’t help but burst into laughter, "That’s great, you two should definitely invite to your wedding. If it’s you guys, I’ll crawl over there if I have to, hahaha!"
"..."
After leaving the professor’s Siheyuan, Lin Yujing’s face was still flushed.
"Why does the professor seem... a bit frivolous...," she said, then covered her face and shook her head frantically, "No...It must be a return to simplicity...It’s not wrong to speak the truth, haha..."
"Damn it...luckily he’s over 90...can’t be a rival in love anymore..." Li Zheng wiped his sweat with a somber look, "If he was in his twenties... I don’t know if I could have competed..."
"Oh my, oh my!" Lin Yujing jumped around, covering her face, "Are you even jealous of Old Chen’s jealousy?"
"..." Li Zheng tossed his head, "Let’s not talk about this... it’s disrespectful."
"You’re not really..." Lin Yujing covered her face and burst into hysterical laughter, "Huhuhu... The professor was just being honest about a fact, look how scared it got you."
"Then why didn’t he say I’m handso?"
"Ugh!!"
...
Around 10:30, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing finally found the low-dinsional quantum experintal lab in the science building.
The person who received them was a middle-aged scholar with a slightly unruly hairstyle, reminiscent of an academic version of Tu Yikou.
At this level, conversation can be minimal, as everything is communicated through papers.
This ti, however, this scholar was a bit "smarter."
After rapidly reviewing Li Zheng’s notebook for about ten minutes, he picked up the phone...
Then he called three more people over...
A mont later, three scholars of varying ages arrived, and interestingly, their amount of hair was inversely proportional to their age,
The reception venue was shifted to a eting room where they each had a freshly printed paper in hand, reading while discussing, occasionally asking Li Zheng and Lin Yujing questions.
This atmosphere continued until 1 am, and before they knew it, the new year had arrived.
After exchanging a look, the original middle-aged scholar nodded at Li Zheng.
"We will terminate our current projects and try the twist-angle experints with the three easiest-to-implent materials you ntioned."
Li Zheng and Lin Yujing were almost dozing off, but they were instantly alert when they heard this, no longer sleepy.
"Big brother, are you agreeing so readily?!" Li Zheng exclaid involuntarily.
The young scholar with the pure bald head and glasses laughed, "You’re hilarious... This is our Director Wang Yi... This gentleman is Academy of Sciences mber Fang Zengtong, a quantum physics researcher, and this one is Academy mber Xie Wei from the condensed matter field..."
"?!?!?!"
"Um? Um! Um? Um? Um!"
The older bigwig with lush facial hair also laughed, "Kid, do you know how many years it’s been since the professor ntioned anything academic? Even if your thing had no value, we’d still have to dissect and scrutinize it thoroughly."
Next to him, the relatively composed middle-aged bigwig with a more conservative amount of hair nodded repeatedly.
"It does have value, but going over your computations again will take a long ti. Usually, we require thorough verification before experintation, but since the professor ntioned it, we can make up that process later."
"Teacher Xie, I’ll handle that part," said the bald young man who had spoken earlier, "Should I get a few doctoral colleagues from the math departnt if we need speed?"
"No, no, no," Wang Yi raised his hand, "Although I don’t dare to have high hopes, if this theory is even a little bit correct... we must take good care of it."
He stood up and extended his right hand to Li Zheng, "Thank you for your trust in us. Normally, one shouldn’t show their work to anyone before publication, especially since you are, after all, from... Ji University...um..."
"Ji University?" Li Zheng’s eyes widened as he shook hands, "Where’s Ji University? Who’s from Ji University??"
"Hahaha!" The bald doctoral student laughed uproariously, "You’re going to get beaten to death when you go back."
"Stop joking around," Wang Yi also laughed, "Jinghua Jida collaborates deeply in many fields, including the one we’re about to work on, so I’m curious..."
Wang Yi held Li Zheng’s hand and asked tentatively, "Didn’t you try finding a professor at your own school first?"
"It’s a long story..." Li Zheng shook his head, "And I’ve checked, the resources in this area at Ji University are mainly held by Chu Youhua, and I don’t get along with him..."
In an instant.
"Oh..."
"Oh..."
"Oh..."
"Oh..."
Four "ohs" in a row from across the room.
Then, they all stood up in unison.
Old Academy mber Fang Zengtong rushed ahead of everyone, excitedly coming forward and grabbing Li Zheng’s hand without letting go.
"That’s right!"
"We don’t get along with him either!!"
Li Zheng instantly responded with quadruple stares.
Should have said so earlier, we’re on the sa side!
No more words needed.
The Wudaokou crowd!
Follow to the pass!
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