Hearing the noise, he suddenly raised his head, his glasses slipped down to the tip of his nose, revealing a pair of bewildered eyes, which only lit up when he saw that it was Yu Jiuyuan.

"Jiuyuan?" He was about to get up when his gaze fell on Tang Nianzhi next to Rong Shenghan, and his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"This is Miss Tang Nianzhi, who is here to visit the campus," Yu Jiuyuan introduced. "Niannian, this is Yuan Xu, the president of the Biology Club, and also a research prodigy at our school."

Tang Nianzhi's attention was quickly drawn to the petri dishes on the lab bench.

In those transparent glass dishes, pale green fungi grew, shimmering with a faint blue light under the ultraviolet lamp, like stars scattered on agar.

"Wow, is this a bioluminescent fungus? How amazing!"

"It was bred using gene editing technology," Yuan Xu said, becoming quite eloquent when discussing her field of expertise.

"I inserted the firefly's luciferase gene into its genome, so it glows in the dark."

As he spoke, he turned off the lab's overhead light, and the blue light in the petri dish instantly became clear. "Look," he said, "doesn't it look just like the starry sky over Changbai Mountain?"

Mentioning Changbai Mountain, Tang Nianzhi's eyes lit up: "Brother Shenghan said you went to Changbai Mountain for observation last week? I originally wanted to come too, but my course in the UK hasn't finished yet."

As she spoke, she turned to Rong Shenghan, her tone slightly coquettish, "Brother Shenghan, you promised to take me to see the snow."

“When winter break comes,” Rong Shenghan said with a smile, ruffling her hair, “I’ll take you to the Alps. The snow there is more beautiful than that of Changbai Mountain.”

Yuan Xu's expression turned indifferent. He silently turned on the overhead light, and the blue light in the petri dish was immediately overwhelmed by the white light. He lowered his head and looked back at the microscope, seemingly uninterested in their conversation.

Yu Jiuyuan noticed that his fingers, gripping the pen, tightened slightly, his knuckles turning white. A faint blue light flashed on the pinky ring, and on the system panel, Yuan Xu's positive emotion value dropped from 99 to 95.

It seems this uninvited guest is quite a good litmus test.

Yu Jiuyuan pondered in her heart, but still wore a gentle smile on her face: "Yuan Xu, how is the preparation of materials for the bio-fluorescent holographic projection you mentioned before?"

Yuan Xu was immediately brought back to the main topic, her eyes lighting up again: "Almost done! I extracted the fluorescent protein from the fungus and am testing the fluorescence intensity..."

He pulled Yu Jiuyuan to another experimental table and began to explain at length, his excitement almost overflowing.

Tang Nianzhi couldn't get a word in edgewise, so she could only wander around the laboratory with Rong Shenghan out of boredom.

She picked up a reagent bottle labeled "highly poisonous" and curiously held it up to the light, only to have it snatched away by Yuan Xu with lightning speed.

“Don’t touch this,” Yuan Xu said with obvious aloofness. “It contains acrylamide, which can cause cancer if inhaled.”

Tang Nianzhi was startled by his serious expression and looked at Rong Shenghan with a wronged expression: "Brother Shenghan..."

Before Rong Shenghan could speak, Yu Jiuyuan interrupted, "The reagents in the biology lab are all dangerous, so you really can't touch them casually. If Niannian is bored, how about I take you to the student council? Lin is compiling the volunteer list for the New Year's Eve party, and maybe there will be some activities that interest you."

When Lin Yanran was mentioned, Yu Jiuyuan's smile deepened.

That spoiled young master of the Lin family is probably still racking his brains over the expense report. Who knows what sparks will fly when he bumps into the equally charming Tang Nianzhi.

Sure enough, as soon as I entered the student council office, I heard Lin Yanran's impatient voice: "What kind of lousy list is this! Not even a single contact number is complete, how am I supposed to compile the statistics?"

He was slamming a stack of forms onto the table when he saw Yu Jiuyuan. He paused, then pouted, "President, you're finally here. I'm not doing this crap anymore..."

Before he could finish speaking, his gaze fell on Tang Nianzhi behind Yu Jiuyuan.

The girl, dressed in an elegant coat and with perfect makeup, was curiously looking around the office. Her pampered demeanor was just like those socialites and rich girls he disliked.

"And who is this?" Lin Yanran raised an eyebrow, her tone carrying an undisguised scrutiny.

“Miss Tang Nianzhi,” Yu Jiuyuan smiled frankly, “you’re here to visit. Nian Nian, this is Lin Yanran, our student council’s new member.”

Tang Nianzhi clearly didn't take the impatient-looking boy seriously, and just gave a perfunctory "oh".

Her gaze fell on the list on his desk: "Volunteer list? What fun programs are there for the New Year's Eve party? When I was in England, the school's Christmas party always had equestrian performances."

Lin Yanran scoffed, "Saint Cherry Blossom isn't that tacky."

"So what?" Tang Nianzhi raised her chin defiantly. "It can't be worse than the Royal Ballet we saw at Buckingham Palace, can it?"

Seeing the atmosphere between the two suddenly become tense, Rong Shenghan coughed lightly, trying to smooth things over, but Yu Jiuyuan beat him to it.

"Saint Sakura's New Year's Eve party will have an interactive holographic projection segment. It was designed by Yuan Xu and President Xie together, using the latest optical biotechnology. It should be more interesting than the equestrian performance."

She turned to Lin Yanran, her tone light, "Yanran, didn't you say you were going to check the observation data with President Xie? It just so happens that we're on the way now."

Lin Yanran's expression changed, clearly indicating he didn't want to go find Xie Zhecheng, but when he met Tang Nianzhi's provocative gaze, he still stubbornly grabbed the folder on the table: "Fine, I'll go!"

Watching Lin Yanran storm off, Tang Nianzhi pouted and said, "That person is really rude."

Rong Shenghan smiled helplessly: "Yanran is straightforward, don't mind her."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!