“That’s simply absurd!” Wang Huiyao could not refrain from making a remark.
His wife asked him what happened, and he could not hold back from complaining about it for a brief moment.
Upon listening to his complaint, Wang Huiyao’s wife asked, “Why don’t you just take a look in case what he said is the truth?”
“How’s that possible? The probability is lower than winning 10 million in a lottery.”
With that said, Wang Huiyao’s wife refused to speak anymore.
However, Wang Huiyao was still not done venting. He said furiously, “Young people these days are impetuous. The one who knows the most says the least; empty vessels make the most noise.”
“Alright, alright, eat. Does anyone not live through a young age in their past?”
“I didn’t have the courage to be so boastful when I was younger!”
“…”
After the meal, Wang Huiyao laid on the sofa and rested for a while.
For some unknown reason, Zhou Wen’s words reverberated in his mind. He could not refrain from turning on his phone.
He wanted to witness with his own eyes how ‘exciting’ Zhou Wen’s thesis actually was.
‘The Genetic Modification Technique of Rice Root Aphids’.
Wang Huiyao became infuriated as soon as he read the thesis title.
He studied rice root aphids for most of his life. Even though he had always done it in the name of biotechnology, the people from the profession were well aware that it was but an act of deceit.
Of course, this applied to the entire nation.
It was precisely due to this reason that he loathed the person that made a fool of himself with this before him because he knew too well of how difficult it was to perform genetic modification!
There was no research center in the country that could truly achieve any significant results.
Firstly, it was because it was too difficult such that it was almost impossible to succeed.
Secondly, the expenditure and gain were not proportional. If one had the energy, one might as well research a biochemical pesticide formula in a research center.
On the other hand, he did that precisely in the past. He successfully sold quite a number of chemical formulas continuously over the years as well.
Wang Huiyao screened through the passage swiftly.
It was a dull opening, and Wang Huiyao could even notice the familiarity of the linguistic structure. If he was right, he believed that the opening was plagiarized, only that the words were reorganized.
“That’s all, and he still has the audacity to talk about genetic modification?” Wang Huiyao sneered at it in contempt.
Even though the unspoken rule dictated that it was considered a pass when an undergraduate student’s plagiarism rate was less than 30% for the entire thesis, he believed that the rest of the thesis would not be better since the opening was already plagiarized.
Nevertheless, he continued to read.
“Huh?”
It came as a surprise to Wang Huiyao that the rest of the passage was not made up of long paragraphs of hypothetical narration, which was commonly seen in a thesis, but it consisted of the experiment’s process and results. Moreover, there was a large number of experiment photos attached.
Wang Huiyao’s brows furrowed tightly.
He was just glancing through the passage swiftly in the beginning, but gradually, he began to read paragraph by paragraph slowly.
Then, he read sentence by sentence.
As he was reading, he began to re-read the parts that he had merely scanned through earlier.
Then, he studied the photos of a myriad of different rice root aphid forms attached to the passage and compared it to the data.
Wang Huiyao’s eyes widened more and more, and his breathing became more and more rapid. His fingers holding the phone began to tremble as well. He muttered to himself, “This… this is impossible…”
…
It was an extremely busy week for Zhou Wen as he spent most of his time in the library looking up all sorts of literature reviews, writing his thesis, and simultaneously preparing for the oral examination happening next.
His thesis was no ordinary thesis since it had to be a score of 10 to succeed the mission; such a score was just a little less than achieving the rank worthy of being published to CNS.
In simpler terms, it would be on par with the standards of Nieng Yan and Shi Yigong.
A thesis like this would certainly arouse a storm in the Biology profession in the country if it was published.
Yet, it would truly set the world on fire if news about him completing the genetic modification of rice root aphid by himself spread. As a result, he not only needed to make up a story but also needed to find one to two side characters to corroborate his story.
The genetic modification technique itself was relatively simple in comparison. Anyhow, the modification was already a success, so his statement would be considered the truth.
If he were to say that, he stumbled and dropped the test tube accidentally such that the heavy metal pesticide from the test tube spilled onto the paddy leaves and allowed him to discover the formula accidentally… Who could give any objection to that?
As a result, the process was not important but the result was more important. However, in order to prevent drawing in the suspicion of too many people, he still needed to ‘artistically polish’ the development process.
He had already come up with a rough mental note by now, so Zhou Wen returned to his room on his own after he gave Wang Huiyao a call.
He had been staying on the campus for the past few days because he was busy searching for information and writing up the thesis. However, he was planning to move to his new place tonight.
He returned to the room just in time to meet Deer Maiden and Liu Yukun.
Deer Maiden noticed the sling bag and trolley luggage on Zhou Wen’s bed, so he said to Zhou Wen upon noticing his presence, “Have you rented a house outside?”
Zhou Wen nodded. “Mmhmm, it’s in Maple Leaf.”
Liu Yukun joked by saying, “The rental at Maple Leaf is so expensive; can you afford it with your measly salary?”
“It’s fine. I’m sharing the house with others.”
Deer Maiden added, “I remembered that there’s no hospital around the Maple Leaf area. Zhou Wen, which hospital are you working in actually?”
Zhou Wen mentioned before that he was working in the laboratory department of the ‘First People’s Hospital,’ and his roommates had all mistaken it as just a regular ‘hospital’. What sort of decent hospital would hire a Biology undergraduate like Zhou Wen anyway?
In order not to embarrass him, they did not ask him in detail.
Zhou Wen smiled and said, “It’s the affiliated hospital.”
“What? You’re working in the First People’s Hospital?”
“Is that true? I thought you were talking about… F*ck, so you were talking about the First People’s Hospital, huh? We assumed it’s just an ordinary hospital.”
Deer Maiden and Liu Yukun were rendered completely speechless.
Soon afterward, Liu Yukun asked, “So, what are you doing there?”
“I extract the DNA of white mice and conduct PCR experiments, among other things.”
“So, how much is your monthly salary?”
“Uh…7000 bucks.”
“F*ck! Your salary is so high?”
Liu Yukun and Deer Maiden were dumbstruck with bewilderment. Generally, undergraduate students like them would only make 2000 to 3000 bucks a month during their internship that lasts only a month unless it was a popular major.
Yet, a Biology undergraduate student like Zhou Wen made 7000 bucks a month for his internship. It was simply as rare as hen’s teeth.
Needless to say, Liu Yukun and Deer Maiden asked a lot of questions.
They were further dumbfounded when they learned that Zhou Wen was hired as a formal employee at the end of the conversation.
Even though they had never talked about it, they had acknowledged the truth in their hearts that amongst the roommates, Zhou Wen would be suffering the most for a short period of time after graduation.
Who would have thought that he would get himself a secure, life-long job without drawing any attention? Moreover, the terms of employment were so impressive that it covered six insurances and housing funds with allowance for rental, car, and food.
A job like this was simply their dream job.
“Old Zhou, that’s not very nice of you. You didn’t tell us when you found such a great job!”
“Oh, Old Zhou. Tell us the truth… is this because of your family’s connections? Is that how you got a formal employment contract from the First People’s Hospital?”
“Bullshit, he hasn’t even taken the hospital’s entrance examination. It must be because of his connections; you don’t even need to think about it to know…”
They chimed into one another’s discussion and described Zhou Wen as if he was the son of a noble and powerful family who came out to experience the hardships of the mortal world.
“Heh-heh, we’ve known each other for four years. Yet, you still don’t know the background of my family, huh? I was just a little lucky…”
Zhou Wen explained the antecedents and consequences of how he received the formal employment contract briefly.
Moreover, he expressed humbly that ‘luck’ played an important role in deciding this matter.
Deer Maiden and Liu Yukun heaved an emotional sigh after they finished listening to Zhou Wen’s narration.
They were not three-year-old children anymore, so how could they possibly believe in luck? This only meant that Zhou Wen must have certainly put in a level of effort that surpassed ordinary people’s imagination for the past three years; perhaps, they just did not see it.
What happened now was but the fruitful result that he deserved. It was only that they felt really envious of him. Nevertheless, they sent Zhou Wen all the way until the entrance of the campus just in time for the chartered car to arrive.
“We shall ask you out and tour around your workplace on your rest day.”
“Sure. You’re both welcomed at any time. Is it okay for me to leave first?”
“Mmhmm, mmhmm…”
Deer Maiden and Liu Yukun gazed after the departing silhouette of the chartered car fetching Zhou Wen. Soon afterward, Deer Maiden heaved a sigh, saying, “Another one has left us…”
Zhou Wen received Wang Huiyao’s call sometime during the journey.
It was well within his expectation but it was also somewhat out of his expectation. He certainly expected that after Wang Huiyao read his thesis, it was impossible for Wang Huiyao not to call him. However, it was unexpected to him that Wang Huiyao would call him so soon.
As soon as the call was picked up, Wang Huiyao eagerly asked, “Was it really you who wrote the thesis?”
Zhou Wen answered, “Yes, Professor Wang.”
“Are you sure?”
“100% sure!”
“Yet… Uh… You…”
Wang Huiyao had so many questions that he wanted to ask Zhou Wen, but he was at a loss of where to start and which question to ask first.
He pondered for a moment before he spoke in a formal tone, “Uh, if you have time tomorrow morning, come by my office for a while.”
Zhou Wen hesitated for a moment before saying, “Professor Wang, can we make it tomorrow afternoon? I have some work that I need to do at the department tomorrow morning.”
“Sure.”
Zhou Wen pondered while he stroked his phone after hanging up the call…
Fifteen minutes later, at the doorstep of Block 6, Unit 1101 of Maple Leaf Housing Estate, Zhou Wen let go of the handle of his trolley luggage and took out the keys from his pocket to open the door.
He inserted the key and rotated twice before the door unlatched loudly.
He opened the anti-theft door and took a glance at the inside of the house subconsciously.
As a result, he saw two girls dressed in white sweatshirts and black mini shorts dancing in the middle of the living room with the music on.
Their huge boobs restrained in their tank tops were bouncing up and down and tossing about following the rhythm of their dance…