Finding Jie Qifen was no easy task.
Without a spouse, without children, without siblings, now the archives only recorded a single person, his elderly mother.
Failing to locate Jie Qifen’s mother, the school’s administration department had no choice but to collectively visit the oldest archive room, attempting to find something from the older faculty archive.
But their efforts remained fruitless.
During the search, the clerks even felt a pang of heartache.
Nearly three decades of time.
This man’s archive contained only two things.
Mother.
And physics.
In these moments of despair, bordering on calling the police, an intern suddenly had a stroke of inspiration—
"Teacher Jie was also a student at Ji University, right? Why not check the enrollment archives from thirty years ago?"
With this spark of thought, the group surged into an even larger archive room and found the enrollment list of the Department of Physics from the class of ’90 within the massive amount of paper documents.
This time, their efforts were not in vain, as they finally found Jie Qifen’s father in the family relationship column, complete with his place of employment.
It was a semiconductor factory from the ’90s, which naturally no longer existed.
Adopting the attitude of a last-ditch effort, they entered the factory’s name into a search engine.
Unexpectedly, they actually found some recent news about it.
In a notice from a company dealing with the "legacy issues of former employees’ dormitories," the name of the factory was clearly mentioned—the old factory had apparently been integrated into this company.
Following the trail, they found several elderly comrades from the company, and upon hearing Jie’s father’s name, their first reaction was—"He drank himself to death a long time ago, but his son is still here, he took over."
Although everyone was in a hurry, no one could stop the old comrades from rambling on.
"Old Xie was truly intelligent, how intelligent? Have you ever heard of someone becoming a deputy chief engineer in the factory in their twenties?"
"Ah... he just got proud too soon, offended a few children of the factory’s cadre... right when he had issues with men and women... made a mistake... His own son was old enough to run errands, and then he went and knocked up our factory’s beauty... The factory’s beauty... If I remember correctly, her name was Yu Jie..."
"During that time, Old Xie’s wife would come every day to make trouble, those who disapproved of him seized the chance, and the deputy chief engineer was forcibly removed from his position, and Yu Jie was transferred away, seems like she went to the Second Commerce Bureau."
"Once you mention this, I remember we saw her again... where was it... right, at Ji Xi Restaurant, where she worked as a waitress."
"We didn’t recognize her at first; we just saw a little boy sitting at an empty table working on arithmetic, and out of curiosity, we went over, only to realize he was crunching financial statements, faster than an abacus could..."
"At that moment, Yu Jie came over, and we recognized her."
"I asked her, why did you have to keep the child... wouldn’t it be better to abort and then get married?"
"And then she lashed out at us, saying her son always ranked first in math, not just in his class but the whole school, and that he would go on to be the best in the country, the world, a child with such prospects wasn’t for us to comment on."
"Sigh... we didn’t have much to say, Yu Jie... such a pity..."
"Later on, we frequently visited there, always ordering an extra two dishes without touching them, just leaving them for mother and son."
"After that... the Second Commerce Bureau was gone too, Ji Xi Restaurant, we never saw her again, she must have been laid off..."
"How about Old Xie? Oh right, you’re inquiring about Old Xie..."
"Old Xie just... just drank..."
"No hope in work, a wife at home nagging him to death every day."
"How could he not drink?"
"But in the end, he died a fitting death."
"Died at the company from drinking; have you heard of that?"
"Did his wife not make a huge fuss?"
"In the end, the company gave her a one-room apartment and promised to resolve her son’s employment issue; only then did things settle."
"Alas, that son... he was no good... slow in everything, not even a fart when you prod him thrice..."
"Talking in circles, if only Old Xie had met Yu Jie earlier..."
In the dusty archive room, listening to these fragmented descriptions, the group felt as if they were seeing Jie Qifen for the first time.
Beneath that carefree figure, with perpetually messy and uncut hair.
An aloof and cold, supremely intelligent.
Apart from a mother and physics.
There was nothing else for Jie Qifen.
Luckily, after the old comrades had their fill of chatting, they eventually remembered to get down to business, and finally revealed the name of Jie’s eldest son.
Following this lead, the office staff contacted Jie Yong.
At the time, he was at the hospital, waiting for surgery to be completed, identified as a relative of Jie Qifen.
A chill enveloped the entire archive room in an instant.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
Their desperate search for Jie Qifen was not only because of Li Zheng.
The "Magic Angle Theory" was bound to sweep the globe in short order, without a doubt.
Although those within the circle were aware that Li Zheng was the driving force, the media outside would inevitably uncover this step as well.
But that would take time.
Before then, Jie Qifen, listed as the lead author, would undoubtedly become the focus of all media.
```
But if the result was... he got squeezed out of the School of Physics into a subsidiary company...
And then he died...
A man who could have become the greatest physicist of the 21st century...
Died at the moment he became famous...
God knows how the media will capitalize on it...
God knows how many people will be shamed and tied to the pillar of disgrace.
At this moment, everyone simultaneously harbored an obsession.
Survive!
For Ji University, for physics.
For Li Zheng, for Lin Yujing.
For your mother, for her choices back then.
For anything at all.
Survive!
...
When Li Zheng arrived at the entrance of the surgery area, he immediately spotted Jie Yong.
To the ordinary eye, he was just an average middle-aged man in his fifties.
But Li Zheng could tell at a glance there was something different about him, that slight resemblance to Jie Qifen.
Seeing a handsome guy leading a bunch of big shot academics striding over, Jie Yong was extremely flustered, and he hastily got up to greet them.
But as he approached, he didn’t know whose hand to shake.
Based on position and presence, this handsome guy seemed to be the highest ranking among them.
But that didn’t make sense.
How could all these suited and booted individuals seem like bigger leaders than any he had seen in his life?
At times like these, Li Zheng couldn’t care less about seniority or respect. He immediately grabbed Jie Yong’s hand and urgently asked, "Uncle Master, how is Teacher Jie???"
"Uncle Master... just call me uncle. I only found out about the situation yesterday too," Jie Yong quickly swallowed his spit, pointed towards the tightly closed doors of the surgery area and said, "The doctors are all inside. They went in around 7 in the morning, no knowing how long it’ll be."
After speaking, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Are you Li Zheng?"
"Yes."
"Then this..." Jie Yong hurriedly turned to pick up a briefcase, the very one Jie Qifen carried with him every day, "this is for you. In case he doesn’t make it out..."
"He will make it out!!" Li Zheng, frantic, was stomping his foot in agitation.
"Yes... But since you’re here..."
"He will make it out!!" Li Zheng yelled through tears, "I say he will make it out! Whatever technology is lacking, I’ll learn it! Whatever medicine is needed, I’ll make it! Whatever equipment is required, I’ll build it!"
"Um..." Lin Yujing couldn’t bear it and stepped forward to tug at Li Zheng, her own eyes reddening.
Realizing he was being inappropriate, Li Zheng quickly shook his head, trying to calm down before asking Jie Yong, "When did this happen?"
"I only found out yesterday too..." Jie Yong, somewhat scared, looked back at the silent group of bigwigs behind him before answering, "The diagnosis was probably around three months ago... he was admitted to the hospital at the beginning of the year."
Upon hearing this, Li Zheng’s strength drained away, and he collapsed to the ground, covering his face.
Not a single word could he utter, sobbing uncontrollably.
Why put it off!!
Come back to teach me when you’re better, huh...
Scenes uncontrollably filled his vision.
There was Teacher Jie, overly serious while lecturing, and his all-hours zeal for lesson planning...
There was his lonely figure, reaching for a cigarette then resigning to empty hands; there was his final, fatalistic smile when faced with the "tunneling path"...
Lin Yujing also crouched next to Li Zheng, leaning on him and breaking into sobs.
"It’s like he was... fulfilling his mission..."
Time passed, unknown how long, until a senior doctor approached the clinic area, accompanied by two others.
"Is Li Yi here? Has Li Yi arrived?" the senior doctor looked around.
Upon hearing this, Li Zheng was jolted back to reality. He pushed himself up, wiped his face, and hurried over.
"I am Li Yi’s son. Inside..."
"I know," the senior doctor patted Li Zheng in a rush and then turned to the solemn group of suited bigwigs around him, "You gentlemen must be the leaders from Ji University, right?"
"Yes, that’s us," Min Jianzhong quickly stepped forward to shake hands, "Hello, there’s a... a very important physicist from our country currently in there."
"Understood, I received the notification," the senior doctor shook his head in disbelief, his face full of incredulity, "Director Li’s call and the higher-ups’ call almost came at the same time... I thought Director Li would show up first..."
As they were speaking, a resounding voice came from behind.
"Here! On time!"
A commanding figure of Blade Guest burst forth, arriving as suddenly as a gust of wind.
"Ah!" Lin Yujing’s eyes brightened as she shook Li Zheng, "Look, Big Chap can definitely handle it!!"
"Hmph," seeing this figure, Li Zheng also felt a rare steadiness settle in his heart.
```
However, he didn’t know.
Li Yi had sacrificed so much for this moment.
…
Li Yi was not only a Blade Guest.
He was also a model ship enthusiast.
For this day, he had painstakingly planned a whole day off work.
But he didn’t dare to be too conspicuous; only after he heard An Ning leaving in the morning did he leap out of bed.
He quickly ate a few bites of his meal and rushed into the bathroom, closed the door, turned on the exhaust fan, and took out the model warship his daughter-in-law had given him.
For half a day, he meticulously assembled and glued together his beloved little warship piece by piece.
Until a phone call from Li Zheng chased after him.
Damn, it was all over!
The joyous day of the model ship enthusiast was completely ruined!
This is the sorrow of a Blade Guest.
When your swordsmanship becomes so unparalleled that no one in the world can match it,
Your sword is no longer just yours.
It belongs to the world.
You are merely the one holding it.
But it’s not the same with models.
They are always yours.
Even if they get thrown away by your wife without mercy because they’re all over the place and reek of glue,
They are still yours.
Only in your heart, that’s all.
Li Yi was such a man, moving forward in tears.
…
At this very moment, Li Yi had already sealed the model warship in his heart, reverting to the man who was the Blade Guest.
After entering, he quickly shook hands with several people, too busy to recognize anyone, he just pointed at Li Zheng from a distance, seemingly disappointed by his weeping behavior.
"This is nothing serious, show some spine," Li Yi chided, shaking his finger, "After getting a girlfriend, you’ve become spineless, not at all like a man from the Li family."
Li Zheng clenched his fists tightly.
Only in front of Old Li, he couldn’t argue back.
There was no way around it, Li Yi was such a man; no woman had ever affected the speed at which he drew his sword.
In the end, Li Zheng could only respond with a deep smile, "Once saved, you can scold me all you want."
Lin Yujing nodded beside him, "Once saved, we’ll get you an even bigger model!"
"Cough... Keep it down, don’t do that..." Li Yi covered his face, then after nodding to the school leaders, he followed several doctors into the surgical area.
Afterward, Li Zheng asked most of the teachers to attend to their duties; crowding here was pointless, and there were still many things to be done.
At his request, most teachers returned to the school, leaving only a few like Min Jianzhong sitting at the other end, not bothering Li Zheng and his group.
Li Zheng sat with Lin Yujing and Jie Yong at the position closest to the main entrance.
Jie Yong had never seen such a big scene in his life; after settling down, he forced a smile, "I didn’t know Jie Qifen was such an important person... Why is he still in a shared ward then, without a VIP room or something?"
"He wasn’t yesterday," Li Zheng, holding Jie Qifen’s briefcase, said with his head down, "Did Teacher Jie say anything else?"
Jie Yong spread his hands with a sigh, "I’ll try to remember, but honestly, there’s not much."
Then, he tried his best to search through his memory.
"We’ve only met three times in our lives."
"The first time was when my grandfather passed away, the second when my grandmother passed away."
"The old couple often went to Jie Qifen and his mother; they took care of them quite a bit."
"The third time is now, he didn’t even come when my father died."
"He suddenly contacted me yesterday, saying he needed a family member’s signature for surgery, but he didn’t want his mother to know about it. For that reason, he deliberately booked her on an elderly Qiong Hai tour group. The old lady doesn’t use a mobile phone, so this way, almost no one can find her."
"Oh, and he also gave me five thousand yuan, saying it was for bothering me, insisting I take it, and I’ll return it to him once he’s out."
"And then there’s..."
As Jie Yong spoke, he took out a handwritten business card and handed it to Li Zheng, patting the briefcase in his hand, "He said that after the surgery, no matter the outcome, I should contact you and give this to you. Who knew you’d find this place first."
"…" Li Zheng gently patted the briefcase, about to become sentimental, then Lin Yujing also reached out to touch it.
On turning his head to look.
Her eyes were filled with greed.
"???" Li Zheng hurriedly slapped her hand away, "Are you even human?"
"We have to wait either way, and Big Chap is there, so it should be okay..." Lin Yujing pointed to her eyes, "See, I cried just now too, look for yourself."
"My dad works in neurosurgery, and this is hepatobiliary surgery, so how’s that the same?" Li Zheng scolded protectively over the briefcase, "He can’t do the surgery himself; he was sent in just for supervision."
As they were talking, the doors to the operating area swung open, and Li Yi popped his head out, taking off his surgical mask, "Within the target range, no big problems."
"Phew......"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Especially Min Jianzhong, who seemed to wholly relax.
Thank goodness...
Ji University is saved...
Oh no, Teacher Jie is saved...
Although they relaxed, everyone still gathered around.
Li Yi was quite familiar with this scene and started to explain everything.
"I’ve gone through the medical records, and it was in the early September physical when Teacher Jie Qifen’s indicators were found to be abnormal, after which he went to a smaller hospital. That hospital didn’t dare make a definitive diagnosis and just advised him to come here. The hepatobiliary surgery department here is in the top five nationally. I guess that’s something."
"After a comprehensive evaluation by the attending physician here, it was judged to be early stage, but the physician didn’t venture to sound too optimistic, only stating that surgery should be promptly scheduled and all preparations made."
"That must have been mid-September."
"Liver cancer is something you can’t drag your feet on. Given his age and stage, there was still hope for a cure, so the doctor promised to prioritize him in the first batch for surgery."
"According to the records, he indeed signed up to queue immediately."
"But at the end of September, just when it was almost his turn, he personally canceled it..."
"Considering Teacher Jie’s current status... this situation could be quite serious, so the hospital was also very anxious, and they’ve been investigating all along. I heard the attending physician explain the situation with my own ears."
"Back then, that doctor was so frightened, he called him right away."
"Jie Qifen only said there was something he must do, that he couldn’t help but do."
"The physician asked him then—’What could be more important than your life?’"
"And Jie Qifen’s answer was—’There is.’"
"Mmm..."
"Mmm..."
Li Zheng and Lin Yu Jing both covered their mouths and gasped.
That was precisely the day they had gone to discuss their thesis topic with Teacher Jie...
Even Min Jianzhong couldn’t help the tears from seeping out.
This man’s purity made everyone else feel inferior.
Li Yi also took a deep sigh.
"He is indeed a hero worthy of admiration."
"But I must say, such a choice is not wise."
"The attending physician is also self-examining, wondering if he had described the condition too seriously, leading Jie Qifen to despair about his life, despair to the point that he had to fulfill his predetermined fate before trying treatment."
"Of course, I can personally understand his choice. Once in treatment, a person’s physical and mental faculties decline rapidly, often leading to states of confusion, even permanent ones. For a physicist, that’s undoubtedly the cruelest poison."
"Perhaps considering these factors, he chose to put his life aside."
"After that, Jie Qifen never came back to the hospital until he started queuing again at the end of December..."
"This time he quickly entered the hospitalization and treatment stage, everything was ready, and today he entered the operating room."
"And then something miraculous happened..." Li Yi said, shaking his head in disbelief, "In three months, to maintain his thinking, he didn’t take any medication, didn’t undergo any treatment... but the 3 cm tumor... showed no deterioration or spread, still 3 cm, the attending physician even felt it had shrunk... and even the pre-surgery test values were much better than before..."
Li Yi looked around in amazement, "So what exactly did he do in these three months?"
"Learning!!!" Li Zheng with his eyes ablaze, "These past three months, we’ve all been learning!!"
"Li Zheng... we still have to promote the spirit of science..."
"How is this not scientific? When a person is fully invested in a great learning endeavor, the entire being enters its best state of excitement, and cancer cells have nowhere to hide!"
"Hmm... Did he give up smoking and drinking while learning?"
"That’s not important, learning is the key!" Li Zheng gripping Old Li’s arm, "I strongly recommend adding learning therapy, start with a few double-blind trials, you’ll never know until you try it!"
"You take a break..." Li Yi pushed Li Zheng away, smiling at Min Jianzhong, "Mr. Principal, this is the kind of person Li Zheng is, you really can’t give him any power."
"..." Min Jianzhong was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
After speaking, Li Yi straightened his clothes and put the mask back on, "It’s really troublesome to change clothes when entering and exiting the operating room. I just came out to explain the situation to you. If there’s nothing special, I won’t come out again."
"Thank you for your hard work." Li Zheng nodded repeatedly.
Lin Yu Jing also stepped forward and asked, "Uncle... what model do you want?"
"Hmm, I like German battleships, they are rare, but they are classics." Li Yi said with a smile as he pushed open the door to the operating room, then turned back to ask, "What were you going to say just now?"
"Big... Big Big!!"
"Don’t be so formal, just call me what Li Zheng does." Li Yi smiled and then shut the door behind him as he left.
"Just call him like you do..." Lin Yu Jing turned to ask, "What do you usually call him?"
"Old... oh no, I call him Dad."
"...... You’re lying, you never call him Dad."
"I do, I do." Li Zheng started analyzing to Lin Yu Jing, "It’s pretty clear what he meant, just call him Dad and that’ll be the greatest comfort to his mastery with the scalpel. Now practice, start by yelling Dad at me."
"You’re so bad..." Lin Yu Jing scolded through gritted teeth, "You’re definitely a Big Chap, can’t be called wrong."