This noon, Li Zheng, with great reluctance, still let Gu Jianfeng go with Shen Yuecen.
Although Gu Jianfeng didn’t explicitly state whom she would follow next, from her demeanor and expressions it was evident that Shen Yuecen’s private mathematics research office was markedly more appealing to her. As for Li Zheng’s shared basement, it always had an aura of fear, although it might be barely acceptable if Lin Yujing was the only one there.
After agreeing on future contact methods, Li Zheng had no choice but to say goodbye to Gu Jianfeng, while enduring Shen Yuecen’s contemptuous smile.
Perhaps, the world of mathematics really is better suited to solitarity.
The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on freёwebnovel.com.
Forget it, let Feng Bao’er fly freely, with Father Zheng always by her side.
...
So, with empty hands, Li Zheng returned to the college basement, utterly humiliated.
In order to avoid too much embarrassment, and out of curiosity about what the three of them could be talking about, Li Zheng didn’t hurry in. Instead, he eavesdropped at the door first.
It seemed they didn’t care much about Gu Jianfeng’s affairs, instead they were listening to Lin Moming tell a story.
Inside the room, Lin Moming was standing on a chair, gesticulating wildly.
"So, you see, the statement in the elementary school science textbook is totally inaccurate."
"The three essentials of life, sunlight, air, water, completely wrong!"
"Life doesn’t necessarily need light, nor does it need any specific gas or liquid."
"Not even talking about extraterrestrial life, these three essentials are even wrong for Earth."
"Current paleobiology research has basically confirmed that life originated from the primordial deep-sea soup, and the first mainstream life forms were anaerobic bacteria, that is, a group of bacteria that absorbed energy and replicated themselves at sulfide vents at the bottom of the sea, for whom oxygen was actually the most deadly poison."
"If anything, life relies on one element—entropy!"
"Wow," Lin Yujing clapped in amazement, "I can’t believe I’m being lectured here by a kid about entropy...how cute."
"Ha!" Lin Moming declared confidently with her hands on her hips," do you know the most beautiful definition of life? — ’Life feeds on negative entropy.’"
Chang Keqing spoke indifferently, "Isn’t that something a physicist said?"
"Haha, Keqing, even you have today." Lin Moming mocked triumphantly, "He’s not just a physicist, you know. Besides being one of the founders of quantum mechanics, he’s also a founding figure in molecular biology and DNA science, and even our introductory book in paleobiology is his ’What is Life?’ This is a true interdisciplinary titan, unlike the trivial Li Zheng!"
"Scum Chap!" Lin Yujing responded immediately, baring her teeth and slamming the table.
Chang Keqing was surprised.
Is this what everyone really thinks?
This time, she finally had the courage to voice her opinion, "Right, Li Zheng is scum."
At that moment, for the first time in her life, she felt what it was like to fit in.
Somehow, three independent women with different personalities and cultures, suddenly found a common topic and, like a support group, embarked on a critique of Li Zheng.
It was one thing for Lin Yujing to criticize.
For Chang Keqing to criticize Li Zheng was also bearable.
But what business was it of Lin Moming’s?
And yet Lin Moming was the one who cursed the most fiercely.
"He always thinks he’s super funny, but what he says is just super cold, nobody really wants to laugh. Everybody is just giving him face, right? Right, right, right?"
"And, have you noticed, he wears the same clothes for two weeks."
"He always bullies Shi Yang into doing weird things."
"Last time he even forced me to eat five fat kidneys at once, wuwuwu…"
Click!
The door opened.
Through the crack, a fierce gaze appeared.
"Um!" Lin Moming trembled on the chair, and crashed down on the spot.
"See clearly." Li Zheng adjusted his collar as he walked in, "It’s the same shirt, I bought seven of them."
"Very...stylish," Lin Moming nodded tremblingly as she hopped down to pull out a chair for Li Zheng, "Bro, take a seat."
As Li Zheng sat down, he noticed Lin Yujing and Chang Keqing were inadvertently showing a hint of disgust.
"Is buying a lot of the same clothes to wear disgusting?" Li Zheng asked, puzzled.
After deep thought, Chang Keqing tried to describe it accurately, "It’s not disgusting, it gives more of a psychopathic vibe."
"Then what about Mo Nian, who has 15 identical vests?" Li Zheng retorted angrily.
"His issue goes beyond being a psychopath." Chang Keqing stated seriously, "You may be scum, but don’t compare bad with worse."
"I just don’t get why you associate the diversity of clothing with being a psychopath?"
"Well, it’s not really psychotic. The way you dress is just kinda scummy—that’s Zuckerberg scum," Lin Yujing said, shrugging.
"..."
"!" Lin Moming’s expression shifted, "Double entendre + pun, using Zuckerberg’s eternal T-shirt to satirize Li Zheng, a linguistic genius GET, hahaha so funny."
To fit in, Chang Keqing also laughed while covering her face.
"Hey, hey, hey, ’Zuckerberg’s scum’ is funny?" Li Zheng glared, "Even my coldest jokes are funnier than that, right?"
Lin Moming and Chang Keqing replied with even louder laughter.
As they spoke, there was a knock at the door, and Wu Shu and Ou Xingzhuo, having received the message, also came over.
Li Zheng immediately had Lin Yujing repeat the term "Zuckerberg" again.
Wu Shu then burst into laughter again, and she laughed for a very long time.
To get Wu Shu to stop, it took another 10 minutes.
Just as Li Zheng was about to start discussing the approach to the project, the door opened again, and Zhou Xiao poked his head in.
"Didn’t I say to come to me first if there’s a project issue? I only found out about this through someone else’s tip-off," he said.
"Please don’t be like this, come in first..." After inviting Zhou Xiao in, Li Zheng explained, "We haven’t even started yet, it hasn’t reached the point of troubling the teacher."
"It’s okay, Dean Niu has instructed me to fully cooperate with you throughout the process," Zhou Xiao said after sitting down, taking out his notebook and looking up earnestly. "Continue as normal, I’ll listen and then give you feedback."
"Alright."
In a matter of minutes, Li Zheng laid out his thoughts to Wu Shu, Ou Xingzhuo, and Zhou Xiao.
After Li Zheng finished, Wu Shu was the first to raise her hand: "I’ll join, but with the possibility of dropping out at any time. Based on my current knowledge, I judge that superconductivity theory is not an isolated issue. Understanding it might heavily depend on breakthroughs in other areas of theoretical physics, and if it’s confirmed to be the case, I am very likely to drop out."
"No problem, this is an open and voluntary project," Li Zheng then looked toward Ou Xingzhuo. "Ah Zhuo?"
"I’d rather not participate," Ou Xingzhuo responded decisively, followed by a sigh. "You freaks might not understand, but for someone like me, just managing my current study load is tough enough. I can’t even keep up with the papers and progress in my own field, let alone join for the sake of some resources and end up dragging you down."
Li Zheng nodded: "We can assign you less."
At the same time, he was vigorously making eye signals.
Who’s really going to give you that much work?
This is just to create an opportunity for you to work with Sister Shu.
"If the workload is less, just call me when you need help," Ou Xingzhuo said, seemingly oblivious to everything else, adjusting his glasses solemnly. "Forgive me for being mortal."
Wu Shu just smiled and patted her little brother’s head: "Don’t mind him; it’s not that he can’t keep up, he just doesn’t want to leech off your achievements, always inexplicably maintaining his shameful pride."
Ou Xingzhuo blushed, shaking off Wu Shu’s hand and quickly fixing his hair: "Crazy... It’s just that I really can’t keep up."
Li Zheng seemed to understand; Ou Xingzhuo’s resolve could only be pushed so far.
Next, he turned to Zhou Xiao, gesturing helplessly: "That’s the whole content, please advise."
Zhou Xiao quickly closed his notebook with a smile: "At least I understand some of this; after all, I also studied physics in my undergraduate days."
"Oh? Senior?" Wu Shu asked.
"No, no, I didn’t do my undergraduate at Ji University, missed it by quite a few points," Zhou Xiao waved his hands, saying, "It was in graduate school that I got into our school’s educational studies. Although I didn’t study physics so deeply, I still have a basic understanding of condensed matter and superconductivity."
Zhou Xiao, hesitating, then looked at Li Zheng: "So... I have some personal opinions... I don’t know if..."
"Please, feel free to speak," Li Zheng gestured again.
"That’s a bit presumptuous of me," Zhou Xiao nodded, reopened his notebook, and began to elaborate.
"Theoretical physics is an extremely difficult field to advance in."
"Not just physics but all disciplines; that’s why people have no choice but to do experiments."
"Of course, we are not working on a national key project here; it’s not that serious. As an undergraduate project, as long as it’s reasonable and legal, it’s acceptable."
"But you are no longer ordinary undergraduates."
Zhou Xiao said this, nodding earnestly at the group.
"This morning, I just represented Yingpei in a meeting that specifically discussed the matters concerning Li Zheng’s group and Gu Jianfeng."
"Now it’s not just Dean Niu; even the university leaders support investing more resources in you."
"Part of this is the funding and rewards that we can allocate ourselves, and another part is experimental resources."
"Such preferential treatment is desired not just by postgraduates and doctoral students but by many professors as well."
"But you must also know that this investment is not unlimited."
"The university certainly cannot force you to produce another major achievement immediately, but at least your direction should be somewhat viable," he continued.
"For this project, even if you are studying the superconductivity of some material, even if it’s a project that professors and Yangtze River Scholars dare not undertake, I can still fight to get resources for you."
"But to start from the fundamentals..."
"That is something only academicians are qualified to do."
"In any case, if you still insist on undertaking such a project, the support the university can offer will be very limited."
"Even just considering your personal scientific careers, this project should be set aside for the time being."
"I am certainly inexperienced, but this issue really does go beyond objective reality."
Zhou Xiao’s words were quite serious, but no one felt any pressure; on the contrary, they felt more relaxed.
"Teacher Zhou, university support isn’t needed. We’re just doing it for fun," Li Zheng said with a smile. "I mentioned it to you because we consider you one of us."
"Thank you..."
Lin Yujing supported her head with her hand and said, "There has already been too much research on the specifics of superconducting materials and their environments. It would be a true waste to have Li Zheng use his reputation to compete for resources from existing teams to do redundant ’stab in the dark’ research."
"Ah..." Zhou Xiao exclaimed, surprised, "You’ve already thought this through..."
Lin Moming cheerfully waved her hand: "It’s about the bigger picture, Teacher Zhou."
"Yes, yes... It’s me who lacked vision," Zhou Xiao never thought he would be admitting a mistake to an underage student. "Now I fully understand you. In that case, I’ll proceed with the project as normal, contact the School of Physics as soon as possible to find a professor in the relevant field to guide the study, and try to secure some experimental resources. Even if you’re only focused on theory, occasional experimental observation is necessary."
"There’s no rush," Li Zheng raised his hand, "I already have someone in mind for the guiding professor."
"You can tell me, and we can proceed through the normal channels of collaboration," Zhou Xiao opened his notebook again. "This will also bring additional performance, reputation, and resources for that teacher. It’s better than working in silence."
"That’s true," Li Zheng pondered and finally said, "Jie Qifen."
"Jie Qifen... never heard of him," Zhou Xiao shook his head and wrote the name down in his notebook, "Professor Jie Qifen, right...?"
"Not a professor."
"An academician?"
"Just a teacher."
Zhou Xiao, surprised, adjusted his glasses, "At least an... associate professor, are you sure it’s just a lecturer?"
"Sure."
"Alright... you have your own perspective," Zhou Xiao noted the name and then stood up to take his leave, "You guys continue chatting, I’m off to do what I can."
After a moment of hesitation, Li Zheng called out to him, "Teacher Zhou, there’s no need to try too hard with the School of Physics. If they make it difficult for Teacher Jie to supervise us, then we’ll just handle it ourselves. I don’t plan to ask a stranger to mentor this project."
"Got it," Zhou Xiao nodded, but he couldn’t help asking with confusion, "Li Zheng, with your level and lineup, the School of Physics is very likely to get a famous professor to step in. Do you really need to collaborate with a teacher who is virtually unknown?"
"Fame isn’t the point," Li Zheng patted Zhou Xiao’s shoulder with a smile, "I only work with people I’m familiar and trust, just like with you, Teacher Zhou. I wouldn’t let anyone else in."
"I’m... I’m flattered," Zhou Xiao, feeling strangely affirmed by the big shot, blushed and then raised his fist with vigor, "Understood, I’ll give it my all."
"My point is you don’t have to give it your all..."
"Hey! Teachers have their responsibilities, leave it to me, I’m off!"
"..."
...
After having lunch together and seeing off Ou Xingzhuo, it was time for afternoon classes.
As always, unless absolutely necessary, Li Zheng dared not skip classes.
Incredibly, this time, Gu Jianfeng also came to attend the class!
Of course, he only dared to come because he knew Li Zheng would cover for him.
So, Shen Yuecen’s battle target shifted that afternoon.
And the intensity even surpassed the era of Li Zheng.
If facing Li Zheng, Shen Yuecen would teach with 200% speed, like a racing car speeding by, leaving everyone unable to catch up.
With Gu Jianfeng in class, Shen Yuecen, however, entered the aviation era.
Everyone could only gaze at the sky, watching a supersonic plane slowly crossing the heavens.
Making comments like.
"So high up..."
"Must be fast..."
"As long as it’s not a bomber, we’re good..."
And so on.
Not just them, even Li Zheng had to switch to learning at double speed just to barely keep up.
With the sharp increase in difficulty, even he wasn’t sure he could score full marks in abstract algebra.
After the class, Li Zheng didn’t go to Shen Yuecen’s office for additional help but hurriedly took off for the School of Physics.
Hoping he wasn’t too late.
...
At five o’clock, in the experimental teaching center of the School of Physics, in the modern electrical engineering teaching laboratory, a man threw a stack of student experimental reports on the table, then took off his lab coat, opened the window, hopped onto the windowsill, and quietly lit a cigarette while watching the slowly disappearing curve of the setting sun.
He had barely taken a half puff when a righteous scolding suddenly burst forth.
"Xiao Jie! Who said you could smoke here!"
The man panicked, immediately tossed the cigarette butt away, and jumped off the windowsill.
But upon looking at the door, he realized that the intruder was this guy.
"You son of a..." Jie Qifen was amused yet couldn’t believe it, he lit another cigarette and resettled on the windowsill, waving his hand, "Close the door, close the door."
"Huh," Li Zheng grinned, locked the door firmly, and teased Jie Qifen, "So even you’re afraid of leadership, huh?"
"I’m afraid of jack shit when it comes to leadership. Could I be working here if I were scared of leadership?" Jie Qifen waved his hand with a smile, "You damn... remind me of my high school teacher... There was this time at noon, smoking in class with a few guys... and we got caught..."
"Then you got what you deserved," Li Zheng wandered into the room looking around, "This is it? Jinghua’s elite training lab is better than this."
"The photonics lab is a bit better," Jie Qifen lounged against the window frame and chuckled, "This one is for experiencing electrical engineering, Lanxiang might even be better."
Li Zheng then walked up to the lectern, looked at the experimental reports and shook his head, "Isn’t this the kind of work a graduate teaching assistant should be doing...?"
Jie Qifen laughed, pointing at Li Zheng with his cigarette, "Are you not satisfied with me unless you put me down? You think just because you published in ’Science,’ I won’t hit you?"
"You read it?"
"Didn’t. Isn’t it about chemistry?"
"Good that you didn’t. It’s actually quite flimsy, just used a microscope to see something nobody else has seen, that’s all," Li Zheng hopped up beside Jie Qifen, and slumped onto the windowsill with him, "Superconductivity, got time to explain it to me?"
"Superconductivity?" Jie Qifen waved his hand dismissively, "Superconductivity is just a phenomenon. To explain it, you need more fundamental theories. The current mainstream model is decades old, and personally, I don’t buy into its mathematical derivations. This leads us back to quantum mechanics, you know, I’m reluctant to share my personal views on this part with you."
"Come on, tell me..."
"??" Jie Qifen looked at Li Zheng weirdly, "What’s with the coy act, who has been spoiling you into having such a spoiled habit, got yourself a girlfriend?"
"Sharp eyes," Li Zheng raised an eyebrow.
"Fuck, I shouldn’t have asked..." Jie Qifen muttered, twisting the cigarette butt, "You came all this way just to embarrass me, or just to ask about superconductivity?"
"I thought you were prepared," Li Zheng said, glancing at his phone, "Our school’s teachers said they have already contacted the School of Physics, preparing to invite you to lead a project for us."
"Haven’t heard about it," Jie Qifen said with bored indifference, lighting another cigarette, "I can barely teach you and me, but I really can’t be bothered with the dumber ones."
"The others, the dumber ones..." Li Zheng raised his hand, "Are you talking about Lin Yujing or Gu Jianfeng?"
"Pfft!" Jie Qifen was so startled he sprayed out his cigarette butt, "Wait... is this your lineup??"
"There’s also Wu Shu."
"She’s coming too??" Jie Qifen said, his eyes wide, "This is like a once-in-a-decade undergraduate supergroup... Wait, say that again, what are you planning to do exactly?"
Conversations between smart people often skip a lot of the useless talk, so Li Zheng immediately switched to the most straightforward language.
"Using existing experimental superconductivity data as material, we try to use interdisciplinary thinking to propose new hypotheses on the basis of existing theories," Li Zheng explained with his hands raised, "Let me be clear, we don’t have the same ambition to reconstruct the theory like you do, we’re just trying to observe and summarize from more perspectives, to propose even a small hypothesis."
"But you have to understand," Jie Qifen wasn’t fiddling with a cigarette anymore, but rather began gesturing seriously, "even just for that little bit, you must thoroughly understand all of quantum mechanics, and how many people do you think can confidently say, ’I have calculated all of quantum mechanics’?"
"All of it?"
"Yes, the essence of quantum mechanics is all mathematics," Jie Qifen shook his head, "Though no one hates it more than I do, there probably aren’t many who understand it better than me."
"Watch it," Li Zheng said with a smirk, "None of the stuff I need to learn has survived a week with me."
"Sigh..." Jie Qifen sighed, leaning against the window frame and looking at Li Zheng with drooping eyes, "I’ve got no interest in your project, but with Lin Yujing, Gu Jianfeng, and Wu Shu together... it’d be bullshit if I wasn’t moved. Ask them if they can accept quantum mechanics lectures from someone who rejects quantum mechanics. If they can, then I can offer guidance."
"What are you thinking, they’re really looking forward to your class," Li Zheng laughed heartily, "I’ve talked you up to the skies, don’t let me down now."
"Wait... they really accept me, an... an... experimental administrator, teaching a class?"
"There you go again!" Li Zheng pointed at Jie Qifen and scolded, "You hate hierarchy, yet you belittle yourself so much, isn’t that twisted?"
"It’s just... but..." Jie Qifen actually scratched his head, a bit sheepishly, his voice trembling slightly, "Even though the academic circle has become worthless, being recognized by you guys... I... I appreciate it."
"Hey, hey, hey, you’re the one teaching here; we should be thanking you."
While they were speaking, Li Zheng’s phone rang, and it was Zhou Xiao calling.
"News," Li Zheng said with a smile, hopping off the windowsill and giving Jie Qifen a provocative look, "Get ready to leave this place."
"What do you mean?"
Li Zheng just smiled and answered the call.
He could have worked with Jie Qifen privately, but Zhou Xiao in the institute’s basement had also reminded him that if Yingpei goes through the formal procedure for mentor assignment, they could use this to restore Jie Qifen’s status as an instructor.
Though being a laboratory administrator is a respectable position, Jie Qifen should not be stuck here; even if he only taught himself, his impact would be greater than managing all the teaching laboratories.
The call connected, and Zhou Xiao’s voice came through immediately.
"Li Zheng, where are you?"
"I’m at the School of Physics," Li Zheng replied with a smile.
"Well, that’s just perfect, come to the fifth floor’s small conference room, the teachers from the School of Physics want to meet you."
"Okay, but I’m currently with Teacher Jie Qifen, should we come up together?"
"That so... wait..." Zhou Xiao obviously covered the phone to ask someone else, and then responded, "Come up by yourself first, the teachers here would rather not notify Jie Qifen just yet."
"???"
"Just come for now."
"Teacher Zhou, I consider you one of us," Li Zheng said, gripping the phone firmly, "We had an understanding before..."
"I know, I know; I’ve reflected everything honestly to this side of the School of Physics," Zhou Xiao replied earnestly, "They just want to talk to you first... Trust me, it’s always better to communicate in person. Wait a while and Professor Lu from the Institute of Condensed Matter will be here; he will personally listen to your thoughts. This matter does not conflict with your cooperation with Jie Qifen."
"..."
Jie Qifen’s laughter could be heard following that.
"Haha," he let out a long sigh, pulling out another cigarette, "Go upstairs, keep them separate, I can only give you lectures, I don’t have any resources for you, the School of Physics is full of real workers, not all are like Chu Youhua."
At Zhou Xiao’s behest, Li Zheng reluctantly agreed.
After hanging up, Li Zheng shook his head, "I am trying to fish you out of here."
"Nosey parker," Jie Qifen waved dismissively, "Close the door on your way out."
"Anyway..." Li Zheng clenched his fist, "Whether it’s criticism or recognition, you’re responsible for leading us in calculating the entirety of quantum mechanics."
"Of course," Jie Qifen said, turning his head with a smile, "It would be my honor."
"It’s ours as well."
Li Zheng left the classroom and closed the door behind him.
He nodded to himself.
He really was meddling, and Jie Qifen seemed to be doing all right here.
He just couldn’t accept it.
He couldn’t accept the way people like Chu Youhua looked at Jie Qifen as if they were looking at a dog, and the way they talked about Jie Qifen as if he was trash.
He wanted to see, this prestigious School of Physics.
Whether it was just Chu Youhua.
Or if they all were no better.