Cheng Ran's Adam's apple bobbed slightly. He was fully aware of Jiang Xiu and Yuan Zhong's evil deeds. Thinking about how he had unintentionally pushed her into a dangerous situation during this time, he couldn't help but feel guilty.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been angry with you."
"I also want to apologize to you. I will discuss anything with you in the future."
Jiang Wanqing took his arm, and the two finally cleared up the misunderstanding that had been going on for days.
He got up, picked up her package, and put the clothes back into the closet one by one.
"What are you doing? I carefully wrapped it up; I'm taking it to school tomorrow!"
“I won’t stop you from making money, and I won’t interfere in anything you do, but you can’t stay at school for long. I’m worried about you when I’m not around.”
"I will take good care of myself..."
"Unless you want me to call Professor Xue every day to ask about your condition."
Cheng Ran pulled out his trump card and then said, "Anyway, he's always wanted to have a meal with us, so I don't mind treating him every day."
She suddenly looked up, her eyes wide. How did she know that Professor Xue had been wanting to invite the two of them to dinner?
"But it's inconvenient for me to travel back and forth, I don't want to..."
"No matter how late you come home, I will pick you up."
Without him realizing it, he had already tidied up all her clothes and put them back in the closet.
In this matter, his meaning was not to refuse, and Jiang Wanqing had no doubt that if she insisted on living at school, he would wait for her downstairs every day, or even set up a tent and sleep there.
Hmm... I hope she's overthinking it. She tried to reason with him, but he immediately started arguing back.
“I remember there was an open space downstairs in your dormitory, which was perfect for stargazing. When it rained, I would lie under your eaves.”
"Are you sure you're not being unreasonable?" Jiang Wanqing said through gritted teeth.
"yes."
She took a deep breath. If she couldn't reason with him from her own perspective, she could at least reason with him from his.
"Okay, even if you come to pick me up, don't you have a job? How about this, we agree that I'll stay at home on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and I'll stay in the school dormitory on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, okay?"
“I remember there were houses for sale near the University of Washington.”
Cheng Ran smiled meaningfully and pointed to the leather suitcase on top of the cabinet.
"I may not be able to afford a courtyard house, but I can afford an apartment."
Her mind was suddenly buzzing from his words, and she raised her hand to touch her forehead.
"Alright, alright, let's see how long you can last."
She pouted, snorted, grabbed her pajamas, and went to the bathroom...
The following days of sunny weather enlivened the campus atmosphere.
The first batch of moisturizing cream was completed in less than a week. Molly designed the packaging, Qin Meng and the others were responsible for sales, while Jiang Wanqing focused entirely on the upcoming competition.
As arranged by Professor Xue, since it was a competition he organized, he didn't trust anyone else to supervise it. To ensure uniformity and prevent cheating, he personally supervised the process.
The competition was divided into fifteen sessions, to be completed over two days on the weekend, with the laboratory serving as the competition venue.
With ample time and students' curiosity, the experimental building was packed with people over the weekend. If the school hadn't enforced visitor limits, it probably wouldn't have been possible to even squeeze in.
The first day of the competition passed uneventfully. There were one or two outstanding contestants, but it's unclear whether they caught Professor Xue's eye. However, other senior teachers did take notice of them.
Jiang Wanqing and Yuan Zhong were assigned to different matches on the same day.
After her competition in the morning, she received unanimous praise from the teachers in the college, which was all expected, probably because her reputation had already spread in various ways. Although she was amazing, she did not cause a sensation.
The real sensation came that afternoon when Yuan Zhong arranged for the last competition.
After two days of competition, the teachers were exhausted, and with Jiang Wanqing no longer a highlight, they were somewhat complacent and had given up hope. Little did they know that a sudden exclamation would startle Professor Xue awake.
"What are you doing?! What... what kind of method is this...?"
The one who made the sound was a contestant next to Yuan Zhong. He saw his competitor conducting an experiment using an unprecedented method and, disregarding the occasion, exclaimed in surprise.
Professor Xue put down his teacup, walked over, put his hands behind his back, and stared intently. His pupils slowly and unconsciously dilated, and he raised his hand to push up his glasses...
"Hey, have you heard? Professor Xue's competition this time produced a genius, and all the teachers in the department are scrambling to get him!"
"I know about this. It seems even Professor Xue praised it highly, saying it's a field he himself had never even ventured into..."
After a busy day, Jiang Wanqing and Mo Li went to the cafeteria for lunch and overheard people talking on the way.
Molly hummed a little tune happily: "I love hearing them praise you. They used to doubt your abilities, but now they admire you completely."
“I don’t think they were praising me.”
The group of people walked quickly past them, talking amongst themselves, showing no admiration or respect whatsoever, even when they saw Jiang Wanqing…
"How could that be! Who else could it be but you..."
Molly didn't believe it and was about to refute it when she heard a commotion ahead.
"Chen Zhong is ahead, let's go check it out!"
"Let's go, let's go see what the legendary genius looks like."
"Some people are truly remarkable; they don't speak until they've made a name for themselves. Everyone used to say that Jiang Wanqing was Professor Xue's prized student, but now it seems that's a different story..."
The people in front were discussing it enthusiastically and running forward. Molly heard this and let go of Jiang Wanqing's hand to find out what was going on, but she was stopped after only two steps.
"What are they saying! I'm going to go find them and get to the bottom of this!"
"Don't worry, we'll go and see what's going on."
Jiang Wanqing blinked calmly, her emotions unreadable, and walked at a normal pace toward the crowd.
Yuan Zhong was surrounded by everyone—or rather, he should be called Chen Zhong now, since that was the only identity everyone knew him by.
"Chen Zhong, you're amazing! After today's competition, will you be studying under Professor Xue?"
"I heard that what you're researching is something even your teachers at school haven't thought of. Is that true?"
"How could this be fake? It's all over the place!"
...
This scene reminded Jiang Wanqing of her past life, where Yuan Zhong was also surrounded and interviewed by reporters in the same way. He accepted all the praise with the air of an academic bigwig, pretending to be someone else and pocketing all the honors that didn't belong to him. It was exactly the same now.
However, Jiang Wanqing was curious: how could he suddenly amaze his teacher without her help in this life?
"Jiang, you came here for me too, right?"
Jiang Wanqing only glanced at him twice in the crowd, but that guy had sharp eyes and called out her name directly.
All eyes were on her, and people were intentionally or unintentionally moving her closer to Chen Zhong for comparison.
"I know you're unhappy that I've attracted Professor Xue's attention, but he's not just your teacher. Don't be so narrow-minded."
"Did I say anything? Are you possessed by a ghost? What are you muttering to yourself about? Ha." Jiang Wanqing wasn't provoked by his deliberate provocation and scoffed.
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