In the office.
Li Dong couldn’t hear Professor Zhou’s phone call in the hallway.
He sat bored in his chair.
He glanced at the paper on the screen again.
His earlier comment had been serious.
This was a genuinely high-level paper.
The overall framework was very solid.
He gave it a casual glance, about to look away.
In that instant,
he suddenly noticed the top line of the screen’s window.
[Chiral_Anomaly_Curved_Background_v17_Zhou_Qifeng_final.pdf]
Li Dong: ???
His mouth fell open.
"Holy..."
"This is Professor Zhou’s paper."
He subconsciously recalled his earlier comment: "This step can be optimized."
His heart sank.
’I’m done for.’
’I’m done for, I’m done for, I’m so done for.’
He had just critiqued Professor Zhou’s paper as if it were written by one of the professor’s students.
And he’d done it right in front of Professor Zhou.
The more he thought about it, the more horrified he became.
He even remembered how after he’d finished speaking, Professor Zhou had stared at the screen in silence for over a minute.
He finally understood what Professor Zhou had meant by "Don’t look at that."
He whispered a Daoist plea.
"Amitabha."
Just then, the door was pushed open again.
Professor Zhou walked in, his face dark.
He stood before the desk for a moment without sitting down.
"We need to make an appointment to see Mr. Yang."
"Mr. Yang had a fall last year."
"He still hasn’t fully recovered."
"Even when he sees guests now, it’s rarely for more than an hour."
He sighed.
"I’ll ask Dean Gao to check on it. I’ll let you know when I have an answer."
Li Dong felt a little disappointed after hearing this.
He wanted to work through the κ-problem on his physics path before Professor Lu got back from the beamline coordination meeting.
According to Teacher Wu, he needed to show at least some initial progress in those few days.
But his schedule was one thing; Mr. Yang’s health was another matter entirely.
He understood which was more important.
"Thank you, Teacher Zhou."
"Well, I’ll head to the library then. I won’t disturb you while you edit... er, grade your students’ papers."
Professor Zhou nodded, ignoring him.
Li Dong also said goodbye to Director Liu, then tactfully turned and left.
The moment the door closed, Director Liu could no longer hold it in and walked back from the window.
He coughed, suppressing a laugh.
"So..."
"Professor Zhou, that kid..."
Professor Zhou shot him a cold glance.
"Don’t say a word."
Director Liu: ...
Zhou Qifeng sat back down in his chair, looking at that line in the middle of the screen...
Finally, he sighed.
He opened Word and silently typed a note in the comment box for his revisions.
[Change here: Same-order covariance is trivial; gauge invariance check needed.]
After leaving the School of Physics, Li Dong headed toward the library.
Just as he reached the middle of Ginkgo Road, his phone vibrated.
He took it out and saw a WeChat message from Gao Wen.
It was just one line.
A bank account number.
The university’s official public account.
Followed by a string of numbers.
[4.2 million]
Li Dong paused.
He had previously estimated 4.8 million in his head, so this was 600,000 less.
Gao Wen had added another message.
[We went with the complete H800 system package.]
[For maintenance and software licensing, we used my lab’s cooperative channels to bring the price down a bit.]
[You just need to send the money.]
[I’ll keep an eye on the rest.]
Li Dong silently gave Gao Wen a mental thumbs-up.
Without further delay, he opened his chat window with Lin Wei.
Li Dong didn’t say much.
He just sent a short message.
[Me, Li Dong. Optimizing algorithm. Procuring servers. Send money. 2 million.]
After sending it, he forwarded the public account information Gao Wen had given him.
Less than ten minutes later, Lin Wei sent him a screenshot of the transfer.
Li Dong grinned.
"Huaxuan sure is dependable."
Of course, Li Dong didn’t know that the reason Huaxuan was so fast was simply because he was Li Dong. If it had been anyone else, the approval process would have taken half a month.
Li Dong opened his own bank account as he walked.
His balance was 2.8 million.
He transferred the remaining 2.2 million into the university’s public account as well.
Only after the [Transfer Successful] screen popped up did Li Dong breathe a sigh of relief.
In an instant, his card balance dropped to just 600,000.
Any other undergraduate who saw their bank balance drop from nearly three million to six hundred thousand would probably be heartbroken.
But Li Dong was different. He considered himself very generous. ’It’s just money, right? I can always earn more after I spend it.’
Just then, a message from Wang Hao popped up.
[Brother Dong, are you coming to the class dinner tonight? Everyone’s splitting the bill.]
Li Dong casually replied.
[Can’t make it! No time.]
Then he was about to put his phone away and head to the library.
Just then, his phone rang.
It was Gao Yuanlin.
Startled, Li Dong answered.
"Hello?"
"Dean Gao?"
"What’s up?"
Gao Yuanlin’s voice on the other end was very low.
"Kid, Mr. Yang happens to be free today. Come over now."
Li Dong was stunned for a moment, then quickly said,
"Okay, Dean Gao."
"I’ll be right there."
「Twenty-odd minutes later.」
West Gate of Shuimu University.
When Li Dong hurried over, Academician Gao Yuanlin was already there waiting for him.
When Gao Yuanlin saw Li Dong, he waved him over.
"Let’s go."
The two of them walked inward along the small path by Shuimu’s West Gate.
They passed the library and continued north.
Finally, they rounded a small bamboo grove.
A small courtyard surrounded by green bamboo appeared before them.
This was the Tsinghua Institute.
Residences that Shuimu University had built specially for Mr. Lin, Mr. Yao, and Mr. Yang.

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