Ye Qingcheng was furious and pointed at Li Lizhang, laughing and scolding, "Old Li, you're not being fair. You don't even care about your old friend's health when you see Xiao Jiang. You're being too stingy with your talent. I think you're treating Xiao Jiang like half a son."
“Who doesn’t care about your health? I’m only happy because of you! Xiao Jiang’s presence will help me better research ways to treat your condition. I get angry when I see an old man like you who doesn’t take care of his health and doesn’t rest properly, always looking like he’s about to die. Only an excellent junior like him can make me feel gratified.”
After berating Ye Qingcheng, Li Lizhang went to the main gate to personally open it and welcome Jiang Jianian in. Seeing Jiang Jianian's tired expression, Dean Li, who had just finished criticizing Ye Qingcheng, couldn't help but complain about Ye Qingcheng again, "That old man Ye Qingcheng, he doesn't fulfill his own responsibilities and piles all the heavy burdens on you. You're only a freshman and he's already bullying you like this. He's really outrageous. Let's not mess around with Ye Qingcheng. He doesn't take care of his health. You're still young, you need to take good care of yourself and not overwork yourself. How about this, if you don't have anything to do tonight, you can rest and recharge here and go back to school tomorrow, what do you think?"
"No need, Dean. I have some things to take care of tonight and need to go back to the school." How could Jiang Jianian leave Ye Zhiwei alone at the villa? He smiled and politely declined Li Lizhang's suggestion, citing school matters as the reason.
Although Li Lizhang was worried about Jiang Jianian's health, Jiang Jianian's firm refusal led him to believe that Jiang Jianian had important matters to attend to at school, so he did not try to persuade her further.
Jiang Jianian followed Li Lizhang into the research lab.
Seeing Jiang Jianian's unpleasant expression and Ye Qingcheng's stubborn refusal to let go of the Ye family and even refuse to go to the hospital, Li Lizhang became even angrier. As soon as they entered the research lab, they frowned and began to grumble together, "Little Jiang, Ye Qingcheng only let you stay with him for a year, so why are you so eager to do whatever he asks? He's much more useful to you than I am. It's just a research project; I only need to mention it briefly, and you always make excuses about being busy with your studies or having school matters. Ye Qingcheng is such a troublemaker; he's sick but refuses to see a doctor or stay in the hospital properly, while you, with no studies to worry about and no school matters, go to all this trouble to get a research project to accompany him in his nonsense—"
The old man Li Lizhang was very resentful. He didn't know about Jiang Jianian and Ye Zhiwei's affair. He felt that he treated Jiang Jianian much better than Ye Qingcheng did. Why didn't Jiang Jianian respond to his every request? Instead, she accompanied Ye Qingcheng in his pointless fuss.
He was very complaining, grumbling incessantly even before entering the research lab, as if he wouldn't stop until he got an explanation.
Jiang Jianian didn't like to talk about personal matters, so he just stood there and smiled without saying anything.
Ye Qingcheng didn't hide anything and answered directly for Jiang Jianian: "Alright, alright, you're going to argue with me about this. Don't you even think about who recommended him to you in the first place? If it weren't for me, would your research institute have such a capable person? Besides, no matter how good you are to him, how can you compare to me? You can be as good as me, but I've already given him my daughter."
"What?! You gave him your daughter! What are you talking about... How much of a daughter do you have..." It took Li Lizhang a long time to react. "What? What! You gave that little girl Zhiwei to him?"
Li Lizhang is usually not very interested in the love affairs of these young people. However, sometimes when his wife is watching a TV series and gets really into it, she might say, "That's all a lie!"
Not only that, he is also very critical when watching TV dramas. He often makes jarring comments when the male and female leads are going through life and death separations, such as, "You should work hard while you're young, instead of wasting your precious time on these worthless things every day."
The dean's wife was so angry that she often preferred Li Lizhang to go do his scientific research experiments rather than come and watch TV dramas with her.
Li Lizhang, who used to scoff at young people dating, suddenly widened his eyes and pressed Ye Qingcheng repeatedly, "No, is that really what you mean? You really let Zhiwei and Xiao Jiang get together? Xiao Jiang likes Zhiwei? No, tell me clearly, are Xiao Jiang and your girl really a couple?"
Ye Qingcheng didn't think much of it at first, and he was somewhat dissatisfied with Jiang Jianian in some ways. But when he saw the old man Li Lizhang looking so hurt, he suddenly became smug and laughed, "You're only just realizing that? So it's hard to say whether Xiao Jiang is half your son or not, but he's definitely half my son."
Dean Li was heartbroken.
What saddened him wasn't just what Ye Qingcheng had teased him about; Li Lizhang finally realized why Jiang Jianian had ultimately agreed to do research with him.
It was obvious that Jiang Jianian had no interest in the research institute's projects. He initially rejected Li Lizhang's invitation, but later, the dean's wife, Wei Yunshu, somehow found photos of Ye Qingcheng's daughter and took it upon herself to introduce the girl to Jiang Jianian. Jiang Jianian took the joke seriously, and the girl was even the main reason why he agreed to join the research institute.
Li Lizhang was so caught up in the relief that Jiang Jianian hadn't wasted his talent that he realized Jiang Jianian's true intentions were not what they seemed.
All of Jiang Jianian's unusual behavior at the research institute became clear at this moment.
At the research institute, Jiang Jianian was always quiet and reserved, burying himself in data collection, experiments, and record-keeping to verify theories, summarize failures, and continue experimenting. However, when talking about Ye Qingcheng's little girl, Jiang Jianian would become very patient and talkative, but his words would always revolve around Ye Zhiwei, subtly hinting at her affairs every few sentences.
Whenever Ye Zhiwei is mentioned, he seems to transform from a stoic, expressionless experimental machine into a boy with the youthful spirit that is typical of his age.
I see, I see.
Li Lizhang finally realized what was going on. The more he thought about it, the more he understood, and the more he pointed at Jiang Jianian and shook his head. "You little rascal, you little rascal, you actually set your sights on me just to woo your wife!"
Li Lizhang's tone was full of shock and disbelief, but then he seemed to laugh in exasperation, patting Jiang Jianian and sighing, "It's good, it's good this way. I always felt that you were too cold-hearted, as if nothing could catch your eye. You were always so calm and collected in your work, without a trace of childlike vigor. As the dean of the research institute, I am pleased that you can make great contributions to scientific research, but as your elder, I am always worried that something might happen to you. You... at least you have a childlike side now."
The way he goes to such lengths and painstaking efforts to find a partner is even more outrageous than when Ye Qingcheng was young.
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