Zhou Qiping shot his head up.
"But not now," Li Jianming continued.
"Then when? Once the hype dies down, the opportunity will be long gone!"
Zhou Qiping was getting anxious.
"The hype dies down? As long as Chen Zhuo is around, the hype will never die down."
Li Jianming stuck his hands in his pants pockets.
"Three months. After three months, once Chen Zhuo has cleared his plate a bit, we can talk about the interview."
"Three months?"
Zhou Qiping shot up from his chair.
"No! Absolutely not! Three months from now will be the next semester. Forget CCTV, even the provincial paper will have moved on to other model cases. Next week, at the latest."
"Principal Zhou, Chen Zhuo still has to run two sets of data next week," Alchemist chimed in quietly from the side.
"Half a month, then!" Zhou Qiping said through gritted teeth.
"Half a month isn’t enough." Li Jianming shook his head.
"Two months."
The three of them haggled relentlessly over the date in the office, like shoppers at a wet market.
Zhou Qiping’s bottom line was that it couldn’t be delayed until next year.
Li Jianming’s bottom line was that it couldn’t disrupt Chen Zhuo’s current logical train of thought.
Alchemist stood between them, occasionally throwing out a comment about confidentiality agreements or experiment progress to mediate, but in reality, he was helping Li Jianming drive down the price.
They went back and forth for a full ten minutes.
The tea on Zhou Qiping’s desk had gone completely cold.
He picked it up, took a large gulp, and swallowed the dregs and all.
"Enough haggling."
Zhou Qiping slammed the cup down on his desk.
"Before the break."
He stared at Li Jianming and Alchemist, enunciating each word.
"This is my bottom line. There’s about a month until the break. By then, the first round of academic aftershocks will have mostly subsided, and Chen Zhuo will be done with his current projects. We’ll frame it as an official, end-of-semester debut for him."
Zhou Qiping took a deep breath of the smoke-filled air.
"This way, we can answer to the higher-ups without disrupting his rhythm."
Li Jianming didn’t agree immediately.
He calculated silently.
’A month is enough time for Chen Zhuo to sort out the remaining Singularities. Plus, the students will all be preparing for finals then, so the campus atmosphere will be relatively subdued, without too much commotion.’
Li Jianming turned to look at Alchemist.
Alchemist gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"Fine."
Li Jianming spoke.
"Before the break is acceptable, but I have conditions."
Zhou Qiping let out a sigh of relief and pulled open a drawer to look for a fresh cigarette.
"Name them. As long as we can get him in front of a camera, I’ll do my best to meet any condition."
Li Jianming held up one finger.
"First, the outline. The reporters from CCTV, no matter how big a name they are, must submit all interview questions to us in advance. Old Fang and I will review them word by word. Anything related to sensational gossip, family privacy, or any of that ’journey of the soul’ nonsense gets deleted."
"No problem."
Zhou Qiping agreed readily.
"We’ll treat it as a purely academic interview."
Li Jianming held up a second finger.
"Second, besides CCTV and our provincial state media, we refuse all harassment from tabloid trash and gossip reporters. The university office needs to issue a formal notice: if anyone dares to corner him at the dorm or the library, campus security will arrest them on the spot."
"Of course. I’ve already said it involves classified information. You think I’d let those people run wild?"
Zhou Qiping nodded.
"The third condition."
Li Jianming leaned forward slightly.
"The location."
Zhou Qiping looked up.
"Location? What’s wrong with a studio? The lighting is good, it looks impressive."
"No studio," Li Jianming refused flatly.
"Not the administration building, either. It will be in the old library."
"The old library?"
Zhou Qiping was stunned.
"That place is dim, and it smells of mildew. Will that even look good on camera?"
"That dimness is exactly what we want."
Li Jianming stared at Zhou Qiping.
"Principal Zhou, we need to show the whole country that our genius at Keda was born from toiling in obscurity, not from chatting in a polished, well-packaged studio."
Li Jianming could already picture it.
"The background will be those yellowed foreign journals. Chen Zhuo doesn’t need to wear a suit and tie; he’ll wear his everyday clothes. We want to create that solemn atmosphere of ’toiling for a decade on a cold bench.’"
Li Jianming was using a more sophisticated tactic to forcefully suppress Zhou Qiping’s frivolous, celebratory mood.
Zhou Qiping ran the idea through his head.
Suddenly, he slapped his thigh.
"Old Li, you scholars really have the best brains."
Zhou Qiping was convinced.
"Alright, we’ll set it in the special collections room of the old library."
The matter was settled.
The atmosphere in the room relaxed at once.
Zhou Qiping lit another cigarette and leaned back in his chair.
The timing had been pushed back and the format restricted, but at least he had managed to lock down this VIP.
"Old Li, Old Fang."
Zhou Qiping blew a smoke ring, his expression turning somewhat complex.
"You two came here to tag-team me today, and I’ll give you that. I know you’re just being protective of your boy."
He pointed toward the door.
"Chen Zhuo is a treasure to you, and he’s a treasure to me. For the next month, you two better watch over him for me."
Zhou Qiping sat up straight.
"Don’t let him have any emotional fluctuations, and absolutely don’t let the outside gossip affect him. He’s not just your student now; he’s Keda’s living poster boy for the next ten years."
Alchemist smiled.
"Don’t worry, Principal Zhou. He’s been very grounded lately, just going back and forth between his dorm and the library."
Hearing the word "dorm," Zhou Qiping seemed to remember something.
He snatched the receiver of his desk phone and dialed an internal number.
The call connected after two rings.
"Hello, is this Old Ma from Logistics?"
Zhou Qiping’s voice regained its administrative authority.
"Send someone to Dormitory Building Two immediately. I want the broadband for the entire floor of room 215 upgraded to a 100-megabit dedicated line. Yes, this afternoon."
Old Ma on the other end of the line seemed confused.
Zhou Qiping tapped impatiently on the desk.
"Also, rewire the circuits on that floor and install high-power voltage regulators. Don’t worry about whether it exceeds standards or not. This is a special case requiring special handling."
"Oh, right."
Zhou Qiping glanced at Alchemist.
"While you’re at it, replace the door to dorm room 215. Get the thickest, most soundproof one you can find."
It was unclear what was said on the other end, but Zhou Qiping’s eyes widened in a glare.
"What’s there to discuss?! Let me tell you, Old Ma, if the internet in dorm 215 goes down for even one minute, or if the circuit breaker trips even once and affects that kid’s communications with Princeton, I’ll have your head! I’m hanging up!"
CLACK.
Zhou Qiping hung up the phone.
He looked up at the somewhat stunned Li Jianming and Alchemist and rubbed his hands together.
"How’s that? You two protect his mind, and I’ll protect his body. Let’s call it a division of labor."
Li Jianming and Alchemist exchanged a look.
The corner of Li Jianming’s mouth twitched slightly, as if he wanted to laugh, but in the end, he just shook his head with a sense of resignation.
He picked up the file folder again.
"Principal Zhou, we’ll leave you to your paperwork then."
Li Jianming turned and walked out.
Alchemist also stood up, gave Zhou Qiping a nod, and followed him out.
They pushed open the door and stepped into the hallway.
The cold air in the hallway helped to dissipate some of the smoke clinging to their clothes.
"That old fox."
Alchemist cursed under his breath, but there was no real malice in his tone.
"His hand was forced, too."
Li Jianming clutched the folder a little tighter.
The two of them walked side by side down the hall toward the stairwell.
"Still, that business about changing the door..."
Alchemist suddenly let out a laugh.
Li Jianming didn’t laugh.
He walked to the stairwell and stopped.
He looked out the window at the tree branches, which were barely visible in the cold mist.
"Old Fang."
Li Jianming’s voice was a bit quiet.
"We may have held them off today, but this is just a stopgap measure. Once that program airs, Chen Zhuo won’t just be Keda’s Chen Zhuo anymore."
Alchemist came to his side and followed his gaze.
"That was always going to happen," Alchemist said.
"Since Pierre already lit that fire, it was only a matter of time before he was thrust into the spotlight."
Alchemist turned his head to look at Li Jianming.
"All we can do is, before he truly takes flight, help pave this final stretch of his road at Keda a little more smoothly."

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