Chapter 790: Starting the Internship. After returning home, Lu Qingyang made a phone call to Professor Qian.
The phone rang for a while before being answered. Professor Qian's signature loud voice came from the other end, tinged with a hint of impatience: "Hello, who is it? I'm busy."
"Professor Qian, it's me, Lu Qingyang."
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a rustling sound, as if something had been knocked over. Professor Qian's voice instantly became clearer, and his impatience vanished: "Is that you, Qianzi? What's up?"
"Nothing much, I just wanted to ask how the research on the weapons I provided is going?"
"It's very interesting. It's a real pity. If you had joined us, it would have been much more efficient."
"Really? I'm about to start an internship and I'm still looking for a place."
"Internship? You want an internship? What are you looking for? Come work for me! I know Lao Luo's project, it's rough work. My project is cutting-edge, and it needs your clever mind!"
His speech was as fast as a bullet, giving Lu Qingyang no chance to interrupt: "You wait, don't move, don't go anywhere, don't agree to anything, I'm going to call your department right now, I'm going to take this student, if anyone dares to take him from me, I... I'll go and argue with them."
Lu Qingyang could even vaguely hear Professor Qian on the other end of the phone, holding the receiver between his fingers, frantically shouting for his assistant: "Liu, Liu, where the hell are you? Quick, connect me to the Physics Department of Beijing! Hurry, it's extremely urgent!"
“Professor Qian, don’t worry, I still have another subject to study…” Lu Qingyang reminded him slowly.
"What do you mean by 'geo'? Whatever it is, bring it with you. I'll figure something out. As long as you come, none of this will be a problem. Do you have any other requirements? Let me know them all at once."
“Professor Qian, since you put it that way, then I won’t stand on ceremony with you. First, regarding my fellow student Zhou Zhe, he has a solid professional foundation, but he’s a bit too timid and needs an opportunity. I hope that after he joins the company, he can get involved in actual projects, even if it’s just doing manual labor, not just serving tea and water.”
“Sure, no problem, I’ll take care of him myself!” Professor Qian agreed readily.
"First, I know that your project involves classified information and has many rules, but we are students after all and need a certain amount of study space. I hope that, on the premise of complying with all confidentiality regulations, we can have certain permission to access relevant, non-core, cutting-edge materials and occasionally attend internal academic lectures in the institute."
"This... I can arrange it. I'll talk to the archives and the academic committee!" Professor Qian hesitated for a moment and then agreed.
Lu Qingyang revealed his true intentions and raised the most crucial point: "Third, during the internship, if we have some... well, perhaps immature, or even slightly off-track ideas regarding project concepts or specific technical aspects, we hope that you and the experts in the institute can give us a chance to explain and try them out, or at least not completely dismiss them."
This is the condition he values most. He needs an environment that can tolerate or even encourage "unconventionality," rather than a place that is hierarchical and closed-minded.
Professor Qian was silent for two or three seconds on the other end of the phone, then his hearty, even slightly excited, laughter came through:
"Good lad, you've been waiting for me here. Okay, I like your bold and decisive spirit. I promise you, in my project team, as long as you don't violate safety regulations, you're allowed to have wild ideas. If any problems arise, this old man will take responsibility."
Lu Qingyang's tone carried a sincere smile, "That's great. One last thing, and this is a personal request, is that Zhou Zhe's family lives in another city. If the internship is too demanding, could the institute help him find temporary accommodation? After all, traveling back and forth takes up a lot of time."
“Hey, I didn’t think it was a big deal. There are plenty of empty beds in the dorm. I’ll ask the logistics department to reserve a bed for him,” Professor Qian said, taking charge of the whole thing.
"Professor Qian, thank you. I'll wait for the school's official notification then." Lu Qingyang politely ended the call.
It turns out that none of the other professors were his target; his real target was Professor Qian.
Professor Qian's phone call didn't sound like a discussion; it sounded more like he was issuing a notification.
It is said that when he answers the phone, he unconsciously straightens his back three times, and he hardly utters any other words besides "yes, yes, yes" and "okay, okay."
As soon as he hung up the phone, the department head wiped his sweat, shrugged at the professors in the office who were still arguing, and said with a tone of relief mixed with a bit of a wry smile: "Professor Qian came in person to ask for it. His attitude was very clear and firm. He said... Lu Qingyang has been specially recruited by their project team, and he will directly coordinate the procedures."
Professor Luo, who had just been arguing heatedly, opened his mouth like a rooster being choked, but in the end, he only let out a muffled groan with a hint of resentment and muttered, "That old Luo... he really goes all out."
But he didn't argue further, clearly understanding that his own competitiveness was indeed lacking compared to Professor Qian's absolute expertise and project level.
Professor Li silently tightened the lid of the thermos, sighed, shook his head, and said nothing.
Professor Sun scratched his already thinning hair in frustration, and in the end, he could only wave his hand helplessly.
When the news spread, Zhou Zhe was so excited he almost jumped up on the spot. Grabbing Lu Qingyang's arm, he stammered, "Professor Qian! It's actually Professor Qian! Qingyang, we've... reached the top in one step!"
Lu Qingyang remained calm, as if this outcome was entirely within his expectations.
He patted Zhou Zhe on the shoulder: "Whether we can climb to the sky or not is another matter, but we're in for a tough battle ahead."
When Lu Qingyang submitted his application, he clearly requested a low-profile internship position, not wanting to attract too much attention.
The atmosphere in the experimental zone he was in was indeed not good. The code names of the surrounding projects were either "Hawk Eye" or "Thunder", or at the very least, "Hound". Just hearing the names carried a sense of killing intent.
In contrast, the task of testing the performance of the component that he and Zhou Zhe were assigned to seemed particularly "simple and unpretentious".
Lu Qingyang was quite satisfied with this.
He examined the grayish-brown core test component, which was smaller than a fingernail, for a long time before solemnly announcing to Zhou Zhe, "Our team will be nicknamed Peanuts."
Zhou Zhe: "Peanuts? This is a national key project, after all. Can't you come up with a code name that's a little... more imposing? Pangolin or Needle Point would be fine too!"
Lu Qingyang weighed the thing in his hand and said directly and bluntly, "Look at this thing, its color, doesn't it look like a burnt peanut? True to its name, understated and practical."
He glanced at Zhou Zhe's conflicted expression and added, "Call it 'needle tip'? That's too prickly. What we need is something inconspicuous and easy to hide."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
