Zhu Yuan was surprisingly very well-dressed today. He sported a crisp white shirt and a well-fitting suit, then paired with a head of well-kempt hair. He seemed noble, almost heroic even; not the annoying frat boy that Gu Xiqiao had bumped into last night.
The way he was dressed now finally reflected how accomplished he actually was in his career. Gu Xiqiao even heard some girls behind her gasp upon laying their eyes on Zhu Yuan.
“This was quite a while ago but I remember someone asking me, ‘Is there any need for traditional Chinese medicine to continue developing?’ Well I’m here to tell you today, that the amalgamation of Chinese and Western medicine will be the way forward!” Zhu Yuan scanned his eyes across the attendees. There were keen eyes, ready to grab at whatever new information he threw at them, there were some who were merely here to check out the commotion, and finally there were the foreign experts who have come from every corner of the world to listen to his speech.
They shared one thing in common—all of them wanted to see him.
His voice was powerful and his gaze, flamboyant. This, coupled with his words caused an uproar among the crowd below.
Gu Xiqiao listened to his talk very carefully. Zhu Yuan then displayed his own research to show an example to the attendees. This was an international award that he had just received recently.
“What a genius!” Despite Xu Jing not being a med student, she would react as if she was one from time to time.
The med students’ reactions were even more exaggerated than Xu Jing due to their deeper understanding of his scientific concepts.
Even after his speech had ended, most of the attendees were still keen on hearing more from him. They were reluctant to leave their seats even after Zhu Yuan had walked off the stage. There were plenty of journalists here today, including people from the national broadcasting station. Upon seeing Zhu Yuan, they flocked around him, pointing their mics at his face in an attempt to get him to answer their questions.
“Mr. Zhu, what made you decide to make a sudden appearance in A University?”
They came with the expectation that Zhu Yuan would refuse to answer their questions but to their surprise, he stopped walking and smiled towards the journalists. “I am pursuing new life goals now. I believe, not long from now, there will be a revolution in the medical world.”
These journalists wanted to ask just what he meant by that but before they could open their mouths, Zhu Yuan had already turned and left. He walked at a brisk pace. The journalists, who wanted to catch up to him, were held back by security.
Realizing that he had left, Gu Xiqiao prepared to return to her dorm room. Xu Jing on the other hand, was adamant about staying here. “Let’s go, he won’t come back no matter how long you stand here.”
“I know.” Xu Jing would turn back once for every three steps she took. Journalists working for the national broadcast already found it an impossible task to interview him, what more to say of her, a petty student? She then pondered what set this legendary man apart from your average joe. Would she stand a chance to meet him if she stayed around Sun Jiajia more?
Xu Jing was about to speak after they entered their room when a fiery red bird swooped in from the window and landed on Gu Xiqiao’s shoulder.
“Hi, pretty girl, nice to meet you!” Seeing that someone else was present, Xixi waved its wings and greeted Gu Xiqiao’s friend.
The way it spoke made the bird seem almost as sentient as a human. Waving back at the bird stiffly, Xu Jing turned towards Gu Xiqiao. “Beauty Gu, your bird is so cool!”
Gu Xiqiao responded to the compliment with a smile. Then, her phone started ringing. It was Professor Jiang’s call. “Professor Jiang.”
Professor Jiang sighed in relief after hearing Gu Xiqiao’s voice. “You must still be on campus, aren’t you? Come to the laboratory.”
“Alright.” Gu Xiqiao did not ask what was going on.
***
On the other side, Zhu Yuan was standing there motionlessly while reading the report. His eyes were a dull shade of gray until he reached a point where a blinding glow finally appeared.
The other half of the report contained much more information than the first half. Not only was there a better, more detailed explanation on the progress of cell fusion, it also mentioned about mutations at the end.
This was a ground-breaking discovery for the medical world. If such a process was to be used on human subjects, then it would mean a speedier method for treating patients with blood issues instead of making them wait around for suitable donors of bone marrow or blood.
Zhu Yuan read the report over and over as his heart continued racing. There were still plenty of unanswered questions for him.
For example, what were the chances of cell rejection happening? Could cells from different hosts truly fuse seamlessly together? Under what condition was the process done for this to happen?!
“Professor Jiang! I want to meet that person! Right here! Right now!”
Professor Jiang understood very well Zhu Yuan’s current emotions. So, without further delay, he called Gu Xiqiao’s number and got a positive response from her.
Over the phone, Zhu Yuan found it hard to make out whose voice it was Professor Jiang was speaking to. However, it sounded like a woman’s voice, and for some reason, her voice sounded vaguely familiar.
Zhu Yuan was shocked upon realization that the spectacular research was spearheaded by a female. Not that he was a sexist or anything though. It’s just that the number of successful female researchers working in this field was incredibly low.
“Great, she’ll be over in a jiffy,” said Professor Jiang upon hanging up the call.
“Right.” Zhu Yuan started reading the report all over again. From time to time, he would look up from the research papers over to the lab door.
There were a couple of other research students in the laboratory. They all looked at Zhu Yuan excitedly, momentarily forgetting what their respective tasks were.
Who’s Zhu Yuan you might ask? Well, he is the most accomplished student this faculty had ever produced. Bach then, A University had two miracles happen to them. Apparently, there were rumors that he had an insanely-talented master from whom he learned his skills. However, no ordinary man was able to get this confirmed by Zhu Yuan himself. Still, there were a lot of his fellow peers that followed him like a prophet.
Professor Jiang chased these research students off to one side. “Hurry up and complete your jobs. If you have a question, ask away. If not, don’t stand around, blocking the lights.”
These students’ faces glowed when they heard the Professor’s words. What a rare occasion! To receive a lesson from the one and only Zhu Yuan!
“…”
Zhu Yuan wondered to himself, ‘When exactly did I agree to that?’
Still, these were all the future pillars that would hold up his dear motherland. And so, he willingly shared his knowledge with these kids. However—
“I don’t think that’s right. What you’re saying is different from what Little Gu said.”
“Senior, Little Gu said this is a problem with mediation…”
“…”
The same questions were thrown at him unrelentingly.
Zhu Yuan realized that gradually, the way these students looked at him had changed. No longer was there a look of admiration on their faces. This dealt a heavy blow against his pride, which was worse as he was a narcissist.
‘Little Gu? How dare this b*tch challenge my authority!’
He was about to interrogate them about who this person was when he noticed how their eyes were all fixated on the window of the laboratory.
Instinctively, Zhu Yuan followed their gazes.
The laboratory had large glass windows that allowed its users to look into the corridor. Right now, at the end of the corridor appeared a skinny figure who was walking towards their direction. Perched on her shoulder was a red bird. Her pale white face glowed like a piece of white jade underneath the corridor lighting.
Slowly, she walked into the laboratory. Looking up, she revealed her crystal clear eyes, which instantly drowned the laboratory in a sea of stars.
‘Why is she here?’
This was Zhu Yuan’s first reaction.
Then, he suddenly recalled her saying that she was a student here at this university. Now, it was much more probable to see her here.
‘Wait a second, this laboratory is only used by research students!’
“Little Gu!”
“Student Gu!”
“Goddess! What brings you here today?”
Zhu Yuan realized that in the blink of an eye, only half remains of the crowd that flocked around him moments ago. They had all headed towards Gu Xiqiao.
‘What the hell is going on?’ Zhu Yuan was dumbfounded.
“So you’ve come.” Professor Jiang wiped the angry look off his face and proceeded to chase off the students who flocked around her with a warm smile on his face. Then, he looked over to Zhu Yuan, who had been overwhelmed by confusion. “Here’s the person you’ve been waiting for.”
Zhu Yuan understood every single word that Professor Jiang uttered but his mind failed to register what it meant when they were linked up into a sentence.
So the person behind this cell-fusion research was Gu Xiqiao? But wasn’t she just a freshman here at this school? How was this possible? In his mind, he had already created the image of a middle-aged mister when he read the amazing report. Then, when he heard the voice over Professor Jiang’s phone, he quickly changed this into the image of a mature, middle-aged beauty.
No matter the situation, he had been so sure that this person would be someone older than him. After all, the report was written so well and with such fine use of words that he figured, must be from someone with at least a PhD in medicine.
Who would’ve thought that the person that he was prepared to prostrate before was Gu Xiqiao, a person much younger than him!
This dealt an even heavier blow than before. He could feel his face growing stiffer by the moment.
“So, this report was written by you?” Zhu Yuan looked at Gu Xiqiao. Although he already knew the answer to this, he couldn’t help but ask.
Gu Xiqiao looked up and smiled at him. “Yep, by the way, the ointment you formulated works wonders! Look, my wound’s already healed.”
The two wounds on her palm had already closed up. Feeling that the bandaging was a pain in the butt, Gu Xiqiao removed it before coming here to the laboratory. Jiang Shuxuan had noticed that scars had already formed where her wound once was.
After getting Gu Xiqiao’s affirmative answer, Zhu Yuan couldn’t help but look at her even more. He was twenty when he received his first international award. This caused a massive wave in the medical community. She must be pretty young right? No doubt, she’d receive this year’s international award just like he did back then!
He had always been Rong Feishuang’s disciple ever since he was a young boy; it wasn’t a surprise for him to be so accomplished in the field of medicine. But how on earth was Gu Xiqiao able to pull this off at such a young age?
“Little Gu, I need you to repeat this experiment one more time.” Seeing how Zhu Yuan had gone silent, Professor Jiang gave Gu Xiqiao directions for her next step.
Because she had done this experiment countless times before in the virtual training ground, Gu Xiqiao’s hands moved like magic when she carried out the experiment one more time. Coupled with her strong mental strength, she could complete the entire experiment without fail even if she had her eyes closed.
As she worked, she would casually turn around and smack the annoying Xixi off to the side.
The people here in this lab seemed to have grown accustomed to seeing such a scene. The same however, could not be said in Zhu Yuan’s case. He stared at Professor Jiang blankly. “So she conducts her experiments like this?”
‘Look at her, I don’t think you can be any more laid-back than that! If her experiment succeeds, I think I might just die from shame!’
“Well, get used to it.” Professor Jiang sighed dejectedly, “A lazy slob! That’s all she is! It frustrates me to look at her attitude!”
After that, Professor Jiang stormed out of the laboratory furiously.
“What’s up with him?” Zhu Yuan asked someone standing nearby.
The person was a girl who wore a meek expression. “Professor Jiang’s been acting like that ever since he got played by Gu Xiqiao. Back then, as an exceptional case, he took her in as his own student. And then she suddenly declared that she wanted some time off. In response, Professor Jiang gave her a task that he expected was never gonna be accomplished—cell fusion. He even promised to give her a vacation for the rest of the semester. Guess what? She did it in just a few days!”
The girl’s face became flushed the more she spoke about this.
“Isn’t she just a freshman here? Why’s he setting the bar so high for her?” Zhu Yuan asked while looking at Gu Xiqiao patiently dripping PFG into the petri dish. It must take at least a PhD student to be able to take on such a task, no?
The girl became even more excited when she heard this question. “Senior Zhu, you may not know this but when she was accepted into this school she was the top ranker in the country, with a near-perfect score of 747 in the national finals. With no extra score points, might I add! You know how crazily-high they set the exam difficulty but she scored a whopping 96 points in her trials!”
Zhu Yuan understood how unusually high A University’s standards were as he too, experienced it first hand. Back then, when he first sat for their exam, he found it almost impossible to cope with how broad the syllabus spanned. Even so, he managed to get every answer right but because his answers lacked depth, he was only awarded 88 points. That might seem low but he was the highest-scoring student in his entire batch.
Then, even the news reported about how talented this medical prodigy was.
Getting 88 points in an entrance exam to A University, China’s best institution, was enough to cause ripples across the country’s medical education community. This was his first time stepping out into the public’s attention as well as his first step towards the international stage.
Gu Xiqiao’s score of 96, which was so much higher than his, her national top ranker award as well as her breakthrough discovery in cell fusion. Why didn’t he hear any of this before? He whipped out his phone and searched for news articles about this but it was an unfruitful event.
The girl chuckled when she heard his question. Then, she explained with admiration in her eyes, “There really were lots of journalists trying to land an interview with her, but she turned every one of them down.”
Zhu Yuan did not expect to hear this answer. He started looking at Gu Xiqiao suspiciously. She had her head lowered as she continued working on her experiment. Nothing on her face screamed of arrogance nor self-contentment. No matter how he looked at her, she didn’t seem like the sort of person who had such glorious achievements under her belt.
Nowadays, a person who turns down the prospect of fame and wealth like her was already a dying breed. Even he had failed to turn down a life of hedonism. To think that someone in her early twenties would actually have such a matured view.
Zhu Yuan felt that he had gained a new direction in seeking the meaning of life.
Gu Xiqiao’s experiment was nearing its end when Zhu Yuan walked up to her with the report in hand. “There are a few things that I don’t quite understand in this report. They’re all marked by me already.”
Then, he walked over to the microscope and began observing the cell fusion in action.
Gu Xiqiao started scanning through the report. Then, she stole glances at Professor Jiang, who was standing further away.
Professor Jiang pretended as if he had not seen her looking over. He must’ve done something like this countless times in the past, she figured.
As supposedly the best doctor in the world, Zhu Yuan already had a good grasp on what this report was talking about but there were some key points that he found hard to understand. And so, he had them highlighted so Gu Xiqiao could decode it for him. Most of them were information that Gu Xiqiao had gotten from the database within the virtual space, which was also beyond the comprehension ability of earthlings. She had to spend a great deal of time researching within the virtual space before she could understand what the concepts were.
Naturally, she did not get overwhelmed when Zhu Yuan brought up his issue. Patiently, she sat in front of the computer, typing out a simplified version of the concepts that he was unsure of in the report.
In the time it took for Zhu Yuan to finish observing the cell fusion process, Gu Xiqiao had already completed and printed out three whole pages containing answers to Zhu Yuan’s questions.
Zhu Yuan started reading the moment he received the papers. These were all words that he was familiar with but for some reason, everything sounded obscure in the way Gu Xiqiao typed it. “Perhaps you can type it in a more human language next time”
“It won’t be anymore complicated than what you read at Delxun forest,” replied Gu Xiqiao with a smile.
Zhu Yuan’s gaze shot up immediately at Gu Xiqiao. His eyes were filled with shock and disbelief. Only a handful of people knew that his career in medicine was inherited in that forest. Even his master had made sure to destroy all evidence of him ever being in that forest.
So how did she know? Who told her about his identity?!
Gu Xiqiao thought to herself, ‘…hey don’t look at me like that, I only know what I know because of the system. I am innocent so don’t kill me!’
With the wave of her hand, Xixi, who was busy terrorizing the lab students flew over and landed on her shoulder. Gu Xiqiao picked up her phone to check the time. It was a little over 12 pm now. Guessing that Jiang Shuxuan was already waiting for her in his car, she didn’t want to waste her time here any longer. “You guys go on with your research, I’ll be leaving now!”
‘Traitor! How lazy! What a waste of talent! Feel the wrath of heaven you lazy slob!’ thought Professor Jiang to himself when he heard Gu Xiqiao announce her departure.
This all happened in his mind so naturally, Gu Xiqiao was unaware of it.
She had just received a call from Jiang Shuxuan, saying that he was waiting for her on the opposite side of the street at the university entrance. One step after the other, she marched slowly to her destination. Xixi flapped its wings and up in the air it went, circling nonstop above Gu Xiqiao’s head. The young lady walked down the path with a bright smile on her face, creating what seemed like a scene ripped straight out of a fantasy movie.
There were still a couple of journalists lingering around the campus and one of them couldn’t stop himself from snapping a photo of the picturesque scene.
And so, in just the blink of an eye, her photo had gone viral all around the internet.
A large crowd had formed near the university entrance. As Gu Xiqiao slowly approached the spot, she narrowed her eyes to find a couple of familiar faces—they were all her classmates, with the exception of Xu Jing.
“What are you guys doing here?” Gu Xiqiao stopped in her tracks.
Seeing the class pet here, her classmates all greeted her. Long time no see, but it appears that their class pet had grown even prettier now!
Although they had missed the chance to see Zhu Yuan, seeing their cute class pet was a pretty good alternative after standing there under the hot sun for what felt like an eternity.
It was rare for Gu Xiqiao to attend classes even once a week; they hardly met her nowadays and there existed only a couple of high-definition photos of her on the internet.
Perhaps this was their destiny. If that’s so, then a picture or two wouldn’t hurt, right?
“We’re waiting for Zhu Yuan,” answered Xu Jing with a camera in her hands. Under the blistering heat, her face was glowing red, like a tomato. She wiped the sweat off her face before glancing at Sun Jiajia.
“Sun Jiajia said that Zhu Yuan was gonna go through here. We’ve been waiting here for an hour now but there seems to be no signs of him.”
Doubt had sprouted in her heart, that Sun Jiajia was actually acquaintances with Zhu Yuan. However, since everyone had agreed to do it, she had no choice but to follow their decision. They have been waiting there for an hour and have not even seen Zhu Yuan’s car pass by let alone Zhu Yuan in person.
On the other hand, there wasn’t a single drop of sweat on Gu Xiqiao. Her body was as dry as bone, and the moment she spoke, her words felt to them like a cool breeze, instantly invigorating her classmates.
“Yeah, Beauty Gu!”
Seeing Gu Xiqiao truly was refreshing to these students.
“Go home, Zhu Yuan’s not coming today.” Gu Xiqiao started thinking. She used three whole days in the virtual space to understand the alien concepts. Considering that Zhu Yuan was slightly more intelligent than her, it should take him at least one or two days right?
Morale instantly hit the floor when the crowd heard Gu Xiqiao’s advice.
Then, a harsh voice shouted out from the crowd. “When I say that he’ll come, he will be coming! How do you know that he’s not coming?” shot Sun Jiajia back with a hostile look on her face. With a parasol in her hand, she stood on the bench, on which she was further made taller by her high-heels as she looked down condescendingly at Gu Xiqiao.
“How do you know that he’ll be coming?” asked Gu Xiqiao with narrowed eyes.
No matter how highly she thought of herself, Sun Jiajia knew well that at this point, she was only fooling herself. With a sarcastic voice, she declared: “He told me over the phone!”
“Well can you tell me his phone number?”
“Are you asking me this just because you want his number?” Sun Jiajia again, looked down at Gu Xiqiao with a self-righteous look on her face. “Listen here: in your dreams!”
Gu Xiqiao could no longer hold back her laughter. She then pulled out her phone and scrolled down her contacts list until she finally arrived at a phone number. “This is his number. Would you like to call him to check if he’s coming or not?”