Lin Chuchu and the others arrived at the cafeteria. The food there hadn't changed much, but it still tasted pretty good.

Lin Chuchu hadn't been here for a long time, and the cafeteria lady serving food didn't remember her at all, giving her a curious look.

When they saw the academician's plaque, their smiles became even warmer, and they took more food.

After thanking her, Lin Chuchu found a seat and sat down. Soon, Liu Xiaonuan, Song Luobai, and Du Lingling sat down next to her.

"This business trip is quite short. I thought it would be more than half a year again."

Song Luobai said with a smile.

Will you go abroad again after this?

Most of them are male business travelers, while female business travelers have fewer opportunities to travel.

Only Lin Chuchu travels for work more often than the male colleagues.

Lin Chuchu shook her head. "Probably not. The base leaders said I won't have any missions recently."

Du Lingling's eyes lit up. "Then come to our group! This time, Luo Bai and I will be in the same group, and I'll be leading the team separately."

"Yes, Sister Chuchu, our team is all women now. We've brought all the young female comrades from the base into our group."

Song Luobai also chimed in with his advice.

Lin Chuchu did not agree immediately. "Let's talk about it later. I'm not in a hurry to join the group right now. I can rest for a while longer."

"That's good. Our research project is almost finished, in the next few days. Shall we work on the next research project together?"

Du Lingling said in a low voice, "I've just realized that it's not easy to lead a group that's all women. I won't organize a group like that next time."

His tone was full of regret.

Lin Chuchu hadn't expected the other party to create such a group. With so many women, there were bound to be many issues, so it was no wonder that conflicts were bound to arise.

In a research group, at the very least, more than half of the members should be men.

Several people were talking, and Du Lingling wanted to discuss the situation of their group, when she was suddenly interrupted by a voice.

"Sister Lingling, Luo Bai, may I sit next to you?"

A girl's voice came from behind the group. Lin Chuchu looked up and saw a cute girl timidly waiting for Du Lingling's answer.

Du Lingling's breath hitched, and the smile on her face vanished.

It's obvious that Du Lingling doesn't like this person.

Du Lingling said stiffly, "There are seats next to us. Why are you asking us if there's anyone there? People who don't know better might think I'm bullying you."

The girl's face turned pale, and her eyes instantly reddened. "I'm sorry, I wanted to sit with you."

As he spoke, he looked at Liu Xiaonuan, his embarrassment obvious, wanting Liu Xiaonuan to give him a seat.

Liu Xiaonuan, however, seemed not to notice and continued to sit there calmly eating her meal.

Seeing that none of them spoke up for her, the girl could only sit dejectedly in the seat next to them.

Since her appearance, Du Lingling and Song Luobai have fallen silent and refused to speak.

Lin Chuchu glanced at the other person curiously. This person was quite formidable, managing to make two people dislike her at the same time, and even others didn't speak up for her.

Isn't that a bit too unpopular?

The girl's name is Chen Meng. She is a second-generation military family member and grew up in a military dependents' home. Because of her cute appearance, she was very popular when she was young.

Later, all the children in the military dependents' home found out what she really was and stopped wanting to play with her.

Actually, her father's military rank wasn't very high. Whenever she went out, he would try to please the children in the military dependents' compound.

But later, something happened that caused her family to be ostracized by the entire military dependents' compound, and her status changed from a beloved little princess to someone that no one wanted to talk to.

After growing up, she barely got into a school, and her father arranged for her to work at a research base.

Her father's idea was to stay here for a few years, earn some credit, and give her more leverage in the marriage proposal.

At first, she was very popular at the research base. After all, she was good at pretending and was delicate and weak, so many people were willing to take care of her.

However, during one research project, a major mistake occurred that nearly destroyed the experimental equipment and injured someone.

Fearing the consequences, she shifted all the blame onto her colleagues in the same group. The colleague was disciplined, lost his chance for promotion, and was demoted from a full-fledged researcher to an assistant.

The two women had a huge argument in the lab, and from then on, they knew that the person in front of them was a cunning and ruthless hypocrite.

We're all researchers, so our emotional intelligence isn't that high, and nobody's going to help someone all the time.

To gain a foothold, you must have strong abilities; connections are useless here.

Unless your abilities are recognized by everyone.

From then on, no one wanted to talk to Chen Meng anymore.

Chen Meng never looked for the reasons within herself, always feeling that it was someone else's fault.

And she is also the main reason why Du Lingling no longer wants to form a research group that consists entirely of women.

If you lack the ability, then you should honestly learn from others, just like Feng Tao did in the past.

However, this person always liked to meddle in everything he did, making the entire research team a mess.

The two were too lazy to talk. Lin Chuchu wasn't familiar with the other person, and even if they were, she wouldn't want to say anything more in this situation.

Moreover, she unconditionally stood on Du Lingling and Song Luobai's side.

The group fell silent. However, the other party still tried to get close to Lin Chuchu, wanting to know if Lin Chuchu had someone backing her. Otherwise, how could someone so young become an academician?

"Comrade Lin, may I call you Sister Chuchu too? You're amazing, how did you become an academician at such a young age?"

Chen Meng immediately tried to get close to him.

Lin Chuchu shook her head. "It's nothing. I just accumulated a lot of military merits, and naturally became an academician."

Military merit? Did the other party help the military develop something? Is that why they became an academician?

Chen Meng was filled with questions, but the other party didn't say anything more. She also really wanted to earn some military merits.

"Sister Chuchu, are you from Beijing? What do your parents do for a living? Where do you live?"

She continued to pry, convinced that this person must have some unique background that made her so popular with the higher-ups.

Lin Chuchu was at a loss for words. How could someone start digging into her life so soon after meeting her?

Du Lingling scoffed, "What does it matter to you what other people do? Do you think you're from the neighborhood committee? You think they'll just answer whatever you ask?"

Du Lingling dislikes someone, but she's too lazy to pretend.

With red eyes, Chen Meng said in a wronged tone, "Since I came here, I haven't had any friends. I liked Sister Chuchu the moment I saw her, so I want to be friends with her."