Chapter 24 The wealthy Yun Qingqing can once again…
Gu Mingyan's bombshell comment, "six figures is nothing," caused the entire live stream to break down.
[Redefining "Small Money"]
[Tsk tsk, tens of thousands of yuan in pocket money, is Gu Mingyan throwing money around like it's some kind of lucky charm?!]
Yun Qingqing is such a lucky girl. Another day of envying Yun Qingqing :)
...
Meng Xian was so choked by Gu Mingyan's words, "You're so stingy with your friends," that she almost couldn't breathe, her face turning red and white in turns.
She had intended to imply that Yun Qingqing was a fake friend she had paid for, but she didn't expect Gu Mingyan to be so unpredictable, making it sound as simple as breathing to give a friend tens of thousands of yuan in pocket money, which made her seem petty.
Just as she was feeling embarrassed and unsure how to get off the stage, Yun gently put down her chopsticks: "Teacher Meng has such good eyesight. Even sitting so far away, you can see the numbers on my phone clearly, and you can even count the number of digits."
Her tone was soft and gentle, but Meng Xian, who was also innocent, felt a chill run down her spine, realizing that Yun Qingqing was implying that she was spying on her.
Meng Xian quickly waved her hand and explained, "I just glanced at it by accident when I turned my head. I was being nosy. I shouldn't have been so concerned."
However, viewers in the live stream weren't buying it:
Did you see it by accident? Well, that "accidental" look is almost too deliberate, isn't it?
[If Yun Qingqing hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have realized it, but Meng Xian was sitting quite a distance away, wasn't she? Her eyesight is at least 5.3, isn't it?]
Peeking at someone's phone screen is a bit rude, to be honest.
Honestly, what business is it of hers how friends transfer money? Constantly asking questions shows a complete lack of boundaries.
Ding Manni ate her meal in silence, glancing sympathetically at Meng Xian, whose forehead was beaded with sweat.
Why did you have to provoke Yun Qingqing and the others?
Isn't this another instance of being criticized?
Back in the dormitory arranged by the production team, Yun gently closed the door, looked at Gu Mingyan who was removing her jewelry in front of the mirror, and said, "Mingyan, why don't you just tell Meng Xian that I'm your hired follower?"
Gu Mingyan paused, looking at her in the mirror: "Hmm?"
“She clearly wants to use the money transfer as leverage today.” Yun walked up to her and analyzed calmly, “If she finds out later that our friendship is based on an employment relationship, she might use that to attack you, saying you’re hypocritical and that we’re acting to deceive the audience. It’s better to be open from the beginning and just say I’m your follower; that would save you trouble.”
Gu Mingyan turned around, her brows furrowing slightly, as if she couldn't understand why Yun Qingqing would think that way.
Under the warm yellow light, her beautiful eyes were filled with surprise: "But you've always been my friend."
Yun Qingqing's expression froze for a moment.
“My financial situation isn’t good; I’m not as rich as you,” Yun stated gently.
"I, Gu Mingyan, don't consider economic conditions when making friends. Anyway, there aren't many people richer than me," Gu Mingyan said matter-of-factly.
She didn't know when it started, but the identity of "follower" had become blurred in her mind.
She was used to Yun Qingqing being by her side, used to her subtle protection, and used to her always being able to catch all her willful or awkward emotions.
Seeing Ji Sihan get close to Yun Qingqing makes her unhappy, but when she gets a meal voucher, she wants to share her happiness with her... Isn't that what friends are all about?
Seeing Yun Qingqing's stunned expression, Gu Mingyan immediately felt uncomfortable: "What, you don't want to be my friend?"
Yun Qingqing looked at the young lady in front of her who clearly cared about it to death, but insisted on putting on an "I don't care" act, and suddenly smiled.
Then, she reached out and grasped Gu Mingyan's hand, which was slightly curled up due to nervousness, and said affirmatively:
"Yes, we are already friends."
*
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the production crew knocked on each door to wake up the sleepy guests.
Our first activity today is to attend an "Introduction to Radiation Physics" class in a lecture hall that Yuncheng University has specially set aside.
The professor giving the lecture is He Tinglan, one of the most renowned talents in the School of Physics. She has top-notch academic level and outstanding teaching achievements, and has won national teaching awards many times.
The school recommended her for collaboration with the "Best Partners" program for two reasons: firstly, because of her excellent teaching quality, which reflects the school's standards; and secondly, because the second half of the year is the college entrance examination season, and recruitment publicity is imminent, requiring some positive exposure.
However, Professor He himself did not understand this arrangement at all, and was even quite annoyed.
"Nonsense! This is such a waste of time!" On the way to the classroom, He Tinglan frowned and complained to the accompanying college leader, "What do a bunch of celebrities know about beta decay and gamma rays? I'm already behind on my research progress, and I still have to take time out of my schedule to cooperate with these celebrities' show!"
The college leader smiled apologetically: "Professor He, we understand, we understand. This is just for the school's publicity needs. It's just one class. If you teach at a normal pace, they'll listen to as much as they can."
He Tinglan snorted through her nose, her face full of impatience at being forced to work.
She was about sixty years old, with her hair neatly combed and dressed in a plain shirt and suit pants, exuding a serious and rigid scholarly air.
When she took her lesson plan and pushed open the back door of the lecture hall, her face darkened even more.
In the corner of the last row, a figure was slumped in a chair, head nodding, clearly asleep.
He Tinglan was already holding back her anger, and seeing this scene only added fuel to the fire.
She strode up to the podium, slammed her lesson plan down, and then raised her hand and slammed it down on the podium with a loud "smack!"
The loud noise echoed in the empty classroom, startling everyone who was dozing off.
Ji Sihan, who was fast asleep, was startled and almost jumped up from his chair. He opened his eyes wide in confusion: "...An earthquake?"
When he saw the female professor on the podium with a livid face, he instantly snapped out of it and hurriedly sat up straight.
[Hahaha, that scared the kid to death!]
[A student from Yunnan University reports in: Ji Sihan is really bold, daring to sleep right under Professor He's nose. She's very strict about academic work.]
[Ji Sihan's reaction cracked me up; it brought back memories of being stared at by our homeroom teacher through the back window.]
He Tinglan didn't look at Ji Sihan any longer, but lowered her head to open the lecture notes and got straight to the point.
"Today we will briefly learn about radiation physics."
She spoke at a steady pace and enunciated clearly. Although one could tell she was dissatisfied with the school's arrangements, the content of her lectures was unambiguous.
"This may be a somewhat obscure field in the public's perception, but its applications are actually extremely wide. From hospital X-ray machines and CT scanners to security inspection equipment, from nuclear power energy to agricultural breeding, food preservation, and even archaeological dating, radiation technology is everywhere."
She turned around and wrote a few keywords and basic formulas on the blackboard with vigorous strokes.
"First, we need to clarify a few basic concepts: What is radiation? What types of radiation are there? What are the essential differences between alpha, beta, and gamma rays? And what does half-life mean?"
Although He Tinglan had low expectations for the effectiveness of the lesson, her professionalism ensured that her explanation was still logical and well-organized.
From atomic structure to radioactive decay, from ionizing radiation to radiation dose units, I try to explain things in relatively simple language.
However, as she expected, for most of the guests, this content was like a foreign language.
Ji Sihan tried to keep up with the professor's explanation by widening his eyes, but after a short while, he started to drift off with his mouth wide open.
Nan Xu, Gu Mingyan, and Jiang Mingqian all sat upright with smiles on their faces, appearing to be listening attentively. However, upon closer inspection, it would be noticeable that everyone's eyes were vacant.
Yu Ran could barely understand some of the popular science content, but she couldn't grasp anything deeper.
Help! My head is starting to hurt. It reminds me of the fear I felt when I was dominated by advanced mathematics in college.
The professor actually explained things quite well, making them easy to understand, but... radiation physics is really dry! (Hides head)
[Judging from the guests' expressions, they're practically dying of laughter; they're all wearing masks of pain.]
[No, look at Yun Qingqing and Meng Xian, they're listening so attentively.]
Meng Xian sat upright, but her hands on her knees tightened slightly with anticipation and a hint of excitement.
Because Ye Jinyan was an investor in the program, he was able to learn about the production team's task arrangements in advance. So, after learning that the production team planned to invite Professor He Tinglan, a professor of radiation physics, to give a lecture, he specifically called Meng Xian to remind her.
Meng Xian had been constantly bombarded with displays of wealth by Gu Mingyan lately, and upon hearing about the show's arrangement, she felt like a godsend.
She immediately gathered information and stayed up all night to memorize many basic concepts and common applications, and even memorized the differences between alpha, beta, and gamma rays.
She didn't believe that Gu Mingyan and Yun Qingqing could possibly make a splash in such a purely academic setting.
He Tinglan also noticed Meng Xian and Yun Qingqing, who were sitting very upright, but she didn't think these celebrities could understand radiation physics. She just thought that they were only pretending to listen attentively because there were cameras in front of them.
She sighed inwardly, but in order to have better classroom interaction, she still wrote the most basic formula on the blackboard:
"...Therefore, radiation is not scary; the key lies in understanding and applying it. Can any student explain the physical meaning of 'λ' in this formula?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the classroom fell silent.
Most of the guests pretended to be looking down at their textbooks, afraid of making eye contact with the professors on stage.
A hint of indifference, as if to say "I knew it," flashed in He Tinglan's eyes. She was about to reveal the answer herself and end this boring segment.
"Professor, λ represents the decay constant." A soft female voice came from the front row of the classroom.
He Tinglan looked up in surprise at one of the girls who was listening to the lecture very attentively.
"You got it right." Her expression softened slightly, and she showed a rare interest in testing him. "Then tell me, what is the relationship between the decay constant and the half-life?"
Meng Xian felt much more at ease, as this question was within the scope of what she had been memorizing all night.
She calmly explained, "The relationship between the decay constant λ and the half-life T is T = ln2 /λ. It reflects the rate of decay of a radionuclide; the larger λ is, the faster the decay and the shorter the half-life."
The answer was fluent and accurate, and the speaker even proactively added physical meaning.
A faint hint of surprise flashed across He Tinglan's serious face; she hadn't expected anyone to actually be able to answer that.
She couldn't help but glance at Meng Xian a few more times, and nodded slightly: "Not bad."
The chat room instantly became lively:
【Wow, Meng Xian is amazing! She even answered that?!】
Meng Xian has always been a gentle and scholarly fairy, I love her!
I'm a casual fan of Meng Xian, and I think she's amazing. She's not shy in academic settings, and I really like how she listens attentively.
[Haha, Gu Mingyan always imitates other people's outfits and makeup, but she can't imitate things that require inner qualities.]
He Tinglan devoted his life to academic pursuits and admired those who were eager to learn.
Faced with this perceptive student, she finally felt motivated to explain.
"Very good, it seems that some students are still thinking seriously."
She then extended the discussion further, delving a little deeper into the subject matter, and began to passionately explain the laws governing radioactive decay.
Halfway through her explanation, He Tinglan drew a diagram on the blackboard and enthusiastically interacted with the audience: "Now this part is a little more difficult, did everyone understand?"
Looking at her writing on the blackboard, Meng Xian was actually a little confused.
But in order to maintain her image as a top student, she reluctantly nodded.
He Tinglan's eyes immediately softened: "This student is very serious. Now, based on the concepts we just discussed, let's look at a slightly more in-depth question."
"In the attenuation of gamma rays in matter, if the Compton scattering effect is taken into account, what factors affect the attenuation of the ray intensity after penetrating the medium?"
He Tinglan looked at Meng Xian with a hint of expectation.
Students who can understand basic concepts and apply them to other situations are always a source of pride and high expectations for teachers.
However, Meng Xian's expression was blank.
The third question is significantly more in-depth than the previous two conceptual questions, involving specific physical processes, and cannot be answered by rote memorization.
She opened her mouth, trying to sift through her memory to find relevant fragments, but her blank mind was unable to organize any coherent answers.
"I'm sorry, Professor," Meng Xian frankly admitted, "I might need to digest this part a little more."
She didn't think anyone present could answer the third question, so even though she couldn't answer it herself, she didn't feel embarrassed at all.
Anyway, she has already answered the first two questions beautifully, which is enough to establish her image as intelligent.
Indeed, some people in the live chat did speak up for her:
To be honest, it's already quite impressive that Meng Xian was able to answer the first two questions. You can't expect a celebrity who's just entered this field to grasp all the content immediately.
[Yeah, don't be too harsh on beautiful girls! Radiation physics is inherently very specialized and difficult; I'd be impressed if Meng Xian could understand even a little bit.]
He Tinglan was slightly disappointed, but still said understandingly, "It's already good that you can remember some basic concepts on your first encounter. This part is indeed a bit of a leap for beginners."
She was about to continue her explanation and end the interactive session.
Another voice suddenly interrupted: "Teacher, this should take into account the energy of the incident photon, the electron density of the medium, and the effects of the scattering angle distribution."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Yun Qingqing sitting quietly behind Meng Xian, listening to the lesson.
She looked calmly at Professor He and continued, "Professor, the diagram you drew perfectly illustrates the process by which scattered photons deviate from their original direction, causing the detector to receive fewer photons from the original direction..."
The entire lecture hall fell silent for a moment.
Meng Xian turned her head sharply to look at Yun Qingqing, finding it hard to believe that she could answer the question.
He Tinglan looked at Yun Qingqing, her calm expression replaced by genuine surprise.
She quickly followed up with, "Oh? So if I were to design a shield primarily to reduce gamma rays of a specific energy, based on the Compton scattering effect, what property of the material should I focus on most when selecting the shielding material?"
“Atomic number.” Yun Qingqing gave the answer smoothly, almost without pausing, “For medium-energy gamma rays, the Compton scattering cross section is proportional to the electron density of the material…”
Although the question had gone on to a point where no one present could understand it, judging from Professor He's expression, Yun Qingqing not only answered correctly, but answered very well.
He Tinglan was completely stunned. She carefully examined Yun Qingqing, as if trying to confirm whether this young girl was a physics student who had infiltrated the area: "...Have you had any prior knowledge of this subject?"
Gu Mingyan, who was listening from the side, was stunned and couldn't help but ask, "You can actually understand so much?"
Yun smiled faintly and replied, "Out of interest, I've read a few books."
In her previous life, she was a child who came from the mountains and took the college entrance examination. At that time, the college entrance examination was already in the "3+1+2" model, which theoretically allowed her to choose either science and engineering majors or liberal arts majors.
Yun Qingqing was fascinated by the amazing changes that occur between rays and matter, but when she wanted to apply for a major related to radiation physics, all her elders, including her parents, looked completely bewildered.
"Radiation? That sounds scary, isn't it dangerous?"
"Isn't it better for a girl to study a stable major? Chinese language and literature is great. You can take the teacher's exam and become a teacher. It's stable and respectable, and it's the most suitable major for a girl."
"Qingqing, it wasn't easy for our family to support your education. Studying radiation physics doesn't sound like a good way to find a job. What will you do after graduation?"
Amidst a cacophony of suggestions and considering practical realities, Yun Qingqing ultimately yielded to everyone's expectations and enrolled in the Chinese Language and Literature major.
During her four years of university, she diligently attended classes in literary theory and classical Chinese, achieving good grades. However, whenever she had free time, she would sneak away to audit related courses in the physics department.
She absorbed that knowledge greedily, as if she were making up for another possible life.
He Tinglan had already walked to Yun Qingqing's desk: "Just because you're interested, you can learn to this level on your own?"
She has taught for many years and has seen many talented students, but it is rare to find a student who can demonstrate such an understanding of the subject under such non-professional circumstances.
What's even more remarkable is that the focus and subtle gleam in the child's eyes when answering questions are genuine.
"Since you have the interest and the aptitude," He Tinglan couldn't help but feel a pang of appreciation for this promising talent, "why didn't you choose a related major back then?"
Yun Qingqing briefly explained, "My family thinks it's safer for girls to study humanities, and they don't know much about radiation-related majors, so they have some concerns."
She spoke casually, but He Tinglan immediately sensed the helplessness behind her words.
She recalled the obstacles she faced when she chose this niche and often misunderstood research path, and a sense of resonance arose in her heart.
Seeing the girl's calm face reveal an unconscious joy when she mentioned radiation physics, He Tinglan felt a stirring in her heart.
“Sometimes, laypeople’s concerns stem from a lack of understanding.” He Tinglan’s voice was unusually gentle. “The path of science requires passion and perseverance. If you want to continue exploring this area in the future, pursue an academic career…”
She looked at Yun Qingqing and said seriously, "You can consider applying to my graduate program in the future."
Yun Qingqing was slightly taken aback.
Yes, she has money now and can afford the tuition. She no longer needs to force herself to choose a major she doesn't like for the sake of good employment or job security.
Could she also walk the path she truly wanted to walk again?
"I..." Yun opened her mouth slightly, her voice a little hoarse, "Can I?"
He Tinglan's serious expression softened, and she nodded affirmatively: "Of course. Interest and potential are the best stepping stones."
She then asked, "What's your name?"
Yun Qingqing was still immersed in immense joy and was momentarily dazed, forgetting to answer.
"Gently!" Gu Mingyan, watching anxiously from the side, quickly nudged her gently with her elbow. "The professor is asking you your name!"
Yun Qingqing suddenly came to her senses: "Teacher, my name is Yun Qingqing. Yun as in white cloud, and Qing as in lightness and slowness."
“Yun Qingqing…” He Tinglan repeated the name, a warm smile appearing on her face for the first time that day. “Okay, I’ll remember you.”
-----------------------
A note from the author: The author is not a professional in radiation physics, so there may be omissions or inaccuracies in the content, but I hope it will amuse you.
Also, to avoid misunderstanding, I should clarify: Yun Qingqing's personal experiences and choice of major are only for the sake of the plot and do not represent any prejudice against the Chinese Language and Literature major. Both natural sciences and humanities are important dimensions for humanity to understand the world and build the future; there is no inherent superiority of one over the other.
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