Chapter 7 Variables Must Be Applied in a Different Way

"Who is it?" Su Wan, who was walking beside her, asked casually when she saw Jiang Xinglan replying to a message with her head down.

“Hmm…” Jiang Xinglan pondered for a moment, “A friend? I guess so.”

"Friends are friends, why are you still considered friends?" Su Wan asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Because I’m not quite sure either,” Jiang Xinglan said matter-of-factly. “Let’s go eat.”

The staff canteen at Jinghua University.

"So, you ran into him in Yuncheng?" Su Wan sat opposite Jiang Xinglan, holding chopsticks in one hand, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Well, I wasn't helping my brother out of a crisis for the show; he was a guest on the show," Jiang Xinglan explained briefly.

“Then you two are quite destined,” Su Wan said, biting her chopsticks. “In this vast sea of ​​people, to meet again after eight years must mean you have a special bond!”

"So, according to you, the bond between us is also very deep!" Jiang Xinglan teased, looking at the person opposite her.

Su Wan paused in her chopsticks, then put them down. "That's right. I only realized it later."

"I thought we would never see each other again, but who would have thought we would become good friends now."

"However, I still feel somewhat guilty about this."

At this point, Su Wan's tone became somewhat serious.

"It was just a joke between the two families, we can't take it seriously," Jiang Xinglan shook her head. "If we really want to delve into it, I should thank you."

"Thank me?" Su Wan asked, somewhat puzzled.

“If you hadn’t suddenly appeared, I might have taken this habit for granted as a sign of liking,” Jiang Xinglan said calmly. “I would never have thought about what kind of relationship I had with him.”

"If you enter a new stage of life with this mindset, it may end up being a mediocre one."

"Have you realized your feelings for Zhou Cuo?" Su Wan asked tentatively.

At this moment, she was not asking the question from the perspective of Zhou Cuo's ex-girlfriend, but from the perspective of Jiang Xinglan's friend.

"I was a little confused at the time, and I even thought I had broken up with my boyfriend," Jiang Xinglan wiped her mouth with a tissue, her movements unhurried. "Now it seems that it was because we grew up together and I was used to his presence. So when my mom asked me what I thought about this, I thought, 'It's okay if it's him, there's nothing wrong with it.'"

Su Wan suddenly realized, because of the sentence "It would work for him too".

This is Jiang Xinglan; she analyzes emotions as rationally and calmly as she analyzes data.

This reminded her of the scene when she met Jiang Xinglan again after joining the research group on her supervisor's recommendation.

She nervously pushed open the laboratory door.

What came into view was Jiang Xinglan wearing a spotless white lab coat, with a bare face and her long hair tied up with an extremely simple wooden hairpin. She was focused on recording experimental data.

She looked up when she heard the door open, her gaze calm. Although she was momentarily stunned, she quickly regained her composure.

"Hello, I am Jiang Xinglan, welcome to join the research group."

Her voice was clear, and there were no small talk or formalities; she treated me as if I were a stranger.

However, she still felt some worry because of that moment of stunned silence.

She never expected that Jiang Xinglan was the prized student of Academician Song, whom her mentor had mentioned. You have to understand, at that time, Jiang Xinglan was just a senior student.

However, Jiang Xinglan treated everyone equally afterward, without prejudice or targeting. Even towards her so-called "love rival," she was willing to humbly seek advice.

This finally put Su Wan's mind at ease, allowing her to truly and deeply understand Jiang Xinglan.

She noticed that Jiang Xinglan in the lab always had a serious and focused demeanor.

In her eyes, all problems were either "solved" or "to be solved," and there were no obstacles.

Her intelligence far exceeded her own expectations, even though her undergraduate major was biology and she only had a slight interest in physics.

But later on, even I, a physics major, sometimes couldn't keep up with her train of thought.

There is one thing that Su Wan remembers very clearly.

When she was having a headache because of model building, she was muttering to herself inadvertently in front of the computer, which was overheard by Jiang Xinglan next to her.

She pointed out the problems in the model incisively, and in addition to providing detailed explanations, she also recommended several books to her.

These books are all obscure and highly specialized.

It was at this moment that she finally realized that beneath Jiang Xinglan's composure lay profound knowledge and focus.

The project progressed particularly smoothly because of the presence of such a person in the laboratory.

And everyone in the laboratory has made tremendous progress.

It was precisely because of Jiang Xinglan's powerful and pure attraction that the members of the research group, including Su Wan herself, ultimately chose to join Jiang Xinglan's team.

Recalling this, she suddenly thought of the person they had just mentioned—Shen Yuheng.

Jiang Xinglan, who always draws clear lines, is surprisingly confused about this person.

Su Wan was curious; she wondered what kind of outcome such a "variable" that Jiang Xinglan couldn't define would lead to in her life.

As the two finished their meal and walked out of the cafeteria, snowflakes began to fall.

Jiang Xinglan reached out and caught a snowflake, its warm palm gradually melting it.

It's like a high wall built in Jiang Xinglan's heart.

That night, the entire capital city was covered by the heavy snow.

Shen Yuheng stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, holding his phone, the screen still displaying Jiang Xinglan's rejection.

He stood silently by the window, his eyes darker than the night itself.

After a long while, Shen Yuheng turned around, picked up the script on the sofa, and began to read it intently.

---

On the way to the airport the next day.

Shen Yuheng leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to rest.

Wei Yu, standing to the side, looked at Shen Yuheng and felt that his condition was a little different.

If Wei Yu had to describe it, it seemed like he was seeing Shen Yuheng from a few years ago.

"Why do you seem even more tense than before since you came back?" Wei Yu couldn't figure out why, so he asked directly.

"It's nothing," Shen Yuheng opened his eyes, looked at the rapidly receding street scene outside the window, and said calmly, "I just figured out some things."

I've just figured it out, and I know I have to change my approach.

He thought about it for a long time last night. Although he can be said to have achieved some success in his career, he is still in the stage of looking up to her.

However, simply looking up is not enough; he must get closer to the lighthouse, closer to the shining star, until he stands shoulder to shoulder with her.

Wei Yu seemed to understand, but he knew it must be related to Jiang Xinglan.

“Brother Wei,” Shen Yuheng’s voice rang out again, “after this filming is over, please don’t schedule any commercial appearances for me for the time being.”

"What's wrong?" Wei Yu asked. "Do you have other plans?"

"I just want to take some time to reflect. If there are any offers related to science biographies or serious dramas, I'm open to further contact."

Wei Yu hesitated, then looked deeply at Shen Yuheng before finally letting out a sigh, "I understand."

Back on set, Shen Yuheng put these emotions behind him and threw himself into filming.

Meanwhile, in the laboratory, Jiang Xinglan continued her research.

Jiang Xinglan had previously discovered that in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, abnormal deposition of Aβ protein and hyperphosphorylation of Tau protein jointly mediate neuroinflammation, which in turn leads to apoptosis of neural synaptic cells.

This apoptosis is mainly due to the activity of glial cells. Glial cells only emit abnormal vibrations in the calcium ion channels on their cell membranes when they cleave synaptic cells.

Simply put, Jiang Xinglan and Su Wan are now trying to capture the special "distress signals" sent by the brain.

However, Jiang Xinglan still doesn't know who sent this "signal".

Jiang Xinglan, who had just returned from Yuncheng, noticed that the SER3 gene in most Alzheimer's patients was silent when comparing various data of the patients.

After two months of experiments, Jiang Xinglan made her first discovery: this most ordinary gene, which everyone had overlooked, when silenced, causes the two proteins Aβ and Tau to gradually lead to the degeneration of the nervous system.

This gene is like an inconspicuous screw.

When this screw fails, the brain, this sophisticated instrument, sends out an alarm, ultimately causing the entire system to collapse.

After writing and submitting the paper, Jiang Xinglan began further research on how the SER3 gene affects the two proteins Aβ and Tau.

Time flies when you focus on something.

Almost instantly, it was December 31st.

“You, once you started the experiment, you stopped caring about anything else.”

When Jiang Yunye came to the research institute to pick up Jiang Xinglan to go home, he couldn't help but speak when he saw her thin body.

“This isn’t a breakthrough,” Jiang Xinglan adjusted the recline of the car seat. “I’m going to rest for a bit.”

Jiang Yunye looked at the dark circles under his sister's eyes and felt a pang of heartache. "Go to sleep. I'll wake you up when we get home."

"Mm." Jiang Xinglan nodded, then closed her eyes.

Jiang Yunye took a blanket from the side and carefully covered her with it.

After adjusting the car's air conditioning temperature, I turned my attention back to the computer screen on my lap.

When they were almost home, Jiang Xinglan woke up, wrapped herself in the blanket, and turned to look at Jiang Yunye.

"You're one to criticize me, aren't you the same?"

Jiang Yunye closed his laptop. "How can I be the same as you? At least I eat and sleep on time. What about you?"

“I eat on time too!” Jiang Xinglan retorted.

"Sleeping?" Jiang Yunye's voice sounded somewhat dangerous.

"Yes, I also try to go to bed early." Jiang Xinglan looked away somewhat guiltily.

"Just wait and see what Mom will say about you later!"

"Brother, can you help me?" Jiang Xinglan leaned closer and said with a fawning expression.

"Not again?" Jiang Yunye remembered that when she used him as a "shield" last time, Ms. Lin Zhi nagged him for a whole week.

"Hehehe, I managed to get someone to buy that limited edition game console you liked." Jiang Xinglan blinked at Jiang Yunye.

Jiang Yunye opened his mouth, thinking, "So what if I get nagged? All because of the game console!"

but…

"You really bought it?" Jiang Yunye felt it necessary to confirm again.

Jiang Xinglan clicked her tongue, took out her phone and pulled up the chat history, "You don't believe me? Then see for yourself!"

Jiang Yunye took the phone.

Alex: "Jiang, is this the one you wanted?"

Alex: "Game console image."

J_Stella: "Mmm!"

Alex: "OK, I'll buy it and mail it to you."

J_Stella: "Thank you. Give me an account number, and I'll transfer the money to you."

Alex: "GB29 BARC xxxx xxxx xxxx xx"

J_Stella: "Okay."

Two minutes later.

Alex: "Jiang, you don't need that much!"

J_Stella: "I feel a little bad for taking up your time and energy. I'll treat you to a meal next time you come to China to express my gratitude."

Alex: "You're too kind!"

One day later.

Alex: "Image of mailing slip"

Alex: "It's already been sent out. Please check your mail."

J_Stella: "Thank you."

After reading it, Jiang Yunye handed the phone back to Jiang Xinglan. "Tell me, how do you want me to cooperate this time?"

"Hmm..." Jiang Xinglan took the phone. "Let me think about it."

A note from the author:

----------------------

[1] Lin, Yufan. Research progress in Alzheimer's disease [J]. Chinese Journal of Modern Drug Application, 2025, 19(14): 175-178

[2] Li Lingjie, Yu Xiaolin, Liu Ruitian. The role of glial cell-mediated synaptic pruning in Alzheimer's disease [J]. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica, 2021, 56(2): 383-390

[3][1] Zang Yunliang,Marder Eve,Marom Shimon.Sodium channel slow inactivation normalizes firing in axons with uneven conductance distributions.[J].Current biology : CB,2023,33(9):1818-1824.e3.

The above are the references for this chapter.

Aβ and Tau proteins may be associated with Alzheimer's disease.

In the Aβ hypothesis, abnormal deposition of Aβ directly affects nerve cells, leading to the activation of glial cells and consequently nerve damage.

The Tau protein hyperphosphorylation hypothesis suggests that excessive phosphorylation of the Tua protein leads to abnormal deposition of Aβ protein, ultimately resulting in nerve damage.

The SER3 gene is something I made up; I don't know if it actually exists.

The methods for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease are all my invention. As of now, there should be no effective method to diagnose Alzheimer's disease in its early stages.