At noon, in front of the administrative building of the School of Physics, Min Jianzhong burst out of his car and ran upstairs.
He had mobilized more resources to search for Jie Qifen. He was very certain that even if he did not take this action, there would certainly be other departments doing the same.
As for Li Zheng, Dean Zhong had already invited him, and they were on their way here.
Min Jianzhong had no choice but to run upstairs as well.
That morning, he felt as though he had gone through a triple jump, and by this point, he was on the verge of collapse.
When he saw the first paper, beyond shock, he was well aware that there was a problem. Therefore, he rushed to the School of Physics first thing to knock some sense into everyone and hoped to have a chat with Li Zheng to clear up any misunderstandings.
If he stepped in, even the most prideful person should give some face.
When he saw the second paper, his usual restraint and rationality were also immediately dispelled. Who was right and who was wrong, and what misunderstandings there were, became completely irrelevant. The only important thing was to press Li Zheng down and keep him, even if Li Zheng demanded a faculty position for a cat.
Luckily, since he stepped in, there was still a chance to resolve everything.
When he saw the third paper, he finally realized how absurd his judgments were.
Li Zheng had never intended to negotiate or to be appeased.
Even for Jie Qifen, it was no longer up to Ji University to reinstate him as a faculty member...
Initially, Min Jianzhong hoped Li Zheng would clarify the situation and explain why he must collaborate with external institutions.
Now, he realized it was entirely the opposite, that he needed to report to Li Zheng and immediately provide a solution.
He had gotten it all wrong, completely wrong.
It was not Li Zheng who needed to discuss terms with the university using his results.
It was the university that needed to show enough sincerity to keep Li Zheng to discuss with him.
Min Jianzhong didn’t have much time left to reveal the full extent of the incident.
At this moment, his inner scream was extremely simple.
Why did it have to be him!?
Why did it have to happen on his watch?!
Thump!
Min Jianzhong almost knocked open the conference room door with his fist.
The people remaining in the conference room stood up suddenly as if they had been shocked by something incredible.
Following Min Jianzhong’s entrance, Liu Qi and Chu Youhua hung their heads and slipped into their seats.
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As Min Jianzhong reached the table, he quickly scanned the room and soon locked onto a senior professor from the Institute of Condensed Matter.
Upon seeing him, Min Jianzhong managed to catch his breath, "Professor Zhang Qi... when did you arrive?"
"Jie Qifen was under my supervision, so I share in this responsibility." The old professor raised his hand, "Let’s not rush into that. I’ve had a quick look at the latest Magic Angle Theory paper. The structure is self-consistent, but the content still requires a lot of calculation. Considering the support from two experimental results, Nature placing it at the forefront, as well as an incredibly credible person listed as the corresponding author, I think he must be right. I wanted to contact you immediately, but your phone was unavailable. After making inquiries, I decided to wait here."
"Please, take a seat..." Min Jianzhong gestured for everyone to sit down but shook his head, "I was too excited earlier, my phone broke, and I haven’t had the chance to look at the full paper. Who did you mention as the corresponding author?"
"It’s the professor." Zhang Qi nodded slightly.
That’s not helpful at all!
Min Jianzhong, growing impatient, was just about to ask, "So who exactly is the professor?" when...
His mouth suddenly froze.
If one just mentions "the professor" without a surname or first name...
It could only be one person.
"Yang...?" Min Jianzhong stuttered.
Zhang Qi nodded, the others bowed their heads.
Min Jianzhong slumped.
That’s it, completely done for.
To get this reclusive, greatest living physicist, who had not published for decades, back into the field...
Even a Nature front page feature seemed too miserly.
The magnitude of the earthquake that followed was already imaginable.
Amid the silence, a rapid knocking sounded, and a young teacher peeked in anxiously, "Li Zheng has arrived and is coming upstairs..."
Phew!
Led by Min Jianzhong, everyone instantly stood up solemnly.
Min Jianzhong even stepped out of the conference room to greet him.
At the stairway, however, it was Dean Zhong who appeared first.
"This way... this way..." he beckoned forward with one hand.
Then...
Li Zheng...
appeared, holding a girl’s hand.
Commanding respect without anger.
Min Jianzhong felt a surge of blood rush to his throat.
Hold back... hold back... don’t let it burst out.
After swallowing several times, Li Zheng finally reached the door.
Min Jianzhong, with a stiff demeanor, extended his hand.
He was having a really tough time.
The person in front of him looked just like a student, too handsome for a freshman...
He had to employ the utmost standard, the most solemn etiquette.
"Hello, Li Zheng," Min Jianzhong said with all the dignity he could muster, "I am the highest person in charge of academic affairs at our school, Min Jianzhong."
Li Zheng, however, had no airs about him, merely smiling and shaking hands.
"Hello, Principal Min, I have seen you on the website, and I appreciate your attention."
Looking at Li Zheng’s handsome face, feeling the warmth of Li Zheng’s palm, and hearing his warm greeting like a spring breeze.
At that moment, Min Jianzhong’s eyes became moist.
After a morning of assault, he had unconsciously imagined Li Zheng as a sort of demon king, who would likely pay no heed to anyone, spiraling into the scene and flipping every table.
Who knew he would be such an exceptionally good student.
"It was I who was late!" Min Jianzhong clasped Li Zheng’s hands, his lips pressed tightly as he struggled to maintain his composure, "Previously, whether it was you or Teacher Jie, if there was any issue, any grievance, any injustice, tell me boldly, and we will deal with it on the spot."
"There weren’t any," Li Zheng laughed, "Most professors at the School of Physics are very good; I trained here, and this term, I have also registered for five or six courses at the School of Physics, which have been immensely beneficial. In the collaborations that followed, Dean Zhong and Teacher Sui were also very enthusiastic. It is I who should thank the School of Physics for their cultivation."
Listening to this, Min Jianzhong, as a top scientist, seemed also outmatched by his own mind.
If a person’s expression is just right.
Then one cannot entirely distinguish whether he is speaking the truth or being sarcastic.
Fortunately, Li Zheng did not let the awkwardness last too long, quickly introducing Lin Yujing.
"This is Lin Yujing, a freshman at the School of Physics, and the core idea and key approach to this project is her work."
"Excellent, excellent, Lin Yujing is also here," Min Jianzhong hurried to shake hands briefly with Lin Yujing, "All of you are top-notch talents of this generation, thank you for choosing Ji University."
"Um..." Lin Yujing answered hurriedly.
"She says there’s no need for thanks," Li Zheng translated.
"Oh...haha... truly a woman of few words," Min Jianzhong said hastily, making a welcoming gesture, "We are already doing our utmost to contact Teacher Jie. How about we talk while we wait?"
"You first, Principal Min."
Then, an even more surreal scene occurred.
In the meeting room, all the attending professors remained standing, silently waiting for Li Zheng to walk step by step to his seat at the table.
They hardly dared to look directly at Li Zheng, yet they could not afford to not look, and ultimately everyone found a subtle angle.
Seeing without seeing, without the rudeness of direct staring, and without the neglect of avoiding gaze.
In such a probability distribution of gazes, Li Zheng maintained his smile, walking step by step towards the head seats of the meeting table with Lin Yujing.
Now, it was getting quantum.
As Min Jianzhong and Li Zheng modestly took their seats, the other professors also sat down.
Sitting at this unusual angle at the meeting table for the first time, overviewing everyone half-bowing their heads, as if listening yet escaping, Li Zheng suddenly felt a sense of loneliness being at such a height, a vulnerability despite the height.
When you could do as you pleased.
He found that no one dared to meet his gaze anymore.
Everyone bowed their heads allowing him to do as he pleased.
In this dazed moment, he suddenly realized.
His learning had already exceeded the measures of this world.
Such loneliness, who else...
"Um..." Lin Yujing surreptitiously tugged at Li Zheng.
Although proclaiming indifference, when it truly came to acting indifferent, she was unable.
Li Zheng smiled faintly, gently clasping Lin Yujing’s hand under the table, fingers intertwined.
At least, at this height, he had her.
Although, all these actions took place under the table.
But the agonizing expression on his face was unmistakably clear.
Causing the teachers present to inevitably feel awkward, tremble, and chill,
Min Jianzhong had a hard time, and he had to grit his teeth and break the silence.
"Ahem... first of all... on behalf of the school, I’d like to express our thanks and commendation again to Li Zheng, Jie Qifen, Lin Yujing, and Gu Jianfeng."
"Because my mobile phone... broke, so I can’t pass on more information for the time being."
"But I believe that the school leadership, superior department leaders, and leaders of the various academic units, must already be conveying the same message."
"These individuals, having achieved such results under such difficult circumstances, deserve the grandest of commendations."
"But we need to reflect more on why such outstanding researchers can only persevere in such a harsh environment."
Min Jianzhong’s tone shifted, sweeping a cold gaze from side to side.
"Today, here, we need to clarify things one by one."
"The first issue, regarding the transfer of Jie Qifen."
"Although we haven’t yet contacted Jie Qifen in person, this does not prevent us from reflecting on our work."
"Dean Zhong Ping, please fully explain why you transferred him knowing full well that Jie Qifen was guiding the project, why you transferred a theoretical physicist to a subsidiary company."
Zhong Ping nodded sadly.
The transfer of Jie Qifen was initiated by Liu Qi, but indeed he had personally signed off on it.
Even if he was unaware and had not signed, but as long as the matter was significant enough, the highest executive inevitably becomes ultimately responsible.
There was no avoiding it now for Zhong Ping.
"Firstly, this was my personal error in judgment, my dereliction of duty."
"I thought that Jie Qifen was incapable of advising on the project by Li Zheng and others and that there was a risk of leading them astray."
"Moreover, in many years of teaching work, Jie Qifen served only a very few students, therefore I did not consider him suitable for the ’lecturer’ position, and I transferred him to the Experimental Center at the start of this semester."
"Afterwards, during the time Li Zheng and others were working with Jie Qifen, I did not understand their research content but fell into empiricism, concluding that they were conducting a fruitless and harmful study, and then approved the Human Resources Department’s request to reassign Jie Qifen."
"The main responsibility lies with me."
"If there is ever another opportunity, I will definitely take personal action to provide the utmost understanding and support for the researchers."
After Dean Zhong Ping finished speaking, Min Jianzhong responded, then turned to look at Li Zheng.
"Not only Dean Zhong, but I have also made mistakes in this regard. From now on, I, including our university’s Academic Committee, will fully support your research. A similar situation will never happen again, please be assured of that."
"Thank you, Principal Min, for your attention." Li Zheng nodded in response and then sighed in relief, "Principal Min, teachers, may I say a few words?"
"Of course, please," said Min Jianzhong, who was waiting for this.
Come on, flip the table!
Once you flip it joyfully, we can turn the page on this issue.
Hurry, start scolding!
However, Li Zheng just sighed without showing any intention of killing anyone.
"Apart from approving Teacher Jie’s transfer, I don’t think Dean Zhong made any mistakes."
"Teacher Jie’s negligence in the education of most students and the consumption of resources without achieving results over the years are objective facts."
"Yu Jing, Jian Feng, and I were merely freshmen who luckily published an electron microscopy paper."
"If we were to receive the special treatment you just mentioned at our level, Dean Zhong would not have enough hours in a day to work, and a tenfold increase in the School of Physics’s budget would still not be enough."
"Not only that, throughout the process, Dean Zhong has already provided considerable care for us, whether in his past dealings with Teacher Jie or in his judgments of our research," Li Zheng continued.
"During this process, including Teacher Sui Miao, everyone expressed their concerns about us very sensibly, and I also took the teachers’ advice, reducing the research team size to minimize the risk of the project spiraling out of control."
"So, no matter when, I am very grateful to Dean Zhong," Li Zheng said, nodding at Zhong Ping, "Thank you, and thanks to the majority of teachers at the School of Physics."
Zhong Ping was caught off guard and anxious for a moment, but then he relaxed and smiled.
"And thank you for your understanding."
"But there is a small issue," Li Zheng suddenly changed the topic, "As far as I know, you value talent highly and have been very lenient with Teacher Jie Qifen, who has been unproductive for years. From your earlier discussion, I also gathered that the application to transfer Teacher Jie did not come from you. So, who was it?"
"..."
The once eased atmosphere instantly became oppressive.
"Who proposed it? Hurry up," said Min Jianzhong firmly, raising his hand, "Even if Li Zheng didn’t bring it up, I would have asked. The school would need to know. Speak up now, don’t waste everyone’s time."
For a moment, Liu Qi, Lu Dongsheng, and Sui Miao all broke out in sweat.
"You are all respectable people, how could you act like elementary school children?!" Min Jianzhong slammed the table, "Hurry, do you think we are not ridiculed enough???"
Under such pressure, Liu Qi had no choice but to speak up.
"It was me, Professor Lu and Teacher Sui Miao decided it together."
"Aye, aye, aye!" Lu Dongsheng suddenly glared, "I just agreed on the side, but it was you who brought it up."
"Professor Lu, I remember you coming to me every day, worried about delaying the students..." Liu Qi’s face tightened, "You also said that Teacher Jie’s theory is increasingly poisoning the students every day, better a day early than a day late..."
"I never said that, never!" Lu Dongsheng fumed, his mustache bristling, "I support Li Zheng more than anyone. When Li Zheng proposed collaborating with the School of Physics, didn’t our Institute of Condensed Matter respond immediately? I dropped everything as soon as I got a call from Sui Miao and ran to meet Li Zheng, many teachers can testify to this."
"That was before you knew Li Zheng was completely following Jie Qifen, did you ever look for him after that?"
"How was I supposed to look for him? Did you ever look for him? Did you ever find out what they were working on?"
Bang!!!
Min Jianzhong hit the table with his palm.
He couldn’t believe it; before Li Zheng could flip the table, he was the one who lost his temper.
"Disgraceful!!!" He stared at the two, slowly and heavily chastising them, then turned to Sui Miao, "You speak."
"I... this..."
"If you don’t talk, all three of you get out!" Min Jianzhong said this while glancing subconsciously at Li Zheng.
Under normal circumstances, even the most serious issues wouldn’t warrant such indecent scolding.
But today, a resolution had to be reached.
Sui Miao, clearly panicking, tried to explain without omitting a single detail.
"As the person in charge of the School of Physics for this joint project, I of course bear significant responsibility..."
"But specifically regarding Teacher Jie’s transfer, I was always opposed to it."
"It’s not because I admire Jie Qifen’s talent — I just believe..."
"We shouldn’t let a student like Li Zheng lose heart."
"We should first explain the pros and cons, then let the students choose for themselves, even if they make a choice we don’t want to see, we should give them time and gently guide them later... This has always been my teaching approach."
"But starting in October, Dean Liu Qi and Professor Lu Dongsheng started getting involved in this matter, and there was little I could do; my regular duties alone took up all my time, leaving me powerless to influence staff reassignments."
As Sui Miao finished speaking, Li Zheng nodded.
"I dare to speak up, albeit offensively."
"Teacher Sui has always followed his educational philosophy, which wasn’t inappropriate."
"During our research process, Teacher Sui was also the one who most frequently showed concern. The depth of the mathematical content had reached a level he couldn’t completely follow, but given the circumstances, Teacher Sui did everything within his power. I should be the one to apologize to him."
"I apologize for my presumptuousness and for troubling you."
"I also formally apologize to Principal Min, Dean Zhong, and the many other teachers who cared for me."
"I won’t accept your apology; you did nothing wrong, and there’s no need to apologize," Min Jianzhong quickly turned to Liu Qi and Lu Dongsheng, "This is a closed-door meeting, and I’m speaking frankly. As individuals who neither received thanks nor apologies, it’s best that you be more honest."
Liu Qi and Lu Dongsheng looked at each other.
Then they both bowed their heads.
"...It was my misjudgment."
"I was negligent, carelessly giving suggestions; it’s my responsibility."
"If only you had done this earlier," Min Jianzhong finally felt a bit more at ease, "Wait a moment for self-reflection, afterwards the school leadership will discuss how to handle this. If you are reluctant about this blame, don’t put it on Li Zheng’s head, put it on mine. To squeeze the first author of a paper like the ’Magic Angle Theory’ into a subsidiary company, I won’t come after you, but the higher-ups will."
The two bowed their heads in acknowledgment, remaining silent.
"Okay, shall we leave the first matter as it is for now?"
Min Jianzhong said this, half questioning as he spoke to Li Zheng, and only continued after seeing that Li Zheng had no objections.
"The second matter, in my view, is even more serious."
"Teaching Experiment Center, knowing that Li Zheng’s research team needs to use it every evening, why replace the door lock on December 31?"
"I believe this is an act that completely chills students’ hearts."
"Extremely despicable."
"Director Huang," Min Jianzhong said, raising his hand toward a middle-aged man in the far corner, "please explain."
The director of the experiment center, already looking stressed, seemed ready to explode at any moment.
Seeing how bad things had gotten today.
To hell with being tactful...
Just survive this for now.
"It was Vice Dean Liu Qi’s instruction," Director Huang said, steeling himself.
Upon hearing this, Liu Qi’s face looked as if a hemorrhoid had burst all over it.
"It was... me..." Liu Qi struggled as if smoke was about to billow from his throat, "I was afraid Jie Qifen would come back to teach after being transferred..."
"You..." Min Jianzhong raised his hand, shaking it vigorously.
Though he didn’t slam the table or glare this time.
But he truly wanted to kill this man.
History is sometimes like this, all due to the minor action of a trivial person...
Not to mention the previous incidents; just this little lock cylinder alone, if it hadn’t been changed... Li Zheng possibly wouldn’t have needed to go to such extremes.
A bloodbath caused by a lock cylinder!!
It must be said, as the director of the university academic committee.
Min Jianzhong’s judgment...
10000% correct!
At that moment, Li Zheng gripped Lin Yujing’s hand even tighter.
New Year’s Eve experimental night...
Right place, right time, right people...
And because of this, it was all ruined.
"Hmm..." Even Lin Yujing clenched her grip tighter.
Everything ruined!
"I’m saying, Liu Qi... how could you come up with such an idea..." Min Jianzhong glared at him and shook his head repeatedly, finally cursing in exasperation, "Jie Qifen, Li Zheng, what the hell is it to you? Did they defy you or steal your projects and people?"
".........."
In an instant, the room fell into a peculiar silence.
Although no one indicated anything explicitly, the look in Schrödinger’s eyes shifted their probability distribution subtly toward one person.
Thus, Min Jianzhong also noticed something was off.
His gaze was incredibly sharp, capturing the focus of the probability in an instant.
Chu Youhua!
Sweating profusely!
A lot of sweat!
In that moment, even the powerful Min Jianzhong involuntarily tensed up.
The worst scenario had unfolded.
Liu Qi, Lu Dongsheng were inconsequential...
Even Dean Zhong Ping... a scolding was just a scolding...
But Chu Youhua was the last person he wanted to offend, the last person he wanted to scold...
Exaggerating a bit here.
If it weren’t for Li Zheng emerging on the scene.
Then Chu Youhua would be the Li Zheng of the School of Physics.
Trouble, trouble...
And Li Zheng himself.
Couldn’t help but round his mouth and widen his eyes with an "Oh?"
He had initially thought that the core of the entire issue were Liu Qi and Lu Dongsheng, while others were merely following blindly due to some mysterious collective inertia at most.
Unexpectedly, there was another person behind the scenes?
Seeing this wonderfully inexplicable distribution of gazes.
Li Zheng could not help but feel intrigued.
Chu Youhua, I almost forgot about you!
Are you seriously pushing this on me?
Hey, haven’t seen you in months, have you been nourishing up on Scholastic Wealth lately!
Now, Li Zheng was truly energized.
From that moment, from his eyes, from his mouth, from the handsome lines on his face, two words were written—
Brilliant!