In the teaching buildings, one by one, the invigilators who had been patrolling the examination halls all seemed to be switched on at the same time, quickly gathering at the front lectern.
The quiet examination hall was already brewing with unrest.
This kind of disturbance had long transcended the scope of the School of Physics.
"Nature’s" double hit could incite a commotion that would penetrate every discipline at any time or place.
"Insane... Li Zheng has gone insane this time... "
"Two-dimensional borophene and phosphorene... doesn’t our school have the capability to do it? Isn’t Chu Youhua’s quantum technology claimed to be world-class?"
"Who knows... but even if we can’t do it, shouldn’t there be at least one person from the School of Physics among the authors? Shouldn’t such high-level projects be led in collaboration by the School of Physics?"
"If people from outside saw this, wouldn’t they laugh at our School of Physics?"
"Laughing or not doesn’t matter, it’s mainly about this year’s physics competition admissions... I’m afraid we’re going to be completely crushed by Jinghua and Zhongke..."
"Too tragic... The School of Physics is too tragic..."
...
"Even ’Nature’ created a cover like ’The Year of the Magic Angle’... this was clearly premeditated..."
"And both papers are purely Chinese teams... I might be exaggerating, but I feel like this is our first time standing tall and proud internationally..."
"But that’s not ’us’, it’s Jinghua and Zhongke... they’ve taken all the glory."
"Li Zheng and Lin Yujing are also listed as first authors."
"But the first institution is their lab! Think about it, if all these were done by our School of Physics, do you believe next year’s budget for our school would double?"
"...So you’re saying... just for Li Zheng’s work, excluding academic contribution, just based on funding... it’s worth billions?"
"And at least 7 billion of that should be the School of Physics’, and now it’s all nurturing Jinghua and Zhongke, they must be laughing in their dreams."
"Looking at this... Zhong Ping... must be losing his hair..."
...
Unlike the restraint among teachers, master’s and doctoral students were more unrestrained when they met.
"Fuck!!!"
"Fuck!!!"
"You saw it??"
"Who the hell could miss it!"
"Li Zheng is about to grind the whole School of Physics into the ground!!"
"Not about to, it’s already happening, fucking in progress, present continuous."
"This is a result of the year, could even dash for a Nobel Prize... isn’t he afraid of getting hit..."
"Hit? Who would hit whom??? If I were Zhongke or Jinghua, I’d give him a professorship right now! A cool 50 million funding, play as you like!! You could even do a pond of wine and forest of meat, or a microscope pond—Lin Yujing forest is also cool!"
"Now that you mention it, it’s not just Zhongke and Jinghua’s matter... even MIT can’t sit still... Li Zheng doesn’t have any titles after all, wouldn’t he be thrilled if he got an international offer?"
"But knowing his personality..."
"He surely wouldn’t even reply."
As they spoke about this, both graduate students lowered their heads.
"Fuck..."
"Fuck..."
"Such a rush..."
"I wish I could try ignoring an offer letter from MIT..."
"Impossible... you’d swim there if you had to..."
"Yeah... I’d crawl there right now."
...
The situation was even more heated on the campus media.
[Exploded, exploded, exploded again! This time it’s Nature with a one-two punch!]
[The three prestigious universities join forces to inaugurate ’The Year of the Magic Angle’!]
[That damn handsome man is back, together with Jinghua and Zhongke!]
But these articles were just brief good news, not explaining, nor able to explain why the School of Physics at Ji University was absent.
At times like this, the comment section had ample room to play.
"Li Zheng is at odds with the School of Physics, doing it deliberately to disgust people."
"That graduate student brother said that all the research resources in the School of Physics are in Chu Youhua’s hands, who verbally ordered not to collaborate with Li Zheng..."
"What grudge is this??"
"Haven’t you heard? Chu Youhua seems to have always wanted to take Lin Yujing under his wing, could Li Zheng tolerate that? Wu Shu also followed Chu Youhua, and then Li Zheng spitefully snatched him away."
"Wait, are we talking about ’taking’ and ’snatching’ in terms of studying, or something else?"
"Sigh, who knows..."
"What I’ve heard is different; it seems like the School of Physics pushed out Li Zheng’s mentor."
"Let me summarize—[The School of Physics eradicates the mentor, Chu Youhua seizes Yu Jing, Li Zheng erupts in furious crown, aligns with Jinghua, joins forces with Zhongke, splits into two paths upon entering the pass, Nature double feature!]"
Unsurprisingly, this highly concentrated and dramatic narrative quickly dominated the top comments of various articles in a short amount of time.
Just when everyone was heatedly discussing it...
[This article has been deleted by the author]
The campus media simultaneously fell silent.
However, the message had already been spread far and wide.
As a result, many groups and individuals received a series of strange messages.
[Holy shit, something big happened, it’s fucking awesome!]
[Quick, look, I’m forwarding it to you]
[Forwarded: (This article has been deleted by the author)]
The sudden collective silence of the campus media undoubtedly sent a signal to everyone—
This matter is more serious and more melodramatic than you think.
Man, just talking about this stuff gets people even more pumped up.
Many people initially had no interest in cutting-edge physics and were indifferent towards topics like Li Zheng.
But seeing a parade of "This article has been deleted" on their followed campus media and crazy forwarding of[404]messages in various student and work groups, even those not initially excited couldn’t help but get stirred up.
Suddenly, Ji University’s source of 21st-century campus culture, [Ji University Yiming] BBS, saw a surge in traffic.
If it were any other social media, a topic being censored might have been the norm, and they’d just let it be.
But on this bizarre, ancient BBS, combined with Ji University’s tradition and the need for memes, it didn’t take long for the top ten trending posts on the entire site to get completely derailed—
[Site-wide Hot Topics]
[1: Forwarded: (The Nature article and Li Zheng have been deleted by the School of Physics)]
[2: Forwarded: Forwarded: (The Nature article and Li Zheng have been deleted by the School of Physics)]
[3: Forwarded: Forwarded: Forwarded: (The Nature article and Li Zheng have been deleted by the School of Physics)]
...
[10: Forwarded: Forwarded: Forwarded: Forwarded: Forwarded...]
This wasn’t even the wildest part.
After about 15 minutes of this formation, the forum administrators were forced to intervene.
Due to the somewhat outdated forum system, for a brief moment, this surreal scene unfolded—
[Site-wide Hot Topics]
[1: Forwarded: (The Nature article and Li Zheng have been deleted by the School of Physics)] (Deleted by administrator)
[2: Forwarded: Forwarded: (The Nature article and Li Zheng have been deleted by the School of Physics)] (Deleted by administrator)
[3: Forwarded: Forwarded: Forwarded: (The Nature article and Li Zheng have been deleted by the School of Physics)] (Deleted by administrator)
...
[10: Forwarded: Forwarded: Forwarded: Forwarded: ...] (Deleted by administrator)
Thus, in the mysterious and unpredictable manner, within a mere hour, some teachers managed to turn a small campus news story into the sole focus that blazed like a midday sun.
...
By the time Min Jianzhong, Liu Qi, and Chu Youhua arrived at Ji University Broadcomm Information Technology Co., Ltd., they were in a state of utter chaos.
The reason for this assembly to look for someone was that Sui Miao and Zhong Ping had gone to stabilize the more important Li Zheng.
If they were flustered, the subsidiary company’s staff were no less so.
The CEO, the Vice President, and department heads all came forward to greet them, mopping their brows and frantically explaining all the way.
But even once inside the meeting room, it was still the same old runaround.
"Teacher Jie Qifen came by just once... stayed for half a day, then left saying he was taking sick leave..."
"We’re also looking for him..."
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
"Principal Min... if it goes on like this... we’ll have no choice but to call the police..."
"What about his family???" Min Jianzhong, massaging his forehead, asked, "Has anyone been to his place? There should be contact information for relatives in his file, right?"
Liu Qi looked up from hanging up a phone call, "Someone went, but the house was empty."
A clerk also rushed over, "Teacher Jie’s file only lists his mother as a relative, with just a landline for contact, and we can’t reach her."
"What is all this?" Min Jianzhong glared at Liu Qi and Chu Youhua, increasingly irate, "What did you guys do to him to drive a person to this state???"
The two simply bowed their heads, saying nothing.
"Sigh... Chu Youhua here really has nothing to do with it, everyone sit down." Min Jianzhong shook his head again, turned to pull up a chair, and sat down forcefully, "Things have gotten this serious, Liu Qi, can you start talking sense now?"
Pressed to this point, Liu Qi could only grit his teeth and say, "Principal, you’re also aware of Jie Qifen’s mental state... sometimes, it truly isn’t about what we do..."
"Hm?" An employee off to the side hurriedly looked down at the file, "Does Teacher Jie have mental issues? It’s not mentioned here, and he was quite talkative during that half day he came..."
"You first, go down..." The Director hurriedly pushed her.
"Wait." Min Jianzhong seemed to have thought of something, he raised his hand to stop her, and turned to the secretary to ask, "You’ve talked with him, haven’t you?"
"Yeah...when we were doing the induction, we had quite a good conversation."
Min Jianzhong quickly stood up and asked, "Did he reveal anything?"
"He... he has a mother...who often needs looking after..."
"Anything else?"
"He seems completely uninterested in salary...he never even asked about it." The secretary wracked her brain and then shook her head, "Should I call over everyone who has talked to him?"
"Call them! You should have done so earlier!"
Soon after, two male staff members and the secretary stood together in the meeting room, it was like an interrogation, everyone piecing together their memories, one sentence at a time.
"I asked him if he smoked, and he said he quit over three months ago..."
"I remember now, he said he had three great students."
"Right, right, right, I even said, students from Ji University are all extremely smart."
"What did he say again..."
"It seems like he said...smart they are definitely...but what’s even better about them is..."
"Purity?"
"Kind of; it’s that feeling like they can subsist on knowledge alone."
"But there’s one who’s different, he knows how to fight against reality..."
"Yes, he said about Ji University...verbatim, Director...he said there are two Ji Universities..."
"One Ji University is by Yiming Lake, amidst the teaching buildings...a place where minds surge with thought...driven by a thirst for knowledge..."
"The other Ji University is a vice-ministerial level organization, with high-ranking officials and..."
"I...I dare not...I can’t remember clearly."
"Speak." Min Jianzhong merely nodded sternly.
The staff member swallowed and only then did he dare to continue.
"With high-ranking officials and a strict system, with countless laurels and powerful families, forcing people to only think about whose door to enter...trying to please whose..."
"I...I really can’t remember..."
"In any case, he said he once had the chance to become the latter, just that he looked down on it... With that kind of talk...even if he was transferred here, he could have been a Director."
"We all laughed at him then."
"That’s about it..."
After providing their accounts, the delegation from the School of Physics fell into a long silence.
The company Director mopped his sweat and forced a smile: "He’s quite the idealist, isn’t he..."
"He is... but when one is idealistic for too long, they always end up doing something unreasonable." Liu Qi bowed to Min Jianzhong and said, "Principal, I have looked carefully again, and both papers do not mention anything about Jie Qifen... Based on this, his role in this subject doesn’t seem to be that important; maybe Li Zheng, out of personal relationships, wants to use these achievements to negotiate with us... it’s just a kind of emotional... thing..."
"Have you gone round in circles enough?" Min Jianzhong said angrily, "We who study physics, should we not prioritize logical expression? Should we not clarify things first? Are you creating a mystery or literary work??"
"......" Liu Qi couldn’t utter half a word.
Chu Youhua, seeing this, hurriedly pulled up a chair and edged closer to Min Jianzhong: "Principal, you haven’t met Li Zheng, and Liu Qi’s words might seem a bit abrupt to you. What he meant was that Jie Qifen himself really need not be given so much attention, it’ll suffice just to satisfy Li Zheng’s emotional needs."
"Right, right, right." Liu Qi nodded repeatedly, "Jie Qifen might indeed have taught Li Zheng some...unique skills, Li Zheng probably likes such a person a lot, including when he specified Jie Qifen as a consultant in our collaboration, the goal was also to help him advance in his teaching career, including today saying if Jie Qifen doesn’t come, he won’t come either, is just to vent, that’s all."
"To vent? That’s all?" Min Jianzhong dryly laughed, "A person who can quietly cooperate with Jinghua’s and Zhongke’s top labs to complete a top-level project, and insists on having Jie Qifen come forward, is just to vent?"
"Otherwise... his two influential papers, how come there is not even a mention of Jie Qifen’s name?" Liu Qi nodded nervously, "At the critical moment, he still has a clear divide, the crucial interest of being the first author, he still kept that to himself, Jie Qifen’s involvement was just a convenient way to vent..."
While they were talking, two phones in the office area rang at the same time.
After two people answered the calls, they ran over quickly.
"Director Zhao...there’s someone from the media looking for Jie Qifen..."
"This side is saying it’s from the Ministry of Science and Technology..."
In their confusion, more phones began to ring.
Half were media calls, the other half from the academic system.
The Director’s own phone rang as well.
"What?" The Director’s eyes bulged, "The stock hit the limit up??? The market is frantically buying in??? Haven’t we been in a bear market for over 700 days??"
As he watched the scene unfolding, Min Jianzhong seemed to realize something and tremblingly took out his phone which had been ringing for a long time, but he hadn’t answered.
The caller was Zhong Ping.
"Principal..."
"Please calm down a moment..."
"The situation is even more... more critical... than the worst we imagined..."
"It’s not a double strike... it’s a triple burst..."
"The ’Magic Angle Theory’... has been published."
Min Jianzhong visibly began to shake violently.
Trembling, he stood up.
He wouldn’t be unaware of what this implied.
If this was true.
Then it could very well signify the emergence of the greatest physical theory since the 21st century...
The entire quantum materials sector, condensed matter field, and superconductivity field would soar as a result.
This was certainly a feast for the theoretical physics community... a long-awaited feast...
After an indeterminate amount of time, Min Jianzhong managed to make out the voice on the phone again.
"Principal, are you listening?"
Min Jianzhong held onto the chair as he sat down and, after struggling for a while, managed to say, "Yes...."
"Then, you need to calm down first... I haven’t finished talking..."
"The fourth paper??" Min Jianzhong "whooshed" to his feet again.
"No... there shouldn’t be a fourth paper, at least not today..."
"Then what else do I need to calm down for?"
"It’s the author sequence..." Zhong Ping paused for a long time before speaking, "Brace yourself... don’t drop your phone... three of us here have already dropped ours... my screen is also smashed..."
Min Jianzhong couldn’t restrain himself and cursed, "Stop talking nonsense, just say what you need to say!"
"Right... so..." Zhong Ping seemed to have mustered a great deal of resolve before he said, "The first author of the ’Magic Angle Theory’ is Jie Qifen... That’s not the key point; the key is... the affiliation and correspondence address listed on the paper is—"
"Ji University Broadcomm Information Technology Co., Ltd."
Bang!!!
Min Jianzhong’s phone slipped from his grasp and violently struck the wall.
The phone broke apart, scattering in pieces.
"Damn it!!!" Furious to the core, Min Jianzhong looked around wildly, zeroing in on Liu Qi. He grabbed Liu Qi’s collar madly, baring his teeth as if he wanted to curse something, yet he didn’t know quite what to curse, "You... you... you bastards!!!"
He knew very well that it wasn’t Liu Qi he wanted to beat up...
It was Li Zheng.
What he knew even clearer was.
He didn’t dare.
...
Meanwhile.
The Biochemistry exam had ended, and they were collecting the papers.
Li Zheng could see that Zhong Ping was guarding the front door of the classroom, while a group of other School of Physics leaders guarded the back door.
But they just stood guard and did not enter.
"Hmm..." Lin Yujing, having turned in her paper, came over somewhat apprehensively, "The hall was already jam-packed half an hour ago... Didn’t we... go too far this time... with the name of the company..."
"Shh..." Li Zheng just closed his eyes and gestured with his hand, "Do you feel it...?"
"What..."
"They all want to kill me; just now, at least three people smashed their phones," Li Zheng said with an exceedingly comfortable smile, "But they don’t dare, for one reason only—we’ve been studying too damn well."
"This time... it’s really..." Lin Yujing snuck a peek at Zhong Ping, who seemed almost ready to kneel and make a phone call outside, and her own body also began to tremor delightfully, "Way too presumptuous!!! The name of this company is purely... purely sheer audacity!!!"
"See, you deep down want to be audacious too," Li Zheng said, holding Lin Yujing’s trembling, happy hand, "Come on, dare to do something even more audacious now?"
"Yay!" Lin Yujing immediately leaned in.
"???" Li Zheng widened his eyes and dodged.
"Haha, you’re scared!!"
"I... I..." Li Zheng, seeing a crowd of teachers glaring at him with bloodshot eyes outside, ultimately bowed his head in shame.
Damn, Jingguo is too terrifying.
So terrifying that even the realm of audaciousness was...
"All right, you should go, don’t keep them waiting," Lin Yujing pushed Li Zheng and cheerfully picked up her phone, "Grandma and your dean are hiding in the library and won’t show up until I give the signal. Just get Old Xie to come back and teach, and don’t make it too hard for them."
"Cough..." Li Zheng looked around warily, then said in a low voice, "There are too many of them, I’m afraid I can’t hold out."
"You’re afraid of that?"
"Yeah, I can only handle up to the dean level, anything higher..." Li Zheng pulled on Lin Yujing’s arm, swallowed hard, "is higher than my mom... I’m afraid I won’t hold out."
"You shouldn’t be pulling on me then, I’m even more afraid."
"No, I’m more afraid." Li Zheng stroked Lin Yujing’s cheek, forehead to forehead, placed Lin Yujing’s hand over his heart, "From the moment we turned our backs on Wudaokou, we have never been afraid, but if it’s just me from now on, can you feel my frightened heartbeat?"
"Hmm..." Lin Yujing turned her head away from Li Zheng’s imposing gaze, "I told you not to do that suddenly... you have to build up to it..."
"I don’t care, the emotions are already there." Li Zheng then grabbed Lin Yujing’s hand, their fingers interlaced: "As long as we’re together, we have nothing to fear, the ultimate act of audacity, let’s go."
"Hmm audacious hmm..." Lin Yujing, feeling the teasing at her fingertips, glanced again at the people at the door, "Hmm!"