Upon Li Zheng’s return, the girl sitting beside Lin Yujing instantly stood up.
"Lele!" Lin Yujing grabbed the girl, "I’m ignoring him, let’s sit."
The girl’s face stiffened, looking back in horror, "Jingjing... it’s not your boyfriend that’s terrifying, but his friend."
Following her horrified gaze, it was indeed Mo Nian.
It was a clear-field gaze!
Mo Nian was using his gaze to clear the field!
Surrounding Lin Yujing in a circle, like a laser sweep, the area within three seats was suddenly deserted.
"Hmm, there are empty seats now, let’s sit together." Mo Nian nodded in satisfaction, hugging Li Zheng and smiling, "The students from the School of Physics are really friendly, I like this school."
Li Zheng sighed, at a loss for words.
Ever since he paired up with Mo Nian, his freedom to navigate socially had greatly diminished.
Initially, using the saved time to study was a great idea, but there was always this feeling of helplessness as if people ran away even before he could make a move.
Li Zheng playfully hit Mo Nian and said, "I remember we made a pact to spar in sports when we have time."
"Anytime." Mo Nian immediately showed three fingers, "For you, I’ll start with just three fingers."
"Fine," Li Zheng chuckled, "then, see you in the physical education class."
"Sure, but I chose yoga, what about you?"
"Calisthenics!"
"Seems... both are on Thursdays, in roughly the same indoors?"
"Right."
"Then let’s not talk further, see you in the physical education class!"
"See you in the physical education class!"
Although both of them sounded impressive, as if they would coolly stride away,
in reality, they still headed to their seats together and attended the physics class.
The students from the School of Physics were so friendly, Li Zheng was of course appreciative, promptly and firmly taking a seat beside Lin Yujing.
"Hehe."
"Move over, move over." Lin Yujing annoyedly shifted towards the window, "You scared all my classmates away, who said you had to sit here?"
"Ah, like the rare meeting of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, classmates are just being considerate."
"Nonsense!" Lin Yujing turned her head and yelled, "We can see each other every day, a simple WeChat message anytime, plus the whole weekend."
"I’ve been busy with my project." Li Zheng scratched his head.
"Too busy to even send a WeChat message to coax me to sleep?"
"Ah? You need that?"
"It’s just an example." Lin Yujing pulled out her phone and lit it up, "Look, the last time you contacted me was half a month ago."
"Has it been that long..."
"It’s not about how long it’s been." Lin Yujing gritted her teeth and pointed at the screen, "I know you’re busy, and I didn’t want to disturb you, so one night I said, ’Goodnight, don’t work too hard, my time follows yours, you can come to me whenever you’re free.’ Look what you replied!"
Li Zheng stared at the screen and muttered, "’Woman, you only slow down my research...’"
"And you still have the face to say it!!"
"At that time, I was too engrossed in the simulation experiment, didn’t consider much." Li Zheng laughed, "It’s fine now, I can accompany you day and night."
"Move over, move over, I’m perfectly fine, I don’t need your company!" Lin Yujing turned her face and put on her headphones, "It’s just a project, who can’t handle it? Many teachers are wooing me."
Li Zheng raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Wow, wow, then you’re really awesome~"
"I’m mad now!" Lin Yujing stomped her foot, started packing her stuff to rise, "I’m going into seclusion for half a year to work on the project, see you next term."
"Ah, not this again..."
Just as Lin Yujing was about to make a swift exit, Mo Nian in the front row suddenly turned around manfully.
"Stay calm." Mo Nian nodded steadily at Lin Yujing, "Li Zheng is just not good at expressing himself, he actually thinks of you every time during his experiments, but for the team’s goals, he prefers to suppress his feelings temporarily. Because whenever he hears your voice, his hands really shake, and the text he types is filled with bitterness, lacking any rigor."
"???" Lin Yujing raised her eyebrows, squinted, looked sideways at Li Zheng with a teasing glance, and couldn’t help giggling behind her hand.
"Brother Mo, don’t do this..." Li Zheng waved his hands repeatedly, "I don’t think about these things when I’m focused."
"It’s you who shouldn’t do this, feelings need to be expressed." Mo Nian turned to look at Lin Yujing and said, "The most common thing Li Zheng says in the lab is ’Shen Yiyun really wastes this lab coat’, and the second most frequent thing he says is, ’I really wish Lin Yujing could work with me on experiments instead of Shi Yang’."
"Giggle giggle giggle..." Lin Yujing already had her hand over her mouth, bursting into laughter, her whole being swinging towards Li Zheng with a long-"~~~~".
"Big brother, stop messing around!" Li Zheng stood up and swiftly turned Mo Nian back around, "You’re disrupting our balance of competition."
"Just one last sentence." Mo Nian chuckled, looking up, "Li Zheng’s bedside is plastered with your photos."
"I do not!!" Li Zheng was frantic.
"Pfft hahaha!" Lin Yujing collapsed onto the desk laughing.
Li Zheng blushed and gestured, "This guy is talking nonsense, don’t believe a word he says."
"Giggle giggle... you look so cute when you’re lovesick..." Lin Yujing, observing Li Zheng more closely, laughed even harder, pounding the desk and stomping her feet, unable to stop.
It was over, totally over.
After leaving her alone for fifteen days, just when he was about to make her concede...
It was over, completely over.
And yet, Mo Nian was smiling, contentedly opening his book.
"Brother Nian..." a feeble voice came from nearby.
"Ah..." Mo Nian shuddered, turning his head, "Oh, you’re here..."
"..." Yang Jun adjusted his glasses with frustration, "I just don’t get what they are mumbling about. Back in our place, even the kids can carry water."
Mo Nian pondered for a moment, then asked, "Jun... do you simply not understand what love is, thinking it’s just about getting married and having kids?"
"Pretty much..."
"After you graduate from university, do you want to go back to your hometown to live, or stay in this city to struggle?"
New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on ƒгeewebnovёl.com.
"Struggle first, then go back."
"So do you want to go back and find a woman to have children for you or embrace a true love here?"
"...Love... love..."
"If that’s the case, you need to start observing and understanding everything about this world," said Mo Nian, sending a signal to the others, "start by observing them."
"Is this city love, Brother Nian?"
"Hmm... it’s only one type; there are many more, like those more direct experiences I had before... no, the ink isn’t dry yet, I’ll tell you next time. Just quietly observe for now."
"Okay, I’ll jot down everything and learn."
Yang Jun stared wide-eyed, opened a brand new notebook, and wrote down four characters on the first page—
"Sage of Love Manual."
Learning flirting from Brother Li, solid!
In the back row, due to Mo Nian’s forceful intervention, although it seemed unchanged on the surface, Li Zheng had actually become shorter by a head, from a "cold, women only disrupt his focus, handsome man" to a "emotionally rich, yet shy to express, handsome man."
"Alright, letting you off the hook now," Lin Yujing laughed as she ruffled the handsome man’s hair, "We haven’t had a chance to use the telescope we bought last time. Pick a clear night to watch the moon, and with some luck, even see Jupiter."
"Okay, tonight at the dorm rooftop it is."
"Can’t you be serious?" Lin Yujing said anxiously, "Such a great opportunity for mountain camping. Do I need to teach you?"
Li Zheng’s eyes widened: "Mountain top... camping... with a little tent... the kind that includes an overnight stay?"
"...Not necessarily... "
"Brilliant!" Li Zheng clapped his hands in excitement, "This weekend it is then. I’ll ask Old Li for a tent; let’s have a two-day, two-night wilderness survival."
"No... it doesn’t have to be that hardcore..."
"Ah, just leave it to me, two days and two nights, and no one’s allowed to bail."
"Um..."
In the front row, Yang Jun wrote furiously until his eyes bulged.
Worthy of Brother Li!
In just a few sentences, it escalated to an overnight camp for offspring!
Remembered it, remembered it all.
Invite the girl you like for a mountain top camp, emphasizing no bailing for two days and two nights.
A few minutes later, Cui Shenzhi walked into the classroom, bursting with excitement upon seeing Li Zheng, Mo Nian, and others.
Here they come! They finally came to listen to my lecture again!
It felt like being affirmed.
Even turning on the computer and projector felt more energetic.
I will try my best not to disappoint you, Teacher Li!
As the bell rang, Cui Shenzhi got energized, talked non-stop throughout the entire class.
At the end of class, he seemed to see Li Zheng nodding towards him.
He nodded back firmly.
I’ve received your affirmation!
I’ll definitely keep up my performance next class, no slacking.
However, he didn’t know.
Li Zheng’s nod was actually to psych himself up.
10 minutes, he only had these 10-minute class breaks.
First, to drag Lin Yujing to the secluded hallway where Jie Qifen usually smoked, at least 3 minutes there.
Another 3 minutes back.
That left only 4 minutes in-between.
4 minutes, the pinnacle, was enough.
As Cui Shenzhi announced the end of class, Li Zheng grabbed Lin Yujing and jumped up.
"Make it quick!"
"No... no need to rush..."
"Stop talking, every word you say costs 10 seconds of experience."
"Um..."
But just as Li Zheng was dragging Lin Yujing out of their seats,
Mo Nian turned back with a fierce look.
Li Zheng shivered, dodged the gaze, and pulled Jingjing to hurry away.
No way, big brother!
No one understood Jingjing better than him.
This ultimate experience was about to solidify, and big brother, what are you up to now!
But then Brother Nian agilely jumped over Yang Jun, making a blockade in the corridor.
"There’s trouble with the project."
Suddenly, Li Zheng’s steps halted abruptly.
On the contrary, it was Lin Yujing who, due to inertia, was almost thrown out.
Fortunately, Li Zheng grabbed her again, barely managing to stabilize her.
No more talk.
Lin Yujing was going to be sick!
She wanted to hit someone, but seeing the serious expressions on both Li Zheng and Brother Nian’s faces, she swallowed her grievance back down...
Weak, pitiful, yet hopeless.
She couldn’t believe she was at this point today.
When exactly had she agreed to this bully boyfriend setup?
Meanwhile, Brother Nian showed Li Zheng his phone: "The Yingpei project kick-off meeting, in 20 minutes."
"That’s it?" Li Zheng waved his hand in disappointment, "I already said to ignore Zhang Shandong. I’ve blocked all these things long ago."
"Look closely at who sent this to me." Brother Nian lifted his phone, pointing to the sender.
Li Zheng took a closer look—
Bing Qingquan.
Brother Nian nodded and continued, "Professor Bing is also invited."
Li Zheng widened his eyes, "Zhang Shandong contacted the Biology Institute??"
"Seems so."
"But we’ve already concluded our collaboration with the Chemical Institute!"
"I’m not sure they know that, and..." Brother Nian said somberly, "technically, only publication finalizes everything, mere submission means nothing."
Li Zheng stared in disbelief for a long time.
He was still too naive.
Even Zhou Yi was somewhat naive.
Is there really such an operation?
Brother Nian then put away his phone, and began tidying up the stuff on the table, "Of course, we’re also on the meeting list. You can choose not to go, but I have to honor Professor Bing’s reputation. She seems a bit unclear about the situation too, someone from our side needs to go clarify things."
"No, no, this crosses the line. I must go... call up Keqing, Tu Yikou and Moming can stay out of this." Li Zheng rubbed his forehead, about to curse something but then laughed, "Who would have thought… turns out I’ve been too polite."
"Hmm…" Lin Yujing breathed a sigh of relief, "You guys handle projects as if you’re going to war…"
"Yes, I find it strange too…" Li Zheng awkwardly pinched Jingjing’s palm, "This... probably won’t see you till next week..."
"Go on, go on." Lin Yujing smiled and let go of his hand, "Just remember to soothe, and camping is fine."
"So you really do need soothing? That’s funny."
"Are you annoying or what!!"
Li Zheng and Brother Nian then hurriedly left.
Students from the School of Physics finally breathed a sigh of relief, and Lele carefully moved back beside Lin Yujing: "They left?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"They won’t suddenly come back, will they?"
"No, no."
"Phew…" Lele sighed in relief, but then saw another buzz-cut in front of them. He tapped the guy and asked, "Classmate, are you from Yingpei too?"
Yang Jun shuddered and hurriedly turned around, "Yes..."
"Are all Yingpei people this weird?"
"Um... actually, there’s another brother who’s even weirder... but you probably won’t see him in class..."
"Haha, I’ve heard, there’s a legendary truant from Jinghua Jida and Ren University." Lele inquired, "Got any pictures? I’d really like to see what such a legendary guy looks like."
"Let me see..."
As Yang Jun looked through his photos, Lele asked again, "I heard your Yingpei activities are plentiful, and being in the Mixed Residence Academy, do you have parties every night?"
"Party… not really," Yang Jun swallowed, glanced at the Sage of Love Manual on the desk, and after a determined resolve, turned back fiercely, "But we have mountaintop camps where we stargaze for two days and nights, no one allowed to leave… you... you can’t leave either…"
"???" Lele jumped up in shock, hurriedly grabbing Lin Yujing, "Jingjing… let’s move back a bit…"
Yang Jun.
First battle.
Sudden.
A few minutes later, Cui Shenzhi returned to the classroom full of anticipation, ready for another informative session.
Only to find that Li Zheng and his group had all vanished.
All that was left was a pair of glasses.
Cui Shenzhi.
Next round.
Suddenly.
Of course, all of these were friendly fire incidents.
In front of the Russian Literature Building, Li Zheng, Mo Nian, and Chang Keqing gathered once again.
Over the week, although Li Zheng had blocked most of the information within the institute, that did not mean nothing had happened.
According to what Chang Keqing had gathered, after Zhang Shandong had approved the topic, he initiated the inter-departmental cooperation process, but he no longer contacted the Chemical Institute, instead, he reached out to the Biology Institute.
Surprisingly, the smoothness of the process far exceeded expectations. The Biology Institute was very cooperative concerning this project, so much so that they sent two senior professors to participate in today’s project initiation meeting.
This was different from everyone’s predictions, including those made by Teacher Zhou Xiao.
In such a situation, Li Zheng couldn’t help but start contemplating in a certain direction.
"Did Dean Niu do this?"
Chang Keqing spread his hands and said, "Not sure, Dean Niu has been in Europe for academic exchange this period."
Mo Nian asked, "Should we clarify the situation with Dean Niu?"
"I have Dean Niu’s WeChat," Chang Keqing looked at the time and said, "I can report the situation at any time, but it’s four o’clock in the morning over there."
"Let’s sort it out after the meeting and then send a message," Li Zheng sighed. "I never thought this was any issue. Had I known, I would have contacted Dean Niu from the start, or Zhou Yi, but who would have thought that having Zhang Shandong in the middle could be so nauseating."
As they were speaking, a greeting came.
It was Liu Yuwei and Wu Yue.
"Hi," Liu Yuwei said with a smile and wave, "Congratulations on cooperating with the Biology Institute on such a big project right off the bat."
"Yeah," Li Zheng just nodded.
"We’ll head up then, you guys chat," Liu Yuwei then proceeded up the stairs.
Wu Yue, far less confident than usual, said he wanted to talk to Li Zheng for a bit. After Liu Yuwei entered the building, he pursed his lips and bowed his head, not daring to look at the few people there. He hesitantly said, "I... I really didn’t know it would be like this..."
"Come on, cut the act," Mo Nian just scoffed, "Everyone in the institute knows you’ve been looking for Zhang Shandong every other day."
"Yes... I admit... I’ve been building a good relationship with Teacher Zhang," Wu Yue said, his voice growing fainter, "but... who knew he would arrange it like this... I swear, I had no ill intent... I just entered the university and wanted to do something, to build good relationships with teachers... As for this level of a project... I really couldn’t even understand it."
"Enough, we only care about what you are doing," Mo Nian simply turned his wrist and pulled Wu Yue into the office building.
Wu Yue stumbled, his eyes welling up, and didn’t dare to say more before heading upstairs.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yi also replied to a WeChat message.
Upon learning that such a project initiation meeting had taken place, he only returned one word—
[Fuck].
He then continued with the main text.
[This is fucking underhanded.]
[We can’t do anything now, I’ll go talk to Director Zhang.]
[Can’t believe it... your Yingpei actually has such a kind of teacher.]
[Believe me, this phenomenon is very rare, not common at all.]
[We will handle it, don’t be affected.]
[I’ve said a thousand times to keep a low profile, surely someone still leaked the news, otherwise the Biology Institute wouldn’t be so eager.]
[Over here, Yi Yun and Liu Tao would never do such a thing, check with your team when you have time.]
Li Zheng’s eyes widened, "Brother Huan thinks there’s a mole…"
"Tu Yikou?" Chang Keqing immediately thought of that man, "He is always hanging around the Biology Institute."
"Tu isn’t that kind of person," Mo Nian shook his head and pulled out his phone, "We aren’t like that, suspecting each other will only hurt feelings, since we’ve chosen to be together, let’s trust each other."
"…" Chang Keqing just shook his head, not willing to say more.
"Could it be someone accidentally leaked it?" Li Zheng pondered, "Like Lin Moming making reckless boasts?"
"Moming is very aware in that respect," Chang Keqing shook his head, "outside of work, she’s either eating or shopping on Taobao, or eating snacks she bought from Taobao while browsing Taobao, this shopping system seems to have a big impact on international students..."
"Or maybe it was me, accidentally saying something to someone?" Li Zheng rubbed his chin in introspection.
But then he saw Mo Nian suddenly scoff coldly, showing his phone.
"Well, the mystery has already been revealed."
On the screen.
Was a huge Shi Yang.
[Hey, got it done in just two weeks, pals, get ready to admire my big name in ’Science’.]
Beneath his fattest angle selfie showing his demonic nature, there was also a coded paper attached; although only Shi Yang’s big name was clear, it was evident that it was well-formed.
"Fuck!!" Li Zheng cursed outright.
"Fuck!!" Even Chang Keqing slammed his notebook.
"Alright," Mo Nian was actually the calmest one, holding up a finger, "We now have two options, one is to go upstairs for the meeting, the other is to rush to the Chemical Institute and beat up Shi Yang together."
"Meeting first, then beat Shi Yang," Li Zheng nodded vigorously, "Physical education class scrimmage brought forward, let’s see who makes him cry first."
"Good, that’s a good contest, shall we call Tu as well?"
"Yes, give him a lesson so painful it reaches his heart."
"I’m in too," Chang Keqing also glared with a hint of murderous intent, "I and Moming will bring coat hangers over."
The outcome of this meeting was still unknown.
But Shi Yang was definitely going to spiral to heaven.