The new girl in the team is called Ou Qian. She was exactly the one who bumped into Lin Shuicheng at the entrance.
Graduate students at Star University, except for the first-year students who trickle in to register before the start of the semester, generally have a flexible class schedule. When there are major projects, it’s common for them to not go home to celebrate New Year. If there are no projects, the professors typically approve their leave, allowing these children to take as much time off as they want.
Ou Qian is beautiful, looking gentle and polite, the type of “good student” everyone likes. As soon as she arrived, she politely greeted the senior brothers and senior sisters, then went to Wang Pinyuan to report and to register. She quickly won the favor of many in the lab.
“Professor, the semester hasn’t even started yet, and there are already so many people in the lab. I’m not the last first-year graduate student to arrive, am I?” Ou Qian smiled, nervously rubbing her fingertips.
Wang Pinyuan made a note on the student list and said, “No, you’re actually early. Only a few from your batch have arrived. Are you a day student or a resident?”
Ou Qian replied, “Day student.”
Wang Pinyuan checked a box on the form when another student came running over, sweating profusely. “Professor! The data is out, please take a look. If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to use the big machine. No matter how we test it, the algorithm you mentioned just doesn’t work.”
He casually handed the form to Ou Qian, smiling kindly. “I’ll go to the advanced computing laboratory first. For the rest of the registration, find your senior sister, Xu Mengmeng. Let her guide you and get familiar with the environment for these few days.”
“Okay, thank you, Professor,” Ou Qian said.
As soon as Wang Pinyuan left, the people around immediately caught wind and gathered, bombarding her with questions.
Several boys were overly attentive, but Xu Mengmeng shooed them all away with a wave of her hand. “Go, go, go! Go write your reports! Junior sister is mine, don’t even think about it. Come on, junior sister, I’ll show you around.”
Ou Qian smiled shyly. She stepped forward and hooked her arm around Xu Mengmeng’s, asking in a low voice, “Is it always like this in class here?”
“It’s about the same. We’re pretty relaxed, but when it comes to important matters, we’re more serious than anyone else. Old Wang is really good to us.” Xu Mengmeng led her into the storage room, bending down to search for the keys to the lab bench.
Ou Qian waited nearby, pretending to be nonchalant, and asked, “Senior sister, is there also someone named Lin Shuicheng here?”
“Hey, junior sister, do you know him?” Xu Mengmeng mentioned Lin Shuicheng, immediately perking up. “He’s such a good and obedient junior brother, and he’s good-looking too. It’s a pity he seems to have a boyfriend already.”
Ou Qian said, “I wouldn’t say I know him, just aware of him. I’m just curious, how did he end up here? He used to be in the Jiangnan branch, it’s not easy to transfer from the branch.”
This is something everyone understands. The admission score for Star University’s main campus and its branch campuses differs by fifty points. Main campus students, more or less, look down on those who come from the branch campuses because it at least implies that the branch campus students are not as outstanding in their college entrance examination scores.
“From what I’ve heard, it seems his grades are very good,” Xu Mengmeng finally found the keys and handed them to her.
After taking the keys, Ou Qian shook her head gently, as if hesitating to speak, “Actually, that…”
“Mmm?” Xu Mengmeng looked at her.
“He probably got transferred here through connections. He used to study chemistry, and it’s quite suspicious how he managed to pass the entrance exam for the School of Mathematics in just a year,” Ou Qian whispered. “I have a friend from the Jiangnan branch too. Lin Shuicheng’s boyfriend seems to be wealthy, and their relationship doesn’t seem purely romantic… This matter, anyway… is quite well-known among them.”
“Hey, couldn’t tell, huh?” Xu Mengmeng pondered for a moment, not quite believing it. “But he’s following the project quite well now. Is it really him?”
Ou Qian vaguely said, “Then, I’m not sure either, but anyway, this matter exists.”
Xu Mengmeng slapped her forehead. “It seems like it’s true. I was the one who helped him with his enrollment, and he really did come from the Jiangnan branch. But as for Junior Brother Xiao Lin, although he’s very good-looking, he shouldn’t be kept by anyone, right?”
Ou Qian’s eyes hid a hint of a smile as she shook her head. “This kind of matter, who can tell? Maybe it’s just a case of having the same name.”
Xu Mengmeng showed her around and then assigned her a desk and a laboratory.
This group of students usually share a large common laboratory. First, second, and third-year graduate students sit wherever they like based on their preferences. Ou Qian immediately spotted Lin Shuicheng at a glance.
Lin Shuicheng sat at the laboratory bench by the window, quietly flipping through materials with his head down. His eyelashes were long and jet-black, and the red tear mole on the side of his face was particularly striking. The daylight streamed in, making his entire body glow faintly; so beautiful that he didn’t seem real.
Such a person always stands out in a crowd. Even if he hides in a corner, no one can ignore his presence.
As soon as Ou Qian came in, Xu Mengmeng led her to introduce her to everyone one by one.
Except for Lin Shuicheng and a few members around him, everyone came over to greet her.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ou Qian stopped in her tracks, pretending to casually glance over at Lin Shuicheng’s direction and said nonchalantly. “Who are those senior brothers?”
Olc Vtelmtfcu ibkfgfv tlr tfjv jcv oilqqfv atgbeut atf gfqbga, ktlif rfnfgji ybsr jgbecv tlw vlrmerrfv rbwfatlcu lc ibk nblmfr.
Xu Mengmeng covered her mouth and laughed, “Those who are working on the recent military projects with Old Wang are stressing over their project proposals. Except for Xiao Lin, they’re all a bunch of tough straight guys, and they’re also hardcore otakus. Let’s not go over there. We’ll see them at lunchtime instead.”
Qtlif ilrafclcu, Ye Hljc rjlv, “Pa’r bxjs, pera j ugffalcu.”
Vtf kjixfv bnfg jcv qbilafis lcagbvemfv tfgrfio, rjslcu, “Lfiib, rfclbg ygbatfgr. P’w Ye Hljc, j cfk olgra-sfjg ugjvejaf raevfca. P jrx sbe jii ab ajxf mjgf bo wf lc atf oeaegf.”
Lin Shuicheng and a few others glanced back at her. A few boys brightened up at the sight of the arrival of the pretty girl.
She blushed slightly, then smiled at Lin Shuicheng and said, “Oh, it’s you. What a coincidence. From now on, we’ll be classmates.”
Lin Shuicheng: “?”
He had already changed into a white lab coat, and there was no emotion in his indifferent eyes, as if he hadn’t recognized her.
Ou Qian reminded him, “We met at the entrance of the School of Mathematics this morning. I accidentally bumped into you. At that time, you…”
Before she could finish, one of the boys next to Lin Shuicheng chuckled, “Yo, newbie? Tried our little joining-the-gang game yet?”
He turned around, and his name tag read “Lü Jian,” a second-year graduate student.
The people nearby chuckled along. As soon as this matter was mentioned, everyone suddenly rubbed their hands together eagerly, their eyes gleaming with anticipation.
Ou Qian didn’t understand what he meant. “What?”
She saw people crowding around her, smiling at her cheerfully. Feeling a bit flustered for a moment, she could only try her best to maintain a smile and asked, “Is… there any other test?”
“Old Wang has something going on today, so he probably won’t be able to recall it for the time being,” Lü Jian clapped his hands, and the pen in his hand spun quickly as he hastily wrote down a few lines of numbers on the paper. “Come, come, come. Let’s play a simple password game to test your sensitivity to numbers.”
With a ‘snap’, a piece of paper was placed in front of her.
“This…” Ou Qian bit her lip.
Onlookers nearby began to cheer as they timed her, watching her smile, but as time passed, her smile slowly faded away.
Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds…
Ou Qian actually stood frozen there, completely embarrassed, unable to come up with an answer, utterly at a loss.
“No way, this is quite simple… Isn’t she a student from this very school?”
Someone nearby muttered quietly, and everyone started to glance at each other, feeling a bit awkward.
Unable to watch any longer, Xu Mengmeng whispered in a low voice, “Affine cipher. He wrote out the multiplicative inverse for you, didn’t you notice?”
Ou Qian didn’t understand a word of what she was saying. She also transferred to the Department of Quantum Analysis at the School of Mathematics. She came here solely for the sake of this major, knowing that it could bring in a lot of money in the future. Although her original major was also within the School of Mathematics, it was in pure theory, which was even more difficult and obscure, making it harder to attract students. Star University lacks a guaranteed entrance examination system for graduate studies, and in previous years, the School of Mathematics always struggled to recruit students. The exam questions were too difficult, and many students failed to graduate, causing many to be discouraged. This year, the Department of Quantum Analysis expanded its intake, reducing the scores required by forty points compared to previous years, which allowed her to barely make it in.
Seeing that she couldn’t solve it, the boy casually tossed the notebook behind him: “Hey, you over there, the new guy, take a look at this.”
Lin Shuicheng didn’t notice the commotion at all. After entering a function on the screen, he heard someone call him. He turned his head, glanced at it, and said, “Affine substitution with m=2, Fibonacci sequence.” Then he looked away again.
The boy whistled, grinning as he patted Lin Shuicheng’s shoulder and faced Ou Qian: “What do you think? My newly recruited little brother is pretty good, right? It’s okay if you couldn’t solve it now. This person next to me is also a newbie, just like you. You can ask him if you don’t know anything.”
Ou Qian: “…”
Her face flushed red, and she said softly, “I switched majors. I was previously in a pure theory department, so I’m not very familiar with these ciphers…”
“It’s okay. Lin Shuicheng also switched his major. He used to study chemistry.” The boy raised his thumbs up, grinning. “Super awesome! Junior sister, remember to come often!”
Xu Mengmeng gave that boy a glare.
Do you still think you’re good at flirting? Stinky straight guys don’t have a clue about reading the atmosphere!
Lin Shuicheng had a busy day in the laboratory. After school, Xu Mengmeng and Lü Jian, along with a bunch of others, invited him to have dinner together.
He said, “Wait a moment, I’ll make a phone call.”
Lin Shuicheng flipped through his contacts and was unable to find Fu Luoyin’s entry for a while. It was then that he remembered to check the recent text message records.
He hadn’t labeled Fu Luoyin with any specific name. He tapped into the message interface and dialed the other party’s number.
The phone rang once and then got disconnected, probably because Fu Luoyin was busy.
He sent a text message: [I might be coming back late tonight, having dinner with classmates.]
Without waiting for a reply, he breathed a sigh of relief and simply turned off his phone.
Reporting it is as good as getting approval; better to act first and inform later.
Hopefully, Fu Luoyin won’t come home tonight.
His whole body was still aching and he didn’t want to see him again for a few days.
They went to eat hot pot.
Lin Shuicheng remained very quiet, not saying much of anything. He just sat quietly in the corner, which made several senior sisters unable to resist teasing him. He was also very well-behaved, answering whatever they asked him.
“Alright, alright, is this a blind date? Just eat your food honestly. If you don’t eat, it’ll be gone.” Xu Mengmeng said.
The meat was boiled in the hotpot for a moment and then scooped up, tender and spicy, and delightfully satisfying.
Ou Qian quickly blended into the atmosphere with everyone, feeling embarrassed as she self-deprecatingly remarked, “I’ve lost face for the School of Mathematics; I couldn’t even answer the question you guys asked me just now. I’m not as good as Xiao Lin.”
“Hahaha, it’s okay. After all, it’s not the same direction. Most people wouldn’t deliberately play with passwords or anything like that. Besides, skilled people can indeed quickly figure it out. Old Wang’s questions every year aren’t too difficult.” Lü Jian helped the girls scoop up meat generously and added, “Old Wang, he’s just mean, always has to give the newcomers a hard time. I was also stunned for a long time and couldn’t answer it back then.”
Hearing him say that, Ou Qian breathed a sigh of relief.
“Xiao Lin answered so quickly, that’s impressive,” Ou Qian then glanced at Lin Shuicheng and said with a smile, “The School of Chemistry has such talented and good-looking people. I’ve never heard of him before. I did hear there was a Lin Shuicheng in the Jiangnan Branch, same name and surname. They can’t be the same person, right?”
Lin Shuicheng finally looked up at her. “I’m not from the main campus. I did my undergraduate studies at the branch campus.”
“Why didn’t you come to the main campus for your studies?” Ou Qian took a spoonful of hot tofu, blowing on it, then as if remembering something, she said slowly, “Look at me, I forgot, the admission scores between our branch and the main campus… differed by about fifty points, right?”
Lin Shuicheng: “Can’t recall the scores. I stayed at the branch before due to some personal reasons.”
Ou Qian turned to discuss the scoring criteria with a few senior sisters, subtly casting a shadow on the recruitment practices of the School of Mathematics of Star University. The transition of the topic was smooth and natural, but some astute individuals present couldn’t help but take notice.
Lin Shuicheng’s transition from the branch to the main campus wasn’t kept a secret; the undergraduate admission criteria for the branch campuses were well-known. Although Lin Shuicheng passed Wang Pinyuan’s test when he came over, his progress seemed a bit too rapid — first, from the branch to the main campus, then directly joining the second year project — making it hard for people not to wonder if there was something fishy going on behind the scenes.
Moreover, considering how good-looking he is, with looks that appeal to both men and women, it’s hard to say if he’s really just climbed up the ladder through connections.
Saying it was due to personal reasons for staying in the branch, who knows, maybe he didn’t even pass the exam at that time!
Star University is a golden standard, and Quantum Analysis is the flagship program of the School of Mathematics. Countless projects from the second year onwards are directly linked to the military, with substantial financial benefits. Adding one more person to the team means less profit for each member. It’s a straightforward matter of interest, and no one can deny it.
For this reason, Star University is very strict in this regard and provides students with a real-name reporting channel. If someone’s scores don’t meet the requirements for admission, they can request an investigation from the school office. If Lin Shuicheng couldn’t even pass the entrance exam for the main campus, could there be a problem with the scores for the graduate entrance exam this time?
……
A meal where everyone harbored ulterior motives in their hearts.
Lin Shuicheng didn’t pay attention. He rarely cared about things he didn’t pay attention to, and his personality was also of the non-competitive type.
The only thing that caught his attention was that Fu Luoyin didn’t reply to his message. Even after nine in the night, there was no response, which probably meant that Fu Luoyin still had things to finish. Lin Shuicheng could finally go home and get a good night’s sleep tonight.
When he returned home, it was already nearly ten o’clock. Fu Luoyin indeed hadn’t come back.
Lin Shuicheng was a bit happy, and he continued to clip Chief’s claws.
Halfway through, he suddenly received a phone call from his supervisor, Wang Pinyuan.
“Xiao Lin, are you there? Do you still have your high school and undergraduate academic records? If you do, please send them to me.”
Lin Shuicheng said: “Still have them, teacher. Do you need them urgently?”
“It’s not urgent for me, but it’s quite urgent for you. I’ll help you prove your innocence.” Wang Pinyuan chuckled over the phone. “Get them to me as soon as possible. If it’s electronic, just email it to me. I’ll be waiting for your response here.”
Lin Shuicheng didn’t know why, but he didn’t ask further either.
He walked into the study, took out a USB drive, plugged it into the computer, and a dense array of documents appeared on the screen.
The cursor skipped over documents such as “2332 Accidental Incident Code Summary”, “Linear and Non-linear □□ Relatedness Investigation”, “2332 Jiangnan Port Cargo Shipping Schedule”, “Global Port Shipping Dynamics Modeling”, and others. He selected the last folder named “Data”.
Inside were his academic transcripts from childhood to adulthood.
After he sent it to Wang Pinyuan, Wang Pinyuan called back a few minutes later: “Received, I’ve taken a look. Suddenly, I want to ask you something, Xiao Lin. Why did you give up the chemistry major initially? Also, with these grades of yours… you could have come to the main campus right from the start, couldn’t you?”
It was only at this moment that Wang Pinyuan carefully examined the resume of this individual with good connections: Full marks all the way from childhood, consistently ranked first throughout high school, and graduating with full marks in all subjects in the college entrance examination. Lin Shuicheng’s record in the field of chemistry was astonishing—a student in his early twenties who had already collaborated with numerous industry experts and contributed to cutting-edge scientific research achievements.
Lin Shuicheng leaned back against the edge of the table, gently closing his eyes.
That year, someone also asked him, “Junior brother, with such high scores, why didn’t you go to the main campus?”
The man’s expression was gentle as he turned away, locking the laboratory door behind him. He smiled as he watched him sitting in front of the alcohol lamp, carefully stirring a small bowl of cabbage with a glass rod.
He said, “All the adults in my family have passed away, and my younger brother is sick in the hospital. I need to stay here to take care of him.”
The man didn’t speak for a long time. After a while, he suddenly said softly, “Don’t be afraid.”
He raised his eyebrows and looked at him in confusion.
The man said, “I locked the door. No one will find out that we’re doing something bad in here. Don’t be afraid.”
……
Lin Shuicheng held his phone, thought for a moment, and then told Wang Pinyuan, “For my boyfriend.”
Author’s Note:
While writing, I discovered a small timing bug and will fix it tomorrow. Previously, Xiao Lin met Xiao Fu after graduating with a bachelor’s degree. They have been together for two years. Now, Xiao Lin has been transferred to the main campus for graduate studies and should be at least a second-year graduate student. However, I originally intended for Xiao Lin to be a first-year graduate student. I will standardize it to: “They have been together for two years. During this time, Lin Shuicheng has been switching majors while staying at the branch as a teaching assistant and has transferred to the main campus for the first year of graduate studies this year.”
Translator’s Rant:
Lin Shuicheng not having a note for Fu Luoyin’s phone number is the most Lin Shuicheng thing to do.
This translator is so very excited to get on the bumpy ride of shipping Lin Shuicheng and his ex-boyfriend, however, this translator suddenly remembered that Chu Shihan was stabbed to death at the dock. Sorry. 😶 But, honestly, the documents Lin Shuicheng has are very…. suspicious.
After reading the rant had to go back and reread the list of docs..yep, confirm, very suspicious…and what about the part with locking the door: was he forced??🧐…uffff..so many questions…thank you for the update🌺
This is confusing..