Gu Nianzhi returned to her room, still very excited. She tossed and turned in bed for a while before finally falling into a deep slumber.
The next morning, the alarm sounded and she opened her eyes, the mission for the day making her eager as she got up. After washing up quickly, she had breakfast and left her apartment, laptop in hand. She actually didn’t have class in the morning, but in order to find an excuse to go to the School of Engineering, she had decided to go to the Law School early and study alone in one of the classrooms.
Between eight and nine in the morning, the number of students and professors in the school increased and the campus grew lively again after a night of quiet. Gu Nianzhi had a plan in place. She used the her school’s intranet to access the School of Electronic Engineering’s private homepage, as well as all the information pertaining to the labs, lab mentors, areas of research, and also the masters and doctoral students enrolled.
Gu Nianzhi glanced over the list of names and one group stood out in particular. The area of research was confidential and there were no traces of it on the intranet. Only the names of the participating members were listed. Judging from the titles, all the participants were all post-doctorates, associate professors and even professors, but the group leader was a doctorate student who had only come to Harvard not long ago and hadn’t even taken the doctoral qualification examination before leading the group.
Gu Nianzhi’s gaze paused on the photo of the group leader. It was an image of a young woman who she assumed was from the Huxia Empire. She had graduated from the renowned T University’s Department of Precision Instruments and came to Harvard two years ago to study as a doctoral student. Her name was Xin Xinggao. Possessing such qualifications, coming to a prestigious and world famous school to study, leading a team of far more qualified members, and then being part of a secretive research group, all of these things added up, causing a smile to bloom on Gu Nianzhi’s face. She wouldn’t have to go to the School of Engineering to find the right direction of investigation, after all.
She only needed to do two things: first, she checked Harvard’s Huaxia Empire Students’ Association’s homepage to check their events calendar. Because it was the summer break, not many students were attending classes, but there would be many students’ association activities in the session. That afternoon, the Students’ Association had a networking event. Gu Nianzhi saw that among the organizers, one was a postdoctoral student from the School of Engineering. I must go check out this event! Gu Nianzhi’s smile widened as she bookmarked the page. Secondly, she downloaded Xing Xinggao’s CV from the School of Engineering’s network and sent it to Yin Shixiong to have him ask one of the Imperial Special Ops personnel to look at her information. They would check her field of research as well as her research experience during her time at T University, in addition to her family background and social relations. The second task was commonplace for the Special Ops to handle, so it would be easy enough.
The Imperial Special Ops soon completed the research on Xin Xinggao’s complete CV and sent the results to Yin Shixiong before the networking event in the afternoon was set to begin. When Yin Shixiong had contacted the Special Ops, he had specifically requested them not to use the Nandou system to send the files. Thus, all the information was safely received in his mailbox. As soon as he finished reading the information, he shuddered.
“Nianzhi, where did you did this person’s information?” Yin Shixiong asked Gu Nianzhi. “Don’t be so rash and mindlessly obey Mr. Huo. He’s always been strict, but you are not a professional, so there’s no need for—”
Gu Nianzhi was displeased and interrupted him without hesitation. “Brother Xiong, what do you mean by saying this? Even though I’m not as powerful as you guys, I’m not completely useless. Uncle Huo believes in me and entrusted me to do this. Are you looking down on me?”
Yin Shixiong smiled bitterly. “How could I dare to look down on you? Nianzhi, I’m just worried about your safety.”
“I know.” Gu Nianzhi laughed softly. “Smart people use their brains, not bravado. I’ll be fine, ok? Anyway, I have to go now. I’m going to the networking event in the afternoon.”
Gu Nianzhi had just ended the call when she looked up to see He Zhichu leaning against the classroom door. He wore a smoky gray Egyptian cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up; his long legs were clothed in light gray suit trousers. He had been watching her quietly, a hint of warmth in his normally sharp eyes.
“.Professor He, when did you get here?” Gu Nianzhi looked at her watch. “There’s no class today, right? Or did I read the schedule wrong?”
“What kind of networking event are you going to?” He Zhichu asked dryly, “Do you have a lot of free time?”
Gu Nianzhi looked away, slightly embarrassed.
Why shouldn’t I attend student activities? She usually didn’t go because she didn’t like group activities. But this time, she had to go no matter what.
“It’s the Huxia Empire Students’ Association’s networking event. I just came to Harvard and felt that I should get to know more students.” Gu Nianzhi smiled sweetly as she put her laptop into her backpack. She rose and walked past He Zhichu. ” Are you here for business?”
“Where is it?” He Zhichu’s eyes followed her.
“Where is what?”
“The networking event.”
Gu Nianzhi looked down at her phone and entered the address into her GPS. “Oh, it’s not far. It’s just three blocks from here.” Gu Nianzhi looked up and showed him the map.
“I’ll drive you.” He Zhichu turned to go downstairs. “Three blocks is not a short walk.”
Gu Nuanzhi had actually wanted to take the opportunity to walk through the School of Engineering across from the law school and find the event organizer. She had memorized his name and CV so that it would be easier for her to make his acquaintance. However, if He Zhichu gave her a ride, she wouldn’t be able to get to the venue first. Gu Nianzhi blinked and ran after him, saying, “Professor He, this is a student activity, what are you going to be doing there?”
“Is it a problem if I want to check it out?” He walked to his car without turning around and pressed the key in his hand to open the door remotely.
Gu Nianzhi looked at the inconspicuous, yet flashy Mercedes-Benz; she cursed his stubbornness. She turned to look at the School of Engineering forlornly as she dragged herself into the car and sighed.
He Zhichi put the seatbelt on her and asked dryly, “Why do you keep looking at the School of Engineering?”
“There’s a handsome guy there, he’s basically a male idol.” Gu Nianzhi cringed inwardly as she blurted out the ridiculous excuse; she forced a starstruck expression in her eyes. “I saw him once before on campus and have never forgotten him.”
He Zhichu nodded in silence, but he clenched his jaw in agitation. He hadn’t actually wanted to go to some random student networking event but had instead sought to give Gu Nianzhi a ride since it was on the way. However, seeing her smitten look, he was curious to see what this unforgettable “male idol” looked like.