ATLAS TRANSLATES

At Jiangda’s entrance.

Ji Shaojun recognized Wang Assistant’s car plate from having ridden in it before. He turned to Ming Dongheng and said, “Ming, someone’s here to pick us up. You don’t need to send us.”

Ming Dongheng nodded but remained standing to the side, his gaze through his sunglasses fixed on Wang Assistant’s car plate.

Wang Assistant stepped out from the driver’s seat.

He walked to the other side, looking at Ji Shaojun’s group.

Wang Assistant had met both Ji Shaojun and Shen Qing before. His gaze fell on the young woman beside Shen Qing.

The summer sun set late, and at this hour the light wasn’t harsh. The entire sun seemed wrapped in a soft haze, its cool golden rays falling diagonally across her. Her emerald dress rippled gently in the wind.

Her eyes held both laziness and willfulness.

She had the spirit fitting for her flourishing age, yet also possessed a rare composure that suggested she could command mountains and rivers – a general’s bearing that few her age displayed.

Wang Assistant stood rooted to the spot, nearly losing his voice as he stared at Bai Lian.

“Wang Assistant,” Ji Shaojun approached and introduced Ji Heng, “This is my father.”

Wang Assistant finally snapped out of it. His gaze shifted from Bai Lian as he greeted Ji Heng, “Sir, hello, I’m CEO Mu’s assistant. Please just call me Xiao Wang.”

His gaze landed on Ji Heng and he was surprised to find that this Mr. Ji also had an extraordinary bearing.

Wang Assistant opened the car door for the Ji family to enter.

He sat in the driver’s seat and drove onto the main road. Today wasn’t a work day so traffic wasn’t as heavy. He glanced in the rearview mirror.

Bai Lian sat near the car door, putting on her bluetooth earphones after getting in. She lowered the window and rested her elbow on it.

“Which major is Miss Bai studying at Jiangda?” Wang Assistant politely inquired.

Shen Qing was looking down at photos taken throughout the day. Hearing the question, she answered for Bai Lian, “Ah Lian is in the Physics Department.”

Jiangda Physics Department – one of the three top flagship programs.

The car quickly arrived at Qingxin Tower.

Mu Yining had arrived a few minutes early and was waiting for Ji Heng downstairs.

Wang Assistant parked at Qingxin Tower’s entrance. Seeing Ji Heng in the passenger seat, she opened his door first, “Uncle, I’m Yining.”

Ji Heng got out of the car, his expression full of emotion: “You’ve all grown so big.”

Mu Yining gave a slight smile. Her gaze shifted and paused when she saw Bai Lian and Shen Qing getting out from the back seat.

As Bai Lian stepped out, seeing Mu Yining looking over, she bent slightly in greeting. Her half-tied black hair fell forward onto her chest as she said, “Hello.”

Mu Yining had met Ren Wanxuan before. Although she had been trained, there was still an indelible commonness in her manners.

In fact, among the entire Ji family, apart from Shen Qing, everyone carried themselves with distinction.

Ren Wanxuan didn’t quite seem to belong to the Ji family.

She had originally thought Ji Shaojun’s other niece would be similar, but seeing this bearing and appearance, Mu Yining thought she couldn’t find anyone else in Jiangcheng who could match her.

The group arrived at the “Rain” private room in Qingxin Tower.

The private rooms were hard to book. As soon as they entered, the servers brought tea and snacks.

Bai Lian sat obediently beside Shen Qing. She had removed her earphones and was looking at practice questions on her phone app.

Mu Yining sat beside Ji Heng, pouring him tea while recounting some childhood stories. Her gaze occasionally fell on Bai Lian sitting opposite, becoming slightly distracted.

There was a knock at the door.

Wang Assistant went to open it and was surprised to see who it was. “Manager Pang?”

Since Mu Yining often brought important guests here, Wang Assistant had a membership card and naturally knew Qingxin Tower’s manager.

Qingxin Tower was second only to Kangyu Tower in Jiangcheng, popular among politicians and business elites for its private rooms.

However, Wang Assistant wasn’t familiar with Qingxin Tower’s staff, and neither he nor Mu Yining warranted personal service from the manager, so he was naturally surprised.

“Wang Assistant, I’m bringing pastries to your room,” Manager Pang had servers enter as he smiled and said, “These are complimentary pastries for the Rain room.”

Qingxin Tower’s pastries were famous, just like Kangyu Tower’s breakfast.

They were basically very hard to reserve. Wang Assistant watched as the servers brought in the pastries and stepped aside.

The servers gave each person at the table their own portion of pastries.

Bai Lian lowered her head – it was the extra pastry she had eaten when she came with Jiang Fuli to dine with Gao Yan. She looked up as Qingxin Tower’s manager smiled at her.

Ji Heng hardly ate, speaking continuously with Mu Yining, his brows slightly furrowed, “How is your father’s health?”

Great families had always been united throughout history. Back then there was even collective punishment – if a family wasn’t united and just one person committed a capital offense, nine generations would be implicated.

The concept of shared glory and shame has been passed down to this day.

Ji Heng also greatly admired this half-brother, never thinking to compete with him, knowing that with Mu Xianguang at the helm, the Mu family would surely prosper even more.

Only upon returning to Jiangcheng this time did he hear a few words from Ji Shaojun.

Mu Yining took a sip of tea before responding, “You know him, he still hasn’t come to terms with it. That time, brother didn’t want to go with the research team. He felt he didn’t have enough experience, but father pulled strings and forcefully sent them in.”

After Mu Xianguang’s carefully nurtured Mu Qiong died due to his interference, he had barely stepped out of the Buddhist hall since.

Ji Heng had clearly just learned of this. He put down his pipe.

Compared to Mu Qiong’s death, he himself was the final executioner – this was why Mu Xianguang still couldn’t forgive himself.

The atmosphere grew heavy at this topic.

After dinner, Mu Yining saw Ji Heng and the others downstairs, having her driver take them back to Shanhai Apartments. “Take care on the way.”

Ji Shaojun and Shen Qing were returning to their place instead of going back with Ji Heng.

Mu Yining called a Qingxin Tower car to send Ji Shaojun back. Only after everyone had left did Mu Yining return to her car. She pressed her temples, “Did Mu Shao go to school today?”

Wang Assistant was driving. He responded respectfully, “Young Master will go on the last day.”

Mu Shao had also tested into Jiangcheng University, though he was in the Economics Department.

Speaking of Jiangda, Wang Assistant drove to the intersection and said slowly, “CEO Mu, Miss Bai is also at Jiangcheng University.”

“What? She’s at Jiangda?” Mu Yining opened the window, becoming more alert.

She had been observing Bai Lian for a long time today.

Wang Assistant answered: “Yes, Jiangda Physics Department.”

As members of the Mu family, who didn’t know about Jiangda’s Physics Department? Mu Qiong had been in Jiangda’s Physics Department, pursuing a direct PhD before joining the research team.

Hearing the familiar department, Mu Yining stared blankly out the window. “She actually tested into Jiangda herself, and even Jiangda Physics…”

As far as she knew, Bai Lian was also from Xiangcheng.

Mu Qiong had received top education from childhood, but Bai Lian was in Xiangcheng – Mu Yining could imagine the conditions there without thinking.

“Do you think…” At a red light, Wang Assistant stopped the car, “if the Master knows she’s in Physics, will he come out?”

Mu Yining pulled back her thoughts.

“I don’t know. The issue isn’t just my father. You see she’s never been to the Mu house,” Mu Yining leaned back, suddenly looking up: “Does Butler Lou know?”

She was asking if Butler Lou knew about this.

Mu Yining’s focus had shifted to economics – she didn’t understand those matters in the research world. Among the giants in the major research institutes, probably only Mu Xianguang knew them all.

But with Mu Xianguang not coming out, Mu Yining had no way forward either.

“He probably doesn’t know,” Wang Assistant said softly.

Jiangda’s registration period was three days, from the 29th to the 31st.

On the evening of the 31st, Bai Lian returned to Room 407 carrying her black laptop and a small pot of succulents.

The door was half-open. When she entered, her two roommates were at the desk to the left of the door, shouting at their computers: “It won’t load! Come on, come on! You’re Jiangda’s network, how can you be this bad?!”

“You’re too disappointing, Jiangda network.”

“I’m never testing for Jiangda again.”

The voices were hysterical.

The girl in the white T-shirt with a ponytail finished shouting, then saw a striking young woman standing at the door in white clothes and black pants, her eyes beautiful yet lazy.

“Fr-friend… who are you looking for?”

Bai Lian held her laptop and politely nodded, “Hello, I’m Bai Lian. I came on the first day of school.”

The ponytailed girl realized this was her roommate. “Ah, hello, I’m Kong Wei,” she then pointed at the round-faced girl at the computer, “She’s Yu Simin. We’re both from Xicheng.”

Yu Simin also turned around and warmly greeted her, “So you’re our final mysterious roommate. Add me on WeChat and I’ll pull you into our dorm group.”

After the three introduced themselves, Kong Wei touched her nose, trying to salvage her image. “Sorry about earlier. Yu Simin and I were trying to snatch the goddess’s album. Did we scare you? I’m usually not like this.”

Bai Lian’s gaze swept over to see Yu Simin’s computer showing the sales page for the “Gambling on Wine” album.

Sister Xin had included all of Yan Lu’s songs in the “Gambling on Wine” album for the Hua Music Awards, so she also released a collector’s edition for fans.

It wasn’t expensive, just hard to get.

“It’s fine.” Bai Lian looked at Kong Wei and smiled slightly, her expression casual. Zhang Shize was even more fanatical about being a fan than they were.

Kong Wei stared somewhat dazedly at her dazzling smile.

Bai Lian walked to her desk. The bed opposite hers was made up with curtains hung around it, but no one was there.

She paused briefly at her desk, thought for a moment, and still decided to put her laptop on the bed.

The laptop had copies of the materials Academician Ma had given her.

Although Jiang Fuli had said her computer’s security was very high and she didn’t need to worry about data leaks, she was still cautious.

She placed the succulent nicely on her desk. To the left, Kong Wei finally snapped out of it and opened the friend request message – it was from Bai Lian. Her WeChat name was simple: Baijian.

“Ah, are you also Sister Lu’s fan?” Kong Wei gripped her phone, suppressing her excitement.

Bai Lian unhurriedly pulled out her chair and sat down, taking out a book from the side. Hearing the question, she raised an eyebrow, “Sort of.”

Finding common interests, the distance between them immediately shrank.

Kong Wei and Yu Simin had tried for five minutes but Jiangda’s campus network was too poor – neither got the album. They swore not to recommend their juniors test for Jiangda.

“Your opposite is Xu Qian,” Kong Wei listlessly hugged her chips while gossiping with Bai Lian. “She came yesterday with a butler and bodyguards. Her family has a butler.”

“The Xu family?” Yu Simin pushed up her glasses. She clearly knew some people in Jiangcheng and analyzed seriously: “Should be that Xu family.”

“Which one?” Gossip was Kong Wei’s nature.

Yu Simin glanced at Bai Lian’s book – a foreign language text whose title she couldn’t understand. She touched her chin and continued analyzing, “There are only so many families in Jiangcheng. My grandfather warned me about causing trouble here and mentioned some things. Anyway, those with marriage ties to the Xu family mostly have some royal connections. Give or take, our dorm is practically royalty?”

Bai Lian lowered her eyelashes, unhurriedly turning pages.

She wasn’t listening carefully, but when Yu Simin mentioned the Xu family, she thought of Xu Nanjing’s group.

At Jiangda’s gate.

A car without markings slowly drove in. The security guard was startled seeing the plate, letting it through from far away.

He wondered internally why this car had come to Jiangcheng today. At this hour there were many people walking around Jiangda, and these days there were many cars entering and exiting. Most people didn’t recognize internal plates, so it didn’t draw much attention. Only some wondered why the character before the plate number was “Research” instead of “Jiang”.

The car avoided crowds, slowly driving from the west gate to the Nanmei area.

The car stopped. Academician Ma was still looking at his computer, the screen’s light falling on his face. He didn’t look up as the door opened, “You’re not attending the summary meeting?”

Jiang Fuli got out of the car, looking at the intersection ahead. He casually put on his baseball cap, his tone noticeably cold: “If everything needs me, what’s the point of keeping them?”