Chapter 56
The moment the mixed noodles entered his mouth, the scorching noodles seemed to burn his mouth. Professor Chen slurped the noodles in big mouthfuls. The chewy noodles slid like a snake, but were still ruthlessly cut by his teeth. The meat sauce burned his tongue so much that the tip of his tongue trembled slightly. The chewy meat particles bounced in his mouth, and the salty and fragrant sauce made the minced meat more flavorful.
Professor Chen completely ignored the blanching of the noodles and buried his head in eating them mouthful after mouthful. His entire face turned red and hot because the food was too hot. A stubborn noodle slipped off the chopsticks and the splashed sauce fell on his clothes, forming spots of oil stains. It was a pity that Professor Chen himself was completely unaware of this, or he didn't care at all.
Professor Chen's voracious eating style really shocked several people. Those who were mixing noodles stopped and looked at Professor Chen who was concentrating on eating, swallowing the food whole without chewing.
"Professor Chen, don't just eat noodles, have some vegetables."
Lu Shiyu pushed the plate of spicy and sour potato shreds toward Professor Chen. Professor Chen took a moment out of his busy schedule to pick up a piece of food with his chopsticks and continued to slurp his noodles.
Shaoxing Yang turned his head to Yan Hong and whispered, "Professor Chen hasn't eaten in a few days, has he?"
Yanhong said: "Maybe they just love eating noodles..."
"Hey, is it possible?" Shao Xingyang began to speculate: "Because Professor Chen can't cook, his apprentice used to cook for him. Now that his apprentice is gone, he has been able to make all sorts of messy things for himself these days. Now he can't help but eat normal food."
Thinking of that horrible pot of "food", Yan Hong rubbed her chin and said, "It seems... there is some truth to it."
Thinking of this, the two of them looked at Professor Chen with some pity in their eyes.
So pitiful, he can't even eat.
Professor Chen, who was pitifully unaware of his situation, scraped the last few noodles out of the bowl with his chopsticks before putting down the bowl with only a little sauce left. He sat down to relax for a moment, and the redness on his face gradually faded, and he felt much calmer.
"Hmm, I haven't had noodles with meat sauce in a long time," Professor Chen said, looking at the empty bowl. "I thought my appetite would be poor as I get older, but I didn't expect I could eat so much all at once."
"Would you like some more?" Lu Shiyu asked.
Professor Chen shook his head and said, "Forget it. If you eat more, you'll be hurt. When you get old, eating too much is not good. It hurts your body."
After saying that, he stood up and took a bottle of medicine from the cabinet, poured out two tablets, put them in his mouth and chewed them into pieces.
"Professor Chen," Tang Zeyu asked, "How long do you plan to stay here?"
"What? You come to my house and want to kick me out?" Professor Chen asked back, leaning against the wall.
"I did not mean that……"
"Not to mention that my apprentice hasn't returned yet, even if he did, he couldn't leave now," Professor Chen said, walking over to the table and flipping through the notes. "I came out to record the aberrant creatures farther from the base. This is my limit. After I finish recording the aberrant creatures nearby, I'll begin migrating towards the base, but I won't return until I've recorded a certain number."
"What about your food and supplies?" Tang Zeyu asked, "These foods won't last that long."
"That's why I said I had to wait for my apprentice to come back," Professor Chen said calmly, "He's responsible for transporting the supplies from the base."
"Your disciple is the only one here?" Yan Hong asked in surprise, "Can he make it? Will he be eaten by some deformed creature along the way?"
In the minds of several people, Professor Chen’s apprentice, Yan Ning, was a thin scholar like him. It sounded hard to believe that he traveled alone to the outside world where deformed creatures were everywhere.
"Hmph, don't underestimate us researchers," Professor Chen saw through their thoughts and said with some pride, "Yan Ning's individual mobility is very strong, not inferior to those of you exploration team members at all."
"There's even some of my old style left."
After hearing this, the other three gathered together again.
"Is this true? If you're that powerful, why would you still be doing scientific research?"
"You're just bragging. It doesn't sound real."
"How strong could Professor Chen be when he was young?"
"The vanity of middle-aged men..."
Professor Chen slapped the wooden cabinet angrily: "I heard everything!"
Tang Zeyu and Lu Shiyu hurried forward to comfort him. Out of concern, Tang Zeyu still asked, "Professor Chen, does your apprentice have special abilities?"
"Of course, haven't you ever felt so bad about going out alone?"
"So what is his special ability?"
Professor Chen's thoughts were a little vague: "Well, this is a little hard to describe. You will understand when you see it."
Tang Zeyu: “…”
Lu Shiyu: “…”
But your apprentice is still missing, neither alive nor dead!
As he passed by, he caught a glimpse of the notes on the desk, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"This is……"
Lu Shiyu picked up the scattered papers on the table. Some of them recorded Professor Chen's observations on the deformed creatures in a disorganized manner. Some were drawings outlined in pencil, depicting the appearance of the deformed creatures with simple lines.
An overly familiar feeling surged in her heart, and Lu Shiyu felt her heart begin to beat faster. She picked up the notebook with anticipation and a bit of nervousness. The content on it made her speechless for a long time.
Professor Chen stood aside, watching Lu Shiyu holding his notebook in a trance, and waved his hand between her and the notebook.
"What's wrong? Are you also interested in deformed creatures?" Professor Chen asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm..." Lu Shiyu turned his head and said very quickly, "Professor Chen, did you make these or did your apprentice do them?"
"My apprentice will help with some of this, but I'll do most of it myself," Professor Chen said, reaching for the drafts on the table. "Let him handle the more tedious sorting and organization. As for the record-keeping and final product, I'll do it all. This way, I can ensure the final result is flawless."
Professor Chen's hand was grabbed by Lu Shiyu before he even touched the draft.
"Professor Chen! Give me an autograph!"
"Wait wait! What are you doing?!"
Professor Chen was so scared that he staggered, but fortunately Lu Shiyu pulled him up and he didn't fall.
"Hand, hand, hand! Let go!"
"What are they...doing?"
Shaoxing Yang held the bowl of noodles with a confused look.
"Well...a fan meeting." Chen Yunliang sipped his noodles.
"Professor Chen! You wrote the 'Manuscript of Deformed Organisms', right?"
“Hand, hand, hand!” Professor Chen tried with all her might to pull her hand back: “How can a girl like you be so strong?”
"Oh, sorry."
Lu Shiyu finally reacted and loosened his grip, freeing Professor Chen's red, clenched hand.
"I almost broke the old man's hand." Professor Chen complained while rubbing his sore hand.
"Professor Chen..."
"I wrote it, what's wrong?" Professor Chen poked Lu Shiyu's forehead with his finger in annoyance, forcing her to step back until she hit the corner of the table.
"Surprised? Find it unbelievable? There are people who actually waste their lives researching a bunch of things that kill people, and turn them into books that no one reads. They spend money to publish them, but they can't even sell them, so they have to sit in a warehouse and gather dust. They've wasted half of their lives, have no career or achievements of their own, and spend their days running around doing nothing. Yes! I just do meaningless things all day, so what? I enjoy it!"
"No, no," Lu Shiyu quickly took out the book from his bag and thrust it in front of Professor Chen: "I really want an autograph!"
Professor Chen took two steps back and moved a little further away from the book before he could see the entire book clearly.
"This is……"
"It's your book!" Lu Shiyu's cheeks flushed with excitement, his eyes sparkling with excitement, and he held the book in front of Professor Chen.
"I read the whole thing!"
"Have you finished reading it all?" Professor Chen looked at Lu Shiyu suspiciously and was almost blinded by Lu Shiyu's bright eyes.
"Okay, then let me see if you've really seen it or not," Professor Chen said, unconvinced, taking the book from Lu Shiyu's hand and randomly opening a page. "What's the most striking feature of the Songhua bird?"
Lu Shiyu answered confidently, "The Songhua bird has two orange-yellow air sacs on either side of its neck. These air sacs allow it to produce a louder crow."
"How do the two sheaths distinguish males from females?"
"The male bivalves have blue feet, the female bivalves have blue feet..."
No matter what Professor Chen asked, Lu Shiyu could answer fluently, as if the answers were engraved in her mind. The questions made Professor Chen begin to doubt his life.
"How's it going, Professor Chen?"
"All correct, that's crazy," Professor Chen said, closing the book. "Did you memorize the book?"
Memorizing the entire book was naturally impossible. Lu Shiyu chuckled and said, "In fact, I just know it by heart."
Professor Chen looked at Lu Shiyuhe and the book in his hand that was obviously often flipped through, and sighed deeply.
"Forget it, as long as someone reads it," Professor Chen picked up a pen from the table, opened the book's title page and began to sign. "Even if only one or two people read it, it won't be in vain."
"Here, take it. This is the first time I'm signing an autograph for someone."
Lu Shiyu took the book and treasured it so much that even Professor Chen's heart softened.
"Professor Chen, since you want others to see your book, why do you set the price so high?" Chen Yunliang asked in confusion.
"High? That's considered high?" Professor Chen's expression twisted for a moment. "Very high?"
Even Lu Shiyu nodded along.
“It’s really high!”
Professor Chen: “…”
"Oh, I didn't expect that my book is so worthless." Professor Chen shook his head and sighed.
"Professor Chen, it's not that your book is worthless, it's simply too expensive," Chen Yunliang advised. "Many people don't even earn that much in a month. Putting that kind of price on a book with no practical value is simply unaffordable for ordinary people. Even if they had money, they wouldn't necessarily be willing to spend it."
Professor Chen fell into a brief moment of contemplation.
“Are young people’s wages so low now?”
"Um...how should I respond to that?" Chen Yunliang was a little hesitant to speak. "Salaries...are not too high, but that has nothing to do with the high prices of books. Even if wages increase, books will still be very expensive."
"After all, most people wouldn't choose to spend five figures on a book, especially..."
"Wait a minute," Professor Chen reacted, "This doesn't sound right to me."
"Ah, what's wrong?"
"What do you mean by five figures for a book?" Professor Chen frowned and looked at Chen Yunliang. "The price I gave was three figures. How did it become five figures?"
"What?"
Chen Yunliang and Lu Shiyu, the only two people who had come into contact with the "Manuscript of Deformed Organisms", looked at each other. Lu Shiyu hurriedly turned over the book and checked the price below the barcode on the back of the book. In order to prevent miscounting, he counted the numbers one by one, and it was indeed a five-digit price.
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